WWE Monday Night RAW 8/13/2012
The American Airlines Arena Dallas, TX
Non-Title Match: CM Punk© vs The Big Show
We start right out of the gate with a non-title match between Punk and Big Show, and it barely got underway before it was over.
Finish: Daniel Bryan comes out acting like the crazy bastard he is. He then gets in the ring and applies The No Lock on Punk causing a DQ. The Big Show then joins in on the attack until John Cena runs down and makes the save.
Winner: CM Punk
Post Match: AJ skips down to the ring and makes a huge tag team main event pitting John Cena and CM Punk against The Big Show and Daniel Bryan.
Ryback vs JTG
I guess bitching and moaning works, as JTG gets a match on Raw. They even mention his negative remarks about the company on Twitter. I'm guessing the talent meeting went well, or they're waiting until after Linda McMahon's campaign to fire him and anyone else who has voiced their opinions as of late.
But even getting squashed by Ryback is progress. Right?
Finish: Ryback got fed.
Winner: Ryback
HBK backstage with Roddy Piper
Are they finally going to go ahead with having Lesnar destroy HBK? This will get heat back on the Lesnar/Triple H feud, and more importantly give Lesnar back his credibility as a monster. I mean lets face it, WWE has done nothing but devalue Brock since he returned earlier this year. So it is in their best interest to build the guy back up before the Pay Per View. And hopefully they wont job him out to Hunter this Sunday, even though I think we all know that's exactly what will happen.
Heath Slater vs R-Truth
Short and pointless match. And that's all I have to say about it.
Finish: Clothesline to Slater, followed by a Flatliner and Truth covers for the win.
Winner: R-Truth
Post Match: The Primetime Players come out and beat down Truth.
Without AW, this team will go nowhere. They were given a mouthpiece for a reason. Neither guy is good on the mic, and I don't see them getting over now that AW has been fired by WWE. I predict Trouble in Little Jimmy's Paradise will retain the Titles on Sunday.
Sin Cara vs Tensai
Sin Cara was pretty impressive in this match. Maybe that's because it was so damn short that he didn't have the opportunity to botch any moves.
Tensai continues his losing streak, and here we all thought that when he was losing to Tyson Kidd, it was because Kidd was getting a push. And now it's pretty obvious that it was just the beginning of a losing streak storyline for Tensai, which is pretty bogus.
Finish: Sin Cara hits a Tornado DDT to pick up the win.
Winner: Sin Cara
Post Match: Tensai beats up his follower yet again. Are we supposed to be caring about this? If so, you fail WWE.
The Piper's Pit with Chris Jericho
The fans got to vote on Piper's guest tonight in what was clearly a setup. I mean nobody was going to vote for The Miz, and so that left both Chris Jericho and Dolph Ziggler, who are feuding. So it makes sense to have Jericho come out, and then get interrupted by Ziggler or vice versa. And that is exactly what happened.
Jericho wins the vote, and after Piper rambled on and on, Dolph Ziggler crashes the party. They go back and forth until out comes The Miz to further show that this was all laid out in advance. The Miz says that he's taking over The Pit before excusing both Jericho and Piper. Instead Jericho pops Miz in the mouth and cleans house of both him and Ziggler.
Besides how blatantly they proved the voting to be a farce, I liked this. It helped to move along the Jericho/Ziggler storyline, and I am more excited to see that match then I am Hunter vs Lesnar. But WWE only has themselves to blame for that.
Dolph Ziggler vs Chris Jericho vs The Miz
When we come back from break, we find out that AJ has made an impromptu Triple Threat match between the three.
This one was pretty good, and it went a long way to show how much Raw has improved in recent months. In the past we were only given one big match a week. Tonight we opened with CM Punk vs The Big Show, and now we are given a Triple Threat between three talented stars. Plus we still have the big tag team main event to come. It's obvious that the focus is now on better in-ring action, and I have no complaints about that.
Finish: Jericho hooks Miz in The Walls of Jericho, but Vicky distracts the referee. Ziggler comes in an nails The Zig Zag on Y2J to pick up the big win going into Summerslam.
Winner: Dolph Ziggler
Layla & Kaitlyn vs Beth Phoenix & Eve
This was actually pretty competitive for a Diva's match, and Kaitlyn was impressive.
Finish: Eve gets knocked off of the ring apron, followed be a quick roll up on Phoenix by Kaitlyn to get the win for her team.
Winners: Layla & Kaitlyn
CM Punk & John Cena vs The Big Show & Daniel Bryan
Punk's slow build to becoming a heel continues. Neither team worked really well together in this match, but surprisingly it was the team of Bryan and Big Show that was the most dysfunctional.
Finish: Punk mockingly began going through Cena's short list of moves. But when he went for the Five Knuckle Shuffle, Cena tagged himself in. Punk then decided to take his Title and walk away from the match. Cena was still able to pick up the win for his team.
Winners: CM Punk & John Cena
Post Match: Big Show goes to take out Cena, but Punk makes the save and nails Show in the head with The WWE Title. Punk then offers his hand to Cena who refuses, proving he is a giant piece of shit. Punk then walks off as Cena stares at Punk with a combination of shock and disgust.
Backstage: Josh Mathews catches up with CM Punk who says on Sunday he will teach John Cena and everyone else a lesson in respect.
Damien Sandow vs Christian
Sandow continues to impress me. The guy is good at what he does, and I honestly look forward to seeing him progress.
Finish: Brodus Clay comes out to distract Sandow but it doesn't work, and he is able to get the win over Captain Charisma
Winner: Damien Sandow
Brock Lesnar finds Shawn Michaels backstage. HBK hightails it.
If that's all that goes down between the two, I'll be pissed. It's starting to sound like I'm a HBK hater, huh? I assure you that is not the case. I just firmly believe this feud badly needs to pick up some heat. And what is the point of having Shawn on TV if he isn't going to take a beating from Brock?
The Brock Lesnar/Triple H contract signing
This will go down as the most underwhelming Contract signing in WWE history. They could have done so many things better here. First Lesnar calls out Shawn Michaels who just kind of stands around looking like he could piss himself at any second. Then Triple H's music hits, they both sign the contracts, and Lesnar leaves. THAT'S IT!!! What was the purpose in even doing an in-ring signing? I guess they felt they had to since they've done such a piss poor job of building this into a must see feud.
Afterward Triple H and Shawn talk about the match backstage. Shawn then reiterates that he will be in Hunter's corner at Summerslam before walking off into the sunset. #Wasted Opportunity
And just when I say that...
IT FINALLY HAPPENS!!
Big Show is being interviewed in the back when screeching tires and a car horn loudly echo through the hallway. When the camera gets to the parking lot Paul Heyman has Shawn Michaels' car blocked. Shawn yells at Heyman to move his car, when out of nowhere Brock Lesnar strikes! He pulls Shawn out of his car, bumping the cameraman in the process and causing the picture to go out. We then hear a scuffle as the show goes to a break.
When we come back the roster is surveying the scene, but Shawn Michaels is gone. And so are Lesnar and Heyman. They show Shawn's car, and the windshield is destroyed. This reminded me of when Shawn was attacked by The Corporation in 1998. During that beating Shawn's face was driven through the windshield, and there was blood everywhere. I guess this was the PG answer to that segment.
Flashback to 1998:
Triple H shows up and demands answers.
Cut back into the arena as Brock carries HBK's beaten body to the ring. He tosses him in like a dead deer. Michaels gets to his feet only to be F-5'd by Lesnar. Brock then locks on the Kimura.
Triple H then comes down. Heyman warns Hunter that if he takes one more step, Brock will break HBK's arm. He stops, but Lesnar 'breaks' his arm anyway. Triple H chases Lesnar off as the EMT's rush to Shawn's aid. The show goes off the air with Lesnar looking at his handiwork approvingly.
This was good stuff. We will have to wait and see if it helps bring in PPV buys, but I think they could drag this out another month if they wanted. I wouldn't have said that last week, so the heat is there. Lets see where they go this Sunday. If Triple H beats him clean, this all would have been for nothing.
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