WWE RAW Coverage: The Beast is Back, Bryan Joins the Family

Triple H sure does take his “best for business” persona seriously.

Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman are back in the WWE and- with the COO’s blessing.

“This isn’t about me, it’s about my client,” Heyman said on RAW this week. “Why is Brock Lesnar back in the WWE? He’s what’s best for business. My client, Brock Lesnar hereby declares his desires to be WWE World Heavyweight Champion.”

Pretty straightforward, eh?

In other news, Daniel Bryan is the newest member of Bray Wyatt’s Family. Even though the segment dragged on far too long, it’ll be interesting where Bryan and the Wyatt’s go from here.

John Cena will also take on WWE Champion Randy Orton at Royal Rumble- a return match from TLC that doesn’t do much to spice up the WWE title scene. The fact that Lesnar will get a title shot after Royal Rumble however, does.

The quality matches, surprise return of Lesnar and Bryan’s heel turn made sure this episode of RAW was an entertaining one. With Batista’s return in a few weeks as well, the WWE has an opportunity to really spice things up.

Matches:

CM Punk vs. Seth Rollins w/Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose: An interesting match that saw Punk use a unique Tarantula-variation of the Anaconda Vice early on. Away from the usual moves and strikes from both competitors, there was a lack of overall polish and tightness in counters and transitional maneuvers in the beginning. Regardless, it was a more than solid opener that got better as it went along. Rollins nearly won after a turnbuckle Powerbomb at one point, but Punk was resilient. After Ambrose got involved several times to the distaste of Reigns, Rollins nearly won with a flipping Reverse DDT-a-la Ultimo Dragon. When that couldn’t put Punk away, Rollins indadvertedly took out his teammates and then walked into a GTS for a Punk win.

Dolph Ziggler vs. Curtis Axel: A decent match with plenty of counters. Although Axel was the aggressor and was dominant most of the match, Ziggler won with a quick Zig-Zag.

WWE Intercontinental Champion Big E. Langston vs. Fandango w/Summer Rae: Langston was all over Fandango, but the dancing heel worked over the big man’s legs. Using smart submissions, strikes and counters, Fandango was able to make this match more than interesting. At one point, Fandango nailed Langston with his Top Rope Leg Drop finisher, but Langston was smart enough to roll to the outside. Langston’s good fortune continued soon thereafter as he was able to hit Fandango with his Signature Splash and finish him off with the Big Ending.

Damien Sandow vs. The Great Khali: Before the match, Sandow said if he lost, he’d quit. Although Khali got in some slaps, Sandow was the clear lead dog in this race. Regardless, this match was a sloppy mess. After Sandow countered a Khali submission, the WWE’s “Intellectual Savior” was able to questionably rollup Khali for the win.

Brodus Clay vs. R-Truth w/ Naomi, Cameron and Xavier Woods: Clay was in control under Woods and the Funkadactylys set the distraction that allowed Truth to hit a diving second rope version of his What’s Up finisher for the win.

10 Divas Tag Match: Kaitlyn, Eva Torrez, Oksana, Alicia Fox, Summer Rae, vs. Eva Marie, Nikki and Brie Bella, Naomi and Cameron: Oksana got the surprising win with her Elbow-Assisted Neckbreaker on Nikki Bella in an otherwise boring divas match.

Daniel Bryan vs. Luke Harper: Bryan and Harper mauled the hell out of each other for 15 mins, trading all of their signature offense, but neither could put the other away. Even Harper’s Top Rope Powerbomb and a nasty Half-Nelson Suplex couldn’t do the trick. Harper eventually got greedy and went for a German Suplex-that Bryan countered into the Running Knee for the win.

Daniel Bryan vs. Erik Rowan: If you thought the last match was physical this one certainly stepped it up. However, despite having the advantage, Rowan got caught looking to Bray Wyatt for instructions and was promptly rolled up by Bryan.

Daniel Bryan vs. Bray Wyatt: This match never got started as Rowan and Harper destroyed Bryan before he could get his hands on Wyatt.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 13821 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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