Spoilers follow for the June 23rd episode of Raw.
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It feels like only a couple of weeks ago since the last PPV, but we're already in the last Raw before a PPV this week. Money in the Bank is on this coming Sunday, and we only have three official matches for it thus far. This Raw's job is to hype up the PPV, so there's a good chance that we'll get a couple of them added. Smackdown will probably have the midcard ones, like the inevitable Layla/Summer Rae match. Or maybe I'm just making things up. I do that a lot, you know.
Raw opens up with Stephanie McMahon, after being told that this is Raw episode 1100. Stephanie says that Vickie Guerrero needs to face the consequences of her actions from last week, where she gave Stephanie spiked coffee and also let Roman Reigns compete in that Battle Royal for the Money in the Bank ladder match spot. Stephanie gets some cheap heat by mentioning Eddie. Vickie begs not to be fired. We're supposed to be sympathetic toward her, I guess. Vickie is put in a match tonight, with her job on the line. Against whom? Against ... Stephanie! Wow. I guess Stephanie's testing the waters for that (hopefully inevitable) Brie/Stephanie match. This will be terrible but hopefully entertaining.
Jimmy Uso (with Jey Uso) vs. Luke Harper (with Erick Rowan)
A short, quick match leads to a semi-unclean win for Harper. Jimmy gets in most of the offense, but after a distraction, Harper hits the clothesline for the win. It's looking more and more like the Uso's title reign is over at Money in the Bank, as the two will have a match at the PPV.
Match Rating: **
Jey Uso (with Jimmy Uso) vs. Erick Rowan (with Luke Harper)
Jey Uso reinforces the WWE's 50/50 booking by beating Rowan in an even less enjoyable match than the first one. I'm hoping that this feud ends at Money in the Bank. It's just getting stale.
Match Rating: *1/2
Post-match brawl takes place after the match which eventually results in the two Wyatt Family members looking strong.
Rusev and Lana cut a pre-taped promo, likely from in front of a green screen. "America sucks, Russia's awesome, etc." This is a gimmick straight out of 1980. But, hey, it's getting heat. Sometimes.
Alicia Fox vs. Naomi (with Cameron)
Paige and Cameron are both on commentary. They talk about ... not a whole lot, actually. It's repetitious commentary. In the ring, Naomi reminds us why she was going to challenge for the title before Aksana broke her eye. Alicia Fox as improved and has a couple of good moves, but she's getting stale. Her crazy act needs to grow, and she needs to improve her moveset. This match goes too long for the competitors involved. Naomi wins. She and Paige shake hands after the match. Fox ... doesn't actually do her crazy thing, which is a shock.
Match Rating: *1/2
Sheamus and Roman Reigns have a conversation backstage hyping tonight's 4-on-3 Smackdown rematch and the Money in the Bank match this Sunday. Reigns acts tough. Sheamus does most of the talking. Hopefully neither of them win the PPV match.
Titus O'Neil vs. Bo Dallas
You know, out of the recent three call-ups, I would have thought Rusev would have been one of the first to fight with Titus. He still hasn't. Adam Rose did last week and now Bo Dallas has. Titus dominates most of the match before missing one move and having Dallas hit his Running BoDog for the win. Another single-move victory. Ick.
Match Rating: *
Triple H is out after the commercial break to announce something in regard to the second Money in the Bank ladder match. The one that gives them a briefcase containing a contract allowing a Superstar to have a title shot at any point in the next year.
Seth Rollins is already an entrant into that ladder match, handpicked by Triple H because of course he was. Triple H then says he'll tell us the rest of the lineup. In order: Kofi Kingston. Jack Swagger. Dolph Ziggler. Rob Van Dam. Bad News Barrett.
No Kane. Kane had a title shot but then gets left off the card? Huh. Maybe he'll wind up going against Dean Ambrose. Maybe.
Triple H says he "knows" Seth Rollins will wind up winning. Rollins then comes down to the ring -- as the at-home crowd gets a Shield/Evolution flashback. Rollins cuts a promo about how everyone should move on. How great he is for creating and destroying The Shield. Rob Van Dam comes out to interrupt. RVD vs. Seth Rollins will happen now.
Seth Rollins vs. Rob Van Dam
Rob Van Dam dominates the early portion of the match, doing the same moves he does every match, basically in the same order. Is it just me, or is he really phoning in this run? He came out strong but the staleness is setting in really early.
Admittedly, this match gets good. It even get slightly creative midway through. A couple of new spots from Van Dam, which is good to see. Rollins winds up winning after Dean Ambrose comes out and attacks him. RVD is disqualified, although Rollins was ready to win anyway. Ambrose then demands to be put in the Money in the Bank ladder match.
Match Rating: ***
Rollins tells Triple H backstage that he wants Ambrose in the ladder match so that he can keep eyes on his former Shield teammate. Triple H makes it so.
WWE Intercontinental Championship Match: Bad News Barrett vs. Dolph Ziggler
Barrett takes a cheap shot at the Washington Redskins' team name prior to the match. Funny.
Like they've done before. Barrett and Ziggler delivered a great match. This one was more reminiscent of their one a couple of months ago, which was a couple of notches above the one they had on Smackdown last week. This was a great match, one where every near fall seemed as if it could end the bout. This is just a solid bout. There isn't a lot of creativity -- although a couple of counters showed they "learned" since the last time out -- but each competitor turned in a great performance. This could have been on the PPV, but we got it on free TV instead. Wow.
Match Rating: ****
Vickie Guerrero vs. Stephanie McMahon
Stephanie comes out second after Vickie is already in the ring. Stephanie says that the match isn't a wrestling match (boo) but is instead taking place just off-stage, and will be lost by whoever enters a pool of ... mud, I think, first. Stephanie orders some heel Divas to drag Vickie from the ring. Vickie winds up sending all three of Stephanie's henchwomen into the mud before Stephanie blindsides her and wins the "match." Vickie gets fired after. Then Vickie pushes Stephanie in as Stephanie was singing "Na Na Hey Hey (Kiss Him Goodbye)." Goodbye, Vickie. May you find a less embarrassing career.
Match Rating: N/A
A truly bizarre backstage segment involving Goldust and Stardust just makes you continue to wonder how much LSD Cody Rhodes has been taking.
Jack Swagger (with Zeb Colter) vs. Kofi Kingston
Swagger and Kofi shouldn't be a poor match. And outside of a couple of really noticeable point at which you could tell they weren't on the same page, it was fine. A couple of cool Kofi spots, some decent displays of strength from Swagger, and some blood lead to a sloppy but still entertaining bout. Swagger wins with the Patriot Lock and afterward we notice he was busted open. That was not intentional.
Match Rating: **1/2
A dull interview involving Alberto Del Rio, Paul Heyman, and Cesaro takes place after. Boring.
Damien Sandow vs. Big E
Damien Sandow is in the ring dressed as Abraham Lincoln. Who in creative hates him? Big E dominates him in a few moves. I feel incredibly sorry for Sandow.
Match Rating: *
Big E gets a mic afterward, which reminds us that Big E should never get a mic. He says that Rusev sucks and America's awesome. After beating up someone dressed as a former U.S. president. Lana comes out. Rusev ambushes Big E. Boring.
John Cena, Sheamus, and Roman Reigns vs. Bray Wyatt, Alberto Del Rio, Cesaro (with Paul Heyman), and Randy Orton
WWE must be under the impression that nobody watches Smackdown, or perhaps it's just that we need 50/50 booking even when only one person out of these seven will win.
The first half of the match was almost identical to the one on Smackdown. Cena gets beat up, makes a hot tag to Reigns, Reigns takes everyone out ... but this time, the heels stopped him from getting a win and beat him up for a bit. It's good to see Reigns in a match for more than two minutes.
The match is dull until the end, at which point it becomes finisher after finisher before Sheamus eventually hits the Brogue Kick for the win. Kane comes out afterward, which has Kane destroy everyone in sight. Good. He lost his chance to compete for the title and then seemed to be left off the card.
Triple H comes out after to announce that Kane will also be in the Money in the Bank ladder match. After that announcement, Reigns spears Kane, because Reigns has to look like the favorite. It's still too early for him, I think.
Match Rating: ***
The Good: Opening segment. Barrett/Ziggler. Main event. Kane.
The Bad: Stephanie/Vickie. Titus/Dallas. Big E's "promo."
Match of the Night: Bad News Barrett vs. Dolph Ziggler.
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http://i55.servimg.com/u/f55/16/09/70/40/raw_lo10.png
It feels like only a couple of weeks ago since the last PPV, but we're already in the last Raw before a PPV this week. Money in the Bank is on this coming Sunday, and we only have three official matches for it thus far. This Raw's job is to hype up the PPV, so there's a good chance that we'll get a couple of them added. Smackdown will probably have the midcard ones, like the inevitable Layla/Summer Rae match. Or maybe I'm just making things up. I do that a lot, you know.
Raw opens up with Stephanie McMahon, after being told that this is Raw episode 1100. Stephanie says that Vickie Guerrero needs to face the consequences of her actions from last week, where she gave Stephanie spiked coffee and also let Roman Reigns compete in that Battle Royal for the Money in the Bank ladder match spot. Stephanie gets some cheap heat by mentioning Eddie. Vickie begs not to be fired. We're supposed to be sympathetic toward her, I guess. Vickie is put in a match tonight, with her job on the line. Against whom? Against ... Stephanie! Wow. I guess Stephanie's testing the waters for that (hopefully inevitable) Brie/Stephanie match. This will be terrible but hopefully entertaining.
Jimmy Uso (with Jey Uso) vs. Luke Harper (with Erick Rowan)
A short, quick match leads to a semi-unclean win for Harper. Jimmy gets in most of the offense, but after a distraction, Harper hits the clothesline for the win. It's looking more and more like the Uso's title reign is over at Money in the Bank, as the two will have a match at the PPV.
Match Rating: **
Jey Uso (with Jimmy Uso) vs. Erick Rowan (with Luke Harper)
Jey Uso reinforces the WWE's 50/50 booking by beating Rowan in an even less enjoyable match than the first one. I'm hoping that this feud ends at Money in the Bank. It's just getting stale.
Match Rating: *1/2
Post-match brawl takes place after the match which eventually results in the two Wyatt Family members looking strong.
Rusev and Lana cut a pre-taped promo, likely from in front of a green screen. "America sucks, Russia's awesome, etc." This is a gimmick straight out of 1980. But, hey, it's getting heat. Sometimes.
Alicia Fox vs. Naomi (with Cameron)
Paige and Cameron are both on commentary. They talk about ... not a whole lot, actually. It's repetitious commentary. In the ring, Naomi reminds us why she was going to challenge for the title before Aksana broke her eye. Alicia Fox as improved and has a couple of good moves, but she's getting stale. Her crazy act needs to grow, and she needs to improve her moveset. This match goes too long for the competitors involved. Naomi wins. She and Paige shake hands after the match. Fox ... doesn't actually do her crazy thing, which is a shock.
Match Rating: *1/2
Sheamus and Roman Reigns have a conversation backstage hyping tonight's 4-on-3 Smackdown rematch and the Money in the Bank match this Sunday. Reigns acts tough. Sheamus does most of the talking. Hopefully neither of them win the PPV match.
Titus O'Neil vs. Bo Dallas
You know, out of the recent three call-ups, I would have thought Rusev would have been one of the first to fight with Titus. He still hasn't. Adam Rose did last week and now Bo Dallas has. Titus dominates most of the match before missing one move and having Dallas hit his Running BoDog for the win. Another single-move victory. Ick.
Match Rating: *
Triple H is out after the commercial break to announce something in regard to the second Money in the Bank ladder match. The one that gives them a briefcase containing a contract allowing a Superstar to have a title shot at any point in the next year.
Seth Rollins is already an entrant into that ladder match, handpicked by Triple H because of course he was. Triple H then says he'll tell us the rest of the lineup. In order: Kofi Kingston. Jack Swagger. Dolph Ziggler. Rob Van Dam. Bad News Barrett.
No Kane. Kane had a title shot but then gets left off the card? Huh. Maybe he'll wind up going against Dean Ambrose. Maybe.
Triple H says he "knows" Seth Rollins will wind up winning. Rollins then comes down to the ring -- as the at-home crowd gets a Shield/Evolution flashback. Rollins cuts a promo about how everyone should move on. How great he is for creating and destroying The Shield. Rob Van Dam comes out to interrupt. RVD vs. Seth Rollins will happen now.
Seth Rollins vs. Rob Van Dam
Rob Van Dam dominates the early portion of the match, doing the same moves he does every match, basically in the same order. Is it just me, or is he really phoning in this run? He came out strong but the staleness is setting in really early.
Admittedly, this match gets good. It even get slightly creative midway through. A couple of new spots from Van Dam, which is good to see. Rollins winds up winning after Dean Ambrose comes out and attacks him. RVD is disqualified, although Rollins was ready to win anyway. Ambrose then demands to be put in the Money in the Bank ladder match.
Match Rating: ***
Rollins tells Triple H backstage that he wants Ambrose in the ladder match so that he can keep eyes on his former Shield teammate. Triple H makes it so.
WWE Intercontinental Championship Match: Bad News Barrett vs. Dolph Ziggler
Barrett takes a cheap shot at the Washington Redskins' team name prior to the match. Funny.
Like they've done before. Barrett and Ziggler delivered a great match. This one was more reminiscent of their one a couple of months ago, which was a couple of notches above the one they had on Smackdown last week. This was a great match, one where every near fall seemed as if it could end the bout. This is just a solid bout. There isn't a lot of creativity -- although a couple of counters showed they "learned" since the last time out -- but each competitor turned in a great performance. This could have been on the PPV, but we got it on free TV instead. Wow.
Match Rating: ****
Vickie Guerrero vs. Stephanie McMahon
Stephanie comes out second after Vickie is already in the ring. Stephanie says that the match isn't a wrestling match (boo) but is instead taking place just off-stage, and will be lost by whoever enters a pool of ... mud, I think, first. Stephanie orders some heel Divas to drag Vickie from the ring. Vickie winds up sending all three of Stephanie's henchwomen into the mud before Stephanie blindsides her and wins the "match." Vickie gets fired after. Then Vickie pushes Stephanie in as Stephanie was singing "Na Na Hey Hey (Kiss Him Goodbye)." Goodbye, Vickie. May you find a less embarrassing career.
Match Rating: N/A
A truly bizarre backstage segment involving Goldust and Stardust just makes you continue to wonder how much LSD Cody Rhodes has been taking.
Jack Swagger (with Zeb Colter) vs. Kofi Kingston
Swagger and Kofi shouldn't be a poor match. And outside of a couple of really noticeable point at which you could tell they weren't on the same page, it was fine. A couple of cool Kofi spots, some decent displays of strength from Swagger, and some blood lead to a sloppy but still entertaining bout. Swagger wins with the Patriot Lock and afterward we notice he was busted open. That was not intentional.
Match Rating: **1/2
A dull interview involving Alberto Del Rio, Paul Heyman, and Cesaro takes place after. Boring.
Damien Sandow vs. Big E
Damien Sandow is in the ring dressed as Abraham Lincoln. Who in creative hates him? Big E dominates him in a few moves. I feel incredibly sorry for Sandow.
Match Rating: *
Big E gets a mic afterward, which reminds us that Big E should never get a mic. He says that Rusev sucks and America's awesome. After beating up someone dressed as a former U.S. president. Lana comes out. Rusev ambushes Big E. Boring.
John Cena, Sheamus, and Roman Reigns vs. Bray Wyatt, Alberto Del Rio, Cesaro (with Paul Heyman), and Randy Orton
WWE must be under the impression that nobody watches Smackdown, or perhaps it's just that we need 50/50 booking even when only one person out of these seven will win.
The first half of the match was almost identical to the one on Smackdown. Cena gets beat up, makes a hot tag to Reigns, Reigns takes everyone out ... but this time, the heels stopped him from getting a win and beat him up for a bit. It's good to see Reigns in a match for more than two minutes.
The match is dull until the end, at which point it becomes finisher after finisher before Sheamus eventually hits the Brogue Kick for the win. Kane comes out afterward, which has Kane destroy everyone in sight. Good. He lost his chance to compete for the title and then seemed to be left off the card.
Triple H comes out after to announce that Kane will also be in the Money in the Bank ladder match. After that announcement, Reigns spears Kane, because Reigns has to look like the favorite. It's still too early for him, I think.
Match Rating: ***
The Good: Opening segment. Barrett/Ziggler. Main event. Kane.
The Bad: Stephanie/Vickie. Titus/Dallas. Big E's "promo."
Match of the Night: Bad News Barrett vs. Dolph Ziggler.
<color=D6D9DA>_________________________________________________________________________________
If you wish to be notified whenever I post something new, please join this <url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/groups/view/2-50-Reviews>user group.
For an archive of all my previous WWE reviews, please go <url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.846764-Marters-WWE-Reviews-Archive>here.
Talk to me on the Twitter, <url=https://twitter.com/martertweet>@martertweet.
