BRM Reviews the 6/17/2013 Raw (very promising)

[Big Red Machine]

ALBERTO DEL RIO PROMO- FANTASTIC! GREAT follow up to last night, making the heel turn official

PUNK & DEL RIO & HEYMAN- Also fantastic! The status quo is turned on its head so quickly and effectively. Del Rio is a heel, Punk is a babyface and has some friction with his heel manager, Heyman, and we have a main event that I am very much looking forward to.

PUNK & HEYMAN BACKSTAGE- good, but I think they should have added in the “I don’t want you to be my manager. I just want you to be my friend line.”

WWE INTERCONTINENTAL TITLE MATCH: Curtis Axel(c) (w/{Paul Heyman) vs. Wade Barrett-
Apparently this match isn’t happening. Vickie cancels it for no reason and instead says that Barrett will face a “big surprise” opponent. I was looking forward to that title match, so this had better be worth it, Vickie…

WADE BARRETT vs. CHRISTIAN!- 4.75/10
Well Vickie… you came through!
As for the booking… I am a big believer that in a return match for a big star, the match should get time. This should have gotten a good twelve to fifteen minutes (with Christian still going over). This will save face for Barrett and will make Christian’s return more exciting for smarks. That being said, the announcers (and Vickie) did a great job of making Christian’s return feel like a HUGE deal.

HANDICAP MATCH: Sheamus vs. Team Rhodes Scholars- 3.75/10
I was very scared that they would job Rhodes Scholars out here, which would completely bury them. Of course, this didn’t help them much, and I really hate Sheamus hitting Cody with the Brogue kick after the match. Over the past few months Sheamus has become a horribly sore loser, and WWE expects people to cheer him for it. If he had been very frustrated going into everything, this would be okay, but with everything we have seen over the past few months, it just comes off as Sheamus being a sore loser.

HUNTER, VICKIE, & MADDOX BACKSTAGE- I really liked Hunter calling Vickie out on not having a main event set going into the show. Hooray for kayfabe logic!
What I didn’t like was Hunter saying that the Shield are “running roughshod” and that Vickie needs to get control back. The Shield aren’t doing anything wrong. They’re not running all over and jumping everyone they meet like Nexus was. They sometimes attack the people they are feuding with, but that is par for the course in wrestling.

KANE & DRAGON BACKSTAGE- GREAT!

NO DISQUALIFICATION MATCH: Randy Orton vs. Daniel Bryan- 5.75/10
The camera caught Orton mouthing “are you okay” at Dragon, so I’m assuming Dragon’s injury is legit. HOLY CRAP ORTON GAVE HIM A HUG! Yeah, this is definitely legit. Hopefully Dragon isn’t hurt too badly and hopefully they can find a way to work this ref stoppage finish into his “weak link” angle. Dragon seems to be more pissed off than hurt, so hopefully that is a good sign.
During the main event Cole noted that Hunter and Dragon got into a shouting match backstage because Dragon wanted to keep going, so maybe they are going for a worked shoot type thing here.

AJ & STEPH SEGMENT- AJ’s promo was fantastic. Steph’s… not so much. How is it “degrading to women everywhere” that AJ Lee tricked Kaitlyn into thinking she had a secret admirer just to get in her head to help her win a championship in a wrestling match? Because it fits into some broad negative stereotype that women are catty and vicious to each other? That’s like saying it is degrading to all men if my buddies and I trash talk about hockey because we love sports and are hyper-competitive.
Also, AJ has only been the champ for 24 hours… and Steph to come out and yell at her that it is time for her to start “acting like a champion?” Did Steph even give her a chance? All she did was say she was better than everyone else and dare anyone who thought otherwise to come out and prove it. That sounds exactly like what champions do.
Steph and AJ have a lame argument, then all of the babyfaces Divas come out together as one (I guess the heels don’t want the title?) Steph yells at Kaitlyn for interrupting her… then walks off and doesn’t say anything. If you were done talking, why does it matter that she interrupted you?
Kaitlyn cuts an eh promo then charges at AJ and they have a scrum, which AJ winds up on the wrong end of. She wants to go back and fight but Big E. gets in the way. Picks her up over his shoulder, and carries her up the ramp and backstage, right past the other Divas, who stood there doing nothing, just like they did all segment.
Aside from AJ’s promo, this segment was terrible. The non-Kaitlyn Divas served no purpose whatsoever, and the whole thing really seemed to be set up to establish Steph as someone who has authority more than to actually help any angles in the Divas division.

WWE UNITED STATES TITLE: Dean Ambrose(c) vs. Kane- no rating. Eh segment.
Why is Kane getting a rematch? He lost cleanly last night on PPV. This is the match they should have had to set up the match on PPV last night! What sort of backwards booking silliness is this?

VICKIE, VINCE, & THE SHIELD BACKSTAGE- bad segment.
Vickie looks like an idiot for thinking that one guy could possibly teach a lesson to the group whose gimmick is that they always come out on top via a numbers advantage. Vince served no purpose at all.

ZEB COULTER INTRODUCES HIS NEWEST ALLY- At the beginning I really didn’t like this (why would Coulter & Swagger want to work with a guy who thinks Europe is better than the US and why would Cesaro lower himself to working with lowly Americans?), but the more I thought about it, it does seem to fit in with the “living the American dream better than Americans do” gimmick Cesaro seems to have adopted over the past few months, and Zeb’s promo really helped win me over (as did Cole calling them out on commentary, when the announcer is asking the same kayfabe questions as me, it makes it feel like the bookers know what they are doing. That they know something seems off here and are going to address it at some point.). I can totally get on board with th-HOLY SH*T! WE’RE ABOUT TO GET CLAUDIO VS. REGAL!

WILLIAM REGAL vs. ANTONIO CESARO (w/Zeb Coulter)- no rating. Squash
Why do they always have to squash Regal?

JOHN CENA PROMO & SEGMENT WITH MARK HENRY- OUTSTANDING!
Cena’s promo didn’t need to be so long, but otherwise this was awesome. They really got me (and everyone else) to bite on the false retirement. Henry was just plain perfect here (although damn you, WWE, for stealing my booking plans before I got to them!)

MARK HENRY BACKSTAGE PROMO- also amazing!

CHRIS JERICHO vs. HEATH SLATER (w/3MB)- 2.5/10
3MB want to open for Fozzy! I LOVE IT! After the match, Jericho beats up the rest of the J.O.B. Squad

SIN CARA vs. CURTIS AXEL (w/Paul Heyman)- squash

MCMAHONS, VICKIE, & MADDOX BACKSTAGE- apparently the McMahons (Hunter included) aren’t on the same page. I really don’t care. Hunter and Steph are both coming off as ridiculous here. Steph saying the show is out of control is ridiculous and Hunter has no reason to want an example made of the Shield (what have they done that needs punishment?) Vince felt like he was just there so he could disagree with Hunter and with Steph.

PUNK & HEYMAN BACKSTAGE AGAIN- good

CM PUNK vs. ALBERTO DEL RIO (w/Ricardo Rodriguez)- 6/10
Del Rio takes a count-out loss on purpose after eating a GTS, but he gets jumped from behind by Ziggler. After Ziggler chases Del Rio off, Lesnar comes out and hits Punk with an F-5. Not a main event quality match, but they used it to set a lot of stuff up, so I’ll give it a pass.

Creatively, Raw was very good this week. They definitely threw the in-ring stuff under the bus to set up a lot of things for the future. They seem to have some real direction going towards Summer Slam (apparently there was a big change in the creative team, so that seems to have made a difference). I don’t like some of the stuff they’re doing (McMahon stuff) and I think that some things are progressing a bit too fast, such as Del Rio’s heel turn (and Ziggler’s return, for that matter) and the Punk-Heyman stuff (Brock just happens to actually show up to Raw on the week that Punk decides he doesn’t want Heyman to manage him anymore? Come on. You have TWO MONTHS until the match with Brock at Summer Slam. Having Brock attack Punk tonight leaves you with no good way to build this up for the next month. This should be Punk vs. Heyman with Heyman bringing Brock in as his stand-in, but having Brock jump Punk tonight and then not show up for a month will make it more feel like Punk vs. Brock with Heyman just acting as a stand-in for Brock until Brock decides to show up again).
Wow. I got sidetracked a bit there.
Anyway, there is a definite sense of things having a creative direction in WWE, rather than seemingly meandering week by week to get to a PPV without any idea of what will happen the next month. The future seems promising... and actually thought out.

[badnewzxl]

1. as far as Sheamus brogue kicking folks after matches making him look like a sore loder, I disagree. I remember a few folks who'd do that after ANY match (Steve Austin, the Rock, Sid in ECW). I just think it reiterates his passion for fighting.

2. Totally agree about Stephanie; she was also beig contradictory bc she's done FAR more manipulative things on tv than AJ has, ESP when SHE was women's champ. Anyone who knows her rep knows that. Plus, AJ WON THE MATCH FAIR AND SQUARE! Why did teph need to come out and address her?

3. I may be wrong but I never thought Cesaro said Europeans are better than Americans; I thought he just said that he LOVES AMERICA, but hates AMERICANS bc they are lazy, fat, and ignorant. Personally, I was hoping Cesaro teamed up with Sandow and Rhodes; throw in David Otunga and you've got a fun stable.

4. Mark Henry got me GOOOOOOOOD! Best swerve in WWE in a LOOOONG time. I really did think it was legit.

HOWEVER; I've gotta know wtf they plan on doing with Ryback? He had all the momentum in the world, then they fed him to the Shield and let Cena bury him. The guy STILL hasn't even won a PPV match; that's a mistake....

[cero2k]

guys guys guys guys, you're missing the most important part of RAW. The Kaitlin nipslip!

aside from that, i'm digging what's happening with McMahons and Hunter. It's clearly building to a war of powers, McMahon vs Hunter, with Steph in the middle. They're obviously building to some tension of whose decisions are more important between Vince and Hunter and we've already seen some wrestlers start to side with Vince (Vickie, Shield) and Hunter (Maddox at least). This could eventually turn into a big feud for the control of the company that could symbolically mean the passing of control from Vince to Trips.

I think the thing with Steph was just her going on a power trip to build it all, and that thing with kaitlin i don't think it was planned but she just did it. The faces on the rest of the divas was glorious!

[Big Red Machine]

1. as far as Sheamus brogue kicking folks after matches making him look like a sore loder, I disagree. I remember a few folks who'd do that after ANY match (Steve Austin, the Rock, Sid in ECW). I just think it reiterates his passion for fighting.

2. Totally agree about Stephanie; she was also beig contradictory bc she's done FAR more manipulative things on tv than AJ has, ESP when SHE was women's champ. Anyone who knows her rep knows that. Plus, AJ WON THE MATCH FAIR AND SQUARE! Why did teph need to come out and address her?

3. I may be wrong but I never thought Cesaro said Europeans are better than Americans; I thought he just said that he LOVES AMERICA, but hates AMERICANS bc they are lazy, fat, and ignorant. Personally, I was hoping Cesaro teamed up with Sandow and Rhodes; throw in David Otunga and you've got a fun stable.

4. Mark Henry got me GOOOOOOOOD! Best swerve in WWE in a LOOOONG time. I really did think it was legit.

HOWEVER; I've gotta know wtf they plan on doing with Ryback? He had all the momentum in the world, then they fed him to the Shield and let Cena bury him. The guy STILL hasn't even won a PPV match; that's a mistake....

1. Did Sid ever even lose in ECW? Lol. I always disliked it when those guys did it, too.

2. I think, as Stephanie McMahon the character has aged, she has matured, so it is okay for her to criticize others for things heel Steph would have done because that character hasn't been around for over ten years.

3. I think he started out saying Europeans/European culture were superior, then changed the gimmick to what you said at some point during the winter. IDK about Cesaro, but Sandow and Otunga would be GOLD together.

4. I know! Fake retirements/angles like this are almost impossible to do nowadays, and they pulled this one off every bit as well as Steen at Final Battle 2009. If the Mark Henry of 2011 is back, I will be very, very happy.

Good point about Ryback. I am actually working on an article about how much this loss killed him. I think he will eventually go where all vanquished monsters go: the midcard, to job to upper-midcard babyfaces.