Tonight’s episode of Raw took place in front of a hot Richmond, Virginia crowd and featured a total of eight matches, including a massive six-man main event between John Cena/Roman Reigns/Dean Ambrose and Randy Orton/Kane/Seth Rollins.
Cena started off the show by cutting a promo, hyping the upcoming Battleground PPV. Shortly after Reigns interrupted him, Ambrose was beat-down backstage by team Authority, teasing that he may not be able to compete in the main event. The main event was later changed to a 2-on-3 Handicap match.
The WWE Universe also witnessed the return of Ric Flair and finally found out the secret behind Sting’s cryptic “7.14.14” tweet. So without further ado, here are my overall highs, lows and random thoughts from the 7/14/2014 edition of Monday Night Raw:
BEST MATCH: Despite a promising main event between big name WWE studs, the match that stole the show for me was the Miz vs. Sheamus. There weren’t any outstanding matches tonight, as is the case with most episodes of Raw before a PPV, but Miz and Sheamus delivered and the crowd seemed really into it. Also, the Miz picked up the win, which was a nice, surprising twist.
WORST MATCH: Bo Dallas vs. the Great Khali was the worst match of the night. It’s damn near impossible to get an average match out of Khali, so it was a good thing that the bout lasted less than three minutes long. Bo was entertainingly annoying and did his job well and I liked the finish – but compared to the other matches on the card, Bo vs. Khali was the worst.
AJ Lee vs. Eva Marie was the second worst match of the night. I’m not sure why Eva is competing in one-on-one matches and not being protected by wrestling in tag team bouts, but honestly, she didn’t do that bad. It’s nice to see Eva hit some actual wrestling moves, like a backbreaker, but overall, it was still an underwhelming match.
UPSET OF THE NIGHT: Without a doubt, the Miz defeating Sheamus cleanly was the upset of the night. Miz has been a revelation since returning to WWE and a win, especially a clean win, over Sheamus makes him an instant threat to the entire roster. I know Miz isn’t everyone’s cup of coffee, but a win over Sheamus is a big deal and I don’t think many fans saw it coming.
MOST SHOCKING MOMENT: Even though we all knew Sting was going to make some sort of impact on Raw tonight – it was still a shocking a moment, at least to me. Sure, he didn’t appear live on Raw, but I don’t think anybody thought that he would actually make an appearance on the final Raw leading up to a “B” level PPV. Sting’s return to WWE should come a week or two before SummerSlam – but that’s just my opinion!
Anyways, that WWE 2K15 trailer featuring the Stingmon gave me goose bumps. It was simple, chilling and effective. This was the first time Sting was shown on Raw in some way shape or form and it’s without a doubt a historic moment. There is still no confirmation of Sting officially signing a contract or Legends deal with WWE, but after being shown on the WWE Network, having an official t-shirt on WWE Shop, and becoming the pre-order bonus for WWE 2K15 – it’s inevitable that we will see him. Hopefully soon…
