WWE: RAW Review for 22nd July
After an exciting episode of RAW last week, this week’s show rolled out of Austin, Texas. The show opened with a recap of Lesnar’s attack on Punk last week, as well as John Cena choosing Daniel Bryan as his opponent for SummerSlam with the WWE championship on the line.
This week’s show opened with Brad Maddox in the ring for the contract signing, and he brought out the WWE champion, John Cena. Maddox asked Cena why he chose Bryan, and before Cena could answer that, Bryan came out to a loud ovation from the Austin crowd.
Maddox asked Cena why he chose a guy who was “small”, to which Cena replied that size doesn’t matter. Cena namedropped Eddie in Texas, which was smart. He also gave the examples of Shawn Michaels and Rey Mysterio.
Before Bryan could say anything, Maddox told Bryan he’d put him through a series of tests to see if Bryan deserved the opportunity. The opening segment ended with Maddox saying ‘No’ while Bryan and the fans yelled ‘Yes’. That was a fun segment, and made it clear that this show would be about Daniel Bryan.
Alberto Del Rio defeated Sheamus
The World Heavyweight champion took on Sheamus in a bout which lasted for just under 15 minutes. It was a solid TV match which also made a lot of sense. The Miz should learn about ‘working’ on someone’s leg from Del Rio, instead of just slapping the figure four out of nowhere.
Del Rio worked on Sheamus’s leg, and ended up rolling Sheamus for the pinfall victory. This might be the next feud for Sheamus and Del Rio, as they both need opponents going into SummerSlam.
Rating: ***
Backstage, Renee Young talked to Booker and Teddy, after they were fired and Vickie was appointed as the new GM of Smackdown! last week. They were both unhappy about it.
Christian defeated Titus O’Neil (With Darren Young)
WWE is sizing up Titus to see if he can have a strong singles run, and there is none better to bring out the best in a performer than Christian. The bout went on for four minutes, and ended when Christian hit the Killswitch on Titus for the pinfall victory.
Rating: *½
Backstage, Josh interviewed Ryback, which resulted in Ryback scaring him away.
Mark Henry came out and played up to the crowd, being a Texan himself. He called out The Shield for attacking him, and they came out to attack the big man again, but only this time, The Usos came out to even the odds.
The segment ended with Henry and Usos getting the upper hand while The Shield retreated.
In the locker room, Bryan told Cena to stay away, and that he would take care of things himself. He told Cena not to come out during his matches. That’s a good way of putting across the seriousness of Bryan.
Dolph Ziggler defeated Darren Young
The other member of PTP took on the show-off, in a bout which lasted for four minutes. Ziggler ended the match by giving Young a Zig Zag for the pinfall victory.
Post match, Big E and AJ tried to attack Ziggler, but Ziggler escaped before Big E could put his hands on him. That’s the smart babyface tactic, which Eddie used to perfection during his face run.
Rating: *½
It was time for MizTV segment, as he brought down the participants of the Total Divas show. The Bellas were present, along with Eva, Funkadactyles, Natalya and Jojo. The segment ended with Eva slapping Lawler to “make a statement”. This was WWE’s way to kill some time.
Backstage, Triple H confronted Maddox and told him he should follow him, rather than Vince. Triple H put Bryan over, saying he’s the best, and size doesn’t matter. Hunter putting talent over for a change? I do like the Maddox era!