Lost in Face - The Randy Orton Dilemma

Whilst many are debating which match should go on last at tonight's Hell in a Cell PPV, (seriously, does it really matter?) what's piqued my interest with WWE is the rumoured Randy Orton babyface turn. That's because it wasn't too long ago that the wrestling community seemed to be chomping at the bit for an Orton heel turn, after what had turned into a rather dull and formulaic face run. So what exactly, if anything, went wrong with Orton's heel run? How did we end up at this point? Is it simply an effect of Orton's surge in online presence due to the "Outta Nowhere" Vines? 

     I think to truly understand where Orton's heel run took a wrong turn, you have to first look at the reasons many wanted to see him turn in first place. It was the Summer of 2013 and apart from a terrific four month feud with Christian in 2011, Orton's three year run  as a babyface had failed to bear any creative fruit. Spells playing second fiddle to John Cena, stop-start feuds with the likes of Wade Barrett and Cody Rhodes, numerous injuries, a 60 day suspension for a Wellness Policy Violation, as well as being overtaken by CM Punk and Daniel Bryan in the babyface pecking order had left us with a clearly frustrated Orton, who would simply go through the motions in matches and do that weird awkward smile thing he used to do. It was clear that Orton needed a change in direction, both for himself and the audience. 

     Ever PPV of 2013 seemed to be rumoured to be the one where Orton would turn, firstly in his awkward pairing with Sheamus and in similar situation with Team Hell No, WWE quickly lost any element of surprise for the heel turn and it began to become even more frustrating waiting for WWE to pull the trigger than it really should of been. This was the slowest of slow burns, that had none of the subtleties that were needed to keep things interesting over such a prolonged period. This meant that when the turn came with Orton cashing in his Money in the Bank briefcase on Daniel Bryan at SummerSlam, the impact of the turn was mediocre at best. To make matters even worse for The Viper, Triple H turned heel at the same time, taking the spotlight away from Orton in what would become a theme for the majority of Orton's heel run.

Now, before I get into breaking down Orton's heel run, I'd like to propose that Orton's in-ring work has been not only some of the most consistent of his career over this period, but also that he has been one of the most reliable performers in WWE over this period. Singles matches with Daniel Bryan (Night of Champions 2013, Hell in a Cell, episodes of Raw in December and February) John Cena (TLC, Royal Rumble, a February episode of Raw), Cesaro (Smackdown in February), Roman Reigns (SummerSlam) and Chris Jericho (Night of Champions 2014), a Triple Threat with Batista and Daniel Bryan (WrestleMania XXX), a pair of six man tags against The Shield (Extreme Rule and Payback), a Four Way bout with Cena, Reigns and Kane (Battleground) as well as strong showings in multi-man matches at Elimination Chamber and Money in the Bank. You'll struggle to find a performer on WWE's roster who has delivered that many bouts of such quality over the same time period (Seriously, try it? John Cena and Cesaro are the only two to come close)

So why exactly hasn't Orton's heel run connected with a large cross-section of the audience? An audience which is adamant that it is all about work rate and match quality? Quite simply, booking. The way Orton has been portrayed on screen has rarely made him look like someone who should either be feared or despised for his action, or even look like he was supposed to be the main focus of our attention. 

Take Orton's long series of matches with Daniel Bryan. Orton lost to Bryan at Night of Champions, only to have the title handed back to him because of referee Scott Armstrong's "fast count". At Battleground, the Big Show came out and punched everyone in the face. At Hell in a Cell, Orton won because referee Shawn Michaels superkicked Bryan in the face. Not exactly the booking you'd expect for "The Face of WWE". Throw into the mix Orton spending most of his on-screen time bickering with Triple H and Stephanie McMahon and more often than not coming off as a lackey for The Game, and you've got the makings of a boy bitch champion. 

Despite numerous attempts to push a more aggressive side of Orton, more a kin to his Legend Killer gimmick or that time he had Intermittent Explosive Disorder for a bit, including beating The Miz up whilst Miz' Dad watched. The bastard. How could he do that to everyone's favourite babyface The Miz?! It would be forgotten about as quickly as it was brought up every time. That's before going into the time he lost to Kofi Kingston for no apparent reason.

So, whilst Orton's heel run has produced a fairly fruitful run in terms of in-ring performance, the lack of character development and what has been essentially a supporting role in The Authority storyline, Orton's heel run hasn't produced what those calling for it in the first place had wanted to see.

With Orton's becoming somewhat of a cross-over personality, with the help of Vine, and a depleted babyface roster thanks to the injuries to Daniel Bryan and Roman Reigns and the departure of CM Punk, now would seem like a good time to turn Orton. If he remains fit and clean, and the same energy that was put into his feuds with Christian and Wade Barrett, then this could reignite Orton's spark character-wise. There's no real need to have him revert to the smiling babyface that sent the crowd to sleep in early 2013, as we've seen with Dean Ambrose the crowd will happily take to someone who plays something other than generic babyface and in fact they even seem more likely to do so. Orton could easily reproduce his more erratic self, RKO-ing every sumbitch in sight for a few months and it would be lapped up by the audience. If this is built towards a competitive feud with someone like Seth Rollins or Cesaro and you've got something that could be both extremely watchable storyline wise and produce quality matches that people want to see. 

Or Orton could be fed to Brock Lesnar at the Royal Rumble, which could potential crush his fledgling face run before it's even begun. Only time will tell, but I do hope I'm not sat here in 18 months writing a similar article about Orton's face run! 

WWE Live in the UK: April 2013 DVD Review

WWE Live in the UK: April 2013 is a two-disc presenting footage from WWE's two television tapings at the O2 Arena in London, England. The disc includes full episodes Raw, Smackdown, Main Event, Superstars and Saturday Morning Slam and is available now from www.wwedvd.co.uk, priced at £12.99

Here's a sneak peak at the DVD: http://www.cult-labs.com/clips/live-in-the-uk-april-2013-r-truth

WWE Live in the UK: April 2013 Content 

Disc One:

WWE Raw, 22nd April 2013

Paul Heyman Reads an E-Mail From Triple H

R-Truth vs. Antonio Cesaro

The Shield Arrive in London

Brodus Clay with Tensai & The Funkadactyls vs. Damien Sandow with Cody Rhodes

Raw Recap: Dolph Ziggler Cashes in Money in the Bank

Vicke Guerrero Adds a Stipulation to World Heavyweight Champion Dolph Ziggler's Match

Raw Recap: CM Punk walks out on Raw.

The Shield Promises to Serve Undertaker Justice.

If Chris Jericho wins he receive a World Heavyweight Championship match at Extreme Rules
Chris Jericho vs. World Heavyweight Champion Dolph Ziggler with AJ Lee & Big E Langston

Josh Matthews interviews Hall of Famer Mick Foley about Ryback

Tensai with Brodus Clay & The Funkadactyls vs. Cody Rhodes with Damien Sandow

Tag Team Champion Daniel Bryan tries to Strategize with Undertaker

Smackdown Rebound: Randy Orton & Sheamus vs. Big Show & Mark Henry

Josh Matthews Interviews Ryback.

Zack Ryder vs. Big E Langston

Six Man Tag Team Match
The Undertaker & Tag Team Champions Team Hell No vs. The Shield

WWE Champion Warns Hall of Famer Mick Foley about Ryback

William Regal vs. Fandango with Summer Rae

Divas Championship Number One Contenders Battle Royal
AJ Lee vs. Aksana vs. Naomi vs. Layla vs. Tamina Snuka

Hall of Famer Mick Foley Makes His Way to the Ring.

Hall of Famer Mick Foley Confronts Ryback

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WWE Main Event, 24th April 2013.

JBL Interviews Mark Henry.

Gauntlet Match
Jey Uso with Jimmy Uso vs. Mark Henry

Jimmy Uso with Jey Uso vs. Mark Henry

Santino Marella vs. Mark Henry

The Great Khali with Hornswoggle & Natalya vs. Mark Henry

Matt Striker Interviews Jack Swagger and Zeb Colter

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Disc Two

WWE Superstars, 25th April 2013

Jimmy Uso with Jey Uso vs. Michael McGillicutty

Tag Team Match
Kaitlyn & Layla vs. Tamina Snuka & Aksana

Raw Rebound: Hall of Famer Mick Foley Confronts Ryback

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WWE Smackdown, 26th April 2013

No Disqualification Match
Alberto Del Rio with Ricardo Rodriguez vs. Jack Swagger with Zeb Colter

Layla vs. Aksana

The Shield Vow to Beat Undertaker

Justin Gabriel vs. Fandango with Summer Rae

Sheamus vs. Big Show

William Regal vs. Intercontinental Champion Wade Barrett

Randy Orton vs. Mark Henry

Raw Rebound: Hall of Famer Mick Foley Confronts Ryback.

Undertaker vs. Dean Ambrose with The Shield.

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WWE Saturday Morning Slam, 11th May 2013

Mr. Socko and The Cobra make a Match.

Santino Marella vs. Jinder Mahal

Hall of Famer Mick Foley and Sheamus Do a Duet.

Saturday Morning Spotlight: Randy Orton & Sheams

Tag Team Match
Randy Orton & Sheamus vs. Prime Time Players

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Special Feature

WCW Championship Match
Chris Jericho (C) vs. Kurt Angle
WWF Rebellion, 3rd November 2001.

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WWE Live in the UK: April 2013 Review

Usually, I'd spend this review talking about how WWE are simply attempting to gain some extra money out of UK fans, by featuring simply regular episodes of Raw, Smackdown and their other weekly television programs that just so happened to be filmed in the O2 Arena in London. WWE doesn't do this in any other markets and it's rare that you get full episodes of TV on DVD. However, their is a notable draw to this DVD set, as their was a notable draw to the two television tapings, that being a rare appearance from The Undertaker.

Undertaker competes in two good contests, firstly teaming with then Tag Team Champion Team Hell No to take on The Shield on Raw and then in singles action against Dean Ambrose on Smackdown. As of writing, these remain 'Takers final performances on WWE television and therefore bring a certain edge to this DVD set. Whilst we know Undertaker will most likely return eventually around Wrestlemania time, I'd be surprised if he had another match on Raw, and even more surprised if he turned up on Smackdown again, and certainly wouldn't expect those matches to be of the quality of the two he has on this set.

Alongside Undertaker, there was also a number of appearances from WWE veterans like Triple H, Hall of Famer Mick Foley, Paul Heyman and Chris Jericho which again makes these shows feel important as you watch through it. It's a shame however that there is no appearance from Brock Lesnar who was entrenched in feud with Triple H at the time, but obviously Lesnar didn't want to travel to London to show his face, as it really would've added some extra bit to the opening segment of Raw between Triple H and Paul Heyman.

Whilst watching through the set, it's clear that both the Raw and Smackdown shows were working with a smaller roster than they were used to, with a number of superstars pulling double duty, or in the case of Mark Henry quintuple duty as he works no less than five matches, across both Main Event and Smackdown. Tons of Funk and Team Rhodes Scholars also turn up twice on Raw, in what is clearly an attempt to fill time but does become a bit tedious as there is no real difference between the two matches.

One thing that bugs me on this DVD is the inclusion of break, yet the commentators talking about what happened on the WWE App during the break. Surely, having the WWE App allows them to put the footage onto the DVD and thus allowing the home viewer to see complete matches? It would also have been nice for WWE to include footage of other events that happened in side the arena, such as Daniel Bryan's attempt to hug The Undertaker and Triple H and New Age Outlaws coming out to take down The Shield and Fandango closing the show on Smackdown, if only as DVD extras.

The other notable thing I noticed on this set, was how WWE edits their shows and removes and adds crowd reaction, almost at whim. A section of the fantastic Chris Jericho vs. Dolph Ziggler is missing and even without prior knowledge of what occured in the O2 Arena, it's clear that something has been taken out. Some of the crowds chants have been removed, which at times is frustrating as the chants were pretty imaginiative at time such as a "We Want Chyna" chant that occured during the Divas Tag Team Match on Superstars. Reactions have been added onto Smackdown, where the crowd was actually pretty quiet for most of the show, apart from the odd attempt at some random chanting during matches like Mark Henry vs. Randy Orton and Sheamus vs. Big Show.

The other thing that is frustrating with this set is the amount of recaps that are left intact, despite the recaps being about shows that are also included on the DVD set. The confrontation between Mick Foley and Ryback is featured four times, and it wasn't even that great a segment to start with. You'll find yourself skipping through these, when the time could have been better used for extras.

There are some hidden gems on the set, as well as a chance to see how much WWE has changed in a mere three months. A match that stands out for me is the Superstars contest, between Jimmy Uso and Michael McGillicutty. This is one of the matches that benefits from being on television and not in the arena, as the crowd were pretty cold for this one due to the lack of television exposure for either man on television at the time. However, watching the match on the big screen and close up, allows you to see the talents that each man holds, instead of getting dragged in to Fandangoing with the rest of the crowd. It's also strange to see McGillicutty still under this gimmick, before he became a Paul Heyman guy and changed his name to Curtis Axel. Can you imagine Curtis Axel losing to Jimmy Uso today? Neither can I!

The only special feature present on this disc is a match from Rebellion 2001 from Manchester, England, with Chris Jericho defending the WCW Championship against Kurt Angle. It's pretty good match, as you'd expect from Jericho and Angle, but isn't really up there with some of their other encounters. It's always nice to see other matches that were filmed in the UK on these sets, but it's a shame we only get one on this one.

In closing this is a pretty enjoyable set with a number of good matches, but could do with a little bit more effort from everyone involved to really make it into the must-have set that it could become every six months.

My Tops Three Matches from this Live in the UK: April 2013

1. Undertaker & Tag Team Champions Team Hell No vs. The Shield WWE Raw, April 22nd 2013

2. Chris Jericho vs. Dolph Ziggler, WWE Raw, April 22nd 2013

3. Undertaker vs. Dean Ambrose, WWE Smackdown, April 26th 2013

WWE Smackdown 7th June 2013 Review

As Smackdown continues to look like WWE’s “wrestling” show, featuring longer matches and adding more depth to the feuds that are seen on Raw, it continues to grow into a more enjoyable show, this week stuck to the trend, although certain segments continue to bring it down. 

Miz TV: With Team Hell No & Randy Orton

The show kicked off with another edition of Miz TV, which is becoming a regular opener for Smackdown as of late. The usually loud mouth host The Miz was especially quiet for this edition with Daniel Bryan and Kane doing most of the talking, advancing their storyline, with some input from Randy Orton. Daniel Bryan and Kane did an excellent job with lengthy speech that could have caused some other talent to trip up. Randy Orton seems to enjoying himself again, as his role is allowing him to play less smiling face and more of a tweener character as he continued to wind up Daniel Bryan.

With Daniel Bryan exploding in anger at Kane, accusing him of rather tagging with a different competitor, causing Kane to leave the ring. This was a well-played moment from both men, and could have easily come across as a cheesy moment, without the intensity employed by both men. As The Miz teased the end of Team Hell No, Smackdown Senior Adviser Teddy Long came out, determined once again to prove his fetish for a good old fashioned TAG TEAM MATCH, placing Daniel Bryan and Randy Orton together to take on Tag Team Champions The Shield in the main event.

WWE Tag Team Champions The Shield (Roman Reigns & Seth Rollins) Vs. Randy Orton & Daniel Bryan

Further building up to this contest, there was a backstage segment between Orton and Bryan. With Orton informing Bryan of Kane having to go to the trainer’s room after a match with Ryback. Bryan showed little concern for Kane, it will be interesting to see if WWE try’s to turn Bryan in to the heel in the inevitable rivalry, and it will be extremely difficult with Bryan uber-over at the moment. With Orton revealing that he didn’t like Bryan, the conflict between the two would build nicely heading into the tag team contest.

It’s becoming repetitive to have to keep writing about how good The Shield’s matches are, but the fact is they just are that good and when you through in Daniel Bryan who is also on fire at the moment and reinvigorated Randy Orton to mix you’ve got a great combination. With Bryan refusing to tag in Orton near the start of the match, the tension between the two continued to build throughout. With The Shield keeping control of Bryan, until “The Submission Specialist” finally accepted Orton’s helped and The Viper exploded off the hot tag. The Shield soon got control of Orton but it wasn’t long before another hot tag, and this time to man who has turned the hot tag into an art form as of late, Daniel Bryan. This time threw in a beautiful belly to back suplex which turned Seth Rollins inside out. The ending came when Bryan accidentally connected with Orton in the corner with a front kick, Rollins went for a roll up, only for Bryan to lock in the No Lock. This was too much for The Shield as United States Champion Dean Ambrose made the interference. With Bryan using The Shield’s own momentum to take out Rollins and Ambrose, it was Randy Orton who had the final say with an RKO to Bryan. This was one of the best ending’s to Smackdown for a while, as it felt like it would actually have some consequence and has left me eager to see how the storyline develops on Monday. 

Chris Jericho vs. Curtis Axel w/Paul Heyman

Paul Heyman continues to not only talk up Curtis Axel’s victories over recent weeks but also to give Axel the time to talk himself. This time only a sort promo to tie into Axel’s victories over World Champions, this seems to be recycled from 2006 when MVP was going around saying similar things about his cheap victories over World Champions. Axel has begun to finish his promo with the word “Perfect” Axel will need to be careful not to play the same role his father did as similar situations, such as when Ted DiBiase played the exact same character as The Million Dollar complete with Million Dollar Championship and Virgil, it didn’t really work out.

Paul Heyman joined Michael Cole and JBL on commentary, this was a good decision by WWE. It allowed Heyman to continue to talk up his client, as well as explain his motivations during the contest, although at times it seemed to be more about CM Punk that it did about Curtis Axel. Punk’s match with Jericho did need to get pushed, but it did take the focus somewhat off Axel at various points throughout the match.

The match included dominant spells for both men, as it went back and forth throughout. There were some nice sequences included a dive between the rope to the outside from Jericho, who later surprisingly missed a Lionsault, before being hit with Axel’s Spinning Neckbreaker, only to kick out. The ending sequence saw Axel escaped the Walls of Jericho to the outside, and with Heyman jumping on top the announce table, pointing to the tron and CM Punk’s music hitting, with Jericho confused, Axel crawled in the ring for the roll up victory. It was a nice ending, but Axel continues to look like an afterthought in Heyman’s stable, merely giving him something to when CM Punk and Brock Lesnar aren’t around, which is a shame considering his in ring ability.

After the contest, Jericho beat on Axel eventually hitting him with a Code Breaker. This keeps Jericho looking strong heading in to his contest with Punk at Payback. Axel on the other hand is now undefeated in Six since joining Paul Heyman, and his cheap victories are helping him build into his heel role, however he could really do with some clean victories over some mid card talent on Raw and Smackdown to prove he is capable of hanging with the bigger names. He could also do with a new finisher since both the Perfect Plex and Spinning Neckbreaker have been kicked out of in recent weeks.

Best of the Rest

Elsewhere, Alberto Del Rio was supposed to take on Heath Slater. However, with the other member of 3MB attacking Del Rio pre-match the match didn’t start. Del Rio was however easily able to fend off his attackers before placing Slater in the Cross Armbreaker, Slater quickly tapped out. McIntyre and Mahal however weren’t finished off and came back for more. This time however they were met by Ricardo Rodrigues who teamed with Del Rio to take them out of the ring, before heading to the top rope for a flying splash. It’s funny to think that Ricardo is probably more over with the fans as a face than Del Rio, but it’s because he plays a more sympathetic character and looks a lot more comfortable in the role. The segments was fun, but meaningless doing little for either party but it was what happened afterwards that was the real talking point.

Dolph Ziggler appeared on the tron, marking his first real appearance on WWE TV in around a month, which is long time for a World Heavyweight Champion as WWE chooses to circumnavigate the 30 day defence rule once more. With Ziggler cutting a good short promo, before announcing that he’s cleared for competition and will be on the next Raw, it appear WWE can finally stop treading water with the rivalry, but with just a week until Payback it could be a push to develop anything resembling a meaningful rivalry.

As mentioned earlier Kane was also in the action against Ryback. In a segment reminiscent to Ryback’s meeting with Daniel Bryan on Raw. With Kane defending Bryan and asking Ryback if he could put him through a table, surprisingly however the match that followed was a regular singles match. Kane’s work on interviews and promos has been really impressive over recent weeks and his ability to switch between comedic and serious is something not a lot of WWE competitors possess.

I was really surprised by this contest, as I expected something similar to Ryback’s match with Mark Henry at Wrestlemania. However Ryback and Kane put on a pretty good match, not a technical bout no, but it was back and forth, as well as both men landing some heavy hits which certainly added to the match. Unfortunately, it was cut short when Ryback pulled out the table and after some reversals by both parties, just about managed to powerbomb Kane through the table. Ryback has really benefit from his number of longer contest with the likes of Kofi Kingston and Daniel Bryan as of late and WWE has finally built him up into a realistic challenger for Cena’s title at Payback.

As mentioned earlier Kane was also in the action against Ryback. In a segment reminiscent to Ryback’s meeting with Daniel Bryan on Raw. With Kane defending Bryan and asking Ryback if he could put him through a table, surprisingly however the match that followed was a regular singles match. Kane’s work on interviews and promos has been really impressive over recent weeks and his ability to switch between comedic and serious is something not a lot of WWE competitors possess.

I was really surprised by this contest, as I expected something similar to Ryback’s match with Mark Henry at Wrestlemania. However Ryback and Kane put on a pretty good match, not a technical bout no, but it was back and forth, as well as both men landing some heavy hits which certainly added to the match. Unfortunately, it was cut short when Ryback pulled out the table and after some reversals by both parties, just about managed to power bomb Kane through the table. Ryback has really benefit from his number of longer contest with the likes of Kofi Kingston and Daniel Bryan as of late and WWE has finally built him up into a realistic challenger for Cena’s title at Payback.

There was also a quick match between Fandango and Zack Ryder. Ryder got in a surprising amount of offence, probably down to being in his hometown of Long Island, but it was always clear who was going to win. After Fandango reversed the Rough Ryder into a power bomb, he hit a diving leg drop from a ridiculous distance for the win. Fandango is currently trending in the right direction at the moment and with Vince McMahon apparently being high on him, it’s very possible that Fandango could win the Intercontinental Championship come Payback.

Once again Smackdown produced an embarrassingly bad segment, with Damien Sandow and Sheamus. With Sandow introducing a Super computer and proceeding to play it at chess, it got proceeding worse from here. Sheamus came out saying he could beat the computer with one more, which was painfully obvious would be the Brogue Kick. After Sheamus smashed the computer, Sandow took him out, throwing him into a table. These two could have a pretty decent feud, this just isn’t the way to do it.

There was also a random segment with Kaitlyn and Natalya. Kaitlyn revealed she would meet her secret admirer on Raw, with Natalya telling her to be careful. Kaitlyn appeared to turn heel, yelling at Natalya and accusing her of being jealous. This could have been a big moment in the story, if there had been any build up to it at all!

Finally…

What have we learnt from Smackdown this week?

  

1. The old Randy Orton is back (to some extent)

2. Curtis Axel is in desperate need of a finishing move.

3. WWE can finally get going with the Dolph Ziggler/Alberto Del Rio feud, with just a week til Payback!

Announced for Monday's Raw.

Triple H Vs. Curtis Axel w/ Paul Heyman will open the show

Dolph Ziggler will return.

Announced for Payback on June 16th:

Intercontinental Championship Triple Threat Match: Wade Barrett (C) Vs. The Miz Vs. Fandango

WWE Raw 3rd June 2013 Review

This was arguably one of the strongest episodes of Raw since the show went to three hour format last July. Although it still featured the regular drag in the second hour, the majority of the show was exciting and well-paced.

Triple H vs. Curtis Axel

With a Curtis Axel vs. Triple H rematch being teased in the opening video, Stephanie McMahon made her first appearance on Raw since last July, as she came out to reveal Triple H would not be competing tonight, despite being medically cleared by doctors. With Stephanie playing a seemingly heel role, this was interesting development, as she called the crowd selfish for chanting for Triple H. Cue Vince McMahon making his Raw return, having not appeared since March, who joined Stephanie in berating the crowd. Bringing up the crowds chants of “One More Time” from Smackdown whilst Ryback power bombed Kofi Kingston through three tables. It was some nice work by both McMahons and was getting legitimate heat from the Connecticut crowd. That was until they were interrupted by The Shield.

Unfortunately, once we came back from commercial break it was explained that the McMahons left the ring without incident. It was frustrating that we were teased such an epic confrontations only for it to be removed straight away, something WWE has been doing a lot of lately. This story continued later in the show with a number of backstage segments, firstly we saw Triple H arrive and confront his wife and father in law in what was strong segment which built in a new dynamic between the McMahons showing a conflict in the family that we haven’t seen for a while. Before Triple H left in a limousine The Game told Stephanie that he would start next week’s Raw in the ring wrestling Curtis Axel. Hopefully this isn’t another teased from WWE and we get what was originally advertised this time around.

No Disqualification Match John Cena Vs. Curtis Axel w/Paul Heyman

With Paul Heyman thanking Vince for allowing Axel to have the night off, Vince revealed Axel would be in action tonight, in a rematch of last week’s main event. Vince added a No Disqualification stipulation, which for some reason scared Paul Heyman. Surely the man who pioneered ECW should not be scared of a No Disqualification stipulation, especially when it allows him to interfere in the match without fear of DQ?

The match mainly revolved around the use of a steel chair with each men spending their fair share of time with swinging around the object. Cena managed to pull of an awkward looking drop kick onto the chair, personally when Cena attempts moves like this it doesn’t add much to the match and simply  throws him open to criticism about his in ring ability, he should definitely stick to what he is good at instead of going for the more high flying moves. With Cena later sent head first into the chair set up in the corner, we were treated to regular John Cena spot, with Cena looking to be counted out only to leap into the ring at the last moment. Axel even hit his Neckbreaker finisher on a Steel Chair on Cena only for him to kick out, with Cena kicking out of the Perfect Plex last Monday, is Axel going to have any finishing moves left to actually win matches with? Cena teased an Attitude Adjustment through a table on the outside, instead turning his attention to Paul Heyman, this lead to a reappearance of Ryback who sent Cena crashing through the table with a huge spine buster. With Axel getting the Countout victory and going 5-0 after joining with Paul Heyman, he’s looking good on Raw but really needs a Pinfall victory over a big name soon if he’s going to remain in a top spot on the show. The Cena-Axel contest was good for the majority, but just couldn’t compete with what had gone before.

The Shield vs. Team Hell No & Randy Orton

After The Shield had had their “Non Incidental” confrontation with The McMahons, they entered into a contest with Team Hell No and Randy Orton. This contest had to work extremely hard as it had to deal with the reaction to the disappointing ending to the opening segment. The opening was slow, with the faces dominating The Shield. The real turning point where this match turned it up a gear was a great jumping kick from Rollins whilst Kane was perched on the top rope. The Shield then worked on Kane keeping him in his corner, as we built to a hot tag. This came when Rollins and Ambrose were unable to suplex Kane and Kane reversed into a suplex of his own, get in the hot tag to Randy Orton.

Orton showed a passion and speed that hasn’t been seen from The Viper for a while, it seems he’s really getting his teeth into this rivalry with The Shield and the crowd could sense it as they were red hot for Orton as he planted a double rope hung DDT. WWE cleverly held off the hot tag to Daniel Bryan who is uber-over at the moment and you could feel the anticipation rising as The Shield turned the tide once more with Orton doing a great job selling as he reached for the tag. And once that moment came it was electric with Bryan looking every inch of the star that many knew he would become all those years ago. Bryan took out every member of the Shield, including a beautiful top rope Hurricanrana that sent Rollins crashing onto Ambrose. The finish came with a flurry of finishers from both teams, with Orton attempting an RKO on Roman Reigns who sent Orton into Bryan leading to Ambrose to hit his Headlock Driver for the victory. It was fantastic opening contest to Raw, and WWE continues to put on some great longer contests with the pacing being spot on once more.

Daniel Bryan Vs. Ryback

One fantastic contest wasn’t enough for Daniel Bryan. As after a backstage argument with Kane and Randy Orton, Bryan announced he would have another match tonight to prove once and for all that he is not the weak link of the team. Later in the show, Bryan bumped into the Number One Contender for the WWE Championship Ryback. With Ryback awkwardly spouting dialogue like he was reading the phone book and Bryan trying his hardest to keep the segment alive with a nice speech about how size doesn’t matter, Ryback Versus Daniel Bryan was set up for later in the evening.

With Bryan leading Ryback to one of the best match of his career and a classic David and Goliath story running throughout this match as well as an air of unpredictability as with both men getting pushes as of late, it was difficult to pick a winner. This really could have been a Pay-Per-View contest, given a little more build up. Daniel Bryan’s selling throughout kept Ryback looking strong, whilst the fight and determination of Bryan gave the crowd something to get behind. It’s been a long time since the entire WWE Universe has had someone to get behind like this and in what feels like a truly transitional time for WWE will it be long before we have a new face of WWE in Daniel Bryan? The ending although a little disappointing, allowed both men to stay strong heading into the Payback event, with Ryback power bombing Bryan through a table for the Disqualification ending. With Ryback setting up another table on the outside, John Cena stormed down the ramp to make the save, starring off with Ryback. The ending opened up the question as to why Cena wasn’t around to save Kofi Kingston on Smackdown. It seems odd for him to make the save for some competitors and not others, just because Cena rarely appears on Friday nights.

Chris Jericho and Paul Heyman Contract Signing

This was a strange segment with Jerry Lawler introducing each representative to ring. Earlier in the evening, it had been teased that CM Punk might have been there to sign the contract. However anyone on Twitter could see the Punk was nowhere near Connecticut. It seems strange that WWE would continue to tease various appearances only to let down the fans, surely any extra viewers gained by the tease wouldn’t stick around after the disappointment. WWE needs to look for more long term plans, rather than the quick fix ratings jump.

I wouldn’t say I am a massive fan of the contract signing segment. As Heyman pointed out, it could easily be done in the back and we don’t really need to see this at all. It’s used when WWE is struggling for ideas and trying to fill time, and although Heyman and Jericho are doing a fantastic job trying to get this rivalry going, it’s difficult to do without Punk being present. Although, the reaction Punk gets in Chicago at Payback might register on the Richter scale.

In terms of content, this segment was similar to what we received last week with The Highlight Reel. With each party laying out their claim to being the “Best in the World” We also saw Jericho apparently seem to back out of the contest being in Chicago, by naming an number of other places were the match could take place. This seemed a strange thing for Jericho to do as he supposed to be playing the face here, he even teased the match could take place on Raw, another case of WWE teasing it’s live crowd, who seem frustrated with this segment.

The end was also strange with Jericho eventually shoving the contract Paul Heyman’s trousers. Jericho seemingly bullying Heyman to stand up and un button his jacket didn’t quite work for me as it was uncomfortable moment and I found it hard to get behind Jericho who basically played a school bully. Yes, Heyman at times can be cowardly but this moment was over played by the usually spot on Y2J and it left the whole segment feeling flat. The sooner CM Punk is back to give this feud somewhere to go the better.

Best of the Rest

Elsewhere, we also saw the supposed rubber match between Alberto Del Rio and Big E Langston. Both men have two victories over the other in the past two weeks as WWE awaits the return of World Heavyweight Champion Dolph Ziggler. Although it is obvious WWE is treading water with this rivalry, the contests between Del Rio and Langston have been entertaining and well worked. Langston is beginning to look incredibly competent in the ring and has been helped a lot by this series with ring general Del Rio. With Langston looking strong by spending a large amount of time in the Cross Arm breaker and a number of tremendous shows of strength, it was the crafty Del Rio who managed to get a nice roll up victory. Surprisingly there was little outside interference from Ricardo Rodrigues or AJ Lee which gave this contest some nice finality.

Despite Del Rio being extremely competent in the ring, his character is floundering as of late, struggling to find the right ground after the feud with Jack Swagger and Zeb Colter. The crowd has little reason to get behind Del Rio, with Ricardo being the most over member of the duo, bringing the crowd into the match on numerous occasion. The ending though clever also suited a more heel Del Rio, with a crafty victory that he didn’t exactly deserve. It will be interesting to see how the dynamic of Dolph Ziggler and Del Rio fits once the World Champion returns to action.

The Intercontinental Championship picture continued to unravel with Fandango facing the Great Khali, in what was an awful in ring contest. Khali really adds little to the WWE product and this contest brought down the entire feel of the show. With Fandango getting little from running away from the Punjabi Playboy, The Miz appeared to be about to send Fandango back into the ring, only for Intercontinental Champion Wade Barrett to turn up and hit Miz with a Bullhammer Elbow on the entrance ramp, leading to a contest between the two.

We’ve seen Miz and Barrett face off on a number of occasion, but there was little reason for this match which made it difficult to get into. The fact that we’d already seen Barrett hit his finishing move made it a little less believable, and diminished what before has looked a fairly devastating move. Barrett and The Miz went through the motions for two minutes, before Fandango returned to dance at the entrance ramp with Summer Rae, distracting Barrett and allowing Miz to lock in a Figure Four Leg Lock for the win. To be fair to The Miz, it is clear he has worked hard on the Figure Four Leg Lock and has a number of interesting ways to get into the hold. With both Miz and Fandango holding wins over the Intercontinental Champion, surely a Triple Threat match will be booked for Payback?

On the back of the awful segments on Smackdown featuring Damien Sandow and Sheamus, there was a match between Sheamus and Cody Rhodes. It seems like Cody Rhodes’ main event push may never come, with him mainly being used as a “Jobber for the Stars” and this contest was no different. The match was solid television contest, with a nice section based around the ring post the highlight of the contest. It was shame that Sheamus was given such a decisive victory, hitting the Brogue Kick after White Noise, as Cody really deserves better than his current position. After the match, Sheamus confronted Sandow and punched him in the face, Sheamus is another face who seems to be going round bullying heels at the moment, with certain elements of WWE logic no quite fitting together.

The Usos finally got a victory on Raw as they brought a contest seen numerous times on other WWE programming to Monday’s Nights with a win over The Prime Time Players. With both teams working hard to build the chemistry over these matches over the last year, it’s finally payed off with a fantastic tag team battle, with both teams proving why they deserve to have the spotlight shone on them more often. The Usos picked up the victory with an exciting end sequence finished off with the Superfly Splash on Darren Young. I’m not a massive fan of The Usos new face paint, but if it’s what needs to be done for them to be featured more often on Raw, it’s fine by me. A rivalry with The Shield is sure to follow if The Usos continue this upward trend, in what could be, if built properly a classic tag team battle.

There was also a six diva tag team match, pitting The Bella Twins and AJ Lee against The Funkadactyls and Diva’s Champion Kaitlyn. Although this match wasn’t awful and at times showed some signs of good ring work from all six competitors, WWE needs to work hard on the characterisation of its Diva’s division as there really isn’t that much difference between the majority of the current divas roster, with some Diva’s looking interchangeable which will never help get the crowd involved in their matches. As TNA has proved it’s capable to get the crowd into women’s matches on the scale, if the competitors are given strong characters, storylines and enough time to get these over with the audience. The ending came when AJ Lee refused to tag into the match and Kaitlyn speared Brie Bella for the victory. If WWE gives the AJ and Kaitlyn storyline a little more time to breath, it could build into an interesting PPV contest.

There was also another vignette for the debut of The Wyatt Family, which was another creepy change of pace for the product. It was also teased that there may be some new members joining The Family, two other member seen without showing their faces and an appearance from released Diva Audrey Marie. The Wyatt Family certainly are reminiscent of CM Punk’s Straight Edge Society, hopefully they receive better booking once they arrive on the scene.

Finally…

What have we learn't from this weeks episode of Raw?

1. WWE needs to build for Payback quickly, with just one Raw left before the show we only have two matches set. 

2. Daniel Bryan is the true best in the world at the moment.

3. WWE needs to stop pushing it's App every five minutes (and this will remain as Number Three for every Raw until it stops)

Announced for Wednesday's WWE Main Event:

Sheamus Vs. Antonio Cesaro

Announced for Friday's WWE Smackdown:

Chris Jericho Vs. Curtis Axel w/ Paul Heyman

Miz TV: With Team Hell No & Randy Orton

Teased for Next Monday's Raw:

Triple H Vs. Curtis Axel

WWE Smackdown 31st May 2013 Review

As of late, WWE has begun transitioning Smackdown from its own brand into more of a companion piece for Monday Night Raw. Each match being a continuation of a storyline seen on Monday Night, but with little repercussions for next week. You don’t have to watch Smackdown to know what happening on Raw, but it will definitely add to your enjoyment.

United States Champion Dean Ambrose vs. Randy Orton

For this match I was hoping Dean Ambrose would be able to bring something out of Randy Orton that hasn’t been seen for a long time. That thing would be passion, little too often as of late we’ve seen Orton go through the motions and on occasion even edge towards boredom. Its clear Orton is tired of playing his current character and like many of the audience feel like it is time for a change. However, even Ambrose couldn’t make Orton break this spell in what should have been a fantastic contest.

Not that what was put on in the ring was bad by any standard, it was a solid contest, but knowing how good it could have been makes it even more frustrating. The Viper hitting a nice back suplex to Ambrose onto the barricade and Ambrose sending Orton into the steel steps were probably the highlight of the contest, which surprisingly saw Orton dominate throughout with his usual spots and rest holds. After “vintage” Orton with a rope hung DDT, we finally got a glimpse of the Legend Killer of old as began to work the crowd in anticipation of an RKO. This was however cut short by the rest of The Shield who ran in to beat down Orton.

The save for Orton somewhat surprisingly did not come in the form of tag team partner Sheamus, help was instead on hand from Team Hell No. With Orton and Kane both down, Daniel Bryan continued latest in ring frenzy by annihilating the Shield, to the delight of the Edmonton crowd. It’s going to be interesting if this even gets a mention on Raw or where this is going to go from here, as it looked as if Hell No were done with the Shield after Monday’s Tag Title defeat. After seeing the Shield be impossible to take down for a number of three man teams, it seems a bizarre decision to have them taken down essentially by one individual.

The absence of Sheamus from the save is an interesting one. Surely Orton’s tag team partner would be the one making the save here, to build towards their expected tag team title contest with the Shield at Payback as was teased on Monday. However, although Smackdown seems like companion piece to Raw, it wouldn’t seem like there is a lot of communication between the two shows and I would doubt if Bryan’s demolition of The Shield is even mentioned next Monday Night.

Tag Team Champion Roman Reigns Vs. Daniel Bryan

&

Tag Team Champion Seth Rollins vs. Kane

The evening started with a couplet of matches involving the Shield and Team Hell No. Firstly, we saw Seth Rollins take on The Big Red Machine. In WWE, Seth Rollins is yet to show that IT factor to warrant deserving a singles career that was so clearly present when portraying Tyler Black in Ring of Honor. Yes, his in ring performances have always been fantastic, but once separated from his Shield stablemates he has, at times, looked out of his depth.

Here against Kane was no different, a decent clash but nothing special. Rollins is still looking to find that niche in WWE to build interest in his singles contests, which came so easily to Dean Ambrose, albeit this was only Rollins’ second singles match since moving up to the Main Roster and I have no doubt that given more of an opportunity to develop his character Rollins will continue to improve in these kinds of contests. The ending to match was clever with the referee reprimanding Reign’s for getting involved in the match, only for Daniel Bryan to push Rollins off the top rope and into a huge chokeslam from Kane.

The next contest started straight after with Roman Reigns taking on the man of the moment Daniel Bryan.  Although shorter than its predecessor, this was much more entertaining contest with a clear story being told throughout the contest.  Bryan continued a frenzied style within the ring as he looks to prove he isn’t the weak link within Team Hell No, with his speed and technical ability getting the better than Reigns at every turn. A beautiful crucifix transitioned into the No Lock by Bryan looked like it might have been enough for win, until Reign’s power and a little help from Rollin’s allowed for the rope break. Kane sought to counter Rollins at ring side with a nasty looking big boot. It was here the match came to a disappointed conclusion, with Kane delivering an uppercut to Reigns leading to the disqualification.

As The Shield celebrated victory, Bryan and Kane began to argue in the ring and it looked like we were finally going to see the demise of Team Hell No. With Kane eventually walking away from Bryan who chased him up the ramp. It would appear that the snap from either member of the group is not too long away, however with the group returning later in the night, WWE seems to sending a great story into a rather confusing on. Yes, this might feel unpredictable, which many have been asking for from WWE, however I don’t think this is a conscious decision by creative as it seems more like they simply don’t know what is happening.

Best of the Rest

The number one contender to the WWE Championship was also in action against Kofi Kingston. Ryback managed to give away what was to come later in the contest, by looking under the ring before the match, which seemed like a rookie error, but if it was deliberate decision it was also silly decision by whoever in creative came up with it. The match was entertaining if not predictable, with Ryback getting the lion’s share of the offence, with a small comeback by the Dreadlocked Dynamo thwarted with a nice reversal of Kingston’s pendulum kick. Ryback finished up with the Meathook Clothesline and then Shellshock to tie up the victory in what felt like a foregone conclusion from the offset.

Afterward, Ryback went out for the tables which had been shown earlier, proceeding to power bomb Kingston through not one, not two but three tables, with the crowd chanting “We want more” throughout. If this was WWE’s attempt to get Ryback over with the crowd as heel, it obviously didn’t work. All that was achieved by this segment was injuring a talented Kofi Kingston, who could be out for a few weeks. Allowing some with such a reckless record in the ring to power bomb someone three times through tables may not have been the smartest decision by WWE, as they’ve lost a strong member of the midcard.

Chris Jericho also made an appearance with a nice backstage interview with Renee Young. Jericho, as it now expected of the veteran, produced an entertaining promo revolving around his match with CM Punk at Payback and Punk’s relationship with Paul Heyman. Jericho went on to have a great short contest with Cody Rhodes. There was some really solid in ring work throughout with some nice reversal from both men keeping the match fresh and speedy, including a nice roll up by Cody out of the Walls of Jericho and the finish with Jericho catching Cody’s Beautiful Disaster kick and putting in the Walls once more for the victory. I could definitely see a decent rivalry possibly developing between these two later in the year, to help Rhodes’ get back into a World Title picture and finally cement his place in the main event picture.

Alberto Del Rio and Big E Langston faced off once more in Singles action. We’ve seen this match a few times in the last few weeks and although it’s always a good clean match, there really hasn’t been much progression in terms of story as WWE treads water awaiting the return of Dolph Ziggler. With AJ Lee raking the eyes of Del Rio with referee distracted, allowing Big E to hit the win with the Big Ending. After the contest, the Big E and AJ split was once again teased with AJ clearly annoyed with Big E for not acknowledging her help in the victory. Big E is beginning to look ready for singles run, however it will be interesting whether WWE keeps him heel or if he returns to the face that was so popular in NXT.

In repeat of last week Curtis Axel took on Sin Cara. Before the contest Paul Heyman allowed his client to wax lyrical about his victories over John Cena and Triple H. Axel continues to improve on the mic and giving him these opportunities can only help him going forward. Axel’s match with Sin Cara was similar to last week, although Sin Cara showed the sloppiness that has caused him to become out of favour with WWE, with a dodgy handspring elbow attempt causing Axel to work to sort out his mistake. A strange ending saw Axel win with a Perfect Plex, however with John Cena already kicking out of the move, is there much point pushing this as Axel’s finisher from now on?

After the popularity of last weeks “Gordian Knot” segment, WWE produced another cracker here with Damien Sandow presenting “The Shell Game” With Sheamus attempting to find the red ball from under one of three cups. No matter how hard both Sandow and Sheamus tried they could not save what was an awful idea. Sheamus finished up with Brogue Kick to Sandow. Sandow and Sheamus could have an interesting feud, however this is certainly not the way it should be presented!#

Finally

What have we learnt this from this week’s Smackdown?

1. The Shield aren’t quite ready to break out on their own yet.

2.  Ryback isn’t quite ready for his Main Event push, but he’s going to get it anyway

3. Smackdown isn’t quite as important as it used to be, but is certainly still an entertaining watch.

WWE Raw 27th May 2013 Review

Last night’s episode of Raw was a bit of a mixed bag by all accounts, with WWE presenting some very good contests, unfortunately a number of bizarre booking decisions were also present throughout the show.

WWE Champion John Cena Vs. Curtis Axel w/Paul Heyman

For the second time in as many weeks Curtis Axel main evented Monday Night Raw against a bona fide future Hall of Famer. However once again it was more about the other people involved than it was about Mr. Perfect’s son. The match was made at the top of the show, just after John Cena had decided he had the power to alter his WWE Championship with Ryback at Payback. The match was changed from the Ambulance Match as previously booked into a Three Stages of Hell Match, with the first fall a Lumberjack Match, the second a Tables Match and finally finishing with the Ambulance Match.

For me, this is sign of the once again chaotic nature of WWE’s recent booking strategy. We saw this late last year with the Survivor Series PPV and even around the usually long term booked Wrestlemania. This makes for an awkward product on television that is constantly changing direction. Personally, I don’t feel this rivalry warrants a Three Stages of Hell Match, especially when you look at the rivals we’ve seen do battle in this type of match before, but that’s a problem to do with WWE’s gimmick Pay per views, after a Last Man Standing match for their first contest, WWE really booked themselves into a corner on this one.

After Ryback had accepted the challenge, Paul Heyman and Curtis Axel came out to throw down the gauntlet for Cena later in the night. Of course, Cena accepted and the match was set for the Main Event. As the show continued we saw both Cena and Axel preparing for the contest backstage, talking to WWE Hall of Famers Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart respectively, in nice segments which helped build the contest well. Axel’s conversation with The Hitman was particularly interesting with Bret attempting to convince Curtis to dump Heyman as his manager, with some nods towards the matches Bret had with Axel’s Dad, Mr. Perfect.

The contest itself was an okay, if unmemorable TV contest, with Axel getting in a surprising amount of offence in against the WWE Champion, including a near fall with Perfect Plex where the crowd thought it was over. However just as Cena was getting his usual comeback in and it looked like we were heading to our finish, sirens began to blare through the Saddledome and no it wasn’t Scott Steiner, it was Ryback and his newly acquired ambulance. This lured Cena to the entrance ramp for an attack with Ryback eventually running off after pushing Cena off the stage. With Axel picking up the victory via Countout, he is now 3-0 after opting to side with Paul Heyman, however WWE is going to need to give him a Pinfall victory over a big name soon if they wish to keep any momentum with this character going forward.

The Highlight Reel with Paul Heyman

It was another busy night for Paul Heyman. WWE seems to have recognised what an asset Heyman is to the company and how he can be used to get talent over with the fans, even when the talent themselves is unable to appear on the show, as was the case here. However, they are going to have to be very careful that Heyman doesn’t end up over exposed especially when the inevitable happens and all three of his clients are appearing on television at the same time. As much as we love Heyman here at Across the Pond, we don’t want Raw to turn into the Paul Heyman show.

Another star who WWE have used to help get talent over lately is Chris Jericho. Jericho’s ability to make his opponent look a million dollars has done wonders for Dolph Ziggler and Fandango recently as well as a number of other wrestlers throughout his career. In our Smackdown review, we hinted that we thought WWE might be going with a Chris Jericho Vs. Big Show match for Payback after their involvement with a steel chair on Friday Night, however that has either been dropped or was simply a way to write Show off of WWE Television for the time being as he made no appearance on Raw. 

The Highlight Reel was entertaining as always, with the Calgary crowd lapping up everything Y2J had to say, joining in with catchphrase and chanting “Walrus” at Heyman. Somewhat surprisingly, Jericho would go on to challenge, Paul Heyman’s client CM Punk to a match at Payback. We haven’t seen CM Punk since the night after Wrestlemania and it was expected that Punk would be taking much longer off than a few months.

With Jericho berated Heyman that Punk was no longer the “Best in the World” after not being on Television for six weeks, and that Jericho was truly “The Best in the World at What I Do” and if Punk had a problem with this he would turn up in his hometown of Chicago for Payback. This led to Heyman crumbling and agreeing to the contest. Although we’ve seen this match before with a similar storyline based around “The Best in the World” gimmick, with the roles now being reversed and with the addition of Paul Heyman it can be believed that this new contest will bring something different to the table and definitely injects some needed star power onto the Payback card.

United States Championship Match: Dean Ambrose © Vs. Kofi Kingston

Tag Team Championship Match: The Shield © Vs. Team Hell No

The disintegration of Team Hell No continued this week starting with a backstage segment where Bryan talked to himself about not being the weak link whilst Kane tried to convince him he wasn’t. This was until Bret Hart made his first appearance of the night and managed to convince Bryan that being the smaller man in the team didn’t make him the weak link. This upset Kane, with Bryan explain that Hart was The Best There Is, Best There Was and The Best the Ever Will Be and he was just Kane. It’s been really enjoyable to watch this story unfold and if done correctly could end up being a very memorable feud for WWE.

Before Hell No got there rematch for the Tag Team Titles, Kofi Kingston got his for Dean Ambrose’s United States Championship. This match was a hell of a lot better than the contest they had on Smackdown and was more up to the standards of their Extreme Rules outing. However the two still managed to bring a different kind of contest with a number of different spots, including a rather nasty looking trip from Ambrose which led to Kingston’s head hitting the steel steps. Ambrose seems to bring out the best in Kofi creatively and two clearly enjoy being in the ring together, bringing a nice intensity that is rarely seen on WWE Television. A few moves need to be worked on including Ambrose’s finish which looks difficult to get into and slightly awkward, as well as Kofi’s SOS move which I have never seen delivered in a convincing manner. It’s probably time for Kofi to drop this move from his arsenal. Ultimately Ambrose won, it being the right decision to keep the title with the Shield as they look to push further up the card in WWE.

For me the tag team contest was the best of the night. Going a solid twenty minutes, all four men proved why they deserve the accolades which have been bestowed on them in recent months. Daniel Bryan’s hot tag is probably one of the best in the business as he manages to change the pace of a match in seconds, allowing for the contest to feel fresh once again and keeping the audience glued to their television screens. It can only be hoped that Bryan’s work within the Team Hell No storyline, as well of that of partner Kane, is being recognised by those higher up in WWE and will be rewarded with stronger solo pushes once the story has been tied up.

The match finished with Bryan ignoring his partner’s argument and diving onto Reigns on the outside only to be driven into the mat, allowing Rollin’s diving knee attack to take out Kane for the pin. With both teams looking to be moving into separate stories at the next Pay-per-view, this was fantastic way to close out their long running rivalry. We here at Across The Pond Wrestling are interested to see how WWE will go with a Kane/Daniel Bryan feud and what kind of role each wrestler will play within it.

Best of the Rest

The continued absence of World Heavyweight Champion Dolph Ziggler was once again evident as Number One Contender Alberto Del Rio took on Ziggler’s “confidante” Big E Langston in a re-match from last week. The match was short and didn’t really do much for either man, apart from allow Del Rio to get his victory back as WWE continues to tread water with the Ziggler/Del Rio feud. The finish however was interesting with Langston’s manager AJ Lee removing the turnbuckle pad only for Langston to go crashing head first into the turnbuckle to the closing stages.

It will be interesting to see if WWE decides to break up this new faction so early after its formation, as it seems like it would still have some legs once Ziggler is back on Television. However, it’s clear that someone high up in WWE, is high on Big E and he has the look that Vince McMahon tends to go for, as well as being entertaining with a microphone and competent in the ring, I would suspect it’s only a matter of time before Big E breaks out on his own and possibly gets a shot at Ziggler’s championship.

Randy Orton and Sheamus teamed up once again, with Michael Cole continuing to use the hideous name “Celtic Vipers” to refer to the team. This time they squared off against Team Rhodes Scholars in a brief continuation of the bemusing “Gordian Knot” segment from Smackdown. In another case of WWE creative lacking direction, Sandow and Rhodes returning as a Tag Team every few weeks after retiring more time than Terry Funk, is wearing thin, with both men being talented it’s time to either push them as a Tag Team or allow them to continue solo paths.

The match was a strong contest as to be expected with these four competitors, however I found myself uninterested throughout as WWE has given me very little reason to care about Orton and Sheamus as a Tag Team, with both The Celtic Warrior and The Apex Predator looking stale in their face roles and needing a desperate change of scenery. With Sheamus picking up the win for his team with the Brogue Kick, the logical next step would be a feud with The Shield, and some entertaining contests with Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns will hopefully reignite a bored looking Randy Orton.

WWE Active made a return this week and this time WWE actually took notice, with The Miz being chosen as Special Referee for a contest between Wade Barrett and Fandango. However, with the other options of Guest Commentator and Guest Ring Announcer it was always clear what the WWE Universe would choose. I find it insulting as a fan that WWE attempts to make itself look interactive when the options are so clearly weighted in favour of what WWE wants to go with. With The Miz costing Barrett the contest with a Skull Crushing Finale, only to attack Fandango as well after the match, and counting a goofy “pin fall” involving Summer Rae, it looks like WWE is cementing a Triple Threat contest at Payback for the title, which could be a very entertaining contest.

Elsewhere there was a number of throwaway contests that we’ve got used to since Raw went to three hours. Firstly, a six man tag team contest pitting Tons of Funk and The Great Khali, with more managers than you can shake a stick at, against 3MB. The match was quick and fun but has no real consequence on the wider picture of WWE. It’s interesting that none of the six in this match have really been involved in any feuds or storylines in well over a year. After the contest we got treated to The Great Khali singing happy birthday to his “Punjabi Princess” Natalya, whilst Khali’s singing is undeniably funny, it’s not something I’d want to see every week on Raw.

Natalya’s birthday celebrations continued as she teamed with Diva’s Champion Kaitlyn to take on the Bella Twins. The match was strong for a short diva tag team contest, with Natalya proving why she should appear on Raw more often, only to lose to an accidental Spear from Kaitlyn. Cole’s line of “So Natalya got beat in her hometown on her birthday” pretty much summed up my feeling towards this finish as WWE clearly doesn’t see in Natalya what the majority of the WWE Universe and what felt like the entire of Calgary does. And then the Bella’s started singing…

We also received a very good vignette hyping the debut of Bray Wyatt and his family including current NXT Tag Team Champions Eric Rowan and Luke Harper. It was creepy, unnerving and different from anything else on the show. It felt fresh and sent a decent amount of buzz over Twitter as people seemed genuinely excited to see this debut.

Finally…

What was learnt from this week’s Raw?

1.       Curtis Axel needs a Pinfall win on Raw soon to keep up any form of momentum. 

2.       Chris Jericho vs. CM Punk is set to be match of the night at WWE Payback.

3.       WWE needs to stop pushing the App every five minutes.