WWE RAW Coverage: Three-Times Yes and a Thumb to the Eye

An excellent card, a crazy segment from Paul Heyman, Curtis Axel and CM Punk and stellar promo from AJ Lee set the scene for a more than solid episode of RAW this week, but another fantastic night from Daniel Bryan stole the show.

Even without the WWE Championship around his waist, Bryan is the most over competitor in the company today.

His performance was the “soul” reason why this episode of RAW was memorable.

Matches:

Cody Rhodes vs. Fandango w/Summer Rae: Rhodes won via Rollup after The Miz came out and began dancing [With Rosa Mendes] on the entrance ramp. After the bell, Damien Sandow joined the party as well. RAW GM Brad Maddox soon interjected himself and made the four competitors engage in a Tag-Team bout.

Cody Rhodes and The Miz w/Rosa Mendes vs. Damien Sandow and Fandango w/Summer Rae: After Rhodes had limited success, Miz got the hot tag and took care of Fandango and Sandow with his signature offense. After Fandango left the match, Miz pinned Sandow with the Skull Crushing Finale

CM Punk vs. Intercontinental Champion Curtis Axel w/Paul Heyman: The pre-match stipulation was a Punk victory would allow the former WWE Champion to square-off with his former manager. Axel had one of the best matches of his career as he hung in with Punk every stop of the way. After after Axel missed his signature Neckbreaker, Punk went on a tear, but Axel eventually hit the move. Punk couldn’t be pinned however and in two shakes of a lamb’s tale, Punk hit the GTS for the win.

After the bell, WWE refs and security made sure Heyman made his way to the ring. But Punk would not earn his redemption on this night, as Axel interfered and handcuffed Punk. This allowed Heyman to slap him around before Punk landed a few kicks. Naturally, Axel finished off Punk with a chair. Axel then went for the kendo stick, which Heyman took it and used on Punk several times. The beating was easily one of the most graphic in recent WWE history.

Natalia Neidhart w/Naomi and Cameron vs. Brie Bella w/Nikki Bella and Eva Marie: Neidhart got her Sharpshooter foiled by interference as Brie Bella won with the X-Factor. After the match, AJ Lee hit the ramp and cut a promo on Total Divas and the entire division. The fans dug it. “I have saved the Divas Division,” she said. She wasn’t lying either.

World Champion Alberto Del Rio vs. Rob Van Dam w/Ricardo Rodriguez: RVD wasn’t at his best this week and naturally, sold very little. When Del Rio got rolling and was about to set up RVD for the Arm-Bar, Rodriguez was able to distract Del Rio enough to allow RVD to win with the Leg-scissors/Rollup.

WWE Champion Randy Orton vs. Christian: Orton was in control for most of the match. Christian attempted the face comeback with some signature offense (Top Rope Splash, Tornado DDT) that got the crowd going, but Orton kicked out of The Spear and after a thumb to the eye, Orton won with the RKO.

After the match, Bryan cut a promo and showed Orton’ s newly acquired Escalade, defiled in graffiti. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know what three-letter word was stamped all over the car.

Titus O’Neil w/Darren Young vs. Jack Swagger w/Antonio Cesaro and Zeb Colter: Before the match, Colter insinuated that Young and O’Neil’s mothers were on welfare. That was the highlight of the encounter. O’Neil won with the standup Double-Handed Spinebuster.

Daniel Bryan vs. Seth Rollins: Bryan dominated early with a plethora of submission maneuvers and an awesome Suicide Dive. Rollins had a few moments of offense, including a sweet Reverse Suplex/DDT variation, but Bryan fought back with a wonderful release German Suplex from the top rope. Bryan then won with the Shining Wizard.

Daniel Bryan vs. United States Champion Dean Ambrose: Bryan locked in the Yes Lock, but Reigns interfered to earn Bryan the DQ win.

Daniel Bryan vs. Roman Reigns: Bryan locked Reigns in the Yes Lock right away, but The Shield interfered and the ref awarded Bryan another DQ win.

After the match, Triple H made his way to the ring, with the entire WWE roster forced to watch Bryan get Triple Powerbombed by The Shield.

Orton then joined Triple H and made his way to the ring. An RKO later and Orton got his revenge on Bryan.

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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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