8-19-13 Raw results and thoughts

Coverage and thoughts on the August 19, 2013 episode of Raw The show starts with John Cena coming to the ring. He’s disgusted at what happened last night. When he was WWE Champion he always said the next guy to be champion would earn it & Daniel Bryan earned it last night. He thanks Daniel for bringing out the best in him & for reminding him that a WWE super star shouldn’t be judged by race or appearance, but by what they do in the ring. He & Daniel don’t see eye to eye but they share the same passion. That is why he picked Daniel as his opponent. Then he says the fluid on his own elbow was from a torn triceps. They wanted to cancel the match last night but Cena refused. Cena’s not using that as an excuse, he was beaten by the better man in a clean fight. Then some guy told him that HHH handed the title to Orton. Cena was offended & disgraced. Cena can’t put off the surgery any longer; tonight he leaves WWE (That got a yes chant). He will be out for 4 to 6 months but before he goes he wants to introduce a guy who has earned his respect & a guy that we can all agree that has earned the right to be called champion, Daniel Bryan. Out comes Daniel. Cena leaves the ring. The fans chant yes & chant his name. Before he can speak Stephanie McMahon comes out. She tells Daniel she is sorry. Last night Daniel won the WWE Title clean in the middle of the ring & did not deserve to have his dream snatched away. Then she says that HHH is the COO & was doing what was best for business. The fans chant no. Daniel says the fans have a disagreement as to what is best for business. Daniel expects that from Stephanie & Vince, but HHH was a rebel. He was the leader of DX, but now he wears a suit, has a corporate hair cut & it must be true that when you lie down with thrash you start to stink. Stephanie gets why Daniel’s upset so she’ll let that slide. Daniel asks if she’s gonna fire him. He’s not afraid of that. Before he leaves he will get his money’s worth. He doesn’t care if it’s HHH or Orton. He will really give Stephanie a reason to fire him. Stephanie says his anger issues are messing with his mind. They think he’s talented & the ultimate underdog. The fans don’t get business, not everyone can be WWE Title material. Daniel’s 5’8’, maybe 200 pounds. We can’t all be super models but the fans love him. He might not be an A but he is a solid B +. Daniel says she’s reminding him of a word that starts with B right now. He knows she’s out here to rationalize Hunter’s behavior but he doesn’t have to accept it. He doesn’t have to accept being a mid carder. He can be WWE Champion & doesn’t care what she thinks. Then he snatches the mic out of her hand & throws it out of the ring. She gets another mic & tells Daniel that she refuses to be intimidated by him. He’s being unprofessional & she won’t stand for it. Then she brings out security. She says she doesn’t wanna do this but Daniel is forcing her hand. She tells security to escort him from the building. Daniel has no one to blame but himself. The fans loudly chant Daniel Bryan. Then Daniel walks up the ramp with security. Then he & the fans shout no. Then Daniel heads to the back. This was a mixed bag segment for me. Cena & Daniel were both great on the mic here. Stephanie however was really irritating. I can’t stand that they’re ramming in our heads that Daniel will never be above a solid mid carder!! I get that they want to have him be the underdog who eventually overcomes the odds (at least that’s what I hope they do) but having the McMahon family constantly say that Daniel is a dwarf, troll & not WWE Title material is just idiotic!! Cody Rhodes vs. Damien Sandow. Cody gets the pin. This was a solid match but I’m not sure why they had this the night after SummerSlam. Also having a heel MITB case holder always lose makes that person look much less credible! How can we take the MITB holder seriously as a credible World Champion if he always loses!? They did that with Dolph last year & they’re doing the same to Damien now!! Backstage we see Brad Maddox. He says after what happened last night a lot of people expressed their opinions on Triple H’s actions. Brad reads a tweet from Dolph that says that Dolph never trusted HHH. Brad then says that Dolph will have a chance to show off tonight when he faces The Shield in a 3 on 1 handicap match. This was terrible. I have a bad feeling that we’re gonna get another McMahon-Helmsley era storyline. It might’ve worked back in 2000 but it isn’t gonna work now!! Paul Heyman is in the ring with his left arm in a sling. He says last night Punk was defeated by Brock. Tonight he will give us a lesson in life. Like all rebellious children Punk had to fly away from the nest to prove his self worth. Heyman says that Punk gave Brock all he could handle. Where do we go from here? It’s time to end this family feud. Heyman’s been more of a father figure to Punk than his real dad. Last night when “big brother” Brock threw Punk around & knocked some sense into him it made Heyman realize this isn’t a time for revenge but a time for forgiveness & he forgives Punk. When Punk apologizes to him he will take him back. Punk is better off with Heyman than without him. Then they will achieve greater goals than ever before. He still loves Punk & will guide Punk back to the WWE Title, take him to the main event at Mania & together he & Punk will be the best in the world. Backstage we see Naomi & Cameron stretching. Then the Bellas come in. They tell Naomi & Cameron that they’re representing “They’re show “(Total Divas). They leave, Naomi gets pissed & Cameron tells her they have to focus on their match tonight. Whatever. This Total Divas material is so terrible. I know the show is a hit & because of that they’re gonna cram this crap down our throats but it still makes for lousy TV! Naomi & Cameron vs. Layla & Divas Champion AJ Lee. Naomi & Cameron win when Naomi pins Layla. This was a decent & short match. Dolph Ziggler vs. The Shield. The Shield wins when Reigns gets the pin. This was a solid match. Dolph got some good hope spots in before Reigns pinned him. Afterwards They triple power bomb Dolph. Sin Cara vs. World Champion Alberto Del Rio. Del Rio wins by referee stoppage. The referee calls for the bell after Sin Cara gives Del Rio a suicide dive & Cara got injured. Then Del Rio says last night he proved why he is the best world champion in history. More importantly he proved to the whole Latino community that they finally have someone to cheer for. The Latinos have no heroes but he will do everything in his power to represent them. Especially all the peasants. Then out comes Ricardo. He says Del Rio’s not a hero to him, the fans & especially not to the Latino community. Ricardo says he is happy that he no longer represents Del Rio. He is proud to be representing somebody new. Somebody who will stand for the people. Rob Van Dam. Out come RVD. He gets in the ring & Del Rio goes after him. Then RVD gives him a roundhouse kick. Then he goes up top for the 5 star frog splash but Del Rio rolls out of the ring. Then RVD & Ricardo do the thumb pose. This was solid. I thought both Del Rio & Ricardo cut good promos & I like that they’re gonna have RVD be Del Rio’s next challenger. Zeb, Cesaro & Swagger are in the ring. Zeb says WWE have been in a lot of headlines. Cesaro & Swagger being Real American should be a headline. They represent everything that’s good for this country unlike the fans in the town they’re in. Zeb’s ashamed to be in this country. He says the usual illegal immigrants are sneaking across the boarder & taking jobs from Americans shtick. Then he rambles more & tells the fans to say we the people. I’m tired of this character. It’s stale & it hasn’t done anything for Cesaro or Swagger. Then out come the Prime Players. They’ll be facing Cesaro & Swagger. The Primetime Players vs. The Real Americans. The Primetime Players win when Darren pins Cesaro. This match was decent. It looks like The Primetime Players are baby faces now. Backstage Renee interviews Big Show. She welcomes him back to Raw & asks if the rumors of him & Mark Henry going after the tag titles are true. Big Show says that they are. He & Henry will team up & challenge Rollins & Reigns. Then Brad comes in & takes the mic from Renee & she leaves. Brad mentions that Big Show had less than flattering comments about HHH. Big Show says that he has freedom of speech. Brad says that he wants Big Show to express himself in a handicap match with The Shield & all 3 Shield guys will be in the ring at the same time. Big Show asks Brad if he’s sure he wants to do this to The Shield. This was weak. Brad Maddox is awful & are they gonna have everybody who disagreed with Triple H’s actions face The Shield in 3 on 1 handicap matches tonight? Backstage we see Justin Gabriel, Zack Ryder & a footlocker guy. The guy has new shoes for Ryder. Then in come Fandango & Summer Rae. The Footlocker continues plugging footlocker. Fandango asks if he can dance in these sneakers. Then he & Summer dance. Whatever. This was idiotic & pointless. Backstage Ryback kicks out some guys. Then he tells 1 to stay. He tells the guy to pick up his bag. Ryback throws & he tells the guy to get it. Then Ryback tells him to stand up & pick up the bag. Ryback throws it down again. This time into the shower. Ryback tells the guy to get the bag & open it. Then he tells the guy to turn on the water & smacks him. He makes the guy turn on the water & have it fill his bag. Then Ryback tells him to get out of his locker room. This whole bit with Ryback bullying random guys is really terrible! The guy goes from being a super over monster baby face to a bullying cowardly heel. I have no idea why they turned Ryback heel to begin with! This makes no sense. Big Show vs. The Shield. The Shield wins when they all pin after the triple power bomb. This was a decent match. Just like the handicap match with Dolph, Big Show got a good amount of offense in. CM Punk comes to the ring. He doesn’t know what to say. He knows Heyman was out there before & had a lot of personal things to say. A fan boos Punk & Punk dares him to get in the ring. Then Punk says he wants to fight & dares the guy to be a man, get in the ring & fight him. He will render this guy to tears. He tells him to be a man or be a b**ch & shut his mouth. Punk says that Heyman mentioned that he can get him the WWE Title & a WrestleMania main event. If an apology will get him those then Heyman can come on out & he might just get 1. Out come Heyman & Curtis Axel. Punk says the Dr. told he can’t compete right now but he’s in his gear. He lost a fight last night & he’s still standing. Punk is sorry that he took his eyes off of Brock to attack Heyman. He’s sorry he didn’t take Heyman’s arm off. The next time he sees him he will choke him out, spit in his face & take Heyman’s arm home with him. Punk says that he will get his revenge & tells Heyman to get in the ring. Heyman says there’s an apology due & it should come from him. Heyman’s sorry for what is about to happen to Punk. Then Heyman tells Axel to go to the back & tape up his hands & get ready for a fight. Heyman says he can be the worst nightmare Punk’s ever encountered in his life. If Punk’s still in that ring when they come back from break Curtis Axel will finish the job that Brock started on him last night. This was really well done. Both Punk & Heyman were great on the mic like usual. Back to the show & Punk is sitting & waiting for Axel. Axel & Heyman come back out. There’s no referee so this isn’t a match. They go at it & Punk rams Axel face first into the chair & then hits him with it in the back. Then he tosses Axel outside the ring, where Axel gets the upper hand. Punk fights back & goes to Irish whip Axel into the barrier but Axel reverses it. Axel beats on Punk some more but then Punk throws Axel over the time keeper wall. Then Punk looks at Heyman. Then he tackles Axel through the barricade. Then Punk gets the bell & hits Axel with it in the gut. Punk throws Axel back into the ring. Heyman watches on the stage. Punk goes to give Axel the GTS but Axel escapes & clips Punk’s leg. Axel goes to work on Punk’s ankle & hits it with the chair. Axel hits Punk with the chair a second time. Then he picks up Punk & gives him a neck breaker. Axel places Punk’s ankle in the chair, goes to the ropes for a stomp but Punk gets put of the way & hits Axel with the chair. Then he throws Axel into the steel steps. Then Punk has Axel on his shoulders & gives him a GTS on the steps. Punk looks at Heyman intently as Heyman backs up the ramp worried. This was great. R-Truth vs. Bray Wyatt. Bray gets the pin. This was mostly a squash. They show a video package/vignette on a tag team called Los Matadores that will be coming soon. The Usos vs. Heath Slater & Jinder Mahal. The Usos win when Jimmy pins Jinder. This was a solid match. The Miz vs. Wade Barrett. Miz wins by DQ when Fandango comes in. Miz had Barrett in the figure 4. Then Fandango cam in & gave Miz a top rope leg drop. Then Fandango’s music plays as he & Summer Rae dance. This was a decent match & I wasn’t surprised to see Fandango come in. Backstage Brad tells Stephanie that the head of security told him that Daniel Bryan is back in the building. Stephanie is ok with this & thanks Brad for the update. I’m dreading this coronation. Maybe it won’t be as bad as I’m fearing if they make Daniel look strong. Vince & Stephanie are in the ring. Triple H’s music is playing & he gets in the ring. The Shield is standing guard as the rest of roster stands on the stage. Vince says give it up for the game. Vince says we’ll have a momentous occasion & they have a champion we can all be proud of. Vince is proud of HHH. He has his doubts but in the end HHH saw the light. HHH says this is where he’s supposed to explain himself as to why he would screw Daniel. He says the fans are short sighted. He did what he did for all the fans & to ensure the future of WWE. He did it for Vince, his grandfather Jess, Vince Sr. & Vince the “genius” that created this global empire. He did this for his wife & kids & all the fans so that this WWE will continue to exist in our futures. HHH likes Daniel & is a big fan of his. Daniel is a good little technician & gave Cena 1 hell of a match & deserved to win. But let’s be honest, WWE Champion? Face of the WWE The fans chant yes. HHH says no & tells the fans they deserve better than that. Everyone watching deserves the compete package, somebody that has it all. The fans deserve A + & that’s what HHH gave us last night. Daniel comes out here & says he has a personal problem with that? That’s a sacrifice HHH is willing to make. What about HHH personal issues. He didn’t wanna throw away Daniel’s 15 years of blood, sweat & tears. It personally hurt him to do that to Daniel. HHH says he didn’t like doing this with Orton. There’s a lot of bad blood between HHH & Orton but HHH buried his feelings for what was right for the fans. HHH doesn’t care about Daniel’s personal problems & says that Daniel is being selfish having a personal issue with this. He tells Daniel to check his ego at the door & do what’s right for business. Right now HHH will put aside his feelings 1 more time & will bring out the future of the WWE. The Cole that has now become the diamond. HHH gives us the new WWE Champion, Randy Orton. (Orton’s the future? He’s been in the company for over 11 years & has been a top guy)! Anyway out comes Orton. Orton & Stephanie hug. Then Orton says he told us so. He said that when he cashed in we wouldn’t see it coming. Now he stands before us for the 10th time the apex predator of WWE. Orton’s not usually 1 for thank yous but he will make an exception. After what HHH did for him last night he is not ashamed to say that he owes all of this to him. Everyone should stand & show HHH the respect that he deserves. HHH says now since they own the place they have eyes & ears everywhere. He knows Daniel is in the building & he offers Daniel to come in the ring & get his issues off his chest. Then HHH tells The Shield they’re intimidating & Daniel’s probably afraid of them. He asks them to move aside. Then he tells everyone on the stage not to touch Daniel. HHH asks if the fans wanna see Daniel. Then he does the yes chant, calls for Daniel’s music & tells him to come out. Daniel Bryan’s music plays & he comes out. As Daniel is getting in the ring The Shield attacks him. Daniel fights them off. Then Daniel & Ambrose go at it for a bit & Daniel arm drags Ambrose on the ramp. HHH says Daniel can come in the ring. Then Reigns spears Daniel. Then The Shield triple teams him. They were going for the triple power bomb but HHH tells them not to. HHH tells Daniel to come in the ring & get whatever’s on his mind off his chest. Daniel struggles up as HHH tells him he’s got that fighting spirit. Daniel starts to get in the ring, HHH taunts him. Then Daniel gets in the ring & then Orton gives Daniel an RKO. The McMahon family & Orton stand over a fallen Daniel to end the show. This was a mixed bag segment. I wasn’t a fan of Triple H’s promo & having Orton be referred to as the “future” when he’s been in WWE for over 11 years was dumb. I did like that Daniel got to go at it with The Shield though. Daniel struggling to get up after they attacked him was good but HHH taunting him got on my nerves. Orton giving Daniel an RKO as he got in the ring made sense since Daniel had just been beaten down by The Shield. I thought this was a mixed bag show for the most part. The opening segment was hit & miss. Cena & Daniel were good with their promos but I wasn’t into Stephanie’s The closing segment was also a mixed bag. Daniel fighting off The Shield was good but HHH was really annoying to me. Heyman cut a good promo earlier on & then Punk’s promo later was well done. He & Heyman were great going back & forth on the mic & I liked the Punk-Axel brawl. That was well done too. The 2 handicap matches with The Shield were solid. Both Dolph & Big Show got some good offense & hope spots in before The Shield got the win. The divas tag was decent & short. I’m not a fan of them cramming Total Divas down our throats though. R-Truth-Bray Wyatt was mostly a squash & The Usos vs. Heath & Jinder was solid. The Primetime Players vs. The Real Americans was decent too. I’m way beyond tired of the Zeb Coulter character though. It also looks like the Primetime Players are the good guys. The Footlocker plug with Zack Ryder & Justin Gabriel, followed by Fandango coming in was entirely pointless, the Ryback segment was awful, I have no idea why they turned him heel. Cody-Sandow was solid but I’m not sure why they had this match tonight since it was on PPV last night though. They’re not really making Sandow a believable threat to the World Champion. They seem to do that with heels who win MITB. I’m not sure why. Miz-Barrett was decent too but I wasn’t surprised that Fandango got involved. The vignette on Los Matadores was decent too & I read that they’re Primo & Epico. Sin Cara-Del Rio was short. I actually read that when Cara went for the dive he got a legit injury, which was why the match ended. I liked Ricardo coming out & telling Del Rio that he’s representing RVD now. It looks like RVD will challenge Del Rio for the world title. So I thought this week’s show definitely had its up & downs for sure. It wasn’t as good as the last few weeks but not all of it was as bad as I expected it to be. My biggest hope is that they actually have Daniel Bryan vs. Randy Orton for the WWE Title & they put the title back on Bryan! The guy has more than earned it!