6-24-13 Raw results and thoughts

Coverage and thoughts on the June 24, 2013 episode of Raw

  The show starts with a Daniel Bryan coming to the ring. He says there are some people that have accused him of having a complex. He’s been hearing that for years. People question the fact that he’s a wrestler & think of him as an extra in The Hobbit. Daniel says that he’s not a Hobbit extra. Whether he teamed with Kane or was on NXT he has been called the “weak link.” Daniel says that those people are morons. He has gone toe to toe with Randy Orton twice. A weak link could’ve accepted the count out win on Smackdown but beating Orton by count out was satisfying enough for him. He won’t be satisfied till he beats Orton by pin or submission. Will he do that? Yes. He says that a few times & then out comes Randy Orton. Daniel’s glad Orton came out because there’s…Orton knocks the mic out of Daniels hand. He says that he came out to tell Daniel to his face to shut up & fight. Then they go at it. The referee holds them back & then calls for the bell. This was a solid opening segment.

Randy Orton vs. Daniel Bryan. Randy Orton wins by DQ. They brawl outside the ring & the referee calls for the bell. The brawl continues as referees come out to break it up. Break time. I wasn’t really into the quick non finish but the brawl these 2 had was really good.

Back from break & we see Vickie & Brad in the GM Office. Daniel comes in. He can’t believe that his match ended in a double DQ and says he wants a rematch with Orton because this ends tonight. Brad says the rematch won’t happen. Then Daniel tells Vickie to give him a rematch or he will want to face Brad. Vickie says Daniel’s got his rematch with Orton. Daniel leaves & Vickie laughs because Brad was all terrified. Then Vince comes in. He says some people don’t think that Daniel is a super star because of his size & actions (Huh) & that he is embarrassment. Vickie asks what Vince thinks. He will let her decide that for herself. Besides Daniel I wasn’t into this bit.

Sheamus & Christian vs. Damien Sandow & Cody Rhodes. Sheamus & Christian win when Sheamus pins Cody. This was a solid match but I don’t know why the Sheamus-Rhodes Scholars feud is still happening. Plus Sheamus got the clean pin!

Backstage we see CM Punk texting. Vickie shows up. Punk asks if she’s seen Heyman or Lesnar. She hasn’t but she is putting Punk in a match tonight. Punk looks zoned out & tells Vickie says excuse me & then Punk gets in Vickie’s face & shouts excuse me! Then he tells Vickie to let him know if Heyman or Lesnar show up.

Kaitlyn vs. Aksana. Kaitlyn gets the pin. This wasn’t much. Just seconds after the match starts Kaitlyn’s music plays. Then out comes AJ in a muscled up Kaitlyn costume. That distracted Kaitlyn & Aksana rolled her up for 2. Then Kaitlyn speared Aksana for the pin. Then AJ says she’s Kaitlyn. She says that Kaitlyn not only lost her Divas title to the great AJ Lee but she also lost her dignity. She was humiliated when she thought someone liked her & thought she had a secret admirer. Then out come Big E. He says it was him all along. She is the 1. He gives flowers & then AJ (pretending to be Kaitlyn) says that she has always wanted a guy with a voice as deep as hers & has legs that are as big as hers too. She says Kaitlyn will never win back the Divas title so for know she will be the butt of AJ’s jokes. Then Big E picks up AJ & they go to the back. This was solid. AJ was good here. She’s good at being at playing a heel.

Time for a Wyatt Family vignette.  

The have a video package focusing on the really awesome Mark Henry promo from last week.

Chris Jericho vs. World Champion Alberto Del Rio. Jericho wins by DQ when Ricardo comes in. Jericho had Del Rio in the walls & then Ricardo came in & hit Jericho with the bucket. Then Dolph comes in & pounds away on Del Rio. Jericho gives Ricardo a code breaker & Dolph gives Del Rio a Zig Zag. Then Jericho & Dolph have a stare down. Jericho goes to leave & then Dolph give him a Zig Zag too. This was a great back & forth match & I was ok with the DQ finish. I also liked Dolph coming & going after Del Rio. Then having him Zig Zag Jericho afterwards was good too.

Cut to Vickie & Brad. Vickie says she is canceling the Daniel-Orton match. Then HHH comes in. He heard Vickie thought about canceling the Daniel-Orton match tonight. Vickie agrees with what Vince said before. HHH doesn’t but it doesn’t matter what anyone backstage thinks, what matters is what the fans think. The fans want a Daniel-Orton match tonight. HHH wants Vickie to also give the fans the chants to pick what kinda match Daniel & Orton will have. HHH then says if she listens to him everything will be ok. Then he tells Brad he’s got a nice shirt & asks if it comes in a men’s size too. This was terrible! I’m really tired of having Vince, HHH & Stephanie constantly telling Vickie & Brad what to do & they all tell them something different! What is the point of having a GM if the McMahon family keeps attempting to influence what decision the GM will make!?

Jerry Lawler, Brad Maddox & Vickie Guerrero are in the ring. They’re there to announce the launch of the new WWE video game. There’s some contest where the fans can come up with a cover for the video game. Vickie tries to cut King off & then King tells the fans how to go about designing the cover. Who cares? Then Vickie says in tonight’s rematch between Daniel & Orton she will let the fans pick what stip they want it to be. It can be a street fight, a lumber jack match or falls count anywhere. The fans loudly boo Vickie & she screams excuse me. Since she’s Raw's greatest (and technically only) managing supervisor she has decided on her cover for the new video game. On the Tron they show a pic of Vince, HHH & Stephanie. Then Brad says he came up with a cover too. His is a pic of himself, Cena & Punk. Then King has a drum roll for the reel cover. They lower a banner from the ring & the cover is a pic of The Rock. His music plays & King asks if Vickie can smell what Rock’s cooking. What the F was this!? I’ll tell ya what it was, AMAZINGLY STUPID!! Why tell the fans they can design their own cover for a dumb video game AND THEN SHOW US A COVER ALREADY MADE!? Also why’d they feel the need to have Vickie say that having the fans pick the stip for the Daniel-Orton match was her idea, when WE ALL SAW THAT HHH TOLD HER TO DO THAT IN THAT HORRIBLE BACKSTAGE BIT!? COME ON WWE!! QUIT INSULTING THE FAN’S INTELLIGENCE!!

Great Khali vs. Ryback. Ryback gets the pin. This wasn’t much but Ryback lifting up Khali for the marching muscle buster was impressive.

John Cena comes to the ring and is ALL SMILES AGAIN, & making jokes!! THIS GUY DOES NOT KNOW HOW TO SELL AT ALL!! HE GOT FLATTENED BY MARK HENRY LAST WEEK & NOW HE COMES OUT AND IS HIS USUAL SMILING, HOKEY SELF!? Anyway time for Cena’s (most likely dreadful) promo. He says the fans are a lively bunch. Fans know he’s carrying the WWE Title. Many have chased it but only 43 guys have held on to it. Weather you held it for years like Bruno or for 1 night like Rey Mysterio being WWE Champion places you in an elite fraternity among your peers. Some guys have done dastardly things over the years to get the belt. He mentions people trying to buy it & steel it. Then he says that some people have cracked under the pressure of the fans to chase for the title. Even Vince felt he needed to champion to justify his existence to the fans. Last week we all saw how low a guy will sink to chase for the belt. Last week Mark Henry disgraced his family & cheated the fans. Cena thought his speech was a disaster for everyone who has had to tell the fans they can’t do this again. Then Cena mentions Edge, HBK & Ric Flair. Major moments in WWE history & last week Henry made a mockery of all that. He realizes why. Henry’s been there for 17 years & maybe he realizes the door’s closing & that he won’t have a legacy till he has the WWE Title. Cena says that Henry will have to get through him. The best part of Henry’s speech last week when he said you have to earn the WWE Title. All Henry earned is the right for Cena to kick his teeth down his throat. Henry will sink to the lowest of lows but in 3 weeks he will find out what the world already knows. “Our time is now & THE CHAMP IS HERE!” This was 1 of Cena’s better promos. I liked that he put over the meaning of the title & him mentioning the low Henry sunk too was good.

Time for an RVD return video.

A fan comes to the ring with Tons of Funk, Naomi & Cameron

Brodus Clay & Tensai vs. The Usos vs. Drew McIntyre & Jinder Mahal in a number 1 contender for the tag titles match. The Usos win when Jay pins Tensai. Then The Shield shows up in the crowed. They have a stare down with The Usos. This was a short & decent match.

   

Paul Heyman comes to the ring. Then they reshow Lesnar giving Punk an F5 from last week. Then Heyman says for a week he’s been asked by everyone about Brock attacking Punk. Heyman has ignored Punk’s calls, e-mails, texts, etc because Heyman feels this should be discussed in front of the fans. Heyman says Punk will get his answers tonight. He & the fans await Punk’s presence. Out comes Punk. Punk says Heyman wants to air dirty laundry in public for the fans entertainment. Punk says before that he will tell everyone that despite Heyman’s reputation why he is a Heyman guy. He mentioned when he signed his first WWE contract & Johnny Ace was in charge at the time. Johnny had Punk go to developmental. At the time Heyman was in charge of developmental & Heyman was set up to flop. Punk wasn’t supposed to succeed because management didn’t like Punk. They told Vince to cut Punk lose because he is not what they look for. Heyman was told to never consider bringing Punk to Raw or Smackdown but Heyman refused to fire Punk. Heyman believed in Punk & was ECW was resurrected Punk was Heyman’s first draft pick. Now there’s 2 things Punk wants to say to Heyman. Punk’s coming for Brock. He doesn’t care if Brock is bigger or stronger because Brock isn’t better than Punk. Punk is the best wrestler on the planet & Heyman knows that better than anybody. He tells Heyman that he will bring the beast down. Then Punk says Heyman never did him wrong. Then Punk asks Heyman if Brock attacked him on his own or because Heyman told him too. Punk wants Heyman to tell him the truth, not to lie to him like he has to others. He wants Heyman to swear on his children if he had anything to do with Brock’s attack or not. Heyman says he never wanted it to be this way between them. Since Punk demands the truth & because Punk’s his best friend Heyman will tell him the truth. Heyman had no idea Brock would show up last week. The fans boo & he says that is the very same response he got from Vince, Stephanie & Ace when he told them Punk was the next top guy. Brock fulfilled his contractual obligations at Extreme Rules. The moment Punk said Brock needed Heyman’s help Punk picked a fight with Brock. It’s a fact this was bound to happen because of the long running jealousy between the 2. This is why he never mentioned a Punk-Brock tag team to Vince. Heyman kept Punk & Brock apart because of professional jealousy. Heyman says in 2006 their friendship came before business. Heyman admits his flaws but isn’t stupid. He will walk down that aisle with Punk 1 day. Not anytime soon because he gets Punk needs space right now. But he will walk to the ring with Punk the day that Punk headlines WrestleMania. Heyman loves Punk. Punk is his best friend & won’t screw up because Punk needs space. Heyman will never represent anyone against Punk. That includes Brock. In 05-06 everyone told Heyman to get rid of Punk. Now in 2013 the fans are telling Punk to get rid of him. Heyman’s fate is in punk’s hands, it is Punk’s move. Then Punk & Heyman stare at each other for a while. Punk wonders what he should do & the fans chant kick his ass. Then Punk tells Heyman he is sorry that he doubted him. Then they hug. This was a really awesome promo. Both Punk & Heyman were great on the mic as always & I liked that they mentioned how Punk’s WWE career began. There was a lot said here & it was hard to keep up with everything that they said. My apologies if I missed anything.

CM Punk vs. Darren Young. Punk wins by submission. This was a good match. Then Titus goes after Punk. Darren & Titus double team him. Then out comes Curtis Axel & he helps Punk out. Then Punk takes out Titus with a roundhouse kick & Axel makes quick work of Darren. Then Punk looks at Axel & Heyman says they’ll talk about it. Punk says something to Axel before Axel & Heyman leave.

Backstage Vickie leaves Brad a message saying this is the 10^th time she’s called him. Then Stephanie comes in. She mentions that Vickie hasn’t announces any participants for the WWE Title shot MITB ladder match. Vickie apologizes & says it’s been crazy. Stephanie says it’s ok & she will handle this. Thankfully this was short.

The Bella Twins are at ringside giving fans the newest addition of the WWE magazine.

Stephanie McMahon comes out on the stage. It’s the time of year where every WWE super star dreams of climbing the ladder, grabbing the case & getting an almost guaranteed title match. Since Vickie’s to busy, Stephanie will announce who is in the MITB ladder match. CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, Sheamus, Randy Orton, Christian, Kane & returning to WWE for the first time in a few years Rob Van Dam.

Back to Vickie & Brad. Vickie asks why she didn’t think of what Stephanie came up with. Brad says he & Stephanie came up with it. Then Ryback comes in. He asks Vickie & Brad if they saw how easily he beat Khali before. Then he mentions that he pinned Cena in the lumber jack fall. Ryback tells Vickie to call off the Cena-Mark Henry match at MITB because he wants to face Cena at MITB. Then Jericho comes in. He mentions that he deserves better than to be attacked by 3 guys & then not be in the MITB match. He has been in more MITB matches than anybody & he deserves to be in this 1 too so that he can become a 7 time world champion. Ryback says he will eat Jericho alive. Brad says this isn’t the time or the place. Ryback & Jericho stare intently at each other. Then Vickie screams asking them who they think they are coming into her office & demanding what they want. Vickie then says that Jericho will face Ryback at Money in the Bank. This was lame. I’m tired of Vickie’s character, Ryback’s promo was weak & while Jericho was good here, this bit just didn’t work for me.

Backstage we see Punk & Heyman. Punk wants to know what the deal with Axel is. Heyman says Punk was getting double teamed. Punk says he doesn’t need anyone’s assistance. Heyman went to Vickie & next week The Prime time Players will face Curtis & Punk. Punk says Heyman is unbelievable. Punk will do this but doesn’t need Axel’s assistance. Then Punk tells Heyman to tell Brock that he’s coming for him & that he is going to win the MITB ladder match too. This was solid.

Mark Henry comes to the ring. He says he fooled us all. He saw all the Mark Henry signs. He heard them chanting his name. More than anything he saw the fans cry. He saw the fans in the front row with their signs. Because of his great performance he has been nominated for an academy award. He’s had Hollywood people reach out to him. That’s great but that’s not what he wants or deserves. People have been upset with Henry because he used his friends, family & other WWE super stars. He’s not going to apologize to anybody. People have been telling him his whole life how he should live. “Mark Henry you work hard. You go to that Olympics & win it for America.” What will happen at MITB is that a no good, dirty, lying, cheating, filthy, dirty Mark Henry will show up. The fans are all puppets & he tells them what to do. Last week he said he was coming home. He’s coming home WWE Champion. This was a good promo & a good follow up to last week.

Time for another Wyatt family vignette. They’re coming.

Jerry Lawler is in the ring. Time to find what stip the fans picked for the Daniel-Orton match. They picked street fight. Not that it matters since all the stips are pretty much the same anyway.

Randy Orton vs. Daniel Bryan in a street fight. Daniel wins by submission. This was a great back & forth match. Daniel leads the fans in the yes chant. Then Orton gets up, looks at Daniel & then shakes his hand. Daniel & the fans chant yes some more. Orton walks up the ramp as Daniel celebrates in the ring to end the show. Great match & a really good ending to this week’s Raw.

There was a lot of further storyline development here & I thought they did a good a job for the most part this week. Daniel’s promo at the start was solid & I liked that it lead right to the Daniel-Orton match. I wasn’t into the non finish though, but after they said it would be tonight’s main event I was ok with it. The Daniel-Orton match at the end was just great! Daniel is amazing & this is the most I’ve been interested in watching Orton since April 2004. Mark Henry’s promo was really good. I liked that he mentioned he was nominated for an academy award and then mentioning that everyone’s always told him how to live his life. The Punk-Heyman in ring promo was awesome too, Punk-Darren Young was good & I liked that Heyman had Curtis Axel come out & help Punk & Punk not wanting any part of Axel’s assistance. The backstage bits with Vickie & Brad were weak. I have no idea what the point of having a GM Team is if the Vince, HHH & Stephanie are going to keep telling them which McMahon to listen to. The Punk-Heyman backstage bit was solid also, Kaitlyn-Aksana wasn’t much but I thought AJ coming out in the Kaitlyn costume was good. Cena had 1 of his better promos this week. I like that he put over the prestige of the WWE Title. Having him come out & be all smiles like usual before that was idiotic, but the promo was good. The video game plugging segment was terrible, the less said about that the better. The 3 way tag match was decent too & I liked that The Shield stood in the crowed & had a stare down with The Usos. The Jericho-Ryback bit in Vickie’s office was weak. Ryback’s not the greatest promo & while Jericho was good here this bit just didn’t click. I liked the Wyatt family vignettes & I hope they debut soon. I liked the Jericho-Del Rio match too & the DQ ending made sense. I also like that Dolph came out, attacked Del Rio & then gave Jericho a Zig Zag as receipt for the code breaker Jericho gave him on Smackdown. Overall I thought this week’s show was good with furthering the storylines & there were some good to great matches too.