WHAT I LIKED:
Opening Segment: Stephanie has a new title: Principal Owner. Maybe the end of Vinnie Mac as bossman is in full force. That was a short and sweet opening segment that gave no answers or apologies to the people who really deserve them... us. It wasn't exactly a revelation that Stephanie told Big Show to knockout Daniel Bryan. We all gleaned that information from the context clues. It is good to see that Big Show isn't crying anymore, but he should know that calling Triple H a 'son of a bitch' isn't insulting to Triple H, but to his mother. You leave Mrs. Levesque out of this. I'm sure she's a nice lady. I sorta wish Big Show had KO'd Stephanie like the crowd was calling for. I mean, he was going to get fired anyway. Might as well take the boss lady down with ya.
Punk/Truth vs Ryback/Axel: R-Truth is featured on the Hell in a Cell poster. Odd. Maybe it means that he'll play a role in the PPV somehow. Hopefully it's not another boring match for the Intercontinental Championship. Rumors have been circulating that he might be turning heel, so maybe he'll become a Heyman Guy. I don't want R-Truth to become a Heyman Guy, but I'd be thrilled if Ron Killings became a Heyman Guy. Not a bad tag team match, even though it's obvious that the WWE fans are far more into CM Punk than R-Truth.
Orton vs Kingston: Stupid! Sorry, whenever I think about the two of them in the ring together, I instantly flashback to that moment. That moment is probably the reason why Kofi hasn't ascended to any greater status in the company than he is right now. This was the long match of the night and it wasn't bad at all. Both of these guys put on a good performance after having pretty physical matches last night.
Special Guest Referee: I'm not a fan of special guest referee matches because they don't make sense. In this instance, you have a few matches where the officiating has been suspect. So the way to fix that is to have a non-referee do the officiating. Furthermore, you're going to have three Hall of Famers who haven't wrestled in a while be the referee. Yeah, that should repair all the ills. But I still LIKE this because it's three of my favorites who might be referee. Booker T is the most logical choice because since he has no skin in the game, he'd probably be the most sane and fair. Bob Backlund... I LOVE Bob Backlund. I was a fan of his when nobody else in my group of friends were. But the man doesn't seem stable. He might be the most interesting choice. Plus, it'd be hilarious to see him slap the Crossface Chicken-Wing on Randy Orton if he stepped out of line. But everyone knows it'll be HBK who gets chosen. He has a personal relationship with Triple H, he trained Daniel Bryan and he has history with Randy Orton. He might be the most volatile of choices, but he's also the most popular. He'll win hands down.
Miz/Wyatt: Oh, I LOVE this. I LOVE this and nothing has even happened yet. But it's a substantial rivalry for both Bray Wyatt and The Miz, something they've both been sorely lacking.
Six-Man Tag: Good for WWE to feature Cody Rhodes & Goldust in the main-event of RAW after their match was the only bright spot of an otherwise pisspoor Pay-Per-View (try saying that five times fast). With Triple H at ringside, I'm sure there's going to be some type of unfairness to take place during this match. And as expected, Triple H restarts the match so that it doesn't end in 'undecisiveness' like last night. That's not a word, Hunter. It didn't take a genius to know that Orton was going to come out and cost Daniel Bryan the match after what Bryan did to him earlier. Again, I don't see the logic in playing Big Show's music as he came out. He was fired, so doesn't that take away any theme music? I suspect it'll be worked in that Vince McMahon hired him back or something, especially since the world's worst security team wasn't out there failing to stop him. I admit that I did pop a little bit when Big Show KTFO'ed Triple H. It's been a long time coming.
WHAT I HATED:
Ziggler vs Sandow: Of all the matches from Battleground to rematch tonight, they choose the free one that anybody could have watched? Might as well, this match was one of the few from last night that was any good. While Sandow may not have been dominating Ziggler, it's good to see him look strong for once. He still lost in the end, and still can't buy a win. I hope that whatever they are doing with Sandow pays off in the long run.
Six-Diva Tag: Wow. Could they have picked any worse wrestling divas for Natalya to partner/oppose? I think they went and picked the five worst divas on the roster purposefully. At least the two newbie divas are fucking hot in two completely different ways. I suppose I can't prejudge little Jo-Jo. She didn't wrestle at all during the match. But for her to be intentionally left out of a match this bad, it must mean something.
Los Matadores vs 3MB: Please tell me this is the last match that these two teams will be having for a while. 3MB are perennial losers that will never win a match in WWE and Los Matadores are WWE's new semi-racist playthings that they want to show off. There's never going to be anything different than what we've already seen thrice happen in these matches and it's time for them to end. The bull, El Torito, is fun to watch but that's about it.
Del Rio vs Rodriguez: The mere mention of 'He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named' just ruined this portion of the show for me. How does John Cena just get a World Title match upon his return? He left WWE a loser in his WWE Championship match. I would actually understand it if he got a WWE Championship match upon returning because of the long-standing rematch clause, but that clause doesn't extend to any other title. I guess WWE needs the ratings and are rushing Cena back into the fold (of at least hoping to bank off of his name). I'm going to be so pissed if he beats Del Rio at Hell in a Cell and wins the World Heavyweight Title.
MATCH OF THE NIGHT:
Randy Orton vs Kofi Kingston was the long match and was pretty decent. Unfortunately on nights like this, MOTN is pretty slim pickings.
BEST IN SHOW:
For finally turning that corner and sacking up, I award this to the man with the biggest impact on the night, Big Show. He KO'ed Triple H to close the show and really should have KO'ed Stephanie McMahon to open it.
REACTION:
Anyone who had anything to do with the booking and scripting of Battleground deserved to be KO'ed. Triple H got his. Now, for the creative team. One thing that has me a little bewildered is why Daniel Bryan didn't have anything to say to Big Show. Sure, he only KO'ed Bryan on Stephanie's orders, but he still knocked Bryan out and cost him the WWE Championship. I can't imagine Daniel Bryan would just be okay with how the ending of that match went down.
Tonight's RAW was a step forward from last night's debacle. At least it didn't end with any undecisiveness. Just an unconsciousness. I am glad that everything seems to be getting back on track after derailing for a while there. I'm not happy about the impending return of John Cena. I knew he'd be returning eventually, but not so soon. Has it really been three months? I was hoping for the long end of that 3-6 months timeframe. I thought I had at least until Royal Rumble before I'd have to deal with him again.
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