The pre-show match was another interesting comedy match. As I mentioned in the review, it helps a lot that Hornswoggle and Torito are capable of having a watchable match. There’s likely going to be a third match with an angry Hornswoggle on his own (or on his own soon after) wanting revenge and after their first two efforts have gone so well, I’m totally fine with that, much to my own shock.

The opening match was Sheamus defending the US Title against Cesaro. This was exactly what an opening match was supposed to be: a good way of getting the fans into a show. There are multiple ways to do that and having two guys beat the tar out of each other for about twelve minutes is one way to do that. It worked really well with both guys one upping each other until the very end. Cesaro looked great and didn’t lose much in the loss, as it’s Sheamus rather than like Kofi or someone beneath him.

Cody/Goldust lost to Ryback/Axel in a bonus match which was little more than a Raw match. The only point to this was to split up the Brothers and there’s nothing wrong with that.

Rusev went over Big E. in what was just a step above a squash. At least Big E. got to hit the big spear spot to salvage this. Nothing bad but it was exactly what was expected.

The Money in the Bank promo has talking money. It’s better than that same song again though.

Bo Dallas vs. Kofi Kingston never happened as Kane interfered. Yeah it’ll be called a no contest, but when someone interferes and attacks one and only one of the people in the match, that’s a DQ. It won’t be remembered as such, but that’s what it was.

Barrett beat Rob Van Dam in another match that had a pretty obvious ending. That being said, it was still a nice back and forth match with both guys getting in a lot of their big spots. This is exactly what Van Dam should be used for: giving people a good match and then jobbing clean as a sheet. It was a step above a good Raw match and was fine for a PPV title defense. Barrett’s push continues, though it makes the loss to Sheamus all the more pointless.

Next up was Bryan/Stephanie/Brie over Bryan’s World Title. This was a well done segment as Bryan was ready to give the belts up and did the long look at them, but Brie stood up to Stephanie and said she was tired of being controlled. Brie wound up quitting and slapping Stephanie in the face before leaving. Given that the Bellas are easy to tell apart now, there’s not as much of a need for both of them to be on the roster anymore. Nikki will be fine with her shouts of COME ON to crickets. All the good people looked solid here and Stephanie got embarrassed so points all around. Bryan is still champion in theory but I don’t know how long that’s going to last.

This brings us to the first of the two main event matches. Cena beat Bray Wyatt in a last man standing match and I’m still not sure how I feel about it. The match was a great brawl but the controversial point is the ending. At the end of the day, it felt more like Cena used his mind instead of brutality to beat Bray, even though the AA through the box was a big move. The problem is it goes against the point of the match. It’s nowhere near as anti-last man standing as the Batista duct tape nonsense but it didn’t work for me.

On top of that there’s the whole Usos/Wyatt Family interference, as the match basically stopped for the sake of a mini tag team match between the four of them. It was entertaining, but I lost track of where Cena and Wyatt were during the match. Either way, the brawling was good, the ending wasn’t great, and Wyatt continues to have awesome matches in the main event spots.

Paige beat Alicia Fox in a boring match. Fox’s push will likely continue but Paige shouldn’t lose the belt for awhile, especially not to Fox.

That brings us to the main event with Shield sweeping Evolution in an elimination match. This worked but could have cut out five minutes or so to make it much better. The big problem I had with this was the second section, as about ten to fifteen minutes were a waste of time. As mentioned last night, why in the world are they tagging when ANYTHING GOES? The worst part of this was when Orton is trying to stop a tag and gives HHH A FREAKING PEP TALK instead of breaking it up himself. The whole thing just didn’t make sense.

Now to be fair it got much better as the match went on and they got to the violence, but this really didn’t work for the first part. That kind of stuff drives me crazy, especially when you have smart wrestlers in there. It wasn’t like they didn’t know what they were doing and we had to hear about HHH being all Cerebral and smart, but then he doesn’t know that he can do whatever he wants?

The great stuff later on was solid though as Shield came off looking great. They flat out defeated Evolution last night and that’s all they were supposed to do. It was a really solid match with Reigns getting two of the pins, Ambrose getting the fall over Orton and Rollins getting the big spot of the match. Again, Shield looked like equals rather than people Evolution was reaching down to help. It wasn’t as good as it was supposed to be, but it worked well enough.

Overall Payback was awesome with the two main events more than delivering and the worst match being the totally watchable Divas Title match. What else can you ask for from a major PPV? WWE is in a weird place right now as they can nail the big shows but the TV is hit and miss to say the least. There’s a lot of hope for the future though and that’s more important than some lame Raws.

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The reaction I’ve seen to last night’s show seems to be that it was one of, if not the worst episode of all time. This blew my mind as it may not have been the best show in the world but it couldn’t have been THAT bad. Let’s get to it.

Later in the night, Bryan came out and said he could give up the title, but it would be a slap in the face of everyone that had ever cheered for him while admitting that the Authority had been right. He said he wouldn’t do it, but Stephanie brought up a clip of Brie Bella shoving her a few weeks ago. If Bryan doesn’t give up the title on Sunday, Brie gets fired.

This is one of those moments that made perfect sense and sets up the drama that you need for the segment on Sunday and the moment will be good. I’m not sure where they’re going to go, but I can’t imagine Bryan is going to keep the title with him possibly being out all summer. At the end of the day they’ll probably put it up in Money in the Bank and that makes perfect sense for this situation.

The other good thing to come out of the opening segment was Brad Maddox being fired as Raw GM. Maddox isn’t terrible as a personality and has a future as a backstage guy or commentator, but there’s no need for anyone to be Raw GM right now. With the Authority around, anybody as Raw GM is going to look worthless. The GM’s have been worthless for eight months or so now so getting rid of Brad and eventually Vickie won’t hurt at all.

The first match was Cesaro beating Rob Van Dam thanks to Bad News Barrett interfering. This is my normal complaint: the #1 contender to the Intercontinental Title gets pinned six days before his title shot. Sheamus ran out to beat up Cesaro post match, making me see what they should have done: Sheamus/Cesaro vs. Barrett/Van Dam. At least with Van Dam he’s over to the point that a loss isn’t going to hurt him. Also Cesaro is getting that German suplex over as a secondary finisher which is a rare thing anymore.

Next up was the first of two Divas matches and I’ll look at them one at a time. First up we had Eva Marie pinning Summer Rae due to a distraction by Fandango and Layla. Eva and Summer have been feuding on Total Divas, which you need to watch to get the details. On the other hand you have Summer and Layla feuding because of something that happened on Raw. This leads to a problem with the Divas and Total Divas. The latter feud shows the problem with this.

If you watch Total Divas, you see the logic behind why Summer Rae screwed over Eva in the tag match on the show: Eva is terrible. She can’t wrestle, she’s there because of a reality show and how she looks in shorts, and she would drag down any team she’s in. It’s stupid, but at least it makes sense. That being said, we’re supposed to cheer for Eva because she’s some young tough girl that is trying to achieve something. We’re of course supposed to ignore how evil she is on the show.

On the other hand we have Summer chasing after Fandango, but if you watch Total Divas you would see them going on a date “in real life”, and them having ZERO chemistry and agreeing to just be friends. But now this is their “wrestling” life and there are feelings and a breakup there.

In other words, you need to watch Total Divas to understand one story but if you watch the show, the other story isn’t going to make sense. Hence the problem with the whole show.

Now we get to a match that was causing some issues with fans. El Torito beat Drew McIntyre, which fans called ridiculous, stupid and not believable. I don’t even know where to start on this. Time for a list!

1. Drew McIntyre hasn’t won a singles match on WWE TV since September 2012 when he won on Superstars. His last singles win on Smackdown was in March 2012 when he beat Hornswoggle. His last singles win on Raw was FOUR YEARS AGO. Drew McIntyre is a jobber. He’s been a jobber for years, he’s going to be a jobber for a long time to come, but because he loses ONE MATCH, it’s ridiculous? Yeah it’s to a comedy character, but that brings me to point #2.

2. Drew McIntyre is part of a comedy stable. 3MB is nothing but a comedy group and has been since the day they debuted. They’re in a war against a group that is only slightly more serious, and the real story is about a leprechaun vs. a half man/half bull who just had a WeeLC match with mini announcers and a mini ladder. But none of this works because a guy that hasn’t won a match on Raw in four years lost to a comedy character isn’t ok. Santino uses a freaking sock to beat a former World Champion, but Torito pins a jobber and the people are calling it completely unrealistic?

3. Where was this OUTRAGE when Torito pinned Slater on Smackdown a few weeks back?

4. Did I mention the pin on Drew wasn’t clean? Even still though, it’s time to freak out because a comedy character pinned a jobber.

Then Hornswoggle pulled off Torito’s tail, setting up a mask vs. hair match on Sunday. Is it stupid? Yes. Is it goofy? Yes. Is it for children? Yes. Is it something anyone should be mad about? Of course not, but they will anyway. I actually smiled at this a bit as they’re coming up on a match that actually makes sense in the feud. It’s cute and on a free show so why not?

That brings us to the big Wyatt promo this week. Bray did his usual stuff of calling Cena a hypocrite before moving over to Jerry Lawler. Jerry didn’t getin the ring but the Family beat up JBL and took Lawler into the ring. Bray asked Jerry if he had any issues with lying about Cena’s career and never bringing up anything that questioned Cena. Lawler didn’t mind, but the Wyatts threatened to attack him until Cena and the Usos made the save. Cena called Bray a hypocrite for attacking an innocent man who disagreed with what Bray thought.

This was the thing that WWE has needed to do for months now: have Bray do something evil. For months and months all we’ve been told is that Bray Wyatt is evil, but he hasn’t really done anything evil. Until people see him do something evil, like attacking a legend who had a heart attack live on TV two years ago and is in his early 60s, there’s no reason to boo him. Now people are seeing what’s behind the evil smile and there’s a reason to boo him. Notice the fans cheering for Cena as soon as he pointed all that stuff out about Wyatt. It can work.

Rusev beat up Ryder until Big E. made the save and waved the American flag on Memorial Day. Yeah Big E. is going to get mauled on Sunday in the yet to be advertised match, but this worked well and made Big E. look good for awhile. Speaking of looking good, I swoon over Lana more every time I see her.

Stephanie was talking to Alberto Del Rio about nothing that ever came up again.

Batista/Randy Orton beat the Rhodes Brothers in an elimination match. This didn’t mean anything and the elimination rule was thrown in at the last minute. The match made perfect sense and made Batista and Orton look good.

Bo Dallas beat Sin Cara just like he did on Smackdown. He isn’t great in the ring, but Dallas’ character is going to be amazing if they use him right.

Emma beat Alicia Fox in a nothing match. Post match, Alicia freaked out (again) and shouted that she was NOT a loser while ringing the bell and pouring soda over herself. I have no idea if this is going anywhere but Emma winning was rather questionable.

Then Damien Sandow dressed up as Davy Crockett and lost to Adam Rose. This is a hard one to defend so I won’t try, but I have no idea why anyone expected Sandow to remain a serious character. Rose and Swagger continued their feud with Rose getting the upper hand again. I’m also not sure why Rose didn’t debut against Swagger on Sunday.

We got the same Sheamus match we always get: Sheamus gets beaten up, there’s no reason for him to win, then he hits a Brogue Kick out of nowhere for the pin. Post match he was attacked by Cesaro to set up an injury angle though so maybe he loses the belt on Sunday.

The final segment of the night was the contract signing between Shield and Evolution. First and foremost, let’s look at the contract itself. This is a picture of what was on the paper last night.

Bray Wyatt opened Raw with another awesome promo, talking about how he’s going to end Cena’s fairy tale at Payback. He also went on about how a teacher told him he was evil but having the whole world in his hands is his redemption. His payback if you will. Cena ran out and hit a quick AA on Wyatt after outsmarting the Family. This was fine as Cena went at Wyatt physically instead of mocking him, which works far better.

I love Bray’s promos where he talks about his past and childhood because they’re just creepy and cryptic enough to make you wonder what in the world he’s talking about. It isn’t really clear and that’s why they work as well as they do. Bray isn’t the kind of character that should have his whole story fleshed out and it wouldn’t work at all if he did.

Cesaro beat Sheamus in a match that got on my nerves too much for two guys I like. At the end of the day, it’s the same story: have a guy beat a champion to set up a title match, because Cesaro beating up everyone on the roster isn’t a good enough setup or something like that. Think about it. Cesaro: “I’ve beaten up so many people lately that I’ve run out of people to fight.” Sheamus: “I’ll fight him.” No instead let’s have another champion lose to set it up instead.

The Beat the Clock Challenge was nothing special but I like it better than having someone beat Barrett. The matches were nothing to see because of time but RVD is an acceptable choice. The fans wanted Ziggler but Dolph losing to Barrett would have made them roll their eyes even harder so Van Dam was probably the best option out of the six.

Summer Rae returned (looking GREAT) to go after Layla for stealing Fandango. Again, giving the Divas stories is a good thing and we haven’t had women fighting over a man in awhile now.

Stephanie saying the title isn’t vacated but that Bryan will have to surrender it isn’t the worst idea in the world. You knew it wasn’t going to happen on a taped show when you thought it about of course. I don’t know how they’re going to fit a title match onto Payback with Monday being the last Raw, but Shield vs. Evolution would be a better main event anyway. Stephanie is AWESOME when she’s just being an evil jerk by the way. Her face when the fans chanted NO was great.

Rusev beating up 3MB was fine. Lana continues to be the real star of the act though.

Cena and the Usos pounding their chests was apparently from Wolf of Wall Street. I haven’t seen that yet so this was totally bizarre. The explanation doesn’t really help, but I’d prefer that over everyone pointing and pounding into my head that it’s from Wolf of Wall Street.

Speaking of Evolution vs. Shield, Rollins looked awesome against Batista. I’ve said it many times before, but power vs. speed is the best combination you can have in a match. Again, the key to this whole thing is Shield looks like equals against one of the biggest and most dominant factions ever. Having HHH interfere was a good idea as you don’t want either team jobbing before the big showdown.

Making the six man an elimination match is a good idea as well as it gives Evolution a chance to show that they’re better individually while keeping Shield looking strong. At the end of the day, any member of Shield losing to any member of Evolution isn’t a knock on them as losing to a former World Champion isn’t a step down for the most part. Making it no holds barred is even more awesome as it leaves the door open for a big showdown at the third show.

The Divas Champion lost as well because we need to push Alicia Fox all of a sudden. Why I have no idea, because AJ vs. Paige is coming soon enough. That was a really bad way to have Paige lose her first match, as Fox is a former champion but not a memorable one. It’s hard to put into words but there’s a difference between someone like AJ being a former champion and Fox being a former champion if that makes sense. It’s like saying Paul Orndorff and Hulk Hogan are both in the Hall of Fame. In that sense they’re equal, but being realistic it’s not even close.

The Adam Rose segment was awesome as the fans were way into his character. Him beating Swagger is better than running through 3MB or whatever he was going to do. I don’t get why WWE allegedly looks at him as a failure, as I’ve liked him since he debuted.

Harper vs. Cena was the usual good match between these two. WWE has done something very good with Wyatt vs. Cena: they have a match where neither guy could conceivably lose. I can’t picture either guy staying down for a count of ten, meaning (as long as it’s not a draw) that we’re in for a surprise at Payback. I could have done without the cliched knockout and count to ten ending though.

Overall Raw was a good show as they focused on other stuff to make us forget that there isn’t an active World Champion at the moment. Shield vs. Evolution is a very hot feud and Bray vs. Cena can be if they play their cards right. The PPV has a chance of being awesome if they don’t screw things up, which I’m somewhat optimistic that they won’t. Good but not great show this week.

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We’ll cover the other show long story to start. Shield hunted Evolution all last night and got the better of the old guard almost all night. They jumped Evolution as they arrived, then jumped then again during Evolution’s promo, then fought them off to end the show. As they’ve done since their debut, Shield looked incredibly strong all night and looked like they were ready to run over Evolution at Payback.

Now in theory Evolution wins the second round to set up a BIG showdown at Money in the Bank or whatever the next PPV is. However, I’m not sure where Shield goes after that. They don’t need to to split given how over they are at the moment, but I’m not sure I see the superstar in Reigns that is supposed to be there. He’s not bad, but I see him as more of a Batista while Ambrose is more of the top guy type. Not that being Batista is bad, but I don’t quite see the huge potential as much as I used to.

Adam Rose screwed Jack Swagger out of a match with RVD to advance their feud. Nothing to see here but it worked well enough.

Paige beat Alicia Fox, sending Fox into a huge fit post match. This was supposed to be the start of something, but at the end of the day it’s Alicia Fox. Yeah she looks great in her outfits and the cowboy hat really worked on her, but at the end of the day it’s Alicia Fox. I’m aware I repeated that because it’s for emphasis. She would literally change from teaming with faces or heels week to week so it’s hard to take her seriously. More on this later.

Now we get to the real story of the night: Daniel Bryan has a bad neck and will have surgery, putting him out of action for an unknown amount of time (I’ve heard anywhere from 4-8 weeks). I’m not sure what this means for the title, but if it’s over two months there’s almost no way they can’t take the title off of him. If nothing else have the Authority take it from him so they can get more heel heat.

One thing they did very well was to get the heat on Kane for the attack. This came later in the show but again we’ll tie these things together instead of jumping around. Later in the night Daniel Bryan was called out by Stephanie but wound up being dragged to the stage by Kane. This makes it look like Kane just annihilated an injured man in the back instead of doing some over the top insanity. It’s very nice to see them leave it to your imagination instead of flat out showing what Kane did as it makes things all the more sinister. I miss little things like that.

I’ll spare you my predictions about what happens to Bryan and/or the title until after we’re sure what’s going to happen to the championship. If they change it however, I wouldn’t be opposed to Kane as a short term champion. Right now there really isn’t anyone else to put the thing on, so why not give it to Kane so someone can slay the dragon?

Speaking of slaying a dragon, Cena and the Usos beat the Wyatt Family in a good six man tag. Cena got the pin on Rowan, which is the point of having minions. It keeps Bray vs. Cena going and apparently we’ll be going towards a last man standing match at Payback. The match should be awesome but again, Wyatt needs to win. Cena has lost them before and it makes me feel a lot better than if this were say an I Quit match.

Nikki Bella beat Natalya in a bad match. The story here was the Total Divas on the floor holding up signs to score the moves. This offended Natalya as I think we’re looking at a heel turn. This appeared to be part of the Total Divas story, which makes sense as Natalya is treated as an outcast most of the time on there.

This brings us back to Alicia Fox earlier in the night. While these may not be the most interesting stories in the world, they’re light years ahead of the 45 second “matches” that dominated the Divas division for so long and made them a complete waste. I don’t really care what happens, but I’d much rather see them have stories than just fill in time and act like they’re important.

Sheamus beat Curtis Axel and Ryback in a row. Much like the Divas, it’s nothing all that great but it’s better than having them do nothing all night and then wonder why they didn’t get over. Sheamus beating midcarders is as fine a way as any to get the title some respect, especially when someone will eventually give him a real challenge for the title. I was pleased with this one.

Dolph Ziggler beat Fandango but the dancer didn’t mind because he’s still got Layla. This is going to need some more time before it goes anywhere, but much like Alicia, it’s hard to bring myself to care about someone like Fandango.

Jim Duggan came out to chant USA, which of course drew out Lana and Rusev. Big E. tried to make a save but Rusev easily dispatched him. Rusev beating Big E. would be a nice win, but man alive has E. fallen in a hurry. Sidenote: assuming he squashes Big E., this gives Rusev the following wins: R-Truth, Xavier Woods, Kofi Kingston and Big E. You do the math.

Damien Sandow talked about being silenced and then lost to a cheating Cody Rhodes. At least there’s something there, but Cody as a heel needs to happen already as they’ve been teasing it for like ever now.

Batista vs. Reigns happened and that’s about it. Shield beating up the midcard wasn’t a huge stretch as Rollins/Ambrose were fresh and they both had chairs.

Overall Raw did some changing last night and it’s giving me hope for the future. As mentioned, a lot of people are getting stories. No they’re not the most interesting stories in the world or the most intersting characters, but they’re HAPPENING. That’s something the midcard and Divas have been lacking for so long and it’s nice to see an attempt at it, even if it winds up being lip service.

Other than that the big stories are of course Bryan and Shield, but we don’t have enough information on Bryan yet. Shield on the other hand continues their rise to being one of the best units of all time, even though I’m not sure where they end up. The nice thing, and for one of the first times in years, I have confidence that they’ll make it work somehow. It’s so nice to be able to feel that again.

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The show opened with Dean Ambrose defending the US Title in a battle royal. He wound up losing the title to Sheamus as the last man in the match and I can’t complain at all. This accomplishes two things: it gets the title off Ambrose who had held it for nearly a year and gives Sheamus something to do. It also makes the US Title seem more important as a big name like Sheamus is holding it now. With only one world title now, there simply isn’t room for guys like Sheamus, Del Rio, Christian and Ziggler to challenge for the big belt. You elevate the midcard titles and everything fits much better.

I’ll cover all of the Bryan/Brie/Stephanie/Kane stuff here. This of course leads us to the Disco Inferno. He used to post on the WrestleZone Forums as a paid guest and made a comment once that makes so much sense: “If a champion pins a challenger clean, why in the world would I want to watch them fight again?” That’s the problem with Kane vs. Bryan again. Bryan pinned Kane in the middle of the ring after his finisher. The question was “what can Bryan do to stop Kane?” We answered that at Extreme Rules but the feud is continuing because they have nothing else to do and the script says it has to continue. That’s rarely interesting.

What makes it even worse is how they’re going about doing it. From the camera in the back of the car to the Michael Myers feeling the segment had to having to watch Stephanie’s acting to the supernatural stuff with the Kane masks everywhere to how stupid the other segments are likely to be, this stuff got old fast. I don’t want to watch a bad slasher movie, but at least it’s better than Zack Ryder as Bryan will actually fight back. Also I don’t mind Brie Bella being there as it doesn’t feel incredibly forced and Bryan is the kind of character that seems like he’d be a family man.

Cesaro got disqualified for attacking RVD too much. The match wasn’t anything great but Cesaro had RVD defeated when he got disqualified which made this way easier to sit through. This is what RVD should be used for and he did it to perfection.

Bray Wyatt’s promo worked very well as he talked about being a god instead of just a leader. It seems that his feud with Cena will continue and again, Bray needs to win the third match. That would open the door for stories going forward and it’s not like Cena needs the win. Yeah the Extreme Rules match felt forced, but at least there’s a story here that makes me want to see where it goes, unlike the World Title feud.

Ryback beat Cody Rhodes to continue the Rhodes Brothers breakup that is going on too long now. Nothing to see here.

Los Matadores and Torito beat up 3MB. I have no idea where they can go after Sunday and I really don’t care to find out.

Rusev has dropped the Alexander and squashed Kofi Kingston. Again I didn’t care too much about the match as Lana was very distracting in blue.

Daniel Bryan beat Alberto Del Rio in a good match. This is the kind of thing I’d love to see as the co-main event of the B shows. You don’t have to have A-list star vs. A-list star as the main event of every show. Have another big match on the side (Shield vs. Evolution in a big gimmick match for example) and have Bryan go 25 minutes with Del Rio or Ziggler etc. Bryan gets a win over a former World Champion, the other guy gets a rub and doesn’t look bad in losing to Bryan and maybe he even looks better in the future. It worked at In Your House and it can work here.

Bad News Barrett beat Big E. again to retain the Intercontinental Title. This was as by the books as you could get and there’s really nothing wrong with that. Big E. needs a story instead of a feud now though, which isn’t likely to happen as the writers aren’t that competent.

We got a Mother’s Day message from Mr. T., which was basically just a way to make fun of his Hall of Fame speech. This kind of stuff makes WWE look so childish and likely is done to entertain themselves. They’re already borderline toxic to most big name stars, so why would they make fun of someone willing to work with them? What does this one off, 90 second joke accomplish?

Adam Rose debuted but didn’t wrestle. His first match/feud is going to be with Jack Swagger, which is WAY better than having him squash jobbers for a month while we wait for someone of note to fight him. The fans were way into the character which is the right idea, even though Rose doesn’t have a long shelf life. Also Zeb dancing, even if by accident, was hysterical.

Shield vs. Wyatts was nothing we haven’t seen before but it wasn’t bad. We got all the usual spots and sequences until Evolution came out for the distraction. The show ended with Evolution standing tall, which is the right move if they’re continuing the story.

Overall Raw was a decent show but Payback seems like they’re running on whatever fuel they had left over at Wrestlemania. Evolution vs. Shield should be an interesting second PPV match but I’m hoping they go for three singles matches instead of another match and THEN have another six man tag. Cena vs. Wyatt III all depends on the ending and Bryan vs. Kane II is just nothing I want to see. Still though, there was enough good to get me through Raw on Monday, but it didn’t do much to make me care about the future going forward.

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We’ll start with the pre show where Torito beat Hornswoggle in the WeeLC match. I was dreading this one coming in but man alive was I wrong. This was the kind of parody that WWE can do really well when they’re given the chance and that’s what happened here. Between the mini commentators (PERFECT, all the way down to JBElf calling Michael “Mikkael” in a dead on imitation), the mini weapons and Drew McIntyre’s big old dive, this was about 4857 times better than it had any right to be. As I said though, I hope WWE doesn’t run this into the ground by having the same idea over and over until it loses its strength.

The three way elimination match was exactly what I expected. It wasn’t a great match but having Cesaro get a definitive win over two former World Champions on PPV is going to do nothing but good for him. The response I saw on the forums was mainly people complaining about the people looking uninspired, but it really wasn’t all that bad. The trashcan at the end didn’t need to be there though and felt like part of another match.

Rusev destroying Woods and Truth illustrated one thing: Lana has some gorgeous legs.

Barrett getting the title back was obvious but there’s nothing wrong with that. Big E. was being dragged down by the title and I’m sure that’s going to happen to Bad News at some point in the near future as well. The fans being way into Barrett everywhere he goes is a good sign though.

Evolution and Shield was exactly what I was expecting and it still rocked way harder than I thought it would. The fact that Shield is hanging in there with three all time greats like they were last night was a great sign for their future. I’d assume we’ll get singles matches for the next PPV.

Now we get to Cena vs. Bray Wyatt for the match that everyone questioned my take on. I can understand people complaining about it and it’s not the kind of match where I’m going to put up a huge argument for what I saw as I can easily see all of the criticisms people have for the match. That being said, at the end of the day Bray won and it’s not like he was cheating to win. Yeah the Family came in, but it’s not like there’s a rule saying they can’t. That being said, yeah it did go a bit too far with the interference but it didn’t get to the point where I didn’t buy it.

That brings us to the end, where a child with a demonic voice distracted Cena so Bray could lay him out for the win. Honestly, was this any more over the top than the choir on Monday which got nearly universal praise? It’s a nice followup on the Raw segment and I believe someone said it was the same kid that Cena hugged at Wrestlemania. If that’s the case, big points to WWE for pulling that out of their hat. It wasn’t as bad as Shockmaster and it definitely wasn’t as bad as Black Scorpion. The voice plays up Bray having some sort of power and taking Cena’s fans from him. What more do you need?

Paige and Tamina happened. That’s about all there is to say here.

Bryan vs. Kane was fine for a first defense and had me thinking back to In Your House 7 where Shawn beat Diesel in the no holds barred match or Austin vs. Dude Love from Over the Edge. It was designed to put Bryan in over his head but have him fight his way out like a champion should. No it wasn’t as good as either of those matches but it didn’t need to be after how awesome his Wrestlemania matches were. It did its job and Bryan can hopefully move away from Kane, though I doubt he will.

Overall the show was predictable but it was a case where there’s nothing wrong with that. The big matches were all good, nothing was bad, and we have a nice setup for the next PPV which will be rematches of rematches. I’m not sure where they’re heading for the summer but there are several possibilities. Good show this month.

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We kick things off with a bang as John Cena comes into the cage opening the ring. Cena isn’t sure what to think as the fans have seemingly turned their backs on him last week when they put him in a three on one handicap match against the Wyatt Family. It was a match he couldn’t win and the fans gave him no chance. Cena wanted to know why the fans supported someone who didn’t have his passion and warns them that if Bray wins on Sunday, his message will soon take over the world. Then the crazy started.

The lights went out and a group of children could be heard singing He’s Got The Whole World In His Hands. The lights came back on and it was indeed a choir of children all in black. Bray came out with the lantern as the children surrounded the ring and kept singing. The lights came on again and they were all wearing the masks and saying Bray had the whole Cenation in his hands. One of the kids sat on Bray’s lap as he evily laughed and the camera zoomed in on the kid’s mask. Cena was completely distraught throughout the whole thing.

Where do I even begin with this? It was a genuinely disturbing sign and potentially opens the door for a lot of ideas. What does Cena do when Bray has power over the group of fans he loves the most turns on him? What does Cena do when everyone is booing him? What do you do with a man has the power to control children? I have no idea, but I’m really curious to see where this goes. One thing is clear though: under no circumstances can Cena win at Extreme Rules. I can defend a lot of Cena’s booking but there’s no real way to say that’s the right move.

The Usos defeated Ryback/Curtis Axel in a Tag Team Title match. The story here was that one of the Usos (by the way, no it doesn’t matter which it was. They’re the same guy for all intents and purposes) hurt his ankle and couldn’t move as well in the second half of the match. That’s fine for a story, but when you tag him in and he’s just fine and can do all the things he normally does, the story doesn’t mean anything. He was throwing superkicks and dives like his ankle was fine, so why even bother doing the angle at all? That’s the kind of stupid thinking that drives me insane.

Adam Rose debuts next week. That should be awesome even if it’s just a squash.

Heyman told Cesaro not to listen to people saying he’s a liar, because he’ll get Cesaro to the top. This is still in the seed planting stages but the harvest will be awesome.

Sheamus beat Titus O’Neal in a 35 second match. This is another good example of how awful Sheamus’ booking has been lately. Titus attacked him and had Sheamus in trouble, but Sheamus just popped up and won with a single move. Would it really kill them to have Sheamus lost a single match or to actually show some weakness? I honestly don’t get this booking at all and I haven’t for months.

The Hugh Jackman/Damien Sandow/Dolph Ziggler stuff just kind of happened. Jackman is cool when he’s out there and I like that they actually tied it into his previous appearance. Sandow as Magneto actually made me chuckle and that’s the idea of the segment. Someone in the WrestleZone live discussion pointed out that Sandow was destined for comedy and the more I think about it, the more I completely agree. Sandow explaining science and math to people has potential though.

Cesaro beat Swagger in a meaningless match. I did like him winning with a German suplex instead of the Neutralizer though. It’s always nice to see people mix stuff up. Heyman pulling Zeb’s mustache for a distraction was long overdue though.

Alberto Del Rio squashed Cody Rhodes to further the Rhodes Brothers split. Nothing to see here as usual but it was fine.

Rusev and Woods had an angle disguised as a match. The squash should work fine at Extreme Rules, just like it did for Brock against the Hardy Boys at Judgment Day back in 2002, and yes I know that was a handicap match but his partner was Heyman so we’ll call it a handicap match.

3MB actually won a match against Los Matadores. The main thing here was the announcement of the Wee-LC match on Sunday’s pre show. I still don’t like the Horny vs. Torito feud but them playing it so over the top actually makes it much easier to sit through rather than them just playing it as a boring match that no one cares about.

Stephanie’s apology to Bryan was about what you would expect it to be. I’m surprised at how natural Brie Bella being out there with Daniel feels. The fact that they’re married in real life helps a lot though as I’m not waiting on them to break up at the drop of a hat for a storyline. Stephanie playing it serious is interesting but I think we all know it’s another ruse.

This led directly into Brie facing Paige for the Divas Title in another angle disguised as a match. Kane interfered about two and a half minutes in and tried to kidnap Brie but Bryan made the save. I liked that he sent Brie to the back like someone logically would do, but she came back and almost got pulled under the ring anyway. Bryan getting laid out again works fine and the match on Sunday should be pretty solid. The post break stuff with Brie screaming at Stephanie actually worked. The Bellas are still annoying but Brie seems far more like a human than her sister.

Cena gave a serious promo (odd line about Bray riding a mule aside) about Bray that made it sound like he’s going to war. This is the Cena I can get behind, but again he has to lose on Sunday.

Barrett beat RVD in a very obvious ending to a better than expected match. The post match stuff sets up RVD vs. Cesaro vs. Swagger on Sunday, which almost has to go to Cesaro.

The big segment to almost end the show was Ric Flair returning to Raw to talk about how great Evolution was. The surprise was that he wound up endorsing Shield before walking out. However, the interesting part here was that Flair was clearly drunk, as is almost always the case. How in the world this is considered ok in WWE’s eyes is beyond me, as anyone else that showed up like this would be fired almost immediately.

The main event was Orton vs. Reigns which didn’t last long and ended with everyone running in for a DQ. Evolution looked do destroy Shield to end the show but Shield fought back and stood tall to end things in a nice surprise.

This was another Raw that would have been a classic if it was only two hours long. The middle hour just crippled it though and even a good third hour wasn’t enough to make the save. It also didn’t help that nothing was going to top that Wyatt segment, which is often the case around WWE anymore. I’m ready for Extreme Rules though and that’s the most important thing a go home show can do.
 

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The big segment opened the show as we had Daniel Bryan and Brie Bella celebrating the title win together for one of their few appearances together in the ring. It didn’t last long though as Stephanie and her horrible music interrupted things. This eventually led to Kane coming out and destroying Bryan with three tombstones, including one on the floor, steps and announce table, all while Stephanie’s bad acting reminded us that she was there.

This was the angle that they needed for multiple reasons. First and foremost, it makes Kane look like a monster heading into the title match. No he isn’t going to win of course, but this was the Ivan Drago vs. Apollo Creed moment that Bryan needed for motivation (except it’s Bryan instead of his friend of course). It also plays up Kane as the monster in the mask again which we haven’t seen in awhile now. Third it also lets Bryan get off TV so he can deal with the real life passing of his father, which is what really matters.

One more thing: Stephanie McMahon may look good in a red dress, but DEAR GOODNESS she can be annoying. It wasn’t even in the way it was supposed to be, as Stephanie is supposed to be her telling Kane to tone it down but it came off as her just whining and being condescending. That gets really old in a hurry and took away from the segment, which happens far too often with her.

Barrett beat Sheamus in the tournament in a surprise. That more or less cements Barrett as the tournament winner and I like the idea quite a bit. He’s been on fire since he got back in the ring and has been wiping people out with that Bull Hammer.

Hugh Jackman is guest hosting again next week. I’m cool with that as Jackman actually seems to love being out there which is all you can ask for from one of these things.

The Wyatts continue their creepy promos against Cena. Wyatt absolutely has to win in the cage and I think he’s going to. The thing is I’m not sure where we go after that, but I’m really interested in where it’s going given all those promos.

El Torito vs. Hornswoggle happened. Yeah there were others involved, but that’s the pairing that mattered. I can’t even begin to think of the people we can’t get on Raw, but these guys get their time of course, to hype a movie that has been mentioned I think once. Such is life in WWE.

The Shield vs. Evolution promo was awesome as well with Rollins in particular shining on the mic. It’s reminding me of Cactus vs. HHH to a degree with HHH being backed into a corner and forced to fight against people chomping at the bit to get their hands on him. There really isn’t much to say about this other than I’m far more excited about the match than I was before.

The Rhodes Brothers started their split while we’re getting ready for Ryback/Axel vs. Usos at Extreme Rules. I’m fine with both actually as Cody works better on his own and the magic of Goldust’s return was going to fall apart at some point.

Emma, Layla, Cobras, stupid.

RVD beat Cesaro to advance as well thanks to Jack Swagger. No real shock here as they had to get to this match somehow. The wrestling was better than I expected too. We also got a very nice post match segment where RVD planted some seeds of doubt in Cesaro’s mind regarding Heyman. I have a feeling this will be revisited in the future.

Paige beat Aksana in another not great match. At the end of the day though, I can’t blame Paige for a lot of these issues. We know she can go in the ring, but she’s no miracle worker that can drag a good match out of Aksana. It also doesn’t help that there’s the stigma of her being the best developmental Diva in forever so there’s a big standard to look up to. The finishing move looks awesome though.

Rusev squashed Sin Cara in a match that was more competitive than I was expecting. I kind of like that people are getting in offense on him but he’s just shrugging it off and winning fast. Lana’s legs continue to be mesmerizing.

Cena somehow beat the Wyatts in a 3-1 handicap match as chosen by the fans. I’m not sure why the Wyatts didn’t get the win here but it’s not the biggest problem in the world. The DQ ending made sense but it wasn’t the right choice overall. The post match stuff with Bray hugging an unconscious Cena and singing even more is creepy, but they need to follow up on it.

Overall Raw was entertaining this week but it was all about setting up the future. I’m genuinely curious as to where some of this stuff is going, but at the same time I’m really not sure they can pull off some of the stuff they’re setting up. Bray vs. Cena has potential if they’ll take some chances (no I’m not saying turn Cena) and the Shield rocket push is going strong. There’s hope at the moment but I need to see more before making a real judgment.

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