By Sean Ross Sapp (@SeanRossSapp)
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– Slowly but surely, the WWE is creeping back to the level in which they reached, peaking at WrestleMania. Since then, the absence of major stars, the underwhelming new stars, the paint by numbers tv shows all grew old. Now, heading into Money in the Bank, WWE is coming off of one decent Raw, and one good Raw, after about eight consecutive bad ones. I hope that the company can do something good as they head into Money in the Bank, which has become one of their biggest annual pay-per views.
– We go into this show not knowing (but having a fairly good idea) of who will compete in the Money in the Bank contract match. This is always an exciting time of the year because of the uncertainty surrounding the match itself, and always seems to give way to a sense of optimism, which is refreshing in wrestling.
– I have grown to like the Shield breakup. When CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, Brock Lesnar, The Undertaker, and even The Rock were around, it made more sense to let the team grow as a faction. Now that the WWE is in need of main event talent, it makes all the sense in the world to split the faction and immediately have three main event caliber performers.
– Stephanie McMahon/Vickie Guerrero segment. Stephanie says Vickie has been riding her late husband’s coattails for too long. SNAP. Was hoping Stephanie McMahon was going to make Vickie kiss her ass, but unfortunately, Stephanie said they’d have a match, which got a giant pop. As bad as Vickie was at the beginning of this segment, she was awesome at the end, as she got probably the biggest face reaction of her career.
– Oh hey look, the Wyatts (Harper and Rowan) got a new, terrible theme. Well ya know, maybe if fans didn’t cheer the bad guys it wouldn’t happen. Luke Harper was taking on Jimmy Uso, in a bit of a preview for Sunday night’s tag team title match. Harper make short work of Uso, and we were forced to listen to the terrible theme, that I’m sure I’ll love in two week.
By the way, Harper is going to be the Kane of the next ten years. He’s that good. .
After the match, Jey Uso challenged Erick Rowan, then dove on the Wyatt Family. Not surprisingly Jey Uso made short work of Rowan, splitting the series and setting up the tag title match. Afterwards, the Wyatts beat down the Usos, and held the tag titles up.
– Bray Wyatt showed up on the TitanTron and cut his typical unique, awesome promo.
– Rusev and Lana in some sort of pre-recorded segment in front of the White House. Hopefully this means he won’t be wrestling tonight.
– I know I’ve trashed the new additions to the show (Rusev, Rose, Dallas, Paige), but I’ll say this– I watched Dallas and Rose on Smackdown and enjoyed them. I don’t look at these characters as being on par with the Ziggler’s, Kingston’s even the Miz’s of the world that should be on Raw, but on Smackdown, they’re just fine.
– Speaking of Paige she came out to the ring aZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzz. Cameron was on commentary, and it was bad.
Oh yeah, Naomi faced Alicia Fox. Fox’s backbreaker is good, her northern lights suplex is good, and she’s getting better in the ring. Naomi won with a falling reverse DDT, which I’m surprised hasn’t been used as a finish before.
– Bo Dallas is growing on me. He beat Titus O’Neil, quickly. If I’m O’Neil, I’m hoping Darren Young heals up quick. Bo Dallas cut a hilarious promo after the match.
– Triple H announced the Money in the Bank contract match participants– Seth Rollins, Bad News Barrett, RVD, Kofi Kingston, Dolph Ziggler, Jack Swagger.
Seth Rollins came out, yadda yadda, RVD came out, yadda yadda. Match. Hoping this one will be good. Actually, RVD’s promo was exceptional, especially for his usual limitations within the WWE.
The match was fine, and kept the crowd into it the entire time, but just as Rollins was about to win with the Curb Stomp, Dean Ambrose interfered, causing a DQ. I’m really excited for this feud and subsequent matches.
Backstage, Rollins asked HHH to put Ambrose in the MITB ladder match, so Ambrose wouldn’t come out of nowhere and cost him the match. HHH agreed. Awww snap.
– Dolph Ziggler beat Bad News Barrett last week! Oh shoot! Now we get an Intercontinental title match, complete with in-ring intros?! What!? I love it, I love it.
There was a sick spot early, where Barrett was late catching Ziggler on a clothesline over the top rope and totally walloped Ziggler, which look like it knocked Ziggler for a loop. Ziggler recovered and hit a Zig Zag early, but Barrett rolled out of the ring. This is gonna be good.
It was good. It was fantastic, and the crowd ate it like like @HustleLOP eats spam. I don’t know why the WWE won’t pull the trigger on Ziggler, but they’re missing out. These two went at it. Zig Zag, Wasteland, Bull Hammer, Fame Asser, so many close calls.
Finally, Barrett hit the Bull Hammer to finish one of the best matches on Raw this year. This was PPV quality, you guys.
– Vickie was out to Eddie Guerrero’s old theme to face Stephanie, but that didn’t happen, as Stephanie came out …..and announced….
Yes! Doody in a pool match!
— Sean Ross Sapp (@SeanRossSapp) June 24, 2014
A few of the heel girls came out and bullied Vickie until she turned the tides and threw them all in the doo doo. However, Vickie ended up in the doo doo, then she threw Stephanie in the doo doo, then Stephanie threw a ref in the doo doo. Yep.
– Goldust and Stardust time. I’m still not sure how I feel about all of this, but I’m going to give it time. They had a short promo. Like I said, not sure how I feel about it.
– Jack Swagger and Kofi Kingston had a good, short match. Kofi can sell his ass off, and made me think he was actually going to break the Patriot Lock, but ultimately tapped out. Kingston hasn’t won a match on Raw since his upset of Randy Orton in January.
– Paige vs. Naomi has been booked for the pay-per view. This may be Paige’s first real chance to show what she has. With only four matches announced, I’d imagine it goes long.
– Damien Sandow comes out to face Big E, but he’s dressed as Abraham Lincoln. A lot of people seem to think Sandow pissed someone off, but he’s on TV now and wasn’t before the gimmick. Big E won quickly.
Big E cut a promo on Rusev, and they’ll be fighting at the PPV again. The promo was..interesting, with Big E acting like a black preacher. The guy has a ton of charisma, but when he only gets to show it once every three months, he comes off as stupid. Not good for him, he’s too good of a hand to be treated like that.
– My audio started to mess up during the Roman Reigns, John Cena, and Sheamus vs. Bray Wyatt, Randy Orton, Cesaro and Alberto Del Rio.
I had a couple of shallow issues with this match from the start. 1) Bray Wyatt shouldn’t tag with anyone but the Wyatt Family, and 2) this match was on Smackdown. I feel, much like Undertaker early on, WWE should be careful who they show him being civil with.
This match was…not what it could have been, that’s for sure. Roman Reigns got the hot tag instead of John Cena, which was kind of cool to see, but up until that point, the match had been a snoozer. Reigns still really shines in tag matches.
As I mentioned, it’s really weird to see Wyatt work in unison with fellow heels, and I think it’s a mistake. His agenda, the WWE title, is the same as theirs, but I wouldn’t ever imagine him utilizing their help in accomplishing it.
Sheamus pinned Cesaro to win the match, but not before Cesaro gave Cena a hellacious European uppercut.
After the match, Kane came out, and laid waste to the participants, and then my DirecTV went out. Son of a bitch.
Kane will be in the championship ladder match, as he should be. I saw a lot of people whining on Twitter, but it makes sense to put Kane in.
– Raw wasn’t bad tonight, but it certainly wasn’t good in my mind. After the horrid streak in the spring, I guess it’s all I can ask for at this point, but I expected more creativity following the break up of the Shield.
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