Guest Article: The Women of WWE - Part 3 (Lily Lestrange)

As we've seen from parts one and two of this blog series, WWE's history books are full of women who have made some sort of impact on the industry and have paved the never-ending path to what women's wrestling is today. But it's time to stop dwindling on the past and start looking at the (mostly) present and future Divas of the WWE.


Spot that cheeky wee "mostly" tucked away in brackets in that last sentence? That's because this lady is sadly no longer involved in the WWE but her presence is still felt despite this. I tried to keep this blog as future-focused as I could but this wee one just had to slip through; if WWE aren't going to give her the recognition she deserves then I certainly will.

AJ Lee

Who else but AJ? I've never personally been a fan of her in the ring but her mic work was some of the best that we've ever seen in the women's division and her accomplishments - like all of the other women in this series - are so important when it comes to progress in that division. She was the one who decided that "Divas" were a complete omnishambles, that being just like them wasn't anything to be proud of; so she told them all to take a running fuck to themselves and stood against them on her own because she was an independent wee mental goth chick that didn't need no help from anyone. 


Sure, they dumped her with the "crazy chick" gimmick that they burden a lot of good wrestlers with but she ran with it and made it her own; you saw the character developing from that shy little girl who cost Daniel Bryan the World Heavyweight title to Sheamus at Wrestlemania 29 to this sadistic, manipulative woman who pushed CM Punk off the top rope and through a table. At Mania 29 she just wanted to kiss her man good luck... that night on RAW she was kissing CM Punk goodbye because she was done with his shit. All the kisses she was dishing out resulted in the black widow gimmick that she ran with for the rest of the time she spent with the WWE and it was brilliantly thought out, the lot of it. There hasn't been that much attention to detail given to a female character in the history of WWE, as far as my memory serves. You could see her character developing as time went on and that’s why she was as popular as she was; you can be the best wrestler in the world with the best mic skills ever but if your character is stale then people begin to lose interest very quickly.


It was a shame that things ended the way they did with her. She was the longest reigning Divas champion in history and she didn't get so much as a thank you or a proper send off when she left. They wrote her out of the history books by making Nikki Bella hold it for 6 days longer than her; a title reign that was nowhere near as interesting as AJ's. Despite this, AJ still holds the combined record with Eve Torres for the most title reigns with the Divas Championship.

Paige

Speaking about AJ ties in nicely with Paige, given that it was on her debut to the main roster that Paige defeated AJ for the Divas Championship. Asides from Gail Kim winning the Women's title in a battle royal (a battle bloody royal, some things never change eh?) no other woman has won a title via pinfall on their debut. An amazing achievement for her given that she was only 21, which makes her the youngest Diva's champion ever.


I'm going to cheat a bit here and gush on about her time in NXT, because this is where her best matches have all happened. Her time on the main roster has seen her garner a bigger fanbase but with time constraints she's not really been able to show off her true skills in any of the matches she's had. She's had a lot of decent matches but none worth noting. NXT is another story; her match with Emma on NXT ArRIVAL in February 2014 was, I believe, the first match that really got people's interests piqued in terms of women's matches in the WWE. Everything about that match was brilliant, from the storytelling to the visible emotion they both showed throughout it, it's a must-see for every wrestling fan. But after that match was when people started talking; it got people saying "aw here, these lassies actually CAN wrestle" and from there everyone's been in mutual agreement that


The women of NXT are, well, fucking brilliant. It's leading to more people giving a damn about what happens on the main roster now that a lot of the NXT women have been called up too, so the more buzz that's generated by that, the more that creative will see how much people care about the women's division and hopefully that leads to them paying more attention to their Divas.


Her wrestling skills aside, Paige has fallen from the same tree as AJ and Lita where she has never been afraid to be different and takes pride in being a pillar of hope for kids who have always felt like they've never fit in. It's touching to see young girls approach her with their stories about how she's inspired them to embrace who they are because it was the exact same for me back when I was a kid except it was Lita that we looked up to. It's heart-warming to see that the next generation of kids have someone like that to look up to in wrestling, especially someone as talented as her.

Charlotte

I've seen people flapping their gums about Charlotte a lot this past while so I felt that she was the most relevant of the Horsewomen to talk about for now. She's been getting a lot of flack from the IWC because they think that she's only achieved what she has because she's Ric Flair's daughter, when in reality that couldn't be farther from the truth. I mean don't get me wrong, I don't think she'd have gotten into NXT if it wasn't for her family but to say that her entire wrestling career is built on the basis of her being the kid of a Hall of Famer completely discredits everything she has achieved in the time that she's spent on NXT and the main roster. The mentality of a lot of wrestling fans is that if you've no previous experience in the industry then you've no right to be in the WWE. A lot of those same fans shit their knickers with joy when Enzo Amore comes out with Big Cass. Enzo was in the same boat, he joined WWE with no previous experience but there we go, that's the IWC for you.


Charlotte's journey through the ranks and her development as a wrestler has been an interesting one: she started out on NXT as Bayley's tag team partner then turned on her not long after to join Sasha Banks and Summer Rae as part of the BFFs. Whilst all of this was going on she was feuding with Paige for the title and when Paige was called up to the main roster (and when she won the Divas Championship) she was stripped of it, so a tournament was held to determine who would win the vacant title. Charlotte ended up winning after pinning Natalya and went on to successfully defend the title for another 258 days before losing it to Sasha Banks at NXT TakeOver: Rival. Before she lost the title, the matches she had where she was defending it weren't some mickey mouse squash matches; she got to demonstrate her wrestling abilities, her mic skills and her athletic prowess (and by god is she athletic) in all of the matches she had which is why she's drawn in a lot of fans amongst the people criticising her.


As expected when she was called up to the main roster along with Becky Lynch and Sasha, the storyline they were inserted into hasn't exactly been thrilling; I haven't watched RAW for a long time (and given the kinds of matches and story lines that not only the women but all of the wrestlers have been put into, I won't be inclined to watch it anytime soon) but the gist I got from it is that they all got put into different sororities (like they were high school teenagers) and got pitted against each other in teams of three, as per usual in some daft triple threat matches where you don't actually get to see anyone demonstrate their capabilities. It was Charlotte, Becky and Paige versus Naomi, Tamina and Sasha versus The Bellas and Alicia Fox versus... no-one gives a fuck. It was all the women thrown together and put in meaningless matches with no continuity. Aaaaanyway, regardless of all of the half-arsedness of their feuds, Charlotte ended up feuding with Nikki and after being cheated out of a win a few times, she finally defeated her at Night Of Champions to become the new and current Divas Champion.


Now this doesn't seem like a lot; the timeline of her career that I've just described sounds quite short, right? Well she's been with NXT for 3 years now, so it's really not. Given that she has previous athletic experience she's obviously picked this up quicker than what some model with no experience would *cough* Eva Marie *cough* and she's been working alongside some of the best coaches in the business to get where she is now, so it's got little do with who her dad is and more to do with the effort she's put in to get where she needs to be. Working her way up from nothing to become the NXT Womens Champion then the Divas Champion in that timescale is an amazing feat and it's well deserved.

-------


And there we have it, the last instalment of my Women Of WWE blogs. I've -hopefully- covered the past, present and now future of the women's division sufficiently enough for you all to know and appreciate a bit more about it. Once again, I'm sorry I didn't get to cover all of the people that I wanted to in this one; Becky Lynch and in particular Sasha Banks have achieved great things in their careers and they should be recognised for it. I'll hopefully be covering more about these great ladies over on my own blog at some point in the future.

Daily Royal Ramble #8 (6th April 2014) - WrestleMania XXX Predictions

There's only one thing I can really talk about today, and that has to be my predictions for WrestleMania XXX! I'm sure there's hundred of these things knocking around today, I recommend checking out Marc P's on Youtube (If you're a fan of air fresheners this ones for you) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-q-fqWStjx4, obviously after you've read what I have to say. 

Let's work our way through the card, shall we? 

Kicking off with the Pre-Show, we have The Usos defending the Tag Team titles against The Real Americans, Rybaxel and Los Matadores. This is a pretty throw away match, I expect inoffensive action, that will be watchable, but with nothing of any significance occuring. Los Matores and The Usos will hit dives over the top rope, with The Usos eventually picking up the victory, as they've only just won the belts. The Real Americans seem on the verge of break up, Rybaxel are Rybaxel and Los Matadores are seemingly there for the banter.

Moving onto the show proper, I see The Shield opening the show for the second year running against Kane and The New Age Outlaws. I can't say I'm particularly hyped by this one, the build up has been pretty weak, with The Shield spending a fair few weeks teasing a break up, before Kane, Billy Gunn and Road Dogg were brought into it. I can't look past The Shield picking up the victory in this one, start off the show on a high and possibly put a close to the New Age Outlaws run in WWE. 

The joys of the Vickie Guerrero Invitational something or other, as AJ Lee defends the Diva's title against everyone. We all know this is going to be terrible, there is just no way fourteen women in the same ring is going to equal a good match, especially with one fall to a finish. I forsee AJ retain her title, leading to Paige's debut the next night on Raw, kick starting a feud between the two, but I've got a feeling that might be wishful thinking. My outside bet would go to Summer Rae, as they seem pretty high on her and it would tie in nicely with Total Divas. 

John Cena vs. Bray Wyatt is a tricky one, traditional storytelling would call for Cena to overcome the odds and pick up a heroic victory on the biggest stage of them all, but the flipside is the world of good it would do Wyatt, if Cena allowed him to go over clean. Personally, I think we'll be seeing Wyatt in the WWE title picture heading out of WrestleMania and towards SummerSlam, so I'm going to go with Bray Wyatt for this one. Hopefully clean, but it wouldn't surprise me if there's some shenanigans here, allowing for a rematch at Extreme Rules in May. 

Triple H and Daniel Bryan will battle it out for the opportunity to join Batista and Randy Orton in the main event, I think they'll place this one somewhere in the middle of the card. As much as I'd love to see Triple H win for the reactions on Twitter, the mark me really wants Daniel Bryan to win this one and it would seem like the right decision for him to do so. I see Triple H dominating Bryan for most of the match, giving Bryan and absolute beating, before Bryan pulls out the victory. It will be interesting whether they have Bryan win with the knee that beat Cena or the LeBell lock. Personally, I'd have Triple H attack Bryan after the match as well, a tasty sledgehammer attack to add intrigue to the main event. 

Then there's the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, better known as "We can't be arsed with mid-card storylines". I have to admit I'm intrigued with this one and I do enjoy a good battle royal from time to time. If booked right there's space to give a number of performers and opportunity to shine. I expect something crazy out of Kofi Kingston, I expect a load of people to team up to eliminate the big guys and I expect a couple of surprise entrants. Out of all the participants, Alexander Rusev looks like the guy for this one for me, after the build-up over the last few months, it would be great for him to eliminate Big Show or someone similar last and get the heel heat with the trophy. My outside choice for this one is Bad News Barrett, because it'd just make me chuckle.

The Undertaker and Brock Lesnar go head to head, in a match that I don't think anyone gives Lesnar a chance in. That doesn't mean to say this doesn't have potential of being a very good match, because it does! No one gave CM Punk a chance last year, but they managed to put together some nice false finishes, especially the one with the earn and I expect more of the same here. I'd not be surprised to see a lengthy MMA style submission sequence, with Taker's Hells Gate and Lesnar's Kimura Lock, which could be very nice to see, especially if Lesnar works the arm. But yes, in the end Taker comes out victorious, with a possible angle either on the show or on the Raw after WrestleMania to set up his bout for next year. It seems likely to be Sting, but it would be fantastic if it's Bray Wyatt. 

And finally, the main event of the evening. I personally think we will see a Triple Threat here, although I know many are expecting a Fatal Four Way. I don't see Daniel Bryan starting the match, I think we'll see Batista and Orton work the first seven or eight minutes to nuclear heat, with Bryan supposedly out of the match due to the attack by Triple H. Bryan eventually comes out to a huge pop, bandaged and beaten, and battles to an eventual victory, with streamers and all that jazz to close the show. It seems the logical way of doing things, and I'd mark out like a mother bitch for it.

Well, I hope you enjoy the show tonight and I'll see you tomorrow for the review! 

Across The Pond Wrestling Awards FULL Results!

Thanks to everyone who voted! Here's a Full List of Winners!

Babyface of the Year: 

1. Daniel Bryan

2= John Cena

2= Sami Zayn

Heel of the Year

1. Bully Ray

2= Bray Wyatt

2= Triple H

2= CM Punk 

Match of the Year: 

1. The Undertaker vs. CM Punk (WWE Wrestlemania)

2. Antonio Cesaro vs. Sami Zayn (WWE NXT #62)

3. CM Punk vs. Brock Lesnar (WWE SummerSlam)


Event of the Year: 

1. WWE SummerSlam

2= WWE Wrestlemania

2= WWE Money in the Bank 

Feud of the Year: 

1. CM Punk vs. Paul Heyman

2= CM Punk vs. The Undertaker

2= Daniel Bryan vs. The Authority

Television Show of the Year: 

1. WWE Raw

2. WWE NXT

3= ROH Wrestling

3= WWE Smackdown

3= WWE Total Divas

Promotion of the Year:

1. World Wrestling Entertainment

2= Insane Championship Wrestling

2= Ring of Honor Wrestling 

Most Improved Wrestler of the Year: 

1. Roman Reigns

2= Magnus

2= Big E Langston

Most Overrated Wrestler of the Year: 

1. Ryback

2. Randy Orton

3= Christian

3= Colt Cabana

3= Curtis Axel 

Most Underrated Wrestler of the Year: 

1. Dolph Ziggler

2= Antonio Cesaro

2= Damien Sandow

Gimmick of the Year:

1. The Wyatt Family

2. Fandango

3. Aiden English

Tag Team of the Year: 

1. The Shield

2. Bad Influence

3= Cody Rhodes & Goldust

3= The Usos

3= The Young Bucks

Female Wrestler of the Year:

1. AJ Lee

2. Paige

3. Natalya

Non-Wrestler of the Year:

1. Paul Heyman

2. Renee Young 

3= Tazz

3= Zeb Colter

Move of the Year: 

1. Spear (Roman Reigns)

2. Running Knee (Daniel Bryan)

3. Cesaro Swing (Antonio Cesaro)

2014 One to Watch

1. Roman Reigns

2. Big E Langston

3= Paige

3= Sami Zayn

WWE NXT 21st August 2013 Review

Well, where do I start with this weeks NXT? I could talk about the appearances of Dolph Ziggler and Diva's Champion AJ Lee, I could talk about the re-debut of CJ Parker, but no there's only one thing that I can start this blog with...Sami Zayn vs. Antonio Cesaro, Two out of Three Falls.

Two out of Three Falls Match: 

Sami Zayn

 vs. 

Antonio Cesaro

So after months of build up between Sami Zayn and Antonio Cesaro, here we were the rubber match. Now this rivalry has been so incredibly well booked since late May this year, with the two featuring in various match ups also involving NXT Champion Bo Dallas and Leo Kruger, where their rivalry was always made clear during the bouts. Not many WWE rivalries last three months before having their big blow off, but this one certainly did. With the wrestling being so good in their original two contests, expectations were high here and Zayn and Cesaro really had to perform. My intrigue to this one was increased even more when it was made a Two out of Three Falls bout, because of some of the fantastic bouts of this style that we've seen in the past, which usually favour the more technical, scientific wrestler like Zayn and Cesaro. The stipulation present and interesting structure on which to build the story of the match, with the placing of the falls being vital in building the flow correctly.

I didn't for a second doubt that this would be a superb match, and seconds in and we were already into the action with Zayn hitting a front flip plancha onto Cesaro as he headed to the ring, after this Zayn quickly got a pinfall via a school boy roll to go one up on Cesaro. It was an interesting way to start the match and really set a different dynamic going forward. We are used to seeing a quick fall in two out of three falls bouts, but usually it's the second fall to quickly even the score. The bout continued with Cesaro quickly gaining control, and despite Zayn attempting to fight back, he would often get caught in one Cesaro's impressive power moves, including a powerbomb after Cesaro had blocked a kick from Zayn. The theme of the second fall would see Cesaro repeatedly attempt to lock in a Chinlock, with Zayn escaping on occasion for a roll up varation for a near fall. With Cesaro eventually hooking the Chinlock in deep, swinging Zayn around, with Zayn unable to break the hold and on the verge of passing out, he just about managed to tap out, giving Cesaro the second fall and evening the match at one fall a piece. Another interesting move in the bout, which would not usually see a submission until the third fall, if at all. Having Zayn tap out to what is usually seen as a rest hold, only worked here because Cesaro locked it in so convincingly and Zayn sold it so well, don't expect to start seeing this in Great Khali matches anytime soon.

So we headed into the final and ultimately strongest fall, with even more power moves from Antonio Cesaro and even more heart shown by Sami Zayn. Cesaro used the spot we've seen him use before when he superplex's an opponent from the apron into the ring, before an attempt to suplex Zayn out of small package attempt was thwarted by Zayn who slipped out of the suplex in a school boy roll up for another near fall. The great thing about this match was that it remembered what had happened before and built upon it, it was essentially variations on a theme in wrestling. Throw in some great set pieces like Zayn flying threw the turnbuckles to hit a tornado DDT onto the floor and you had the perfect recipe for an outstanding wrestling match. The ending once again remembered what had happened else where in the match, with Zayn looking for another tornado DDT, this time using the ropes to springboard into the move, only for Cesaro to show an outstanding feat of strength halting Zayn mid DDT, throwing him onto his shoulder, then up into the air for an awesome European Uppercut, before lifting Zayn up into the Neutralizer to pick up the pinfall victory and his second fall to win the match. After the match had built so well, the ending had to deliver and it did in so many ways, the impressive nature allowed Zayn to come out of the battle still looking strong, whilst keeping Cesaro looking like an absolute beast.

Now, the way Cesaro has been booked on NXT, makes his current situation on the main roster even more upsetting. This week alone we've seen Cesaro lose on Raw in tag team action against The Prime Time Players, before managing Jack Swagger to a loss against The Great Khali on Main Event, and he certainly deserves a lot more. We've seen failed gimmick after failed gimmick head Cesaro's way, from American flag waving Anti-American to Swiss Yodeller to boyfriend of Aksana and Teddy Long love rival, and at the start of The Real American gimmick with Zeb Colter I felt that the tide could be turning for Cesaro, however he now seems to be being punished for Jack Swagger's extra curricular activity and stuck going nowhere once again. He's taken to all his gimmick as well as he could, but they were just never going to get over, if you see a man yodelling you don't do say “I hope this man get's his arse handed to him” you say “I'll probably watch something else for a bit”. This match with Zayn, along with his match against Daniel Bryan a few weeks back on Raw, could be put up against anything WWE has done in the last year and still look great, hopefully WWE realise the talent they have sooner or later. As for Zayn, he was only helped by this series with Cesaro in the eyes of WWE fans, and title bout with Bo Dallas would seem the logical move for the former Generic Luchador.

Best of the Rest (In The World)

Now I can't imagine that when Dolph Ziggler was advertised as appearing on NXT this week, that the first person everyone thought of as an opponent for the former two time World Heavyweight Champion, was Alexander Rusev. We haven't really seen a lot of Rusev since Florida Championship Wrestling morphed into NXT, and he didn't make his television debut until a battle royal at the end of May. Rusev character feels like a bit of a throwback to me, in his unique attire, he does stand out, aided by his size which intrigued me from the outset, how would Ziggler mold with Rusev's style and what kind of story would they have to tell.

I was actually very impressed with Rusev, he works the big foreign heel role very well, with some creative offense, including holding onto the ropes to allow him to deliver some vicious knee strikes to Ziggler's midrift. Continually speak what I imagine is Bulgarian constantly throughout the match, gave him an exotic feel really drawing me into the character, with Ziggler being a great opponent because his selling is so good. Ziggler's speed and precision offense, including a beautiful dropkick, afforded him a way back into the match, eventually allowing him to pick up the victory after Rusev had missed a splash from the top rope, and Ziggler had hit a Zig Zag. It will be interesting to see how Rusev does against someone with less experience and talent as Dolph Ziggler, and if he still looks as impressive as he did here.

The Diva's Championship was also on the line this week in a short but fun bout between Champion AJ Lee and challenger Bayley. Bayley's unique character was a good fit opposite Lee and it was clear that the two had a lot of fun putting on this bout, and that transferred to the viewer. Whilst Bayley has her character nailed on, she still needs work on her in ring work, with a pinfall attempt whilst Lee was under the ropes standing out for me. Following a diving Corkscrew Elbow from Bayley, Lee feigned injury suckering the naïve Bayley in, before hitting a Spin Kick to the gut, and finishing the challenger of with a Shining Wizard for the pinfall victory. The bout was what I expected it to be, telling a good story with the characters meshing together well, although there wasn't a whole lot of wrestling on display, it was still entertaining to see.

CJ Parker continued to appear backstage, photo bombing Tyler Breeze as he got a fan to take a photo of him, it wasn't particularly funny but set up the idea well enough. Parker went onto have his re-debut in NXT later on, against Baron Corbin. Parker has been given a new hippy style gimmick, which is reminscent of Spanky's run as The Brian Kendrick in WWE between 2008 and 2009 in characterisation. The bout ended quickly with Parker picking up the victory with a unique variation of a DDT. The bout was quick and was only really there to serve as a way of showcasing Parker's new gimmick, which looks promising. After the bout, Breeze interupted an interview between Parker and Renee Young, to confront him about the photobomb. It was a bit goofy, but worked for these characters, with Parker eventually going to punch Breeze only for Breeze to quickly escape. I expect more from these two in the coming weeks on NXT.

The Ascension continue to plough through numerous enhancement talent on NXT and this week Conor O'Brian and Rick Victor were in action against Ron Hicks and Michael Zaki. This bout was pretty similar to the contest The Ascension had on 24^th July, as they destroyed Hicks and Zaki with a number of tag team moves used in that bout, including finishing off Hicks with their version of a High Low to allow Victor to get the pinfall victory. It would seem that The Ascension will be getting an NXT Tag Team title shot against Corey Graves & Adrian Neville soon, mainly because they are the only real heel tag team that we've seen on NXT, since The Wyatt Family have left.

Finally...

What did I learn from this weeks NXT?

1. Cesaro and Zayn are two of the best wrestlers in WWE.

2. Alexander Rusev has potential in the Bulgarian Big Man role, if he can perform against opponent not as good as Dolph Ziggler.

3. Alex Riley would be a good commentator, if he didn't constantly keep referring to his storyline with The Miz (It was two years ago Alex) 

WWE Main Event 21st August 2013 Review

This week's Main Event was a bit hit and miss, with some matches working extremly whilst others were simply thrown together and didn't really do much for anyone. The Shield reminded everyone that they're still the most consistent team in WWE, whilst Funkacactyl Naomi got a chance to show what she can do in singles action against Diva's Champion AJ Lee.

Six Man Tag Team Match: 

Kofi Kingston & The Usos

 vs. 

The Shield

This weeks main event saw new McMahon assoiciates The Shield taking on Kofi Kingston and The Usos. There is a fair amount of history between the two teams, after Dean Ambrose defeated Kofi Kingston for the United States Championship at Extreme Rules, whilst The Usos challenged for Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns' Tag Team Championships at Money in the Bank. If I remember rightly, they've also had this exact same match a few months ago on Main Event, but Kingston and The Usos certainly weren't in the same positions they are in now, therefore this bout felt like it had a little more importance.

The bout was strong from the outset, with some good team work from the Usos and Kingston. The opening section was superb, flowing well and with some exciting spots, concluding with the three faces sending Rollins over the top rope into the arms of Ambrose and Reigns, before all three performed a spectacular dive over the top rope, even if Kingston over shot a little. It was a refreshing change to usual dynamic of The Shield's matches and really got the crowd involved in the contest. Of course, it didn't take long for The Shield to get back in control, with all three member doing a good job of working over an Uso, their psychology is always sound in these kind of matches, and coupled with good selling for Uso and Kingston and the other Uso working the crowd in the corner well, the match was coming together nicely.

The ending was so pacy and frenetic that there really was too much for me to cover here, Kofi Kingston's hot tag was great, Kofi's energy within a WWE ring over the last six years has been outstanding and this was much of the same, as he put on a good sequence with Ambrose, even making SOS look good! The ending saw Rollins throw an Uso into the ring, distracting the referee, allowing Rollins to push Kingston off the top rope and Ambrose to pick up the pinfall victory following a Headlock Driver. Whilst I'm not sure what the referee would have done if he hadn't been distracted, surely Rollins action wouldn't have resulted in disqualification, it was at least a creative finish and allowed The Shield to pick up a victory following their loss on Smackdown.

The Shield's association with the McMahon, Triple H and Randy Orton, could go one of two ways. Either The Shield will get pushed back into their previous role taking on some of WWE's top names before transitioning into singles competition seperatly, or they could end up being viewed simply as the McMahon's lackeys and struggling to recover, it all depends on if the WWE has any long term plans for the group. Kofi Kingston and The Usos on the other hand are once again in limbo, with WWE not having much for them at the moment. WWE has really dropped the ball with Kingston's return from injury, a feud with Ryback, the man who injured him a few months back, could have given both something to do over the last month.

Best of the Rest (In The World)

Elsewhere Diva's Champion AJ Lee, accompanied by Layla, took on Naomi, who was joined by Cameron in an average contest. Whilst the majority of the action was good and showed off the atleticism of Naomi well, the bout lack any coherent story or flow which was a shame. AJ Lee was also over reliant on the sleeper hold which she locked in twice and for a long time considering this bout was only a few minutes long. The ending saw Naomi look to have picked up the victory with Rear View (seriously? Her arse is big, but as finishing move?) but Layla caused the distraction, allowing Lee to lock in Black Widow to get the submission victory. I liked this ending mainly because of how beautifully Lee transitions into the submission hold, and the reason that a women finally has a recognisable finisher hold in WWE. This bout was simply there to allow Lee to pick up her victory after the loss in the tag team match on Raw.

So who will be AJ Lee's opponent at Night of Champions? It appeared that we might see one of The Funkadactyls get a shot after their victory on Raw, but this bout quickly dispelled any thoughts of that. Kaitlyn's time as Lee's opponent also seemed to come to a close at SummerSlam, and another match would certainly feel like overkill. That leaves the only other face woman on the roster, Natalya. Natalya holds victories over AJ in both singles and tag team action, as well as going over Brie Bella at SummerSlam, therefore she would seem like the perfect opponent for the Diva's Champion. Natalya's in ring skills, matched up against AJ Lee's could produce one of the most memorable women's matches in WWE, if the two are given enough time.

Bray Wyatt was also in action on Main Event, taking on Justin Gabriel. Similiar to Wyatt's match against R-Truth on Raw, this was simply a squash match to show off Wyatt's signature moves and make him look strong. Wyatt destroyed Gabriel in mere minutes, picking up the victory with Sister Abigail. I'd imagine that this will continue for sometime, with Wyatt running through WWE's undercard roster, expect matches against the likes of Zack Ryder and Yoshi Tatsu to come soon. They certainly need to build up Wyatt as singles performer, after pretty much having him destoryed by Kane in the Ring of Fire Match at SummerSlam.

The Great Khali also featured this week, taking on Jack Swagger of The Real Americans. The bout really was awful. With a minute or so of Swagger targeting Khali's knee (despite his finisher being an Ankle Lock), there was some cofuffle on the outside with Swagger throwing Hornswoggle in the wall, after Natalya had slapped Cesaro. With Khali waiting in the ring, hitting Swagger with a Brain Chop to pick up the victory. I've got absolutely no idea why Khali went over here, as his appearances are few and far between, whilst Swagger has been appearing on Raw regularly in tag team action. All this match really showed was how far Swagger's star has fallen since WrestleMania.

Finally...

What did I learn from this week's Main Event?

1. WWE has nothing for Kofi Kingston and The Usos at the moment.

2. AJ Lee should be facing Natalya at Night of Champions.

3. Both The Miz and Josh Matthews are seriously annoying on commentary.

WWE Main Event 14th August 2013 Review

It’s been a good few weeks since I’ve enjoyed an episode of Main Event, after a series of unimaginative or uninspiring main event contests, this week’s show returned to the pattern that had made me a fan of the show to start with. With established main eventer World Heavyweight Champion Alberto Del Rio, taking on future main eventer Cody Rhodes, there was a lot of get excited about this week.

Cody Rhodes 

vs. 

World Heavyweight Champion

 Alberto Del Rio

Going into this match there were a few things that needed to happen. Firstly, Alberto Del Rio needed to pick up the victory. After weeks of the World Heavyweight Champion coming up short against the likes of Randy Orton, Rob Van Dam and Christian, his victory over Kofi Kingston on Raw felt like a step in the right direction for the Mexican Aristocrat. Cody Rhodes also needed to have a strong, competitive outing to continue his new face run and keep him looking strong heading into his bout with Damien Sandow at this weekend’s SummerSlam.

As has been a trend during Del Rio’s matches as of late, the face got in a hell of a lot of offense in on the World Heavyweight Champion. Cody Rhodes’ move set alone is capable of getting him over as a face, as he pulled off a string of exciting and crowd pleasing moves, really putting his body on the line, the highlight for me would have to be the top rope moonsault, with Cody performs beautifully. It’s clear Cody is still getting use to his face role though, and he needs to remember to work the crowd more often to get them on his side, especially during this transition period. What little offense Del Rio was getting in however was focused on Cody’s arm as he attempted to soften it up for the Cross Arm Breaker. It was an interesting dynamic between the two and a refreshing change from your average WWE bout.

The bout built up well towards the end, with a number of reversals from both men before Cody managed to hit Cross Rhodes and it looked like he might pull of an upset victory. However, with Cody taking too long to make the cover, Del Rio ended up sending him into the second turnbuckle, before, after some struggle, locking in the Cross Armbreaker for the submission victory. In terms of an ending for the bout, I couldn’t have really asked for much more here, as it kept Cody looking super strong as he fought the Cross Armbreaker and really should have got the victory, whilst Del Rio’s underhanded tactics gave him the victory.

Personally, I think the match could have been given an extra five minutes that was given over to highlight packages of what happened on Raw. It felt like the ending with Cody too exhausted to get the cover, would have benefitted from having seen a longer match, as it was only just over ten minutes of television time. Either way, each goes into SummerSlam with a solid performance under their belts, which can only be a good thing come Sunday. With Cody currently feuding with World Heavyweight Championship Money in the Bank winner Damien Sandow, could we be seeing these two face off against each other with World Heavyweight Championship on the line within the next couple of months? If given enough time it’s certainly a bout I’d like to see. 

Best of the Rest (In The World)

Big E Langston was also in action on Main Event as he took on Justin Gabriel. Now this bout went a lot longer than I had expected with Gabriel getting in a surprising amount of offence in on the bigger Langston. Whilst this did make the match an enjoyable bout, with Gabriel’s quick kicks and exciting offence, I’m not sure if a quicker victory for Big E would have given him more momentum heading into his SummerSlam mixed tag team bout against Dolph Ziggler & Kaitlyn. Langston’s moveset seemed limited as he twice attempted his Big Splash (a move that is already overused in WWE), hitting it first time and missing it the second, which is strange because during his run as NXT Champion Langston was capable of having much longer matches than this one without the need to repeat moves. With Big E’s power had eventually overcame Gabriel’s speed, hitting the Big Ending for the pinfall victory, Big E was at least back on track after a disappointing saw that saw him dominated by The Great Khali.

WWE has been fairly hit and miss with Langston since bringing him up to the main roster. His matches have been few and far between, which has made it difficult for the WWE fans to really understand what he brings to the table. Personally, I don’t think he suits the heel role, and seemed much more comfortable as the top face in NXT. WWE has teased that he may turn face in the future, as it’s clear at times he is frustrated with friend Divas Champion AJ Lee. I could see Big E possibly turning face at SummerSlam, after AJ loses her cool once more. Big E could make a good opponent for Dean Ambrose over the United States Championship, if turned face, and I could see the two doing some good work together.

Elsewhere, The Usos built on their victory over The Real Americans on Raw, as they took on 3MB’s Heath Slater and Drew McIntyre, who were accompanied by Jinder Mahal. It was a solid tag team bout, with Slater and McIntyre doing a good job of working over Jimmy Uso, working quick tags, it seemed to be over pretty quickly with the hot tag being made. However, that wasn’t to be the case, as in a nice use of the numbers game, Mahal’s distraction allowed McIntyre to hit a big boot sending Jey off the apron. The action for the most part was quick and exciting, and when Jey finally made that second hot tag and took out Mahal and McIntyre on the outside with suicide dive, allowing Jimmy to hit the Superfly Splash on Slater, it felt like we’d seen some quality tag team action. We’ve seen what the Usos can do in recent weeks and months, but it was nice to see 3MB get a bit of the spotlight here, with Slater and McIntyre looking good as a pairing, personally I prefer these two to Mahal, but Mahal could work in a managerial role if they choose to push Slater & McIntyre as a duo. 

Finally...

What did I learn from this week's Main Event?

1. Cody Rhodes still has some work to do on his face character, but his in ring talent is undeniable.

2. WWE doesn't seem to know what they're doing with Big E Langston.

3. Josh Matthews is my least favourite commentator in professional wrestling today. 

WWE Smackdown 2nd August 2013 Review

WWE have done the seemingly impossible and made Smackdown actually feel important again! With three top matches that had been well promoted and featured some of WWE’s top stars, Smackdown was great watch this week. This is definitely the route WWE should be going with the show and I’d like more of the same in the coming weeks and months.

World Heavyweight Championship Number One Contenders Match: 

Rob Van Dam 

vs. 

Christian 

vs.

 WWE Championship Money in the Bank Winner Randy Orton

The show kicked off this week with World Heavyweight Champion Alberto Del Rio heading to the ring to announce his decision on who he would pick to face him for the World Heavyweight Championship at SummerSlam. It was pretty obvious that Del Rio would be choosing someone not quite up to the standard of a real number one contender, as he eventually went on to choose Ricardo Rodriguez, in a decent heel promo. He was interrupted by Smackdown General Manager Vickie Guerrero, who wasn’t too happy with Del Rio making a mockery of her SummerSlam match. She announced that instead of Del Rio facing Rodriguez or his second choice of the Brooklyn Brawler, Del Rio would face the winner of a triple threat later on in the evening. The triple threat would include Rob Van Dam, Christian and WWE Championship Money in the Bank winner Randy Orton. It was pretty much the guys I had been talking about in regards to Del Rio’s challenger. The only thing that let this segment down was Guerrero attempting to play a face, against Del Rio’s heel, which didn’t quite work, because Guerrero is able to get a lot more heat than Del Rio.

In build up to the match there were a few backstage segments, firstly with Alberto Del Rio visiting Vickie Guerrero in her office, to complain about her decision. Guerrero accused Del Rio of being scared of competition, before Brad Maddox came in, agreeing with Guerrero and reminding Del Rio who was in charge on Monday Night’s. I’m not quite sure what the segment was trying to achieve, other than to make the World Heavyweight Champion look a bit rubbish. Later on in the night, Renee Young interview with Rob Van Dam, was interrupted by Christian and Randy Orton, as they each put forward their case to why they would win the triple threat later on in the evening. Whilst Van Dam’s promo was puzzling, Christian and Orton both delivered strong attempts, with Orton really impressing me, bringing an edge to his character that hasn’t been seen for sometime.

The match itself was a pretty exciting triple threat and worked well as television main event. It didn’t really use the triple threat concept to it’s advantage for most of the match, as we saw different combinations of the three men involved, which was helped by each man having history with the other two. As with a lot of WWE triple threats, there were a number of good spots throughout, which were strung together well and the match had a really nice flow to it, a highlight for me saw Van Dam somersault over the top rope onto Christian and Orton on the outside. For me the best work of the match came between Orton and Van Dam, who had an excellent sequence of reversals which ended with Orton reversing Rolling Thunder in a spinning powerslam, which was visually impressive.

The end sequence saw Orton building up for an RKO on Christian, but with Van Dam attempting to take advantage, Mr Friday Night ended up getting an RKO of his own. However, with Orton going for another RKO on Christian, Captain Charisma reversed into a backslide to pick up a victory and the chance to face Alberto Del Rio for the World Heavyweight Championship at SummerSlam. I really enjoyed the finish here as it looked like anyone could win up until the final moments, keeping me guessing who would get the title shot. With Orton and Van Dam shaking Christian’s hand after the match, Alberto Del Rio who was at ringside, took advantage of Josh Matthew’s interviewing his new number one contender, knocking Christian over with a punch to the back of the head and finishing him off with a Superkick. With SummerSlam having a number of well-built up rivalries and feud going into the show, Christian and Del Rio have a lot of ground to make up.

CM Punk 

vs. 

Fandango 

with Summer Rae

After Fandango interrupted CM Punk last week, leading to the Ball Room Dancer receiving a GTS, it was nice to see WWE use some continuity, and bring us a match between the two this week on Smackdown. It was also nice to take a bit of a break from CM Punk’s rivalry with Paul Heyman and Brock Lesnar. Whilst the story has been fantastically well crated and a pleasure to watch throughout, it is important that WWE don’t over expose the characters and ideas of the feud, which has been going on for almost two months, and has a further two weeks until Punk and Lesnar finally clash at SummerSlam.

I said a few weeks ago, that CM Punk needed to stop the talking and pick up a strong convincing victory, to help him look like the arse kicker he needs to be to look convincing against Lesnar. This match certainly brought that as CM Punk looked very impressive throughout. With Fandango, who was accompanied by Summer Rae, just getting in enough offence to make the match seem competitive, it was clear that this was the CM Punk show.  Fandango played his role well, using enough classic heel tactics to get the fans even further behind Punk, and keeping him grounded with a headlock, allowing Punk to build to a come back.

Punk eventually picked up the win, with Punk hitting a Superplex and immediately locking in an Anaconda Vise to get the submission victory. It was a well-paced ending, and an original one, as Punk showed he meant business heading into SummerSlam. It wasn’t a particularly long match, but it didn’t need to be, it did its job of making Punk look impressive, whilst also allowing Fandango another opportunity to work with another of WWE’s top names and not look completely out of place. Punk could do with one more match like this to really help to push the idea home that he is in a different mindset to what we’re used to and make him look like a legitimately threat to Brock Lesnar.

So, Punk and Lesnar is only two weeks away now, and it will be interesting to see if WWE can keep the momentum of the story continuing into SummerSlam, personally I think they will, as Punk and Heyman seem to be heavily involved in the crafting of the storyline and I’m pretty sure two of modern wrestling’s greatest minds will have come up with how the next couple of weeks will run months ago. Fandango on the other hand looks like he is going to miss out on the SummerSlam card this year, however it would seem that WWE has a long term plan for him as they keep putting up against top talents, even protecting him on Raw against Rob Van Dam. Personally, I think the gimmick can only go so far, but time will tell. 

Best of the Rest (In The World)

Elsewhere this week Diva’s Champion AJ Lee defended her championship against long time rival Kaitlyn. Before the match, Renee Young interviewed Kaitlyn and friend Layla about their friendship, with Layla spouting some awkward speech about Kaitlyn being the most dedicated Diva she had ever seen. It kind of sign posted what was going to happen later on in the evening, mainly because we hadn’t seen Layla for a few weeks, and therefore her randomly turning up this week made instantly think that something was going to go down.

The action in the match was good, with Kaitlyn’s aggression having an opportunity to shine through as she really took it AJ Lee. It wasn’t long before the action spilled to the outside with Kaitlyn throwing AJ into the barricade. It was here that Layla made her presence felt, when stepping in front of AJ Lee with Kaitlyn about to hit a spear. With Kaitlyn distracted AJ took advantage, throwing Kaitlyn into the ring and locking in the Black Widow to retain her title via submission. The Layla turn was fairly obvious, but I’m glad she’s back as a heel, as she skipped away with AJ, as her face run has been pretty forgettable. This match could have done with another five minutes to really build to the ending moment, but the girls did well with the time they were given.

Cody Rhodes’ face run also continued this week on Smackdown, as he faced Jack Swagger. After knocking the microphone away from Zeb Colter, Cody really went after Swagger looking fairly impressive in the process. Cody picked up a quick victory after a reversing a Gut Wrench Power bomb attempt into a sunset flip variation for the pinfall. It was decent television match, but obviously these two could have done a lot better given some more time to develop. Time is something that Cody needs at the moment to develop his face character, but with SummerSlam just around the corner he might not have time to do so. Talking of SummerSlam, Cody’s SummerSlam opponent Damien Sandow attacked him during a post-match interview with Renee Young, it was a vicious side of Sandow that we rarely see, and I have to say I am very much looking forward to their SummerSlam bout.

Big E Langston was also in action this week, as he ploughed throw Sin Cara. Big E looked impressive as he methodically tore apart Sin Cara with a number of impressive power moves. Big E picked up a quick victory, after catching Sin Cara from a springboard crossbody attempt and hitting the Big Ending for the pinfall. After watching Langston in NXT for so long, I know we’ve only just scraped the surface of what Big E can do for WWE. Personally, I think that Big E is a much better face than he is a heel, as he seems like a naturally good natured and humorous person, whilst his heel portrayl has been limited to almost a generic big guy at times. I’d also like to see him given more time in the ring sometime soon, hopefully his match at SummerSlam will provide that opportunity, whether it’s one on one with Dolph Ziggler, or teaming with AJ Lee to take on Ziggler and Kaitlyn. 

Finally...

What did I learn from this week's Smackdown?

1. Christian and Del Rio have a lot of ground to make up to make their rivalry SummerSlam ready.

2. Even when something is as good as Punk/Heyman/Lesnar, it's still good to have a break sometimes.

3. Alex Riley is work in progress on commentary, but looks promising.

WWE Raw 29th July 2013 Review

This week’s episode of Raw was ok, not spectacular, but just ok. Whilst we were presented with two legit main events, with Daniel Bryan facing Kane and WWE Champion John Cena facing off against Ryback in a tables match, nothing really happened. Story lines were left fairly stagnant, or segments were repeated from previous weeks. So whilst, the majority of what was presented was entertaining, what was presented wasn’t really new.

Daniel Bryan 

vs.

 Kane

Raw kicked off this week with WWE Chairman Vince McMahon and Raw General Manager Brad Maddox in the ring. They went over old ground, with Vince admonishing Maddox for allowing John Cena to pick his opponent, and listing the reasons he dislikes Daniel Bryan. Of course, Daniel Bryan came out to reply to Vince. It was interesting to hear that McMahon hates John Cena, and it did kind of remove the element of reality that had been injected into the rivalry before. It’s clear to anyone that McMahon loves Cena, he’s the company’s biggest draw and merchandise seller, why would the chairman not want him as WWE Champion? It could have worked if it had been explained a little better, but I just ended up shaking my head. McMahon also told Bryan that John Cena had lied to him, when he picked him two weeks ago, with Bryan finishing the segment by saying he would become the new WWE Champion at SummerSlam and the crowd strongly agreed.

As we built to the first main event, Kane went to visit Brad Maddox in his office. In Kane’s first appearance since he was attacked by The Wyatt Family on the July 8th episode of Raw, he was clearly out for revenge on Bray Wyatt and his brothers. Maddox told him that he should send a message to The Wyatt’s by defeating Daniel Bryan tonight. It was a good move by WWE as it gave Kane a reason to fight against his former tag team partner and helped build the contests up further, with both men having something to prove. Elsewhere, Daniel Bryan searched out John Cena in the locker room to ask if Vince McMahon was right. In another nothing segment, Cena talked about never trusting Vince, before Cena asked if Bryan thought he was a liar. Once again, the possible tension between Bryan and Cena was teased, it will be interesting to see if this capitalised on further during the next three weeks.

The match between Kane and Daniel Bryan was as good as I had expected, with the action going back and forth throughout, it was nice to have a change from what you’d regularly see when a big man and little man face off in WWE. It’s amazing to me that Kane is still able to go at the pace he does, especially when in the ring with Daniel Bryan whose pace has been incredible as of late. A lot of the action was stuff we’ve seen before out of Bryan and Kane, but the way it was put together and paced made it still an entertaining watch. The only glaring error for me, was a edit from WWE with Bryan pulling Kane out of the ring, which certainly slowed down the match a little and distanced me a little from the bout. Bryan went on to pick up the victory with an awkward looking small package reversal to Kane’s chokeslam attempt. Whilst, it did look slightly awkward, I think it added to the ending of the match, as a totally clean looking small package would have made the victory look almost too easy. It was important win for Bryan heading into SummerSlam and shows he can beat men much bigger than him, as he will have to do if he wants to capture the WWE Championship.

After the match, The Wyatt Family turned up, with Erick Rowan and Luke Harper going after Kane in the ring, Kane made a beeline from the leader, Bray Wyatt. Harper and Rowan quickly double teamed to take down Kane, before Bray Wyatt hit Sister Abigail to finish him off. It was pretty similar to what we’d seen three weeks ago, as well as The Wyatt’s other attacks on R-Truth, 3MB, Justin Gabriel & Tons of Funk. There was then another creepy promo from Wyatt, as he talked about Kane no longer being the Devil’s Favourite Demon. It was probably the best promo we’ve seen from Wyatt on main stream WWE, as his delivered was a lot calmer and he took his time, which isn’t something you see too often in WWE. I’m really interested to see what’s to come between The Wyatt’s and Kane, as it feels like we’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg of this rivalry so far. Daniel Bryan's story continued with Vince McMahon, WWE COO Triple H and Stephanie McMahon discussing his future, with Stephanie coming up with the ridiculous idea that Bryan needed a corporate makeover, I'm not a religious man but please God don't let this happen.

Tables Match: 

WWE Champion

 John Cena 

vs. 

Ryback

 I wasn’t exactly riveted when this match was announced at the end of last weeks Raw, we’d already gone through a fairly boring Ryback and Cena feud a few months ago, and that feud had already included a Tables Match, as part of the Three Stages of Hell Match at Payback, which wasn’t particularly something I wanted to see again. Plus, after seeing Ryback put Cena’s SummerSlam challenger Daniel Bryan through a table last week on Raw, it did feel a little bit like WWE pulling a TNA and ending up with the focus on the wrong characters. Building up to the match, we saw Ryback get into a confrontation with a member of staff backstage, with Ryback pushing the person around, before picking them up and slamming them through a nearby table. WWE are seemingly pushing Ryback into a cowardly bully role now, Ryback is actually looking fairly comfortable in the role, the only problem is Bully Ray does it better.

I was actually pleasantly surprised with the Tables Match, it was very watchable television main event. With some inventive spots, including tables bringing the ring and the steel steps, it kept me involved in the match from the offset. However, there were a number of problems with the match, that stopped it from being any better. Firstly, John Cena’s STF looks weak as hell, leaning into an opponent whilst in an STF makes it look like you’re giving them a hug, he should really be pulling back to make it look painful. Cena also has a tendency to pre-empt moves, such as when Ryback swung him into the steel steps, and Cena clearly stopped before throwing himself into the steps. I’m not the biggest John Cena critic and will praise when he deserves it but moments like this are things you can get away with at a small house show, you can’t when you have a load of cameras aimed at you.

The finish saw Ryback dominating Cena hitting a few power moves, before a Meat Hook Clothesline. As Ryback set up Cena up for another, this time with Cena positioned in front of tables, Cena reversed sending Ryback through the table with an Attitude Adjustment. As endings of Tables Matches go this was fairly good, and whilst we all knew Cena would be picking up the victory in made Ryback look just strong enough to not bury him too much. I am surprised they had Ryback in this match at all, as he really could have done with sometime away from the main event scene to rebuild, and another loss in a big match certainly won’t help him with that.

To close the show, Daniel Bryan came out and teased he would hand Cena the WWE Championship, instead pulling it away from Cena, much to the delight of the crowd. Cena eventually snatched the championship back, in a move we don’t see a lot out of Cena. It’s interesting to see Cena displaying signs of jealously towards the popularity of Daniel Bryan, as it’s helping to bring a bit of dimension to the character and the storyline that was missing in his feuds with Mark Henry and Ryback.

Christian 

vs. 

World Heavyweight Champion

 Alberto Del Rio

In another main event quality match up, World Heavyweight Champion Alberto Del Rio faced off against Christian. With Alberto Del Rio picking his SummerSlam opponent on this week’s Smackdown, I was extremely intrigued by this match. Christian, along with Rob Van Dam, was one of my top picks to get the nod to face Del Rio at SummerSlam, after WWE took Dolph Ziggler in a different direction. So the way this match played out would really show if WWE considered Christian to be a top contender to the title, if he lost clean it was pretty much over for Captain Charisma and back to the mid card.

Christian and Del Rio have faced off a number of times before, mainly during Edge’s rivalry with Del Rio building to Wrestlemania 27, with Christian actually winning his first World Heavyweight Championship in a Ladder Match with Del Rio soon after. However since then, the two have been keep on the same side of the fence for a long time, after Christian’s heel turn, and then both turning face again. Therefore, this felt like a fairly fresh match up which WWE doesn’t exactly have too many of any more. The majority of the bout saw Del Rio work over Christian, specifically his arm for the Cross Arm Breaker submission hold, with Christian doing a great job of selling the arm, and building for a comeback.

After an exciting closing section with a number of reversals, Christian rolled out of the Cross Arm Breaker to pick up a pinfall victory over the World Heavyweight Champion, with a small package. The match built to this moment really well, as it was clear that Del Rio was building up for the Cross Arm Breaker, and that if he locked the move in that it would be the end of the match, due to Christian’s top notch selling, so when Christian quickly evaded the submission hold it was a satisfying ending to the bout. Yes, we got two roll up victories in major matches on the same show, but both made sense to the story that needed to be told, so I’ll forgive here.

Now, the smart money would say that Del Rio won’t be choosing Christian to face him at SummerSlam. Why would you put your title on the line against someone who has just beaten you? Especially when you’re as slimy as Alberto Del Rio. However, I can’t imagine it’s going to be that simple on Smackdown. Vickie Guerrero never really said that Del Rio would have the chance to choose his opponent, just that he had a week to think, so I can see a swerve happening there. I would be very surprised if come the end of Smackdown, either Christian or Rob Van Dam isn’t proclaimed Number One Contender to the World Heavyweight Championship.

Best of the Rest (In The World)

In a rematch from both Payback and Money in the Bank, Divas Champion AJ Lee faced Kaitlyn, this time with no title on the line. In terms, of Divas Matches this wasn’t too bad, but couldn’t live up to their original Payback contest, at times looking a little bit sloppy and lacking the psychology that made the original one of the best women’s matches on television this year. In a surprise victory, Kaitlyn picked up the pinfall following a spear, as WWE continues to play on the down fall of AJ Lee. Surely, this gets Kaitlyn another Divas Championship Match soon, I know we’ve seen it before, but I’d much prefer this than one of the Bella’s ending up with the title on the back of Total Divas.

After this as Big E tried to comfort AJ, Dolph Ziggler turned up on the entrance ramp and challenged Big E to an impromptu match. Now, I was surprised at this as I had genuinely expected to see this match on the SummerSlam card. The bout was decent with Langston throwing Ziggler around the ring, as The Show Off sold his arse off. However, it was cut short after AJ had seen enough and attacked Dolph giving him a disqualification victory. Langston obviously wasn’t happy at losing and some tension between he AJ was teased. I’m not quite sure where they are going now with this heading into SummerSlam. They could have Big E vs. Dolph again, but I can only see a similar finish taking place, as the real feud is between Dolph and AJ. Maybe a mixed tag with Kaitlyn involved as well, but I’m not sure how they’re going to tie up this story at the moment.

Elsewhere, Intercontinental Champion Curtis Axel was in action against R-Truth. With Paul Heyman doing a good job of pre-match promo, talking about both Brock Lesnar and CM Punk, before moving onto his youngest star Curtis Axel. Even Axel did a good job with his promo, even if he continues to leach of his father’s legacy to get heat. Axel quickly dispatched of R-Truth in what was essentially an enhancement match, with Truth getting in very little offence between Axel hit the Axe Driver for a pinfall victory. WWE clearly has no plans for R-Truth at the moment, and he must be another name on the list for the next lot of WWE releases.

After the bout, CM Punk made his presence felt, as he tried to attack Paul Heyman. With Axel protecting his manager, allowing Heyman to escape through the crowd, Punk turned his attention to him throwing him into the barricade amongst other things. This was a good way to keep the story moving along heading into SummerSlam without Brock Lesnar being present, essentially keeping it warm. I’d like to see Punk vs. Axel next week on Raw, with Brock Lesnar making a return to continue the rivalry, especially with WWE not seemingly having plans for an Intercontinental Championship Match at SummerSlam.

Cody Rhodes was also in action this week in a good short match with Wade Barrett. There was a lot of back and forth, and WWE talent would do well to look at this match as how to put together an interesting contests that only lasts three minutes. The ending was beautifully worked with Cody Rhodes slipping seamlessly out of a Barrett Pumphandle slam to hit Cross Rhodes for the pinfall victory. After the match, Damien Sandow came out to cut a scathing promo on Cody, which is probably the best I’ve seen out of Sandow, it was nice to see him cut a 100% serious promo to really sell this rivalry. With Sandow cutting into Rhodes’ family for being clowns, I wonder if we’ll see any appearances from Goldust and Dusty Rhodes on Raw anytime soon.

In another match that had been rumoured to take place at SummerSlam Mark Henry teamed with The Usos to take on The Shield. It was another entertaining six man involving the Shield, and while it wasn’t quite as epic as their battles with the likes of Team Hell No, The Undertaker and Randy Orton, it told a good story and the in ring action was solid throughout. The Shield picked up the victory, after Mark Henry had been taken out by a Roman Reigns spear, Dean Ambrose hit the Headlock Driver on one of the Usos for the pinfall. It looks like the Usos push as opponents for the Shield could be coming to an end after this match, as they both took quite a beating for Ambrose, Rollins and Reigns. Whilst Mark Henry was made to look strong throughout, dominating the action until the spear from Reigns. It’s another case of me not quite knowing where this is heading, which is good as long as WWE knows where they’re going. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Big Show make his return to form a team with Henry soon, maybe even a two-on-three handicap match at SummerSlam.

Elsewhere, my other favourite to face Alberto Del Rio at SummerSlam, Rob Van Dam, was in action against Fandango, who had Summer Rae at ringside. After an awkward start, the match started to pick up with some nice shows of athleticism from Van Dam and Fandango, both bringing some nice kicking combinations. Just as Van Dam launched into the familiar routine we’ve seen in recent matches with the likes of Darren Young and Wade Barrett, including the Rolling Thunder and springboard thrust kick, WWE threw us a curve ball. With Van Dam in position for the Five Star Frog Splash, Fandango exited the ring and left up the entrance ramp, giving Van Dam the countout victory. It was interesting to see WWE not having Fandango lose cleanly to Van Dam, somehow protecting him, they obviously have big plans for him coming up.

In the second women’s bout of the night, two of the stars of Total Divas were in action as Brie Bella faced off against Natalya. This match was pretty poor, with the idea behind it being that The Bellas had called Natalya the “ugly duckling” of Total Divas, which isn’t something WWE should really be saying about any of their talent, especially when they want us to take their Be A Star campaign seriously. The two basically trod water until Nikki Bella came out with Kazoo, yes a Kazoo, to cause the distraction and allow Brie to pick up the victory. It’s frustrating to see WWE use one of their top in-ring female talents in Natalya in such a way, when the Bella’s are still to show any real talent for the wrestling business, beyond sharing certain biological traits with another person.

Finally...

What did I learn from this week's Raw?

1. Daniel Bryan and John Cena do not need any outside interference to help build to their match at SummerSlam.

2. But it is nice to see a heel Vince McMahon again.

3. The Raw announce team needs JBL to keep things entertaining. Left to their own devices Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler just spout the same rubbish they have for the last four years.