This was a hard RAW to watch. While the appearance of a plethora of former WWE legends for Old School RAW was a fun experience, watching Daniel Bryan as a member of the Wyatt Family was almost pitiful. It just doesn’t fit-it doesn’t feel right. Listening to fans cheer him anyway simply proves he’s a better face- even if that means he’ll never really be the best one in the company. Looking back, it appears the WWE dropped the ball big time at Summerslam, when Bryan, more over than any superstar has been in years, was screwed for the WWE Title.
Now, with new angles developing and Randy Orton with both titles, Bryan is left with no momentum and the slowly receding love of fans. It’s not enough. Watching Bryan’s match this week was sad. It’s not fair that a guy that’s worked so hard no has this garbage angle to work with. He deserves better. Although the thought of Bray Wyatt and Bryan Tagging is cool, can it save this angle before it even gets started?
Luckily, Roman Reigns/ match with CM Punk and Batista’s entry into the Royal Rumble made for some much-needed drama. The same thing goes for Brock Lesnar’s “breaking†of Mark Henry’s arm and eventual confrontation with The Big Show. That was the cool stuff.
Without those events and the awesome closer with a healthy Jake Roberts, this week’s RAW would have just been a nostalgia fest. Instead it was a decent episode that continues to fuel the idea that WWE creative has failed to deliver with some of their most talented performers.
Matches:
Daniel Bryan, Luke Harper and Erick Rowan w/Bray Wyatt vs. Jimmy and Jey Uso and Rey Mysterio: The Usos and Mysterio were on the same page throughout the match, while Bryan and large tag team were consistently tagging each other out. The last communication problem allowed Mysterio to hit the 619 and eventually saw one of the Uso’s sneak in a Rollup for the win.
Intercontinental Champion Big E. Langston vs. Curtis Axel: Langston destroyed Axel with the Big Ending in a matter of minutes. Simply put, he’s quickly becoming one of the best young stars in the company today.
Sin Cara vs. Alberto Del Rio: After a few losses to Sin Cara, Del Rio won rather quickly with a nasty kick to the jaw.
WWE Tag Team Champions Goldust and Cody Rhodes vs. Antonio Cesaro and Jack Swagger w/Zeb Colter: Once again the Tag Team Champs deliver one of the best matches of the night. At one point, it appeared Swagger had the match won with the Patriot Lock, but Goldust got involved. After a slew of offense including a Powerslam and Top Rope Splash, Goldust won with Suplex-Cutter variation.
The Great Khali w/Ranjin Singh vs. Damien Sandow w/ Sgt. Slaughter as Special Guest Referee: Khali won with the Brain Chop, but Sandow’s leg was on rope the entire pinfall. After the match, Slaughter and Sandow argued and Slaughter ended with quarrel with the Cobra Clutch.
Nikki and Brie Bella vs. Oksana and Alicia Foxx: A quick match that saw Brie miss a Missile Dropkick and Oksana make the swift counter pin for the win.
Heath Slater, Drew MacIntyre and Jinder Mahal vs. Rikishi, Grand Master Sexay and Scotty 2 Hotty: A fun, yet competitive tag match. Highlights included some vicious kicks from MacIntyre and a Worm from Hotty. Sexay hit Mahal with the Hip Hop Drop and Rikishi finished him off with the Short Standing Bonzai Drop.
Roman Reigns w/Seth Rollins and United States Champion Dean Ambrose vs. CM Punk w/Road Dogg and Billy Gunn: Reigns was all over Punk thanks to a variety of strikes and suplexes. Punk often battled back, but Reigns had an answer for much of Punk’s offense. After a missed Superman Punch, Reigns was left open however and that’s when Punk went to work, using a slew of signature offense. After the rest of The Shield got involved, Punk nearly lost after a Reigns Superman Punch. Reigns sealed it later after a Spear and interference from Ambrose. After the match was over, it appeared The Shield was going to Triple Powerbomb Punk, but the New Age Outlaws and Jake “The Snake†Roberts came to help out “The Best in the World.â€
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