Raw Recap and More

Last night, we saw an episode of Raw from Richmond, Virginia. Sting sent out a tweet last week that made sure everyone's eyes were on the 7.14.14 Raw. We are just six days away from a Battleground Pay-Per-View that is shaping up to be much better than last year's travesty. 

Before I get into the actual beginning of Raw, I'm going to talk about the biggest news coming out of last night and that's the insanely awesome WWE 2K15 commercial that we were treated to. Everyone now knows what 7.14.14 meant as the commercial featured an orchestra playing Sting's "crow" theme, before the man himself appeared. I don't ever pre-order these games because I don't usually care for the exclusives, but if Sting is only pre-order then I'm going to have to do it. Awesome to see Sting on WWE TV even if it's just a commercial.

Onto Raw, which opened with John Cena who came out and said a lot of nothing. He went over the rules of a Fatal Four Way match even though we've seen about a million of them. Roman Reigns interrupted and the crowd went nuts. They bicker until Dean Ambrose appears on screen to an even bigger pop and tells them to focus on the match tonight. Kane, Randy Orton and Seth Rollins show up behind him and beat him down. In a total badass moment, Ambrose asks if "that's all they've got." They continue the beating and it's totally selfish of Reigns and Cena to just stand in the ring and watch this. Assholes.

The Miz is up next and he is trying hard with this Hollywood gimmick. I know it may seem like a watered down 2003 Rock but it's different. See, The Rock was on his way to becoming a legit movie star while the Miz has starred in D list movies, yet he thinks he's bigger than he is. Anyway, he faced Sheamus, who has been on a tear of really good matches since his return at the Royal Rumble. This was no different as it was yet another solid match that Miz surprisingly won with a rollup. I feel that Miz is a strong pick for the Battle Royal at Battleground and I really hope Sheamus doesn't win an unify the belts. Also, Sheamus can get some revenge in a rematch tonight on Main Event. And we know how I love Main Event.

The Dolph Ziggler/Fandango/Summer Rae/Layla love rectangle had it's next chapter when Dolph and Fandano met in a singles match next. Not a special match or anything, but Summer Rae and Layla decided to dance on the announce table and distract both men. Dolph would win after a Fameasser and then became the luckiest man in Richmond when Summer and Layla joined him in the ring and kissed him on the check. Dolph takes his shirt, "Stealing the Show and your Girlfriend" very seriously. There was also an instagram photo with Summer and Layla grabbing Dolph's butt.

The next segment was pretty much nothing. Damien Sandow was dressed as a Sonic worker and for those who look forward to his impersonations, you have to be disappointed by this. Adam Rose comes out and sends Sandow away in a pointless segment that wasn't very funny. The Usos came out for a match but got taken out by Luke Harper and Erick Rowan. Despite the fact that they've met many times, it's always good and their 2 out of 3 falls match at Battleground has show stealing potential.

Zeb Colter and Jack Swagger went head to head with Lana and Rusev in a Detente. It was pretty much just a giant argument that had the crowd into it. Lana is an absolute heat magnet and the Real American character can easily get over as a face because people love to be patriotic. I don't see Swagger beating Rusev at Battleground, but it should be a decent bout. I actually would like to see Swagger win though and solidify his face turn. How strange is it that after the Real Americans broke up, a few months later Swagger is the face and Cesaro is the heel? WE THE PEOPLE!

In another preview of the ridiculously huge Intercontinental Title Battle Royal, Rob Van Dam went one on one with Alberto Del Rio. Seriously, this battle royal is going to end up with as many people as the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal. These two can have a decent match in their sleep as they're both good in-ring workers. Del Rio gets RVD to tap out as RVD can't beat him just like last year at Battleground. Also of note, Del Rio and RVD were interviewed on the Pre-Show by Renee Young and it's listed as Live, but Renee is doing Superstars commentary at this time. Blasphemy!

It's interesting that the WWE was willing to let Brie Bella and her shitty acting potentially ruin Daniel Bryan's storylines but they keep Nikki Bella away from John Cena. Like, the Authority doesn't want Cena as Champion and they're picking on Nikki because of Brie, but wouldn't those two go good together? And it would work a lot better than Brie acting scared of Kane, who was just walking around in a suit a few weeks prior. Nikki also keeps coming out happy every week like she doesn't expect this unfair stuff by now. Rant over, Nikki Bella loses yet another handicap match, this one to Cameron and Alicia Fox. They could be the New Funkadactyls like how the Hardy Boyz became the New Brood for a bit.

Goludst and Stardust have yet another bizarre and awesome segment backstage. Cody, who could be doing so much more than this character, does seem to embrace it and is knocking it out of the park. Next up, we got a match with Big E and Cesaro. Cesaro is coming off of two consecutive losses to Kofi Kingston, including one during a commercial. He must be the new Rusev as he's facing all of the black guys on the roster. Xavier Woods, you're next. Cesaro is the opposite of Rusev though as he loses yet again. I don't know if they're going for a losing streak leading to a surprise title win at Battleground, but Cesaro losing to these guys going nowhere is hurting for sure.

Chris Jericho calls out Bray Wyatt in a fun segment because both are just fantastic on the microphone. This is another potential show stealer on the Battleground card. But we all know that Jericho invented promos and show stealing. Jericho brings up beating The Rock and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin on the same night and his triumphant victory in musical chairs. Bray asks if Jericho is afraid of the dark, and I'm sure Jericho has seen the Nickelodeon classic. The Wyatt Family appears and take out Jericho. Fun little segment. The WWE does ignore that this Sunday will NOT be the first meeting between Bray and Jericho.

AJ Lee, my favorite Diva, met my second least favorite Diva, Eva Marie next. Yes, I prefer Eva Marie to Rosa Mendes. After beating her just like she did on Smackdown, AJ Lee decided to join Paige on commentary. She continues to do little homages to CM Punk, like her "Best Diva in the World" reference the night after WrestleMania, by sitting on the announce table while talking to Paige. This "frenemies" thing is interesting. Lance Storm tweeted that Chris Jericho should do a remix of the Fozzy hit "Enemy" and turn it to "Frenemy". I decided to tweet him the remixed lyrics and he retweeted it which was cool. But enough about me, I'm eagerly anticipating the Divas Title match at Battleground.

After beating El Torito in a hard fought match last wek, Bo Dallas was challenged by the opposite of El Torito, The Great Khali. Dallas continues to amuse me as he shouts "BAD GIANT" at Khali during the match. Dallas would win by countout before calling Khali his "big buddy." Khali chops him and Dallas leaves feeling the pain. A nothing match but Dallas is entertaining as hell in this character.

The gorgeous Renee Young interviews the Nature Boy Ric Flair next. I bet he's not missing MEAN BY GAWD GENE! He seems drunk. He goes to the ring and talks about being the man. He picks John Cena to win at Battleground because he must have some kind of inside scoop that we don't know about. /endsarcasm. Roman Reigns interrupts but just shakes Flair's hand. As Flair leaves, Cena comes out and gives him the World Heavyweight Title. THEY BETTER NOT GET RID OF THAT BEAUTIFUL BELT! Because Cena and Reigns didn't bother to help Ambrose earlier, the main event is now a handicap match. Not a bad main event that ends via DQ and Roman Reigns stands tall at the end after Spearing Randy Orton.

Overall, we got a decent episode of Monday Night Raw. Did a good job in building towards Battleground but it had a lot of seemingly filler matches due to so many guys from the Battle Royal getting singles matches. Also of note, Seth Rollins may have injured his leg during the main event but it hasn't been reported if it's legit or not.

That's all for now, but expect a new review up later today of "Through the Years." Tune in next time, same Stone Cold time, same Stone Cold channel.