With plenty of buzz heading into WWE’s Monday Night Raw on 07/14/2014, there is plenty of reason for optimism. The product has been fairly hot as of late and new fans are coming on board week to week. That said, the real buzz going in is the potential Sting involvement and the rumors of Ric Flair returning to television. Did Monday Night Raw deliver the goods? Was it yet another hot show heading into the Battleground PPV weekend coming up?
Here are the best segments of the night:
Opening Segment – B+ Monday Night Raw opened hot with Cena coming out to talk Battleground PPV and the Main Event for Raw tonight…Cena/Roman Reigns/Dean Ambrose vs Kane/Randy Orton/Seth Rollins. Reigns then came out to elevate the tension and Ambrose eventually joined them via the big Titantron. As Ambrose talks, Rollins, Orton and Kane attack him and beat him down. He ultimately gets curb stomped by Rollins onto a wooden box.
This intro set the stage for the upcoming main event and the coming PPV as well. Great segment. Ambrose sold that really well.
Fandango/Dolph Ziggler – Grade B While this match certainly did not blow me away, it was a pretty good segment and kept the show moving. Any segment with Layla and Summer Rae is fine by me. Having them both get with Ziggler as a regular thing could help him get even more over if only for the cheap pops it will give him. Sometimes popularity springs from the weirdest places.
Harper and Rowan beat down the Usos – Grade A The Usos and Wyatts have had a huge rivalry going on for a bit now and this was vintage of that rivalry. They beat down the Usos pretty good and the crowd was hot for it throughout. The match between them at Battleground should be top notch.
Lana/Rusev/Colter/Swagger – Grade A+ Are you kidding me? By far the hottest segment of the night was this Russian/American battle between Swagger and Rusev. Perhaps the Lana and Zeb was the hottest part. Whatever the case, Lana has managed to take a bit role and turn it and her charge into a star. In the process, she has actually made Jack Swagger popular as hell. That alone is amazing. I am super excited for this match at Battleground and I never expected to be.
The Main Event Grade B+ This segment started with a very odd Ric Flair appearance and promo. You would think bringing in the champ would mean something, but instead they just had him come out and prance…then predict Cena to win the Battleground Championship match. Was it me or did Flair appear drunk as a skunk?
Whatever the case, the main event was solid once the in ring action got started. Cena and Reigns played nice for the most part and held their own. Of course that was until they all broke down into a street fight and hitting each other with their finishers. Cena, Reigns, Orton, Kane and Seth Rollins all hit each other with various finishers until finally, Roman Reigns was left standing to close the show.