After newly-crowned World Heavyweight Champion John Cena shot some smack to start the show, Money in the Bank winner Damien Sandow cut some solid promo of his own before he went on the warpath and decided to cash in his title contract. This may go down as one of the best performances of Damien Sandow’s career.
This was obviously an excellent start to a RAW program that desperately needed an unpredictable start.
After the torrid opener, a solid six-man tag and plenty of other drama involving Shawn Michaels, The Wyatt Family, Randy Orton and Daniel Bryan, as well as an entertaining CM Punk/Ryback bout made sure RAW was anything but a snoozer.
The Big Show’s appearance (and fist to Orton’s face) during the last segment was like a cherry on a sundae of a show.
Why can’t this show be like this every week?
Matches:
World Heavyweight Champion John Cena vs. Damien Sandow: The WWE’s “Intellectual Savior†had one of his best matches ever, but plenty of that had to do with Cena. After he delivered the AA on Sandow early, he tried to follow it up with a one-arm STF, but Sandow managed to stay in the match with a Neckbreaker. After Sandow applied the Full-Nelson, Cena countered into a Cutter Variation. After some more offense, Sandow locked in the STF, but Cena powered out. Sandow then hit his Full Nelson Urinage variation, but Cena kicked out. After Cena missed a Top Rope Splash, Sandow went for the Piledriver, but Cena Countered into the AA and earned the win.
United States Heavyweight Champion Dean Ambrose w/Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns vs. Big E. Langston: The match looked to be a solid one early one until Roman Reigns got involved and the match got thrown out. The Usos quickly came to Langston’s aid and the match was then made a six-man tag.
Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins and WWE United States Champion Dean Ambrose vs. Big E. Langston and Jimmy and Jey Uso: After Ambrose and Langston took themselves out of the fight, this was more of a tag match, but it was still a damn good one. Although the Uso’s were athletic as always, Reigns got the pinball after a double Spear.
Los Matadores vs. Heath Slater, Drew MacIntyre and Jinder Mahal: A quick encounter that saw the Matadore’s bull valet distract MacIntyre, who walked right into the team’s Double Shellshock finisher.
AJ Lee and Tamina Snuka vs. Nikki and Brie Bella: Snuka put Nikki away with the Samoan Drop and Lee finished her off with her Octopus Stretch variation. Overall, not a bad match that at least continues to build a storyline- quite different from the usual fluff the Divas do on RAW.
Kane vs. The Miz: Kane won with a quick Chokeslam. After the match, Kane called out Stephanie McMahon and told her that he’d gladly do what’s best for business.
Street Fight: Ryback vs. CM Punk: A tough match that saw Punk earn the victory after a Elbow Drop through a table and the Anaconda Vice. After the match The Wyatt Family took Punk out.
WWE Tag Team Champions Cody Rhodes and Goldust vs. Antonio Cesaro and Jack Swagger w/Zeb Colter: An Entertaining tag team bout, all four competitors had significant time in the ring to strut their stuff. Goldust was front and center in most of the action and was well-received by the fans throughout. The end of the match got a little furry as all four competitors were in the ring before Swagger forced Goldust to tap with the Patriot Lock.
Summer Rae w/ Fandango vs. Nattie Neidhart w/ The Great Khali and Hornswoggle: Rae used her legs and several unique submissions to keep Neidhart on the ground throughout the match. Interference from Hornswoggle distracted Summer Rae and soon enough, Neidhart locked in the Sharpshooter for the submission win.
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