WWE RAW: Results & Review (23.06.14)

With less than a week to go until WWE Money in the Bank 2014 on PPV, we head into the “go-home” edition of RAW for June, the final stretch before the big show happens. With two separate ladder matches announced for the PPV, one for the vacant WWE World Title and the other for the Money in the Bank Contract Briefcase, we should hopefully find out the other entrants who will compete alongside Seth Rollins in the Contract ladder match.

I mentioned in recent weeks how stale the WWE product has become again, and with Daniel Bryan on the injured list it only spells further stagnancy if WWE refuse to do something different at the upcoming PPV show. Let’s see if things feel different tonight, or if we get the same old episode of RAW, with the same old context-less matches between guys who should be kept apart until the big matches.

The matches:

• Luke Harper pinned Jimmy Uso
• Jay Uso beat Eric Rowan
• Naomi defeated Alicia Fox
• Bo Dallas beat Titus O’Neal
• Seth Rollins beat RVD via Disqualification after interference from Dean Ambrose
• Bad News Barrett retained his I-C Title against Dolph Ziggler
• Stephanie McMahon beat Vickie Guerrero
• Jack Swagger defeated Kofi Kingston by submission
• Big E squashed Damien Sandow
• John Cena, Roman Reigns & Sheamus beat Cesaro, Bray Wyatt, Alberto Del Rio & Randy Orton

RAW opened with Stephanie McMahon, minus last week’s vomit, coming to the ring and calling out Vickie Guerrero for her “negligence” and “inability to do her job” last week, due to Vickie placing Roman Reigns in the Battle Royale that allowed him to gain entry into the WWE World Title Ladder Match at the MITB show. Stephanie threatened Vickie and talked about how she is a disgrace to the Guerrero name. Vickie begged for her job with Stephanie acting like the bully. The fans soon got on the side of Vickie, chanting for her and her late husband, the legendary Eddie Guerrero. Stephanie told Vickie that she could keep her job is she won her match tonight, Vickie accepted. Her opponent would be Stephanie herself. Fans chanted for Vickie as she told Stephanie that “Eddie taught” her to “lie, cheat and steal”. The segment ended with Stephanie looking smug in the ring. Vickie would come out to Eddie’s old music later in the night and end up losing a weird “pool of brown stuff” match, but got some revenge after being “fired” by throwing Stephanie into the pool of sludge. Silly segment that could have been something fun, but turned into more typical WWE silliness.

We got some more hype for the upcoming Uso’s versus Harper & Rowan match at Money in the Bank, with two separate matches between the four men. Each team won one of the matches, making it even heading into the PPV. I can’t imagine The Uso’s winning though, it seems inevitable that the big Wyatt Family members will win their first main-roster gold very soon.

Triple H came out and announced the other entrants in the Money in the Bank Contract match for the upcoming pay-per-view. Kofi Kingston, Jack Swagger, Dolph Ziggler, RVD and Bad News Barrett are entered into the match. No Ambrose yet. Triple H mocked RVD during the promo before bringing out Seth Rollins, putting him over strongly by calling him the “future of WWE”. Rollins talked about winning the contract at the PPV. RVD cut him off and challenged him to a match, which was a decent battle. The match ended by disqualification when Dean Ambrose hit the ring and attacked Rollins. Ambrose grabbed the microphone and threatened to ruin the upcoming PPV because he wasn’t in the contract ladder match. Seth would later ask for Dean to be added to the match so he could take him down, Triple H obliged, making the MITB match for the briefcase a seven man match.

We saw a backstage segment with Goldust talking about Cody Rhodes’s transformation into “Stardust” last week. Not sure where they’re going to go with the Stardust gimmick, but it sure beats staring at the ceiling on WWE Superstars every week. It could result in some fun segments.

Barrett vs. Ziggler and Rollins vs. RVD were good matches that were really the only things worth watching on the show.

The same main event from last week was booked this week too, with the three babyfaces against the four heels from the upcoming WWE World Title ladder match. This was yet more lazy WWE booking, and meant that one of the contenders for WWE’s biggest prize had to, once again, lose a match leading to the show in which we are supposed to entertain the thought that any of the contenders could win. Last week Del Rio stared at the ceiling for Reigns, allowing the faces to win. This week Cesaro stared at the lights for Sheamus, again allowing the faces to win. This was negligent and stupid, making the match at the PPV feel less interesting, and making Cesaro and Del Rio look weak heading in. WWE creative need to take a good look at some well-booked television from WWE’s past and stop with this harmful and useless match-making and decisions to make potential stars look weak. If Cena, Reigns or Sheamus win at MITB it will make all the heels look like crap. Kane, who did a run-in at the end of the night, was added to the Title match at the PPV.

Another mediocre RAW show then. There were a couple of good matches, and I got a kick out of seeing Vickie Guerrero stand up for herself and use her late husband, Eddie’s, old music to come to the ring, but overall the show was not good. The announce team were once again a hindrance to the product, with none of the three championing things that they should and making much of what happened appear poor and stupid. The fact that they laughed during segments that were supposed to be serious, and interrupted people that should have been allowed to talk, was ridiculous. When there are talented announcers in WWE elsewhere, there is no need for the dated JBL, Cole and Lawler team to be here now, all three of them are tiresome, frustrating and harmful to the already brittle product. The Cena promo before the main event match was another shouting and moronic slew of words from the yellow-meat-sack, watching him makes me want to stop watching wrestling altogether. The main event was mesmerizingly booked as I mentioned above, and nothing else really happened. There should have been much more going on. Three hours of RAW and so little of consequence occurring. I feel like WWE are reaching an all-time low point for me in June 2014, and I hate to say that.

RAW: Best Match: Bad News Barrett vs. Dolph Ziggler

RAW: Best Talker: Dean Ambrose, Triple H

RAW: Worst Match: Naomi vs. Alicia Fox/Stephanie vs. Vickie

RAW: “This Sucks” Award: Commentary team, Booking, Cena

RAW: Surprise of the Night: Vickie Guerrero finding her inner “Latino Heat”

RAW: Honourable Mentions: Rollins, RVD, Cesaro