WWE Monday Night Raw: 25 August 2014 - Top 5 moments of the week

Intensity spilled over in Anaheim this week on Raw when the WWE took time to push the John Cena – Brock Lesnar feud further. Some new seeds were sown along with the well-executed segments from the champ and the Beast.Confrontation between Brie and Nikki Bella didn’t go as the WWE would’ve wanted it to, but this will be a lesson learnt. Not having a backup name for the acting limitations of the Bellas cost the writers dearly while it ended up being one of the worst moments.However, there were many moments in the show that made the night took good overall. So here is a look at those moments that were good enough to keep in the Raw archives.

#5 Game over

When Lesnar won the WWE championship, the concern that most fans had was about him being absent every now and then. The writers apparently found a way around this with some pre-recorded interviews with the Beast.

Though he was not physically present in the arena, his aura was there to be felt. It was nothing but intense words from the champion who didn’t let Heyman do the talking. Lesnar laid out his simple plan to destroy Cena once again. There were time constraints, but the promo had the entire big match atmosphere.

The rematch will draw crowds anywhere if WWE will continue booking these two brilliantly like this. Though almost all the words packed a punch, it was Lesnar’s ‘game over’ phrase which stole the show.

#4 It gets weirder

A few years before, WWE ran an angle with Mickie James and Trish Stratus which attracted a lot of controversy. AJ Lee and Paige will not be able to go to that extent in the reality era, but they could break the boundaries.

AJ has been haunting Paige ever since the title got switched at SummerSlam and as each week passes, the two act weirder and weirder. It is a tense situation whenever these two cross paths and WWE fans are eagerly waiting the moment where the explosion would take place.

There is still some time left for Night of Champions, which means that the feud has all the potential to turn into something more special or weird for that matter.

#3 And the No.1 contender is..

Sheamus didn’t get the chance to defend his United States championship at SummerSlam and the company might be covering up for that by giving him an early contender. And that contender is none other than the Swiss Superman, Cesaro.

Cesaro came out with a win against Rob Van Dam to earn the spot and is back into relevance with the win. He challenged Sheamus on Twitter which gave the fans an early indication that the match would be happening sooner or later.

After determining the contender, what WWE needs to do now will be to give a pay-per-view spot to the duo as anything less would be disappointing.

#2 Heel Time

WWE’s tag team division was starting to show some life due to certain additions but this week, the angle was taken to a whole new level with the heel turn from Rhodes Brothers.

Despite having a plethora of potential, Cody Rhodes and Goldust were restricted to some kind of cosmic idiocy. This came to an end when they were denied the right to fix their hands firmly on the tag titles.

The heel – face scenario is back in the division after a long time and having a new team instead of the Wyatts makes a lot of sense. All the WWE needs to do now is to take the titles away from the Usos as any other booking decision would mess things up.

#1 The man on a mission

For all those WWE fans who are crying to see Cena turn heel, this week’s Raw was as close as it could get. This was not the Cena that we used to see week in and week out.

He was more aggressive, he was more intense, he was more determined and most importantly, he was out there to prove himself to everyone who doubted his mere ability to step in the ring with Brock Lesnar.

Though Bray Wyatt got the bad side of this booking, Cena’s depiction of Lesnar’s style was the biggest highlight of this week. Hype for the rematch at Night of Champions is at an all-time high after this week and WWE has no space whatsoever to screw this opportunity.