Tonight’s episode of Raw took place in Portland, Oregon and featured a total of eight matches. Paul Heyman, who cut an outstanding promo and Brock Lesnar started off the show and hyped the upcoming WWE World Heavyweight Title match at SummerSlam.
The theme for tonight’s Raw was Hulk Hogan’s birthday. There were plenty of surprise appearances and celebrity’s wishing him happy birthday, as well as countless cheesy WWE Network plugs. Also, Stephanie McMahon revealed some sort of “confession” to Brie Bella.
So without further ado, here are my overall highs, lows and random thoughts on the SummerSlam go-home edition of Monday Night Raw:
BEST MATCH: Even though Jack Swagger vs. Cesaro was a great match, Randy Orton and Sheamus stole the show with their hard-hitting main event battle that had the crowd on their feet from start to finish. Both men worked incredibly hard and are two of the best on the current roster. I’m still waiting for a Sheamus heel turn, but I’ll enjoy my Sheamus vs. Orton matches while they last. The finish to the match was excellent as well. The Viper hit the Celtic Warrior with a mid-air RKO that was nearly flawless. The crowd popped like crazy.
WORST MATCH: AJ Lee vs. Eva Marie was the Worst Match of the night. Their bout lasted about three minutes and Eva rolled AJ up after Paige came down to the ring and provided a distraction. It wasn’t the worst match in WWE history, but it was still really bad.
UPSET OF THE NIGHT: Eva Marie pinning AJ Lee was the Upset of the Night. Eva hasn’t had a lot of singles matches on live television, but she did a good enough job listening to AJ calling spots and following directions. She didn’t do a whole lot in the match, but it takes two to tango and she did her job. Also, Heath Slater defeating Dolph Ziggler was a pleasant upset/surprise.
MOST SHOCKING MOMENT: There wasn’t anything truly shocking that happened on Raw tonight, aside from Megan Miller’s acting skills. However, since I must give the award out, I’ll give it to Brie Bella being arrested. I probably should have seen the arrest coming right after Brie slapped Megan, but it was a pleasant surprise. It’s nice when WWE does something smart and something that makes sense. I fully expected Brock Lesnar to crash Hogan’s birthday party and that would have won the award if Lesnar actually got physical.
