Ross's Raw Recap

Raw : May 5th 2014 Review



Extreme Rules was a great show, but how will Raw follow it up? Let's find out.



20 Man Battle Royal
The US Title is on the line. I'm glad that the Title seems to be defended more and more nowadays. I'm pretty sure that Santino just made himself a heel by eliminating Ziggler. I thought Sheamus was a good choice for the winner as he's more of a World Title contender, so he could make the Title mean a bit more. Fun battle royal. **1/2



HHH comes out to announce the main event which will be The Shield vs The Wyatts IV. Yes! Yes! Yes!



We've also got an IC Title rematch and Adam Rose makes his debut. Don't be a lemon!



Stephanie McMahon tells Daniel Bryan that Kane is still mad from his loss. I guess that confirms the rematch but please don't let it be a Buried Alive match. They're almost never good.



Rob Van Dam vs Cesaro
I guess RVD wanted payback for losing cleanly to Cesaro at Extreme Rules. Apparently Paul Heyman's client Brock Lesnar conquered the Undertaker's undefeated streak. Really? That's news to me. I liked how they played off and countered some of the moves that took place in the PPV match like Cesaro's German suplex or RVD's monkey flip. This was going very well until the crappy finish with Cesaro DQ'ing himself. ***1/4



The Wyatt Family is here. I suck at recapping promos so I'll just say that this is the kind of promo you would expect from Bray. Luke Harper looked incredibly creepy as well.



Ryback vs Cody Rhodes
Rhodes was eliminated by Rybaxel in the battle royal so I guess he wanted a bit of revenge. Short match that started off dull but got a bit more interesting and got a reaction from the crowd once Rhodes was on offense. *1/2


Bryan and Brie and creeped out by the light tricks of Kane.



Los Matadores are having a celebration until 3MB shows up (now it's a party!). I'm strangely enjoying this feud, probably because it's nice to see 3MB finally doing something. Mahal tells the Matadores to speak English. That made me laugh a bit I'll admit. A brawl breaks out and Los Matadores come out on top. Pretty pointless segment unless it sets up a rematch.


Kofi Kingston vs Alexander Rusev
I'm not sure why they took the 'Alexander' part of his name but they seem to be doing that to everyone now. How long until Daniel Bryan is just known as Bryan? The only reason I care for Rusev is because of Lana. My god she's amazing. A short, slightly enjoyable squash match. *



Bryan and Brie are in their car and for some reason there's a camera man in there too. Bryan is forced to compete tonight otherwise he'll be stripped of his Title.



Daniel Bryan vs Alberto Del Rio
Those segments of Bryan being afraid of Kane were just awful, so thankfully now he's doing what he does best: wrestling, and he has a good opponent in Del Rio. Del Rio was made to look good for the first time in a while and looked as if he could take down the Champion. A very good match with just a couple of sloppy moments and it had a nice finish with Bryan turning the hurricarana into the Yes lock. Good stuff. ***1/2


Kane's pyro goes off and Bryan runs back to his car with Brie. Kane appears in the car and Brie does some awful-sounding screaming. I couldn't concentrate on anything other than that. They get away safely and Bryan looks like a bit of a coward because of it. Pardon my French but that was fucking dreadful.



Big E vs Bad News Barrett
IC Title is on the line. Barrett does look good with the belt around his waist. I think Big E needs a heel turn. He's getting no sympathy from the audience. Speaking of which, why are they still chanting for CM Punk? He ain't coming back guys. Anyway this was a bland match that was nowhere near as good as their PPV match. *1/4



Zeb Colter is out for his usual anti-immigration speech. His deportation list did make me laugh and I'll admit that I'm happy that Drew McIntyre isn't on it. This brings out Adam Rose for his first appearance on Raw. His entrance was pretty damn cool. I like him already and look forward to seeing him in action. He tells Colter to be a rosebud and sends Swagger out of the ring so that he can get on with some partying.



The Shield vs The Wyatt Family
There's still thirty minutes left in the episode so it looks as if this is gonna be given plenty of time. Yes! Their three other matches have all been excellent and this one was no different. Can these teams have a bad match? I don't think so. The crowd was weirdly quiet for this but they've been shitty all night anyway so it doesn't matter too much. Evolution came in at the end to cost the Shield the match. A fantastic tag match that was a ton of fun. ****


Evolution destroys the Shield to end the show.



Kind of a mixed bag here as there were some good stuff and some bad stuff. There was more good than bad though like a few very good wrestling matches and an interesting debut for a new star. Not a bad episode at all.


Here are my predictions for the Payback PPV :


John Cena vs Bray Wyatt with Luke Harper and Erick Rowan put in shark cages above the ring

Dean Ambrose vs Sheamus for the US Title (Sheamus will be a heel)

Seth Rollins & Roman Reigns vs Triple H & Randy Orton (Batista will have sauntered back off to Hollywood)

Daniel Bryan vs Kane (Inferno/ Buried Alive / Ambulance / Casket Match. Just pick a stereotypical Kane gimmick)

Bad News Barrett vs Cesaro vs RVD for the IC Title ( Swagger can be the guest referee if he wants)

Paige vs AJ (I'd rather wait for Summerslam for this match but Paige doesn't really have any other oppenents to face right now)

El Torito vs Hornswoggle in a WeeLC rematch (you know you want it)



Let's see how these pan out in the weeks to come.