WWE RAW Coverage: Woo Woo Woo and Then Some

If Robert DeNiro was at RAW this week, he would have pointed to Triple H and the WWE Creative Team, with scrunched up eyes and a wrinkled face and said, “You, you’re good, you.”

What started flat ultimately ended strong and resulted in a solid show that absolutely flew by.

The first 16 minutes of this week’s Monday Night RAW was an undeniable bitch fest, with Dolph Ziggler, Christian and Cody Rhodes all voicing their disdain over Triple H’s tenure as WWE COO.

Things picked up rather quickly though, as the irate Triple H soon booked four great matches. The action then guided the show, rather than the mediocre promo that was prevalent last week.

Add in a few surprises, mainly the continued, feel-good push of Zack Ryder and this week’s RAW had a near perfect blend of matches, set up for Hell in a Cell and promo.

Matches:

Intercontinental Champion Cody Rhodes vs. Daniel Bryan, Sin Cara, Sheamus, John Morrison, Ted DiBiase, Ezekiel Jackson, Alex Riley, Drew MacIntyre and Justin Gabriel in a 10-man over the top battle royal: This wasn’t a classic encounter, but it was a fun way to start the show. Sheamus made quick work of Riley and Gabriel after the “other” Sin Cara eliminated his doppelganger early in the contest. Jackson then eliminated two superstars all by his lonesome. As DiBiase and Rhodes joined Jackson and Sheamus as the last four, Rhodes quickly eliminated his former tag partner. A gaffe on Jackson’s part left Rhodes and Sheamus as the last two. Interference from Christian almost cost Sheamus the match, but Rhodes took the added time and hit Sheamus with his faceguard for the win. After the match, Christian took his frustrations out on Sheamus.

Eve Torrez and WWE Divas Champion Kelly Kelly vs. Natalya Neidhart and Beth Phoenix: One of the best Divas matches on RAW in quite some time. At first, it appeared Kelly Kelly was going to mount a John Cena-esque comeback, but luckily, the match ended when Phoenix nailed Kelly with the Glam Slam. Bonus points to Neidhart for an interesting submission move during the contest.

World Heavyweight Champion Mark Henry vs. The Great Khali: Henry hit Khali in the face with the belt before the bell rang and then quickly slapped him with the World’s Strongest Slam. The result? No match. The bell never rang. Say what you want about Henry, but you got to love how dominant he’s been.

WWE Champion John Cena vs. Christian in a non-title match: A fast-paced match which proves what a solid worker Christian is. Cena was at his routine solid, but again, it was simply his routine. Selling and using ring psychology, Christian brought some extra flavor to the contest. However, after Alberto Del Rio [who alongside CM Punk was doing color commentary] joined the party and hit Cena with a kick to the back of the head, the champ got the win via DQ.

United States Champion Dolph Ziggler w/ Jack Swagger and Vikki Guerrero vs. Zack Ryder: A quick match that saw Swagger interfere behind the referee’s back, which left Ryder wide open for the Zig Zag and the win. Air Boom [Kofi Kingston and Evan Bourne] hit the ring after and made sure to have Ryder’s back. Soon after, Teddy Long came out and announced a six-man tag to take place right away.

Dolph Ziggler, Jack Swagger and Mason Ryan vs. Kofi Kingston, Evan Bourne and Zack Ryder:
A high-energy match that saw Ryan take out both of his teammates after a few minutes of quality tag action [Anyone remember what Ziggler said about him last week?]. Soon enough, Ziggler was the prey for Ryder and his Low Ryder leg lariat finisher. With another win over the US Champ, Ryder’s push continues.

Alberto Del Rio vs. CM Punk: These guys pushed a solid pace, but this isn’t the match anyone wants to see. If nothing’s at stake, this match was just a tease for the Pay Per View. Ultimately, that’s all it was. While Punk got the win, Del Rio got the best of Cena and Punk, destroying them with a steel chair as the steel cage lowered to the floor.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 13821 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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