WWE RAW Coverage: Hogan Back, Taker Makes His Presence Felt

Wrestlemania season has begun.

Between the beginning rants of WWE World Heavyweight Champion Randy Orton, The Wyatt Family’s decimation of John Cena and the last-minute shocker of The Undertaker and Brock Lesnar- and the image of “The Beast” going through a table via Taker Chokeslam, things got real, real- real fast.

Add in the developing Daniel Bryan/Triple H angle and you had a great episode of RAW that wasn’t hindered by the constant promotion of the WWE Network either.

Matches:

Alberto Del Rio vs. Batista: Del Rio stayed in the match with his patented kicks, but Batista is one tough cookie. Del Rio worked on Batista’s arm and eventually weakened it enough to mount some significant offense. After a botched kick to the head from Del Rio, Batista hit the Spinebuster. Ready to finish off the Mexican aristocrat with the Batista Bomb, Batista was caught off guard when Randy Orton’s music hit, allowing Del Rio to win via Rollup.

After the match, Orton talked a bit to start the sell for their Wrestlemania match.

Intercontinental Champion Big E. Langston vs. Antonio Cesaro w/Jack Swagger and Zeb Colter: This was power vs. power. Both competitors traded strikes and signature maneuvers for the majority of the match. While Langston’s strikes and grapples were effective, Cesaro stole the show with much more polish, speed and effectiveness. When Langston went for the Big Ending, Cesaro countered with the Launching European Uppercut, but couldn’t hit the Cesaro Swing. Langston countered with a swinging Urinage Suplex, but he couldn’t keep Cesaro down. On the outside, Swagger got involved and although Langston handled him with ease, when he got back in, he got caught in the Swing. But before Cesaro could finish him off, Swagger jumped back in the ring and applied the Patriot Lock, which got the match thrown out. After the bell, Cesaro nailed Langston with the Neutralizer.

Christian vs. Sheamus: A hard-hitting match where Sheamus surprised with a Dragon Sleeper at one point in the match and some high-flying action at another. Christian’s new attitude was intriguing to watch as well. Pissed off at the world, Christian’s new strike-heavy, heel-oriented offense is a welcomed change. Christian nearly won when he countered the White Noise into a Sunset Flip, but Sheamus continued to lay on the offense. Although Christian had some more fight in him and countered the Brogue Kick once, Sheamus connected the second time for the win.

Daniel Bryan vs. Kane: Bryan was in control for most of the match with a variety of submissions and strikes. While Kane fought back with some of his trademark offense, Bryan was never in any serious trouble, even when Kane was dishing out punishment on the outside. After a Sideslam and a Chokeslam, it looked like Kane had the upper-hand, but soon enough, Bryan launched an offensive and won with the Double-Knee.

After the bell, Bryan once again challenged Triple H for a match at Wrestlemania XXX.

Emma w/Santino Marella vs. Summer Rae w/Fandango: A wacky match that ended after Emma countered a Spinning Side Kick into a nifty Float-over Mexican Deathlock submission for the win.

WWE Tag Team Champions The Road Dogg and Billy Gunn vs. Jimmy and Jey Uso: The Usos destroyed the New Age Outlaws in record time in the non-title match. Interrupting the Outlaws during their signature entrance rant, the Usos hit their signature splashes for the quick win.

Bray Wyatt vs. Roman Reigns: A great match until the rest of The Shield and The Wyatt Family joined the party and got the match thrown out

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 13819 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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