WWE: RAW Review - June 17

This week’s RAW kicked off with Ricardo coming out and bringing out the new World Heavyweight champion, Alberto Del Rio, to loud jeers from the live crowd. He cut a promo about how he was the ‘man of gold’, and that he got his retribution for Ziggler cashing the MitB briefcase on him when he was hurt. He blamed the crowd for cheering on Ziggler. A loud ‘We want Ziggler’ chant started. He called the fans ‘pigs and cowards’ before he was interrupted by a returning CM Punk, and the crowd erupted! He reminded ADR how he beat him for the WWE title, and went on to hold the title for a record 434 days. A loud ‘CM Punk’ chant started, and CM Punk said he was the real best in the world, and not ADR. Heyman interrupted Punk, and Punk stopped him. Punk said he stole the show with Jericho, and proved on Sunday once again that he was the best in the world, and challenged ADR for a match later in the night! Loud ‘Si’ chants started, which brought Vickie Guerrero out and she made the match official. A decent promo by ADR which confirmed his heel turn, and a great promo as always by Punk. A good way to kick off RAW.

Backstage, Punk told Heyman that he doesn’t want Heyman near the ring again. Smells like a Heyman heel turn at the end of the night.

Wade Barrett vs Christian

This was supposed to be a rematch for Barrett, but Vickie came out and changed the match, and made Barrett face a returning Christian! The crowd erupted as Christian made his in–ring return. A huge leap by Christian onto Barrett on the outside, and the crowd was firmly behind Christian with a ‘Let’s go Christian’ chant. A four minute back and forth match that Christian won after the Killswitch, and the crowd loved every minute of it!

Winner: Christian

Rating: * ¾

A new vignette aired for the debut of the Wyatt Family. I’m looking forward to that, as things will get very interesting in the WWE.

Sheamus vs Rhodes Scholars in a 2-on-1 Handicap match

Sheamus has defeated both Sandow and Rhodes, and apparently this is the next logical step. Sheamus dominated the duo in the beginning, but they came back to put Sheamus down. Sheamus came back again and absolutely decimated Team Rhodes Scholars, but Sandow rolled Sheamus up out of nowhere for the pin and the win after three minutes. Post match, Sheamus delivered a Brogue Kick to Cody! Is Sheamus a face? He might just be the biggest bully in the WWE.

Winner (s): Rhodes Scholars

Rating: * ½

A video aired about the return of RVD at Money in the Bank PPV next month. I’m excited about RVD coming back home to WWE.

Backstage, Vickie and Maddox tried to suck up to Triple H, and Triple H wanted Vickie to be strict about The Shield.

Randy Orton vs Daniel Bryan in a No DQ match

The WWE Universe selected No DQ match among the options, and Bryan came out to a huge ovation from the live crowd. Good back and forth action, and the crowd was firmly behind Daniel Bryan. Orton started lashing at Bryan with a Kendo stick, and during the match, Bryan got injured and the doctor came in and ruled Bryan to be in no condition to compete. The match was awarded to Orton at the 16-minute mark. A solid match between the two till the end. Orton helped Bryan up, and Bryan went to the back dejected. That’s it? Weird.

Winner: By referee stoppage – Randy Orton

Rating: ** ½

AJ came out and cut a promo about how she’s the greatest Divas champion of all time, and laid out a challenge to any diva backstage, which was answered by Stephanie McMahon! Stephanie told AJ to act like a champion, to which AJ retorted, saying instead of dating a superstar, maybe she should marry one. Stephanie retored by saying ‘Nobody does crazy better than the McMahons’. That was classic! They were interrupted by Kaitlyn and the other divas. ‘You tapped out’ chants by the crowd. Kaitlyn attacked AJ, but Big E pulled AJ out and carried her to the back.

Dean Ambrose vs Kane for the WWE United States championship

The crowd was firmly behind Ambrose, with ‘Let’s go Ambrose’ chants. I love this crowd! Kane dominated in the early going, but Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins interfered, causing a DQ. They gave the triple powerbomb to Kane. The match barely started, and ended within 3 minutes.

Winner: By DQ – Kane

Rating: Dud

Backstage, Vickie confronted The Shield, but Vince said he was impressed by the faction and asked them to leave.

Another vignette of The Wyatt Family aired, which ended with the message ‘We’re coming’.

Zeb Colter came out and cut a promo about how USA is under attack. He brought out his new client, Antonio Cesaro! Fantastic news! I wrote a couple of weeks ago how Cesaro should align himself with Colter.

William Regal vs Antonio Cesaro

If it wasn’t WWE, these two could have a 5 star match! In WWE, it was a squash match. Cesaro defeated Regal in under three minutes with the Neutralizer. I’m happy for Cesaro. Post match, he draped Regal with a cloth and pledged his allegiance with Colter.

Winner: Antonio Cesaro

Rating: *

The WWE champion John Cena came out to cut a promo, and said the crowds are his favorite superstars. He explained how he had a bad 2012, and he thanked the fans for sticking by him. He was interrupted by Mark Henry, and he shook Cena’s hand. An emotional Mark Henry put Cena over as the fans started a ‘Thank you Henry’ chant. A teary-eyed Henry announced his retirement from professional wrestling. Cena raised Henry’s arm, but Henry delivered a World’s Strongest Slam out of nowhere! Wow! Now THAT is a surprise attack!

Chris Jericho vs Heath Slater (With Drew and Jinder)

Jericho took control early in the match, but Slater came back thanks to McIntyre blind siding Jericho. Jericho won the bout after two minutes with a code breaker. After the match, he delivered another code breaker to McIntyre and threw Jinder and Drew out of the ring.

Winner: Chris Jericho

Rating: * ¼

Sin Cara vs Curtis Axel (With Paul Heyman)

The Miz was on commentary, and the bout went for just over three minutes. After a back and forth action, Axel drilled Cara into the mat with a spike DDT for the pin and the win.

Winner: Curtis Axel

Rating: *

Backstage, Vickie was surrounded by the McMahon family, and every member told her to listen to them. Is this leading to a Vince vs Triple H confrontation? I guess we’re going back in time all over again.

CM Punk vs Alberto Del Rio (With Ricardo)

Punk went right at ADR with stiff kicks, but ADR came back with a kick to the head. Loud ‘CM Punk’ chants rang through the arena, and they saw a good back and forth action between the two competitors. At the 11 minute mark, Punk caught Del Rio with a GTS that knocked ADR out of the ring. Ricardo got him up to his feet and they started going to the back, and the referee counted them out. As they made their way to the top of the ramp, Ziggler attacked ADR, but was pulled apart by the referees and Ricardo, and Ziggler chased ADR to the back.

Winner: By count out – CM Punk

Rating: **

Post match, Punk celebrated in the ring, but Brock Lesnar’s music hit. Brock made his way to the ring and asked for a microphone, but blindsided Punk and dropped him with a huge F–5. I don’t want to say I told you so, but I told you so. RAW ended with Punk on the mat and Lesnar making his way to the back. I predicted this long ago, and I’m happy it’s going to happen. This feud will be very interesting from here on out.

Rating of the show: *** ¼ (Out of 5 stars)

Another strong episode of RAW, which included some surprise returns, some unexpected segments and a strong ending. Cena vs Mark Henry is almost confirmed for Money in the Bank PPV, which is not what I had expected. Anyway, this was one of the better episodes of RAW. Catch us next week as we look ahead to yet another interesting episode of Monday Night RAW!