The Rusev/Putin angle is still hilarious.
Now I’m not typically a fan of the “foreigner belittling America” kind of heel, but Lana’s admiration for Russian president Vladimir Putin continues to be a surprisingly highlight of RAW. Hearing the crowd erupt with boos as Putin’s expressionless face appears on the Titantron is never not hilarious, and her and Rusev’s confronting of WWE Hall of Famer Hacksaw Jim Duggan was comedy gold on account of her pronouncing Duggan’s name “Hocksaw Jim Dogan”. Oh, Lana. Marry me.
Rusev’s oncoming beatdown of Duggan was interrupted by Big E, who came running to the legend’s rescue and presumably started a feud between him and the Bulgarian Brute, which will likely begin Big E’s descent into Ryback territory. Speaking of Ryback, he lost clean to Sheamus just minutes after the Celtic Warrior pinned his tag partner Curtis Axel. Those Goldberg chants are becoming more ironic by the week.
Daniel Bryan requires neck surgery, but what happens from here?
So I think it’s safe to say that Daniel Bryan’s neck injury is legit and not a plot device to add more heat to his ongoing feud with Kane. Addressing the WWE Universe, Bryan said that he’d have to undergo neck surgery and doesn’t know when he’ll be back in action. So where does this leave the WWE World Heavyweight championship? In my opinion, there are three possible outcomes:
- WWE keeps it around Daniel Bryan’s waist in his absence. At this juncture the WWE Superstars are worth way more than the belts they wear, with the majority of the roster not even concerned with becoming the next champion. Hell, even Kane’s not concerned about becoming champion, and he was Bryan’s opponent at Extreme Rules/his planned opponent for Payback.
- A tournament is announced to decide a new champion.
- This is my personal favorite option: Triple H makes himself the new WWE World Heavyweight champion. He’s the biggest and most loathed heel in the company right now (the crowd’s reaction to footage of him stepping out of his limo on RAW was the loudest of the entire night) and, considering his character, it makes sense that he’d award himself the title rather than holding a fair tournament for it. Now that he’s back in the ring on PPVs, this seems like the best call, and would ensure that everyone would be even more pumped up for Daniel Bryan’s return to see him win the title again.
Regardless of how WWE plays this from here on out, the segments featuring Bryan on this week’s RAW served to continue his feud with the Authority before his hiatus from the company. After Stephanie McMahon invited Bryan to the ring to offer a formal apology on behalf of Kane, the Big Red Monster appeared dragging D-Bry behind him. Bryan was then stretchered out to the back, put in an ambulance alongside his wife Brie Bella (who shoved Stephanie this week, a notable backstep from branding her a “bitch” last week) and driven out of the arena.
Who knows when Bryan will return, but I wish him luck. God speed, goatface.
The Shield destroys the entirety of WWE’s heel midcard.
An interesting big-man match-up in the form of Roman Reigns vs. Batista was brought to an irritating end as it inevitably escalated into a The Shield/Evolution brawl. However, this brawl eventually grew to include practically all of RAW’s mid-card heels, who managed to get a few shots in on The Shield before they were demolished by Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose, who cleared the ring with a few chairshots. Then, to further add insult to injury for the Big Guy, the trio delivered a triple powerbomb to Ryback while Evolution looked on. Oh, Ryback; maybe it will be your time again one day (it won’t).
What I want to see on next week’s RAW:
Less of everything that happened on this week’s RAW. Payback is going to be one helluva poor PPV at this rate.
Make sure to check into CraveOnline next Tuesday for our next RAW Recap.
