This weeks Raw was a bit all over the place. There were good points, bad points, strange haphazard decisions made and matches coming out of nowhere. Lets delve in.
John Cena Is Sad
The Raw opener this week was very effective at doing a couple of things:
- Ensuring Bray Wyatt remained unflappable in the lead up to Extreme Rules.
- Made John Cena look vulnerable in a rare showing for the Cenation leader.
- Had John Cena put over a bunch of talent such as Daniel Bryan, Cesaro, Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns as future stars. (Dean Ambrose was left off the list so I guess that seals his fate then! #sarcasm)
- Made me hate the “whole world in his hands” song so much.
It was effective for what it was and helped to amp up the creepiness and tension leading into Extreme Rules when they will meet inside a steel cage.
Oh, No Time Left At Extreme Rules Then?
Those of you who read regularly know that I am not a fan of Ryback or Curtis Axel so this sudden push they are getting is not thrilling me. However, credit where credit is due, this match was better than average and had a great finish to it. Look at the image above, the perfect plex broken up by the splash, just great. I’m guessing this match happened because of timing issues at Extreme Rules, but in fairness, I would have given this a 10 – 15 minute slot in place of the Handicap squash featuring Xavier Woods and R-Truth going against Alexander Rusev and especially in place of this abomination:
And its being called a WeeLC match. Really? Is the objective of the match to be the first participant to piss on the other? Not very PG, WWE, not very PG at all.
Jackman In The House
I bet Damien Sandow wishes he could, like Wolverine in the new Xmen: Days Of Future Past movie, go back in time to better times. Like when he was winning matches, and held the Money in the Bank briefcase. It’s really been a downward slope for Damien Sandow and I’m still wondering who’s coffee he urinated in to get to the point where he had to come out dressed as Magneto. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Sandow in TNA of GFW in the future because right now, he’s at a lower level than Santino and The Great Khali and that’s really REALLY saying something.
Otherwise, this segment was fun. Jackman is legitimately a fan of WWE and did not need to be here to plug his movie so he really just came to have some fun. Dolph is full of charm and personality and can light up these segments and get the crowd going like few others, so this was a good pairing.
We’re Still Doing Cesaro vs Swagger
I thought we were going to blow this feud off on Smackdown last week, but apparently this is set to continue into Extreme Rules with the inclusion of Rob Van Dam now. I am impressed with the amount of time on the show that this was given between the match itself, the interference in the IC tournament finals, and the backstage segments. I haven’t seen this much time dedicated to a mid card feud since CM Punk’s 434 day reign as WWE champion.
The opening promo by Heyman where he played with the crowd and their frustration at his repeated bellowing about his client Brock Lesnar was amazing and just classic Heyamn. There is no-one better than him in WWE right now, and I dare say there never will be.
Stephanie McMahon Is The Best
Speaking of great talkers, you have to give mad props to Stephanie McMahon who has had a stellar couple of months on television. She has elevated almost every segment she has been in with her screeching, heel persona that she plays to absolute perfection. The crowd loves to hate her, and that is the mark of a true great. She has clearly inherited all of the great traits from her father, and probably some of the bad ones, but we have to take the good with the bad.
Daniel Bryan played third fiddle here in a way as he is probably still a bit sensitive from the tragedy that befell his family last week along with the tragic passing of young Connor whom Bryan granted a wish to last year. He did get to talk this week, and while he flubbed a few lines, he was on point as always. I am now fully convinced that the Bryan and Kane match will NOT main event Extreme Rules, even though it really should if you want to establish Bryan as a true main event level champion, and not CM Punk 2.0.
The match between Brie and Paige for the Diva’s championship was always a means to an end as we knew Kane was lurking somewhere. And while coming from beneath the ring has been done before multiple times, it was still effective enough to work.
I’m Afraid I’ve Got Some Good News, Barrett
If Cesaro wasn’t going to win the tournament for a shot at the IC title, I am very happy that it ended up being Bad News Barrett. Barrett is really becoming comfortable in his character and seems to be genuinely having fun out there every week. Actually, come to think of it, a lot of guys tend to look like they are having fun out there lately. Cesaro, Swagger, BNB, Bryan, The Shield, hell even Triple H and Randy Orton look happier in the ring than they did 6 months ago. It feels like a new day is dawning and I for one, am delighted to be a part of it.
BNB winning the tournament over RVD made sense and I’m glad he won. The one thing I am not so happy about is all the other things happening around this match. Cesaro and Swagger interfering marred the match a little bit and made it less effective a victory than if Barrett had pinned RVD cleanly. It also inserted RVD into the feud with Cesaro and Swagger and now we have a triple threat at Extreme Rules between the 3. It should make for a decent match, and one I’m sure Cesaro will win if they plan to continue his slow rise to the next level. But now that I’ve said it, RVD will probably win because of more moustache pulling on the outside.
And on a more positive note, the tournament to determine a #1 contender for the IC title has really made it feel relevant again. And while it could have been spread a little thicker and done over a 1 – 2 week period, it restored some much needed importance the belt and will hopefully lead to the belt truly becoming a stepping stone to main event status and the number 2 title in the company which is the way things should be.
A Shield Will Prevent Perishing
Continuity came back into play this week when it was finally acknowledged that Ric Flair used to be a part of Evolution too. It was a glaring oversight that needed to be addressed at some point. Even the video about the group that aired on Raw last week went out of its way to try and remove Flair from it where possible. So it was nice to trot Flair out this week and have the announcers acknowledge his involvement in the original group.
The rest was obvious, Flair talked about everything and nothing, eventually sided with The Shield and said they were great. Predictable stuff, and since Flair would probably evaporate into dust if anyone tried to attack him so nothing physical happened here. He just kind of left like nothing happened and the match got started.
The above-mentioned match was nothing special and did not last long. I went in thinking that Reigns would get a clean win (since he has been getting clean pins over Orton at live events) further progressing him up the ranks. It ended in a DQ which is fine too and while it looked like Evolution would stand tall again, The Shield rallied back and stood tall to end the show. If I believed in opposite momentum I’d say they were losing on Sunday. Also, the flying knee from Rollins while a great way to turn things around, did not connect at all:
Before I finish up for this week, I want to float a theory out there that has probably already been said but still. With Batista looking to be taking some time off after Sunday, and an impending Shield breakup always on the horizon, what if one of the Shield became the “future” person in Evolution. It won’t be Rollins. It could be Reigns but with a potential match between Reigns and Triple H pencilled in for Summerslam in August, it would just be a rush to get him split away again. But what about Dean Ambrose? Picutre it, Ambrose coming out all cocky every week in a suit with Triple H and Randy Orton. A feud between Ambrose and Reigns. Ambrose being built up like Randy Orton was back in 2003 – 2004. It could be great, and it’s something I would love to see happen.
With Evolution being past, past and past right now, they are not living up to their moniker at all, and it will be interesting to see if they are even a thing after Sunday.
That’s gonna do it for this week ladies and germs. Be sure to look out for NXT Revisited on Saturday from yours truly. MFX Podcast from the MFX guys this week and the Extreme Rules ppv report from Bryan on Monday.
Peace.
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