WWE RAW Coverage: Sleep Inducing

This week’s episode of RAW dragged worse than a game of backgammon with your grandmother on a rainy day. Predictable drama ruined the quality matches and made the episode more a tease for Money in the Bank than anything entertaining.

It all started to crash in the beginning.

The opening promo for this week’s RAW started off well with Daniel Bryan, but after a few minutes, Bryan was joined by Randy Orton, Sheamus, Kane, Christian and CM Punk. It ran entirely too long and did nothing but tease the Money in the Bank ladder match. With two weeks before the pay per view, something like this was needed, but the segment’s execution was predictable and far from exciting.

Things didn’t get better as the WWE and World title montages and filler segments took away from matches that were far from stale.

Matches:

United States Champion Dean Ambrose and Tag Team Champions Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns vs. Christian, Jimmy Uso and Jey Uso: The Usos and Christian had the fans buzzing after a few nice spots, but The Shield got back in the match with their signature quick tags and heel tactics. The momentum changed after a massive Super Kick from Jey on Ambrose and soon enough, Christian got the hot tag. Captain Charisma then pandered to the crowd and hit some of his signature offense. Ambrose was able to set the distraction, but Christian nearly won the with Reverse DDT. After some more fisticuffs in and around the ring, Rollins hit Christian after Ambrose countered the Killswitch, giving the United States Champion room to hit the old-school rollup for the win.

Dolph Ziggler vs. Jinder Mahal w/Heath Slater and Drew MacIntyre: Mahal was ironically in control in the early going, landing a nice chunk of strikes. Ziggler’s signature Dropkick changed the match. Less than a minute later, Ziggler hit the Zig-Zag out of nowhere for the win. After the match, he single-handedly beat 3MB and even hit MacIntyre with the Zig-Zag on the outside.

Kane vs. Randy Orton w/Daniel Bryan special guest referee: There was plenty of back and forth action in what was ultimately a solid match before Bryan’s antics. Orton got DQed after he shoved Bryan, but the referee restarted the match right after he raised Kane’s hand. Once the match restarted, the two traded blows again. Once Orton was ready to go for the RKO, Bryan allowed Kane to hit the Big Boot for the win, thanks in part to a fast count. Orton RKOed Bryan after the match.

Fandango w/Summer Rae vs. Sheamus: This match was better than you might have originally thought. Well, before the crap finish. Fueled by stiff strikes, a long-term feud between these two might not be that bad an idea. After Sheamus turned up the strikes, Fandango decided to leave the match was counted out.

The Miz vs. Ryback: Miz did everything he could to back Ryback look formidable. Stiff and fierce, Ryback destroyed The Miz in the early going. Ironically, the former WWE Champion came back with a vengeance. After he hit some of his signature offense and worked on Ryback’s legs long enough, “Cryback” asked for the match to be stopped. After the match was over, Chris Jericho nailed Ryback with the Codebreaker.

CM Punk and Curtis Axel w/Paul Heyman vs. Darren Young and Titus O’Neill: Axel didn’t want to tag Punk in early and he didn’t have to. With a slew of Clotheslines and other maneuvers, Axel was solid. O’Neill changed the momentum though and worked over Axel thanks to strikes and double-team maneuvers. Once Punk got the hot tag, it was all signature offense. After Punk hit the GTS, Axel tagged himself back in and stole the win.

Alicia Foxx vs. Kaitlyn w/Layla: Kaitlyn destroyed the former Divas Champion with the Spear. After the match, AJ Lee and Big E. Langston talked smack.

Cody Rhodes w/Damien Sandow vs. Antonio Cesaro w/Zeb Colter and Jack Swagger: Cesaro reversed the backslide into the Neutralizer in what was a rather quick match.

WWE Champion John Cena vs. World Heavyweight Champion Alberto Del Rio: A plethora of near-falls and signature offense in this closely contested Main Event. Del Rio had the upper hand for most of the encounter, but Cena was ever resilient and quick to counter. Del Rio nearly won the match with a top rope enziguri, but again, Cena wasn’t done yet. Even the distraction of Mark Henry didn’t stop Cena. But an appearance from Ziggler on the top rope got into Del Rio’s head and allowed Cena to hit the AA for the win. After the match, Henry placed the WWE title in the center of the ring and dared Cena to pick it up.