WWE RAW Coverage: The Beard is Here

“John Cena is an entertainer and Daniel Bryan is a wrestler.”- Daniel Bryan

Bryan’s “makeover” this week on RAW proved that he isn’t- and never will be John Cena. In the middle of the biggest push of his professional career, Bryan’s stock has never been higher. Bryan’s refusal to shave his beard and the McMahon/Triple H participation in his feud with Cena could spell tremendously intriguing things moving forward.

Away from the main angle, the show was decent, regardless of a plethora of throwaway matches and filler. With one more episode before Summerslam, there’s plenty of room for the intensity to grow.

Matches:

Rob Van Dam vs. World Heavyweight Champion Alberto Del Rio w/Ricardo Rodriguez: A solid opening match that was back and forth for the first few minutes. RVD nearly won with the Rolling Thunder, but after a Split-Legged Moonsault and botched interference from Rodriguez, RVD earned the win. After the match, Del Rio destroyed Rodriguez with a variety of kicks on the inside and outside.

Mark Henry vs. Ryback: As soon as Henry got the upper-hand, Ryback walked out of the ring to earn Henry the count-out victory.

Tensai and Brodus Clay w/Naomi and Cameron vs. The Buzzards, Luke Harper and Erick Rowan w/Bray Wyatt: Rowan won with a short Frog Splash in a match that lasted less than two minutes. After the match, Wyatt destroyed Clay with the Knox-out. Kane’s appearance later set up an inferno match between himself and Bray Wyatt at Summerslam.

Kaitlyn vs. Layla: Kaitlyn was on fire in the early going, but Layla fought back with a nice DDT. Kaitlyn appeared seconds from a win after a slew of strikes and a elevated Gutbuster, but AJ Lee’s interference allowed Layla to hit the Standing Sidekick for the win.

Christian vs. Heath Slater w/ Drew MacIntyre and Jinder Mahal: Despite interference from 3MB, Christian had little trouble with Slater. After a Missile Dropkick and other signature offense, Christian hit the Spear for the win.

CM Punk vs. Intercontinental Champion Curtis Axel w/Paul Heyman: Interference from Heyman kept things interesting in an otherwise routine match. Axel nearly won with his signature Neckbreaker, but Punk was vigilant as always. After Punk took care of Axel, he went after Heyman, which got the match thrown out. With the encounter over, Brock Lesnar hit the ring, but Punk hit Axel with the GTS and was taking care of Lesnar until “The Beast” caught Punk with a massive Belly-to-Belly Suplex on the outside. Once back in the ring, Punk fought back with the steel chair, but Lesnar ultimately nailed the F-5.

Fandango w/Summer Rae vs. Kofi Kingston: Fandango had a few nice spots, but the returning Kingston won with The Trouble in Paradise.

Jimmy and Jey Uso vs. Jack Swagger and Antonio Cesaro w/Zeb Colter: The Uso’s were flying around, but Cesaro won with the Neutralizer.

Dolph Ziggler vs. Big E. Langston: Interference from the AJ Lee/Kaitlyn cat-fight allowed Langston to hit The Big Ending and earn a surprise win over Ziggler.

Six-Man Tag: Daniel Bryan, Randy Orton and WWE Champion John Cena vs. United States Champion Dean Ambrose and WWE Tag Team Champions Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns: Bryan was in the ring virtually the entire match and nearly won with the Yes Lock until the rest of the Shield interfered. Orton almost cashed in his Money in the Bank opportunity, but changed his mind when the Shield beat on Bryan and Cena and wouldn’t let him back in the ring.

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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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