WWE RAW Coverage: Bryan Stripped, Ambrose and Reigns Ready to Move on Together

It was teased last week, but it’s now a reality- Daniel Bryan has been stripped of the WWE World Heavyweight title and a new champion will be crowned at the Money in the Bank Ladder match.

With no Bryan in the ring for over a month and the continued “retiring” of CM Punk, the WWE World Heavyweight title picture has been lackluster to say the least. Seth Rollins’ departure from The Shield to Evolution, as well as the ongoing Money in the Bank tournament have provided some intrigue, but with no real angle with the main title, RAW has felt lost over the past few weeks.

This week was no different. Between a stale promo from Rollins and an awkward segment between Alicia Fox and Aksana and RAW was lacking in structure and pace.

Matches:

Money in the Bank Qualifier: United States Champion Sheamus vs. Intercontinental Champion Wade Barrett: Both competitors got near-falls with their Signature maneuvers and used strikes to maintain control. After a Tilt-a-Whirl Powerslam, Sheamus missed the Brogue Kick and Barrett, after sending Sheamus to the outside, nearly won with the Wasteland. Going for the Bullhammer Elbow, Barrett instead was hit with the White Noise as the battle continued. After a Head Butt and more strikes, Barrett appeared to have the advantage until Sheamus hit the Brogue Kick out of nowhere for the win.

Alexander Rusev w/Lana vs. Zack Ryder: Another squash match as Rusev hit his Super Kick on Ryder and finished hymn off with The Accolade.

Ryback and Curtis Axel vs. Goldust and R-Truth: Axel got the win with a Rollup on the unsuspecting Goldust, who, up until that point, was dominant.

WWE Tag Team Champions Jimmy and Jey Uso vs. Fandango w/Layla and Damien Sandow: While Sandow provided some comic relief with his dancing routine, The Usos finished him off with a Super Kick and Splashrather quickly.

Xavier Woods vs. Bo Dallas: Woods didn’t put up much of a fight as Dallas won easily with the Running Bo-Dog.

Money in the Bank Qualifier: Cesaro w/Paul Heyman vs. Rob Van Dam: RVD was in control throughout and nearly won with a Split-Legged Moonsault. Cesaro got back in the match with forearms and a European Uppercut. With things evened up, RVD hit the Rolling Thunder, but still couldn’t put the Swiss Superman away. After RVD went to the top again for more offense, Cesaro countered and took out his opponents legs. Soon enough, Cesaro hit the Neutralizer for the win.

Divas Champion Paige vs. Alicia Fox w/ Aksana: Very similar to their other matches, Paige bumped and sold the entire match before a flurry of strikes and the PTO gave her the submission victory. After the match, Fox beat on Aksana and pelted her with water and popcorn. Weird.

Jack Swagger w/Zeb Colter vs. Santino Marella: Swagger made short work of Marella with the Diving Powerbomb.

Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper and Erick Rowan vs. Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose and John Cena: Reigns and Ambrose sold for most of the match until Cena got the hot tag and went on his usual flurry. After taking out Harper and Wyatt, Cena got caught with a Shoulder Block by Rowan and then a few moves and strikes by Wyatt and eventually Harper, who nearly won with a modified TKO Neckbreaker and a Michinoku Driver. Soon Rowan was in the match again and he wasted no time with strikes a Fallaway Slam before Wyatt came back in and continued the onslaught. Just like Ambrose before him, Cena eventually made the tag to Reigns and that changed the flow of the match. Hitting signature moves while Ambrose fought on the outside, Reigns nearly won with a version of the Blue Thunder. After Wyatt hit the Sister Abigail on Cena, Reigns hit the Superman Punch on Wyatt and then managed to kick out from a massive boot from Harper. After another exchange, Reigns won with the Spear.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14230 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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