New World Heavyweight Champion Alberto Del Rio is a heel again, but RAW wasn’t as predictable as you’d think the night after Payback.
A possible encounter between Brock Lesnar and CM Punk was enough to make this episode of RAW one of the best this year.
That, combined with the return of Christian, Antonio Cesaro’s allegiance with Zeb Colter, cool Wyatt Family and Rob Van Dam vignettes and excellent matches and RAW was definitely enjoyable.
The drama started last night at payback with a surprise win for Alberto Del Rio. Just when it appeared Del Rio was getting some traction as a face, the WWE pulled a Vince Russo-esque swerve and has him destroy a weakened Dolph Ziggler for the title.
When Del Rio tried to explain his actions-his apparent sickness with the fans who never “respected him,” CM Punk hit the ring and demanded a match. The interaction between Heyman and Punk during this interaction and afterward was interesting. Rather plainly, Punk said he’d always be a Paul Heyman guy, but he needed to be his own man now and didn’t want Paul E. Dangerously escorting him to the ring anymore.
As quick as Del Rio went heel after five months as a face, Punk is now the good guy once again.
Could this be the beginning of another Punk run at the World Title? Only time will tell. The same thing goes with the continuing power struggles in the McMahon family. It all feels like something big is going to go down soon.
But for now, fans will have to settle for a renewed rivalry between Cena and Mark Henry. In one of the better swerves in recent memory, Henry put himself right in the middle of the WWE title picture. That development alone should be entertaining.
Matches:
Christian vs. Wade Barrett: Christian got a nice pop from the fans, but Barrett was pissed he didn’t get his Intercontinental title rematch with Curtis Axel. After Barrett worked over Christian with strikes, Christian fought back with a nice elbow and a Tornado DDT. After some continued counters, Christian hit the Killswitch for win.
Cody Rhodes and Damien Sandow vs. Sheamus: Sandow and Rhodes are two of the best in-ring talents in the company and while Sheamus is a beast, this match went the way it should have. From the start of the match, The Rhodes Scholars decimated Sheamus with strikes. But in typical WWE fashion, Sheamus made the face comeback and hit a plethora of signature offense on both Sandow and Rhodes. Luckily creative had some common sense left. Sandow rolled up Sheamus (who was readying Rhodes for the Brogue Kick) for the win. After the match, Sheamus hit Rhodes with his finisher anyway.
No DQ: Daniel Bryan vs. Randy Orton: This match lacked the same breakneck pace as some of Bryan’s recent epics, but it was still a good match, thanks to Bryan’s signature offense. Although Orton worked hard, it was Bryan’s spots that made the match memorable. Things got spicy when Orton began to lay into Bryan with a kendo stick on the outside, but once the action got back in the ring, Bryan hit a beautiful Front Dropkick from the top rope. However, Bryan appeared to favoring his ribs and even ignored the advice of ringside doctors. Apparently hurt, Bryan never stopped fighting and Orton never stopped delivering punishment, but the referee stopped the match.
Kane vs. United States Champion Dean Ambrose: The match was thrown out quickly after Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins joined the match and with Ambrose, triple Powerbombed Kane.
Antonio Cesaro w/Zeb Colter vs. William Regal: Cesaro sold a bit for Regal, but was in control for the majority of the match and finished it with the Neutralizer.
Heath Slater w/Jinder Mahal and Drew MacIntyre vs. Chris Jericho: Even with interference from MacIntyre, Jericho won with the Code Breaker. After the match, Mahal and MacIntyre both caught Jericho’s signature hold.
Intercontinental Champion Curtis Axel w/Paul Heyman vs. Sin Cara: Away from a few kicks and small spots from Sin Cara and this encounter was mostly Axel. After he countered the Senton Bomb with his knees, Axel hit a nice DDT variation for the win.
World Heavyweight Champion Alberto Del Rio w/Ricardo Rodriguez vs. CM Punk: Del Rio was on fire with rapid fire kicks in the early moments and was smart enough squirm out of Punk’s signature offense. At the same time, he was fortunate enough to get interference from Rodriguez, which helped in the effort to work on Punk’s arm. But even with the injured arm and Del Rio’s continuing offense, Punk was resilient. After Punk hit the GTS, Del Rio inadvertently fell out of the ring and was counted out.
After the ten-count, Dolph Ziggler, not medically cleared after his loss to Del Rio at Payback then beat on Del Rio and Rodriguez on the ramp. With Punk all alone in the ring, Brock Lesnar then appeared and soon delivered the F-5 on the former WWE Champion.
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