OPENING SEGMENT- Punk's promo was pretty good. Then Brad Maddox comes out. So does Big E. Langston. Big E. attacks CM Punk, and we get...

BIG E. LANGSTON vs. CM PUNK- 6.25/10
I was quite pleasantly surprised that they let Big E. last so long. One of WWE's main faults has been absolutely killing guys by jobbing them out quickly just because they aren't currently in an angle. They didn't do that here, which was very good.

KOFI KINGSTON vs. FANDANGO (w/Summer Rae)- 4/10
JBL calls Fandango a corss between Usher and Randy Couture.
Showing a bunch of clips of Kofi's finisher before the match pretty much gave away who was going to win. After the match Bray Wyatt comes out and randomly cuts a promo.

Apparently Ziggler will face Sandow on the Battleground kickoff show. Huh? Didn't he beat Ambrose clean two weeks ago?

ORTON INTIMIDATES THE BELLAS- same as last week.

RENEE YOUNG INTERVIEWS PAUL HEYMAN- good. I really loved Renee completely giving away the ambush.

HEATH SLAVER & JINDER MAHAL (w/Drew McIntyre) vs. LOS MATADORES (w/El Torito)- 4/10
I don't care one bit about Los Matadores, but El Torito is AWESOME!

THE FAMILY SUMMIT- decent segment, and we get a PPV match out of it. All of the Rhodes' jobs are on the line forever agaisnt Rollins and Reigns at Battleground. Then The Shield jumped the Rhodes family. Great stuff.

R-TRUTH vs. CURTIS AXEL (w/Paul Heyman)- no rating.
Well... It builds to a match for a PPV that sorely needs a card announced, so Ill take it.

ALICIA FOX vs. BRIE BELLA (w/Nikki Bella)- 2.5/10
I really enjoy Alicia Fox working as a heel.
Michael Cole talks up how big it would be for Dragon and Brie to be the WWE Champion and the Divas Champion at the same time. Hmmm... this sounds awfully familiar. #BRMBookedItFirst

HEYMAN & FRIENDS BACKSTAGE- okay...

BIG SHOW PROMO- awesome

BIG SHOW & BRAD MADDOX BACKSTAGE- good

ALBERTO DEL RIO vs. ZACK RYDER- 3/10
I think it would have been better to just have this be a semi-squash. Ryder got WAY too much offense in the World Heavyweight Champion.

HEYMAN & RYBACK SEGMENT- a stupid swerve that everyone saw coming. Then CM Punk came out and fakes a Shockmaster to draw the heels in close and then goes after them with a Kendo Stick. Axel plays sacrificial lamb while Ryback and Heyman escape.

THE SHIELD vs. DOLPH ZIGGLER & THE USOS- 6/10

COPS SHOW UP TO ARREST BIG SHOW, BUT STEPH STEPS IN AND STOPS THEM- decent. Steph is creating more situations where Big Show has to do what the McMahons want and making show feel gratitude towards them.

RENEE YOUNG INTERVIEWS RVD- If they're not pushing Twitter, they're pushing Tout or the WWE App... and now they're pushing their Youtube page. RVD was decent here.

ANTONIO CESARO (w/Zeb Coulter & Jack Swagger) vs. SANTINO MARELLA (w/The Great Khali & Hornswoggle)- DUD!
There was no point to this whatsoever. Why the hell would you even do it instead of giving more time to The Shield vs. Ziggler & The Usos?

DANIEL BRYAN & RANDY ORTON SEGMENT- not bad, but it felt off-message. Like it was more about Randy than about the title match... which is interesting, I guess. We spent last month establishing Dragon as someone who would never back down, no matter the odds, and now we have spent this month building Randy up as a vicious killer.

Overall, not such a good episode of Raw.

Big Red Machine wrote: ORTON INTIMIDATES THE BELLAS- same as last week.

i really really hope this doesn't become something where Dragon and Cena come to defend the Bellas. at the same time, i wanna see Randy RKO Brie Bella