WWE: RAW Review for July 1st
With a lot of anticipation in the air regarding the implications of last week, WWE RAW came to us live from Tyson Events Center in Sioux City, Iowa. Going into the show, the big buzz was about the tag team match between the Paul Heyman guys and the Prime Time Players, and everyone wanted to see if Paul Heyman shows his true colors by turning on Punk.
Also, merely hours before the show, Vickie Guerrero announced on Twitter that the WWE champion, John Cena will take on the World Heavyweight champion, Alberto Del Rio in the main event of the show. Let us now see how the events unfolded.
To kick things off, Daniel Bryan made his way to the ring as the crowd cheered him on. He cut a promo about how he defeated Orton last week, and how he will win the RAW Money in the Bank ladder match at the Money in the Bank PPV. This brought Sheamus out, who reminded Bryan that he beat him at WrestleMania under 18 seconds. This brought out Orton, Kane, Christian and finally, CM Punk, as they each claimed that they would win the Money in the Bank briefcase.
The segment ended when Orton tried to attack Bryan, but Kane came in the middle, which offended Bryan and Orton took advantage of it and dropped Kane with an RKO. An interesting way to kick off RAW, and it emphasizes the importance of the ladder match at the MITB PPV.
The Shield vs Christian and the Usos in a 6 man tag team match
The Shield took on the team of Christian and The Usos. Last week on Smackdown, The Shield suffered its second pin fall loss as a trio when Christian pinned Dean Ambrose. This week, they got their revenge as they picked up the victory over their opponents, but it was far from impressive, and nothing like The Shield we’ve seen in the past 8 months.
When the members of the faction won the titles, I hoped that WWE wouldn’t make them lose TV matches like all the other mid card title holders do, but I guess WWE’s logic continues to be the same.
Winner(s): The Shield
Rating: **
Backstage, Bryan apologized to Kane, and told him he got him a rematch against Orton. But only this time, Bryan will be the special guest referee.
Dolph Ziggler vs Jinder Mahal (With Slater and Drew McIntyre)
Ziggler came out alone without Big E or AJ by his side, which can imply that WWE is planning to dissolve the faction. He faced Mahal and defeated him after a short match. Post match, he fended off the other members of 3MB. I hope Ziggler will have an eventful run in the main event; he deserves all the praise in the world for being the work horse in the WWE for the past 3 years, but was overlooked time and again.
Winner: Dolph Ziggler
Rating: *
WWE kept airing the previous era’s WWE and World Heavyweight champions. Here is an idea if you’re trying to kill 40 minutes of a 3 hour show with non-sensical highlights, put Natalya in a match, or put 2 solid TV matches. How hard can it be?
Backstage segment with Vickie and Triple H. They did the usual ‘I’m the boss’ shtick that no one cares about. I guess we are on route to the McMahon-Triple H feud. Am I interested? No.
Randy Orton vs Kane with Daniel Bryan as the special guest referee
I have to be honest here; I am interested in everything that involves Daniel Bryan. On the mic, in the ring or even as a third person in a match, he makes me invest my time, and that is what professional wrestling is about. He tried to do everything he could to help his ‘friend’ Kane win against Orton, even going as far as disqualifying Orton, only to restart the match, and then distracted Orton so that Kane could take advantage of it and ended it with a fast count. Post match, Kane argued with Bryan, saying he didn’t want to win that way and Orton dropped Bryan with an RKO. A good segment which underlines the problems and tensions between the trio.
Winner: Kane
Rating: **
Backstage, Punk argued with Heyman, saying he trusted Heyman but not Axel. Heyman calmed him down and asked him to trust his judgment. Their feud has garnered the most buzz from the fans, and so it will be interesting to see where this leads to.
Fandango (With Summer Rae) vs Sheamus
Fandango made his in-ring return after suffering a concussion which put him out of the Payback PPV couple of weeks ago, as he took on Sheamus. Why does WWE book their heels to lose the match in the same way again and again? I don’t know. First it was Alberto Del Rio, then Ryback and now, Fandango refused to wrestle Sheamus, as he walked away with Summer. Fandango was supposed to win the WWE Intercontinental title, so it will be interesting to see how he will be booked from now.
Winner: Via count out – Sheamus
Rating: ¼*