WWE RAW Coverage: A Big Show

Much like last week’s RAW, this episode featured a beefy card with more in-ring action than filler promo and pandering. Simply put, while there wasn’t a hugely entertaining moment in particular, the show had a solid pace and plenty of offense.

Even the drama between Stephanie McMahon/Triple H and Big Show was enjoyable. For the first time in a while, all the flavors simmered to a perfect boil.

With Survivor Series around the corner and plenty of competition in each title division, there’s plenty of potential for the WWE to deliver a great show.

Matches:

CM Punk vs. Luke Harper w/ Erik Rowan and Bray Wyatt: This was Harper’s moment. This guy is shades of Bruiser Brody and looked perfectly comfortable with a strike-heavy offense against the former WWE Champion Punk. At one point, Harper was in such control of the match that it was almost impossible not in be in awe of his awkward, Gator Roll-infused attack. Punk made a typical face comeback with a Tornado DDT, strikes and a sloppy Neckbreaker later in the match. However, Punk decided to take out Rowan on the outside than finish off Harper and later walked right into a huge Boot from Harper. Luckily for him, Punk countered Harper’s Discus Lariat and rolled him up for the win. After the match, Rowan got in the ring quick and the onslaught from The Family began. When Wyatt was about to finish off Punk, Daniel Bryan made the save with a steel chair.

Ryback vs. The Great Khali w/Santino Marella and Hornswoggle: Khali got a lot more offense in than you might have expected. Khali missed the Brain Chop though and in a flash, beat him with a Meathook Clothesline. After the match, Santino and Ryback mixed it up.

Kofi Kingston vs. Alberto Del Rio: This was an athletic bout between two great workers. Del Rio was aggressive with strikes, while Kingston looked to hit the big spots. Every time Kingston got back in the match, Del Rio hit a big kick or high impact maneuver (Tilt-a-Whirl Backbreaker) to keep the advantage. When Kingston went for the SOS, Del Rio countered into the Arm Breaker for the submission win.

WWE Champion Randy Orton vs. Big E. Langston: The muscular youngster had some success against Orton early on with a variety of strikes and Shoulder Blocks. On several occasions, it appeared Langston might get the win. When Langston went for the Big Ending, the crowd went wild, but Orton countered with a RKO and the win.

Fandango and Summer Rae vs. Natalya Neidhart and Tyson Kidd: An interesting tag team match that had a decent pace regardless of who was in the ring. Kidd got the win with The Sharpshooter.

World Heavyweight Champion John Cena and WWE Tag Team Champions Cody Rhodes and Goldust vs. Damien Sandow, Jack Swagger and Antonio Cesaro w/Zeb Colter: Although there were a few other matches after this, this was indeed the main event. Goldust beat Cesaro with the Final Cut to earn the win in a TNA-styled six-man tag that saw a bevy of offense.

Intercontinental Champion Curtis Axel vs. Dolph Ziggler: Axel may have found his equal this week after Ziggler got the win in the non-title match via the Zig-Zag. At this point, how long can Axel hold on to the title?

Jimmy and Jey Uso vs. Heath Slater and Drew MacIntyre w/Jinder Mahal: A quick match that saw the Usos get the win after the Top-Rope Splash.

Nikki and Brie Bella and Eva Marie vs. Divas Champion AJ Lee, Tamina Snuka and Aksana: Eva Marie got the win with a rollup on Snuka in an otherwise wasteful Divas encounter.

The Big Show vs. WWE Champion Randy Orton and United States Heavyweight Champion Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns: Show put up a “big” fight indeed, but the ring steps and a Powerbomb through the announce table, combined with the tenacity of Orton and the Shield was too much. Although the match was thrown out, it served a purpose for The Corporation. Welcome back, Show.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14229 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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