Csonka’s WWE Raw Review 7.06.15

MONDAY NIGHT RAW 7.06.15

OFFICIAL RESULTS
~ Non-Title Match: Big Show defeated Champion Ryback @ 9:29 via DQ [*]
~ Brie Bella defeated Paige @ 3:09 via pin [*¾]
~ Sheamus defeated Roman Reigns @ 11:20 via count out [**½]
~ Dean Ambrose defeated Bo Dallas @ 2:56 via pin [NR]
~ King Barrett defeated R-Truth @ 8:42 via pin [**]
~ New Day defeated Lucha Dragons @ via pin [**½]
~ US Title Match: Champion John Cena defeated Cesaro @ 30:10 via pin [****½]

---

The Beast is Back: Paul Heyman came out and put over Lesnar as a destroyer and a God. As always Heyman does an excellent job here, but it’s largely every long WWE promo (although this was shorter than usual at 8-minutes or so), as Heyman did story time. The good news here is that it was better than almost every other opening promo they do, as they focused on selling the title match and Lesnar’s quest for vengeance. Heyman’s delivery and raw emotion is what sells the promo as Brock stands there, barely reacting but looking as if he will kill a man. I enjoyed this and thought that Heyman was great, I just hate that the company is such a slave to the formula.

* Kane is supposedly in Hawaii on his vacation. Then they discussed J&J’s road trip in their new car.

Non-Title Match: Champion Ryback vs. Big Show: I really dislike that they are doing matches involving the guys in the triple threat match; it’s something that I think that they really should avoid. First of all, you should have the guys in the title match pick up some wins so that they have momentum. Also, by not doing the matches between the participants, you keep the triple threat fresh. They showed a short clip of Ryback’s WWE.com interview, I still say that those are good interviews and should be utilized on Raw and Smackdown. Miz is at ringside with a mic, and would do some “commentary,” basically trying to annoy his Battleground opponents. The match went through the commercial and it FELT LONG. Ryback missed the splash off the ropes, and then ate a chokeslam and an elbow off of the second rope by Show. Mix then ran in and broke up the pin for the DQ. Miz laid the boots to both, but then they got to their feet and cornered him. Miz tried to talk himself out of the ass beating, but he ate the shellshock and a chokeslam. Ryback then took out Show to sand tall. I generally hate investing time into a match only to get a DQ ending. While there are exceptions to the rule (last week’s Cena vs. Cesaro match is an example) this one was frustrating. I have no issue with the DQ, that is cool because I don’t want the guys losing every week prior to the title match. But this match wasn’t very good, and it felt about twice as long as it was. The entire package wasn’t horrible (the non-match stuff largely worked) but it just took forever to get there.

* More of Kane in Hawaii and J&J traveling in their new car.

Paige vs. Brie Bella w/Alicia Fox and Nikki: Paige got some revenge last week, defeating Alicia Fox. She continues her fight against the evil regime tonight. Tamina and Naomi watched on from the back. Brie controlled early, and then accidentally knee’d Nikki and Fox as Paige moved. Paige took over, it was a bit sloppy at times, and then Nikki Fox tried to get involved. Paige took them out, but Brie was able to score the win off of the distraction. They then beat down Paige post match, with Nikki hitting the rack attack. The Bellas and Fox stood tall, and this feud must continue. It was ok.

* We get highlights of the Reigns vs. Wyatt feud.

Roman Reigns vs. Sheamus: Over two weeks ago, Sheamus pinned Reigns on Smackdown when Bray Wyatt caused a distraction. Then on Raw, Sheamus and Reigns faced off and Sheamus won by countout, when Wyatt teased that he had abducted Reigns’ daughter for a creepy tea party. And that brings us to tonight. I actually enjoyed the match from two weeks ago; they work well together and deliver a fun and physical style. They worked through the commercial, and when they went to break the crowd was chanting for JBL as they just did not care. After the break, they were chanting for CM Punk as Sheamus worked the WWE mandated chinlock heat. Reigns then made the big comeback and was set for the Superman punch, but Sheamus countered and hit the Irish curse back breaker for a near fall. Sheamus headed up top and jumped into the Superman Punch. But then Wyatt’s gimmick and music hit, and “Wyatt” appeared leading to Reigns hitting him with the Superman punch in the entrance. But it was a decoy, and that led to Sheamus winning by count out. Reigns disappeared, and then Orton appeared and brawled with Sheamus to set up their yet unannounced PPV match. Orton hit an RKO to stand tall. Sheamus and Reigns had a rough time keeping the crowd, and the match wasn’t as good as the one they had two weeks ago. The build to Reigns vs. Wyatt is fine, but I get the feeling that the company has no faith in him for promos. Wyatt basically has threatened he and his daughter in this angle, and Reigns just strolls to the ring and doesn’t say anything? Not even a simple, “Wyatt, I’m going to find you, and when I do I will kick your ass and you can believe that”. Anyway, the Orton spot helped things out as the crowd woke up for that.

* End A VERY LONG hour one.

* J&J and Rollins met with Triple H, and Rollins spoke with him about what to do about Lesnar tonight. Rollins said Battleground was in the bag, and suggested that he needed to do something unconventional, like provoking Lesnar. He then said he would call out Lesnar tonight.

Rusev and Summer Talk: In retaliation for last week’s segment, Rusev and Lana apparently have a big announcement as well. Rusev apologized for wasting time on that “fake, witch of a woman Lana” for the past year. He ran down Ziggler, and then got pissed at the USA chants. Summer was going to talk, but Rusev told her, “don’t waste your precious words hot Summer”. This led to Ziggler and Lana appearing, and Ziggler saying that Rusev got everything he has because of Lana and now he lost her. Why have they completely neutered Lana? She was bold and not afraid to speak her mind, but now goofy ass Ziggler is her hero? It makes no sense. Also, can we make it a rule that Dolph Ziggler is no longer allowed to talk, he’s really bad at it. Ziggler and Lana made out, and then Rusev attacked Ziggler with the crutch as they teased the ladies fighting again. Rusev then superkicked Ziggler with the walking boot and then removed it. THE RUSKI WAS FAKING! Summer then attacked Lana and tossed her to the floor as Rusev laid the healthy boots to Ziggler, and then slammed the crutch into his throat and hit him several more times before the segment ended. Well that was way better than last week’s public access after school special. It wasn’t great mind you, but a vast improvement from the previous segments that they have done. The segment was a bit long, and they likely didn’t get the big reaction from the crowd that they had hoped for, but this was much better than the previous segments. Now lets have Rusev kill Ziggler and get the man rebuilt.

Bo Dallas vs. Dean Ambrose: Bo cut a promo about the previous segment and then Dean Ambrose came to the ring. The crowd did a “Lets go Ambrose/We Bo-Lieve” dueling chant, and Dallas controlled early, but Ambrose quickly made his comeback and scored the win with dirty deeds. The match was fine; this was a rehab win for Ambrose after losing to Wyatt on Smackdown. I just wish they had an idea of what to do with him.

Goofy King Truth vs. Barely Wins King Barrett: This had no heat, the crowd did not care at all. Barrett was aggressive, taking Truth to the floor and punishing him for all of the shenanigans surrounding the king gimmick, and the fact that Truth has defeated him several times. So this was slow and had no heat, which means that they worked through the commercial. In their defense it got better after the break, but the lack of heat and the fact that they could have condensed this into a tighter and higher quality match. The match was too long, and it was only long because they needed to fill time; not because it needed to be. Barrett needs to move on and they need to have a direction for him because the man is damaged goods right now.

Rollins Calls Out The Beast: Rollins came out to the ring and had an axe handle with him. I would have brought a tank. J&J drove out their car, and we can only hope that it gets destroyed tonight. They all had ax handles, and Rollins rattled on and killed some time calling Lesnar a Neanderthal and that he was the thinking man’s champion. We also got footage of their attack on Lesnar from two weeks ago. He claimed that he was the only man that could defeat Lesnar and called him Heyman’s bitch, which brought out the beast. Lesnar showed that he was smarter than Rollins and his friends, because he backed off and had Heyman bring him TWO AXES. He then proceeded to destroy the J&J Cadillac. It looked something like this…

The look of joy on Lesnar’s face as he destroyed this car was fantastic. He then ripped off a door with his bare hands and threw it around. Mercury then foolishly charged Lesnar and Noble attacked as well. Brock “broke his arm” with the kimura and then tossed Mercury onto the car, once with an overhead belly to belly. Lesnar then charged the ring, leading to Rollins running like a little bitch. Lesnar stood tall with the title, and then dropped it to the mat. That was a lot of fun, but someone better call the Brisco Brothers body shop.

* End hour two.

Lucha Dragons vs. New Day (Kofi and Big E): New Day’s reaction to the destroyed Cadillac was priceless, as it reminded them of Lesnar destroying them in Japan over the weekend. The PTP are on commentary. Some back and forth early, the Dragons then cleared the ring (including Woods) and then hit top rope dives onto New Day as we headed to commercial. After the break, New Day worked the heat on Kalisto. Commentary was way too unfocused as they focused on bickering and bad jokes. Titus shutting up JBL with “I have two degrees, what do you have” was awesome though. Titus also tried to be focused on the match. Hunico got a tag, ran wild for a while as Titus buried JBL on commentary for not doing his job. The Hunico missed a dive as Kalisto was caught by Big E and suplexed on the floor. They then fished off Hunico to pick up the much-needed victory. This was a perfectly fine little match that gave the challengers an important win and served to hype the tag title match at Battleground.

* We got a great video package on Finn Balor winning the NXT Title over the weekend.

John Cena’s US Title Open Challenge: Indy Cena vs. Cesaro: Cena made mention of Owens losing his title, and then said not to fear because the champ is here. He then promised us a title match, and said for whoever challenges him to bring their “A-Game”. Owens came out and complained that “the worst part of Raw” was when Cena did the same garbage every week. He said it would end now and that he needed to win the title to shut Cena up. Cesaro then showed up and said he deserved another shot due to last week. He laid it out that he had Cena beat, and only lost due to Owens getting involved. Cesaro cut a good little promo there, leading to Owens backing off and allowing Cesaro to take the match. I am REALLY glad that they did not forget about Cesaro after last week’s excellent match. They almost immediately went to commercial, and came back to Cesaro fighting back to take control. The dude is such a freak, doing the delayed vertical suplex and squat with ease on Cena and almost decapitating him with uppercuts. Beast mode. They worked through a second commercial break, and Cena tried to go into his usual comeback but Cesaro stopped the five-knuckle shuffle with a crossface. Cena then did his freak routine to lift Cesaro up and escape. Cesaro escaped the STF, and hit rolling gut wrench suplexes for a near fall. They also had a really good crowd here, which only added to another very good match between these guys. Cena foolishly tried to climb the ropes, but ate a dropkick that sent him to the floor. Cesaro would hit the cross body, but Cena would roll through for the AA, which was countered by Cesaro. John Cena breaking out new moves still fascinates me, I love it don’t get me wrong, but after years of him doing the same old same old, it is refreshing. Cesaro then got a great near fall off of the springboard uppercut as we were now past the 11PM mark. They worked in some excellent near falls as we continued on and the crowd stayed with it. Cesaro got the big swing and sharp shooter late, and then transitioned into the crossface only for Cena to counter into the STF. Then Cesaro used his freak strength to get to his feet and hit a suplex for another near fall. Cena then botched the springboard stunner, but Cesaro hit the neutralizer for another near fall. These guys both have a crazy amount of strength, which allowed them to pull off some awesome counters that not many others can do. I also really like when Cena actually shows frustration, which he did again here on some of the late near falls. It shows that he care, which adds to the match. They brawled on the ropes late, and Cena hit an AA off of the second rope, and that was finally it. Owens tried to attack post match, but Cena hit an AA to send him packing. God damn these guys have awesome chemistry, and the Cena open challenge continues to be a highlight of Raw. I give much credit to Cena, who has been largely great (outside of the Rusev feud) this year. Also, can we now fuck off with the Cesaro doesn’t connect and can’t be believable as a player bullshit? The dude just had back to back excellent matches on Raw and the crowd was into him winning both times. This match was excellent, even better than last week and really helped to improve the show. The only compliant, and this is a small point, but this is an instance where WWE could have benefited from using time limit draws. Had you established that matches have time limits (say 30-minutes for the Cena challenges) you could have done a draw here and kept the positive momentum going for Cesaro. He’s not hurt here, but it would have been better for him going forward.

* End scene.

* Thanks for reading.

“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”

7.0

The final score: review Good

The 411

This week’s first hour featured a shorter opening promo, and also more interlinking segments to try and help the flow. Both of these things were appreciated, but it felt very long and that is not a good thing. I’d call it below average. Hour two was a bit better, Barrett got to win again, the Lesnar segment was good and the Rusev/Summer/Lana/Ziggler segment was much better than the other shit they’ve done. Hour three was easily the best part of the show, with the solid tag match to set u the title match at Battleground and the excellent main event. While far from perfect, this was an overall a good show this week.