Opening Segment: Daniel Bryan Returns to Raw
First off let us express our condolences to Daniel Bryan and his family on the unexpected passing of his father, our thoughts are with you. Daniel Bryan opened Raw making his way to the ring with his new wife Brie Belle waiting for him. He was clearly, expectedly emotional and no words were needed. Daniel and Brie start a Yes chant before Stephanie McMahon made her way to the ring and announced Daniel Bryan vs. Kane for Extreme Rules. What followed was Kane coming out and showing us all that the only version of the Big Red Machine he’d be effective as, the brutal monster. I loved the slow, methodical beat down Kane put Bryan through here seemingly to write Bryan off TV so he can properly grieve. Kane performed one piledriver on the floor, one piledriver on the steps, and one piledriver on a table that refused to break. All through this, Stephanie urged Kane to step, you know that kind of urging where secretly she was cheering him on? A great start, very brutal and now Bryan vs. Kane seems like a great main event. Once again, we are sorry for your loss Daniel.
Bad News Barrett vs. Sheamus
A very physical, hard hitting match, and I dug the hell out of it. The crowd is so firmly behind BNB right now it is really quite amazing. The two competitors did a great in job in making us think, despite Barret’s obvious push, this match could have gone either way. The two have great chemistry together, they seem to know how to make each other tick. Several near falls, and an awesome out of nowhere bullhammer on Sheamus with Barrett outside the ring for Barrett to pick up the win. Barrett picking up a victory of a former Heavyweight champ is one hell of a step in the right direction for Barrett, and I want BNB to take the whole damn thing. Bad News Barrett advances.
Bray Wyatt Promo
Bray Wyatt, along with the Shield, is who I look forward to every week. This man owns his gimmick like nobody has in a very long time. He switched his game up in his promo this week focusing not on awakening the beast within John Cena, but he played in a brilliant way on the jeers Cena receives week in and week out. Bray says he believes he is starting to open the eyes of the masses, they don’t love John Cena anymore. They are beginning to follow the buzzards. Bray has the whole world in his hands. The energy, lighting, and dialogue in Bray’s promos make him one of the best things the company has going for them right now. Love it.
El Torito & Los Matadores vs. 3MB
Hornswoggle has joined 3MB with a brand new attitude, and has targeted El Torito. These two got to go at it for most of this match and El Torito especially got in some pretty impressive high flying offense. Fittingly, the rest of 3MB tried to interfere and throw the match in their favor to no avail, with El Torito scoring a pin over the former chosen one Drew McIntyre. I hate to say this, but hopefully as more NXT talent gets called up, comedy matches like this we start to see exclusively on Main Event.
Evolution/Shield Segment
Evolution made their way to the ring, and once again I marked out for their theme. Tripe H hit the mic with a frog in his throat, channeling John Laurinitis. Orton & Batista both had the opportunity to say their peace and a video package reminding the world of the dominance of one of the best stables of all time was shown. But if this segment showed me one thing, they need to give Dean Ambrose the mic WAY more. I love his mannerisms, and the way he speaks, his unhinged character is great to watch. Reminiscent of the late great Brian Pillman. Seth showed us he isn’t to bad on the stick either, which is great the dude has a complete package. Reigns’ contribution was short and sweet, and the most badass, saying in a few seconds they would beat Evolution’s collective derrieres and they had the option to fight or run. Evolution elected to bring the heel roster out to the ramp to keep The Shield at bay. They are building this epic feud nicely, the past/present meets the future. Always a great foundation for a memorable feud. Hopefully every member of The Shield gets their time in the spotlight.
The USOs vs. Cody Rhodes & Goldust
I love the resurgence in the tag team division as of late, WITH the talent to compliment it. The USOs are so amazing as team, great entrance, great in ring ability and they are a godsend as far as tag teams go. This was another great match between two great teams, two babyface teams but I loved that the spirit of competition made some tension between them all. The USOs picked up the victory, and after the match we saw hints of a breakup for the Brotherhood, a smart move because I believe they accomplished all they could as a team. Time to begin the always entertaining brother vs. brother feud. Get daddy Rhodes in on it. After the match Rybaxel (who were on commentary) attacked The USOs to further a tag team feud. Intriguing stuff from all involved.
Cesaro vs. Rob Van Dam
I have to say, despite the undeniable talent of both these men this match started out a bit awkwardly. There seemed to be a bit of communication error in the early going, but thankfully they found their stride. I believe the style of these two wrestlers compliment each other so well and as they got going they proved it. After a while RVD began to hit all his signature moves, much to the chagrin of Heyman. Cesaro got to display his awesome power, and the swing was built up but Swagger made his way down to distract Cesaro giving RVD time to pick up the victory via count-out. A wise move. RVD advances.
A backstage interview with RVD that Heyman & Cesaro interrupted played on the history between Heyman & RVD, something I’m very glad they didn’t ignore. RVD gave Cesaro some sage advice in telling him to keep his money and future as far away from Paul as possible, harsh. I would welcome a future feud focusing more on this between either RVD/Cesaro or even RVD/Lesnar. Let’s capitalize on this.
Paige vs. Aksana
Paige continues to impress me. Just love the way the dame moves. This was a decent divas match and Paige got to show us more of what she has to offer. Aksana got in most of the offense and I think this is very deliberate from a storyline standpoint in saying Paige is still very green. I also have to say, Paige is an ace at selling. Paige picked up the victory with her awesome submission maneuver and showed us she’s still a force to be reckoned with. I wish there would have been some feud building here with Tamina attacking Paige after match, but you don’t always get what you want.
Alexander Rusev vs. Sin Cara
This wasn’t the squash match I thought it would be. Sin Cara got in way more offense than I figured and it was interesting to see. Rusev is a big cat, and they took advantage of Sin Cara’s quickness to show that potentially Rusev is going to need to adapt to his opponents. This didn’t last long, as Rusev overpowered Sin Cara to pick up the victory. At Extreme Rules, Rusev will be fed R-Truth & Xavier Woods. Interesting.
John Cena vs. The Wyatt Family
They really milked the relationship Cena has with the WWE universe in this episode of Raw. Earlier in the night it was announced there would be poll to see which members of the Wyatt family Cena would be facing in the main event. Great drama building if you ask me.
Before the match it was revealed Cena would facing all three members, and in the ring he gave us a good piece of acting in addressing the audience like what the hell? The match was again full of great psychological madness. A highlight being after Cena is decimated Bray is tagged in and dances…yes dances, with Cena’s lifeless body. Love that shit. Rowan & Harper did most of the grunt work, Bray being tagged in when Cena seems down for the count. We got the spider walk (yay) and the fans still eat the shit up. The match came to an end after Cena hit his Superman stride and hit Bray with an FU, but Rowan & Harper attacked Cena to cause a DQ. I saw people hating the ending to this match, why couldn’t Bray beat Cena clean? Not the time for that folks. Let me say, Bray portrays a cult leader, and part of that is using your followers to your advantage. Sometimes somebody as compelling as Bray needs to do something to remind the fans he is technically the bad guy in the feud.
I love the singing gimmick Bray seems to be going for in recent weeks, sitting down and cradling Cena, damn near beginning to cry as he sings “He’s Got The Whole World in His Hands”…what’s not to love about that. Loved the ending to Raw, and this feud seemed to reach new depths tonight. Very well done.
Overall Raw Grade: B+. Great moments and feud building, mixed with feuds that really won’t go anywhere that would do better on Smackdown or Main Event. This grade will probably go up higher when they start calling up more talent from NXT to show us what they have, and hopefully they get great feuds to work with. That said, this is a great time to be a wrestling fan. Compelling feuds, great talent, the future is being pushed. Keep it up.
Review written by Paul Huffman
The Super Network 