WWE Battleground Kick-Off Review

We're going to try a different format for these show reviews and see how it works out. If it doesn't work we'll flip back to the “Match of the Day” format, but for now we'll simply be running through each show and giving thoughts.

So, Battleground Kick-Off started with Josh Matthews welcoming us to the 1^st Niagra Centre in Buffalo, New York, USA. Matthews was the host of the specialist panel for tonight's Kick Off show, which featured an underwhelming collection of panelists, with The Miz, Titus O'Neil and Tensai all on hand. They ran through a collection of bouts including Daniel Bryan vs. Randy Orton for the vacant WWE Championship, The Rhodes Family vs. Tag Team Champions The Shield and Rob Van Dam going after Alberto Del Rio's World Heavyweight Championship in a Battleground Hardcore Match. This panel was painfully awkward, with only Tensai seemingly knowing what he was talking about, with a lot of hesitation and confusion from both Miz and O'Neil. They finished up this segment, by really pushing the idea that Damien Sandow could cash in his Money in the Bank briefcase tonight to become World Heavyweight Champion, but after the booking he's received over the last few months, I'm wondering why I'm supposed to care if this happens. They quickly skimmed over the random bout that was occuring on the show, with Sandow facing Dolph Ziggler, despite the two having very little interaction on television, like ever!

We then head to Renee Young, in the “Social Media Lounge”, which is essentially a sofa and a television. Young capably leads us through how to use a hashtag on Twitter, before talking about how both Daniel Bryan and Brie Bella could walk out of Battleground with gold (or a butterfly atleast) around their wastes. I'm not a massive fan of them using Brie as part of Bryan's storyline, for a number of reasons, firstly because Brie can't act to save her life, secondly it shows that WWE don't really know what their audience likes, and placing a popular character like Daniel Bryan, with a shall we say not so popular character like Brie Bella, just doesn't work. Yes, I know they are a real life couple, and that WWE wants to promote Total Divas more, but I'm not sure if theres much crossover between the viewers of Total Divas and WWE's other programming. The segments finished with Young introducing a WWE.com poll to find out who was WWE's best power couple, with the options being Triple H & Stephanie McMahon, Edge & Lita, Randy Savage & Miss Elizabeth and King Booker & Queen Sharmell. I find it's best not to think too much into these selections.

Josh Matthews then moved discussion onto the CM Punk vs Ryback later on, with them showing a replay of last weeks tremendous Raw segment where Paul Heyman “proposed” to Ryback, followed up by an attack from Punk. Matthews went onto interview Heyman who was accompanied by Ryback, with Heyman once again giving a top quality promo, attempting to portray Ryback as an underdog, claiming that Punk was a bully and that the WWE fans had been brainwashed to follow him. It was short, but sweet and gave a good idea of what to expect later on when Ryback got in the ring with Punk.

Dolph Ziggler 

vs. 

World Heavyweight Championship Money in the Bank Winner 

Damien Sandow 

(10 minutes, 22 seconds)

It was then time to head down to ringside, where our commentary team for the evening would be Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler and JBL. They briefly talk about Rob Van Dam and Alberto Del Rio's World Heavyweight Championship bout later on, before seguing onto the idea that Damien Sandow could cash in his briefcase tonight, they're really pushing that idea tonight after weeks of ignoring the fact. Out comes Damien Sandow, mic in hand and cuts the kind of promo we've come to expect from the Intellectual Saviour of the Masses. Sandow quoted Benjamin Franklin, before moving onto to talk more about potentially cashing in his Money in the Bank briefcase, personally I would've preferred to hear him talk more about his opponent, rather than everyone continue to sign post a cash in, the promo only proved that this match was entirely pointless.

I can't say I was particularly enamoured with this contest, Sandow and Ziggler just didn't seem to connect in the ring, in what was there first singles match together. The early part of the match especially just didn't seem to flow correctly, with a slow motion replay of a Sandow clothesline that obviously didn't connect and a botched swinging neckbreaker from Sandow not helping the situation. This bout needed some kind of story to draw me into the match straight away, seeing as it had no storyline heading in, and it just wasn't present. The bout did pick up towards the end, when the action gathered some pace, with a succession of pin variations getting near falls for both men. I thought the finish was also strong, when a remnant of a story appear with both men tweaking their knees, before Ziggler slipping out of a powerslam attempt by Sandow, landing a kick to the knee before hitting a Zig Zag to pick up a pinfall victory. Personally, I think Sandow was the one most in need of a victory here, as he's been made to look pretty rubbish since winning the briefcase, and at the most will not make a realistic World Heavyweight Champion, and the loss wouldn't exactly harm Ziggler who is already over with the audience.

After a replay of The Shield's attack on the Rhodes Family on last week's episode of Raw, which was oddly for WWE pretty poorly edited together, we headed back to Josh Matthews for the opinions of the panel. Once again, it was a pretty cringeworthy experience, with Miz and especially O'Neil completely butchering what they had to say, luckily Tensai kept his words short, wishing the Rhodes Family good luck. It seemed a strange decision to have an all face panel, especially with Triple H in charge of WWE, it would have given more balance to the panel.

Then we moved on to the always exciting “Social Media Lounge” where Renee Young read the most generic tweet I have ever heard about Daniel Bryan. She was then interupted by Los Matadores miniature bull, El Torito, who ran around the lounge and appeared to be making sexual advances on Young. It was a little bizarre, and I really want to hate Torito, but this was pretty funny, with Young doing a good job of awkward confusion, although she may have just been awkwardly confused. The segment finished with a reveal of the results of the WWE.com vote for WWE's best power couple, with Edge & Lita winning with 43%, Triple H & Stephanie McMahon coming second with 30%, Randy Savage & Miss Elizabeth in third with 23% and King Booker & Queen Sharmell bringing up the rear with 5%, like I said before it's best not to think about these too much, it's just a bit of fun.

They finished up the show by replaying Randy Orton's attack on Daniel Bryan from last week's Raw, where Brie Bella looked on, with each of the panel giving their opinions on who would pick up the victory, with Tensai even donning a fake beard and failing at getting the crowd to chant “YES!” which is quite an achievement in today's WWE.

Overall, I didn't think Battleground Kick-Off was much good, a difficult bout between Dolph Ziggler and Damien Sandow and a biased and un prepared panel didn't exactly make me want to watch Battleground anymore, although they did do a good job of promoting that the first match would see Rob Van Dam face Alberto Del Rio for the World Heavyweight Championship.  

WWE Raw 2nd September 2013 Review

WWE television continues to be dominated by Triple H's “Reign of Terror”, with a number of wrestlers falling foul of the WWE Chief Operating Officer. Whilst at times the story does become a little bit overpowering, it has put a stop to the dragging effect that wrestling fans had become used to when watching Raw, as it gives a story to follow throughout the show.

Daniel Bryan vs. Big Show

Raw kicked off this week with Triple H introducing WWE Champion Randy Orton, who cut a decent promo, winding up the Des Moines crowd, before asserting that Daniel Bryan should give up his WWE Championship shot at Night of Champions. Orton's monotonous tone lends itself well to heel promos, and he looks a lot more comfortable in his current role than he did six months ago. Triple H, got involved as well, blaming the fans for what is happening to Daniel Bryan, for having him confused popularity with what is good to business, with another solid heel promo. The only part that felt a little distasteful was Triple H burying Doink the Clown, claiming Doink was popular but not good enough to be WWE Champion. They could have chosen any number of former WWE wrestlers, so why chose someone who has only recently deceased? It pulled me out of the story straight away, which was a real shame. Daniel Bryan came out to reply to Orton and Triple H, with the best promo of the bunch. Bryan's felt like it came from a real place, as he spoke about the thing he had been told he couldn't do, with his passionate delivery really drawing me into what he was saying. Bryan finished the promo by saying he wouldn't give up his match against Orton, because he knew he could win, otherwise Triple H wouldn't be putting so many obstacles in his way. Triple H replied by placing Bryan in a singles match with Big Show for the main event. We'd seen Big Show fight with his conscience on Smackdown the previous week, so I was interested to see how it would play out tonight.

Booker T also turned up on the show, to give some advice to Daniel Bryan. With Booker telling Bryan not to rage against the machine, just be happy to make some money. Bryan was, of course, having none of it and even managed to fit in Booker's famous “Tell me you didn't just say that” catchphrase. It was a nice little segment, and a good way of using Booker T. Later on, Raw General Manager caught up with Triple H and Stephanie McMahon to tell them that Big Show was refusing to fight Daniel Bryan. It would have been a nice little set up to a later segment, if Brad Maddox hadn't have fluffed his lines. Stephanie went to the ring to call out Big Show. WWE's MO at the moment seems to be uncomfortable television, as Stephanie preceded to tell Big Show that if he didn't face Daniel Bryan tonight he wouldn't be able to provide for his family and probably die. It was really quite an intense segment of WWE television, but was harmed by McMahon vastly under-estimating her age when she met Big Show, by around ten years or so. Show once again put in another top notch performance, holding back the tears, although I do wonder how long they can keep this emotional Big Show thing going before it becomes tiresome.

Big Show then went backstage to speak to Daniel Bryan. Show tried to reason with Bryan, explaining that he was in a no win situation. Bryan was having absolutely none of it though, saying he always does what is best for him, and that he would beat Big Show tonight. It set up the situation between the two well before they met in the ring, although by this point I'm not quite sure what I was meant to feel about either wrestler. The match between the two was more of a segment than it was a match. The idea behind the bout being that Big Show was reluctant to fight Bryan, with Bryan still attempting to prove himself against The World's Largest Athlete. The crowd was pretty quiet throughout, I think this is down to the complex nature of the story, it was difficult to get behind either man in this situation, but it was clear WWE were building to something. The finish saw Bryan dive off the top rope, with Big Show countering with an impressive looking Spear. With Show looking to be loading up for a WMD, he instead decided to leave the ring. With this Triple H and The Shield headed to the ring, and after Show had refused to get back in the ring, The Shield attacked Daniel Bryan, giving Bryan the disqualification victory. It was clear that this match was simply being used to build to something else, therefore the finish only confirmed this. Both men worked the match pretty well, with such an intense story to tell, facial expressions were key to getting the story over with the audience.

After the match had ended, Show attempted to save Bryan from The Shield but was reminded, that he would be fired if he interfered. The Shield then hit Bryan with the Triple Powerbomb, and we got into the real purpose of the whole angle. Triple H told Big Show to ball up his fist and hit Bryan with the WMD. I thought this was built up really well, with Show firstly refusing, only for Stephanie McMahon to come back into the arena to remind Big Show about his family. It maybe played out a little too long, but the tension certainly built up nicely, with moment where you believed Show wouldn't hit Bryan, but of course he eventually did leaving Bryan out on the mat. With Show leaving with Triple H and McMahon, it left you wondering if Show could be the next accomplice of Triple H's “Reign of Terror”, albeit a reluctant one. It does feel a little bit like deja vu though, if the Big Show storyline being more than reminiscent of what we saw from Show with John Lauranitis in 2012, as well as Shawn Michaels storyline with JBL in 2009. To close the show, Randy Orton came to ring to pose over Bryan with the WWE Championship. Some great heel work from Orton here, taking credit for others work, as well as really building my interest for Orton and Bryan's match at Night of Champions.  

Cody Rhodes 

vs. 

WWE Champion

 Randy Orton 

(If Rhodes loses, he is fired)

For the second week in a row, Randy Orton entered into a, sort of, sub storyline against one of his former foes. Last week, we saw Orton engage in a battle with Christian, and this week it was the turn of Cody Rhodes. This week it was stepped up a notch though, as after a heated confrontation backstage, where Rhodes questioned Orton's motives in not wanting to face Daniel Bryan at Night of Champions, Triple H decided to place Rhodes in a match against Orton, where it was insuated that if Rhodes lost he would be fired from WWE. They even used the added in lines about Rhodes' upcoming real-life wedding (to former WWE employee Eden Stiles), to add to the importance of the match up. Whilst the idea felt a little rushed and forced, the execution was very good, with Rhodes especially standing out, with a nicely delivered performance. 

The match between the two was a really good television contest. For me, the most telling part about the match was that at the beginning, the crowd was attempting to get themselves over with a number of cos-players getting chants going for themselves, but by the end of the contest almost the whole arena was on it's feet, willing on Cody Rhodes. The bout built up nicely with Orton working over Rhodes keeping him on the mat with his now infamous headlock, alongside dirty tactics likes thumbs to the eyes to keep Rhodes' comebacks at bay. The stipulation gave something for Rhodes to fight and a reason for the crowd to get behind Rhodes, something that has been missing for most of Rhodes' face run, therefore as the match built with a number of near falls for Rhodes, off of moves like the Disaster Kick, the drama began to build and the fans began to get behind Rhodes. Rhodes' closest chance saw him reverse an RKO attempt from Orton into a Cross Rhodes, which got a massive pop, for a very close near fall. Rhodes' facial expressions throughout the contest really sold the desperation of his situation, whilst Michael Cole did an especially good job on commentary. 

The finish saw Rhodes attempt another Disaster Kick, only for Orton to duck, and with Rhodes hurting his knee, Orton took advantage with a kick to the knee, before finishing Rhodes off with an RKO for the pinfall victory. Having Orton pick up victories over former rivals like Christian and Cody Rhodes, in two top quality television contests, reminds the audience that Orton is capable of going it alone, and allows Orton to remain looking competitive when he heads into his Night of Champions contest with Daniel Bryan. It also gives the audience another reason to dislike Orton, as we can see that he is capable of defeating other wrestlers on his own he'd just prefer to have others do his dirty work for him, which is always the makings of a great heel. Rhodes' performance in this match was competitive enough that when he returns to WWE he should at least be in the same position he is now, if not slightly higher.


After the bout, Triple H came out and in a speech flooded with corporate bullshit about it being a difficult decision, fired Cody Rhodes. The speech was another solid heel promo from The Game as everyone could see through what he was saying, as his face told a different story. Rhodes did a great job of selling the situation as he walked up the entrance way and you couldn't help feel for him. Later in the night, with Rhodes being escorted out of the building by security, Josh Matthews managed to catch up with him, asking the kind of questions that get him beaten up by Ryback. Rhodes went on to delivery the single best promo of his WWE career, showing great emotion and talking about how his family had been treated in WWE. Rhodes might have walked out of the building, but once he's taken his time off for his real life wedding and honeymoon, I'll be very interested to see how WWE will have him return to television, hopefully it won't effect his recent push and we'll see Rhodes even higher up the card, he deserves it after his performance tonight.

CM Punk responds to Paul Heyman & Intercontinental Champion Curtis Axel

Before we got to hear from CM Punk on Raw, Paul Heyman confronted Raw General Manager Brad Maddox in his office.  With Heyman verbally assaulted Maddox for allowing the WWE fans to put him in a situation where CM Punk could get his hands on him last week, it was certainly refreshing to see a Paul Heyman that looked weak for the first time in months. With someone like Heyman, it's the little things that count, such as Heyman beginning to grow out his facial hair, as it really helps to sell the idea that Heyman has been worrying about his match with Punk at Night of Champions. Before Maddox got a chance to reply WWE Chief Operating Officer Triple H made another appearance on the show, to tell Heyman that he approved of the match at Night of Champions, because he enjoys seeing Heyman weasling his way out of situations, but this match doesn't seem like he can. For me, having Triple H opposite Heyman here didn't really work, it undermined the storyline with CM Punk and Heyman, and there really was too much Triple H on the show. I would have much rather them kept the Punk and Heyman storyline seperate, especially with Punk not exactly being a company guy.

CM Punk came to the ring carrying a singapore cane, like the one Paul Heyman used to beat him with, and you just knew you were in store for another great promo from Punk. With Punk beginning his promo talking about promises, Punk went on to talk about how he didn't want to wrestle, he wanted to fight. Punk really went for the anger he felt towards Heyman after the beating he received last week. Punk went on to guarantee that at Night of Champions he would get his hands on Heyman, and that if you purchased Night of Champions you would see him destroying Heyman. It was clear that Punk was having a lot of fun with the reaction he was getting from the live crowd, and is enjoying performing at the moment, and with such a great storyline for him to really get his teeth into who can blame him. 

Punk is great at coming up with little one liners that really send the promo home, “Last week he said I'd broke his heart, at Night of Champions, I'm gonna break his face” was another one of those, and I'm sure will be appearing on the hype video for the handicap match at the pay-per-view. Bringing the promo full circle, Punk finished with the line “I Promise”. A lot of the guys in the WWE locker room should be studying Punk's promos and how he tells complete stories within them, that are easy to follow and flow well, as it's rare that you see a promo from someone in WWE that is so rounded. Both Punk and Heyman have been fantastic on the microphone since this feud started, and have both been able to sell pay-per-views on their words alone, because they are that damn good at them. Punk's promises here, I'm sure will have garnered some extra buys for the pay-per-view because who doesn't want to see Paul Heyman get his arse kicked, even if he is a genius.


The real question for me coming out of this promo, was... What's going to happen to CM Punk once this storyline is over? He'd fit into a logical role fighting against Triple H and his group, but that wouldn't really work with Daniel Bryan already filling that role well. A possible run opposite Alberto Del Rio for the World Heavyweight Championship would help elevate that belt and do wonders for Del Rio, but with the way the World Heavyweight title has been treated over the last few months, that would seem unlikely too. Maybe they'll keep the storyline going on past Night of Champions, a rematch against Brock Lesnar would be mouthwatering, especially at the upcoming Hell in a Cell event, but with Lesnar only working limited dates that seems less likely again.  It's difficult to see where Punk fits into the current landscape of WWE after this, but it remains that he will be very valuable asset to the company for years to come, so they had better find him something to do and quickly!

Best of the Rest (In The World)

Elsewhere, in a rematch from this week's Smackdown, Rob Van Dam, accompanied by Ricardo Rodriguez took on World Heavyweight Championship Money in the Bank winner Damien Sandow. Personally, I thought this was a much better contest with the two getting a lot more time here than they did on Smackdown. It did however look to be over fairly quickly after Van Dam had hit a spinning wheel kick, he read for the top rope, only for World Heavyweight Champion Alberto Del Rio to enter the arena, causing the distraction and allowing Sandow back into the contest. Sandow got in a lot more offence in this match, looking good in control of Van Dam, with a number of nice submission holds, that gave Rodriguez the oppurtunity to really get the fans going at ringside.

The finish featured a nice near fall for Sandow, managing to roll Van Dam up as Van Dam attempt to jump to the top rope for a Five Star Frog Splash. With Van Dam managing to escape, he hung Sandow up on the top rope, before hitting the Five Star Frog Splash for the pinfall victory. It was a better finish than their match on Smackdown, allowing Sandow to look much more competitive, as he did throughout the entire match. Sandow might still be looking for that victory, but at least he didn't look completely stupid in the match. With Van Dam and Del Rio staring off to the close the segment, I couldn't help but think that once again WWE has failed to really go with a story for the World Heavyweight Championship. With Ricardo Rodriguez now mananging Van Dam, there was a lot for them to do, but it's certainly taken a backseat to the Triple H and Randy Orton partnership that is currently dominating WWE television. 

Bray Wyatt also made an appearance on Raw, in a pre-recorded promo segment, flanked by his Luke Harper and Erick Rowan. Wyatt has become known for his unsettling, yet excellent promos, and this was business as usual. Using the story of Icarus, Wyatt told us a story about his old enemy Kane, and how Kane had come to close to the fire. Wyatt began singing and the promo segment got weirder, with Wyatt finishing off by claiming that Kane was burning, whilst apparently suffering from a nervous twitch that made him say “Where's Kane?” Wyatt's interesting promo style, partnered with some great work from the WWE production team, splicing together images of The Wyatt Family's attack on Kane at SummerSlam, led to a captivating piece of television that I couldn't take my eyes off.


So, when will Kane return to WWE television and how will he interact with The Wyatt Family, upon his return? Personally, I'd like to see Kane return as part of the Wyatt Family, with very little explanation as to how he was now working with the group, building to a much bigger match between the two further down the line when everything is revealed, maybe even some intervention from Kane's brother The Undertaker. However, if WWE are looking to finish the story earlier than that, it could work equally as well if Kane came back seeking revenge on the Family, and with Hell in a Cell looming they could have the perfect playground to settle the score. 

Dolph Ziggler was also in action on Raw, with Triple H announcing he would be facing a mystery opponent. With Ziggler in the ring, he was ambused from behind by The Shield's United States Champion Dean Ambrose, who eventually sent Ziggler shoulder first into the ring post. With Ambrose mouthing off to Ziggler on the outside, it looked like we would be getting Ziggler vs. Ambrose, only for WWE to throw us a swerve and send Ryback down to the ring to pick up the pieces. The interaction between Ziggler and Ambrose was a nice little teaser of what we could get between the two if given the oppurtunity at Night of Champions, a longer feud would certainly be an entertaining one. Apart from a short comeback from Ziggler, Ryback destroyed The Show Off, throwing him around the ring before finish him off with Shellshocked. It wasn't a particularly pretty match, but it did it's job for both competitors. It will be interesting to see if Ryback continues to be associated with Triple H's regime, it could do wonders for the Human Wrecking Ball. 

The Diva's Championship picture was also cleared up this week, with a triple threat to decide the number one contender for the title at Night of Champions. One week after her infamous “Pipebomb” promo, Diva's Champion AJ Lee was at ringside to provide some great commentary for the match. The match saw three stars from Total Diva's battle it out, with The Funkadactyl's Naomi taking on Natalya and Brie Bella, with the rest of the cast at ringside. The bout was actually half way decent, with some okay spots, including a nice sun set flip from Naomi, as well as nice reversal out of the Sharpshooter into a Small package, once again from Naomi who was undoubtely the star of the match. The finish saw Natalya seemingly setting up Bella for a Fallaway Slam, only for Naomi to hit the Rear View, with Naomi seemingly about to get the victory, AJ Lee broke up the pinfall and a catfight ensued. It was a shame that after a decent match, the women of WWE were backed to rolling around the ring, and it all looked very awkward with everyone beating on Lee. It was later revealed that AJ Lee would have to face all three women in a Fatal Fourway bout at Night of Champions. 

The Miz was also in action on Raw, and there must be something wrong with me, because I'm actually starting to like The Miz again, although I think a lot of it has to do with his performance on Smackdown last week. Miz was in action against Fandango, in what was decent short contest. The bout had a number of interesting spots that kept me interested, with an ongoing story between Miz and Summer Rae, after Rae tried to attack Miz only to be brought in for a cheeky little dance, before Rae would get her revenge later on with a slap to The Miz. The finish saw Fandango escape a Figure Four Leg Lock attempt from The Miz, sending him into the turnbuckle, Miz would then miss his signature clothesline in the corner, allowing for a really nice springboard leg drop from Fandango. But with Fandango's knee playing up as he tried to pull Miz back to the centre of the ring, Miz tripped him into a Figure Four Leg Lock to pick up the submission victory. It was a shame that Miz struggled to lock in the Figure Four, as this bout had been pretty solid up until this point. I reckon this will be the end for the short feud between Miz and Fandango, as it doesn't really have anywhere else to go.

The Prime Time Players continued to roll in tag team action, with Darren Young and Titus O'Neil taking on Heath Slater and Jinder Mahal of 3MB, accompanied by stablemate Drew McIntyre. It was solid entertaining tag team action with both teams playing their roles well. It was more competitive than I had imagined with Slater spending a lot of time in control for his team, after a nice spot where he pulled the legs from underneath Young who was perched on the top rope. The finish was also sound, with Young managing a hot tag to O'Neil who steam rolled through Mahal, including his impressive Fall-away Slam. With Slater breaking up a pinfall attempt from O'Neil, Young took out both Slater and McIntyre, before Mahal managed to bundle Young out of the ring. Mahal then turned around straight into a Clash of the Titus, to give O'Neil and The Prime Time Players the pinfall victory. The crowd loved the Prime Time Players, and I'm beginning to warm to idea of them as faces, as well. 


Oh yeah, they also showed the same vignette for Los Matadores. Twice.

Finally....

My final thoughts on this week's Raw.

1. WWE's programming is becoming uncomfortable at points, but in a way which is really rallying the viewers behind Daniel Bryan.

2. Cody Rhodes pulled out his best all-round WWE performance to date, hopefully he won't be off our screens for too long.

3. CM Punk and Paul Heyman were the perfect on-screen partnership, but they're even better as enemies. 

WWE Raw 26th August 2013 Review

My overall feeling coming out of this week's Raw was that the show was saved by a few star performances, as whilst the direction for the main storylines, like Daniel Bryan vs. The McMahons and CM Punk vs. Paul Heyman, have been incredibly strong, a lot of the rest of the show has lost direction, for example guys like Cody Rhodes and Damien Sandow suddenly feel lost after a very strong build into SummerSlam. Let's take a look at how it all broke down...

Gauntlet Match: 

Daniel Bryan 

vs. 

The Shield

So the build up to this bout began at the start of the show, with WWE Chief Operating Officer Triple H in the ring, delivering a surprisingly succinct heel promo, once again patronising Daniel Bryan, before going on to talk about how the ratings are up with Randy Orton as WWE Champion. I'm not a massive fan of on screen characters references ratings in WWE, but it worked here to further Triple H's heel turn, because we as fans know that people aren't tuning in specifically to Orton as WWE Champion, they're tuning into see Bryan get his hands on the belt once again. What had up until that point been a good opening segment, took a turn for the worse when Triple H presented Randy Orton with a car (I'm not saying the brand unless they wan't to pay me) and Orton didn't really know how to react, it was all a little awkward, and everyone knew what was going to happen to the car later in the show. Of course Daniel Bryan came out to reply to Triple H and Orton, thanking the fans for supporting him, it was clear that he meant what he was saying and was enjoying the fans response to him, so it was strange that the second part of the prom felt so forced as Bryan thanked John Cena, which felt as forced as the first time on Smackdown, unless this is leading to a Cena ambush a few months down the line, it's pretty pointless. Bryan went on to insult both Orton and Triple H, with Triple H placing him in the Gauntlet Match against The Shield as punishment in the main event of the show. The opening segment didn't really draw me into the show at all, whilst I was excited for the main event, the story was a bit of repeat of last week's Raw and Smackdown.

So after Orton's match with Christian (more on that later), Daniel Bryan appeared on screen next to Randy Orton's car. Bryan did his best with some awkward lines of dialogue about Orton being the face of WWE, before posing the question of if Bryan wins the title at Night of Champions would he be the new face of the WWE? Of course, the answer was YES, and was revealed by Bryan as being spray painted all over Orton's new car. I like the original reveal, and Bryan through in a nice little ad lib half way through, but again this segment didn't quite work. Mainly, because it felt too similar to when Kofi Kingston destroyed Orton's gift from The Legacy, another car on Raw in 2009, and it was so clear the Bryan was destroying the car, that the whole set up felt ridiculously contrived. With Triple H and Raw General Manager Brad Maddox surveying the damage, we found out that The Game doesn't know how presents work, and the same goes for the WWE Championship, as he still believed both the car and the championship to be his personal property. Triple H went on to tell Maddox that every WWE personality had to be out on the ramp for Bryan's Gauntlet match and if anyone did interfered they would be fired, and interesting addition to the match, and a good way to involve more wrestlers in the McMahon feud. Some really poor lines of dialogue throughout these segments.

Luckily, the final portion of the show was able to repair the damage the had been done earlier in the show. Whilst Renee Young interviewing Big Show and Dolph Ziggler on the ramp was a nice addition and some good follow on from last week, the interview with The Miz felt completely random and out of place, I couldn't see The Miz being someone to stand up to the McMahon's anyway. The opening bout of the gauntlet saw Bryan take on Tag Team Champion Seth Rollins. Now anyone that's been watching Raw since this years WrestleMania, will now that when you put Bryan and Rollins in the ring together you some incredibly good television wrestling. The pacing was great, with both men knowing when to raise it up and bring back down, including a nice little moment with Rollins imitating Bryan. The crowd, of course, lapped up every second of Daniel Bryan's now familiar comeback, before the two launched into a nice series of pinning combination, which when done properly like this is always a joy to watch. The ending saw Rollins attempt a Superplex, only for Bryan to slip free and hit a German Superplex that turned Rollins inside out. Unfortunately, the WWE crew missed the ending as they panned the crowd, but apparently Bryan got the win with the same version of the Knee Trembler he's been using since SummerSlam. It would have been a nice ending if we'd had seen it! United States Champion Dean Ambrose was up next, but the bout ending quickly with Bryan locking in the Yes Lock, only for Tag Team Champion Roman Reigns to make the save, giving Bryan the disqualification victory. They played out the same ending again for Bryan's match with Reigns, with Ambrose making the save this time. It was a good way to keep both The Shield and Bryan looking good.

After the bout, The Shield decimated Bryan with their usual pack mentality finishing him off with a spear from Roman Reigns, whilst the rest of the WWE roster looked on. Triple H then made his way back out to the arena, starring down with Big Show and Dolph Ziggler, before indicating to The Shield to hit the Triple Powerbomb. Randy Orton then entered the arena, and with Triple H's blessing headed down to the ring. With Rollins and Ambrose holding up Bryan for Orton, the WWE Champion hit an RKO on The Submission Specialist, closing the show up on the ramp with Triple H. I really enjoyed this ending, it once again put Daniel Bryan in an empathic role, we can see his fight, but the odds stacked against him are too great, we know he can beat Randy Orton one on one, but will he get that opportunity at Night of Champions? Bryan is someone who will get more over when he loses, he works tremendously in an underdog roll, and with Triple H and Randy Orton on the opposing side, it's shaping up really well at moment, as long as they stay away from bizarre segments with cars.

Christian 

vs. 

WWE Champion

 Randy Orton

So whilst the main storyline was thundering on Raw, WWE Champion Randy Orton took a nice Captain Charisma shaped detour. With Christian being interviewed by the ever annoying Josh Matthews, Christian's promo about living through the McMahon-Helmsley era felt a little nervous, I'm not sure if this was intentionally, but it certainly what we've came to expect from Christian. With Orton turning up, talking about how Orton had won at SummerSlam and Christian hadn't, before claiming history would repeat itself tonight. I thought with the history between these two they could have done a hell of a lot better with this promo, which never really clicked which was a real shame.

Fortunately, the two continued to click in the ring, and made up for a rather dull contest they had on the 5^th July edition of Smackdown, as they returned to their usually form when going head to head. It was interesting to see the dynamic switched here as we had previously seen a face Randy Orton against heel Christian, or both men going in as faces. After a shaky start, Orton quickly ground Christian working him over well, with Christian's impeccable selling helping to keep the crowd interested in the bout. Now with Orton back to being heel, his use of the headlock as a rest hold makes a lot more sense, as it allows him to show of a nice array of facial expressions, whilst building for a comeback for the face. The moment when Orton foiled a Christian comeback with Christian selling as if he was out cold, lying in Orton's lap as the WWE Champion laugh was an especially poignant moment.

The final few minutes saw Christian and Orton launced into a top notch back and forth section of the match, with numerous near falls for Christian, his closest coming from Spear. The match however was of course, Randy Orton's as after reversing a Killswitch attempt, by sending Christian into the referee in the corner, Orton hit a thumb to the eye, allowing him to capatialise easily with an RKO for the pinfall victory. Whilst the ending screamed “I'M HEEL NOW!” it worked well enough to end the bout. This was a really strong television match that could easily have been the main event on a regular Raw, when Orton and Christian get enough time and enough story to tell they are a great pairing in the ring, with Christian quickly becoming WWE's go to guy for great television matches.

This match really got me thinking, WWE truly missed the boat in terms of giving Christian an extended main event push and run with the ball. Whilst, this would not be the right the direction for Christian now, I truly feel he could have made more of an impact in WWE when he returned to WWE in February 2009, with WWE missing out on a number of rivalries that could have resulted in successful programmes, Christian vs. CM Punk jumps instantly to mind. He is definitely in the right role now though, helping to get over talent that WWE needs to get over, similar to the role we've seen Chris Jericho in, but able to step into a big match spot if needs be, and always deliver.

CM Punk 

vs. 

Intercontinental Champion 

Curtis Axel 

with Paul Heyman

 (If CM Punk wins, Paul Heyman will be forced to get in the ring with CM Punk)

This match was made on last week's Smackdown, with the stipulation been added just prior after receiving over 80% of a WWE App vote (with the other options being Paul Heyman being banned from ringside and Paul Heyman as Special Guest Referee). Talking of the WWE App, we got was apparently a WWE App “Exclusive” segment shown on Raw, which 1. Proved that WWE don't know what exclusive means and 2. Gave us a nice short CM Punk promo about how much he wanted to get his hands on Paul Heyman. I don't understand why WWE think I would download the app, when anything worthwhile is shown on the show anyway! We then got Paul Heyman and Intercontinental Champion Curtis Axel's reaction to the segment, with Heyman twisting Punk's words superbly, and Axel's over-inflated ego being shown once again. Whilst I'm still not a fan of Axel using varations of “Perfect” as a catch phrase, the ending of the segment where Axel asked Heyman if he trusted him and Heyman replied with “As if my life depended on it” were very well written and worked as a good piece of build up heading into the bout.

Whilst I can't really fault the action that happened in the ring, I never really felt drawn into the match. I think this is because at no point during the bout did it feel like Curtis Axel was going to win, and I was more interested in seeing the aftermath between Punk and Heyman and how that would play out. One thing that worked for me during the bout, was Heyman's constant presence at the top of the entrance ramp, it gave Punk a reference point and constantly reminded the viewer what the match was really all about. There were some nice spots like Punk trying to run after Heyman only to to stopped by Axel, and a nice section with a number of reversals resulting in a neckbreaker from Punk. Axel's closest opportunity in the match was a Running One-Armed Swinging Neckbreaker (formerly known as the McGillicutter) but we've seen so many wrestlers kick out of that now that we know Axel isn't picking up the victory with that one.

The ending saw Axel taunting Punk with a slap to the back of the head, after his near fall, only for Punk to react with an instant GTS to pick up the pinfall victory and the opportunity get Heyman in the ring. It was a decent ending, but nothing particularly out of the ordinary. Now, however, was where the real fun started. After Heyman had tried to escape twice, only to be dragged to the ring by security, it looked like Punk would finally get his hand's on his former best friend. This was not the case, however, as Heyman had another ace up his sleeve. With Punk pushing Heyman into a corner, Axel recovered hitting Punk vicious low blow. Heyman handed Axel some handcuffs and things were about to get a little uncomfortable. I really enjoyed this swerve, as it felt like they might have been blowing off the angle on Raw at one point, but really I should have known better from the dastardly Paul Heyman!

Despite a brief fight back from a no armed Punk, a steel chair and a singapore cane allowed Heyman and Axel to take advantage. With Axel holding Punk again the ropes, Heyman delivered a series of vicious shots with the cane, whilst saying things like “You broke my heart”, this whole story has had shades of a dumped girlfriend, and this segment hammered it home. It was beautifully uncomfortable, and really made me sit up and take notice. What worked so well for me, was the amount of depth in the story. Yes, Paul Heyman is clearly a bad guy with twisted morals, but you can't help but feel for him at times, even as he beats his former best friend with a singapore cane! Later on, Renee Young caught up with Heyman and Axel, and Heyman once again delivered a superb promo, as close to tears, he discussed having to punish his “prodigal son” repeatedly for crossing him, Heyman is far and away the best actor in WWE and this proved it for me. Punk later went to see Brad Maddox, with Maddox making a Elimination Handicap Match between Punk and the team of Heyman and Axel at Night of Champions, which without sounding smug, I predicted before SummerSlam.

Best of the Rest (In The World)

Elsewhere, Rob Van Dam took on World Heavyweight Champion Alberto Del Rio, in a match where if Van Dam won he would get a World Heavyweight Championship match at Night of Champions. With Van Dam being accompanied by Ricardo Rodriguez, WWE have still failed to explain how the two became acquainted, with Michael Cole's explanation that the are “both cool dudes” only making it seem like Rodriguez has been joining in with Van Dam's favourite pass time (I'm saying nothing, but if you guessed the numbers I were thinking of as Four and Twenty, you'd be correct). All it would have taken was some mic time from either guy before the bout to give us a little explanation.

The match itself was pretty rotten, from the opening it was filled with botches, like Van Dam struggling to set Del Rio up on the top rope, before missing a diving side kick by a country mile, but Del Rio still selling liked he'd had a brick thrown at his head. For me this was Van Dam's worst match since returning to WWE, and the first he looked genuinely old in. Del Rio didn't really help either with a nasty double stomp to Van Dam's back that looked simply careless, and some awful looking headbutts, it really was a challenge to get into this bout. The ending saw Rodriguez get on top of the announce table, getting the crowd to chant “RVD”, before RVD used a leg scissors roll up to get the pinfall victory and a World Heavyweight Championship match at Night of Champions. Whilst Christian's matches prior to facing Del Rio at SummerSlam were solid television bouts, this didn't really fill me with hope for Night of Champions, hopefully they'll both return to form, but this bout wasn't a great sign.

The opening contest of the night saw Cody Rhodes go up against Fandango. I was actually interested in seeing this one, and with World Heavyweight Championship Money in the Bank Winner Damien Sandow providing hilarious guest commentary, I thought we were in for a decent opening contest. This was thrown out of the window barely two minutes into the contest, when The Miz came out to Fandango's music, dressed as Fandango and dancing with a returning Rosa Mendes. Obviously they were looking for a counterpart to Summer Rae, but I have no idea why Rosa Mendes, who was last seen as a heel manager to Primo & Epico was chosen. The Miz's dancing made me want to punch him in the face, if WWE are trying to get him over as a face, it really isn't working. The distraction allowed Rhodes get a pinfall victory via a School Boy Roll Up and I was left simply scratching my head.

After the match, Fandango went to attack Rhodes, only to end up in a Cross Rhodes, with Sandow making the save for the Ball Room Dancer. With Sandow and Fandango beating down Rhodes, The Miz finally got to the ring and the four men engaged in a brawl, with Miz and Rhodes coming off better, sending Fandango and Sandow to the outside, with Miz almost knocking out Summer Rae by throwing his jacket dangerously close to Mrs. Fandango. Brad Maddox turned up channelling Teddy Long and making a tag team match. The tag bout was actually better than I had imagined with Rhodes and Sandow having the majority of the match with some nice action between those two, finishing with a well worked double clothesline spot, to allow Rhodes to get the hot tag to The Miz. Whilst some of the moves used by The Miz (Big boot? Really?) didn't look great, the overall comeback was done well with Miz raising the pace, and after Fandango had left his partner high and dry, the double team effort of Rhodes and Miz allowed Miz to hit a Skull Crushing Finale on Sandow for the victory. Whilst the tag team match was surprisingly good, I'm not sure where it leaves anyone in the match, I'm not enjoying the Fanango vs. Miz rivalry and Rhodes and Sandow's feud seems to be treading water with nothing really happening for those two this week.

There was also a SummerSlam rematch pitting Brie Bella against Natalya. It was a pretty forgettable contest, with Bella picking up the victory after some distraction from Nikki Bella and Eva Marie allowed Bella to escape the Sharp Shooter and with Natalya distracted hit the Bella Buster to pick up the pinfall victory. I'm pretty sure a one point Eva Marie ran into the ring post after being chased by The Funkadactyls, why she is anyway near a wrestling ring I have no idea. After the bout however hope was restored by the saviour of WWE's womens division Diva's Champion AJ Lee, who delivered a deliciously sweet promo about Total Divas and talking about how she had to work for everything she has received, rather than “sucking up” to people. If you haven't seen the promo, go and watch it now, nothing I can type here will do it justice. The fact that it's been compared to CM Punk's infamous “Pipe Bomb” promo should tell you all you need to know. The Bellas however were however intent on ruining the excellent promo as they talked the whole way through, like some annoying kid in the cinema, someone needs to tell them to stay quiet until someone else is speaking. Hopefully, WWE will have Natalya take on AJ at Night of Champions, instead of Brie Bella, because I'm pretty sure Natalya vs. AJ could be a potential show stealer if given a good amount of time.

Ryback continues his bullying backstage, this week working his way up as high as Josh Matthews, as Matthews once again felt the brunt of Ryback's offence. With Matthews interviewing Ryback backstage, the Human Wrecking Ball quickly became bored with the conversation, squashing Matthews' face, before throwing him to the floor. To be quite honest, I fairly enjoyed Matthews being pushed around, at least I didn't have to listen to him talk for too long. I'm guessing WWE has plans for Ryback going forward, as they are deliberately keeping him out of the ring, I wonder if they'll keep this going until Chris Jericho returns to the company after his tour, it could be a push but the moment a returning Jericho halts Ryback's bullying could work very well.

Also on Raw, Titus O'Neil of The Prime Time Players took on Jack Swagger of The Real Americans. With Swagger's “Founding Father” Zeb Colter cutting his best promo in a long time on The Prime Time Players, even if it was a bit uncomfortable, it looked like Colter could have finally found the creativity he has been lacking in recent months. The bout itself actually surprised me, it was of course short, but was actually an enjoyable contest, with the two working well against one another. Swagger dominated the early going with some well applied submissions, before O'Neil got his comeback, including an impressive fall away slam. With Swagger turning his focus to O'Neil's leg, in an attempt to soften it up for the ankle lock, Swagger attempted to get a pinfall victory with his feet on the ropes, only for Darren Young to know them off. With Young and Antonio Cesaro squaring off, Swagger was distracted an walk straight into a Clash of Titus to give O'Neil a pinfall victory, definitely the biggest singles win of his career. I'm over Prime Time Players impromtu face turn now, I'm beginning to wonder what the next step is for the talent duo...

There was also another Los Matadores vignette, in fact it was the same vignette they showed last week on Raw and they showed it twice. It's a little bit frustrating after seeing WWE show multiple Wyatt Family promos only few months ago building up there debut, which were all entertaining and offered us something new about the stable, that WWE has came back to doing these kind of vignettes. Whilst the Wyatt Family felt incredibly fresh and exciting, this gimmick feels like a step backwards, and I'm really not sure the fans will take to it, but I could be wrong and I hope for the talented Epico and Primo that I am. 

Finally...

My final thoughts on this week's WWE Raw....

1. Raw ended stronger than it began.

2. Christian still deserves "One More Match" for a major championship in WWE, even if it's just to get a heel over with the crowd.

3. Punk vs. Heyman continues to be the most consistently fascinating story on WWE television. 

WWE SummerSlam Kick-Off 2013 Review

The Kick-Off show has began to take on a bit of a life of it's own. Originally the bouts would be about four minutes long, and there really was no much point tuning in early. However, in the last few shows there's been a noticeable shift to longer matches, usually longer than most of the matches on the PPV. I think WWE has realised that this is a great platform to push for the last few pay-per-view buys and a long impressive match may just change someone's mind.

United States Championship Match: 

Rob Van Dam 

vs. 

Dean Ambrose ©

The Shield are apparently chasing The Miz's former title of Mr. Kick-Off, after making appearance on the last two shows. They are a good choice for this role, as they almost always have good and exciting matches, and usually wouldn't get this amount of time to show what they can do on pay-per-view. Rob Van Dam has only been back with WWE just over a month, and after WWE made such a big deal over his return with some good hype videos, I was a little surprised to see him only make the Kick-Off bout this time round. WWE really could've done with giving Van Dam a story heading into the show, as it took them til the final Raw before this pay-per-view to even book him in this match. He even could have been added to the Christian vs. Alberto Del Rio bout, to give that match a bit more pull.

The opening part of the match was strong with Ambrose working well in grounding Van Dam. There was some exciting back and forth with both men doing a great job at getting the crowd involved. The crowd were redhot from the outset of the battle and of course that really helped Van Dam's performance. With Van Dam taking control of the bout, after reversing Ambrose's Headlock Driver, with a series of kicks, it looked like it might be over early with Van Dam heading to the top rope for a Five Star Frogsplash, only for the Shield's music to hit and Tag Team Champions Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns to make their way down to ringside. I didn't really understand the logic behind this move, as Rollins and Reigns took so long to get down to the ring, that Van Dam could of hit his finisher and won the United States Championship in the time that it took them to get down to the ring.

When we returned for the break, Van Dam was in full control again, so with The Shield trying to get involved, Mark Henry and Big Show made came down the aisle to even up the numbers. The in ring action continued to be strong, with Van Dam continuing to have the upperhand for the most part, with Seth Rollins' distraction not allowing Van Dam to hit the Five Star Frog Splash for a second time. However, Van Dam did finally manage to hit his finishing move a few minutes later, this time over the other side of the ring, however when he went for the cover, he ended up on the receiving end of a Spear from Reigns, giving Van Dam the disqualification victory, but allowing Ambrose to retain the United States Championship. We've seen a lot of similar endings from The Shield lately, and it's beginning to make Ambrose look like a weak United States Champion after originally being booked so strongly, with no need for Rollins and Reigns to interfere in his match, he could really do with a clean win soon.

After Show and Henry had chased off The Shield, the three veterans celebrated in the ring, with The Shield taunting them from outside. Obviously WWE wanted to keep Van Dam looking strong here, without actually giving him the United States Championship, therefore I wouldn't expect to see a rematch between the two anytime soon, especially not for the title. However, I do expect to see Show and Henry get a title shot at The Shield's Rollins and Reigns, possibly at the next pay-per-view, Night of Champions. It will interesting to see how the dynamic of the two big men plays out in this kind of battle, as WWE hasn't really had two big men team together in quite some time.

Best of the Rest (In The World)

Elsewhere on the show, Paul Heyman had an announcement to make about Brock Lesnar's match with Paul Heyman at SummerSlam. After a beautiful analogy comparing Punk vs. Lesnar to David vs. Goliath, with some classic Heyman changes to the story. Then Heyman, announced that both parties had agreed that the bout would be No Disqualification, before talking about how Lesnar was going to dismantle Punk. It was a nice addition to the pre-show and the news of a change in the match might have helped people who were previously unsure about buying SummerSlam dip into their pockets.

The addition of the No Disqualification rule was certainly a good move in my opinion. We've seen a lot of weapons used in the build up to this one, and therefore if they'd have gone for a straight up wrestling match it might not have felt as impactful as the build-up had been. Also, we've seen Lesnar in a number of No Disqualification match since his 2012 return, and it certainly is the best enviroment to have The Beast Incarnate do his work, as it can make him look even more vicious and dominating. It would also give Punk an oppurtunity to get his hands on Paul Heyman without getting reprimanded by the referee!

The panel for SummerSlam Kick-Off was hosted by Josh Matthews, who was joined by WWE Hall of Famer's Shawn Michaels and Booker T, as well as Smackdown General Manager Vickie Guerrero. Michaels and Booker were informative and entertaining bringing a nice insight into the rivalries and matches that would be going on during the show, with Vickie occasional chipping in, but for the most part she was simply there to make up the numbers and give her something to do. I'm not a massive fan of Josh Matthews on commentary, but here he was at least tolerable, setting up conversation points for his panel well.

Renee Young also got invovled in the show, as we occasional visited her in what was termed “The Social Media Lounge”, what this meant was a sofa and a television screen that would occasional show tweets. Renee is good as a host, she's likeable and her tone makes her easy to listen to as she lead us through what the WWE fans were thinking on various forms of social media, however where she came undone was when she had to speak about how own opinion on wrestling, especially when talking about her favourite SummerSlam moment. It was clear she was being fed the lines and didn't really know what she was talking about.

Throughout the show we were also joined by Tony Dawson who was outside the arena talking to fans. This was a nice touch, even if Dawson was a little close to the camera a number of times, which I'm sure will give children nightmares for weeks to come. The fans interviewed were excitable and clearly a little taken aback at being aproached to be on television, however their answers were good and helped to get a sense of how the crowd would be in the arena once the show had started.

Finally...

What did I learn from SummerSlam Kick-Off?

1. WWE has bigger plans for Rob Van Dam than the United States Championship.

2. A little addition to the card on the Kick-Off helps to build anticipation.

3. These Kick-Off shows really get me pumped for the real thing.

WWE Raw 12th August 2013 Review

This week’s Raw spent a lot of time putting the finishing touches to stories heading into this Sunday’s SummerSlam, with CM Punk vs. Brock Lesnar and John Cena vs. Daniel Bryan having their last opportunities at the big sell before the Biggest Party of the Summer. Whilst it’s likely that Christian vs. Alberto Del Rio, Cody Rhodes vs. Damien Sandow, Kane vs. Bray Wyatt and Dolph Ziggler & Kaitlyn vs. Big E Langston & AJ Lee, will probably have one last shot on Smackdown, this was also their last opportunity in front of television audience of this size. On the whole, WWE did a solid job of the show, helping to make the SummerSlam card look positively stacked.

CM Punk vs. Paul Heyman

With this match being given the main event spot on the show, there were a couple of backstage segments used to build towards it. Firstly, Josh Matthews interviewed CM Punk backstage, and as we’ve come to expect from CM Punk he delivered a solid interview, outlining how he wasn’t expecting a fair fight out of Paul Heyman, as well as talking about his contest with Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam. Punk set up the idea that Heyman saw this all as one big chess game, a point that would be capitalised upon later on. It’s nice to see WWE dropping hints that are little more subtle than what they did with Team Rhodes Scholars at Money in the Bank! The WWE cameras were also on hand to show us a moment backstage between Paul Heyman and Intercontinental Champion Curtis Axel, where it seemed Heyman was having second thoughts about the match. Whilst Axel’s acting ability was questionable, it at least made it seem like Heyman was serious about having the match with Punk.

Of course, Heyman wasn’t serious about having a one on one match with Punk, and in the final segment of the show, the mad scientist revealed his true intentions, in another stunning promo. Heyman’s sentiments are similar to a crazed ex-girlfriend, accusing the WWE fans of taking CM Punk away from him, and if it wasn’t so well delivered it would be comical. Heyman admitted the match was a trap for Punk, bringing out Brock Lesnar and making the bout two-on-one. Heyman baited Punk even more by saying he didn’t have to play the hero, he could instead disappoint the fans. Of course, Punk’s music hit and it looked like SummerSlam might come early once again….

Everything about what I was seeing on my television screen at this point gave the game away. The angle of the camera, the position of Heyman and Lesnar, the amount of time Punk’s music player for, and I was correct. Punk slid into the ring from behind Lesnar and Heyman, but it was what happened next that shocked me. Punk grabbed the television camera out of it’s operators hands, delivering a number of vicious shots to Lesnar, before grabbing a steel chair and continuing the beating. Like much of this rivalry, the beating looked legitimately painful, and if it wasn’t Lesnar did a great job of selling it as such. With Lesnar down, Punk would turn his attention to Heyman, chasing him up the entrance way. With Punk gaining on Heyman, Curtis Axel would make the save for his manager allowing him to escape. It wasn’t long before Punk gained the upperhand, delivering a GTS on the stage. As Punk finished the show with the words “I am the Best in the World!” it was clear Heyman’s trap had backfired in another piece of strong storytelling for this feud.

Many could argue that CM Punk has already gotten the best of Brock Lesnar after weeks of coming up short, so the SummerSlam contest is now redundant. However, for me, Punk getting the best of Lesnar has never been the focal point of this story. For me, the focal point has been Heyman’s betray of CM Punk, and Punk’s attempts to get his hands on his former best friend. Now we know that Punk is clever enough to defeat Brock Lesnar, at least when armed with camera, but can he beat in a straight up fight, and we haven’t see him get his hand on Heyman. That’s what the promise of SummerSlam is for me, buy SummerSlam to see if CM Punk can defeat Brock Lesnar and get his hands on Paul Heyman!

Daniel Bryan 

vs. 

Wade Barrett

Miz TV with WWE Champion John Cena & Daniel Bryan

Before Miz TV later in the night, Daniel Bryan and Wade Barrett had a rematch of their bout from the previous week’s Smackdown, with Raw General Manager Brad Maddox inserting himself as special guest referee. The majority of the match was pretty similar to the two bouts the pair have had on Smackdown recently, with Barrett in control, until Bryan launched into a comeback. Except this time, as Bryan launched into his regular “Yes” kicks spot, Barrett managed to duck a kick and pull off a school boy roll up, with Brad Maddox counting a quick three count to give Barrett a pinfall victory. It seemed a bizarre decision to have Barrett go over, just to further Maddox’s alignment with Mr. McMahon, in a story that’s already been over crowded, but would, sort of, pay off later on in the show.

Later on in the evening the plot thickened, with WWE Chairman Vince McMahon calling out Brad Maddox on his fast count during the Bryan/Barrett match. After some explanation, Vince was quick to forgive Maddox, before the Raw General Manager asked to officiate the SummerSlam main event. Now, I’m a fan of Brad Maddox, but at this point I was about to throw my television out of the window, because I’ve said before John Cena vs. Daniel Bryan does not need any bells and whistles to sell the match. Therefore, for the first time in a good few years, I was legitimately relieved when the opening stings of Motorhead’s “The Game” began to play and WWE COO Triple H made his way to the ring. Unfortunately, Triple H was only there to make himself the special guest referee, before hitting Maddox with a Pedigree. Whilst having Triple H as special guest referee is marginally better than having Brad Maddox, I’d still rather see this match without shenanigans.

Whilst everything going on around them seems intent on destroying their match at SummerSlam, John Cena and Daniel Bryan were about to bring everything back around, as they joined The Miz for Miz TV. After getting the opening questions out of the way, and The Miz being his usual annoying self, and ending up being told to stay quiet by Daniel Bryan, we launched into two of the strongest promos, of Bryan and Cena’s respective careers. Firstly, Bryan went after Cena for being more style than substance and referring to him as a “parody of wrestling”, it worked so well for me because it’s true. John Cena’s character is a parody, it’s a parody of Hulk Hogan from the 1980’s. I have the upmost respect for John and he has put on some of the best matches on WWE television over the last few years, but there is no escaping the similarities between his act and Hulk Hogan’s. John Cena’s reply then was just as good, as Cena seemed to pulling on real emotion for the first time in a long, we’ve seen him bat of the fans criticism, but it affected him here for the first time, and it’s much easier to empathise with someone who appear human, rather than the Superhero image that Cena usually brings to the table. Most of all though, Cena was taking this seriously, no silly jokes, no unfunny puns, just one man defending his honour, it sounds simple but it works!

Then it got even more serious, with Daniel Bryan claiming that Cena doesn’t take him as seriously as previous opponents like Shawn Michaels and The Rock, with Cena saying Bryan was right, announcing he won’t respect Bryan until he has won the WWE Championship. This really riled Bryan up, who talked about a Japanese culture where opponents would slap each other in the face before their matches, before saying he wouldn’t be doing so for Cena, because he is not a wrestler. It was delivered perfectly and really worked the Anti-Cena faction well. Cena had had enough, and slapped Bryan square in the face, but before we could see Bryan respond, Mr. Spotlight Stealer himself Triple H turned up to stand in the middle of the ring, with Randy Orton holding his Money in the Bank briefcase a loft on the entrance. I’ve defended Triple H before, but there really is no other reason for him to be involved in this bout, other than to massage his massive ego. The Randy Orton thing is starting to become a little too obvious, and if it does happen on Sunday would have been much better if WWE didn’t decide to sign post it here, with big flashing lights!

Kofi Kingston 

vs. 

World Heavyweight Champion 

Alberto Del Rio

After a string of disappointing results for World Heavyweight Champion Alberto Del Rio, against the likes of Randy Orton, Rob Van Dam and his SummerSlam opponent Christian, it was vital that Del Rio got back to winning ways on Raw, to at least attempt to salvage his dire run as World Heavyweight Champion. Now, that isn’t to say his matches haven’t been quality television bouts, because they have, but losing so many matches in the past month have made him look like a paper champion. I was therefore a little confused as to why WWE had chosen Kofi Kingston as his opponent. Yes, Kofi is capable of making his opponent look very good and as we’ve seen in the past able to have quality matches with Del Rio, but bringing him into a match like this just one week after he returned to television, showed me that WWE clearly have nothing for Kingston at the moment, and they aren’t planning on pushing him anytime soon.

The contest was a strong television match, that went for about six minutes of air time. Kofi spent most of the match frustrating Del Rio with his pace, and whilst Del Rio would temporarily regain control, it didn’t last long with Kofi moving out of the way of Del Rio’s signature Leapfrog Body Guillotine, sending Del Rio crashing to the outside. One thing I did notice during Del Rio’s brief spell in charge, was the way Del Rio worked the crowd, taunting them and Kingston, it was simple but effective because the character is so unlikeable. With Kingston seemingly back in control of the bout, hitting the Boom Drop, before beginning the set up for Trouble in Paradise, Del Rio ducked and it was the beginning of the end for Kingston.

 Following an exciting close section, including another missed Trouble in Paradise and near fall via roll up for Kofi, Del Rio managed to lock in the Cross Arm Breaker. Kofi spent a long time in the hold, selling it well as he reached for the rope, but it was too far for Kingston who ended up taping out, giving Del Rio the submission victory. It was an enjoyable finish that suited a quick and pacy match that benefitted from not sticking to usual WWE format. Personally, I think both Del Rio and Kingston suit their roles well, and that came across well in this bout. The bout allowed Del Rio to at least gain a shred of credibility that he has lost over the past month, which is shame after WWE did such good work with him during his feud with Dolph Ziggler.  Will Kingston be getting anything more substantial with WWE anytime soon, I doubt it.

Later on in the night, WWE showed a vignette highlighting the career of Christian as he prepares for his title match with Del Rio at SummerSlam. As usual WWE did a very good job of the vignette, and it really made Christian look like a top contender for the championship, but it did feel a bit desperate on WWE’s part, who must know they’ve done a pretty poor job of promoting this bout up until now. With Renee Young interviewing Christian straight after the vignette, Young may have stumbled over her words, but Christian didn’t, as he delivered a sound face interview, quickly skimming over his injuries (take note Chris Sabin) before claiming this was the “One More Match” he’d been asking for. With Del Rio interrupting saying something in Spanish (he’s heel now), to which all I could make out was “Une Match Mas”. It was a little too late for their match at SummerSlam, had this been done three or four weeks ago, we might have had the makings of interesting feud but as it stand Christian vs. Del Rio stands out like a sore thumb on the SummerSlam card.

Best of the Rest (In The World) 

Elsewhere, the two Money in the Bank winners Randy Orton and Damien Sandow faced off in a rematch from the 26th July episode of Smackdown. It was one of the longer matches of the longer matches on the show, and I’m not quite sure why. Similar to their match on Smackdown, the pair, for the most part, both men simply went through the motion with nothing particularly grasping my attention for most of the match. The only interesting spot saw Orton attempt his signature powerslam, only for Sandow to hold onto the ropes and reverse into a nice spinning neckbreaker for a near fall.

The end saw the involvement of Sandow’s rival Cody Rhodes, who was on commentary, as he went to take Sandow’s Money in the Bank briefcase, which was handcuffed to the ring post, thus causing the distraction for Sandow and allowing Orton to hit an RKO and pick up the pinfall victory. It was a solid finish that gave the rivalry that extra layer heading into SummerSlam, but I’m not sure we needed a whole ten minutes of build up to get to that point, in what was a pretty dull match. With Orton only turning up when it pleases him, hopefully he’ll turn up for the entirety of his impending WWE Championship, or else it won’t be a very long one for the former Legend Killer.

There was also a twenty man battle royal with an opportunity to face The Shield’s Dean Ambrose at SummerSlam Kick-Off for the United States Championship awaiting the winner. Before the match, The Shield delivered a promo backstage, surprisingly the bulk of the promo was delivered by Tag Team Champion Seth Rollins. We’ve only really seen Rollins play a bit part in these sort of segment before, playing second fiddle to Ambrose. Rollins handled himself very well, delivering his strongest performance in WWE to date, as he ran down some of WWE’s older talent, and building up his group as the future of WWE. This would become even more resonant come the conclusion of the battle royal.

Now, it has to be said that I love a good battle royal! When done correctly it can do wonders for numerous talent at the same time and be a pleasure to watch. Luckily that was the case here, as the match built up really well. After a few eliminations from Ryback, it took a while for the bout to get going until R-Truth eliminated Fandango, and in a classic battle royal spot, Fandango re-entered the match to eliminate R-Truth. With the break cleverly being used to thin the field with a number of superstars exiting on the WWE App. Then followed some of the best work of the match between Kofi Kingston and The Real Americans, with Kofi eventually being eliminated. With Henry eliminating The Real Americans and Barrett, and RVD and Henry working together to eliminate Ryback we were down to our final two. It seemed Henry would be the likely winner due to his recent feud with The Shield, however it was RVD who came out victorious after he sent a charging Henry over the top rope. With barely enough time to celebrate, The Shield headed down to ringside with Henry and RVD standing back to back. It was here that the Big Show returned, charging to the ring, with The Shield retreated. I suspect Henry and Big Show will team up on Sunday against Rollins and Reigns, which could be an interesting battle, but Big Show’s return would have been more impactful had WWE not advertised it three weeks ago!

Kane was also in action on Raw as he faced Titus O’Neil of the Prime Time Players. It was ensentially a squash match as Kane dominated throughout, even a distraction from Darren Young couldn’t stop Kane delivering a Chokeslam to pick up a pinfall victory. This bout was essentially to show what Kane can do against bigger opponents, after he destroyed 3MB on Smackdown, as he heads into a SummerSlam bout with Bray Wyatt. Talking of Wyatt, he and his family came out with their usually entrance after the match, but when the lights went up, Erick Rowan and Luke Harper were alone in the ring, with Kane standing up on the entrance ramp. It was a nice reminder that Kane can play mind games too, and whilst Bray didn’t look particularly phased when Kane trigger his usual pyro, it was still good to see Kane looking strong heading into the pay per view.

In a bizarre mixed tag team match Divas Champion AJ Lee teamed with Big E Langston, to take on Natalya and The Great Khali, who were accompanied by Hornswoggle. AJ and Natalya wrestled the entire match, which for the most part was fairly enjoyable as their previous one-on-one contests have been. There was some nice work with AJ and Hornswoggle, which fans of NXT Redemption would have enjoyed, leading to Natalya locking on the Sharpshooter on AJ. It was here that the match got weird, with the referee deciding not to call a clear submission from AJ, which lead to confusion from the Divas in the ring, who had to quickly improvise a situation with Natalya locking in the Sharpshooter again to finally get the victory. With Langston walking into a chop from Khali to close the segment I was left very confused. Is it Khali and Natalya booked to face Dolph Ziggler and Kaitlyn at SummerSlam? Has Natalya got a Divas Championship match for beating the champion two matches in row? Both the answers are no… so why are Khali and Natalya going over here? I have no idea.

Natalya was also involved later on in the night, as Josh Matthews interviewed The Bella Twins and Eva Marie. It was another poor segment for the Total Divas girls, with Natalya’s personality barely helping to rescue the segment. After a match had been set for SummerSlam between Natalya and Brie Bella, with the Funkadactyls in Natalya’s corner and Nikki Bella and Eva Maria in Brie’s corner, Natalya continued to wind up Brie about last week’s slap, Brie replied with a slap of her own to close the segment. Whilst I’m happy that Natalya is getting some time on television, and heading for a pay-per-view contest, I’m not quite sure why this feud warrants a pay-per-view match, and why Dean Ambrose vs. Rob Van Dam is pushed to the Kick Off show.

In the rubber match of their series, The Usos took on Zeb Colter’s Real Americans in another solid tag team outing from these two teams. With The Real Americans grounding Jey Uso with some good submission holds and double team attacks, the highlight for me being Jack Swagger launching Jey into an upper cut from Antonio Cesaro for a near fall. The Real Americans even threw in a well worked blind tag spot, when Jey looked to be making a comeback. With Jey eventually making the hot tag to Brother Jimmy, things looked bleak for Swagger as he took a running hip attack form for near fall with Cesaro pulling him out of the ring for the save. The finish of the match was equally impressive, with Jimmy heading to the top to hit a Superfly Splash on Swagger, Colter caused the distraction to allow Cesaro to attempt to push Jimmy from the top rope, only to receive a Superkick from Jey, who made the blind tag to score a roll up victory on Swagger. It made sense for WWE to give the face team the victory here, as the Tag Team Champions The Shield are heel, will The Usos get another shot at the gold, time will tell.

In a random segment that summed up WWE’s current influx of dancing gimmicks, with Fandango and R-Truth supposedly having a match, an impromptu dance off ensued with each man showing off his respective skills, until it broke into a fight with R-Truth eventually getting the upperhand. With Fandango reminding people how to say his name the segment came to an end. I have no idea what was trying to be achieved here, or why the two could simply have just had a wrestling match. Fandango’s push seems well and truly over, with WWE seemingly going sour on the Ballroom dancer, I can’t imagine a feud with R-Truth will help him much either.

Finally...

What did I learn from this week's Raw?

1. Brock Lesnar vs. CM Punk is the strongest booked match heading into SummerSlam.

2. That honour could have gone to John Cena vs. Daniel Bryan, had Cena and Bryan been left alone.

3. Unless some minor miracle happens on Smackdown, Alberto Del Rio vs. Christian has been the poorest booked, yes, even worse than Brie Bella vs. Natalya.