WWE Monday Night Raw Review - July 28th, 2014
1) John Cena vs. Cesaro
I was extremely hyped after that opening segment and when this match was made, I got even more excited. These two had a classic earlier this year on Raw so I expected this to be good. Cena and Cesaro had the same chemistry here that they had in February as they delivered a great match. Cena continues to get better in the ring and Cesaro continues proving to everyone who didn't already know, that he is one of the best wrestlers in the world. Fantastic match, awesome start to the show.
Match rating - 8/10
Next up, Paige and AJ Lee had an in ring segment to
further their feud. It was good, but I'm sort of confused as to how WWE is booking it. Paige attacks AJ one week then tries to make up with her the next? Then this week AJ attacked Paige. It's kind of hard to tell who's the face and heel in situations like this. I'm guessing WWE may be wanting to SLOWLY turn Paige into a psycho instead of just flipping the switch. If that's the case, they booked this well. None the less, this was very entertaining. Paige & AJ are the two best Divas on the roster and they demand attention and produce quality segments every time.
Triple H and Stephanie McMahon hit the ring next only to be interrupted by Chris Jericho. Y2J had some nice insults about both being HHH and Stephanie to lighten the mood, but the main purpose of this segment was to set up Rollins vs. Jericho for later in the night and it accomplished that.
2) Dolph Ziggler & The Usos vs. The Miz, Ryback, & Curtis Axel
Man I was excited for this one. Ziggler delivers quality matches every week as do The Usos plus I've been digging Rybaxel's work lately as well. This had all the makings for a great six man tag and that's just what it was. Nothing you haven't seen before, but it was very fun to watch because all six men are established in their roles so the crowd was into it. Ziggler got the hot tag and had an awesome sequence with Ryback which made me want to see them compete in a one on one match against each other. Very fun six man tag to keep the show flowing at a good pace. Big E, Kofi, & Xavier Woods were at ringside to add more interest to the bout. The tag divsion is getting stacked again and I love it. Also, if you go back to watch this match, do yourself a favor and mute the TV. The commentary team is annoying normally, but they took it to a whole nother level here. It really takes away from what was a good six man tag.
Match rating - 6/10
3) Bo Dallas vs. R-Truth
I've really been enjoying Bo Dallas as of late so I expected this to be fun considering their last encounter was hilarious watching Bo dance to Truth's music. This turned out to be pretty strange as Truth broke Bo's undefeated streak. Questionable booking, but after the match Dallas beat the living crap out of R-Truth which kept him looking dominate. Truth only won by a roll up, but I don't understand why he was the one who got chose to break Bo's streak. None the less, decent segment. Was entertaining only due to Bo.
We got another outstanding segment involving Jack Swagger and Rusev at this point in the show. Lana and Zeb got some mic time and both delivered great promos. After this, Swagger and Rusev clashed! Swagger comes out on top once again and the crowd was HOT! I'm really enjoying this feud, mainly because Swagger is finally getting over. Great segment.
Roman Reigns and Kane were supposed to have a match at the top of the third hour, but Randy Orton attacked him in the crowd and exacted a beatdown on him. I still don't really have any interest in the Reigns/Orton feud, but this made me a bit more interested than I previously was. Orton did a great job of going back into his heel viper character by talking trash to Reigns while he beat him down. Orton went to RKO Reigns through the announce table, but it didn't break the first time so he did it again to ensure that it broke. I honestly think it not breaking the first time added to the segment. This was very entertaining and added alot more fire to the Reigns/Orton feud.
4) Diego vs. Fandango
The show started going downhill a bit here, but after a firy segment like the previous one, a cool down match was needed. The only thing interesting to me here was Summer Rae and Layla. I can't even remember what happened really besides the fact that Diego won. Short, time filler segment.
5) Naomi & Natalya vs. Alicia Fox & Cameron
This was a decent divas tag, but it was very short. Despite that, Naomi was the highlight as she dove off the apron onto Cameron in impressive fashion. She continues to prove that she's one of the best divas on the roster. Aside from that, this was nothing special and was mainly about continuing the Naomi/Cameron feud which I hope doesn't last too much longer. Naomi is lightyears better than Cameron and deserves to be in the title picture. Hopefully that happens soon.
6) Chris Jericho vs. Seth Rollins
This is dream match for me. Jericho and Rollins have similar styles so I've always wanted to see them face off. With that being said, it did indeed live up to the expectations I had for it. These two worked very well together and had some nice exchanges. The closing sequence was amazing as it was filled with alot of counters and reversals. The ending was predictable as I figured The Wyatt Family would interfere and they did. Despite that, this was a good match. I hope we see a rematch on Smackdown or one day in the future.
Match rating - 7/10
The closing segment between Stephanie McMahon and Brie Bella was pretty awesome. It's rare that a women's segment closes the show, but it was a nice change of pace. There's alot of hype behind this feud and I'm really enjoying it. The brawl between the two was crazy. Brie Bella has really come into her own in recent months and I'm stoked for her match with Stephanie at SummerSlam. Exciting closing segment!
Overall thoughts: Really good show overall tonight. There were only a few low points and those were cool down matches/segments that were placed logically on the card. There were two quality matches here that are must see if you missed the show, those being Cesaro/Cena and Jericho/Rollins. Neither are MOTY candidates, but they are both great bouts, especially for TV. Beyond the in ring action, the storyline progression was vast tonight as we got yet another quality segment from Stephanie McMahon and Brie Bella plus the other Divas storylines are moving along nicely as well as the tag divison & IC Title feuds. So, as stated above, really good show tonight!
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