Tonight’s episode of Raw took place in Hartford, Connecticut, featured a total of nine matches and was packed with a number of surprises. The Authority revealed that John Cena was on the cover of WWE 2k15 and also announced the main event of Battleground.
Michael Cole dropped some unfortunate news on the WWE Universe by announcing that Bad News Barrett will be out of action for a few months thanks to a separated shoulder. However, Vacant is the new Intercontinental champion and will defend the title in a Battle Royal at Battleground.
The Miz and Chris Jericho returned to WWE programming and the Wyatt Family targeted and attacked Y2J. Also, AJ Lee returned to Raw and won the WWE Divas Title from Paige. There is a lot to talk about, so without further ado, here are highlights, lowlights and my random thoughts on the 6/30/2014 edition of Monday Night Raw:
BEST MATCH: There weren’t any outstanding matches tonight on Raw, but WWE made up for it with outstanding promos, returns, segments and overall, one of the most exciting episodes in quite some time. However, to me, the best match of the night was Seth Rollins vs. Rob Van Dam. RVD looked inspired and put forth a great, high-flying performance against Rollins, who was as solid as always. A close second for best match of the night was the Usos & Sheamus vs. the Wyatt Family in six-man tag action.
WORST MATCH: I didn’t think anything would be worse than Nikki Bella vs. the Funkadactyls, but the Great Khali vs. Damien Sandow was clearly the worst match of the night. The bout lasted about four seconds long and Khali got a lukewarm reaction from the crowd. What a surprise. The Punjabi Playboy hit Sandow with a chop to the head and immediately pinned him. By the way, Sandow was dressed up as Vince McMahon.
MOST SHOCKING MOMENT: I don’t even know where to start. This edition of Raw was full of twists, turns and a number of surprises and shocking moments. Probably the most shocking sequence of events was a returning Chris Jericho interrupting and attacking a returning Miz, and then the Wyatt Family attacking Y2J. Also, AJ Lee made a surprise return, challenged Paige to an impromptu Divas Title match and won the bout cleanly. It also appears that AJ Lee and Paige have switched roles by completing a double face/heel turn.
It’s worth mentioning that Jack Swagger and Zeb Colter answering Lana and Rusev, and possibly turning face in the process, was another shocking moment. I’m hesitant on calling this a full-fledged face turn because this is a new rivalry – and the rivalry just makes sense considering Swagger and Colter are “Real Americans”. Regardless, Swagger and Colter were incredibly over and the crowd even chanted “let’s go Swagger”. When was the last time we heard that?
Also, Raw ended with a bang as Triple H called for Seth Rollins to cash in his MITB briefcase on a knocked out John Cena, but Dean Ambrose was there to make the save just in time.
SUPERSTAR/DIVA OF THE NIGHT: Damn, this category is very difficult to determine considering everything that went on during Raw. However, I have to give this award to AJ Lee due to the fact that she returned to WWE and immediately won the Divas Title. I am extremely intrigued to see what happens between Chris Jericho and the Wyatt Family, but Paige just edged Jericho out for the award due to the fact that AJ won a title upon her return. Perhaps I will start giving out both a superstar of the night and a Diva in the night award from now on?
