By Sean Ross Sapp (@SeanRossSapp)
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Well, last week’s Raw wasn’t great by any means, but it was the best in weeks for the WWE, which speaks to how bad the show has been. As I’ve mentioned, I feel as if the new roster additions have watered down the show, and other, more over and deserving characters haven’t been getting any shine.
Daniel Bryan was stripped of the WWE World Heavyweight Title, with a Money in the Bank ladder match for the title set for the show. While there are a million interesting, awesome, cool things that could happen on that show, I have a feeling we’ll just get Orton’d. Orton having the title isn’t heel heat, it’s heat that makes me not want to watch the program.
However, the WWE did something very right to hook me into this show, and it had nothing to do with the main event. Last week, Cody Rhodes announced a mystery tag partner for his brother Goldust, on his quest to provide him with an adequate teammate. See? Its the little things.
CM PUNK IS LIKE DELIVERY PIZZA; PROBABLY NOT SHOWING UP TONIGHT #RAW
— DiGiorno Pizza (@DiGiornoPizza) June 17, 2014
– An awesome start to the show, as The Authority announced that the WWE would hold a battle royal to determine the final entrant into the title ladder match, and that it wouldn’t include John Cena, Roman Reigns, and Dean Ambrose. Wow. That’s awesome.
They did however, give Cena the chance to get into the match, however, but announced that he’d have to defeat Kane in a stretcher match to do so. WWE is stacking this Raw.
Oh yeah, movie star and stand up comedian Kevin Hart is a guest star on the show>
I can't wait till @KevinHart4real shows up so he can share stories about training with Stu in the Dungeon…
#RAW
— Corey Graves (@WWEGraves) June 17, 2014
Ziggler vs. Rollins? Sweet. It's happened a bunch on TV lately, but I haven't seen it, so cool.
— Sean Ross Sapp (@SeanRossSapp) June 17, 2014
I know it takes a long time to learn WWE's way of commentary, but it's so canned on Raw. And no, I don't like NXT's any better
— Sean Ross Sapp (@SeanRossSapp) June 17, 2014
By the way, when I say that, I don’t include William Regal. He’s fantastic, but I don’t imagine the WWE will ever let him near the Raw booth.
Jesus Howard Christ, this match was good. I’m not sure what WWE’s hang up is with Ziggler– some say because he’s prone to concussion– but he belongs in big matches, as does Rollins.
These two can just flat out perform. Rollins was about to win with the Curb Stomp before Dean Ambrose ran in an attacked him for the DQ. I wasn’t even upset at this finish. All was good, and made sense.
I want to see Ambrose break off from Reigns, do this type of thing on the regular, and not trust anyone. A loud, vocal Raven
— Sean Ross Sapp (@SeanRossSapp) June 17, 2014
Well, WWE is getting on my good side tonight. After Ambrose ran in, Triple H appeared on the screen and made a match between Ambrose and Bad News Barrett. What?! A new, fresh match up. Hopefully they dont fight 7 times over the next month, as is tradition.
This was a good old fashioned brawl, which was to be expected with Ambrose wrestling in street clothes. While that was good, the two commercial breaks for the match weren’t.
After a good, long brawl-heavy match, Rollins interfered and got Ambrose counted out. Even with the two cheap finishes, this is the best first hour of Raw in weeks. I said that last week too, but this improved.
Dean Ambrose sacrificing a win due to his hate for Rollins is old-school hate. Then beating the fuck out of his opponent was classic Dean.
— El Pollo Loco (@RappersRActors) June 17, 2014
– After the first awesome 45 minutes of the show, the lady killer Roman Reigns ran into Vickie Guerrero, who was getting the Authority some coffee. Vickie forgot sweetener or something goofy, and Reigns slipped something into their drinks. The lady killer situation works for reigns, but slipping something into the drink is kinda played out. Vickie then sneezed on the drinks, but delivered them anyway.
Roman Reigns, the lady killer, I get. Roman Reigns, the evil bartender, I don't
— Sean Ross Sapp (@SeanRossSapp) June 17, 2014
The first hour that I keep gushing over keeps getting better, as the Wyatt Family, with a ladder in the ring came out for a promo. Their already awesome entrance also keeps getting better, as more people get involved and provide lights for it. Just cool, cool stuff.
I don’t have to tell you what Bray Wyatt said, just that he was good at it. His point was that the WWE World Heavyweight Title represented power, and he doesn’t care about match outcomes. but he cares about power. Sheeeeeeeew, you guys. It just keeps getting better.
Sheamus came out…..and he has a microphone…oh no. He’s been doing so good without it. Please don’t ruin it. He cut a cheesy promo, and then set up a match with Bray Wyatt, which should be damn good.
The two had some good back and forth, before the Wyatt Family got involved, and the Usos made the save. What is this?!? A tag team match!? Right after Teddy Long got fired?! No!
Turns out, it wasn’t a tag match, Usos are just serving as backup. We still miss you, Teddy.
Sheamus hit a bad ass powerslam on Wyatt, before the Family got involved, resulting in a DQ, and the third consecutive cheap finish. Okay guys, calm it down with this shit.
After the match, Sheamus and the Usos hit a cool ladder spot to end the segment.
God dammit Michael Cole. Never say "USO crazy" again.
— Sean Ross Sapp (@SeanRossSapp) June 17, 2014
@dajosc11 Because they haven't given me a reason to.
— Sean Ross Sapp (@SeanRossSapp) June 17, 2014
Now, if the WWE capitalizes on the world cup by just immediately having Swagger/Zeb challenge Rusev and give him a fight, I'll be gushing
— Sean Ross Sapp (@SeanRossSapp) June 17, 2014
@RappersRActors God dammit.
— Sean Ross Sapp (@SeanRossSapp) June 17, 2014
So, Stephanie McMahon drank the tainted drink, Triple H didn’t, so she was interviewed by Renee Young (who is awesome, by the way), and ran off to poop or something. I dunno. I don’t buy a professional like Stephanie sipping iced tea during an interview. Paul Heyman showed up, however, and cut his typical awesome promo.
– Well, here comes our first clean finish. Rusev is out to face Heath Slater. Oh goody.
Heath Slater got some mic time, turned face and got a huge face pop, before ultimately getting crushed. But I don’t care. Heath Slater made a Rusev segment enjoyable.
Good luck to whoever has to come up with a counter to that stupid ass Camel Clutch when Rusev gets involved in a real feud.
— Sean Ross Sapp (@SeanRossSapp) June 17, 2014
Umm…Stephanie McMahon puked on Vickie Guerrero. Low point of the show.
[Vince McMahon high-fives writing staff]
— Davis Shoemaker (@AKATheMaskedMan) June 17, 2014
– Kevin Hart was interviewed backstage, before being interrupted by Adam Rose and the Exotic Express. Hart is natural, probably because he can act. Duh. By the way, this picture is great.
Should've never gave you niggas photoshop. RT @AkmarShabazz: This is hilarious. RT @Chris__Coke: Crying pic.twitter.com/GsEn7PqINf
— Lincoln (@lobertdeniro) June 17, 2014
So I was pretty bummed to see that Fandango and Layla were taking on Adam Rose and Summer Rae, but Kevin Hart is on commentary, so maybe that will save it. Also, they showed the clip of Layla dumping kitty litter all over Summer Rae last week, and that kicked ass.
Cleveland made some noise for this match, though, chanting Rose’s theme song, at least for three seconds, which is about how long the match lasted before Rose won with his finish. Kevin Hart got in the ring and celebrated after.
Kevin Hart on the rise = Twitter loved him
Kevin Hart as one of the biggest comedians in the world = Twitter hates him
Typical.
— Savage (@HustleLOP) June 17, 2014
After Stephanie puked all over Vickie Guerrero, Triple H left Vickie in charge, and Reigns convinced her to put him in the battle royal. Uh oh.
The battle royal should be main eventing, not Cena/Kane. That can't end well. Main event with something people care about.
— Sean Ross Sapp (@SeanRossSapp) June 17, 2014
Battle Royal time! Man, I love a good battle royal. Damien Sandow came out dressed as LeBron James to mock the Cleveland crowd, which I loved.
However, he was tossed out quickly, followed by the jobbers (Diego, Xavier Woods, Titus O’Neil, Fernando, Santino, Sin Cara). After that the mid-carders went out.
The jokes on you, everyone in the match but Reigns is a midcarder! Ha!
It came down to Reigns and Rusev, and man, for all the negative I said about Rusev, it felt like a big moment.
After the two went at it for a bit, Reigns eliminated Rusev with a Superman punch, in quite the kickass ending. Raw continues to excel tonight.
Reigns is really good at that whole "pace back and forth while staring at a guy like 'yeah, come on motherfucker, we're doing this'" thing.
— Cageside Seats (@cagesideseats) June 17, 2014
If the WWE Orton or Del Rios us on this Money in the Bank ladder match, I'll be disappointed. Disheartened, actually.
— Sean Ross Sapp (@SeanRossSapp) June 17, 2014
I’ll just skip the pointless dull divas match, and move on to Goldust and his mystery partner. Who is it?! Booker T? The Miz? Ehhhh….
WHAT THE HELL IS THIS!? CODY RHODES PAINTED UP AS STAR DUST? WHAT? FART NOISES
— Sean Ross Sapp (@SeanRossSapp) June 17, 2014
Yes, Cody Rhodes painted up as Star Dust. I need time to process this. They beat Rybaxel.
They should have Cody in silver and black, tho.
— Blacksaw Jim Thuggin (@IIDeAIID) June 17, 2014
I'll bet Jeff Hardy calls Cody Rhodes after the show and congratulates him on the new gimmick
— Sean Ross Sapp (@SeanRossSapp) June 17, 2014
Kane vs. John Cena in a stretcher match for a spot in the WWE World Heavyweight title Money in the Bank ladder match. This was a really, really slow paced match until after the commercial break, which is to be expected from these two.
After the break, the two busted out the steel stairs, which have been Cena’s weapon of choice of late, and put those to work.
The end of this match went nuts, with Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose, and Randy Orton all getting involved. Cena did his signature steel stairs shot put and killed Kane. Cena ended up hitting the AA on Kane, and wheeling him across the finish line to win, and get in the title match.
– A fantastic Raw following a decent Raw, following about 7 straight trash Raws. This episode gave us fresh matchups, and although I didn’t care for the cheap finishes to start the show, it wasn’t worth complaining about after the terrible episodes lately. Easily a top 5 Raw this year.
The post Ultimate Writer’s WWE Raw Thoughts- 6/16/14 appeared first on Cage Passion.