WWE: RAW Review for 20th May

After Sunday night, the landscape of the WWE changed. As new tag team champions emerged, the fate of the United States title was also decided, as three hungry individuals tightened their grip over the WWE by winning the titles, and establishing themselves as worthy adversaries and contenders.

Although The Shield dominated the WWE for months, their true dominance began Sunday night, when they captured gold, and showed just how impressive they are as a cohesive unit. This made things much more interesting as we headed down to Kansas City for the 1,043rd episode of Monday Night RAW, with the hype surrounding Paul Heyman and his new ‘Paul Heyman Guy’.

The show started with Ryback coming out in an ambulance, and he cut a promo about how Cena was unable to walk out after their match and ended up being stretchered out. He proposed an Ambulance match at WWE Payback, the next WWE PPV against John Cena for the WWE championship. He ran down the fans and ended the segment with “Ryback Rules”. Ryback needs a mouth piece as soon as possible, but this was one of the very few passable promos he delivered, which is actually a compliment. The match was made official, as we shall now see Ryback vs Cena at WWE Payback next month.

The Miz and Chris Jericho defeated Wade Barrett and Fandango (With Summer Rae)

Fandango started things off with Jericho, and tagged Barrett in. Later, as Miz and Jericho took turns working on Barrett, Fandango’s music hit, and he started dancing with Summer. Barrett got annoyed, but that led to Jericho giving him the codebreaker, and The Miz applying the figure four as Barrett had no other option but to tap out. Post match, Jericho and Miz tried to attack Fandango, but he fled the scene, leaving Summer behind. Jericho did a couple of dance moves with her but then abandoned her, much to her anger. That was more of a segment than a match. It looks like WWE is going with Barrett-Fandango now, which is a good change.

Vickie Guerrero came on to the stage and asked the fans to vote for Swagger’s opponent tonight, with the choices being Khali, R – Truth and Orton. We’d get the results later.

Sheamus defeated Titus O’Neil (With Darren Young)

I thought it would be a squash match, but Titus held his own for a while against the Celtic Warrior. The match went on for 6 minutes and saw Darren Young trying to get involved to help his partner. The match ended as Sheamus gave the White Noise and then the Brogue Kick to Titus for the pin and the win.

Paul Heyman came out next to announce his newest client. Heyman talked about Brock beating Triple H at Extreme Rules, and said Triple H wasn’t on RAW, as Brock knocked him out. A good promo as always by Heyman, as he then introduced his new client, who was Joe Hennig, now repackaged as Curtis Axel, a name derived from his legendary father and his grandfather. Axel came out and Heyman introduced him once again. Triple H then came out and talked about beating Heyman down. Axel came in the middle, and Triple H slapped him to the mat. Triple H then challenged Axel for a match at the end of the night – Triple H’s first match on RAW since 3 years was against Axel, which would have been a great honour for Axel.

Big E Langston (With AJ Lee) defeated Alberto Del Rio (With Ricardo Rodriguez)

A 5 minute encounter between ADR and Big E, most of which was dominated by Alberto. The end saw AJ throwing in a bucket to distract ADR, as Big E took advantage and delivered the Big Ending for the pin and the win! I certainly didn’t see that coming, as Big E just defeated the number 1 contender for the World Heavyweight championship! As I said, the creative has no idea how to book someone strongly.

AJ Lee defeated Layla

A normal divas match that saw AJ Lee picking up the victory over the former Divas champion, Layla, with the Black Widow submission move. Nothing great about the match itself.

Cody Rhodes defeated Zack Ryder

A 2 minute match which saw both the superstars getting their offences in. A small ‘Let’s go Ryder’ chant started, and then a ‘Cody’s Moustache’ chant. The end saw Cody picking up the victory with a Disaster Kick. Post match, Ryback came down as Rhodes escaped, and Ryback turned his attention to a fallen Ryder. He completely destroyed Ryder, and then put him in the ambulance at the entrance area to send out a message to John Cena.

The Shield came out next with their titles, as Dean Ambrose cut a good promo, saying how no one believed, and they proved them wrong. Reigns and Rollins finished the promo off, as all the three stood in the middle of the ring with the titles on their shoulders.

The Shield defeated Team Hell No and Kofi Kingston

I absolutely loved the match. A near 25 minute match on RAW is something we need every week, and if it involves phenomenal talents like Ambrose, Rollins and Bryan, that would end up being one of the best matches we would see on live TV, and that is what this 6 man tag team match was! The end came when The Shield isolated all the other guys, and Rollins and Reigns took advantage of it and hit Kane with a top rope flying knee, followed by a spear for the pin and the win! A great match on RAW, which would make all the fans happy.

Randy Orton defeated Jack Swagger (With Zeb Colter)

Another great TV match that got about 20 minutes in total. Orton won the poll with a whopping 72% of the votes, although that didn’t come as a surprise. Orton battled Swagger, as the match went back and forth. The end saw Swagger locking in the Patriot Act, and Orton managed to get out of it and delivered an RKO for the pin and the win. I love it when WWE gives 20 minute matches on RAW, and having two of them in one night was nothing short of brilliant.

Triple H took on Curtis Axel (With Paul Heyman) to a No Contest

24 hours after battling Lesnar, Triple H fought his first match on RAW after 3 years against the new Paul Heyman guy, Curtis Axel. Triple H dominated as the match began, but when he went to the floor, he stumbled around, as the concussion angle was set up. Triple H was oozy, and he was laid out with the medical team around him as WWE went off the air. They could have had Curtis dominate Triple H before the concussion angle kicked in, but that is how the booking is.

It made no sense as to why the effects started showing when Curtis didn’t even get his shots in properly. Either way, I’m glad that Curtis is the new Paul Heyman guy. The kid is immensely talented, and his father would be proud of him. That is all for the review. Join us next time as we review the next episode of Monday Night RAW.

Show rating: *** (Out of 5 stars)