ThunderStruck: WWE Raw Analysis 05/20/13

Ryback comes out of the back of an ambulance after it pulls into the arena. He announces that he will face John Cena at Payback in an ambulance match and then goes off on a rant.

^This was Ryback’s best promo thus far, but that isn’t saying much. I’m looking forward to their rematch. Good opening.

It’s announced that Paul Heyman will reveal his newest client tonight.

^PLEASE tell me that Rob Van Dam is coming back! Do I sound like a mark there? Only a bit…

Chris Jericho and The Miz defeat Wade Barrett and Fandango. Fandango dances on the outside with Summer Rae while Jericho finishes off Barrett and Miz applies the figure four for the victory.

^Good tag tag team match. It’s the first time we’ve seen Fandango join forces with anyone, and my guess is that it will probably be the last time he teams with Wade Barrett. I liked the scenario here because it shows that Fandango is an equal opportunity heel who doesn’t care about anybody. I like the creativity here for the tag match, but I’d like it even more if it meant Wade Barrett is going to have a serious rivalry with the IC Title involved.

Jericho dances with Summer Rae after and spins her in for a kiss, but then pushes her away and mocks her.

^This was typical Jericho being Jericho. I loved it! Summer Rae also sold it well; that girl has a bright looking future in WWE!

Fans get to vote on who Jack Swagger will face tonight: R-Truth, Khali, or Randy Orton. Thanks Vickie for the tough choice!

Kane and Dbry are arguing backstage about losing the tag titles. Kofi tries to calm them down.

^Another six man match? Oh hell yeah! Dbry and Kane need to split sooner rather than later, but I’m not sure what WWE would do with them if they did.

Sheamus defeats Titus O’Neil in a one on one match.

^Nice to see Sheamus get another win here. I’m surprised his feud with Mark Henry didn’t carry over tonight. Decent match, but Titus O’Neil could be doing more in the mid card if WWE cared about those titles a bit more.

Paul Heyman introduces his newest client, Michael McGillicutty, but he’s been repackaged as Curtis Axel(a spin off both Curt and Larry the Axe Hennig’s names). Triple H interrupts.and has words for Heyman. Axel mouths off and Hunter knocks him down. Hunter says he will face Axel tonight and kick Heyman’s ass afterwards.

^How do I describe my excitement right now for the repackaging and push of Joe Hennig? I can’t, so I’ll just tell you how THRILLED I am to be witnessing the push of younger talent on WWE TV right now! Great segment, and nice to see Hunter’s willingness to step in the ring with the young buck.

Big E. Langston defeats Alberto Del Rio after a distraction by AJ Lee.

^Big E. continues to impress. Good match, and good finish for the heel. Something tells me Langston will be a strong candidate for winning Money In The Bank this year. How the hell does this guy get over so easily? Well, the simple answer is that he was partnered with Dolph Ziggler and AJ Lee, and thus being in top storylines made him relevant. Perhaps WWE should’ve done this with other guys like Antonio Cesaro. Del Rio losing doesn’t hurt because AJ helped, and I’m anxious to see what sort of match he and Ziggler put on for the World Title.

Layla goes one on one with AJ Lee. AJ wins the short match.

^AJ is great. This one was too short to matter much, but I still expect to see her holding the Divas Championship in the near future.

Cody Rhodes defeats Zack Ryder in a short match.

^Good for Rhodes! This guy has been almost buried lately, so any win he gets is worth something to me. Part of me wonders if his last name is why he gets held back so much. After getting the big rub from Booker T in late 2011, he’s done almost nothing in terms of being booked. What’s up with that?

Ryback attacks Zack Ryder after the match and tosses him in the ambulance. The ambulance pulls away.

^Nice preview of Ryback dominating an ambulance match, but I still don’t think he’ll be able to take the WWE Title from John Cena this year. There’s a number of guys lined up to face Cena, and I don’t think Ryback is going to carry the gold just yet.

The Shield comes out and brags about all the damage they’ve caused in WWE. They take on Team Hell No and Kofi Kingston in a six man tag team match. The Shield wins the match when Reigns spears Kane and gets the three count.

^Another great wrestling match involving these guys! They just continue to be so dominant and booked to be unstoppable. Part of me wonders if WWE will bring up other guys from developmental to challenge them and eventually end their streak(or turn on one another to add more Shield members).

Triple H is told by a trainer that the doc doesn’t think he should wrestle tonight. Hunter says if the doctor doesn’t like it, then he can seek employment elsewhere.

^You can just see where this is going in terms of Hunter’s ‘health.’

Natalya accuses Cody Rhodes of being Kaitlyn’s secret admirer. It turns out not to be him after Kaitlyn checks his phone.

^I was hoping it was Cody Rhodes too, but it seems more likely it’s the Bellas or AJ setting her up. Maybe my hope that it’s Big E. will still come true!

Jack Swagger goes one on one with Randy Orton(as voted for by WWE universe on WWE app). Randy Orton defeats Jack Swagger with an RKO.

^Long match! I didn’t say it was epic, but it was certainly solid on all levels. Orton should be chasing top gold with guys like Del Rio and Swagger, but the problem with WWE is that they’ve developed so many top guys that the depth of the main event scene is as large as its ever been. What do you do to keep it interesting? My suggestion is to develop rivalries based on random things like attacks and double crosses. As long as we’re entertained with good wrestling matches, who cares how it’s done?

Curtis Axel goes one on one with Triple H. The match is stopped when Triple H starts to have trouble standing and moving around. The show ends with Hunter falling all over himself around ringside.

^Axel looked good, but the match was cut short before any real story developed. I really hope we see a rematch at Payback or Summerslam. I honestly think I was more excited for this main event on Raw than any other so far in 2013. Great ending. Hunter’s ‘injury’ allows them to promote this match for one of the pay per views in the future.

Let’s sum this one up: Lots of great wrestling(Del Rio/Langston, Orton/Swagger, six man match, tag team match), some good wrestling(Sheamus/O’Neil, Rhodes/Ryder, Divas), new character introduced(Axel), and rivalries developed/fueled. I’d call this a damn good edition of Monday Night Raw! I’ll be back with Jee-S early Saturday with the rundown! Until next time, you’ve been ThunderStruck!

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