BRM Reviews the 9/9/2013 Raw

[Big Red Machine]

OPENING SEGMENT- awesome! Everyone was completely on here, especially Edge and Hunter.

EDGE BACKSTAGE WITH TH MCMAHON-HELMSLEY REGIME- GREAT!

KOFI KINGSTON vs. CURTIS AXEL (w/Paul Heyman)- DUD!
The whole point of this was to point out to us that if Axel gets DQed at Night of Champions, Punk will get Heyman alone in the ring… which is something that anyone with a functioning brain already knew!

GOLDUST VIDEO PACKAGE- great!

HEYMAN APPARENTLY SLIPPED IN A WET HALLWAY- He refuses help from the trainer and insists that his own doctor come to look at it. Yeah… we all know where this is going… and if you were going to do this angle, what was the whole point of doing the idiotic DQ finish in the Kofi-Axel match?

BIG SHOW & BOOKER T BACKSTAGE- good. I like having a babyface making the rational version of the heel argument, here. Providing for his family is the most important thing.

DOLPH ZIGGLER vs. BRAY WYATT (w/the Wyatt Family)- 4/10

IS PAUL HEYMAN INJURED?- boring segment. The crowd was great, though.

LAYLA EL, AKSANA, & ALICIA FOX vs. BRIE BELLA, NAOMI, & NATALYA (w/Nikkie Bella & Cameron)- 3/10
AJ was AWESOME on commentary, but if WWE wants her to be a heel, they should probably avoid her seeming like she is right.

ALBERTO DEL RIO vs. R-TRUTH-5/10

ZEB COULTER PROMO- Why is he asking Canadians to say “WE the people?”

SANTINO MARELLA vs. ANTONIO CESARO (w/Zeb Coulter)- 4.5/10
Not bad at all, but if you just announced that Cesaro would be in a tag title #1 contendership match on Sunday, why job him out to Santino right now?

DAMIEN SANDOW vs. THE MIZ- 2/10
Sandow, the MITB holder, needs a distraction from Fandango to beat The Miz, and this interminable, going-nowhere feud continues.

GOLDUST PROMO- I think this would have worked a lot better if he cut this promo as Dustin, without the Goldust paint. Triple H shows up to try to make Dustin crack under the pressure.

IF GOLDUST WINS, CODY RHODES GETS REHIRED: Goldust vs. Randy Orton-7/10
The announcers all but broke kayfabe in their attempts to talk up the McMahon vs. Rhodes family feud. To make matters worse, it all comes off as BS when you remember that Dusty is the GM of NXT. Great match, though.

STEPH MAKES DUSTIN FEEL EVEN WORSE- okay. The McMahons are jerks. We get it.

RYBACK vs. ROB VAN DAM (w/Ricardo Rodriguez)- 4/10
Wow. Someone actually got DQed for the nuts-into-the ringpost move. Hooray,

STEPH & BIG SHOW BACKSTAGE- why couldn’t they just mention that Show’s contract got renegotiated at some point. It would make this whole thing make so much more sense.

DEAN AMBROSE (w/The Shield) vs. DANIEL BYRAN (w/The Big Show)- 6.75/10
If you’re going to have Dragon beat the US Champion, he should have made him tap. All of the post-match stuff was great.

A decent Raw, but not really a good go-home show.