Just rewatched RAW and it was every bit as good as I thought it was.
We start the night with Triple H coming to the ring to the sound of King of Kings. I actually love how they've gone back to that music for his current heel role as opposed to his usual "Game" theme music. The Shield are standing on guard outside the ring again. The COO then tells us that what happened at SummerSlam was just business but the beatings that Bryan has taken since have been personal because of the way Bryan spoke to Stephanie.
Orton is then introduced to the ring and is still "the face of the WWE". I'm glad to say that given Orton's public wish to be a heel, he's grabbed this opportunity with both hands. He's making the most of it thankfully. And Triple H is always a great heel. Triple H gives Orton a car as a prezzie for being champ.
Bryan then comes onto the ramp. He rips into both Orton and Triple H. He goes onto thank the fans for believing in him, he thanks Cena for giving him the chance to fight at SummerSlam for the WWE Title and he finally thanks Triple H for showing his true colours at SummerSlam. He then claims he's gonna win back the WWE Title at Night of Champions to which Triple H mocks by singing "When You Wish Upon A Star".
It's all just great. It's the perfect good versus evil storyline that the WWE is famous for. There's the evil boss and hand picked champion against the fans' hero who we all wanna see overcome the odds and become champion. What's not to like? It's great. And to top it off Triple H has made a gauntlet match for later on tonight for Bryan against the Shield. First Rollins, then Ambrose, then Reigns.
Quick recap of the Punk/Heyman feud. And confirmation that tonight Punk will face off against Curtis Axel but there's a "vote" on the WWE app (they still have that just in case you forgot during their million mentions of it during any WWE showing) for the stipulation regarding Heyman. It's a) Heyman is banned from ringside or b) Heyman is the special guest ref or c) Heyman must get in the ring with Punk, should Punk defeat Axel. Oh I really wonder which one the WWE "universe" will vote for. And Jerry Lawler's sh*t joke of "I hope to SEE your votes" didn't make it anymore worthwhile anybody voting. It's all rigged these votes. Anyway, moving on.
Our first match for the night is Cody Rhodes against Fandango with Damian Sandow on commentary. Like most of Fandango's matches, it's worth watching for Mrs Fandango (Summer Rae). The match is quickly interrupted though with Miz, dressed in Fandango's gear, dancing at the top of the ramp with Rosa Mendes. Obviously now Primo and Epico are now Los Matadores they need something else to do with Rosa and dancing around with another pointless member of the roster like Miz is the way to go about it. (apparently)
Anyway, Brad Maddox comes out and is great in making a tag team match between the four men. He says "I'm sure you can work it out, but just in case you can't it's Cody Rhodes and the Miz against Damian Sandow and Fandango." Simple but cos it's Maddox I find it funny. He's probably my best non-wrestling figure at the moment. First GM I've actually enjoyed for some time.
The match is nothing but filler really to extend the feuds between Sandow and Rhodes as well as Miz and Fandango but it''s not the worst match you'll see. Fandango does a runner though and leaves Sandow on his own who is then pinned by Miz. As Sandow is the next World Heavyweight champion (probably) and Rhodes is a future main eventer just waiting for the push, I really hope this is the last time we see Fandango and especially the Miz in the same ring as them. My prediction for Night of Champions is Miz and Fandango have a dance off.
Back to the "vote" on Heyman's involvement in tonight's match.
Quick vignette on Los Matadores. Gotta give them a chance to be this team rather than just calling them Primo and Epico.
Then Christian is backstage giving an interview before being interrupted by Orton. Few crossed words between the two and now we have a match for later on tonight between the two. Christian is obviously the next man on Orton's hate list.
More plugging of another app...the tout app this time.
Punk then tells us, during the break, that he wants his hands on Paul Heyman while in the locker room Heyman is playing the sh*t scared character he does so well and Axel is trying to calm him down by saying Punk won't beat him. These two are great together in my opinion. Heyman shitting himself like nobody else can, Axel playing the cocky, over-confident heel. Great.
The actual match between Punk and Axel was very entertaining as you'd expect. Punk won it of course but not before Axel had shown some of his qualities and he actually dominated the match for large periods. Heyman watched from the top of the ramp for the most part as well. It was a good match and then Punk hit the GTS and got the victory which therefore meant Heyman had to get in the ring with Punk because, as unexpected as it might sound, the WWE "universe" voted for option C. I really thought that they'd have chosen Heyman to be the special guest referee. Ah well never mind I suppose.
Heyman tried to run away only to be dragged into the ring by security and just as Punk was about to unleash on him, Axel hit a low blow to Punk. He then went onto handcuff Punk but The Best In The World still fought back until he was hit by a steel chair in the back by Axel. He then handed Heyman a kendo stick who exploded on Punk. Screaming at him every time he struck the helpless Punk. "I loved you", "I fathered you", "I burdened myself for you". Heyman was fantastic here. For some reason, some dickheads in the crowd were chanting "boring". It was anything but that. It was perfect. And then we saw blood dripping off the back of Punk, just made it even better for me.
Following this we got Brie Bella against Natalya in a rematch from SummerSlam. For some reason the Funkadactals were at ringside for Natalya while that Eva Marie bird was with Nikki Bella outside the ring. Oh yeah and Jojo was guest ring announcer. Ah sh*t it's just hit me why. This wasn't a wrestling match, it was a plug for Total Divas, only on the E Network right Michael Cole? Their match at SummerSlam was alright, this one was painful to watch. I said it in me review of SummerSlam, let them have good matches, talk about the good matches and people will pay attention to the Divas division again. Have sh*t matches, talk about the reality show instead of the wrestling and people won't bother with it.
It was all about Total Divas, not the match so I doubt it does mean anything that the Bella won.
Then the Divas division was saved by arguably the greatest promo by any female in the history of wrestling. Still don't if it was a work or shoot but whatever it was, somebody still needs to tell the Bella twins to shut the F**k up. Just because you're shagging the top two babyfaces in the company, doesn't give you the right to be a total c**t while somebody is cutting a promo as good as AJ was on Monday.
And for those who didn't see it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04nWFXE41pQIt just gets better every time I see it.
Following this was RVD against Del Rio with the stipulation that should Van Dam win he will challenge for the World Heavyweight Title at Night of Champions. Well there's the ending of the match revealed straight away. So yeah RVD won.
I still don't get his connection with Ricky Rodriquez other than it propels him into a feud with Del Rio and the World Heavyweight Title picture. Some turnaround though isn't it? Fail to capture the US Title on the pre-show of SummerSlam and be rewarded with challenging for the second biggest prize in the company.
It's as expected though with Del Rio, the feud isn't interesting. I said as much in me review of SummerSlam that whoever he went up against wouldn't have a great feud but the match would be good and I think that's exactly what's gonna happen here. Two average mic workers in Del Rio and Van Dam won't have much to ignite interest but the match should be decent with two good wrestlers.
Back from the break and we get a recap of Cena and how the op on his elbow went. Every time I see that elbow from last week's RAW, it amazes me that he could perform at SummerSlam with it. It looks F***ing nasty. And big respect to Cena for performing at SummerSlam. Love him or loathe him, that was deserving of respect. I just hope though when he returns in a few months it isn't to save the WWE from Orton and Triple H. That's too predictable.
We then get Ryback backstage bullying Josh Matthews. Gotta say, I love this gimmick for Ryback. It suits him and he genuinely comes across like he's enjoying the role. I hope they step it up a bit further now and start letting him bully some of the smaller lads on the roster.
A tearful and scornful Heyman has a few harsh words for Punk as does Curtis Axel as they leave the arena. I can't remember the name of the blonde bird conducting the interview but she is fit. Heyman was great here again.
Then Christian against Orton and this match was F***ing brilliant. As I said during the SummerSlam review, Christian is a seasoned veteran now who knows how the business works. He's taken over the mantle from Jericho as the old guard man who you can rely on to give great matches. And again, I'm happy to see Orton really giving it his all with this heel push. He wanted it, he got it, now he has to make it work. And so far he's doing just that.
Orton won with an RKO but I'm fine with that, they have to make the WWE champion look strong and I'm also happy that Orton did it on his own. I hate when they make a heel champion a shitbag who always relies on others helping him win. Thankfully they had Orton win cleanly on his own. They understand that the WWE champion needs to look strong, they just haven't realised that the other champions do as well.
Then Bryan appears on the titantron and cuts a near perfect promo. I've often wondered if his mouth can back up his in-ring work ability to push him to the super stardom he's destined for. So far it's looking like he can. He's not there yet, obviously, but he's getting there I'm pleased to say. And more importantly, he's a wrestler so I don't think he'll be F***ing off for a couple of months here and there to do a film. He'll always be here to wrestle. The spray painting of "yes" all over Orton's new car was great and funny. Isn't this the second time Orton's had a new car vandalised on the day he got it? I seem to remember Legacy getting him a car that got fu**ed over but I can't remember who by.
Anyway, Triple H arrives on the scene and orders Brad Maddox to tell the entire locker room to be on the ramp tonight to watch what happens to Daniel Bryan. Oh yeah and if anybody dares to help Bryan, they will be fired on the spot by Triple H.
Next is Titus O'Neill (with Darren Young) against Jack Swagger (With Zeb and Cesaro). Not much of a match, weren't on long enough but Titus won. I hope they're not pushing the Prime Time Players again just because Darren Young has admitted to being gay. I hope they're getting the push on merit. Swagger and Cesaro could be a great tag team though but for whatever reason the WWE just can't get behind them. Swagger has failed when pushed unfortunately and Cesaro was given nothing to do when he was US champ. I thought this team would rejuvenate both but clearly not. I suppose it's making something of a better tag team division though. Hopefully the Uso's don't get forgot about and remain on telly over the new few weeks as well.
Wyatt family promo...where are they tonight? It seems like the writers had an idea for them but can't get them on telly every week to put in action. Disappointing that this has sort of stuttered along.
Recap of the Orton/Triple H/Bryan feud.
Punk storms into Maddox's office to be told he's got a match at Night of Champions against Axel and Heyman. Surely, somehow this has to be for the Intercontinental Title as at Night of Champions every championship is defended. Looking forward to this match though.
Roster makes it's way on to the ramp ahead of the Bryan v Shield gauntlet match. (another vignette of Los Matadores is played as well)
That blonde bird again asks Show, Ziggler and Miz about how they feel about the match and Triple H's actions but they all remain quiet as they're scared of getting fired. (What happened to Show's iron clad contract like?)
Bryan beats Rollins in another great match between these two. They're F***ing brilliant together. That top rope German suplex by Bryan was sheer quality. He beat Ambrose via DQ and the match with Reigns hardly got going due to interference from Ambrose. The Shield then continued the beat down on Bryan while the roster watched on, Triple H standing there intimidating them all.
Orton comes out and hits an RKO on Bryan. Getting a pat on the back from Triple H. Triple H then parting the waves (the roster) with his hands was cockiness, arrogance and complete control at it's best. I love heel Triple H.
All in all a belting RAW. If they can keep up this level of quality then we're in for a real treat over the next couple of weeks, months and hopefully years and beyond.