WWE Raw results (06/09/14): Eight observations from this week's episode
We were expecting some answers in Minneapolis, Minn. Monday night, and we sure as heck got some.
Outside of those questions being answered, not much else happened. It was a night of mostly squash matches, which is something I don't necessarily mind. The WWE has a lot of characters in desperate need of getting over, so that means someone has to put them over.
It's just that the WWE has gone so far away from that formula at times that when they occasionally go to it, it seems weird. The WWE usually gives away pay-per-view quality matches on free television like it's candy. Granted, there were some quality matches this Monday, but there were more matches where the outcome was a forgone conclusion than usual.
Before we go any further, let's get into the full match results from the most recent episode of Raw.
- Money in the Bank Qualifying Match: Sheamus def. Bad News Barrett
- Rusev def. Zack Ryder
- RybAxel def. Goldust & R-Truth
- The Usos def. Fanango & Damien Sandow
- Bo Dallas def. Xavier Woods
- Money in the Bank Qualifying Match: Cesaro def. Rob Van Dam
- Paige def. Alicia Fox
- Jack Swagger def. Santino
- The Shield & John Cena def. The Wyatt Family
Now let's get into my highlights and observations from the Target Center:
The WWE strips Daniel Bryan of the WWE World Heavyweight Championship
After weeks of stretching this story out, the WWE finally decided to officially strip Daniel Bryan of the WWE World Heavyweight Championship Monday, as it was confirmed by Dr. Joseph Maroon himself that he would not be cleared to wrestle later this month at Money in the Bank.
My first though was, "It took long enough."
Listen, I'm as big a Daniel Bryan fan as anyone. I still think about him every time I hear The Final Countdown by Europe. I wish this guy had a fair chance to run with the title throughout the summer and cement his spot in the main event scene. Unfortunately, his body will not allow him to.
Since I'm such a big fan of his, I don't want to see him come back too early and risk further injuring his neck. Nor do I want to see him pressured into coming back sooner than he should by the WWE.
For the betterment of his career moving forward he should take as much time as necessary to heal up and come back 100 percent or as close to it as he possibly can be without risking a debilitating injury.
Since he's going to take time to heal, the title has to come off him. The WWE finally pulled the trigger Monday, but it should have been done a long time ago. I know there were reports that could have returned within a month, but why? Why come back after only a month when you just had neck surgery?
I don't care how minor a neck surgery it was, it's still neck surgery and should be given plenty of time to get himself together. Obviously, it wasn't that minor because he will need an extended period of time to bounce back from it.
Moving forward, this means that the WWE World Heavyweight Championship will be defended in a Money in the Bank ladder match, which is something I'm definitely intrigued by — much more intrigued than I would have been in a stretcher match between Bryan and Kane.
Money in the Bank match taking shape
Four of the seven spots have been filled in the Money in the Bank ladder match for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. As of today, Alberto Del Rio, Cesaro and Sheamus have qualified while Randy Orton was literally handed a spot in the match by Triple H.
Without knowing the other three combatants, the two front-runners look to be Orton and Cesaro. Hopefully, Orton doesn't come near the title, as his last run with it was boring as hell and nearly killed the significance of it.
The last thing we need is a summer of Orton being Triple H's lap dog with two titles on his shoulders. We already suffered through an entire winter with it.
With that said, is Cesaro ready for that spot if it was handed to him? I don't see Sheamus holding two titles at once and Del Rio … well … he's Del Rio. So that makes Cesaro the only other option, but again, is he ready? I guess the only way we'll know is if they pull the trigger on him. It's still kind of tough to tell when there's still three spots to be filled in the match.
Seth Rollins provides some answers
The architect of The Shield, Seth Rollins, went to the ring Monday night decked out in a suit and answered Michael Cole's questions as to why he turned his back on his former brethren in The Shield.
To Rollins, since he was the creator of the group, he should be the one to destroy it. He said while Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose saw the other members as brothers in arms, Rollins saw the other members as merely business partners. Last week, he simply severed his business partnership with them.
Rollins also said that he didn't sell out like the crowd said, but that he bought in. He bought in to the evolution of himself and his future.
I thought Rollins did an admirable job in this segment. His statements made sense and I think with him taking credit for being the architect of The Shield, he looks like the perfect compliment to Triple H, who fancies himself as the cerebral assassin.
Rollins' new theme music seemed very generic, but that's not a huge deal and could be fixed. If he lacked the ability to cut a good promo or work in the ring it would be a lot harder to fix.
I'm looking forward to seeing where he goes from here. He didn't look out of place in his suit or the role he was playing. He seemed comfortable, which is something you don't always find when someone makes a sudden turn to something new. He looks ready to embrace the role, as he should.
The Shield isn't dead quite yet
Despite the empty promise made by Triple H that The Shield would perish Monday, The Shield kept trucking along without Rollins.
Reigns and Ambrose beat up all three members of 3MB and then followed it up with a very good promo. Ambrose really shined in this segment with his promo. Reigns did as good a job as he normally does, but I thought Ambrose made the most of his time with the microphone in his hands.
My only question is where does The Shield go from here? It looks like Reigns and Ambrose are going to stick together for the time being and will hunt down Rollins, but do they stay a duo or do they add a third person?
If they do add a third person, then who and would that person be the right fit? My gut tells me that it will be hard to replace Rollins within the group, but I've been wrong plenty of times before and I'll be wrong again at some point.
One person I could definitely write off the list is John Cena. I sincerely hope no one took him teaming with The Shield Monday as foreshadowing of him joining the group. I can only hope no one actually thinks that.
Sheamus-Bad News Barrett had a quaiity match
The Intercontinental and United States champions went at it again Monday, but provided a very good match that the fine folks in Minneapolis seemed to have enjoyed.
The only problem I had with the match was the outcome. Since Sheamus and Cesaro won, we're probably going to get another Intercontinental title match between Barrett and Rob Van Dam, which I'm not necessarily looking forward to.
I'd much rather had seen Sheamus and Cesaro have another match while Barrett and Van Dam went into the Money in the Bank match, but I guess I can't always get what I want.
Despite the outcome, I still enjoyed the match.
Damien Sandow stuff was kind of funny and sad at the same time
I must admit that I chuckled a little bit at the site of Damien Sandow twirling a ribbon around in that horrifying outfit he was wearing.
Although I chuckled slightly, I also shed a tear thinking about the wasted potential that is Sandow's career. Sandow must have pissed the wrong person off real bad because it's not like the guy lacks talent.
He has a good look (important to WWE), he's good if not great inside the ring (important to WWE) and he's an excellent talker (very, very important to WWE), so why is this guy stuck in a comedic role?
Sandow has the potential to be a main event heel, in my opinion. His ability to talk and play that character is great, but for whatever reason, he's been relegated to comedic jobber that embarrasses himself on a weekly basis.
If that was Santino out there twirling a ribbon, I would have enjoyed it more because that's his role. Santino is never going to be in the main event week in and week out, but Sandow has that level of potential, but I guess the WWE sees more money in Adam Rose. I have no idea.
Lana calls Barack Obama a wimp, continues to lust over Vladimir Putin
The WWE tried to stay show that were with the times Monday by showing Barack Obama's leaked workout footage and having the lovely (and I mean lovely) Lana come out and call him a "girly man."
She then showed photos of Vladimir Putin doing manly man things, such as ride a horse with his shirt off. I guess only a real man rides a horse without a shirt.
Rusev then came out and predictably crushed Zack Ryder. Rusev crushing Ryder has literally gone on since the winter. I personally saw Rusev crush Ryder with my own two eyes during a dark match at a Smackdown taping in early January. Even at that point, he had been crushing Ryder for weeks on in.
Alicia Fox loves/hates Aksana and popcorn
Foxy 3:16 lost to Divas Champion Paige once again, but Fox's antics after the match completely overshadowed Paige yet again. Paige's wins don't matter when everyone looks forward to seeing what Fox does after the match.
This time she beat up her own friend Aksana, who was simply trying to help her to her feet. Fox beat up Aksana, grabbed a couple bottles of water and a big bucket of popcorn and dumped it all over Akasna.
She then ate some of the popcorn and forced Aksana to eat some as well before suddenly changing her attitude and consoled Aksana. Talk about a mood swing (rim shot inserted here).
I wish the WWE would just run with Fox because she really has something with this new persona. It's better than anything Paige has because the WWE hasn't given her anything for whatever reason.
It takes more than a title and some victories to get over with the fans. You have to have a reason for them to cheer for a specific wrestler. As of right now, there isn't much to get behind with Paige besides the fact that she wrestles heels and the main heel she goes up against is more interesting than she is.