Absolutely loving RAW right now, it's good times for me.
This week's was a cracker for me. Opening the show with Edge was the best way possible to get the fans pumped from the off. Both he and the crowd were wired. The way he then ripped on Orton was great. Orton was meant to be his guest on the Cutting Edge but he said Orton was boring so instead he brought on Daniel Bryan. The crowd were well on Bryan side's as well.
Triple H and Orton obviously got involved by coming on to the top of the ramp. The interaction between Edge and Triple H was F***ing great. It was personal between two legends. Edge saying he didn't have to sleep his way to success, he earned his Hall of Fame ring. Triple H saying Edge never drew a dime. I'd of loved it if at that point Edge said I drew more than your mate Kevin Nash. Edge also questioned Triple H's ability to actually judge talent as Trips said Cena, Jericho, Edge and Daniel Bryan would never amount to anything. 33 World Heavyweight Titles between them suggests otherwise (that includes Bryan's ROH world title by the way)
The segment ended with Triple H saying that he couldn't hurt Edge because of his medical record, he could hurt those Edge loves. And then the Shield bring out a battered Christian.
Fantastic start to the show. Though I don't think it made Orton, Bryan, Night of Champions or the WWE Title anymore important, it was still entertaining - especially the personal jibes thrown by Triple H and Edge.
Then backstage Edge barges into the office of Triple H where the COO, Steph and the Shield are. Edge wants revenge but Trips just runs him down though saying that Toronto is
his town now. He tells Edge to get out
his town and if Edge doesn't go on his own, he can always have him escorted. Unfortunately that was the last we saw of Edge for the night
First match of the night is Kofi against Curtis Axel. Apparently Kofi beat Axel on SmackDown so now we're getting a rematch although there's no added stipulation like the Intercontinental Title being on the line. It was a good match, if maybe a little too short. Kofi won the match via DQ after Curtis wouldn't let him out the corner. And that was the whole point of the match, to show that if this happens at Night of Champions - Punk gets Heyman. Heyman explains this at the end of the match to Axel.
Axel has none of it though and goes back for some more of Kofi and ends up getting a Trouble In Paradise for his troubles. The realisation of this could happen on Sunday is written all over Heyman's face.
Cole explains that Goldust will be fighting Randy Orton tonight and if he wins - Cody gets his job back. We also get a look at Goldust's career.
Backstage Heyman slips on some water, would of loved to actually see it. He then goes to the trainers room but refuses the doc to see to him as he has own personal doc from New York.
Recap of Big Show's antics last week and then a pep talk to him from Booker T in the locker room. Is Booker T some sort of permanent fixture in this whole angle or is he just getting his face back on telly? Either way he's telling Big Show to be professional in tonight's main event where Big Show will be in Daniel Bryan's corner and the tag team champs will be in the corner of Dean Ambrose. (that match was made at the top of the show)
Ziggler, without entrance, faces Bray Wyatt next. Again it was a good match if a little too short to really get into anything. Ziggler could probably make The Great Khali look like the F***ing greatest wrestler ever, he's that good at putting others over. That's what he did for Wyatt. Wyatt, still has the best entrance music in the WWE today. Distraction from Harper and Rowan allows Wyatt to hit a big splash in the corner on Ziggler then hit Sister Abigail (the name of his finisher) for the victory. No words from Bray at the end of the match which was a little disappointing and Ziggler has really fallen from grace given the pop he received when he cashed in his MITB contract the night after WrestleMania to jobbing to Bray Wyatt all within the space of a few short months.
Next is Heyman (with crutches), Axel and Heyman's doctor. Heyman says his doc has examined him and ruled him unfit for competition therefore he has to pull out of his match at Night of Champions. But that ain't gonna happen cos Brad Maddox (who is still F***ing great) comes to the ring with the WWE doc saying that the only way a WWE superstar can be ruled out of a match is with confirmation from WWE's doctor. Heyman agrees to allow the doctor to look at him, doc says that there's F**k all wrong with Heyman - I am surprised
Then Punk's music hits. He storms the ring with a kendo stick, Axel escapes after taking a shot to the ribs, Heyman pegs it as fast as he can through the crowd - bad knee an all. Heyman jumping over the rail was one of the funniest things ever. And then Punk lets loose on Heyman's doctor with the kendo stick.
Up next is a Divas match that let's be honest makes no sense at all. Brie Bella, Natalya and Naomi against Aksana, Alicia Fox and Layla. Now surely Brie, Natalya and Naomi are all rivals yet they're teaming together and after they, naturally, win are stood in the ring raising each other's hands. The best thing about the match was AJ on commentary. She's becoming one of the best personalities in WWE.
She said piss on commentary (how dare she!) to which she was quickly reminded it's a family show
. But her ripping on Jerry Lawler was about as good as anything anybody could of done. She spoke about having the date she became Divas champ tattooed on the back of her neck, Lawler said do you have any other tattoos and then AJ turns round says "I'm 26 Jerry, I think I'm a little too old for you. I know how you like your girls younger". F***ing hell that must of hurt The King. AJ was just speaking naturally that it worked so well.
Fantastic commentary, pointless sh*t match. (Aksana is still fit though) Natalya picked up the victory with the Sharpshooter and is really being pushed as the best of the Divas, which to be fair, she is. I think AJ will steal a victory at Night of Champions and then her and Natalya will have a good feud leading to The Anvil's daughter picking up the title. By the way what happened to AJ and Layla being in cahoots with each other?
Del Rio against R Truth is our next match. And it's another good solid match between two veterans. Truth deserves more than he's got recently. He's the kind of fella who should be the Intercontinental champ and get the occasional shot at the top prizes in things like the Elimination Chamber or MITB matches. Doesn't have to win, just deserves to be involved in bigger matches than he usually gets cos he's a quality wrestler and if he was more prominent then I reckon the "what's up" would catch on much more than it currently is.
Del Rio obviously won but the match was of a very good standard. Hard hitting kick to the side of the head was enough and then the cross arm breaker just to make sure. Good match.
Get a quick update that kick off of Night of Champions will be a five tag team turmoil. The teams will be The Usos, Real Americans, 3MB, Tons of Funk and Prime Time Players. I like that the WWE are giving the tag team division some more air time. They've obviously got the teams to make the division strong so they just need to work it into telly time and storyline. The turmoil match is a good idea. Winners will face the Shield on the actual Night of Champions card - has to be the Prime Time Players doesn't it?
Up next Zeb is in the ring with Cesaro bad mouthing Canada. Swagger was nowhere to be seen, don't know what's up with that. Cesaro's opponent - the returning
Santino Marella The two "Europeans" (Santino was in fact born in Canada) put on a very short, entertaining match. Cesaro twatted him as you could expect, swinging him round the ring for what seemed like an eternity but in an entertaining way. The commentators sold it well too by saying they couldn't believe Cesaro weren't dizzy after it. That flying European uppercut in the corner was something special to. Cesaro is great. But he couldn't put Santino away and eventually Santino got a surprise victory. Zeb falling in the ring after the match was funny as well.
The quality of matches being put on has improved no end this year. If they were slightly longer then it'd be near perfect.
Sandow is in the ring (we don't see his entrance which isn't good for the next World Heavyweight champ) ahead of his match with the Miz. There's one really excited kid in the crowd when Miz enters - I reckon the kid did it for a bet if you ask me
Again it's a good solid match until Fandango (and Summer Rae
) interrupt it and distract Miz. The crowd were Fandangoing away. Sandow uses the distraction, and a handful of tights, to pick up the victory. At least the MITB winner won a match rather than the losses he's usually had to suffer since winning the briefcase.
Goldust interview backstage with the fit blonde interview bird. Triple H interrupts though.
Orton against Goldust and gotta say, the Bizarre One is still capable of a good match. He and Orton had a really battle but unfortunately Cody is still on the dole cos his big brother Dustin lost. He fought valiantly though and gave Orton some trouble. But in the end it just wasn't good enough. Be interesting to see how they do now get Cody back on the roster. My bet is we're gonna see Randy and Cowboy Bob Orton against Dusty and Cody Rhodes
(that's actually not a serious suggestion)
Orton's mimicking of the yes chant just before going for the RKO was a nice little touch. It wouldn't of had the same affect in front of a dead crowd. And despite Goldust hitting Cross Rhodes it weren't enough and eventually the Viper got the RKO to get the three count.
Los Matadores preview.
Steph rubbing salt into the wounds of Goldust was actually quite good in my opinion. It's the character she's playing and I'm enjoying it.
RVD (w/ Ricardo Rodriguez) against Ryback. For all of the sh*te Ryback gets, he's actually not the worst wrestler around. And this bully boy character suits him down to the ground. He loses the match via DQ but it strengthens his bully gimmick and also doesn't make Van Dam look weak by losing. A good decision all round. After the match Ryback hits Shell Shock on RVD.
Then we get Del Rio on the titantron to remind us that he and RVD are actually feuding over the World Heavyweight Title. Is it just me or does the big gold belt now feel practically worthless? I know the titles aren't involved directly but the US and Tag Team Titles are around the waists of people involved in the biggest story of the Autumn, the Intercontinental Title is around the waist of somebody involved in the second biggest story, even the Divas Title is getting more air time now and probably even more exposure if, and when, it turns up on Total Divas. The WWE Title is still the most important thing in the business but the World Heavyweight Title is nowhere.
Del Rio and Van Dam should be a good match at Night of Champions but I don't think anybody cares about it either.
Steph bullies Big Show a bit more backstage.
Then main event time with the Shield out first, then Big Show then Daniel Bryan.
The match between Bryan and Ambrose was F***ing special. It was just great from start to finish. Bryan finally picked up the victory with a small package much to Big Show's delight. I can't wait for the day the WWE decides to have a fatal 4 way for the WWE Title consisting of Bryan, Punk, Rollins and Ambrose. That would just be quality at it's finest.
After the match, we got the usual Randy Orton appearance but this time Bryan suicide dived out the ring to meet him. They then brawled for a bit on the ramp before the Shield got involved. Big Show with chair in hand was ready to help Bryan but wasn't allowed to lay a finger on the Shield as per the stipulation for the match. Orton berated Show to put the chair down. The World's Largest Athlete did as he was told and simply watched from ringside as Orton beat down Bryan.
Show got bored though and was off up the ramp until Triple H and Steph ordered him back into the ring to knock out Bryan - again. Big Show, still hesitant, did as he was told, partly. He got back in the ring, he had his fist clenched but just stood in the corner getting an earful off Orton. Orton screaming at Show to do as he says because he's the face of the company.
Orton turns round and gets a knee to the jaw for his trouble from Bryan. And at long last it was Daniel Bryan standing tall which means at Night of Champions he certainly won't be.
All in all I once again really enjoyed RAW. I think it's on such a roll at the mo.
As for Night of Champions, it's obvious the Orton/Bryan match won't end cleanly and Orton will still be champ but that just adds to this current story. Punk will beat Axel and get his hands on Heyman before somebody else gets involved, not sure who yet though. (I have a feeling this feud is gonna run until Hell in a Cell where Punk will eventually get his hands on Heyman with no outside interference). I think AJ will retain her Divas Title.
The others I'm not so certain about, I don't know who will face Ambrose - I would of said Ziggler but there was no confrontation between the two of them this week on RAW. I think Van Dam will win then Sandow will cash in but I'm not certain of that as Del Rio could easily win with help from a quick heel turn from Ricardo Rodriguez. And the tag titles will be the difficult one to pick as I think.
Stuff to look to forward to all the same.
