WWE: RAW Review - June 17

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!