WWE RAW Coverage: YES to Bryan, No to Authority

Daniel Bryan’s announcement that he will be a part of the 2015 Royal Rumble out-shined anything else that happened during this week’s Monday Night RAW.

Even the terribly scripted return of The Authority.

Any other week, this would have been easy for for the former WWE World Heavyweight Champion to steal the show, but with appearances from Edge, Christian, Triple H, Stephanie McMahon, the return of Wade Barrett and the debut of The Ascension, as well as new Tag Team Champions being crowned and emotional promos from Cesaro and Ryback, Bryan still stole the show.

The best worker in the business, Bryan’s announcement ensures that the WWE has an extra star on the roster with Wrestlemania right around the corner. With The Authority back in control as well, thanks to the (melodramatic) actions of Seth Rollins, 2015 already has its share of talking points.

Business just picked up, big time.

Matches:

Intercontinental Champion Dolph Ziggler vs. United States Champion Alexander Rusev w/Lana: Ziggler and Rusev traded signature maneuvers throughout, but Ziggler had the advantage for most of the match thanks to his speed. However, he was unable to get a win with the Super Kick or the Fameasser and wasn’t able to hit the Zig-Zag. After a while, Rusev was able to get an advantage in the corner using strikes and after refusing to stop, the referee was forced to DQ him. After the bell, Rusev latched on the Accolade with Ziggler in-between the ring ropes. Soon enough, Ryback hit the ring and the “Big Guy” hit the Meathook Clothesline to send Rusev outside the ring.

Divas Champion Nikki Bella w/Brie Bella vs. Natalya Neidhart w/Tyson Kidd: After Kidd again found a way to get himself involved, Bella got the win with the Rack Attack.

Jimmy and Jey Uso vs. WWE Tag Team Champions The Miz and Damien Sandow: There were plenty of antics here. but away from it all, the match was solid, with plenty of back and forth action. After Jimmy escaped the Figure-Four and locked in Miz in the Tquila Sunrise, things broke down, but Jimmy nailed Miz with the Splash but Sandow broke it up, Jey then kicked out of the Skull Crushing Finale, but with Sandow taken out with a Super Kick, Jimmy and Jey both nailed Miz with a Super Kick before Jimmy finished him off with the Spash.

Antonio Cesaro vs. Wade Barrett: A very stiff encounter that saw Barrett get the win with the Bullhammer Elbow after he was able to stay in the match after several Cesaro strikes and suplexes.

Jack Swagger vs. Luke Harper: Swagger made sure Harper didn’t have things easy, but “The Nightmare” was able to fight through Swagger’s Chop Block, Belly-to-Belly Suplex and the Patriot Lock before he nailed Swagger with a Super Kick and eventually the Discus Lariat for the win.

Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins w/Jamie Noble and Joey Mercury: This was a long match that was fueled by Reigns’ power and Rollins’ speed. Back and forth they went trading strikes, counters and signature maneuvers. Reigns even added a new note to his song book, an awesome Tilt-a-Whirl Slam and a Belly-to-Back Urinage. Hitting the Superman Punch after he countered the Curb Stomp, Reigns was ready to finish things off until The Big Show, who was sitting ringside providing commentary, interfered and dumped the announce table on top of the young star.

The Miz and Damien Sandow vs. Viktor and Konnor, The Ascension: The Miz left Sandow to the wolves as Konnor and Viktor quickly won with the Fall of Man.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14262 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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