Raw Review: 6/30/14
To say this week's Raw was good is a bit of an understatement. In my opinion, this was the best Raw of the year. There was just so much that happened. Two matches were announced for WWE Battleground, Bad News Barrett was stripped of the Intercontinental Championship, AJ Lee returned, AJ Lee won the Divas Championship, AJ Lee turned face, Jack Swagger turned face, Paige turned heel, The Miz returned, Chris Jericho returned, the Wyatt Family attacked Chris Jericho, Summer Rae kissed Dolph Ziggler twice, Dolphz Ziggler beat Fandango, Kofi Kingston beat Cesaro, Cesaro destroyed Kingston, and Seth Rollins tried to cash in on John Cena. Yeah, it was crazy. I won't be able to cover everything in this recap, but I'll try and recap whatever best I can.
One of the best segments of the show was between Rusev and Jack Swagger. It started with Rusev and Lana bragging about his latest win and dumping on the U.S. This prompted Zeb Colter and Jack Swagger to come out and defend America. The segment ended with Swagger knocking Rusev out of the ring. This segment was the official face turn for Swagger and Colter, and the duo actually got a big pop. Who expected Swagger to be the next midcard hero? This is similar to what happened in Sheamus in 2011. He was a guy who had always been a heel but made a turn to take on an unstoppable monster heel (Mark Henry). When you think about it, Swagger is the next perfect opponent for Rusev. Who better to take on an anit-American guy than a pro-American guy? We didn't even think about Swagger as a potential opponent for Rusev because he was a heel. The two should have a great rivalry in the weeks to come.
Out of the three returns on Raw, the return of Y2J was the biggest. It was unexpected and truly awesome. When a big return was teased this week, everyone thought it would be The Miz. Well, he did return, but so did Jericho. The biggest part of this segment: Jericho wasn't even standing at the end of it. No, that was the Wyatt Family, who attacked Jericho out of nowhere. This was a smart move by the WWE, as it immediately kicks off a feud between Bray Wyatt and Jericho. This is a feud that can last for a few months and be excellent. As for The Miz, he cut a solid promo before getting taken out by Jericho.
Another big return: AJ Lee. The spunky diva returned after a hiatus of two months to reclaim her Divas championship from Paige. In the process, she turned face while Paige turned heel. Double turns are rare, so this was pretty cool to see. The fact that it was brilliantly executed doesn't hurt either. These two should have a great match at WWE Battleground. Except AJ to also feud with Tamina over the title in the coming months.
The main event of the night was a tag match between the competitors in the WWE World Heavyweight Championship match at WWE Battleground: Kane, Randy Orton, John Cena, and Roman Reigns. The match itself was decent, it was what happened afterwards that's of note. Kane laid out Cena and Triple H motioned for Seth Rollins to come down. But before Rollins could cash in, he was ambushed by Dean Ambrose. Reigns then hit Kane with a spear and stared down Triple H. It looks like we can expect to see Rollins and Ambrose to clash at the next pay-per-view and for Reigns and Triple H to meet at SummerSlam.
I wish I could've gone more in depth here, but this article is late enough as it is. I think I at least got the basic gist, which is that this Raw (along with the one after 'Mania) was one of the best of the year. Hopefully we will see more like it in the months to follow. Granted, I know it's a lot to expect, but the WWE has known to deliver.
One of the best segments of the show was between Rusev and Jack Swagger. It started with Rusev and Lana bragging about his latest win and dumping on the U.S. This prompted Zeb Colter and Jack Swagger to come out and defend America. The segment ended with Swagger knocking Rusev out of the ring. This segment was the official face turn for Swagger and Colter, and the duo actually got a big pop. Who expected Swagger to be the next midcard hero? This is similar to what happened in Sheamus in 2011. He was a guy who had always been a heel but made a turn to take on an unstoppable monster heel (Mark Henry). When you think about it, Swagger is the next perfect opponent for Rusev. Who better to take on an anit-American guy than a pro-American guy? We didn't even think about Swagger as a potential opponent for Rusev because he was a heel. The two should have a great rivalry in the weeks to come.
Out of the three returns on Raw, the return of Y2J was the biggest. It was unexpected and truly awesome. When a big return was teased this week, everyone thought it would be The Miz. Well, he did return, but so did Jericho. The biggest part of this segment: Jericho wasn't even standing at the end of it. No, that was the Wyatt Family, who attacked Jericho out of nowhere. This was a smart move by the WWE, as it immediately kicks off a feud between Bray Wyatt and Jericho. This is a feud that can last for a few months and be excellent. As for The Miz, he cut a solid promo before getting taken out by Jericho.
Another big return: AJ Lee. The spunky diva returned after a hiatus of two months to reclaim her Divas championship from Paige. In the process, she turned face while Paige turned heel. Double turns are rare, so this was pretty cool to see. The fact that it was brilliantly executed doesn't hurt either. These two should have a great match at WWE Battleground. Except AJ to also feud with Tamina over the title in the coming months.
The main event of the night was a tag match between the competitors in the WWE World Heavyweight Championship match at WWE Battleground: Kane, Randy Orton, John Cena, and Roman Reigns. The match itself was decent, it was what happened afterwards that's of note. Kane laid out Cena and Triple H motioned for Seth Rollins to come down. But before Rollins could cash in, he was ambushed by Dean Ambrose. Reigns then hit Kane with a spear and stared down Triple H. It looks like we can expect to see Rollins and Ambrose to clash at the next pay-per-view and for Reigns and Triple H to meet at SummerSlam.
I wish I could've gone more in depth here, but this article is late enough as it is. I think I at least got the basic gist, which is that this Raw (along with the one after 'Mania) was one of the best of the year. Hopefully we will see more like it in the months to follow. Granted, I know it's a lot to expect, but the WWE has known to deliver.
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