Cena opens Raw and rants on losing to John Laurinaitis at Over the Limit. He goes on to rant about Big Show selling out to get his job back. Eve comes out and introduces an injured JL. He comes out on a scooter with crutches in hand. JL lists off his “potential” injuries. He brings out Big Show. Show offers no real explanation for selling out and says he will face Cena at No Way Out. Otunga comes out to face John Cena right now. John Cena defeats Otunga in a very fast match. Reks, Hawkins, Darren Young, and Titus O’Neil come down and attack Cena after the match. Sheamus comes down to help Cena. JL announces Sheamus and Cena will be teaming up in a two on three handicap lumberjack match and doesn’t announce their opponents.
^Typical “let’s build some momentum for Cena after getting beat” moment. The match was terrible. Show’s heel turn has little logic behind it, but I like Show as a heel so I’m okay with the move. The aftermath was chaotic, but it built for the main event tonight. Maybe this is how WWE plans to feature more of their talent in two hours until they switch to the three hour programs on July 23.
Santino teaches Ricardo Rodriguez how to roll his Rs. He hits Ricardo with the cobra before introducing Del Rio himself. Santino leaves. Del Rio goes one on one with Randy Orton. Orton calls for an RKO on Del Rio but is nailed with a codebreaker by Chris Jericho. Orton wins the match by DQ. Jericho hits two more codebreakers on Orton after the match.
^I hope this means Jericho and Orton will have at least one more match before Jericho leaves the company. The Santino segment was alright, but it was pointless for the most part. Del Rio and Orton need to be booked in a match that has an actual ending sometime down the road.
Daniel Bryan comes out and says he made Punk tap out and that he should be the WWE Champion. Bryan demands a rematch and Punk comes out. Punk points out that he pinned Bryan before he tapped out, and then he introduces Kane as Bryan’s opponent tonight. Punk does commentary during the match. Punk sets up Bryan with the chair and Kane gets pissed. Kane attacks Bryan with a chair and gets himself disqualified. Kane chokeslams Bryan twice in the middle of the ring after the match. Punk goes to check on Bryan after the match and applies the anaconda vice and Bryan taps out.
^The champ and his new rival deserve a much longer segment than this. I was excited to see what Bryan could do in the ring with Kane, and we weren’t given much time. I don’t like the booking, but I’m glad the rivalry is going forward.
IC Champ Christian defeats Jinder Mahal in a non-title match using the frog splash after executing the killswitch.
^If you didn’t read my Over The Limit reaction, I’m glad Christian is back as a face and I’m even more happy to see him dominating as the IC Champ. Bringing back the frog splash is pretty cool and just shows the versatility of one of the best wrestlers on the roster.
Beth Phoenix defeats Kelly Kelly with the glam slam in a very short match.
^WWE pisses all over the Divas after giving them a decent length of time for their match at OTL. Kelly is probably the worst wrestler out of all the divas; Beth needed the squash to keep being dominant before her next title match.
Sheamus and Cena go against Ziggler, Swagger, and Tensai in the main event. The heels of WWE are the lumberjacks. The lumberjacks attack Sheamus when Cena has the upper hand in the ring on Ziggler. A brawl breaks out. The faces of the roster come out to even the score. Cena goes backstage looking for Big Show. Cena finds JL and asks where Show is. JL says he doesn’t know and walks off. Cena turns around and is hit by the WMD from Show. Cena is down and out as the show goes off the air.
^Start with Cena and end with Cena. Really? That main event was wrecked and could’ve had a better finish. The overall best word to describe this episode of Raw is chaos. I don’t mean chaos just because there were a bunch of brawls; I mean chaos because the booking was horrendous and the show lacked wrestling. Who the hell scripted this? What is the point of going three hours in July when you don’t book a show properly for two weeks in a row? Everything just felt beyond dragged out and not all that entertaining. I’ll be back with Smackdown on Friday and my new weekly rundown(discussing FCW, NXT, Impact, ROH, and current rumors) on Saturday. Until next time, you’ve been ThunderStruck!
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