Coming at you from Miami, and while Battleground wasn’t great, the WWE loves to hit a major market on the RAW after a PPV and throw out big stars and big plots. C’mon Miami, I know you’re down about loosing LeBron but there’s nothing like being host to a good wrestling show to get you out of your funk. If you can’t get excited for the return of Brock Lesnar, you should be at a wrestling show.
Battleground was exactly what we thought it was going to be. A few decent matches but nothing overly special and an ending that was not only spoiled a week in advance due to a leaked SummerSlam commercial but also failed to include any of HHH’s backup plans, B or C. Let’s just say, I’m glad I only pay $9.99 per month for the PPVs. $50 would have been an obscene amount of money for, what friend of the BEARcast - WrestleCast (www.worldofbear.com or on iTunes) Dustin called, a decent RAW.
Fortunately RAW is in Miami tonight and rumors are swirling (which basically means my WrestleCast partner Fred has sent me a bunch of gossip from the internet). You’d have to think that the WWE will pull out the big guns because SummerSlam is now just weeks away and they have to set up the Brock vs Cena main event AND get to the pinnacles of various story lines that were kicked down the road at Sunday’s Battleground.
The late addition of a Rollins / Ambrose match was a bit of a surprise since we all know this feud has SummerSlam written all over it. As such, we didn’t get a match but a series of silly backstage fighting and parking lot brawls. Fifteen minutes of filler there, an IC Battle Royal which took longer to intro the entrants than the actual match and three matches that weren’t bad but while you were watching all you could think about was, I can’t wait to see the SummerSlam version of this. Those three matches were Rusev / Swagger, AJ / Paige and Y2J / Bray Wyatt.
The best match of the night was the curtain jerker. A best 2 out of 3 pins match between The Usos vs Harper and Rowan. Once the first two pins to make it a 1-1 match got out of the way the match took off and was spectacular leading up to a surprise Usos victory. It was a great match and you can only assume they’ll set something up for SummerSlam. One way or another The Wyatt family is winning the Tag Championships and now that the Usos have retained them once again, you have to imagine they finally loose them at SummerSlam. The only monkey wrench is that Goldust and Stardust have been getting a lot of promo time to ramble on about taking things to the next step. I love the Dust Brothers but there’s only so many backstage skits they can do before they must wrestle a meaningful match.
So with that, let’s get to the rankings as of this week’s RAW on 7/21/2014…
- Paul Heyman and Brock Lesnar (N/A) – Please stop what you’re doing and give Heyman a standing ovation. It might not have been the best promo of all time but name me someone else who could have pulled THAT promo off? Credit to HHH for getting out of the way and handing the closing segment over to Heyman and Brock to let them do their thing. This might have been one of the worst kept secrets in the WWE and one of the worst crowbar-ing in of a plot line but at the end of the day, who cares? Brock is back. He’s a beast. Heyman is on the mic. Cena should be shitting his pants. A last minute question just came to me (check out the BEARcast - WrestleCast at www.worldofbear.com this week for a full discussion); If Cena gets destroyed and Brock wins the belt but puts on a valiant effort, will the mark fans who boo him change their tone and start rooting for Cena? If by winning and with the hype of Heyman, could Brock become such an unstoppable monster (now tied to The Authority) that the fans all get behind Cena to be the one to win the belt back? I know plans are for Reigns to be that savior but is he ready to take out Brock?
- Reigns (3) – Had his coming out party during the Fatal-4-Way at Battleground. While everyone new Cena was going to win thanks to a leaked SummerSlam promo, the other three wrestlers did a great job of putting Reigns over. He still needs some work on the little things that make a good match and not only relying on his big spots. Also a few more months of practice on the mic will help on his personal road to WrestleMania.
- HHH (7) – I liked how HHH opened the show by going after all the people criticizing him, just seconds after JBL / Cole / King referenced Twitter and gave out the hashtag to follow the show with / “become part of the conversation.” It just goes to show how much stock the WWE actually puts in to and follows social media. We got fun HHH on RAW. When he’s attacking internet trolls and trying to be serious while his wife is being hauled off to jail is a side of HHH you rarely get to see. I know some hate the HHH character and / or have issues with some of the ways he’s done business in and out of the ring but I’ve always felt he’s probably a great guy to talk to and must have a thousand funny stories. There’s a jokester in there and you always get to see a little sparkle when the show calls for him to land on the comedic side of the script.
- Randy Orton (3) – First to interrupt HHH is RKO demanding his long await rematch from WM30. Is that clause forfeit when the title has already changed hands? I wish he would have stuck with the “What about me?” a little longer. At least it seems set for a Reigns vs RKO matchup at SummerSlam, which should be good.
- Kane (3) – Kane, the world’s worst baby sitter. Kane’s been hit with about 30 Superman punches and spears in the last 24 hours and yet he still chugs along. Oh, Kane…
- Stephanie McMahon (7) – I don’t know why we have to waste the great Stephanie McMahon on this nonsense. Steph can hold her own against the best in the biz but for some reason this Bella feud is something that the WWE thinks someone cares about. I challenge the WWE to find one person interested in this feud. Just one and I’ll shut up. Nevertheless Stephanie turned chicken shit into chicken salad. She was awesome and seeing her dragged away, correction; see her SELL the arrest and being dragged away was great. The rest I couldn’t care less about. Maybe this whole storyline stems from HHH and Stephanie’s vacation which I’m guessing consisted of a marathon watch of Orange is the New Black. As a fan of OITNB, I’d love to see Steph be brought into Litchfield prison next season.
- Bray and The Wyatt Family vs Chris Jericho (9) – We’re told that Y2J was beaten down backstage before the Highlight Reel. So Bray held court. Let’s face it, all this rhetoric is silly because the fans just want to see Y2J vs Bray Wyatt at SummerSlam. We got a taste at Battleground and their match at SummerSlam could be EPIC. If we learn anything over the past few months it is that Bray needs to come to the ring to do his promos. His entrances are awesome and his shoots are best served live instead of backstage.
- Dean Ambrose (4) – I can see why some fans don’t like Ambrose or his style. It’s a little odd and unorthodox and of course everyone has different tastes. To that I say AT LEAST HE HAS A STYLE. He might be awkward a times but his style isn’t the same cookie cutter wrestling factory that 75% of the other wrestlers have. If anything, appreciate that he’s performing at a high level and doing it slightly different than most. And that he’s banging Renee Young might help his pimp hand. Like his former parter, Rollins, he can take and sell a bump. That’s why there are such high expectations for the Rollins / Ambrose feud. Just look at how his body popped like a spring after being clotheslined. This was AFTER he initially hit the ground!
- Cesaro (8) – Even HHH had to throw pause on the battle to become the next HHH man. Cesaro and Rollins is certainly a feud I’d like to see down the line. This sets up the next opponent for Rollins after his run with Ambrose. As for the here and now, what’s Cesaro doing? Okay, fine, you dropped Heyman. Everyone else seems locked up except for Sheamus. Could this be Cesaro’s chance at US title gold and a feud with Sheamus at SummerSlam? Side Note; Once again I have to complain that two foreigners are battling for the US belt. At least one person should always be an American in a US title match. Lest you think I’m some crazy Tea Partier or xenophobe, there should always be an international wrestler in the mix for the IC belt. We give these things names for a reason, no?
- Dolph Ziggler (12) – Ziggler should have been the winner of the IC belt (and from rumors sent to me by Fred “The Oracle” he was originally planned to be). There were a lot of missteps in the beginning but once they got back from the commercial break, Ziggler and Miz really pulled together a great match. In what will sure to be fireworks between Fred and I on this week’s BEARcast - WrestleCast (www.worldofbear.com) Ziggler got the clean win but didn’t win the IC belt. Hopefully this all gets rectified and Ziggler wins the strap at SummerSlam.
- The Miz (15) – Coming off his cheap win in the IC Battle Royal, The Miz is riding high. Hollywood heel Miz is my kind of Miz. The battle for Ohio has begun and The Miz vs Ziggler could come a close second to Rollins vs Ambrose.
- AJ Lee & Paige vs Emma & Natalya (13&N/A) – Oh look, Emma is out of WWE jail. I’m not having this “Shining Wizard” move by AJ. I know she’s into comics and video games but the name is lame. Back to the show, Paige pulls off her heel turn. As you can guess, I’m not women’s lib-er but even I find it slightly offensive if not awkward that the only way a woman can be heel is if she’s a “crazy lunatic that has to scream and yell.” When Paige finally got past the screaming and yelling, she was a far more effective heel when she was mocking all of AJ quirks like skipping and posing.
- The Dust Brothers (14) – I don’t know what this Cosmic Key is but I’m hoping they’re looking to take on Thanos to obtain it. I just wished they wrestled more so I could rank them higher. Time stops when Goldust and Stardust come on my screen.
- Big E & Kofi (8) – Wait…what did I just see? Are we…are we actually getting a look at the Articles of Incorporation for the Corporate Nation that has been pushed for almost a year on the BEARcast - WrestleCast (www.worldofbear.com)?? Check out the show this week for our special guest Dustin, who first sparked the idea months ago and I have championed for it ever since.
- Bo Dallas (17) – RAW didn’t get good until Bo vs Sandow started. Sandow would be a perfect feud for Bo Dallas. They both have the ability to put on good matches, Sandow can look the fool and it won’t hurt his character, Bo can beat an actual decent opponent and continue his now 16-and-Bo winning streak. Oh, and it keeps Sandow in the limelight a little longer before he’s sent back to Sonic.
- Damien Sandow (19) – Thank god Sandow got someone to cover his shift at Sonic so that he could make it to Miami in order to shove LeBron’s Decision Part Deux in the face of all Heat fans. Luckily Michael Cole was gracious enough to explain to the one person in the world that didn’t know about LeBron leaving Miami to go back to Cleveland. It was understandable since I believe only one or two people may have covered that news story…
- Rusev w/ Lana (10) – I guess Swagger and Coulter went down like a Malaysian Airliner because they were no where to be seen after Rusev got the cheap win over Swagger at Battleground. The Swagger / Rusev match was good and while I didn’t like how it ended, the WWE found a way to keep Rusev’s winning streak and Swagger’s REAL American heat via a cheap count-out on Sunday.
- Fandango vs Zack Rider (18&N/A) – Whoo whoo whooooo. Rider gets a victory on RAW. I don’t know if this says more about Rider or the state of Fandango?
- Ryb-Axel (N/A) – Ryback had some weird puncture wound on his chest. Axel never even got officially tagged in. Rolled over Kofi’s splash and got the win. Just as it took Rosa Parks to be sent to the back of the bus, it took Big E and Kofi to lose to Ryb-Axel for us to get the Corporate Nation started. So in a way, I have to thank Ryb-Axel.
- Divas Match: 4-on-Bella (20) – N-Bella faces the dregs of the Divas division (except for Alicia Fox who was the only one to perform an actual wrestling move). Even the production tried to quit on this match by blacking out for a few seconds.
Honorable Mentions
Seth Rollins / John Cena – Rollins was on the show in a very limited capacity and Cena seemed to have the night off. They’re both integral pieces in the WWE but this week’s RAW was for bringing back Brock, which I’m glad they didn’t have Cena involved, and Rollins hanging back to let the rest of the story flesh out. How many times do you need to see Rollins being jumped by Ambrose before it gets played out. Good booking decisions by the WWE this week.
Flo Rida – Little known fact: Flo Rida is derived from Florida, the state he’s from. Haven’t I heard his first song for the past 5 years? There was two things missing from this performance, his 25 lbs. gold and diamond Jesus chain and his valet’s ability to figure out how lip syncing works.
Great Khali – After being MIA for months, now it seems he’s on every week. Did he swamp schedules with The Big Show? Maybe they’re the same person??? When was the last time you saw them both together? Mind. Blown.
Slayer – The Summer Rae and Layla group name. We can move on from this right? Even with Summer’s above average ass and Layla’s tig-ole-bitties, I think we’re done with this.
Side Note(s)
Some great fan notes this week:
Check out this guy reacting B-Bella calling Stephanie a bitch. This is more excited than a man his age should get.
Here's the worst sign in recent memory. If you’re going to go through the effort to bring a sign, put in some effort in making the sign.
And as always, I love to keep track of who's watching from backstage.
Until next time…
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