The 06/20/16 edition of WWE Raw reviewed in about 4 minutes – including the return of Vince McMahon! Raw and Smackdown’s
BROCK LESNAR’S UFC 200 WIN
Brock Lesnar is by far WWE’s most high-profile talent right now, winning his first fight in 4 1/2 years atUFC 200 over the weekend. But all that got was a 30 second photo montage recapping the victory. John Cena got more plugs for hosting the ESPYS this coming Wednesday. Mr Robot Season 2 got more plugs than UFC 200.
It’s weird because it’s not like WWE and UFC are competition or anything. They’re totally different things, guys. Not competition at all. Completely separate. They just have the exact same person as their biggest draw.
THE ROLLINS REPORT
In a callback to Kurt Angle’s famous ‘interview’ with The Rock, Seth Rollins badly edited together various clips of Roman Reigns to make it look like he enjoyed violating the Wellness Policy. The best part was the namebar graphic reading: ‘Roman Reigns: Not a bad guy, not a good guy…a suspended guy.’
Dean Ambrose interrupted and cut the most impressively serious promo of his title reign so far. It ended with him boldly making a WWE Championship match against Seth Rollins for next week’s WWE Raw.
A match announced a whole week in advance – what a concept.
NEW DAY VS WYATT FAMILY COMPOUND MATCH
Later in the show, we got WWE’s version of TNA’s Final Deletion with The New Day fighting The Wyatt Family at Bray’s ‘compound’. The whole segment was cut together like a grindhouse movie. Personally, I enjoyed this a lot more than the Hardy Boys’ acid trip. I thought the story was both better and better told. The production values were excellent. It took itself seriously. And parts were genuinely unsettling. At the end, when loads of goat mask wearing minions appeared, it took me several clothed showers to feel normal again.
Here’s the other stuff that happened!
BATTLE ROYALE WITH CHEESE
A Battle Royal was held to determine the No.1 contender for Miz’s Intercontinental title. Darren Young won, celebrating with Bob Backland. Which hopefully means no more split screen backstage skits.
SHEAMUS BEAT ZACK RYDER
Sheamus got his win back after Zack Ryder beat him on Smackdown. Afterwards, Rusev accepted Ryder’s US title challenge.
What a way to build excitement for a match – have the challenger lose clean immediately before its announcement!
FABREEZE BEAT LUCH DRAGONS
Tyler Breeze and Fandango have great comedic chemistry. Hopefully they don’t get split up next week. They won here, but not before Kalisto botched a springboard off the ropes. That’s what happens when you hang out with Sin Cara.
KEVIN OWENS BEAT CESARO
Cesaro and Owens had a good match here, but it didn’t mean anything. There was nothing at stake.
We did get JBL’s obligatory sports reference, though. After comparing Cesaro to Swiss trains, he said: “And Federer derailed at Wimbledon”. Get it? Because tennis happened recently.
Owens won with a new finisher – a torture rack into a spinning neckbreaker.
TITUS O’NEIL BEAT HEATH SLATER
The guy who lost to Rusev and failed America beat Heath Slater. This will be talked about in WWE for years to come.
ENZO & BIG CASS BEAT GALANDERSON (VIA DQ)
AJ interfered for the DQ loss. The Club are about to beat up Enzo and then…John Cena turns up! The babyfaces stand tall. And on Beat Up John Cena Day, no less. It’s disrespectful.
SASHA BANKS BEAT DANA BROOKE
I love Dana Brooke. There, I said it. And it’s not just for her massive t…triceps. It’s the way she talks trash during the match, her reactions, some of her wrestling ability. In a few years, she’s going to be amazing. She tapped to Sasha here, though – as she should to keep Banks strong for Charlotte. And now, the main event…
To see what Oli thought of Vince McMahon revealing the brand split commissioners, and this episode of WWE Raw as a whole, watch the video above!
