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After an eventful RAW last week, which saw Daniel Bryan taking part in a gauntlet match, wrestling for over 40 minutes on the show, this week, RAW came from Hidalgo, Texas for the 1, 053rd episode of Monday Night RAW.
RAW kicked off with Brad Maddox in the ring along with the chairman, Vince McMahon. McMahon said things which Brad had implied the earlier week, which brought out the number one contender for the WWE title at SummerSlam, Daniel Bryan to a massive ovation.
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Maddox left while Vince and Bryan argued if Bryan deserved the title shot. Vince tried to play mind games with Bryan, telling him that John Cena was playing with him. Bryan then retorted, standing on his tippy toes, telling Vince that he will be the new WWE champion, which drew a loud ‘Yes’ chant from the crowd.
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That was a fun opening segment to kick off the show. It’s obvious that Vince doesn’t want Bryan to be the WWE champion, while Bryan is willing to go against the boss. Reminiscence of Steve Austin back in ’98, anyone?
The Shield defeated Mark Henry and the Usos
A good back and forth tag team action which went for just over 12 minutes. The Shield picked up the victory after Henry and The Usos dominated for most of the match. Ambrose finished Jimmy Uso with the spiking DDT for the pinfall victory. Post match, Henry threw all the three members of The Shield out of the ring.
Rating: ** ½
A backstage segment from earlier in the night showed Ryback intimidating three guys (local independent wrestlers) and took one of them apart, and drove him through the table. I’m pretty sure it wasn’t supposed to look funny, but it did.
Kane showed up in Maddox’s office. Kane asked Maddox if he knew where the Wyatt Family was. Maddox told him he could send them a message during his match with Bryan.
RVD defeated Fandango (With Summer Rae) via count out
Where is Fandango going from here? I don’t know, but this pretty much makes the Jericho – Fandango feud earlier in the year pointless. The bout went on for 4 minutes before Fandango decided to walk away, thus giving RVD the count out victory.
Rating: *
Kaitlyn defeated AJ Lee (With Big E)
A 5-minute bout which saw Kaitlyn picking up the non-title victory over the Divas champion. This will likely set up yet another match between the two at SummerSlam. I guess we’ve had enough of their matches, and it’s time for someone like Natalya to enter the title picture.
Rating: *
Post match, Dolph Ziggler came out and challenged Big E to a match.
Dolph Ziggler defeated Big E Langston (With AJ Lee) via DQ
Big E took control of the match for the most part, but landed himself in trouble when Ziggler avoided Big E’s charge. With Big E on the outside, AJ came in and attacked Ziggler, causing the DQ. The bout went for just about 5 minutes, and post match, Ziggler avoided an attack by Big E, but dropped him with a Zig Zag, catching him off guard. This sets up their SummerSlam match nicely, with Big E now getting involved with AJ.
Rating: *
Backstage, Bryan confronted Cena, who said Vince was lying. The segment ended with Cena and Bryan staring each other down. I don’t mind it one bit, as they both need to intensify their feud going into SummerSlam.
Christian defeated Alberto Del Rio
Christian picked up the non-title victory over the World Heavyweight champion, which will set up their match at SummerSlam for the title. This was yet another solid TV match, which received just under 15 minutes. Christian is one of the best workers in the WWE, and I’d like to see him have a long, meaningful run as the champion.
Rating: ***
Cody Rhodes defeated Wade Barrett
The bout went for just under 5 minutes, and saw Cody picking up the victory with the Cross Rhodes. Rhodes is a tremendous worker, and I’m happy that he finally has something going for him in the WWE. Post match, Sandow cut a promo about Cody throwing his briefcase in the Gulf of Mexico.
Rating: * ½
Daniel Bryan defeated Kane
The former partners faced each other for the first time in a year, and Daniel Bryan picked up the victory after a good back and forth match with an inside cradle after the 12-minute mark. Post match, Kane connected with a chokeslam, but was interrupted by the Wyatt Family. He was attacked by Luke and Erick, and Bray finished things off with the swinging spike DDT, and then cut a promo about Kane not being the Devil’s favourite demon.
Rating: ** ½
Brie Bella defeated Natalya
Another instance when WWE made Natalya look like a joke. The mediocre bout went for about 4 minutes before Nikki distracted Natalya, enabling Brie to pick up the victory. Post match, they made fun of Natalya. For what? For having more talent in her pinky than the Bellas combined I suppose.
Rating: ½ *
Paul Heyman came out next and cut a promo about Punk facing Brock Lesnar. Heyman said Brock would destroy Punk at SummerSlam.
Curtis Axel (With Paul Heyman) took on R-Truth in No Contest
The match barely started before Punk came to the ring and tried to get his hands on Heyman. Heyman escaped, but Punk took his frustrations out on Axel. It’s a good way to build the much anticipated Punk – Lesnar/Heyman match at SummerSlam.
Rating: Dud
Backstage, Vince McMahon and Triple H confronted each other, and McMahon told Triple H that Bryan doesn’t look like a ‘WWE Champion’. Hunter said he could give him a makeover. Anyone remembers the same thing happening with Austin in ’98? I like where this is going if so.
John Cena defeated Ryback in a Tables match
The bout went on for 16 minutes, and was the same typical Cena-Ryback match that we got so bored of seeing till last month. Cena ended things with an AA over the table to pick up the victory.
Post match, Bryan came to the ring and handed Cena the title, only to take his hand back. Cena took the title from Bryan, and stared back at him. The show faded with Bryan leading the crowd in a ‘Yes’ chant.
Rating: ** ½
Show Rating: ** ½
That was a pretty average show, considering they were coming off a great couple of weeks. This week’s show was taped last week itself, so that hurt the show a bit. The Cena-Bryan feud is being built nicely at its own pace, which will make it memorable if the cards are played right. That’s it for this week’s review. We’ll be back with next week’s review, and hopefully, it will be much better than this week’s show.
