Jonathan Dehn
WWE Monday Night Raw
10/21/2013
Memphis, Tennessee
-We start the show with Stephanie and HHH coming out to rundown the card for Hell In A Cell. The Big Show interrupts their mic time live via satellite. Big Show Cold has an ironclad contract again, apparently. Show is suing them, which is always goes over well in a wrestling angle. Show lays into them until Stephanie cuts him off. HHH introduces the crowd to Dean Ambrose, but receives Daniel Bryan instead.
Daniel Bryan vs. Dean Ambrose
Bryan bests Dean with some technical prowess to begin. They trade chops, with Bryan getting the better of the exchange and kicking away in the corner. Bryan hits the kneelift and gets one. Bryan works at the arm, softening it up for later on. Dean escapes, but takes a dropkick. It’s back to the arm for Bryan. Off of the whip, Dean pulls up, avoiding a dropkick. Dean drops an elbow and takes control. Ambrose gets a clothesline for two, and follows with a snap suplex for two. Bryan reverses out of a tilt-a-whirl and hits a suplex. Ambrose bails and Bryan hits the baseball slide. Dean avoids the knee from the apron and catches Bryan with a clothesline as we go to break.
We return with Ambrose in control, locking on a headscissors after a belly to back suplex. Bryan reverses and goes to the surfboard, which is super over. Ambrose gauges the eyes to escape. They fight in the ropes for a spell. Ambrose catches Bryan on top and comes off with a butterfly super-plex. That gets two. Bryan gets two from a backslide, and the two collide in the middle of the ring. Bryan flips out of the corner and gets the clothesline. Bryan gets the corner dropkick and hits the ‘rana for two. Bryan gets the elbow up in the corner, but gets shoved off from a tornado DDT and spinebustered for two.
Bryan dumps Dean to the outside and hits the dive. Daniel tosses him back in and hits the dropkick from the top. Bryan misses the buzzsaw after kipping up and Dean goes for the rollup. Bryan rolls through and hooks on the Yes! Lock for the win.
Final Thoughts: It was good to see Ambrose get out there with Bryan and have a ***1/2 match.
-CM Punk steps out onto the stage to further expand upon his plans for Paul Heyman.
-Elsewhere, HHH tells Vickie that she’s here for the little things and not to screw up. Shawn Michaels comes into the office and mentions that HHH and Stephanie are no fun anymore. HBK mentions that people thought that both he and HHH weren’t cut out to be top men.
Santino w/The Great Khali and Hornswoggle vs. Heath Slater w/Drew McIntyre and Jinder Mahal
Santino is dressed up like fat, ready-to-die-on-a-toilet Elvis. Khali and Hornswoggle wear wigs. This is a bad comedy match that we need to forget even happened.
Final Thoughts: Just…move on. This was painful.
Dolph Ziggler vs. Randy Orton
There’s an extended lockup to start this thing. Orton bails and comes back in with a boot and strikes. Randy tosses Dolph outside and tosses him into the barricade. Randy gets two after they come back in. Ziggler gets out of the hanging DDT from the apron and pounds away on the outside. Orton fights back and is control as they reenter the ring. Orton stomps away, but Dolph fights back and gets ten punches in the corner. Ziggler comes out of the corner with a clothesline for two. Orton gets the backbreaker for two. Ziggler fights out of a side headlock and gets a clothesline and neckbreaker. Ziggler gets the high elbow drop for two. Dolph gets the Fameasser for two and a half, as Cole says. Orton catches Ziggler in the corner and hits an exploder. Dolph lands like that time that Kennedy suplexed Orton and got fired.
Randy gets the hanging DDT and gets some taunts in. Ziggler counters the RKO with a great dropkick for two. Orton avoids the Zig Zag and hits the RKO for the win.
Final Thoughts: ***. It’s always fun with these guys.
Tamina Snuka and AJ Lee vs. The Bella Twins
Tamina and Brie begin. Tamina uses some power to being to and works on Brie’s arm with a hammerlock. Brie flips out and tag in Nikki. Nikki gets a snapmare but gets tossed outside. Nikki has her throat dropped over the ropes. Snuka gets a suplex and a knee drop for two. Nikki battles out of a neck vise but the hot tag is cut off. Tamina gets a slam and follows with another. A hairtoss leads to AJ entering. Nikki battles out of a sleeper, but gets some boots to the back. AJ skips around and misses a corner charge. In comes Brie with some dropkicks. Brie gets the elbow up in the corner and gets a missile dropkick. AJ hits a kick to the stomach, but Brie rolls through with a half crab. Brie Mode occurs with some knees, hitting Tamina. Rehashing the Smackdown finish, Brie rolls through on the rollup and gets the facebuster for the win.
Final Thoughts: *. Not bad, but I could have gone for a slightly different finish.
-Renee runs into Paul Heyman backstage with his Guys. I can’t do it justice, but Heyman kills it with an off the wall, screaming tirade about being lava raining down from a long dormant volcano onto unfortunate villagers. Big E pops into the frame and take more issue with Paul calling him a marginal talent. Axel calls him rookie. Anyways, we get Axel and Big E later on tonight.
The Wyatt Family w/Bray Wyatt vs. The Miz and Kofi Kingston
The Miz and Rowan begin. Rowan is quickly dodges and sent outside. Miz gets the baseball slide, stares at Bray, and gets a clothesline. Back in, Harper enters with a big boot following a corner splash from Rowan. Harper gets a rope guillotine for two. Rowan is back with an elbow drop. Also, he hits a backbreaker for two. Harper is back and stomps away. Luke does the alligator roll and latches in a side headlock. Miz fights out, but gets a headbutt. Miz runs into Rowan but get hit with a sitout slam. Miz hits a jawbreaker and tags in Kofi.
Kofi flies into the match and gets a ‘rana on Harper and a crossbody from the top for two. Kofi dumps Rowan, gets two from a rollup, deliver TiP on Rowan, but walks right into the Clothesline from Harper for the win. After the match, Harper beats on Kofi. Miz comes in, but gets beaten down and hooked into the ropes. Bray gets on the microphone and tells him about the afterlife and how he’ll lead him to hell.
Final Thoughts: *1/2. Harper is an impressive dude, and Rowan is improving. I’ll never tire of Kofi taking that clothesline, either.
Curtis Axel and Ryback w/Paul Heyman vs. CM Punk and Big E Langston
You see, Big E came out and went at Axel before the match, drawing a double team from the Heyman Guys. So, Punk came down and Vickie turned it into a tag match. Punk and Big E are in control as we come back. Punk hits a bionic elbow off of the second buckle as he enters. A quick tag brings Langston in, and they hit a double hiptoss. Punk returns and attacks Axel’s midsection. Punk telegraphs a back body drop and gets beat down. Ryback enters and takes control with shoulderthrusts in the corner. Punk takes a hard whip.
Ryback works at Punk for a spell, putting him in peril. In comes Axel with the chinlock. Punk gets a boot up in the corner and gets two from a crossbody from the top. Axel regains control with a clothesline. The Big Guy is back, and clubs away. A big splash gets two. Ryback gets a chop, which is a popular move tonight. Punk gets a small package after battling from a vertical suplex. Ryback gets a big boot for two. Ryback takes a reverse bearhug. Punk elbows out and squirms away. Ryback gets kicked in the head.
Big E comes in and wrecks shit. I like Big E getting hot tags quite a bit. THE STRAPS COME DOWN. Punk cuts off Ryback and they dispose of him. Big E gets The Big Ending for the win. After the match, Paul runs away from Punk, who happens to catch him along outside. CM Punk decides to celebrate with some fans.
Final Thoughts: **1/2. I want more of this Big E as an angry babyface stuff. Sure, he is supposed to have a terrific personality, but I like him destroying foes as is. Also, The Big Ending has a habit of looking sloppy, but Curtis Axel took it in such a way that it needs to be shown to the entire roster.
-Truth is backstage to hawk some merchandise, doing a good Don West impression. They should do this once a month, as Truth does a damned good job at this.
Tons of Funk w/The Funkadactyls vs. The Real American Americans w/Zeb Colter
We don’t usually see the entrance for The Real Americans, but they run to the ring and throw their flags into the ring as if performing a blitzkrieg. I miss Blitzkrieg. Tensai and Swagger begin, with them battling in the corner. Albert hits his based monkey flip out of the corner. Cesaro comes in and gets a dropkick to take down Sweet T. Swagger comes back and gets some right hands. Jack works at the leg in the corner.
Swagger gets a belly to back suplex on Tensai. The Swaggerbomb and double stomp combo leads to two for Cesaro. Tensai is bleeding from his forehead. Cesaro gets the chinlock. Tensai backdrops out and brings in Brodus for some clotheslines. Swagger interrupts the t-bone, and Cesaro gets an uppercut that leads to THE GIANT SWING. Swagger comes in and knocks Tensai from the apron. Clay taps out to the Patriot Lock. After the match, Zeb introduces the audience to his new friend, a bullwhip for El Torito.
Final Thoughts: *1/2. And, The Real Americans are getting more of a face reaction. It’s just a quality outfit at this point, with people ironically going with their catchphrase and adopting Zeb as some type of strange uncle.
The Usos vs. Reigns & Rollins w/Dean Ambrose
The brothers Rhodes are at the table for this number one contendership match. Jimmy and Seth start this party with a series of reversals and strikes. Jimmy clotheslines Seth outside and dives on top. Back inside, Jimmy gets two. Reigns comes in and hits a rough back elbow for two. Jey tags in and gets a corner forearm splash. Jey gets a sliding clothesline, and Jimmy returns. Reigns takes control on his corner and brings in Rollins. Jimmy fights back but misses a crossbody on Rollins. Jimmy gets dumped to the outside and Reigns batters him around a bit. Back inside, he gets two. Reigns takes a chinlock. Meanwhile, Cody makes the table erupt in laughter over saying that after only 3-4 matches together, he and his brother are superior to The Briscoes. There’s a fight on the apron over a suplex. Rollins distracts and Reigns knocks Jimmy off the apron and face first into the announce table right before break.
We return with The Shield in control. Reigns picks at Jimmy, getting two from a suplex. Jimmy fights out of a headlock and gets out of a Samoan drop. Jimmy gets a DDT, but Rollins cuts off the hot tag with a clothesline. Rollins gets dumped to the outside with a scary bump, but Roman gets the blind tag. He gets caught by an enzuigiri and in comes Jey with a crossbody for two. Rollins comes off the top but takes a right hand and goes outside with Jimmy. Inside, Jey gets turned inside out with a giant clothesline from Reigns for two. Rollins takes a Samoan drop from Jimmy and Jey is caught with a powerslam. Reigns misses a charge and takes a superkick.
Reigns gets the knees up on the splash from the top. Dean goes after the Rhodes and we have a big brawl erupting with bodies everywhere. The match is ruled a no contest, setting up a triple thread for HIAC. The Shield isolate Goldust, but the Usos and Cody come back to clear the ring of The Shield.
Final Thoughts: Cody and Goldy’s new mashed up theme needs some work. Still, a **3/4 match I’d guess that had a predictable ending of sorts. Still, decent stuff.
-It’s time to sign a contract. We learned that Bryan is much like Jericho, RVD and Edge in that he’s a top guy but not a true star, and that he wouldn’t be worth his time in the ring. Oh, HHH, I wasn’t even mad that you’re trying to piss off me and my ilk. It’s just a bit sad that he doesn’t recognize that he wasn’t The Man during his heyday. Anyways, Shawn digs at HHH a bit and they go back and forth, and I forget about what everyone is in the ring for. Show Cold pops up in a freaking semi-truck. Bryan gives Orton the knee, and we have a happy ending before the PPV.
–This was a bit of an endurance test for me, as I had to re-watch the show to cover it. I apologize for this delay, as well. I wouldn’t say that this show was a chore, as we had some nice, long matches to enjoy. To be fair, it felt a lot like Smackdown, especially since there were some a lot of the same finishes from that show. Going forward, I don’t see HBK screwing Bryan, but perhaps being destroyed by HHH to set up the ending. Wishing for HHH/Bryan with Bryan being put over clean is like wishing for a tree in the backyard to dole out free bottles of Angry Orchard Hard Cider. I’d love for Bryan or another of his class to go off script some day and actually hit HHH’s ego hard, but that tree would also have that hard cider on tap.
