WWE RAW Coverage: New Title Belt, Little Else

The Road to Wrestlemania truly began to take shape this week on RAW with a new WWE title design unveiled (Stay tuned later this week for a post on Review Fix’s thoughts on the new title design). With both major title matches decided, the minor feuds began to take shape. The major ones continued to be polished. Overall, the show was a slow build-up, with little pay off.

The show started off with a bang though. John Cena agreed to put his ticket to a WWE title shot at Wrestlemania on the line against rival CM Punk next week. While it’s obvious that Cena will get the win, it gives Punk another reason for a venting promo at some point before Wrestlemania. That will open the door for whoever his WM opponent will be. Hopefully, it’ll be The Undertaker.

The rest of the show was filled with quick matches and a ton of posturing. While some of it was necessary, most of the show dragged. Away from Brad Maddox’s appointment as Vicki Guerrero’s assistant and Vince McMahon’s challenge to Paul Heyman, not much else happened this week. Sure, The Rock’s championship celebration was fun, but the WWE needs to pick up the pace- and quick. Wrestlemania is way to close to waste three hours of television like this.

Matches:

Mark Henry vs. Sin Cara: Despite a few kicks from Sin Cara, Henry was in control. This was a squash match. After a Running Powerslam, Henry picked up the limp Sin Cara and nailed him with the World’s Strongest Slam for the win. After the match Great Khali came to the ring, but Henry didn’t want to “dance.”

The Miz vs. United States Champion Antonio Cesaro: The champion worked over Miz with a variety of weapon shots and submission holds. Miz made a quick comeback with a Drop Toe Hold onto a chair, followed by the Figure-Four, which earned him the submission victory in the non-title match.

Dolph Ziggler w/ AJ Lee and Big E. Langston vs. World Heavyweight Champion Alberto Del Rio w/Ricardo Rodriguez: Ziggler, armed with a slew of drop kicks and other high-octane offense, was in charge for a good majority of the match. Help from Langston kept it that way. However, a reverse Superplex from Del Rio evened out the match. A series of kicks and a Titl-a-Whirl Sideslam later and Del Rio was then in the driver’s seat. Ziggler fought back with a neckbreaker, but Del Rio was a step ahead. After he took care of Langston, Del Rio got the win via submission. After the match, Langston hit Del Rio with his finisher and Ziggler nearly cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase. Luckily for Del Rio, Rodriguez stole the briefcase and ran away. Although Rodriguez dropped it at the entry ramp, it gave Del Rio enough time to recover and make Ziggler decide to hold on to his title shot.

Primo, Epico and Rosa Mendez vs. Tensai, Brodus Clay and Naomi w/Cameron: Naomi had a few nice spots against Mendez, but Clay ultimately got the quick win with the splash.

WWE Tag Team Champion Daniel Bryan vs. Jack Swagger w/Zeb Colter: A solid back and forth encounter with two more than solid workers. The near-falls set the match apart for the rest of the card. Even though the match ran a bit long, there was plenty of action. Bryan looked like he had the upper hand, but Swagger escaped the No Lock and worked on Bryan’s knee. After a Chop Block, Swagger grabbed Bryan by the ankle and won via submission courtesy of the Patriot Lock.

Chris Jericho, Sheamus and Ryback vs. Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins: Another solid match filled with tons of offense. The Shield sold a ton in the early going, as Jericho and company poured on the moves. But with a series of competent tag and double teams, The Shield fought back. That all changed once Ryback got in the ring. Like last night however, a Reigns spear changed the momentum. Jericho nearly had the match won when he had Ambrose dead to rights in the Walls of Jericho, but a Rollins flying knee put Jericho out and allowed Ambrose to get the pin.

Kofi Kingston vs. Damien Sandow: This match never started as Sandow brutalized Kingston before the bell rang. Luckily for Kingston, his former tag team partner, R-Truth hit the ring and nailed Sandow with the Axe Kick.

Randy Orton vs. WWE Tag Team Champion Kane: Several near-falls and plenty of signature offense. Nevertheless, this was a snoozer. Both of these guys are over and deserve to be on the show. But the way this match was put together was a joke. And since it meant nothing, it was simply a way to kill some time before The Rock’s “Championship Celebration.” It was far from terrible, but with no storyline to make it mean something, this was a routine encounter. Just when it appeared Kane was ready to hit the Chokeslam, Daniel Bryan hit the ring and caused the distraction Orton needed for the RKO and the win.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14230 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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