The first hour and 15 minutes of this week’s Monday Night Raw featured just two matches and a heck of a lot of storyline.
But damn was it good, well except for the ending. While the thought of a Stephanie McMahon/Brie Bella match at Summerslam is cool, it shouldn’t have closed out the show.
It all started early. WWE Champion John Cena’s promo to begin the show sets the scene for an epic war between him and Brock Lesnar, while Cesaro’s fortitude puts him in a prime situation to challenge for the Intercontinental title.
With all of the promo out of the way, the last half of RAW was all about wrasslin’ and just like the first part of the show, the in-ring work was solid too.
Add in the return of the devious and destructive Randy Orton and there’s plenty going on creatively in the WWE right now.
Make no mistake, Summerslam is going to have a stacked card and with two more weeks of RAW to go, there’s plenty of time to build up the hype.
Matches:
Antonio Cesaro vs. WWE World Heavyweight Champion John Cena: In a rare technical showcase from Cena, the Champion held his own with the much more technically-polished Cesaro. Although Cesaro was the aggressor, showcasing his ring-savvy and strength, Cena was just as solid, reversing the Swing and Powerbombing Cesaro with relative ease. Cesaro fought back with his Swing and a new Ankle submission finisher, but Cena fought back with the Five-Knuckle Shuffle. After Cesaro countered the Attitude Adjustment into his European Uppercut, Cena kicked out and the match continued. Cena then countered the Neutralizer and the two traded Boots before Cena hit the Attitude Adjustment from the top rope for the win.
Intercontinental Champion The Miz, Ryback and Curtis Axel vs. Dolph Ziggler, and WWE Tag Team Champion Jimmy and Jey Uso: Mainly filler as this bout served mainly as a prelude for the upcoming Miz/Ziggler battle and with Xavier Woods, Kofi Kingston and Big E. Langston ringside, a possible match for the Tag Team titles. After the Usos and The Miz and Axel cancelled themselves out on the outside, Ziggler got the win with the Zig-Zag on Ryback.
R-Truth vs. Bo Dallas: Whoa. Dallas got rolled up by Truth in under a minute after the rookie ran around the ring in celebration right after the bell. After the match however, Dallas beat on Truth and hit him with the Double Arm DDT.
Adam Rose vs. Damien Sandow: Rose won with the Party Foul in less than 15 seconds.
Roman Reigns vs. Kane: This quickly got thrown out and turned into a brawl after Randy or ton interfered. After Kane hit Reigns with a Chokeslam, Orton beat on Reigns on the inside and outside, finishing him off the DDT off the barricade and two RKOs on the announce table.
Fandango vs. Diego w/El Torito, Summer Rae and Layla: Distractions from Layla, Summer Rae and El Torito allowed Diego to stack up Fandango with the Sunset Flip for the win.
Natalya Neidhart and Naomi Knight vs. Alicia Fox and Cameron: Fox almost got the in with the Scissors Kick, but Cameron wanted the tag. Although the bumbling Cameron got in a few moves, Naomi got the win with a modified Koji Clutch/Leg Scissors combination.
Seth Rollins vs. Chris Jericho:Â A solid back and forth with plenty of athletic counters and strikes. In need of a few more matches to break off some ring rust, Jericho looked much better than he did against Bray Wyatt at Battleground. But just when it appeared Jericho had Rollins number after the Code-Breaker, Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper and Erick Rowan hit the ring and destroyed the former Undisputed Heavyweight Champion.
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