Monday Night Raw
Date: June 24, 2013
Location: North Charleston Coliseum, North Charleston, South Carolina
Commentators: Michael Cole, John Bradshaw Layfield, Jerry Lawler

The WWE is on a roll as of late with good Smackdowns, a good Payback and a great Raw last week. Tonight’s focus will likely be on Punk vs. Lesnar as Brock laid out Punk to close the show last week. We also have Henry vs. Cena on tap for Money in the Bank which should be entertaining given the roll Henry can get on when he’s in a zone. Hopefully the show is as good as it was last week. Let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of the two big stories from last week: Brock vs. Punk and Henry vs. Cena.

Here’s Bryan to open the show. He says that some people have accused him of having some sort of a little man complex. To set the record straight, NO he was not an extra in the Hobbit. Over the years he’s fought toe to toe with some of the biggest people in the business including Randy Orton. The countout victory on Smackdown wasn’t enough because Bryan wants a pin or a submission in the middle of this ring. This brings out Orton to tell Bryan to shut up and fight which is exactly what Orton gets.

Randy Orton vs. Daniel Bryan

Bryan jumps Orton to start but Randy takes it to the floor. He throws Daniel over the announce table and a brawl breaks out with Bryan diving at Orton against the barricade. The referee goes down and the match is thrown out at 1:20.

Bryan storms in on Vickie and Brad, DEMANDING a rematch later tonight. Brad says there isn’t time so Bryan says either he gets his match with Randy or he’s fighting Maddox later. Vince comes in to seemingly threaten Vickie and Brad but nothing comes of it.

Rhodes Scholars vs. Sheamus/Christian

Christian starts with Cody and gets two off a back elbow. They go outside with Christian being sent into the steps before Sandow gets two off the Wind-Up elbow. Cody hits a delayed front suplex but Christian fights up for a double clothesline to put both guys down. The hot tag brings in Sheamus to clean house with the ten forearms to Sandow’s chest. Off to Cody who eats a Brogue Kick for the pin at 4:40.

Rating: D. Why is it so hard to book Sheamus? They did the same thing last year against Alberto and now we’re getting it here too. For some reason the solution for Sheamus seems to be “have the same match over and over and wonder why people stop caring after the second time.” This is a horrible feud and I don’t know of anyone who cares about it.

Punk is in the back when Vickie tells him he has a match tonight. Punk shouts at Vickie and that’s about it.

Aksana vs. Kaitlyn

Kaitlyn pounds away to start as Kaitlyn’s own music plays. Cue AJ in a Kaitlyn costume (meaning heavily muscled) allowing Aksana to roll Kaitlyn up for two. Spear finishes Aksana at 1:25.

AJ makes fun of Kaitlyn for believing she had a secret admirer until Langston comes out. More jokes about Kaitlyn’s size are made and that’s about it.

Apparently Bray Wyatt tweets. Here’s another vignette of how creepy he is, but remember that he comes out of the swamp every now and then to tweet.

We recap Henry’s fake retirement last week. By recap I mean show half the segment.

Chris Jericho vs. Alberto Del Rio

This is a rematch from last Friday where Del Rio won by DQ. Jericho takes over to start and chops the champion into the corner. A snapmare gets two for Chris but Del Rio gets him into the corner for a kick to the ribs. Del Rio charges into a boot to the head and takes a middle rope dropkick for two. Del Rio is sent to the floor but jericho misses a dropkick and bangs up his knee to change momentum again.

Back with Jericho getting two each off a small package and an enziguri. Jericho goes up but gets caught by the corner enziguri to send him to the floor. Back in and Del Rio stomps away before putting on a quick chinlock. Chris chops up but misses a dropkick to put him right back down. Back to el chinlock by Alberto before Jericho is whipped chest first into the buckle. The Canadian comes back with a high cross body for two and a northern lights suplex gets the same.

Jericho avoids a charge in the corner to send Del Rio shoulder first into the post, but the champion blocks the Codebreaker. Jericho rolls into the Walls but Del Rio spins out just in time. The low superkick gets two for Alberto but Jericho counters the armbreaker into the bulldog. The Lionsault gets knees though and it’s off the armbreaker but Jericho springboards himself off the ropes and into the Walls but Ricardo comes in for the LAME DQ at 14:10.

Rating: B-. This would have been so much better had we not seen the exact same thing on Smackdown. That’s one of WWE’s biggest issues right now: there’s no space between these matches. We go from a match on Raw to the same match on Smackdown and then a third match on the next Raw. What time for a build or anything is there? The match here worked fine but the ending was painfully obvious about five minutes into the match.

Post match Ziggler runs in and hits a Zig Zag on both guys as payback for Jericho attacking him on Friday.

HHH comes in to see Brad and Vickie and apparently the WWE Universe wants to see Bryan vs. Orton tonight. However, HHH wants Vickie to over deliver. It should be a choice of what kind of match the match should have and Vickie of course agrees.

Jerry Lawler is in the ring to introduce Vickie Guerrero and Brad Maddox for the debut of the new WWE video game cover. There’s also a contest where you can submit and design the back cover of the game. Vickie is booed out of the building as she tells us we can vote on the stipulation for Bryan vs. Orton. You can pick street fight, lumberjack match or falls count anywhere. Now we jump back to the game by seeing Vickie’s cover design: HHH, Vince and Stephanie looking mad. Brad shows us his cover design: Cena, Punk and Maddox. Lawler shows us the real cover: The Rock.

Ryback vs. Great Khali

Khali shoves Ryback into the corner and chops him down but Ryback fires off some shoulders to the ribs. A clothesline puts Ryback down again but he comes right back with the Shell Shock for the pin at 2:18.

Here’s Cena to talk about what it means to be WWE Champion. Only 43 men have been WWE Champion and whether they were champion for over seven years like Bruno Sammartino or for one night like Rey Mysterio, they were the WWE Champion. He’s seen people chase the title and crack under the pressure once they get it, ad last week we saw the level that someone will sink to in order to be called WWE Champion.

Last week Henry cheated the WWE Universe and disgraced his family. Cena thought Henry’s false speech disgraced people like Edge, Shawn Michaels and Ric Flair who had to retire because they couldn’t do this anymore. Maybe Henry realizes that his time is coming to a close in the WWE and he has to do something to cement his legacy. This is where John Cena comes in, because in order to become a legend in this company, Henry has to go through him. It’s not Henry’s time though, because our time is now. Solid promo here from the man you call to put over a feud.

Tons of Funk vs. Usos vs. 3MB

The winners get a tag title shot, presumably at MITB. Tons of Funk have some guy who won a charity auction to come to the ring. It’s McIntyre and Mahal for 3MB here. Mahal starts with Jey who kicks Drew in the face and out to the apron. Off to Jimmy who gets run over by Tensai as everything breaks down. Brodus throws the Band out and dives off the apron to take them out. Back in the ring and Tensai gets two off the backsplash but it’s a superkick and Samoan Drop by Jey, setting up the Superfly Splash for the pin at 2:02.

Shield comes out to stare the Usos down post match.

Ad for The Call on DVD. David Otunga calls Halle Berry and isn’t funny. He also gave Kane her cell number.

Here’s Heyman to address the CM Punk/Brock Lesnar incident from last week. Heyman would rather do this in person though so here’s Punk for a discussion. First up, Punk thinks the fans should know why he’s a Paul Heyman guy. Back in 2005, Punk was signed to a WWE contract under VP of Talent Relations Johnny Ace. Ace thought Punk should be sent to Louisville, Kentucky to go through the developmental system.

At the time, Heyman was in charge of the developmental system, but he had been set up to fail. Punk was one of the guys designed to not succeed and a lot of the management told Heyman to cut Punk loose. Despite Heyman’s track record, WWE wouldn’t listen to him but Heyman never fired Punk. When ECW was restarted, Punk was the first draft pick (not really but whatever).

As for now though, Heyman needs to tell Brock Lesnar that Punk is coming for him. Heyman knows Punk personally and there’s no one more relentless or dangerous and Punk will do whatever it takes to bring the beast down. Now we can address the elephant in the room: what happened last week. Until last week, Heyman had never done Punk wrong. Punk wants to know if Heyman sent Brock Lesnar after him and for the first time in his life, Heyman better not lie.

Heyman says on his children, he didn’t know Brock was at Raw last week. The fans boo and Heyman says that’s exactly what the McMahons and Ace used to say when he said to keep Punk around. The moment Punk said Lesnar needed Heyman’s help, he picked a fight with Brock Lesnar. Heyman says there has always been professional jealous between them and that’s why we never saw Punk and Lesnar in the same ring together. Paul says he’s everything that Punk says he is and one day he’ll walk the aisle with Punk again when Punk is in the main event of Wrestlemania.

As uncomfortable as it is for everyone to hear, Heyman loves Punk and he’s not going to screw up his dreams because Punk needs a little time for himself. He’ll never represent anyone, including Lesnar, against Punk and that’s a problem between Heyman and Lesnar. Now everyone is telling Punk to get rid of Heyman so Heyman’s fate is in his hands. It’s Punk’s move and after a long staredown, he hugs Heyman and says he’s sorry for doubting him.

Darren Young vs. CM Punk

Young takes over to start and pounds him into the corner before whipping Punk across the ring. Darren stomps away and gets two off a suplex as this is one sided so far. The idea here is that Punk is all out of sorts because of the pre-match stuff. Off to a chinlock before Punk sends him into the corner for a running knee. Punk goes up but gets snapped throat first onto the top rope. Not that it matters as he comes back with the springboard clothesline for two. GTS is countered into the double knee gutbuster for two but it’s the Anaconda Vice for the tap out at 5:20.

Rating: D+. Young was trying but this was an exercise in killing time until Punk beat him. I don’t get the appeal of Young at all when he’s in the ring as he’s just a guy in trunks doing wrestling moves. Titus is a more interesting guy and far more entertaining but I guess they need to keep Young on the roster for some reason.

Post match the Players beat down Punk but Curtis Axel makes the save.

Vickie is on the phone yelling at Brad when Stephanie comes in. She’s mad that the Raw MITB participants haven’t been announced yet but she’ll go to it herself.

Here’s Stephanie to introduce the people in the WWE Championship MITB ladder match: CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, Sheamus, Randy Orton, Christian, Kane and Rob Van Dam.

In the back, Brad says he’s been working with Stephanie on the MITB roster when Ryback comes in to demand a title match. He wants to face Cena at the PPV but Jericho comes in and says he deserves to be in MITB. Ryback gets in Jericho’s face for whining. “I could eat you alive.” Vickie screeches and makes the match between them at MITB.

Post break Punk is annoyed at Heyman for sending Axel down for the save. Next week it’s Axel/Punk vs. the Players which makes Punk even more annoyed. He’ll do the match but he’ll prove that he can do it by himself. Then he’s going to win MITB and come after Lesnar because nothing else matters to him.

Here’s Mark Henry to address what happened last week. He brags about fooling all of us last week when people were cheering for him and holding up Henry signs. Henry saw people crying because he deserves an Academy Award. He’s had people like Steven Speilberg and Tyler Perry reaching out to him but that’s not what he wants. Last week he used his friends, family and other WWE superstars and he’s not apologizing to anyone.

For years people have been telling him how to live his life and he’s not having it anymore. People told him to stop hurting little kids and to go win at the Olympics. At Money in the Bank, a no good dirty lying Mark Henry is going to show up because the people are puppets. Last week he said he’s coming home and he is, but he’s coming home WWE Champion.

Wyatt Family promo.

The main event is a street fight with 50% of the vote.

Randy Orton vs. Daniel Bryan

Bryan takes it to the corner for the kicks but Orton sends him into another corner to take over. They head to the outside with Orton sending Bryan into the steps and barricade. We go back inside but Bryan baseball slides Orton back to the floor. Bryan loads up the FLYING GOAT but charges head first into a chair as we take a break.

Back with Orton bringing in a table but the time spent with it allows Bryan to moonsault out of the corner. A running clothesline sets up the corner dropkick but Bryan’s second charge hits the chair. Another table has been set up at ringside but Bryan can’t dropkick Orton off the apron. Instead he baseball slides through Randy’s legs and powerbombs him through the table in a smart move.

That only gets two so it’s time for the kendo stick shots to Orton’s shoulder. Bryan alternates with kicks and stick shots, only to charge into a t-bone suplex through the table in the corner. Back up and they slug it out until Orton dropkicks Bryan down for no cover. Orton counters a top rope rana into a powerbomb for two but takes too long following up, allowing Bryan to hook the NO Lock.

Randy grabs the kendo stick with the free arm and beats the fire out of Bryan to escape before beating on him some more. The RKO is countered into a backslide for two and now it’s Bryan beating on Randy with the stick. Back to the NO Lock but Orton gets the stick again. This time though Bryan takes it away and uses the stick to pull on Orton’s face for the tap out at 15:46.

Rating: B+. This is the kind of win that Bryan needed. He beat the tar out of Orton here and got the win in the middle of the ring with a tap out. Daniel is on fire right now and the fans are totally buying into it which is a good sign for all the hard work that he’s put into his character over the last few months.

Post match Orton shakes Bryan’s hand and walks away to end the show.

Overall Rating: C+. The second half of this show was WAY better with the interesting angles and good promos shining through. The other stuff however, including far too much Vickie and Brad, dragged things back down to earth. Those two are so annoying and nothing ever comes of them, making all their heat worthless. We had less time spent on McMahons as well which is a huge help, but transferring their time over to other authority figures doesn’t make things any better. It’s a good show but it needs more focus on interesting stories instead of whatever the bosses are up to.

Results

Randy Orton vs. Daniel Bryan went to a double disqualification

Sheamus/Christian b. Rhodes Scholars – Brogue Kick to Rhodes

Kaitlyn b. Aksana – Spear

Chris Jericho b. Alberto Del Rio via DQ when Ricardo Rodriguez interfered

Usos b. Tons of Funk and 3MB – Superfly Splash to Tensai

CM Punk b. Darren Young – Anaconda Vice

Daniel Bryan b. Randy Orton – NO Lock

Remember to follow me on Twitter @Kbreviews and pick up my new book on the History of Starrcade from Amazon for just $4 at:

Monday Night Raw
Date: June 22, 1998
Location: Frank Erwin Center, Austin, Texas
Attendance: 10,891
Commentators: Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler, Jim Ross

This is the go home show for the King of the Ring and the first set of KOTR matches, so we’ll have four of those tonight. Other than that expect more as far as the C-o-n-spiracy and the whole fallout from that. We also have Kane and Mankind vs. an Outlaw apiece. This looks like a very standard go home show, so let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of the end of last week’s show with Taker destroying Bearer. Kane will break his silence tonight.

Theme song.

The Cell is above the ring again.

Here’s Vince to open the show. He brings out the next WWF Champion, Kane. Bearer is watching on satellite. The fans immediately chant for Austin. Vince says this will be the greatest day of Kane’s life on Sunday. Kane has apparently requested a special kind of match. There’s no pin, submission, DQ or countout. It’s first blood. Vince wants to know how confident Austin is. Kane (who hasn’t said anything until now) says that if he doesn’t win the title, he’ll set himself on fire. I can’t help but laugh at this.

King of the Ring Quarterfinals: Ken Shamrock vs. Mark Henry

The Nation is sent out again as they’ve been for the last few weeks. Shamrock makes Henry miss and fires off the kicks. He walks into a powerslam to take him down though. Legdrop gets no cover for Henry, which is chalked up to a rookie mistake by JR. Henry hooks on a bearhug and then a splash to the back of Kenny. Back to the bearhug. Shamrock tries to come back with a sunset flip but Henry drops down onto him. And now bearhug #3. FEEL THE ELECTRICITY BABY!!! Shamrock fights back and manages to hit the rana, sending Mark to the floor. Vader runs out and drills Henry. Belly to belly by Shamrock wins this.

Rating: D+. Henry somehow didn’t get any better for about 12 years. I mean dude, by the laws of averages and muscle memory you would think that somehow he would get better. That belly to belly was pretty impressive. Shamrock had a lot of talent but was only going to be an upper midcarder at best given the way his character went. Plus injuries on top of that.

Edge is in the audience.

X-Pac vs. Dustin Runnels

Dustin, the newly religious man, offers a handshake but gets a crotch chop for his efforts. The move known as the X-Factor takes him down but it doesn’t mean much yet. Dustin crotches him to counter a bulldog but Pac sends him to the floor. Chyna hits him low and momentum shifts again. Pac hits some of those very fast legdrops of his. I’ve always liked those. Off to a chinlock and we talk about how Austin could make Kane bleed. Dustin makes a comeback and a cross body gets two. One armed suplex gets the same. He loads up the bulldog but Chyna trips him. Pac kicks his head off for the pin.

Rating: C-. It’s amazing how much less annoying Sean Waltman is when he’s against someone who isn’t a giant. Dustin is a good sized guy but they didn’t have to make him look like an idiot here to have Pac beat him. That’s what gets on my nerves about small guys like Pac and Mysterio: if they’re fighting giants, the giants have to look like idiots for the small guy to win. This has nothing to do with the match. I’m just kind of rambling now.

Pac won’t shake his hand again post match.

We talk to Bearer at his home in….wherever it is. He promises to be at Kane’s side on Sunday.

Here’s Jerry Lawler to rant about Al Snow some more. Snow has apparently stolen the cleaning lady’s dress. Jerry has some papers for Snow, and here comes Snow out of the crowd in a dress. Head has the King’s Crown. Jerry offers a meeting with Vince for the crown. Lawler gets the crown back and Snow is handed a contract, signed by Vince McMahon. Snow and Head have to team up and face Too Much at King of the Ring. If they win, Snow gets his meeting with Vince.

Snow drops to the mat and says pin me and pay me. Why wait until the PPV apparently? Jerry calls out Too Much but Snow pops up and beats them up with Head.

Edge is now sitting on the stage.

King of the Ring Quarterfinals: Marc Mero vs. Jeff Jarrett

Jarrett knocks him to the floor quickly as the fans are cheering for Sable. There’s a gag order on the Sable issue which translates to me that they have no idea what they’re doing with the story but they have to have her back. Mero powerbombs Jarrett and hits a moonsault press for two. He might have hurt his knee jumping but still manages a small package for two. Jackie trips Jarrett and Tennessee Lee goes after her. That lets Mero hit Jeff low and hit the TKO but there’s no referee. Cue Sable for a distraction and Jarrett grabs a DDT to advance.

Rating: C-. Match was okayish but this was about Sable. I don’t think they ever actually revealed what the reason was for her coming back, but that’s par for the course in this ear. Anyway, decent match and a weird thing to see Jarrett as the face in one of these, especially after that character totally bombed as a face for the Horsemen.

Jarrett says he’s seen the light and will be king.

Kane vs. Road Dogg

I don’t see this lasting long. Billy is sent to the back. Roadie tries to stick and move but there’s too much Kane. A big boot puts Road Dogg down and there’s the smother that Kane has been using on Cena lately. Road Dogg takes a beating but manages to get in some punches and a clothesline to send him to the floor. And never mind as Kane takes over again quickly. Chokeslam is loaded up but Roadie hits him low….to no effect. The chokeslam hits and Tombstone finishes.

Rating: D. Just an extended squash here but it made Kane look unhurtable going into the match on Sunday. That’s the point of this and it also pushes the tag title match which is coming eventually. See how easy it can be to efficiently book a show? Why don’t people get that more often?

Bearer talks about the Conspiracy and Taker wanting to shut him up last week. Screams are heard and Taker comes in and destroys Bearer again. Various stuff is destroyed and the feed cuts out.

And now, it’s time.

Edge vs. Jose Estrada

All that is known about Edge is that he’s a tortured soul from Toronto. He comes in through the crowd and Estrada jumps him. Edge comes back with a spear and sends him to the floor. Edge hits a flip dive over the top onto Estrada….and breaks Estrada’s neck, putting him out for months. Edge wins by countout. The replay shows that Edge’s leg landed on the top of Jose’s head. It only lasted about 30 seconds.

And that’s how Edge debuted.

Kane is freaking in the back as Foley tries to calm him down. There’s a buzz from Kane’s voicebox.

Jose is taken out on a stretcher. Based on the replay, it’s hard to say who’s at fault. When you flip forward like that, it’s hard to control where you land. Probably a combination of both.

King of the Ring Quarterfinals: Dan Severn vs. Owen Hart

Severn is in that t-shirt of his. He spears Owen down and you know he wants it on the mat. The American hits a German on the Canadian but gets caught in an enziguri. Fisherman’s suplex gets two for Owen. Severn comes back but gets caught in a neckbreaker. Owen rolls outside and grabs a chair. Severn grabs it and in the distraction, X-Pac comes in and cracks a chair on Owen’s back. Severn’s submission ends this. Too short to rate but the match was fine.

The Nation runs Severn off.

Post break Rock calls out DX for a fight and here they come. Remember that it’s still HHH vs. Rock in the tournament later. DX comes out but suits hold them back.

King of the Ring Quarterfinals: HHH vs. The Rock

Just Chyna out there with either person. Winner gets Severn at the PPV. Rock takes over to start and hammers HHH down. He ducks his head though and HHH grabs a swinging neckbreaker. HHH takes over and drops the Flair Knee for two. Rock takes over and hits a suplex for two. There’s the People’s Elbow but HHH kicks out. Rock punches HHH, HHH punches Rock, HHH hits the facebuster to take over. Rock sends him to the floor but as he poses, Chyna DDTs him for two. They trade sleepers and Chyna tries to interfere for some reason. The distraction lets Rock hit a low blow and win with a fisherman’s suplex.

Rating: D+. How was that 8 minutes long? Usually the rule of thumb I use is that each paragraph of text is about four minutes of video. How in the world was this an 8 minute matches? It was mainly punching for one thing and nothing at all stands out about it. Definitely one of the weakest I can remember from these two, but their big one is coming.

DX and the Nation run out and it’s a big brawl.

Here’s the semi-finals for the KOTR:

Shamrock
Jarrett

Severn
Rock

Kane is still freaking out. Mankind says stay here because he has to go have a match.

Mankind vs. Billy Gunn

Mankind talks about being a history fan and having a picture of men from Gettysburg near his bed. As he’s talking about this, the Cell is lowered. The story was about time healing all wounds, but he doesn’t want to heal the wounds with Taker after what Taker did to Paul Bearer last week. They’re not going to prosecute him though because it’s a family matter on Sunday at the PPV.

Here’s Billy and the Cell is still down. All Mankind to start including the running knee in the corner. He takes Billy to the mat with a body scissors and the Cell is up. Billy tries to fire off some punches and they go to the floor. Chyna’s interference doesn’t really work at all. She gets ejected and they stay on the floor. Billy drops him onto the railing and into the post but it doesn’t really do anything. Billy dropkicks the steps into Mankind’s face and hammers away but Mankind keeps getting up. Fameasser (called the Rocker Dropper) doesn’t do anything and a piledriver is countered. Mandible Claw ends this.

Rating: D. The problem here was that the ending was inevitable. I mean, did anyone think Billy Gunn was going to win this? The match just went on and wasn’t all that interesting at all. The Outlaws were good at just about everything, except for that whole having matches thing. They were more of an act than a team, which makes things like this a bit annoying.

Mankind can’t find Kane.

Here’s Sable of all people with about 5 minutes left in the show. She brings out Austin in the white baseball jersey which never really worked for him. He wants Sable to go flip Vince off for him. Austin looks around for anyone wanting a fight and then accepts Kane’s challenge. In one of the funniest lines I can ever remember, Austin says if Kane lights himself on fire, he’ll be there with marshmallows, hot dogs and beer and we’ll have a big campfire. Here comes Kane but blood flows from the ceiling onto Austin. Now the white shirt makes more sense. Kane says on Sunday the blood will be real.

Overall Rating: D+. I really didn’t like this one as much as I did last week’s. This was more about getting all of the things that we had to get done before Sunday done. The lack of Vince has been hurting the shows as he’s only been in the opening segments lately. The wrestling here continues to be weak, but seeing Edge debut, even though it was shot, was very cool.

Here’s King of the Ring if you’re interested:

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book on the History of Starrcade from Amazon for just $4 at:

Monday Night Raw
Date: June 17, 2013
Location: Van Andel Arena, Grand Rapids Arena
Commentators: Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler, John Bradshaw Layfield

We’re past Payback now and moving towards July’s Money in the Bank. Cena has retained his title but we had a very interesting development: the ultra rare double turn for Del Rio and Ziggler as Alberto won the World Heavyweight Championship by doing some very bad things to Ziggler’s injured head. It should be interesting to see where things go over the summer. Let’s get to it.

We open with the usual package of still photos from Payback last night, complete with the voiceover dude.

Here’s Del Rio to open things up. He asks us how his weekend was before telling us that his was excellent. Del Rio isn’t pleased that the fans were cheering for Ziggler after he won the title back last night in controversial fashion. The fans chant for Ziggler again and Del Rio yells at them for chanting USA the night before.

He says this is what America is all about: pigs and cowards. Del Rio says he’s spent the last five months fighting for us and he’s gotten nothing (other than the world title) but last night he fought for himself and won the world title. He’s willing to give the people a second chance though so we have another chance to show him the respect that he deserves.

Cue Punk to an ERUPTION. He says it’s been awhile since he beat Del Rio for the world title at Survivor Series 2011. Punk doesn’t like hearing Del Rio call himself the best so Alberto holds up the belt. Punk challenges him to a title match but Heyman says that Punk doesn’t fight for free. That’s not cool with Punk though because he wants to fight no matter what.

Yeah Punk is banged up but when Del Rio was stealing the title, Punk was stealing the show. Punk still wants a match tonight but Del Rio says Punk doesn’t want any of him. With that not being an option, Punk offers to fight Ricardo but here are Vickie and Maddox for an interruption. She says it’s Del Rio vs. Punk tonight but makes no mention of the title being on the line.

Punk says that he respects Paul Heyman but he isn’t a client. From now on, Punk doesn’t want Heyman out there for his matches. Punk respects him but he doesn’t want him there.

Intercontinental Title: Curtis Axel vs. Wade Barrett

Before Axel’s entrance, Vickie interferes and makes it Barrett vs…….CHRISTIAN!

Wade Barrett vs. Christian

Christian takes it to the floor to start and hits a BIG dive to take out Barrett. Back in and Barrett hooks a chinlock, only to have Christian fight up and hit a tornado DDT for two. Wade kicks him in the ribs for two but Christian avoids a charge in the corner. The Killswitch ends Barrett in 3:10.

Rating: C-. That’s a nice return for Christian but the guy isn’t going to be a huge star like people think he’s going to be. Barrett’s slide continues and I’m thinking his time of mattering in WWE whatsoever is almost done. There’s just nothing here for him as he hasn’t done anything of note in forever.

You can pick No DQ, 2/3 falls or no countout for Bryan vs. Orton later on.

The Wyatt Family is coming.

Sheamus vs. Rhodes Scholars

For those of you not happy with Sheamus beating one of them at once, now he gets to beat both of them AT THE SAME TIME! The Scholars don’t have to tag so they manage to stomp Sheamus down and hit a double snap suplex for two. A kick to the face sets up the Wind-Up Elbow for two on Sheamus. Cody slaps Sheamus in the face and the one on two beatdown begins. Rhodes is sent to the floor and Sheamus hits the Regal Roll on Sandow. The ten forearms crush Cody and White Noise crushes the crushed remains of Cody Rhodes even further. Sheamus loads up the Brogue Kick but gets rolled up by Sandow for the pin at 3:38.

Rating: D-. I love Sheamus but DEAR GOD LET THIS FREAKING FEUD END ALREADY. Scratch that. This isn’t a feud. This is Sheamus swatting away flies for an extended period of time. It’s not fun, it’s not interesting, and the matches aren’t any good. Is there NOTHING else that Sheamus could be doing at all? NOTHING?

Mark Henry might retire later tonight.

RVD is back at MITB.

HHH is in the back with Vickie and Brad. Vickie sucks up to him but HHH wants to know what the main event was going to be if Punk didn’t question him. He also wants to know why Christian has been medically cleared for a month and a half and not been back until tonight. Also, why didn’t he hear about either Brad or Vickie when he was negotiating for RVD’s return? As for Shield, if they get involved then play tough with them. HHH thinks it’s a stroke of genius to put 3MB on the show tonight as well. HHH’s questions were HILARIOUS.

Yeah I just said that. Why do you ask?

Bryan doesn’t want to hear it from Kane that he told Bryan so. Kane thinks HELL NO should reunite but Bryan only wants to think about Team DB, Team Daniel Bryan. Kane: “Well that’s good because you’re acting like a D.B.” They both say they want to win the WWE Championship and they don’t know if the team is done or not. Kane wishes him good luck tonight, which Bryan interprets as Kane saying he’s the weak link.

Randy Orton vs. Daniel Bryan

Before the match we hear Orton saying that Bryan is the weak link in the team and is the reason they lost the title match last night. The match is going to be No DQ with 54% of the vote. Bryan goes after the arm to start but Orton reverses into a hammerlock of his own. Daniel fights up and kicks away at the legs before hitting the double knee stomp out of the surfboard. Orton comes back to stomp Bryan down into the corner and puts Daniel down off the slingshot suplex.

Bryan counters the Thesz Press into a half crab but Orton grabs the ropes. More kicks in the corner put Orton down again but he comes back with a clothesline and a chinlock. Back up and Orton pounds away in the corner but Bryan comes back with the moonsault out of the corner and a running clothesline. A pair of running dropkicks in the corner get two for Daniel but Orton avoids the FLYING GOAT. Orton pulls out a kendo stick to pound on Bryan for two back in the ring and we take a break.

Back with Bryan blocking a superplex and hitting the missile dropkick for no cover. Orton comes back with the powerslam and Bryan goes to the apron for the Elevated DDT, only to have Bryan fight out and go for the NO Lock. Orton counters into a slingshot to send Bryan to the apron and a kick to the ribs puts him on the floor. It appeared to be a low blow so here’s a trainer to check on Bryan. Back in and Bryan pounds away before they head to the floor again. Orton belly to back suplexes Daniel onto the barricade so the referee checks again…..and the match at 15:00.

Rating: C+. Uh…..WHAT? That’s either the start of an angle or a legit injury when Bryan went into the barricade earlier. Bryan seemed fine but if a doctor saw something in him that we didn’t then the match should have been stopped. Either way, it was getting good until the sudden ending but never hit a high level.

Post match Orton helps Bryan up and nothing else happens, making me think it was a legit stoppage.

Here’s AJ to brag about winning the Divas Title by crushing Kaitlyn’s spirit. AJ says that she’s the hero of the story because she’s a woman that knows how to get what she wants. There isn’t a woman in the audience or locker room who is as strong, brilliant or courageous as she is. AJ issues an open challenge to the locker room and gets…….STEPHANIE MCMAHON???

Stephanie compliments AJ on her victory but thinks what AJ was saying was degrading to women. It’s time for AJ to start acting like a champion, about 23 hours since she won the title. AJ: “Instead of acting like a superstar, maybe I should marry one.” Stephanie says no one does crazy like the McMahons but AJ says she’s the younger version of Stephanie, just without a fancy pantsuit. Cue an army of Divas but Stephanie cuts off Kaitlyn, threatening her with punishment for ever interrupting her again. The fans tell Kaitlyn that she tapped off while Kaitlyn yells at AJ. The beatdown is on but Langston saves a screaming AJ.

US Title: Kane vs. Dean Ambrose

This is a rematch from last night with Dean defending. Kane hits some quick uppercuts and a powerslam for two. Apparently Bryan might have some nerve damage but is still being checked. Kane fires off some clotheslines in the corner and gets two off the side slam. Not that it matters as here’s Reigns for the DQ at 1:35.

Shield beats Kane down post match with the TripleBomb.

Mark Henry is here.

Vickie yells at Shield in the back but Vince comes in and compliments their ruthless aggression, meaning Vince vs. HHH MUST CONTINUE!!!

We’re now getting regular commercials for the WWE App. My girlfriend downloaded it the other day for fun and it’s nothing. It’s a string of videos and access to a social media thing where you can hashtag your city. There’s also a breaking news section with nothing in it that we could see.

Here’s Zeb Colter to say that he’s bringing Antonio Cesaro to his team. In other words, he’s now a jobber to the stars with a manager. Cole immediately buries the idea on commentary.

Antonio Cesaro vs. William Regal

Cesaro pounds him down and hits the gutwrench suplex as the announcers ignore the match to bicker. A delayed backdrop gets two on Regal and Cesaro hooks a swinging chinlock of all things. The Neutralizer ends Regal at 2:43.

Cesaro drapes a Don’t Treat On Me flag over Regal as Cole is literally laughing at this.

Here’s Cena for a chat. He loves being booed by the fans because they can cheer anyone they want. Some people love Punk and boo him all night and that’s perfectly fine with him. He goes to war every time he defends the title and after putting Ryback in an ambulance last night, he gets to say the champ is here. For everyone who never left his side, thank you. He can take any challenge that anyone puts in front of him and can’t wait for Money in the Bank.

Cena doesn’t care who challenges him that night because he’ll be ready. He knows he won’t have the title forever but the next person to hold it will earn it because the champ is here. The fans seemed receptive to Cena tonight….and here’s Mark Henry. He leaves a pair of boots on the stage and tells Cena he can put his guard down. Henry has watched Cena rise through the WWE and thinks Cena is doing a great job. The fans chant Sexual Chocolate as Henry says if you don’t remember the moment, at least you’ll remember his salmon colored coat.

Henry is proud of all of his success in the business as a former ECW Champion and World Heavyweight Champion. However, due to all of his injuries, he’s going to have to retire. The fans chant one more match and Cena hands Henry the title. Henry holds up the belt but hands it back to Cena because he never earned it. Henry talks about his family and says they’re going to get sick of them because he’s coming home. Cena shakes his hand….AND GETS A WORLD’S STRONGEST SLAM? Henry shouts that he has a lot left in the tank and says that the title will be his.

Post break Henry says all the people are puppets and everyone bought it.

Heath Slater vs. Chris Jericho

Jericho pounds him down with ease but Jinder Mahal breaks up the Lionsault to give Slater two. If my memory is right, Slater beat Jericho back in the first season of NXT. Not that it matters as the Codebreaker ends Slater at 2:20. Nothing to see here.

Post match Jericho beats up the rest of the Band because he can.

Paul Heyman doesn’t want to answer any questions about CM Punk. He says that he knows when to give his friends space and thinks we should be talking about the Intercontinental Champion. New catchphrase for Axel: he was born to be better than perfect. I think I like that one.

Sin Cara vs. Curtis Axel

Miz is on commentary. This is Axel’s third match against Sin Cara in less than six months. A quick backbreaker puts Cara down and a shoulder block puts him down again. There’s a quick belly to back suplex for two but Cara comes back with a DDT. Cara’s Swanton hits knees and a spinning DDT ends Cara at 2:40. Total squash.

Vince approves Henry vs. Cena for MITB when Stephanie and HHH come in. Trips gets on Vickie for not listening to him and glares at Vince.

Heyman sucks up to Punk and says he’ll be cheering for Punk tonight.

Alberto Del Rio vs. CM Punk

Non-title and Del Rio runs to the floor twice in the first minute. Punk finally goes to the floor but gets stomped down on the way back in. Del Rio kicks him in the head and pounds him to the floor, only to have Punk whip him into the barricade to take over again. Punk takes too long to shout at Ricardo on the way back in though, allowing Del Rio to snap Punk’s arm over the top rope as we take a break.

Back with Del Rio kicking Punk in the head as we hear that Bryan will be ready to go on Friday. Alberto goes up for an ax handle but gets punched in the ribs on the way down. Del Rio gets in another kick to the arm to send Punk into the ropes for the Backstabber for two. The low superkick is countered into a rollup for two and now the low superkick connects for two for the champion. The cross armbreaker is countered into the GTS but Del Rio rolls to the outside. Alberto walks out for the countout at 11:30.

Rating: C-. This wasn’t much but it worked well enough all things considered. This was really just a backdrop for the post match stuff which we’ll go to now because it’s more interesting than this match.

Post match Ziggler runs out and DESTROYS Del Rio to a mammoth face reaction.

Punk is still standing in the ring and LESNAR! He picks up a mic but says nothing. Instead he picks up Punk and lays him out with a massive F5 to end the show.

Overall Rating: B. I was digging tonight’s show as it had a certain edge to it. Stuff was set up for Money in the Bank, we got some decent action, we had a return, and we had some humorous lines from HHH to Vickie. The main story continues to be Vince vs. HHH which is still a stupid power control angle that has been done so many times and I have no idea why they think this is the best way to go. I was digging the show tonight for the first time in a long time though which is a great sign coming off a solid PPV.

Results

Christian b. Wade Barrett – Killswitch

Rhodes Scholars b. Sheamus – Rollup

Randy Orton b. Daniel Bryan via referee stoppage

Kane b. Dean Ambrose via DQ when Shield interfered

Antonio Cesaro b. William Regal – Neutralizer

Chris Jericho b. 3MB – Codebreaker

Curtis Axel b. Sin Cara – Spinning DDT

CM Punk b. Alberto Del Rio via countout

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book on the History of Starrcade from Amazon for just $4 at:

He’s back and he laid out Punk with an F5.  i can see Summerslam and I’m not sure what to think of it yet.

He came out to attack Del Rio to a MONSTER face reaction.  Things are changing and they’re changing in a hurry.

He officially announced it on Raw. Given all the injuries, I can’t say I blame him.  The fans gave him a very nice reaction and chanted his name.

Edit: scratch that as Henry beat up Cena to set up a future match.

Even Cole immediately buried this on commentary.It’s Cesaro, who completely misses the point of Colter’s speeches.  In other words, now he’s a jobber to the stars with a manager.  That’s an improvement for him at least.

Christian came back tonight on Raw and beat Barrett in a glorified squash.  I still don’t get the mass appeal of him but he’s certainly a good hand to have.

Punk said that he doesn’t want Heyman out there for his matches anymore.  You can see Punk vs. Lesnar at Summerslam for here.  Why I’m not sure but you can see it.

He called the US a bunch of pigs and cowards.

For the love of all things good and holy, let it be better than the last heel run.