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By Sean Ross Sapp (@SeanRossSapp)
In memory of WCW and AWA announcer Lee Marshall
– I can’t honestly say I was excited about tonight’s Raw, as the last few shows haven’t been steadily good, and really felt like they lacked something (likely the absence of Daniel Bryan). However, I remained optimistic, and that state of mind proved worth it early on.
Raw kicked off with John Cena questioning the WWE fans about why they rejected him, and put him in unfair situations, which was good enough. Cena was interrupted by a child choir of all things, singing “He’s got the whole world in his hands”, led by Bray Wyatt. The lights shut off, and when they came back on, all of the kids were wearing sheep masks.
This was one of the more interesting, weird, unusual, and cool segments I’ve ever seen. I feel like it could have been executed better, and I wanted it to be better than it was, but that would be taking a 9/10 segment to a 10/10 segment. It was really good, and unlike anything I’ve seen before, which is what I want out of wrestling.
– The Usos vs. Rybaxel for the WWE Tag Titles was next, full with in-ring intros, which I absolutely love.
As much as I like the Usos, pretty soon they’re gonna have to stop doing that double dive over the top rope. It’s getting dangerous. Anyway, the crowd was into this match big time, at least when the Usos were in control. The match itself was good, and Rybaxel continue to grow as a team.
The finish was incredibly cool, as Axel hit a PerfectPlex on one of the Usos, as the other landed a Superfly Splash on him for the win. I really love the WWE tag team division, and hope with all of the teams splitting of late, that it doesn’t suffer.
– It is really smart of WWE to mention that DirecTV and Dish aren’t carrying Extreme Rules as a way to plug the Network. They probably should have mentioned it’s a lot cheaper, too.
– Michael Cole just doesn’t sound genuine on commentary at any moment that requires emotion, that’s something that has truly been lacking since Jim Ross left.
– I just want one Raw, for a match to start at like 8:20, and out of nowhere, last an hour. Is that so much to ask?
– So, for some reason, Titus O’Neil attacked Sheamus before their match, to the point where the referee didn’t want the fight to continue. About twelve seconds later, Sheamus hit a Brogue Kick for the win.
Well okay. This wasn’t bad, and it was different, and I like different..so that’s good. I’m just not sure why the Prime Time Players were split.
– Another hilarious Bo Dallas vignette aired. As Steve mentioned while we spoke on The Late Shift with Steve last week (check it out here), the gimmick is being called up, not the wrestler. I just want Bo Dallas to come back and give John Cena a motivational speech .
– Dolph Ziggler and Hugh Jackman were out to promote the new X-Men movie, and bury the hatchet from Jackman’s last appearance in the WWE. In a hilarious turn of events, Damien Sandow arrived dressed as Magneto, which may have been one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen in wrestling.
This segment, and the first hour as a whole was fantastic. Sandow tried to show his “magnetic powers”, complete with sound effects. Jackman humored him before hitting him with a hiptoss, and a Zig Zag from Ziggler. This was complete gold.
– Cesaro took on Jack Swagger for the second time this week, in a match that I fully expected to happen at Extreme Rules.
This match was entirely too short, but did involve Paul Heyman grabbing Zeb Coulter by the mustache, which was pretty funny. I’d imagine this match puts the kibosh on the Cesaro/Swagger feud, as Cesaro won quickly with a german suplex. I’m hoping Swagger gets a new partner, and continues to be serviceable to the tag team division.
– I was pleased to see WWE had booked Cody Rhodes vs. Alberto Del Rio, as both guys should be featured on the show a little more. Rhodes has been showing signs of dissention with brother Goldust, and I fully believe the two can have a good, entertaining, lengthy feud if their rivalry is given time on WWE TV.
This was good while it lasted, before Del Rio went over clean with an armbar, although this match was more to add the splinter in the Rhodes Brothers’ relationship. Del Rio getting a win on Raw over a good opponent was a positive, too.
– Well, Lana showed up, so I expected the segment to peak there. Alexander Rusev took on Xavier Woods, and squashed him in a mercifully short match, before R-Truth interfered. The two will take on Rusev at Extreme Rules, where they’ll get that WWE Network payday, baby!!
Oh, finally JBL mentioned that a guy from Bulgaria might have a sambo background, good call JBL. This gimmick is really bad. The Cold War has been over for a long time, WWE.
– Go away, Chrisley. You ain’t welcome round these parts.
– 3MB took on Los Matadores, but that doesn’t matter. What matters is that Hornswoggle will be taking on Torito in the first ever “WeeLC” match before Extreme Rules. It sound pretty damn stupid, but I laughed pretty hard when they put up the graphic for it.
Heath Slater hit one of the Matadores with a disgusting looking impaler DDT, and JBL acted like he beat Hulk Hogan after the pin, which was also funny. For me not caring about anyone in that segment, it was entertaining.
– I was very surprised to see Daniel Bryan performing on Raw this week, after everything he went through on a personal level last week. He could have easily stayed off of TV until Extreme Rules, and it would have worked after the Tombstones he received from Kane, but much respect to him for going back to work.
Stephanie McMahon offered a half-hearted apology and yadda yadda. Brie Bella was out with Daniel Bryan, which is a good touch to have her with the champion to add another layer to the character. McMahon booked Bella in a women’s title match immediately after.
Paige came out for the match, and it was a good one by diva standards, until Kane came out from under the ring and fudged the whoooole thaaang up. He tried to drag Brie under the ring, but Bryan hit him with a wrench. It had no effect, and Kane chokeslammed Bryan.
Brie Bella called Stephanie a bitch. Oh boy, here come the “That’s not PG!” tweets.
– In another moment of hilarity, Bad News Barrett made fun of how old Rob Van Dam is, before their tournament final match to determine the Intercontinental Title contender.
Unfortunately, storms cut my DirecTV feed out after a slow pace to start the match, and I saw Barrett pick up the win after the crowd was going crazy. I’ll pretend this was the most kickass finish ever, just because Raw had been really good up to this point. Barrett will be facing Big E for the Intercontinental title at Extreme Rules.
I later found out Cesaro and Swagger got involved in the match, costing RVD.
– Ric Flair! Yep, former Evolution member Ric Flair joined his stablemates. The return got a great pop from the St. Louis crowd, which was NWA country for many years. Flair came out and offered a weird, half-endorsement to the Shield before Roman Reigns took on Randy Orton.
Also, it was announced that Dean Ambrose would somehow defend his United States title in a 3-on-1 match on Smackdown against Alberto Del Rio, Ryback and Curtis Axel. A lot of people make cracks about how often he’s defended it, but it’ll be his 14th defense since winning the title.
Reigns hasn’t had many singles matches, and has never lost one on WWE TV. WWE is doing the right thing by hiding his negatives, accentuating his positives, and having him work alongside really good workers to better prepare him for the future. Eventually, the match was thrown out as a melee ensued.
The Shield got beat down, before making a comeback and clearing the ring, finishing the show.
Raw was really good tonight, one of the more entertaining Raw episodes in a while. There were no fantastic, barnburning matches, but the show did it’s job, and had some pretty hilarious moments. leading in to Extreme Rules. By the way, you guys, I’ll be covering Extreme Rules on Twitter, and here on Cage Passion Sports. Be sure to check it out.
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