 Kane attempts to delivers a clothesline to Daniel Bryan. Great Triple Threat Elimination match to kick off the show between WWE Champion CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, and Kane. They managed to differ their offense from their match at No Way Out and provided solid action. AJ's interference was well done and having her be the be reason Kane was eliminated was logical. Smart booking in having Bryan capitalize on Punk for the victory, thus earning himself a future WWE title opportunity. Hot opening to the show for sure. Good match between Big Show and Brodus Clay while it lasted. While I know Clay picking up an upset victory here would have been a bit farfetched, it would have made more sense to save this match for SummerSlam or draw it out a bit longer. Clay's winning streak ending here felt very anticlimactic and wasn't acknowledged at all. However, I'm glad they gave Clay an out due to his "injured" knee, thus allowing this feud to continue somewhere down the line. Forgettable United States Championship match with Santino Marella successfully defending against Jack Swagger. What purpose did this serve? It's certainly not a good thing that Cole mentioned that Marella hasn't defended his gold in over two months, meaning he broke the "defending titles every thirty days" rule. Logic aside, this contest had no build whatsoever and furthered the fact that Santino shouldn't at all be U.S. Champion when more deserving guys such as Zack Ryder or Jack Swagger could be holding it. Entertaining exchange between John Cena and the returning Chris Jericho. Personally, I found Jericho's Star Wars references to be hilarious and one of the funnier jokes he's cracked in recent memory, but I can believe why people believed Cena should have been taking the promo a bit more seriously. Jericho was awesome as always on the mic and played off Cena well. It set up the main event nicely, but it was too little too late since it was advertised at the top of the second hour. As far as the content of the segment goes, I'm completely against using former WWE Champions in a Money in the Bank Ladder Match. The whole point of the match is to elevate new stars, not give multiple time World Champions such as Cena another chance at the gold. Jericho will be forced to do much of the work in that match, as I don't see it being the spotfest we normally see from these type of matches. Fine match between Heath Slater and the returning Sycho Sid. Is Slater is the newest jobber for WWE alumni these days? Regardless, he sold well for Sid who looked more impressive that I originally thought. It was fun to see Sid back on Raw for the first time in over fifteen years, and I'm loving this concept of bringing back these familiar faces every week as we progress towards the 1,000th episode of Raw.  Alberto Del Rio and Dolph Ziggler fight over the title contract. Meaningless Contract on a Pole match between Alberto Del Rio and Dolph Ziggler. Pole matches are always terribly booked, but this one was even more bizarre. Sure, fighting over the fallen contract was innovative at first, then it just felt stupid after awhile. Having it end in a no contest made this match even more irrelevant, since both competitors were given a shot at the title this Friday on SmackDown regardless.
Throwaway Divas battle royal that saw AJ emerge victorious. They're always quick, which in a way is a good thing, but the eliminations are so rushed that it doesn't mean anything. I like the move by giving AJ the victory, as it pushes her further towards the Divas Championship, but I hope she isn't thrown in the title picture while still dealing with Punk and Bryan. Good match between John Cena and Chris Jericho. Although it was noted that we haven't seen this match in nearly two years, it still felt like a repeat of their multiple encounters in past years. The action was fine up until the end, where Big Show called for the disqualification. While I realize both Cena and Show are going to be in the WWE Championship Money in the Bank Ladder Match, there's no real reason to continue to drag out this feud between them, especially since Show stated on SmackDown last week that he had "moved on" from Cena. Overall, a decent show that had its highs and lows, but still had its successful build towards Money in the Bank in just a few weeks. However, that still doesn't take away from the fact that Creative doesn't seem to have any real long-term plans for the program and continue to throw matches together at the last point. I'm not enjoying the direction they're taking with most of their angles, despite the always enjoyable WWE Championship picture featuring CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, and AJ. |
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