RAW’s trend of being boring and predictable continued this week as it managed to beat last week’s record. RAW this week was absolutely horrendous if not for two great matches. Here, in this article, I am going to get you into the best match of the evening that managed to make us feel somewhat better despite the clamor among fans about the extent of boredom in the show. Though most matches in the show maintained a good quality, it was the in between segments that made me want to turn to something better.
As I previously said, this article will deal with the best match of the evening and there were two contenders here. One was Randy Orton vs Cody Rhodes and the other was Alberto Del Rio vs Antonio Cesaro. The winner clearly was the former as Rhodes and Orton stole the show.
Speaking of the match, it was well written and there were a lot of close calls, and it looked like Rhodes would do the inevitable at certain moments. The match started off with Orton on the offensive and it looked like this match was heading for a quick finish. Despite Rhodes’ attempt to evade Orton using his speed, the Viper manged to connect an elbow and then begin his sadistic offense. Orton’s dropkicks were perfectly timed and his clothesline on Rhodes outside the ring nearly took out Rhodes’ head.
After battling out for sometime, it looked as though the match was nearing its end. But Rhodes had other plans as he somehow suddenly started predicting his former Legacy teammate’s moves with a lot of accuracy. Rhodes manged to fend off two RKOs and a rope hung DDT that Orton so well connects. It looked like Rhodes wasn’t going to give it to Orton easy.
The crowd was clearly behind Orton as the RKO chants were out but neither of the wrestlers were ready to give the opponent a victory. Rhodes landed a well crafted disaster kick on Orton. After a Goldust uppercut, Rhodes was ready to go for the kill. He climbed to the top and was ready to finish a vulnerable Orton but he managed to reverse the move with a superplex.
The biggest moment of the night came when Rhodes reversed a RKO with a Cross Rhodes and this was the moment when I thought we were finally going to see an unexpected victory. Rhodes was very close to his long elusive victory but Orton somehow managed to kick out at two, much to the delight of the crowd. The most intriguing part of the match was the way Rhodes reacted to this. He turned into a complete lunatic as he slapped himself in the face out of frustration. He then went for the Disaster Kick which Orton countered into a RKO to pick up the victory.
Rhodes clearly showed to us the extent of his talent and how well he can carry on a match. Orton was at his usual best and both these wrestlers put on a bout that clearly was the match of the night.