Superstars of the show - WWE RAW, 19 August 2013

This week’s RAW had it hard, as it had the unenviable task of following the best event that the WWE put has put out so far this year. It is usual for the RAW that follows a big event to garner more eyeballs than normal, but to WWE’s credit, they also usually come up with solid follow-up shows and deliver the excitement one needs heading into the next pay-per-view.

This week’s edition of the flagship show was at best, a mixed bag I thought. The matches were mostly good, but in terms of angle development, especially with the major angles coming off SummerSlam, it left a lot to be desired. Also, for long time fans of the product, the goings-on with the main-event did seem a bit been there-seen that sorts. But, truth be told, it does have potential, and hopefully the superstar in the centre of all this comes out better than worse.

This week, the performances were mostly mediocre and except for a couple of the expected big names, the others didn’t really deliver and so, it wasn’t that hard to come up with the list below :

Daniel Bryan

Daniel Bryan

Is he really going to be the face of the company? The fans really hope so, and if the reactions he has been getting is any sign, he already is. But then again, a lot of people who matter, do seem to think that he isn’t the right guy with the right look that the company needs to go with when positioning a superstar as the face of the company.

Storyline-wise, the Mcmahons (including Triple H) too have that line of thought and Monday, it was made clear that it is going to be an uphill battle for Bryan if he aims to reach the top of the mountain in this company. Aside from the needless burying at times by Triple H, Bryan did seem like the ‘perfect underdog’ that everyone sees as poised to scale the insurmountable odds and become champion.

After a heartfelt speech by John Cena announcing his departure for surgery, it did seem like a ‘passing of the torch’ so to speak when he introduced DB and shook his hand on the way out. Bryan was immediately confronted by Stephanie Mcmahon and in the verbal duel that followed, he showed why he belongs in the big league when he comfortably handled himself on the stick and had the crowd eating out of the palm of his hand.

After expressing his defiance towards the authority, Bryan was escorted out of the building by security, only to return later during the closing, where he played the ultimate underdog who has to fight the system…just another day though.

The Shield

The Shield

It was heartening to see the Shield’s presence in such a big way on the show and even more glad to see that they find themselves involved in the main-event scene. Just when I thought they may be relegated to lower card status, The Shield were involved in 3 segments on RAW and never looked out of place in any of them. Roman Reigns’s spear is still the difference-making move and while superstars can hope to tackle them as individuals, their dominance as a unit is unquestioned.

As henchmen for the powers above, Brad Maddox pitted them first against Dolph Ziggler, who was game for a while before going down to the Shield. Later they took on the Big Show, who looked like he was going to beat them, but got taken out too. To underline their dominance, they even managed to triple powerbomb the giant, in an impressive display of strength and cohesiveness. The Shield also decimated Daniel Bryan before feeding him to the corporate authorities in the main-event, and gained massive heat throughout the night for their actions.

C M Punk

CM Punk

If you thought that having been champion for a record-long reign would tame the rebel and get him to slow down on his quest to achieve wrestling greatness, you couldn’t be more wrong. Punk looks as hungry, angry and crazy as he did a couple of years back when he was legitimately pissed off with the system, and that’s a good thing. The fans love the unpredictable mad-dog persona of Punk, and boy did he showcase that side last night!

In a passionate and visceral display of real anger, Punk cut a promo on one of the lousy fans in the front row that brought the crowd alive, and I am sure the production guys too were jolted off their seats as they had to bleep out a large part of his tirade against the hapless ‘fatso’ fan who had angered him.

Still displaying the effects of the war he had been involved in from the night before, Punk then confronted Heyman and made it clear that their feud was far from over. When he refused to return to Paul’s fold, he was immediately put in an unsanctioned fight with Curtis Axel, who after dominating Punk for a while, was laid to waste courtesy some vicious chair shots by the former world champ.

CM Punk is pure money as a heel and I can’t wait to see what’s in store in the coming weeks in this feud.