6.17.13 Raw recap: Christian returns, Henry tricks us all, and Lesnar attacks Punk during a great episode

brockpunkWhat an excellent episode of Monday Night Raw.

That’s all I kept thinking after the show went off the air. Full of memorable and storyline-advancing moments, this was easily the best Raw since the night after WrestleMania. I’ve broken down this week’s recap by bullet points of all the important events, of which there were many.

The return of Christian
Christian made his long anticipated return from injury, defeating Wade Barrett in a short match during the first hour. It’s great to have Christian back and I would expect him to be in one of the Money in the Bank matches.

Alberto Del Rio completes his heel turn
Del Rio cut a solidly heel promo to open the show, solidifying his turn coming off his match with Dolph Ziggler at Payback. Del Rio is so much better and more natural as a “bad guy.” Dolph Ziggler attacked Del Rio after his match with CM Punk, so it looks like we also saw the completion of Ziggler’s face turn. The one question I have is what happens with the Ziggler-AJ relationship now?


Antonio Cesaro is now aligned with Zeb Colter
With Jack Swagger still on the shelf and Antonio Cesaro floundering, it makes perfect sense to put him with Zeb Colter. Hopefully this means Cesaro will soon be back in the title picture and perhaps even the main event scene. I would expect, at least, that Cesaro will be in one of the Money in the Bank matches at the upcoming pay-per-view.

Mark Henry fakes his retirement then attacks John Cena
This segment was, as I said on Twitter last night, SO PERFECT. Even the smarmiest of marks had to believe that Mark Henry was really retiring. It was easily the best performance of his career as he had the crowd showing their love and he was even shedding tears. Talk about the ultimate of heel moves. This monster version of Mark Henry has been one of my favorite characters in quite some time and I’m looking forward to his match against Cena at Money in the Bank, even though there’s little chance Henry wins the title. It also likely means that the rumored Daniel Bryan v. Cena title match gets pushed back to SummerSlam.

Brock Lesnar returns and attacks CM Punk
This was pretty predictable, but the IWC doesn’t care about predictability when it’s what we want and seems like the right thing to do. A Paul Heyman v. CM Punk feud with Brock Lesnar as his heavy should really be great. Based on his last few opponents, we sometimes forget how truly good Lesnar is (or was, at least) in the ring and CM Punk will probably bring a great match out of him.

Everything else on Raw was either good or not bad enough to get upset about. WWE delivered a solid three hours of television coming off a solid three hours of pay-per-view programming, which is really an accomplishment.

Video: Brock Lesnar attacks CM Punk at the end of Raw

At Sunday’s Payback pay-per-view, we got the early tease of dissension between CM Punk and Paul Heyman, which was furthered during the early parts of last night’s Raw. CM Punk told Heyman that he wasn’t Heyman’s client, he was just his friend. As his friend, he didn’t want Heyman at ringside for his match against Alberto Del Rio in the main event.

Heyman gave Punk the “kiss of death” right before the match, telling CM Punk that he loved him and giving him a hug. The match was decent, with CM Punk winning by countout when Del Rio walked out. Then Brock Lesnar showed up, at around the 2:40 mark of the video above.

Video: Mark Henry swerves us all, pretends to retire then attacks John Cena

Mark Henry teased via Twitter that he was about to hang up the tights and call it a career. He came to the ring during Monday’s Raw and delivered a long retirement speech, saying it was time to come home to his family. After John Cena offered Henry a hug, the world’s strongest man delivered a World’s Strongest Slam to the WWE Champion.

Payback results and review: CM Punk returns; Axel, AJ and ADR win gold

punkpaybackWWE’s Payback pay-per-view delivered more than most fans – myself included – expected, including a bevy of title changes and the surprise announcement of the return of Rob Van Dam. While the John Cena v. Ryback Three Stages of Hell match was the least entertaining, the rest of the show was very strong, with the crowd into it throughout the night and some unexpected finishes.

The Cena – Ryback main event suffered from many factors. The match type itself already featured three of maybe the least exciting stipulations all bundled into one – Lumberjack match, tables match, and ambulance match. It also didn’t help that two guys WWE audiences certainly don’t believe have great in-ring talent had to follow the likes of CM Punk, Chris Jericho, Daniel Bryan and The Shield. In hindsight, WWE would probably book the CM Punk v. Jericho match to close the show.

Below are the results and my thoughts on each match on the main card:

Curtis Axel defeated The Miz and Wade Barrett to win the Intercontinental Championship

It felt like Axel was a shoe-in to win as soon as he was announced as Fandango’s replacement but the match was pretty solid, the ending was smart, and the crowd popped huge for Axel winning the Intercontinental Title that his father helped make famous on Father’s Day. The way Axel won – pinning Barrett while Miz had the figure four applied – probably sets up a Miz – Axel feud for the title, which could be good.

AJ Lee defeated Kaitlyn via submission to win the Divas Championship

I couldn’t help but thinking during this match – and I had to restrain myself a bit because it might be a little hyperbolic – that we were watching this generation’s Trish Stratus and Lita. AJ and Kaitlyn have a long way to go before they’re in the same realm as two of the greatest women’s competitors of all time, but these two have obvious chemistry in the ring, a solid backstory, and can put together a hell of a match.

Dean Ambrose defeated Kane via countout to retain the United States Championship

A predictable outcome, which is fine, since Kane doesn’t need a singles title at this point in his career and Dean Ambrose is on the rise to the main event scene.

WWE announces Rob Van Dam will return at Money in the Bank

Rob Van Dam will return to WWE at the Money in the Bank pay-per-view, which takes place in Philadelphia on July 14th. RVD will likely be a big crowd favorite in ECW’s old hometown, although WWE is wringing that cloth for all the nostalgia it can get at this point. While he was less than stellar during his TNA run, a motivated Van Dam could be really good for a short span in WWE. The company hasn’t said yet whether this is a one shot deal or a longer plan for RVD.

Alberto Del Rio defeated Dolph Ziggler to win the World Heavyweight Championship

Throughout the match Alberto Del Rio was playing the heel role. The crowd was solidly behind Ziggler and it felt like WWE was trying to do a double turn with Del Rio ended up heel and Ziggler babyface. Del Rio continually targeted the head of Ziggler and the announcers pointed out how that wasn’t very sportsmanlike, but you have to do what you have to do to become champion.

If the plan is to turn both men, it was smart booking to have Del Rio win the title, even though it’s so soon into Ziggler’s reign. It helps to build sympathy for Ziggler from the “non-smart mark” crowd and the good guy is usually better as the one chasing the title.

CM Punk defeated Chris Jericho

This match went down without any shenanigans, which was a bit surprising to me. Punk returned, with the same theme song, and defeated Jericho in an excellent match. A little bit of dissension was teased between Paul Heyman and CM Punk following the match and again backstage. It seems like WWE will eventually split these two up, with Punk turning babyface and hopefully feuding with Brock Lesnar.

Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns defeated Daniel Bryan and Randy Orton to retain the World Tag Team Championship

A predictable outcome – again, which is totally fine – and a solid match. Daniel Bryan continues to be one of the hottest wrestlers on the roster right now and will probably head into the main event title scene. The question is what’s next for Randy Orton?

John Cena defeated Ryback in a Three Stages of Hell match to retain the WWE Championship
Ryback won the Lumberjack stage by pinfall. Cena won the second stage by putting Ryback through a table. Cena won the third stage by AA’ing Ryback through the roof of the ambulance.

Jokes about how flimsy the ambulance was! Now that that’s out of the way, this match itself wasn’t bad, really, but like I mentioned above it suffered from several factors. Hopefully this is the end of the Cena – Ryback feud.

(Image courtesy WWE.com)

Video: Bray Wyatt and the Wyatt Family teaser

For those that missed it on last night’s episode of Monday Night Raw, below is the teaser vignette for Bray Wyatt and the Wyatt Family.

This vignette is so well done – as are most WWE teasers – from the theme song to the camera work and editing to the Wyatt Family themselves. I personally can’t wait for these guys to get the call up from NXT.

Audio: The Rock speaks about the night after WrestleMania, Brock Lesnar and his match with John Cena

Hot 97′s Peter Rosenberg, a huge wrestling fan who scores loads of interviews, recently spoke with The Rock. “The Great One” cleared the air about what happened the night after WrestleMania, speaks about his match with John Cena at WM 29 possibly being his last, a potential Brock Lesnar angle, and about his surgery. The Rock drops some salty language at the end in reference to everybody’s favorites – the dirtsheets – so beware if you’re checking it out at work.

We’ll see what happens down the road regarding The Rock’s wrestling future. Part of me thinks he actually may not step into a ring again, based on his injury and that movie studios probably won’t want the risk. The Rock has risen to an even higher level of movie stardom and box office potential since he returned to the ring and he’s viewed as an investment now as well.

Ringside Rewind: Music video for the old school WrestleMania theme

WWE’s YouTube channel has posted a bunch of different Superstar-related music videos and this one below caught my eye and tickled my heart strings. It’s the old school WrestleMania theme song.

I still don’t know why the song begins with, “Are you ready for the Survivor Series?” and also prominently features Mean Gene asking, “Who will survive?”

4.15.13 Raw recap: After hot start, WWE puts the crowd to sleep and has all its singles champions lose

Last night’s episode of Raw was a perfectly acceptable program, except when compared to the excellent broadcast a week before it and without the benefit of that hot crowd it seemed pretty boring.

It’s unfair to expect what we got in New Jersey every week but Monday’s Raw, which started out great and had a very solid first hour and a half, went downhill fast. Still, though, storylines were advanced and we got a few setups for the Extreme Rules pay-per-view.

• The show started off with a solid 2-on-1 match with Randy Orton and Sheamus – or, the “Celtic Vipers,” as Michael Cole referred to them post-match – taking on Big Show, continuing their WrestleMania fallout. After Mark Henry speared Sheamus in the back, we were set up with a Celtic Vipers v. Mark Henry and Big Show match on Smackdown.

I thought immediately after Cole branded the team of Orton and Sheamus that they might be sticking together to be that new babyface tag team WWE is lacking behind Team Hell No. Or maybe we’re getting this Smackdown tag match as a setup to singles programs of Sheamus-Henry and Orton-Show instead.

• WWE did what they usually do and instead of letting the “Fandangoing craze” just be organic, they tried to force it down our throats. The Greenville crowd had zero interest in the gimmick. Give credit to Fandango for trying to bring them back in, but the audience just wasn’t having it.

It was especially awkward while Fandango was making his entrance and the announcers were explaining what a “viral hit” he had become and the crowd was completely silent. While I’m glad WWE didn’t just throw away everything that happened in New Jersey, they probably should have realized it would be hard to replicate that sort of atmosphere again.

• Dolph Ziggler also got very little reaction, which is scary since Vince McMahon tends to overreact based on one night. It’s also surprising, since Ziggler got a better reaction than that even as he was losing clean to Kofi Kingston for weeks before cashing in his Money in the Bank briefcase. I have no problem with Jack Swagger working his way into the Alberto Del Rio – Dolph Ziggler rematch. In fact, it makes sense, since Swagger made the claim on Smackdown that he softened up the champ and made it possible for Ziggler to cash in.

I wouldn’t have a problem with Ziggler losing – a week after winning the title – to Swagger either, since it does set up Swagger’s involvement in the match even more, if WWE didn’t constantly have its champions lose non-title matches on TV. There are plenty of other ways to get people involved in the title picture. Oh, how I miss the plain old Number One Contenders match.

• Speaking of which: Wade Barrett also lost a non-title match to R-Truth and Kaitlyn was pinned by one of the Bellas in a non-title contest. One champion lost his belt on the show and three other champions lost non-title matches.

• Antonio Cesaro dropping the United States Championship to Kofi Kingston was a questionable move, although it really shouldn’t be based on the way Cesaro has been booked lately. The match itself was great, though. Hopefully for Cesaro he’s onto something more meaningful now. That may be wishful thinking.

I wouldn’t be shocked if we see a Big E. Langston v. Kofi Kingston US Title match at some point with Langston winning the gold.

• CM Punk pulled a Shawn Michaels and “lost his smile.” Punk’s brief promo before walking out made sense, and perhaps he takes some time off to rehab his myriad injuries and comes back as a face again.

• I loved that Heath Slater called The Shield a “three-man cover band” during his promo. Brock Lesnar got a nice pop and roughed up 3MB, which brought out Paul Heyman to lay down the challenge to Triple H. Lesnar v. Trips at Extreme Rules in a steel cage match.

While the majority of the internet hates this, and it’s hard to argue that view, at least it will be the final chapter in the Triple H – Lesnar saga and hopefully will then allow Lesnar to move on to another program.

• The long Ryback pre-taped promo was a well done, old school segment but it definitely took the air out of the live crowd. The show didn’t really recover after that. All of Ryback’s talking points made sense, though, explaining that he was there to save John Cena when he needed it, but Cena was never there to help Ryback against The Shield.

It planted seeds that Cena might be aligned with The Shield, as far-fetched as that may be, until later in the show when The Shield attacked Cena and Ryback stood by without helping. It might be a reach to assume Ryback is aligned with The Shield and more likely that this was just done to build more tension between Cena and Ryback.

Video: Preview tonight’s loaded episode of Impact Wrestling

TNA Impact Wrestling airs live tonight from Corpus Christi, Texas, featuring a heavy slate of action.

Chavo Guerrero and Hernandez challenge Bobby Roode and Austin Aries for the Tag Team Championships in a 2-out-of-3 falls match, and if Chavo and Hernandez lose they can never tag team in TNA again. Taryn Terrell will make her in-ring debut against Gail Kim, AJ Styles will pledge his allegiance to either Aces & Eights or TNA, and Jeff Hardy challenges Bully Ray for the TNA Heavyweight Championship in a Full Metal Mayhem match.

The live episodes of Impact from outside the Impact Zone have been great so far. The crowds are much more into the action and it’s created a whole new atmosphere for TNA. Tonight’s episode, at least on paper, looks to be a good one.