Jonathan Dehn
WWE Monday Night Raw
07/22/2013
Austin, Texas
-Brad Maddox is out in the ring to begin the show, and we have ourselves a contract signing. Cena comes out first to a very hostile welcome. Brad asks Cena why exactly he chose Daniel Bryan. Cena says that the WWE Universe gave him the opportunity. Brad plays down Bryan with all of the usual stuff. Bryan is out to a large pop and points out that the fans want to see the match, and that is what’s important. Cena interrupts Maddox and says that he picked Bryan due to his God given talent. He tosses the belt towards Brad and tells him to give the belt to Khali if all he cares about is size. Cena lists off some of the smaller icons in WWE history. A sizable chant for Eddie Guerrero rings out. Cena goes on to tell Bryan that he picked him to compete and give him a challenge. Bryan signs the contract but gets interrupted by Maddox before he can retort Cena. Bryan takes offense to this and claims that he deserves the shot that he was been waiting his entire life for. Maddox then says that Bryan will wrestle in matches to prove himself. Bryan is game.
Sheamus vs. Antonio Del Rio
Sheamus comes to relative crickets here. Del Rio enters, and looks like a rhythmic gymnast as he twirls and waves his scarf on the stage. They circle and lockup. Off the ropes, Sheamus hits a couple of shoulderblocks. Del Rio fights back and kicks at Sheamus’ thigh bruise. He keeps working at it, but Sheamus comes back with a short, armed clothesline for just one. Sheamus hits a couple of shoulderthrusts in the corner. Sheamus gets an elbow up on a corner charge and hits a neckbreaker for just one. Del Rio comes back and beats Sheamus down.
Off a whip reversal, Del Rio hits a knee and chokes Sheamus in the ropes. Sheamus is getting booed on offense by some. He hits a suplex for two. Del Rio hits a dropkick to the thigh to come back and stomps away again. Sheamus pounds away in the corner, but Del Rio comes back with a cross armbreaker in the ropes. Sheamus just gets pissed and slugs him to the floor as we hit the break.
We return with Sheamus limping around and getting hit with the German suplex for two. Sheamus fights back from Del Rio’s taunt but takes a series of headbutts. Del Rio misses a boot and gets caught in a powerslam. Alberto kicks away at Sheamus, but gets caught and shoved into the corner. Sheamus hits a couple of sledgehammers, drives a knee into Del Rio and hits him with a flying back elbow for two. Del Rio floats behind and hits the Backstabber for two.
He follows with a kick to the back of Sheamus’ head. Del Rio misses a charge and falls to the apron. Sheamus clubbers Del Rio, but Alberto pulls Sheamus’ throat across the ropes. Del Rio charges into the Irish Curse Backbreaker for two. Sheamus goes to the top, but Del Rio hits the enzuigiri for a close, close two count. Sheamus fights back and powers through on the rolling Samoan Drop. Del Rio dodges the Brogue and kicks at the leg. Sheamus fights out of the cross armbreaker and goes for White Noise. However, Sheamus’ leg gives way and Del Rio rolls him up for the win, hooking up the bad left leg.
Final Thoughts: Good match and a clever finish that paid off the psychology of the match. Sheamus is such a fun face in the ring, but they still insist on having him talk the way that he does. The crowd was dead for him at the beginning, but warmed up to him as the match wore on. Sheamus is just that good in the ring. Once again, just let him kick ass and find ways for him to merely say, “I’ll fight ya, fella.” Then, pick up your license to print money.
-Renee Young is backstage with Booker T and Teddy Long. Booker admits to being shocked at the decision. Teddy takes offense at being left holding the bag while Booker was laid up. Booker threatens to toss Teddy out of the building, but Teddy comes back and says that maybe Vince left the right decision on Booker, and leaves.
Christian vs. Titus O’Neil
Titus hits a scoop slam to start and taunts Christian. Captain Charisma comes back with a couple of right hands but takes a shoulderblock. Titus continues after catching Christian and pressing him into the air. On the outside, Darren cheap shots Christian. Titus follows, carries Christian, and tosses him into the ring. He gets two from that impressive show of strength. Titus hits a harsh knee to the gut and dashes in an elbow drop and a leg drop for two. Titus lacks on an abdominal stretch and slugs away at Christian’s ribs.
Titus hits some knees in the corner and, in a funny spot, blows on a whistle as he stomps away. Christian comes back with a couple of rights and gets the boot up in the corner. Christian follows with a dropkick from the second buckle for two. Christian fights back and hits the second turnbuckle elbow. Christian bails on the Killswitch to knock Young from the apron, and Titus hits a big boot for two. Christian floats over out of a slam and hooks the Killswitch for the win.
Final Thoughts: This was just fine for the limited time, and I found some good chemistry between the two. Titus makes good on the limited time he gets to work with and put together something fun with Christian. If he ever gets cut, Titus is the type of guy that could do well on tour with a company like Dragon Gate, I think.
-Ryback joins Josh Mathews backstage. Ryback says that he enjoys intimidating others, including Josh. He loves to intimidate and bully those that are average. Ryback gets into Josh’s face and causes him to scamper away. Hooray, bullying. Be like Ryback, kids!
-Mark Henry is in the ring. Henry gets some pops for talking about being a native Texan and being proud of his efforts. He is not proud of what The Shield did to him. His heart don’t pump Kool-Aid, Shield! Mark calls them out. The Shield obliges him. The crowd chants for Henry as The Shield enter the ring. The Shield gets him into the corner but The Usos run out to help Henry. They take on Reigns before the three of them clear the ring, with Reigns eating a stereo superkick from the Usos and a corner splash from Henry. Reigns gets dragged out by his partners and the three retreat to their lair and/or helicopter.
-Backstage, Cena tells Bryan that there’s something behind Brad putting him into his series of matches. Bryan cuts a damned good babyface promo about proving himself on his own, and that he’s going to prove right all of Cena’s compliments from earlier on.
Darren Young vs. Dolph Ziggler
They dance around to start. Dolph snatches a quick rollup and takes Darren down to the mat with a drop toe hold and puts on a headlock. Darren fights back but Dolph lays into Darren with a dropkick. Darren drops Ziggler into the top turnbuckle and follows with a clothesline for two. Dolph fights out of the chinlock but gets thrown down. Young tosses Dolph by the hair and follows with another chinlock. Dolph hits a jawbreaker and dodges the corner charge. Dolph leaps in with a corner splash and a flying clothesline with pizazz for two.
Dolph gets the elbow up in the corner and punches atop of Young. Darren fights back with an electric chair drop for two. Young taunts for too long and Dolph slips behind and hits the Zig Zag for the win. After the match, Big E runs into the ring to attack Ziggler and to GET WILD IN THE FRIENDZONE. They brawl before Dolph tosses Big E and slides outside to avoid punishment. Ziggler taunts the platonic duo on his way out.
Final Thoughts: Another match to give Dolph momentum as a face. Due to his athletic ability and his theatric selling, Dolph’s babyface comebacks could become legendary, judging just by his flying clothesline that was full of swagger. After the match, due to Dolph’s character not being a complete idiot, outsmarting Big E and frustrating him following his exit worked well.
-Miz TV is next with him and the cast of Total Divas. This is quite awkward. We get a clip of the women worried about looking too much alike and there being competition. The crowd boos the clip. Thank you, Austin. Miz introduces the cast, with Natalya getting the biggest pop. Damn straight. Miz turns this over to Lawler for some reason. Jerry introduces himself to the new women. Queen Bitch Eva, I guess, takes offense to Lawler looking in her general direction and slaps with him the most robotic, passionless slap in wrestling history. There may have been a wardrobe malfunction in there involving someone, but I didn’t care to notice.
-HHH talks with Brad backstage about how Brad doesn’t think that Bryan is championship material. HHH thinks that Bryan is the future. HHH didn’t override Brad, as he thinks that Bryan is too driven to be stopped. Stephanie pops in to ruin the segment, playing the middle ground. HHH is going over Bryan at WrestleMania, right?
Fandango vs. Cody Rhodes
Damien Sandow is on commentary to cost Rhodes this match. The circle to begin and Fandango grabs a side headlock. ‘Go hits a shoulderblock but dances his way into a standing dropkick from Rhodes. Rhodes takes over and hits a running knee to ‘Go for a near fall. Cody tosses Fandango onto the apron but gets knocked down with a clothesline for one. On commentary, Sandow takes credit for Cody’s existence. The fans cheer for Cody’s mustache as he takes a back elbow for two. Fandango locks on a neck vise. Cody fights back and sticks a few punches. Cody hangs up Fandango in the ropes and hits a moonsault to send Fandango out. Sandow goes for the interference, by Cody hits the Disaster Kick and finishes with Cross Rhodes for the win.
Final Thoughts: This had a very sloppy finish, especially on the moonsault. Fandango was out of position and had to rush forward so that Cody didn’t crash and burn. The Disaster Kick was supposed to take the case into Fandango’s face, I think. Still, a good win for Cody as he gets used to working as a face. I’m enjoying him bringing out more offense that runs in his family. I wouldn’t mind a bionic elbow for two coming from him.
-CM Punk takes a slow walk out to the ring. Punk talks about getting his ass kicked last week, and how he kept getting up. Punk lists off some injuries but says that Lesnar cannot keep him down. Through all he has done, CM Punk thinks that Lesnar’s best skill is to instill fear in his opponents. But, CM Punk is not afraid of Brock Lesnar. Moving onto Paul Heyman, Punk says that he will never stab him in the back again. Punk challenges Lesnar for SummerSlam, claiming it’ll be The Best vs. The Beast. Paul comes onto the tron, via satellite, claiming that it’s great to not have to step foot onto the ground with…TEXANS. Still, Heyman accepts Punk’s challenge. Paul claims that The Best IS The Beast and that he is his best friend in the whole wide world.
Wade Barrett vs. Rob Van Dam
Barrett catches RVD posing on the turnbuckle and attacks. Barrett eats a kick and heads outside. Wade drags Rob out, rams him into the apron, and gets two. Barrett hangs Rob over the top buckle and delivers a big kick for two. Wade follows with a stomp and a choke into the ropes. Wade batters with a couple of knees and finishes with a big boot. Wade’s mouth is busted open from RVD’s kick from earlier on. Wade puts on a chinlock, but RVD fights back with a kick and gets the boot up on a corner charge. RVD hits the side kick and Rolling Thunder for two. RVD hits the senton from the top rope for two and drives the shoulders in the corner. Wade dodges the third and delivers a side kick to the gut. Rob fights back, puts Wade down, and finishes with the Five Star Frog Splash for the win.
Final Thoughts: Wade’s tough. He took the blood and smiled about it. Still, Rob needs to stop injuring people. This was just there.
DANIEL BRYAN RUNS THE GAUNTLET
Daniel Bryan vs. Jack Swagger
Zeb gets on the microphone and claims that Daniel Bryan should be ashamed of taking a handout. They circle to begin, and lock up. Swagger puts Bryan into the corner, but Bryan fights out. Swagger comes back and takes Bryan down, following with a shoulderblock. Swagger stomps away and then drives some knees in the corner. Jack follows with a suplex, and the Austin crowd makes sure to let Swagger know that OU sucks. Swagger charges, but takes a dropkick that drops him outside. Bryan charges for the dive, but eats a forearm. Swagger hits a Swagger Bomb, but takes too much time to taunt the crowd and Bryan locks on a YES! Lock to get the first win. Cesaro is Bryan’s second opponent.
Daniel Bryan vs. Antonio Cesaro
We come back from break already in progress with Cesaro in control. Bryan reverses in the corner and kicks away, but gets sent hard into the opposite corner for two. Cesaro slaps on a strong vise. Bryan fights out and hits a dragon screw legwhip, and a second. He hits a third and goes surfing with Cesaro. Antonio reverses a suplex and hits an impressive one of his own, following with a flourish of grounded right hands. Cesaro taunts behind Bryan, and puts on the vise again, wearing Bryan down. Bryan finally fights out and flips out of the corner. He hits the clothesline and chops down at Cesaro with kicks.
Bryan misses the buzzsaw and Cesaro looks on the vise, again. Bryan fights out and hits the corner dropkicks. That gets two. Bryan goes up, but gets shoved off by Swagger right into a European uppercut. That almost gets three and we go to break. Bryan gets a sunset flip for two when we come back. Cesaro hits a double stomp for two and follows with the gut wrench throw for another two. Bryan answers back with a headbutt and rights, but takes another slam for two. Bryan gets the knee up in the corner and hits a German suplex, followed by the buzzsaw for two.
Bryan goes up, but gets crotched. Antonio hits a European uppercut to the seated Bryan. Bryan blocks the super-plex and crotches Cesaro in turn. Bryan hangs Cesaro in the Tree of Woe and kicks away. Bryan charges and slams home a dropkick. Bryan takes him off the top, but Cesaro counters in midair with a cross body for two. Both fight back to their feet at the count of eight. They trade awesome Euro uppercuts but Cesaro murders him with a ridiculously brutal flourish and finishes with a brutal short armed clothesline for two. Cesaro goes for the Neutralizer, but Bryan counters and drops him. Bryan slugs Cesaro down, locks him up, and rains down forearms.
Cesaro spills outside, and Bryan hits a dive onto both Cesaro and Swagger. Bryan counters the uppercut from a press and brings down Cesaro in a small package for the win. Great! Backstage, Maddox and…Alex Riley (?!) talk about Bryan’s next opponent. Maddox is looking forward to the next opponent…
Daniel Bryan vs. Ryback
Bryan charges to start, kicking at Ryback’s oft-injured leg. Ryback slugs Bryan down and goes to taunting him. Bryan hits a couple of forearms and charges. Ryback takes him down with a knee. Ryback tosses Bryan across the ring by the BEARD and drives in some knees. Ryback tosses Bryan into the opposite corner with a hard whip and hits a suplex for two. The Austin crowd lets Ryback know that he can’t wrestle. Ryback goes to a chinlock. Ryback goes for the Thesz Press off of the whip, but Bryan rolls through with a half Boston crab. Ryback escapes and takes down Bryan. Ryback hits a splash for two.
Ryback follows with a spinebuster and loads up for the clothesline. Bryan meets him with a high knee and a couple of corner dropkicks, but Ryback comes forward with a clothesline for two. Ryback heads outside and grabs a table. Ryback sets up the table, but Bryan dives out of the ring and over the table into Ryback, sending him hard into the announce table. Ryback shoves Bryan into the steel steps in retaliation. Bryan chops Ryback down and goes for the ‘rana. Bryan reverses the powerbomb into a sunset flip for two. Ryback reverses the Yes Lock, tossing Bryan by the hair. Bryan hits the dropkick from the top and puts on the YES! Lock. Ryback manages to get to the ropes.
Bryan goes for the knee off of the apron, but gets dropped with a rough powerbomb instead. Ryback hits Bryan with a follow up powerbomb through the table on the outside for the DQ. Cena runs down after the match to beat away Ryback and challenge him to a tables match next week. We get a view of Maddox looking on with Vince. They set up Daniel Bryan vs. Kane for next week to make life harder on Bryan. The show finishes with Bryan rolling back into the ring for the respect pop, and Cena looking scared after Bryan is still able to get up after everything he had gone through.
Final Thoughts: I’ll take forty minutes of Bryan to end Raw, any week. When it comes to Bryan looking strong, people might be upset that Cesaro went toe to toe with Bryan for an extended period of time. I saw no problem with it. I welcome it, since the fans respect what Cesaro can do, even if his push doesn’t match it. He’s legit and impressive. As for Cena coming out to chase off Ryback, I have no problem with that, as well, as it should heighten the tension between Bryan and the WWE Champion.
–Alright, things are moving forward in this company. I think that there’s plenty to be happy about, and WWE is delivering on compelling storylines that will combine with terrific in-ring encounters. Already, the SummerSlam card has two compelling main events to work with and there are two matches set up for Raw next week. It’s great to see some logic in what is happening right now. Punk and Lesnar are going to deliver an intense 20 minutes encounter, and the ceiling is so high on what is going to happen between Bryan and Cena. The only bad part of the show would be that Miz TV segment previewing WWE’s newest venture into reality television. I guess that was made up for some by Brie Bella’s wardrobe malfunction that is already making the rounds online. Although the road that the McMahon storyline will, ultimately, not is worth the trouble, the slow, methodical push for Vince to be Bryan’s nemesis has been moving very slowly and hopefully produces a thrilling climax. At the end of the night, Daniel Bryan is arguably the number one face in the company, and delivered the goods in the ring.
