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Raw Pre-Show 6/9/14
– Tonight’s panel is Josh Matthews, Booker T, Alex Riley, and Kofi Kingston is back… Nothing like using one of your best in ring workers as a pre-show panelist….
– We learn that tonight there will be a major announcement regarding the WWE World Championship at the start of Raw.
– Video highlights of last week’s Raw with Batista quitting and Seth Rollins turning on the Shield. The panel talks about the turn, because Batista quitting isn’t even important to them… Booker is all for Seth’s turn, he thinks it was wise to go for the money and power. Riley and Kofi are disappointed with the choice to turn. Josh is the host so he’s not allowed to have an opinion….
– With Kofi already out for Raw, we now see Dolph Ziggler is working against the king of “Superstars” Titus O’Neil in the ring…. So now that means No Kofi, and no Dolph… But hey, I’m sure that means more time for someone like Santino or 3MB on Raw. WWE comedy is so great! Ziggler beats Titus with the Zigzag by the way….
– We’re reminded of Stephanie’s announcement last week about MITB, while the panel discusses the logistics of what matches will take place at the PPV, we can see Adam Rose in the ring in the background which HOPEFULLY means he won’t be on Raw… Which is a piece of good news!!!
– We’re reminded that Alberto Del Rio defeated Ziggler to qualify for MITB this year… We learn that tonight two more qualifying matches will take place with Sheamus vs. Barrett, and RVD vs. Cesaro… Haven’t we already seen these matches???
– RVD with Renee Young… He lost last year’s MITB, this year’s will be better… IF he can qualify…
– More hype about the Authority announcement coming at the beginning of Raw… Adam Rose wins his Superstars match in the background…
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WWE Raw 6/9/14 from the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota
– The Authority on their way to the ring… Time for the “Blockbuster” announcement concerning the WWE World Heavyweight Title… Stephanie plays a video of Dr. Joe Maroon who announces that Daniel Bryan will not be cleared in time for the Money in the Bank PPV… Stephanie then officially STRIPS Bryan of the WWE title… Fans aren’t happy with that announcement and chant for Bryan…
Stephanie sends Bryan condolences, and the same to his “ungrateful” wife Brie… Steph then pokes fun at Brie, noting that she quit the WWE for nothing…. The WWE Title will now be decided in the MITB match at the PPV… Del Rio advanced last week, and Randy Orton automatically gets in the match just because HHH says so…. Since it was imminent Orton was going to be in the match anyway, I’m all for HHH sticking him in there, because that’s one less Orton match I have to watch!!!
HHH turns the segment into a discussion about Seth Rollins turning on the Shield… Seth Rollins “adapted”… We see clips from last week with the Rollins turn… HHH says he doesn’t believe in the Shield, but he does believe in Seth Rollins…
HHH announces the entire Wyatt Family vs. Reigns and Ambrose in a handicap match. HHH says tonight the Shield will perish…
– Titus O’Neil fatherhood promo….
-Commercial Break-
1. US Champion Sheamus vs. IC Champion Bad News Barrett. No titles on the line, this match is to qualify for the MITB title match… It’s back and forth early, in and out of the ring, Sheamus takes over with his 10 forearm clubs, but Sheamus hits a crossbody and both guys go tumbling over the top rope to the floor as we head to commercial…
What would they do about commercials if guys didn’t fall out of the ring? ;P
Back from break, we see the WWE Titles dangling over the ring… Barrett has that dreaded commercial chinlock on, but Sheamus breaks free immediately on return… Barrett hits the tornado vertical suplex out of the corner, but Sheamus battles back with his usual stuff and Irish curse backbreaker gets 2… Barrett back with Winds of Change for 2… Sheamus misses a Brogue but hits a powerslam and both men are down… Sheamus tries a Brogue again, but Barrett rolls to the apron,. Sheamus baseball slide kicks Barrett outside… Sheamus goes to the top rope but is thrown into the barricade, great spot… Barrett tries to get a count out win… Fans count along loudly but Sheamus is in at 9…. Barrett pulls out WASTELAND for a near fall…. Wade sets up for the Bull Hammer Elbow, but Sheamus turns it into a dangerously sloppy White Noise for a near fall…
Sheamus winds up on the apron, tries for a slingshot shoulder block but Barrett cracks him with a legit stiff looking headbutt…. Barrett then beats down Sheamus in the corner, but I can already see it coming… Yup… Ref pulls Barrett back and Sheamus lands the BROGUE KICK for the win in just over 13:00….
First half was the usual crap, second half picked up when they started the back and forth false finishes, which I’m not complaining about, but lately that seems to be their “go to” to entertain the fans… I enjoyed the last few minutes of the match, but if they keep doing these false finish matches a few times every week, they’re going to kill it… I’ll enjoy it for now… That headbutt spot from Barrett was pretty awesome and the fans were into this match… Wrong guy won says this fan, but they never give up on Sheamus…
Might I say, this MITB match is looking shittier and shittier…. Del Rio… Orton… Sheamus… All of these guys have had their days where they can have a good match, but placing these guys in a MITB situation doesn’t entertain me in the least….
By the looks of the MITB picture, it looks like there’s going to be SEVEN people in MITB… 7? Okay….
– We see the return of Bray Wyatt to Raw as Luke Harper indirectly announces Bray in a backstage promo… The Wyatts are back in full force on Raw this week, Bray stating he’s “reborn”…
-Commercial Break-
– It’s Lana… “USA” chants begin only moments in… Obama is a sissy, a “girly man”, we see footage of him working out… But Vladimir Putin… That dude is strong, and apparently he rides horses shirtless… This is running a little long… Every booker from the early 80’s would be proud the Russian character can now be recycled… Here comes Rusev… He is the Super Athlete and now sports the golden star medallion on his way to the ring…
2. Rusev vs. Zack Ryder . Again? Really? Zack Ryder? Is this the THIRD time for Ryder vs. Rusev? Zack tries for a moment but Rusev superkicks the living crap out of him and applies the Accolade for the win in under a minute…
A giant Russian flag drops from the ceiling during celebration…
-Commercial Break-
3. Goldust & R-Truth vs. Ryback and Curtis Axel. This week Cody has selected R-Truth as Goldie’s partner… Rybaxel all over Truth, Ryback or Truth completely blow a spot and Ryback nails Axel blatantly… I don’t know WTF that was… Hot tag to Goldust, flying reverse cross body off the top by Goldie onto both members of Rybaxel… Ryback tosses Truth out of the ring, Goldust hits the Amazing Red sunset flippy move thingy, whatever it’s called… Axel from behind rolls Goldust up in a school boy, he probably hooked the tights, I didn’t check, but anyway Rybaxel takes the win in 2:00 or so… That was fast… Rybaxel wins…
– Backstage Layla is with the makeup lady trashing the fans when Summer Rae shows up and dumps crap all over Layla and turns the table over on her, leaving her in a mess….
-Commercial Break-
– We’re back with 3MB in the ring… Heath Slater says this time was originally supposed to be for the Shield to talk, but they’re broken up….. Well that didn’t go over well…. Here come Reigns and Ambrose and the beat the living crap out of Drew McIntyre and Jinder Mahal… Heath Slater escapes up the ramp, but he’s met by Roman Reigns with a SPEAR ON THE STAGE!!!
Too bad Hornswoggle wasn’t out there for the beating…
– The Shield cut a promo on Seth Rollins who is watching from backstage in a suit… Ambrose is first, he wants answers and he wants at Rollins… Reigns says more of the same, he says you don’t stab your brothers in the back and he’s going to kick Seth’s ass… Reigns wants at Rollins, he plans to make Randy Orton the ass of the company, and then he’s coming for HHH… Believe that!
-Commercial Break-
4. WWE Tag Team Champions The Usos vs. Damien Sandow and Fandango (w/Layla). This week Sandow is in a full body leotard… A skin tone leotard at that… Fandango not doing too well, tags to Sandow who tries a little ballet… This is the closest Damien has resembled the Genius in months… Anyway, Sandow eats a jumping superkick, and Fandango is superkicked off the apron. Sandow takes the flying splash and this thing is over in 1:30… Seriously? What a waste of talent….
-Commercial Break-
5. Bo Dallas vs. Xavier Woods… Jesus Christ, what is this, squash night? Even the matches that could have been competitive have been rushed through… This is a main event anywhere in NXT… Given the current situation, Dallas wants Daniel Bryan to BO-LIEVE!!! Match is BO-Ring so we get “CM Punk” chants. Xavier tries something off the ropes but Bo catches him with a shot in the chest. Bo lands the Bo-Dog and this is over in 3:00 tops…
Bo circles the ring and hugs on Woods… What a Bo-wel Movement of a match… Hopefully Dallas can turn things around… Sticking him out there doing the same thing every week isn’t going to work…
-Commercial Break-
Paul Heyman in the ring, reminding the fans that Brock Lesnar ended the streak… Brock and Heyman want to do something special for the Minnesota fans since Brock is from these parts… Heyman builds it up like Brock Lesnar is here to celebrate with his fans, but introduces Cesaro instead… That’ll get Cesaro over… Crowd craps all over that…
Usually I can adjust to a theme song, but Cesaro’s just sucks…
6. Rob Van Dam vs. Cesaro (w/Paul Heyman). This is another qualifying match for MITB… Back and forth and Cesaro to the floor… RVD dives out onto him and we go to break after a minute of action…
Back from break, Cesaro has RVD in the commercial chinlock hold. RVD escapes and makes a short comeback, but Cesaro goes right back to the chinlock. RVD escapes a second time, Cesaro misses a charge in the corner and RVD kicks him down… Split legged moonsault gets 2… RVD jumps in the air for a monkey flip but lands into a European uppercut by Cesaro for 2… Double underhook powerbomb by Cesaro gets 2… RVD comes back with the body scissors roll up for 2… Rolling Thunder for 2… These near falls are like Barrett/Sheamus only much sloowwwer, and the crowd is DEAD… RVD starts to climb the ropes but gets crotched on the middle rope… Cesaro mocks RVD and hits the Neutralizer in a squash like finish… Wow, surprised…
Cesaro qualifies but the crowd is DEAD, barely any noise at all… I don’t know if RVD’s slow motion offense killed the crowd or what happened…
Seven people in MITB… Just seems odd to me…
– Randy Orton sends in a picture from vacation… He’s out relaxing since he was placed in the MITB match and didn’t need to qualify… No Randy Orton at all tonight? Works for me!!!
-Commercial Break-
– We have Seth Rollins coming out to explain himself… He falls in line with Cesaro for having crappy ass music… Michael Cole tries to interview, but Rollins cuts him off… Rollins says turning on the Shield last week wasn’t a big deal, there was no controversy, he was just doing what was best for his business… Rollins says he created the Shield, and he has the right to destroy it… Seth talks about Ambrose being crazy and without control he’ll be in a gutter within a week… And Roman Reigns needs someone to harness and control his anger, and now he has no one…
Michael Cole says the Shield was about 3 men, not 1… Rollins says we’ll see when the Shield have their last match tonight against the Wyatts… Seth wants to know why it’s a surprise… The Shield conquered the world, and Seth had to adapt and evolve… “You Sold Out” chants, but Seth argues that he “Bought In” to the Evolution of Seth Rollins…
Seth says maybe Roman and Dean thought they were brothers, but to Seth they were just business partners… Rollins says he severed a business relationship. Rollins says when he said “Believe in the Shield” he meant believe in Seth Rollins…
Rollins says his piece and now he wants to see the Shield come kick his ass… Seth tosses the interview chair from the ring and calls out the Shield…
Here comes Reigns and Ambrose from backstage, without music….. Just as Rollins and Ambrose make it to ringside, the lights go out… When they come back on it’s Dean and Roman facing Rollins and the Wyatt Family… Four on two, but the Shield fight off the Wyatts and corner Rollins, but Seth escapes as the Wyatts recover and attack…
The Wyatts attack the Shield until John Cena makes the save… And just what I figured from the beginning of the show, Cena will team with the Shield tonight….
Well that was the best segment tonight anyway…. Rollins is a good promo…
-Commercial Break-
7. WWE Divas Champion Paige vs. Alicia Fox. Alicia is accompanied by Aksana this week for some reason I’m sure we’ll find out… This is Paige and Foxe’s 20th match, or it feels that way anyway… Fox goes after Paige outside but runs into Aksana… Fox dropkicks Paige off the apron moments later though and takes control… Paige tries a roll up and gets 2, Fox goes right back to work with a half ass tilt-a-whirl backbreaker… Fox tries to throw Paige out of the ring, but gets head scissored outside instead… Paige takes over as the announcers continue to make fun of each other’s “outdated” references… Paige with a running dropkick for 2… Paige goes to the middle rope but Fox throws her off… Aksana gets too close to the match and Paige whips Alicia right into Aksana. Paige locks in her submission gimmick thing which now has a “cool name”… Fox calls it quits… Match gets 5:00…. Of all the short matches THIS one gets 5:00?
After the match, Aksana checks on Alicia… Fox slaps the crap out of Aksana after the match, she then goes to the fans and gets water and popcorn to dump all over Aksana, who is laying around from being slapped… Fox then kneels down and offers her some popcorn, shjoving it in her mouth… Fox then hugs Aksana on the mat, apologizes, kisses her head, and shoves popcorn in her face… She’s the female version of the heel Doink… Happy and mad, all at once…
– Dolph Ziggler vs. Seth Rollins on Main Event… That could be good, if given the chance…
-Commercial Break-
– Legends House season finale clips… Pat Patterson reveals a big secret… Seriously?
8 Jack Swagger (w/Zeb Colter) vs. Santino Marella. Apparently Santino is on Zeb’s deportation list… Santino is soooo mad he calls Swagger a summuna gun… Marella knocks Swagger to the floor and Colter slaps the shit out of Jack… Swagger gets pissed and attacks Santino… Swagger misses a charge in the corner and Santino pulls out the Cobra… Santino comes at Jack, but Swagger knees the crap out of him and lands the gutwrench powerbomb for the win in 2:00…
Summuna Gun…
-Commercial Break-
– WWE Network has 90% Satisfaction Guaranteed!!! Are you for real??? There’s the official big lie of the night…
– Backstage Goldust is sulking… Cody Rhodes stops in and promises Goldust a new partner next week, one he’s never heard of before… Cody as Silverdust? I’d pay to see that… I wouldn’t pay much, but I’d pay for it…
– Backstage with HHH and Stephanie discussing MITB… Steph is getting pissy about John Cena interrupting her last week… Vickie Guerrero stops in to celebrate with the Authority about no more Daniel Bryan and Brad Maddox… Vickie brings champagne and glasses, but sneezes on the Authority… Stephanie slaps the glasses out of Guerrero’s hand and threatens to fire her if she doesn’t leave…. What was the point of that???
– Back to the ring, the Shield on their way out for the third time tonight… This time they revert back to entering through the crowd…
– Kevin Hart will host Raw next week… Apparently Raw is in Cleveland… Really? You’d think I’d know that… Crappy local advertising… That right there is why they need to rehire Sean Mooney for the Event Center… 😀
-Commercial Break-
– Cesaro vs. Sheamus on Smackdown for the umpteenth time…
9. John Cena, Dean Ambrose, and Roman Reigns vs. The Wyatt Family. This match is starting earlier than usual, must be getting two hot tags…. The match kicks off with all six men going at it, but as things start to turn into a match the Shield work over Harper and Rowan but never tag Cena in early on in the match… Harper ends up landing a big boot on Ambrose and Bray Wyatt takes over… The Wyatts now work over Dean in their corner… “Let’s Go Cena, Cena Sucks” chants ring out while Ambrose tries and fight his way free to no avail… The Wyatts remain in control as we head to commercial…
Back from break, Ambrose does that bounce off the middle rope thing and clotheslines Harper… Hot tag to Cena as Rowan tags in as well… Cena with the usual lead in moves with the 5 knuckle shuffle and whatnot on Rowan, and Cena AA’s Harper out of the ring… Rowan plants Cena and takes over… The Wyatts get Cena in the corner, and Wyatt tags in and hits a senton for 2… Wyatt leads the fans in singing with him, but Cena retaliates with a terrible looking dropkick…
The Wyatts stay on John though, and tie Cena into the tree of woe… Harper works Cena over, then hits a torture rack neckbreaker for 2… Cena tries to fight his way back but Harper lands a Michinoku Driver for 2… Rowan takes his turn at John, and then Wyatt the same… Bray does the dancing routine with Cena and just throws him like a rag doll across the ring out of a suplex position, wow that was rough… Bray hangs upside down in the corner but misses a senton…
Hot tag to Harper and Reigns… Reigns goes off on Harper, while Dean takes out Rowan… Roman hits the dropkick on the apron and almost gets a near fall, Rowan breaks it up… Cena off the top with a crappy looking crossbody to take Rowan down… But Rowan is right up and whips Cena into SISTER ABIGAIL from Wyatt…. Then Bray turns into a SUPERMAN PUNCH from Reigns… Roman tosses Rowan outside and Ambrose dives out onto Erick…
Reigns turns around into a superkick from Harper!!! Near fall but Reigns kicks out… Harper calls for another boot but runs into a SPEAR, and Reigns gets the pin in 21:00…
Cena and the Shield celebrate, while HHH and Seth Rollins watch from the back… They’re not exactly thrilled about the Shield living another day…
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WWE Raw “Backstage Pass” Post Show
– The Shield and Cena are still celebrating in the background of the panel. No dark matches or angles tonight, people… The panel talk more about the Shield and Rollins splitting away… Booker says Seth had to split away because you can’t be a singles champion and be above the rest in a faction… Hmm, yeah those Four Horsemen and NWO things were failures for Flair and Hogan….
– Renee Young is with the Shield backstage…. Reigns says their issues with Rollins is going to be long drawn out pain and suffering… Ambrose responds to HHHH thinking the Shield were done… Roman tells HHH to shove something up his ass, I missed what it was… Got a phone call, missed part of this… Wasn’t very long…
– Discussion of Bryan being stripped of the title, and the wrestlers going into MITB to challenge for the vacant belt…
That’ll do it…
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Anybody think all the loser of the qualifiers will go to the second ladder match thats rumoured?