OPENING SEGMENT- HBK basically repeats his promo from last week. Orton comes out and threatens Shawn. Orton goes for an RKO but it gets countered. HBK goes for Sweet Chin Music, but Orton avoids it. Miz jumps Orton from behind, and they brawl as we go to commercial.

RANDY ORTON vs. THE MIZ- 5.5/10
Since when can the Wyatts control the lights in the arena? Anyway, I was enjoying this until the screwy finish. Then, after the screwy finish, when Bray started talking, I started enjoying things again. Bray Wyatt is awesome.

SANTINO MARELLA vs. FANDANGO (w/Summer Rae)- 2/10
Dull. If you want something awesome, go watch the match these two had on NXT, teaming with Summer Rae and Emma.

HEYMAN AND MADDOX BACKSTAGE- okay
Heyman shows footage of Punk cheating and talks up how bad cheating is. Heyman suggests that Maddox should let him pick the stipulations between Punk and Ryback for Hell in a Cell. Maddox says there will be a Beat The Clock Challenge tonight between Ryback and Punk (#BRM BookedItFirst… and I totally had use for HBK, too!), with the winner getting to pick the stips for Hell in a Cell.

Apparently there is a “Bring Back Big Show” petition… and it was started by Xavier Woods! Hooray for NXT talent getting some recognition.

JOHN CENA VIDEO PACKAGE- great

LOS MATADORES (w/El Torito) vs. 3MB (w/Jinder Mahal)- 2.25/10
AGAIN?! Are you f*cking kidding me?
Los Matadores tried some new stuff, so we didn’t get the exact same match we have seen three times in the past two weeks, but it is still the same match-up. Find someone new for these guys to face. Maybe bring in some legit jobbers so you don’t have to waste time letting your heels get heat. If the purposes of these matches are to show off what Los Matadores can do, focus all of your efforts on that.

HUNTER & STEPH PROMO- great! The fans chanted “you got knocked out!” at Hunter. Steph says that they are kicking Big Show out of his house. Hunter then cut an awesome promo basically saying that they are sick and tired of taking sh*t from the fans when everything they are doing is in the fans best interest. If the fans want to make them out to be the bad guys, then fine. They will be the bad guys.
Dragon came out to say something but Del Rio jumped him from behind. Steph then books Dragon vs. Del Rio for tonight.

BEAT THE CLOCK CHALLENGE: Ryback (w/Paul Heyman) vs. R-Truth- 3.5/10

STEPH & THE BELLAS BACKSTAGE- Steph books Brie vs. Tamina for tonight with barred from ringside. Steph is a great heel.

TONS OF FUNK (the Funkadactyls) vs. THE REAL AMERICANS (w/Zeb Coulter)- 4/10
Michael Cole thinks that Xavier is Professor X’s first name. GDYC!

BRIE BELLA vs. TAMINA SNUKA (w/AJ Lee)- 1/10
Tamina looked like a vicious heel. Brie, for her part, almost managed to pull off the Calgary Crab correctly. The match dragged on a lot longer than it needed to. And then we get some post-match beatdown, too.

DRAGON, STEPH, & MADDOX BACKSTAGE- good.

BEAT THE CLOCK CHALLENGE: CM Punk vs. Curtis Axel (w/Paul Heyman)- 4.25/10
Obviously this was held back by the short amount of time that they had. Punk then books himself vs. Ryback and Heyman in Hell in a Cell.

DANIEL BRYAN vs. ALBERTO DEL RIO- 6.75/10
So the Bellas see Randy at the door and are cowering in fear, but they don’t bother screaming until the instant that he shuts the door? It just came off of completely fake.

THE SHIELD BACKSTAGE WITH HUNTER & STEPH- Hunter & Steph make the tag title match a No DQ’s match. Then we get a completely pointless and gratuitous scene of Hunter & Steph making out.

JOHN CENA VIDEO PACKAGE #2- even better than the first

NO DISQUALIFICATION MATCH FOR THE WWE TAG TEAM TITLES: Seth Rollins & Roman Reigns(c) (w/Dean Ambrose) vs. Cody Rhodes & Goldust- 7/10
An okay episode of Raw. Too many short matches.

Big Red Machine wrote:HEYMAN AND MADDOX BACKSTAGE- okay
Heyman shows footage of Punk cheating and talks up how bad cheating is. Heyman suggests that Maddox should let him pick the stipulations between Punk and Ryback for Hell in a Cell. Maddox says there will be a Beat The Clock Challenge tonight between Ryback and Punk (#BRM BookedItFirst… and I totally had use for HBK, too!), with the winner getting to pick the stips for Hell in a Cell.

I get that Maddox that they're both heels, but as soon as I heard Heyman say "Madd-Ox" I was really really hoping they were going have Maddox completely screw Heyman for having the Shield jump him all those months ago. Even if it was just putting Ryback against Truth but putting Punk against a jobber or something for the beat the clock challenge.

I just REAALLY hate it when the heels freak out when they're treated fairly.

"...but if CM Punk wins, HE gets to pick the stipulation...."
Heyman:

Why wouldn't he?

Bob-O wrote:

Big Red Machine wrote:HEYMAN AND MADDOX BACKSTAGE- okay
Heyman shows footage of Punk cheating and talks up how bad cheating is. Heyman suggests that Maddox should let him pick the stipulations between Punk and Ryback for Hell in a Cell. Maddox says there will be a Beat The Clock Challenge tonight between Ryback and Punk (#BRM BookedItFirst… and I totally had use for HBK, too!), with the winner getting to pick the stips for Hell in a Cell.

I get that Maddox that they're both heels, but as soon as I heard Heyman say "Madd-Ox" I was really really hoping they were going have Maddox completely screw Heyman for having the Shield jump him all those months ago.

I don't think his pronouncing the name "Madd-ox" is intended as in insult. I think that is just the way that some people pronounce it, as I have heard many others do so as well. There also seem to be people who pronounce Tara differently than I do.

Big Red Machine wrote:I don't think his pronouncing the name "Madd-ox" is intended as in insult.

Oh no! Me neither. Just, when Heyman said it - when they had the exchange - it triggered all the memories of Brad pestering Paul about being a Heyman Guy. I'd forgotten all about it.

Maybe even just a "Paul, I don't know why you're so upset... it's not like I paid The Shield to kick the shit out of you or anything like that... I'll just save my money and let CM Punk do it..."

Bob-O wrote:

Big Red Machine wrote:I don't think his pronouncing the name "Madd-ox" is intended as in insult.

Oh no! Me neither. Just, when Heyman said it - when they had the exchange - it triggered all the memories of Brad pestering Paul about being a Heyman Guy. I'd forgotten all about it.

Maybe even just a "Paul, I don't know why you're so upset... it's not like I paid The Shield to kick the s**t out of you or anything like that... I'll just save my money and let CM Punk do it..."

Ah. I see. And that would have been a lot better, because the McMahons have also been adversarial with Heyman in their interactions with him.

Big Red Machine wrote:HUNTER & STEPH PROMO- great! The fans chanted “you got knocked out!” at Hunter.

Oh that's what they chanted. I thought they were chanting "You got the clap!".