WWE RAW Superstars of the show

Paul Heyman

Paul Heyman surely knows a thing or two about coming up with exciting television. After he shocked the WWE Universe the night before during the MITB ladder match, he was back in action on Monday Night RAW, doing what he does best – talking/promoting/building up.

When CM Punk came out all wobbling due to the after effects from the night before, I knew it was going to be electricity (no disrespect Rock!) running throughout the arena once he calls out Heyman to explain his actions. It didn’t take long either.

Heyman, the master manipulator with the stick in his hand, in the slowest but surest manner possible, started explaining himself and simultaneously laying the foundation of what is going to be a mega-exciting feud between the ‘Best in the world’ and ‘The Beast reincarnate’.

It wasn’t long before he took personal jabs at Punk and the old adage of “It takes your best friend to be your worst enemy” came true. Heyman painfully detailed how things came to their head when Punk, in his words, turned on him and decided to be ungrateful despite the fact that it was Heyman who “made him”.

Punk countered and sold the betrayal he felt very well and by the time the exchange was done, the feud had turned white-hot and Lesnar’s attack just added an exclamation point on the entire segment. In the hands of a lesser man, what could have been material that wouldn’t be convincing enough for a personal feud of this nature, in Paul Heyman’s hands it turned out to be pure gold. Not the first time, but certainly glad that it won’t be the last either as SummerSlam is a bit away

Dolph Ziggler

The man formerly known as “Mr. Ziggles” is a face now! His turn was complete this week on Raw when he dumped his psychotic girlfriend AJ before his rematch with Del Rio from the night before, much to the delight of the crowd. Then both men, visibly weary from their match from the night before, proceeded to have yet another terrific match, which almost lived up to their outing at MITB, complete with AJ interfering yet again and costing Dolph the match, this time though on purpose.

The post-match performances from the duo was bizarrely entertaining as AJ kept attacking Ziggler, who being a face now, let her get away with it for a while before fending her away. But not for long, as he ran into his former ‘Hired Muscle’ Big E, who totally ran him over and delivered the big ending.

In typical Dolph style, both the bumps he took from the big man looked like it killed him. I personally feel that Dolph Ziggler could be a great face along the likes of Shawn Michaels and John Cena, if the WWE decides to give him a running chance while at it. He has the looks and the bumping ability that could get the crowd invested in him sympathetically yet his cockiness and smarts can be very entertaining. His mannerisms are a bit more toned down now, but he needs to learn from The Miz on how not to be a face, to successfully portray the good guy for a while to come.

RVD/Y2J

It would really have been unfair to choose either one of them for the title ‘Superstar of the show’, as even though RVD was the ultimate victor by the end of the night, Y2J did the job for him and made him look as good as he did in the process.

It was a true delight to watch the two aging veterans being entrusted with the main-event slot yet again in 2013, as if it was 2002 and boy, did it feel that way or what! The match made by the new GM Brad Maddox was RVD’s first match back on RAW in over 6 years and it showed in his work at the start of the match, when it did seem like he was botching more than a few moves that would have gone unnoticed.

RVD always has been an unorthodox wrestler, but very exciting to watch, and he was able to showcase all of his wares Monday night. Giving him exemplary company was the ageless wine himself, Chris Jericho, who really is second only to the Undertaker when it comes to being a total company guy. He was able to ward off the initial mistiming stemming from working with the returning RVD and ended up doing justice to the extra time allotted to their match. All-in-all, a fantastic match to close out the action on RAW.