I’m baaaaacccckk! I’d like to start off this Raw Revisited on a personal note. I’ve been away for a few weeks due to some personal issues. My mother was rushed into hospital with septic shock on the 2nd of May. She was given a 10 percent chance of survival on the first day, but as of today, the 27th of May, the septicemia had subsided completely and she is out of ICU and on the mend! What started as a no hope situation has transformed into an almost miraculous recovery. I don’t believe in any god, so I won’t be thanking him or her, but I will be indebted to the doctors and medicine that got her to this point.
Anyway, that’s enough of that. Lets talk about Raw. I’ve been away and haven’t had a lot of time to watch it over the past couple of weeks, but I caught the highlights both good and bad. Anything the Shield have done over the past couple of weeks has been pure gold (Dean Ambrose on commentary last week was especially boss!) and the whole Daniel Bryan situation is very sad but a risk people with his style take in this business. And since I’m writing this as I watch Raw from the comfort of my couch, I am sincerely hoping that he relinquishes the title in order to let somebody new have a shot at it. But knowing the WWW, it will be Randy Orton or Triple H, or *shudder* John Cena.
I’m not going to ralk too much this week because Raw was pretty much a trudge of crap because everything is kind of on a loop right now. The big 3 things at the moment are:
- Will Daniel Bryan be stripped of the title (3 weeks ongoing)
- The Shield vs Evolution (Going on since the night after Wrestlemania)
- John Cena vs Bray Wyatt (Ongoing since Royal Rumble in January!)
The originality isn’t flowing through the main event at the moment it would seem. So apart from some great mid-card feud build up, Raw was a chore. Lets get started.
Fired and Brimstone!
Another GM bites the dust. Brad Maddox was about a welcome as a fart in a spacesuit as GM of Raw since The Authority pretty much rules the roost there since last August. WWE seems to have this compulsive need to have a GM figure in place and never use them. Well, other than to have someone to blame when things don’t go according to plan.
Now that Maddox is gone, let the inevitable rumours about Hogan or Sting being the new GM begin!
Surprise, Surprise. A Great Cesaro Match!
The previous matches between Cesaro and RVD have always been rocky to start but once they found their groove, it got great! This was no exception, but the rocky part of the match was very short in comparison to the others. Cesaro can pull anyone into a great match because he’s just so damn good! This was the first match that showed some genuine care and consideration for the mid-card feuds and titles. The great thing as well is that in the case of Cesaro vs Sheamus, the reason they are fighting is not over the US title, it’s just that they want to fight each other. Sneak attacks, physical brawls, scathing comments from Paul Heyman; it just has everything that makes it great! The title feels secondary to the feud and that’s not a bad thing! Feuds that matter over belts that should is what we need to see more of!
In the case of RVD and BNB, the feud was created after RVD won a tournament to become the new number 1 contender to the IC title. But while the title is the main thing these guys are fighting over, it is being given ample screen time to develop and is becoming more personal.
Also Bad News Barrett on commentary is pure gold. The line “its me, its me, its B-N-B” might annoy DDP but it made me happy!
Clothesline From Smell!
Oh Bray, why couldn’t you retire Jerry Lawler like we all wanted? Also, why must you go to places treaded by much less effective heels in the past and go after Lawler. I mean I know you were in Tennessee but still, be more original!
The whole segment was ok, but it felt like we had seen this before, many many times. Based on how many times Jerry Lawler has been used to get at Cena, they must be best friends, or Jerry is his secret lover / dad. I really hope the rumours aren’t true and this feud ends at Payback because its time. Like I mentioned before, this has been going on since January!
Bo-Leave!
As most of the regular readers know, I don’t watch Smackdown. But I was aware of the re-debut of Bo Dallas last week. After seeing the match against Sin Cara on Raw, I went back and watched the Smackdown match to check. And as I suspected, it was shot for shot, the same match. Proving once again that WWE does not care about Smackdown.
We Need To Talk About Daniel
I’m a huge fan of Daniel Bryan, huge. But its been said before and it will be said again, no one person is bigger than the WWE. If Daniel Bryan is going to be out of action for 1 – 2 months, he needs to give up the titles. Now before any of this “its still real to me, damn it” comments start, my anger lies not with Daniel Bryan, but with WWE in general. I don’t know Daniel Bryan any better than the rest of you, but he doesn’t seem like the type of guy to have a huge ego *cough* CM Punk *cough* and he would probably want to give up the titles so that someone else can have a shot while he recovers.
The big news coming out of this segment was that Daniel Bryan will be at Payback and he will have to either relinquish the titles or his wife, the terrible actress extraordinaire that is Brie Bella, wil be fired for putting her hands on Steph. Hopefully, they do the right thing and have Daniel hand over the titles and then use the Money In The Bank pay-per-view to have a MITB ladder match to crown a new champion. This will work well as now that there is only one top title, there would have only been one ladder match. This keeps the traditional two and adds some great intrigue to the match.
Picture this; right in the middle of the card, someone like Cesaro wins the first ladder match guaranteeing him a shot at the title whenever he wants. In the main event, someone like John Cena, or Randy Orton wins the ladder match to win the vacated title. As they are lying in the ring unable to celebrate due to the intensity of the ladder match, Cesaros siren hits and out he comes to cash in and win the title, setting up a big rematch main event for Summerslam! Book it!
Gotta Love Them Contract Signings!
The thing about contract signings is that you know where they’re going before they even start. So a fight was a-comin! But the most important thing about this was it shone a light on Dean Ambrose amazing contract signing skills!
Triple H looks so unimpressed! Like “Dude, you had one job!”.
That’s gonna be it for this week. Short, sweet and to the point, which unfortunately Raw was not!
See y’all next week!
Recent Comments