Superstars of the show - WWE RAW 29th July

This week’s RAW was pre-taped (it kind of showed as there were legible cuts) and featured some good moments, heading into the ‘hottest’ pay-per-view of the year, SummerSlam.

However, even though it wasn’t bad by any means, mediocrity seemed to permeate the show as I watched some very good moments interspersed mostly with average segments and even downright bad ones.

The show opened with Mr. McMahon making his way to the ring with Brad Maddox, the current General Manager of RAW and stepping up the focus on Daniel Bryan and his match with John Cena for the championship at Summerslam. I hope it is just a sign of things to come, as they just seem to test the waters for now and if this is going to be a feud, then Bryan is in line for a serious run as the company’s top star.

Talking about Bryan, surprisingly, he is not on the list this week as the top superstar. I mean, he had a match with Kane and quite a bit of air time too. But, the men I chose on this list, seemed to have done better than him on this week’s RAW. Let’s take a look then:

Christian and Alberto Del Rio

Both men are great workers we know already. But what wasn’t known when they started their match Monday night was that theirs would turn out to be the match of the night.

Christian never ceases to amaze me and with a ring-costume makeover and a general tempering with his character, he is always a ready contender for a major title. Positioned as the wily veteran on the show, he picked up yet another crafty win, this time against the World Heavyweight champion, Alberto del Rio.

Del Rio, along with Daniel Bryan, makes a strong contender for being the best worker night in and night out, on WWE TV. He holding that title, brings a certain amount of legitimacy to the championship as his style is physical and his matches are hard-fought… Always.

This past Monday, against Christian, the drop kick onto Captain Charisma’s arm looked like it killed him and his ensuing attacks were stiff and directed to that part of Christian’s body which led to the interesting chain of events at the end of the match. If spoilers are to be believed, this isn’t the last time we saw them duke it out.

Bray Wyatt

Far removed from his Husky Harris days, the present day Bray Wyatt character is one of the most interesting things on TV right now. And I am not the only one feeling that way, as his entry through the darkness, with his ‘family’ received one of the largest pops of the night.

I had just referred in my last article about the place of creepy monsters/heels on WWE TV and the performance of the Wyatt family justified my thoughts. The total decimation of Kane was well done and Wyatt proceeded to cut another of his cryptic promos that is a cross between the ones that would come out of the Ultimate Warrior & The Macho Man.

Truly creepy, this character should stand the test of time with the fickle wrestling audience, if done the right way, and along with Brock Lesnar, point the way forward for the return of Monster heels in the WWE.

Ryback

Ryback’s tenure in the WWE has been interesting to say the least. From main-eventing pay-per-views in his initial six months with the likes of CM Punk and Cena, he finds himself now doing jobs on consecutive editions of RAW. But the consolation can be that both losses have come to the likes of Daniel Bryan and John Cena.

His present character seems to be a bully/jerk who is happy to be picking on people just because he can. In a very heelish segment, he roughed up a staff backstage and put him through a table – standard heel procedure.

Then during his match, his mannerisms were way sarcastic and complacent, which even cost him the match. But, the important things is that his heel persona is starting to get over now as he seems to be legitimately loathed a la Scott Steiner during the NWO days.

That is a good thing for the big man, as there aren’t a lot of people who look like him now in wrestling anymore.

By the way, he press slammed John Cena, something that has not been done in 10 years since Brock Lesnar. Draw a parallel there!