WWE RAW 22nd April 2013 Review

RAW was live from London, UK last night and after a disdainful show last week, WWE had plenty to make up to. RAW this week was one to watch mainly because it was witnessing a historic event of The Undertaker wrestling after more than 3 years on RAW against the Shied. Frankly, this was the only match that managed to make us feel better as the other matches simply were a carry over from last week. Anyway, let us now look into the each and every segment as I review them.

Triple H, Paul Heyman Segment

Brock Lesnar challenged Triple H to a match once again last week on RAW to a cage match at Extreme Rules. Like most WWE fans, the crowd at London last night was completely uninterested with the developments in this segment. Paul Heyman spoke about Triple H and surprisingly he was in the arena last night. The crowd however gave him a lukewarm response. As if nobody ever guessed this, Triple H accepted Lesnar’s challenge to confirm their match at Extreme Rules and then pedigreed Paul Heyman.

Antonio Cesaro vs R-Truth

Of all the poor moments in RAW this week, this will probably be the worst. Frankly, there isn’t much you can say when you look at the result. R-Truth pinned Cesaro to pick up the victory. One of the best technical wrestlers in the roster today, Cesaro is now arguably in the worst phase of his life as a wrestler. To add to our woes, Cesaro came out of the ring yodelling which made him look even more ridiculous. The match, as expected, didn’t live up to being a good one especially since R-Truth was in it.

Brodus Clay vs Damien Sandow

Nothing much to say about this match. WWE seems to have gotten into a trend where they make good wrestlers look like a bunch of clowns. The same happened with Sandow who despite picking up the victory, looked like a dud. Sandow pinned Clay after rolling him up using his tights for the victory. Sad that Rhodes Scholars is now booked like this.

Chris Jericho vs Dolph Ziggler

This match had all the potential of being the best match of the night and for some time, it seemed the match was headed that way. Vickie Gurrero and Brad Maddox backstage interrupted Ziggler and AJ to give them a surprise that he was going to face Jericho next. The stipulation was that Jericho would be added to the Extreme Rules card for the World Heavyweight Championship. But after what looked a decent match, Jericho was distracted by Fandago’s music and Ziggler connected the Zig Zag for the victory. The disappointing thing about this match was the way it ended. Despite a healthy display by the two, the crowd seemed impervious and this was confirmed by the wave around the arena.

Cody Rhodes vs Tensai

As if the previous squash wasn’t enough, the Rhodes Scholars were out again and this time Rhodes was going to face Tensai. It looks like the fans in London had sinned previously and WWE found just the right way to punish them. The match, though a bit pacy, looked completely useless as Tensai pinned Rhodes to pick up the victory. It was a senseless match that the match card would have done without.

Big E Langston vs Zack Ryder

Big E is being made to look strong and the best way for WWE to do this is by putting him in squash matches. Big E faced Ryder and completely decimated him to pick up the victory. So much for all the Zack Ryder heel turn and him being the fourth member of the Shield.

The Shield vs The Undertaker and Team Hell No

The pre-match segment between Kane and Bryan was hilarious with Bryan planning to make a statement. Both were attacked by the Shied leaving Undertaker alone in the ring. Later, the Shield surrounded Taker and Team Hell No came to the rescue. Now if that wasn’t enough, let’s talk about the match. If RAW this week wasn’t a complete failure, you have to thank this match. Excellent match that the Shield have now gotten accustomed to. Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins are no doubt the best future of WWE at the moment. Undertaker showed no problems whatsoever as he looked fitter than ever, Bryan gave us more than what we had bargained for and Kane chipped in well. On the whole, this match didn’t deserve to be on a RAW like this as the creative team did enough justice to make the Shield look strong.

Fandango vs William Regal

William Regal is one of the most underused wrestlers in WWE history and the company didn’t get close to changing that. Fandango is the latest sensation in the company and Regal unfortunately turned out to be just the right jobber for him. The best part of the match came when Jericho attacked Fandango and danced with his dancer Summer Rae from NXT.

Diva’s Battle Royal

In other news, AJ Lee won the Divas Batte Royal. Enough said.

Mick Foley, Ryback segment

Foley this year got inducted into the Hall of Fame and after this, he is being used as a means of support to make the feud between Cena and Ryback legitimate. Ryback’s heel turn has failed miserably and WWE is trying hard to make him look more like one. The crowd however was in no mood to accept that. Ryback got a lot of cheers and Cena was given a dose of London heat. Anyway, Foley and Ryback gave us a horrendous time inside the ring. Ryback and Foley were immensely boring as Cena came out. Before Cena could say much, the Shied was out to teach Ryback a lesson. Cena supposedly bailed out but ca,e back with Foley’s chair to beat the Shield up. If you thought Cena did that to save Ryback, you’re wrong. He wanted to beat Ryback himself and he did that after he laid the AA on Ryback.

Every segment on RAW this week had its own sad story to tell. The show never took off from where it left last week and sadly for all WWE fans, RAW this week was an equally poor disaster as last week. Hopes of a repeat of post-Wrestlemaia RAW has now become an even more distinct dream. I would give this week’s RAW a 5/10 solely due to the Shield vs Taker match.