At WWE’s Hell in a Cell pay-per-view, John Cena made his return to win the world championship and Shawn Michaels screwed Daniel Bryan out of the world title, the fourth pay-per-view in a row this has happened. Can Bryan keep his momentum, or has the WWE killed his entire push. We’ll see how they handle things on this week’s WWE Monday Night Raw.
The Breakdown
The show opens with John Cena coming to the ring. He thanks JBL for doubting him to give him the strength to win last night. Then Damien Sandow comes out and pretends like he is going to cash in his Money in the Bank briefcase. When Cena reaches for him, Sandow attacks and destroys Cena’s surgically repaired arm before finally cashing in.
The two fought an amazing match, but Cena ended up winning with a very weak Attitude Adjustment for the win (this was after kicking out of Sandow’s finishing move). Sandow has now become the second person to fail when trying to cash in his Money in the Bank briefcase and any push he had has been destroyed.
In the back, The Shield talked about refocusing but Roman Reigns didn’t look happy about Dean Ambrose talking about how he is the only one left with a title and is the baddest man in the WWE. Ambrose was supposed to defend his U.S. title against Big E Langston but The Shield attacked two minutes in, causing the DQ. The Usos ran in for the save and Brad Maddox came out and ordered a six-man tag team match. The Shield won when Reigns hit a monster double spear on both Usos.
Next up, Shawn Michaels came out to explain why he cheated last night to allow Randy Orton to win. He called out Daniel Bryan, who came out but was not leading the fans in cheers. Shawn explained that he is Triple H’s best friend and nothing that happens in the WWE will change that. He offered his apology to Bryan and asked to shake hands but Bryan refused. That made Shawn mad and he demanded another handshake. Bryan still refused. Shawn went off and said he is an A+ player and doesn’t know if Bryan really is but Bryan better shake his hand. Shawn was all heal there. Bryan finally shakes and then takes down Shawn and makes Shawn tap out to the Yes Lock until officials came down and pulled him off.
In the back, Rene Young tries to talk to Bryan, but the lights go out. When they come back on, Luke Harper and Erick Rowans attack him and beat him down. Bray Wyatt then said the devil made him do it and hits Sister Abigail into a chain link fence. Then they slam a production crate into him.
Los Matadores beat 3MB in a handicap match after their little bull Torito gored Heath Slater, distracting Drew McIntyre.
The Bella Twins came out next for a tag team match with AJ Lee and Tamina Snuka. The announcers say that Bryan was taken to a hospital but The Authority would not allow Brie Bella to go with him and made her wrestle. The Bella Twins lost after another miscommunication.
In the next match, Kane squashed The Miz in just about one minute. Kane then called out Stephanie McMahon. She came out and Kane accused her of abusing her power and ruining people’s lives. He said that is best for business and the monster is hers to unleash. He gave her his mask and walked off.
Next up is CM Punk vs. Ryback in a match that the fans were allowed to vote on. The fans chose a street fight and Punk destroyed Ryback in the match. He won after he hit the Macho Man elbow on Ryback through a table and then locked in the Anaconda Vice, making Ryback tap out.
After the match, the lights went out and the Wyatt Family came out. They overpowered Punk and then Wyatt hit Sister Abigail on Punk after saying the devil made him do it.
In the next match, The Real Americans beat Cody Rhodes and Goldust in a non-title match when Jack Swagger made Goldust tap out to the ankle lock.
Alberto Del Rio came out onto the stage with a Mexican flag and said he was going to get his rematch and hurt John Cena.
The next match saw Summer Rae (with Fandango) wrestle Natalya (with Khali and Honrswoggle). Interestingly, this was a long match and Summer Rae dominated. She makes a really good bad guy and Natalya only won because Summer was distracted by the guys fighting outside the ring.
All the wrestlers were out on the stage for the Randy Orton WWE title celebration with The Shield standing guard in front of the ring. Triple H talked about how he bred Randy Orton himself to be a star and called out the new champion. Orton came out and Stephanie told all the wrestlers on stage to show him support. Then Orton cut a promo about being better than everyone when Big Show’s music hit.
Big Show came down to the ring and The Shield attacked. However, The Usos and Rhodes Dynasty attacked them and Big Show got into the ring, causing Triple H, Orton and Stephanie to run. Orton tried to attack from behind but Show turned around and knocked him out. He then challenged Triple H to get back in the ring, saying he used to be The Game and not to let his wife hold him back. Triple H refused and Big Show left to cheers to end “WWE Monday Night Raw.”
The Analysis
Well, this was a solid show form the storytelling point of view, but was a bit disappointing as well. The two biggest angles up to now has been Daniel Bryan chasing the WWE title and CM Punk battling Paul Heyman. It looks like the WWE just killed both of those. With Punk beating Ryback and Heyman last night and then Ryback again tonight, Punk made it look like that feud was over with and then the Wyatt Family attacked him. Also, after Bryan took out Shawn Michaels (a great moment), he was attacked by the Wyatt Family.
After teasing Daniel Bryan for the last four months, the WWE effectively removed him from the title picture and put The Big Show in it. That makes it look like they have no faith in Bryan being the top guy in the company. The Wyatts vs. CM Punk and Daniel Bryan might be a nice feud, but it is not where either Punk or Bryan deserves to be. Unfortunately, the WWE has killed Bryan’s push despite the fans trying to keep it alive.
Despite the storylines suddenly weakening, the show was still an entertaining one. Big Show vs. Randy Orton won’t be a very good feud, but as long as he keeps pushing Triple H’s buttons, he can at least keep it entertaining until the next challenger comes along.
