WWE’s Money in the Bank “go-home” episode of Monday Night Raw (Raw 1100), took place in Washington, DC and featured a total of ten matches, including a first ever one-on-one meeting between Seth Rollins and Rob Van Dam.
As always, the Authority was power-hungry tonight as the WWE Universe witnessed Stephanie McMahon “wrestle” Vickie Guerrero, and Triple H announced the remanding six competitors that will join Seth Rollins in the traditional MITB Ladder match this upcoming Sunday.
Also, Bray Wyatt, Randy Orton, Alberto Del Rio and Cesaro went to war with John Cena, Sheamus and Roman Reigns in a 4-on-3 Handicap match, which of course, was a main event rematch from SmackDown. With that being said, here are the overall highs and lows from the 6/23/2014 edition of Raw:
BEST MATCH: While the main event was entertaining, the best match of the night was the Intercontinental Championship match between Bad News Barrett (c) and Dolph Ziggler. These two were given a decent amount of time and both men looked like a million bucks.
Ziggler sold the hell out of every physical maneuver Barrett unleashed upon him and even kicked out of Winds of Change and Wasteland. There were countless near-falls and Barrett looked flawless throughout the entire bout. Barrett retained the IC Title after hitting a devastating Bull Hammer elbow.
WORST MATCH: There were a lot of doozies out there, but in my opinion, the worst match of the night was Big E vs. Damien Sandow, who was dressed as Abraham Lincoln. Big E and Sandow’s match lasted about 2-3 minutes, which was the same amount of time as Jimmy Uso vs. Luke Harper and Bo Dallas vs. Titus O’Neil. Like I said, there were some pretty disappointing matches.
BEST PROMO: There were some outstanding promo segments tonight on Raw. The opening segment between Stephanie McMahon and Vickie Guerrero may be subjective, but I was enthralled by the promo work these two women displayed. I was especially impressed with Vickie, who didn’t screw up, paid homage to Eddie and got a big pop from the crowd.
Seth Rollins’ promo before his match with RVD was strong and when RVD came out to interrupt him, both superstars made the WWE Universe laugh with some genuinely funny jokes. However, the best promo of the night goes to Dean Ambrose, who looked and acted like a man possessed. The other promos mentioned were top notch, but Ambrose’s had the most emotion.
BEST COMMENTARY LINES: “You have to be a stud to play badminton” – JBL. “I’m not sure if anybody’s noticed, but this is not an eclipse in front of our announce table, it’s just Paul Heyman” – Jerry Lawler.
SUPERSTAR/DIVA OF THE NIGHT: Dolph Ziggler was the superstar of the night after putting forth a brilliant performance against Bad News Barrett. Seth Rollins cut a great promo and there were some other superstars that excelled, but Ziggler was the biggest standout in my eyes.
Also, I have to mention that this is probably going to be the last time we see Vickie Guerrero on WWE in quite some time. Whether you love or hate her, you gotta respect her for being an entertaining heel for almost a decade.