WWE Raw Results - Spoilers ahead 14th april

I marked a bit when Evolutions music started playing. Looks like it'll be Evolution vs The Shield and Kane vs Daniel Bryan. Which im fine with, depending how Kane rediscovering the Big Red Machine plays out.

Wyatt vs Cena in a cage match so 'The Family' dont interfere. My memory is selective, but Im pretty sure the Family didnt intefere at Mania, and Cena started the physical altercations. Unless its to take away the mental aspect of them being there. Bray needs to get over again though.

Someone must've read my comments about tournaments. Its a promising sign, gives a bit of build up and makes the title seem worth while again.

Putting RybAxel over Rhodes Brothers is a strange one, as it does less good for them than damage to the Rhodes Brothers. Dont know why their stock has fallen so low.

Overall, not a bad RAW, but not a great one. Typical bridge building stuff for ER.

They're building some good stuff for extreme Rules

Kane vs Bryan makes sense, a bit of a history, and it'll put Bryan over as a legit champ whilst getting him away for the Shield vs Evolution thing

I was on Raw last night #justsaying

Dolphin Ziggler wrote:I was on Raw last night #justsaying

When and where #ineedalaugh

Bret, look for a tw@t in a hat

I'll be that guy. Oh its true, it's damn true

Christ, I thought those hats went out with the jheri curl.

You're talking about a modern world where apparently the monocle is now in fashion

A monocle is old school cool, those hats............ not so sure.

A good RAW i thought; never going to be incredible between now and Extreme Rules but the builds to branch into new feuds post mania and to extend other ones is being done nicely..

Barrett is over (again perhaps not as much as last week) but still pockets of support there and they did the right thing in giving him & Ziggler plenty of air time for their match. Perhaps those backstage are learning....give stars the chance to showcase themselves and fans will begin to get interested. Even in losing Ziggler looked strong...showing that you don't have to squash one person to get another over! Hopefully this trend continues.

I enjoyed seeing the re-group of Evolution; makes storyline sense and at this moment in time the collective is much better than the individuals so it's an ideal storyline arc, keeping Batista & Orton at the front of center of the show without them losing momentum following Mania losses.

Feel like this is as good a week as any to finally touch on the Diva division. Think the crowd are definitely going to get behind Paige...she looks more vicious than most divas (liked the headbutt & shoulder rakes...classic moves that seem to have been lost to slaps and half hearted kicks in recent times)...also really liked the submission move...wonder if they will stick to her using this or switching between it & the Paige Turner. AJ v Paige should be a great feud if both given time to build it....submission match sometime soon perhaps?

Now onto the negatives: (come on it's me...you all knew it was coming)..

Kane - Not so much a complete negative just yet...but I do feel it will end up being bad. The problem is that he has switched so much between evil kane, funny kane & suit kane in recent times that the aura has gone. Feel like it's a rushed thing to just throw Bryan into something else...which to be honest he does need but the problem is I don't think Kane puts him over anymore because people are just so 'meh' about him now. Anyhow...we shall see how it builds...god only hopes the new Big Red Machine doesn't end up picking up the strap come the end of Extreme Rules

Wyatt/Cena - This is actually a negative and positive...negative...yep you guessed it Cena! Jesus does this guy ruin stories...I'm sick of the goofiness to be frank. Now I get that the whole point is that Wyatt is trying to show the real side to Cena...but having suffered weeks of torment etc and almost losing it Mania you'd think that they would ensure he shows cracks in his arsenal. Maybe..starts to be more serious in his promos...drops the childish jokes...I don't know...something to just suggest that Wyatt may be getting somewhere. God know's his acting at Mania with the 'will he/won't he snap' didn't convince me. The only positive in this was that Wyatt managed to recover it at the end....so often that kind of promo from Cena is the beginning of the end for someones push...and it could of been again. He tore apart Wyatts gimmick, poked fun at every turn of it and just generally went about shredding the gimmick Wyatts have been given..that's fine in small doses but not like last night and not after they had already given him the big win at Mania. Yet as I mentioned..thought Wyatt dealt with it well and came out with a strong finish. Sad part of it all...I don't see him winning at Extreme Rules and Cena will add another notch to his 'supposed to help put someone over but lost them all momentum' column.

Cesaro - No music & barely any real plug...whilst I like the idea in principal behind Heyman as manager, the issue is that the streak is always going to be the focus for him while Brock is away therefore it could be a hinderence in getting Cesaro over. With the Monikor of 'The King of Swing' as well....surely put him in a match with someone he can swing at least for his first proper singles match! Deary Me!

On to Raw, and other than my appearance (which was remarkably good booking) it was decent.

I do slightly feel like Bryan v Kane is an underwhelming first defence, and will also be a nice quick end to the return of brutal Kane, but the fan in me just thinks Evolution vs The Shield is more entertaining. Hard to know where you cross that line between whats tangibly more entertaining or what is best to book your Champion as strong. 

After Extreme Rules, there is Payback, Money in the Bank and then Battleground before August's Summerslam. I presume Bryan beats Kane, Batista and Orton all in that run, and maybe HHH too. 

Really happy to see an Intercontinental title number one contender tournament. Proper booking. Looks to me like Big E will be the last champion of the era where the IC title was number 3 belt. That contenders list had some WHC style names in it. Not sure who I expect to win. I would have thought Cesaro, but he seems too destined to face Swagger. That leaves Sheamus, RVD and Barrett. They might book Barrett as the heel vs Big E. 

Shame that Cena did so much crud comedy. Its been a while since we've seen poorly photoshopped photos on the titantron, they always go down so well   he then delivered some good stuff after that.

Looks to me like a B PPV with Cena/Wyatt, Shield/Evolution, Bryan/Kane with Swagger/Cesaro, Big E/Contender and some others on the card - I'd say thats a good PPV line up.

How was Barret with the crowd Dolphin? They sounded really into the match between him & Ziggler..

If Bryan goes on the stretch of wins over the stars you have mentioned I will eat my hat; I can't help but feel we may have a couple of short title switches somewhere over the next 3 months.. I don't even think he will beat Kane clean at Extreme Rules should that be the match they go with....would be odd to bring back the big red monster as this wrecking ball and then have him lose his first match by being pinned clean...mind you they did it with Brock last year so who knows.

Evolution/Shield should be a great feud and has the markings of a classic faction battle. With Orton/HHH/Batista all coming off losses at the biggest show of them all though...I can't see Shield going over them and that's my concern. In there biggest test to date against the Wyatts they came out 2nd best...can they afford to do so again, I'm not so sure. Early rumblings suggest HHHv Reigns at Summerslam so will be interesting how they develop that arc into the story...

I like the tournament style and hope it's something we see a little more of. I don't watch TNA but WWE could do with taking a leaf out of there book when it comes to deciding number one contender for main title....great way to get great tv matches and keep everyone looking strong in solid/good length matches where skills can be showcased.

I enjoyed Raw, think they have done good and sensible booking heading into Extreme Rules

I marked out a little when i heard Evolution theme, love that theme song! Im all for seeing Evolution vs The Shield but i would of waited till Summer Slam tbh. Should be a good match none the less. 

Guess we will have Daniel Bryan vs Kane at Extreme Rules. Makes sense, but i would of still given it to Orton, Batista or even HHH as a first defense at a PPV.

Cena vs Wyatt in a cage match, hopefully Wyatt wins and thats the end of that feud. No complaints if the feud continues though.

Think Barrett will win the IC tournament. Can see Thwagger costing Cessaro next week and that sets them 2 up for Extreme Rules.

Shame that Cody Rhodes and Goldust have just become jobbers. That's something that needs to be sorted out soon.

bretmeharty wrote:

Dolphin Ziggler wrote:I was on Raw last night #justsaying

When and where #ineedalaugh

There's the whole appearance (slowed down)

The second Raw after Mania is usually pretty flat and although the crowd were terrible I thought the show was pretty good.

I like the I.C tournament. They really need to push the title as a big deal. Although they put the title on Axel when he became a Heyman guy, who massively flopped, I still think they need to do the same with Cesaro and hopefully the outcome will be different. Cesaro is better than Axel tenfold and if he wins the title I’d like to see oppo like Sheamus. Cesaro vs Sheamus is a fued which can make the title very relevant. Of course I’m saying all of this on the assumption Cesaro will win it. He might not, but he should.

I’m glad they’re sticking with Cena v Wyatt. Surely Bray will go over at ER. I liked Cena’s line of ‘the last thing I need is another push nobody wants to see that’. I like Wyatt but I’m finding there’s something missing with him which I can’t put my finger on at the moment. He’s good on the mic but I don’t think he’s as great as everyone is making out, plenty of room for improvement for me.

Evolution is the best thing that could happen for Batista. He looks so much better in that faction than on his own. I marked a bit when their music hit, I hope to see them suited and booted next week. Say what you want about Triple H but he’s been absolute dynamite since the turn of the year. Not only does he legitimately know what is best for business but as an on screen character he is still red hot. Fair play to the guy.

I’ve run out of superlatives for The Shield. I’m slowly turning into a Seth Rollins guy. The way he sold that Batista Bomb was immense. What a future these guys have in the business. Keep them together for as long as they can is what I say.

It was a decent Raw that did well to set up storylines and matches early, too often WWE will spend a long time dealing with the fallout of the previous pay per view that the matches for the next one are only really set up in the last week, it's probably why so many pay per views end up repeating matches. 

The Shield are the best thing on Raw at the moment, after Paul Heyman, and they deliver every week. They've got their group nailed to a tee and I think they'll go down in history as one of the best factions of all time. Let's hope in ten years time, WWE will be able to look back at the history of three of its biggest stars and show they all started together in The Shield. Bringing Evolution back together was a good idea, something I did suggest immediately following Wrestlemania to try and get Bryan away from Triple H. I do think The Shield have to go over though, I would actually like to see them powerbomb Triple H and injure him to keep him off screen for a while. Think the Authority angle has to be shelved for a little while because I think the show has been a bit saturated with it for a long time now, and it would do some good to move away from it.

Kane is a decent first defence for Bryan, it's hopefully been used as an easy person to go over. It ties into the Authority angle and they have history. I do think it'll do more for him than beating Sheamus or Big Show, and Kane is somebody who can take that loss. Think Orton and Batista will be defences coming up. 

Paul Heyman is fantastic, but I'm still not convinced by Cesaro, Heyman was getting a lot of boos but then Cesaro came out and was cheered. The 'King of Swing' is a great nickname, but only really if you are face. The match was really poor as well, it's probably due to Mark Henry but for Cesaro the quality of match was dire. Hopefully just because he seems to be turning heel he won't be limiting himself in the ring.

The Cena-Wyatt promos were really, really poor. I thought WWE and Cena had moved on from these, they're not funny, the only person laughing was Jerry Lawler and do they nothing to help the Wyatts, or even Cena because he just looks childish. Cena has been booked well and done some really good work in this feud but that was really poor and a revert to type. Bray Wyatt just doesn't have the same gravitas when he appears live, his promos are never as good, his voice never quite right, which is a shame. Think he needs to work on his live performances.

I actually hope Evolution go over at Extreme Rules purely to give the fued longevity. If the faces go over straight away it kind of kills the fued. The Shield losing will do them no harm aslong as they go over in the long run. Orton, Batista and HHH coming off the back of losses need the win more than The Shield for me. If The Shield then regroup and come back stronger to beat a strong looking Evolution at the next PPV it makes them look even better.

I understand its for a tribute but I really hate all the guys standing on the ramp at the start of the show when straight after you have to believe they hate each other, would prefer it at the end of the show if at all.

I found the whole thing a bit cringeworthy anyway to be honest. Warrior and WWE were never a match made in heaven. They tried burying him with the self destruction dvd, their relationship was always been turbulent to say the least. Then they pay this heartfelt tribute as if he was this company darling who they all love and behold. It's almost like they paid the tribute because they felt like they should. If he died this time last year before the HOF induction they wouldn't have lined the stage like they did on Monday.

Its depressing, I don't wanna hear the Warriors music unless he's charging down to the ring and knocking men woman and disabled kids over on his charge to the Heavens...the music hitting and knowing he'd not run down to the ring again was just horrible.

I think they do these things for the fans too. And the wrestlers themselves, I think both Cody and Natalya looked like they were crying or fighting back tears, and neither of those are people I would expect to act out that kind of emotion. 

I want Flair to come back for the match and interfere from the outside to get Evolution the win. He's been at that stage of his career where he should get cheers for about 15 years and still plays a great heel, I'd enjoy seeing him back as their snide little ringside pal.

I’d have no problem with Flair being involved but to even things up I’d then put someone in The Shield’s corner. That someone would be Sting.

I'm actually really liking those ideas.

I suspect the two meantioned above would have been in and around the business when their families were in it at the time Warrior was in it and was harder for them to hold back.