WWE RAW Coverage: New Tag Team Champs, Little Else

Triple H got knocked out by The Big Show last week in a move that provided RAW’s only relatively cool moment. This week, HHH made sure the WWE Universe knew he was far from out of the game.

“You want me to be the bad guy? Well, I’ll be the bad guy. But I’ll give you something you’ve never seen before,” Triple H exclaimed.

Intense as ever, HHH and Stephanie McMahon were in top form as heels this week, once again making life difficult for Bryan and his fiancée, Brie Bella.

At this point, you have to wonder how long Bryan’s character can take the belittling before they don’t take him seriously anymore.

Aside from those developments, RAW was rather slow-paced and predictable until a fun main event that crowned new Tag Team Champions. The huge card could have been promising, but most of the matches were run of the mill. With just two weeks to go before Hell in a Cell, the WWE needs a big show next week, no pun intended, to save one of their more popular pay-per-views.

Matches:

Randy Orton vs. The Miz: Orton was in trouble early after Miz attacked him during his little verbal exchange with Shawn Michaels to start the show. The two went on to trade signature offense in a relatively tame and routine opening match that did little to get the crowd going. After a Double Axe Handle from the top, Miz couldn’t hit the Skull-Crushing Finale, but went for the Figure-Four instead. When it appeared Miz was ready to lock in the maneuver, The Wyatt Family distracted Miz and allowed Orton to hit the RKO.

Fandango w/Summer Rae vs. Santino Marella: Another routine match that saw both competitors go through their usual maneuvers. Marella went for the Cobra, but missed and nearly hit Summer Rae. When Marella stopped himself from hitting the valet, Fandango rolled him up for the win.

Los Matadores vs. Heath Slater and Drew MacIntyre w/Jinder Mahal: Standard tag match. Los Matadores won with their Double Shellshock maneuver. After the match, with the help of their bull mascot, they delivered the move on Mahal.

Beat the Clock: R-Truth vs. Ryback w/Paul Heyman: Ryback needed to set the pace with a win in order to pick the stipulation for his match with CM Punk at Hell in a Cell. Truth was hilarious running around the ring in the early going. Even though you knew he was going to lose, Truth made it fun and interesting. Ryback won at 5:44 with The Shellshock.

Tensai and Brodus Clay vs. Naomi and Cameron vs. Antonio Cesaro and Jack Swagger w/Zeb Colter: Another standard match that was saved by a wonderful modified Belly–to-Back Suplex from Cesaro on Tensai. Clay nearly won with a Cradle T-Bone Suplex, but Cesaro got the win with a massive Neutralizer on Clay. After the match, Cesaro delivered a shortened version of his trademark Giant Swing on Tensai.

Tamina Snuka w/AJ Lee vs. Brie Bella: Both divas went back and forth, but Snuka ultimately won with a massive Big Boot. After the match, Snuka hit Bella with the Samoan Drop, a Shoulder Breaker and the Super Fly Splash. When the onslaught was over, Lee locked in the Octopus Stretch.

Intercontinental Champion Curtis Axel w/Paul Heyman vs. CM Punk: Match of the night in just five minutes. Axel delivered all of his signature offense, but he couldn’t keep Punk down. “The Best in the World” ultimately won with the GTS and announced that his match with Ryback at Hell in a Cell would take place in the cage and would include Heyman.

World Heavyweight Champion Alberto Del Rio vs. Daniel Bryan: This was another match filled with intensity. Bryan went through his signature offense and Del Rio countered and clawed every chance he could. Just when Bryan got cooking, Orton went on the Titantron and said he was going to see if his fiancée, Brie Bella, was okay. Del Rio nearly won with the rollup, but Bryan answered back with a kick to the face and walked out on the match to fend off Orton.

No DQ: Cody Rhodes and Goldust vs. WWE Tag Team Champions Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins w/United States Champion Dean Ambrose: The action was fast and frenetic and saw a plethora of offense and counters. After 15 minutes of action, Ambrose got involved, but Goldust fought back with the steel chair. Rollins took out Rhodes with a Powerbomb on the railing, but Goldust was held his own until Ambrose got involved again. This allowed Reigns to Spear Goldust through the time keeper’s area. With The Shield about to retain, The Big Show interfered and took out Rollins and Ambrose and delivered the WMD to Reigns. Rhodes then made the cover for the win.\

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14263 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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