Tuesday, June 24, 2014

RAW 6/23/14 (Hulu edition)

1. Steffi comes out to open the Money in the Bank go-home RAW, the 1100th episode. She calls out Vicki Guerrero, who gave Steffi the coffee Roman Reigns spiked last week. She makes Vicki beg for her job. Steff gives her an option of being fired or facing her in a match tonight to try to save her job. Vicki invokes Eddie in accepting the match. "There is one name in this industry that people respect more than McMahon, and that is Guerrero! And if there's one thing Eddie taught me, it was how to lie, cheat, and steal!" I don't always like Vicki's gimmick, but she's always been good for heels.
2. The Junior Wyatts come out to a creepy accordion version of "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands."
3. Jimmy Uso v. Luke Harper. The Harpers and the Usos have had great matches over the past few months, and this could be another good one. Prediction: Harper wins a physical match.
4. Way too quick a win for Harper off a massive clothesline.
5. Jey challenges Eric Rowan. I hope this is a longer match. I'm guessing Jey will win, though it won't aurprise me if they want the  Junior Wyatts to look strong for MitB.
6. Jey hits the splash to win another short match. Jimmy cut Harper off when they tried interfere.
7. The Wyatts throw a beatdown after the match and take the straps to pose with in the ring.
8. Bray appears on the tron with another golden promo, saying the kids will win the Tag belts an he'll win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.
9. Daniel Bryan will appear this Sunday on the MitB kickoff show.
10. A vignette with Rusev and Lana exploring Washington DC. Hard to argue with anything they said about the center of US corrupternment.
11. Here comes Hunter to announce the entrants to a second MitB ladder match for a Championship contract briefcase. Rollins is already in, and Hunter adds Kofi Kingston, Jack Swagger, Dolph Ziggler, Rob Van Dam, and Bad News Barrett. Hunter says Rollins is the favorite.
12. Rollins comes out--great music!--and takes responsibility for the success of Ambrose and Reigns. He says he will be Mr. Money in the Bank.
13. RVD comes out and says no one takes him seriously. This is the most he's talked since his return. He challenges Rollins to a match immediately.
14. RVD v. Rollins in a MitB tune-up. Prediction: Rollins wins a top notch match with a lot of air beneath it. No chance that RVD wins.
15. Seth hits the Three Amigos on RVD. Great offense going on here, wonderful counters.
16. Rollins hits Curb Stomp, but Ambrose interferes and drive Rollins out, and attacks even more. Rollins runs out while Dean stands tall in the rings. Ambrose tells Rollins he's going to be at MitB no matter what and will walk out with the briefcase whether or not he's in the match.
17. Sheamus and Reigns backstage. Nice interplay.
18. Rollins demands that Ambrose be in the MitB briefcase match so he can have him where he can see him. I still think there's more to this story, that Rollins is playing Hunter.
19. Ziggler v. Bad News Barrett in an Intercontinental Title match. I'd love to see Ziggler win it, but he won't. Barrett wins a quality match.
20. By the way, Mick Foley wrote a great piece about Ziggler on Facebook. Read it here.
21. Barrett pulled out Foley's guns before dropping an elbow on Ziggler!
22. The fans are chanting "This is awesome!" And it is! This is the best match we've seen in some time.
23. Ziggler hits the Famouser! But Barrett kicks out! Ugh!
24. Barrett hits the Bullhammer off a Ziggler leap! He retains the belt in a great match. I could have watched that for a week.
25. Steffi v. Vicki with Vicki's job on the line. Vicki's been ready to leave for a while now, so this is probably her last hurrah. Steffi wins ugly.
26. Vicki comes out to Eddie's music! Great stuff! Latino Heat!
27. Steffi makes a sludge match where the first person to go in the sludge loses. Steffi brings the heel Divas out to do her...dirty work. They go to carry her in, but Vicki fights out. Rosa Mendes goes in first, then Layla, and finally Alicia Fox. While Vicki celebrates, Steffi pushes her in. Steffi fires Vicki.
28. Vicki throws her in the sludge! Thank you, Vicki. Goodbye, Mrs. Guerrero!
29. Sandow comes out in a Lincoln outfit. Poor guy. At least he's making the best of a bad gimmick.
30. "Abraham" Sandow v. Big E. Big E wins in a quick match.
31. I barely had time to type that before the match was over. Big E hit the Big Ending. All this did was make Sandow look worse.
32. Big E delivered a preacher-style promo on Rusev, who attacks Big E from behind while Lana distracts him. Rusev puts big E in the Camel Clutch--er, the Accolade.
33. Main Event is another 4-on-3 handicap match with the MitB Championship Ladder Match participants. Prediction: the faces win again. The only question: will Cena or Reigns get the pin?
34. Sheamus gets the pin(!) in a pretty good match.
35. Kane comes out immediately and starts cleaning house. I suspected this was coming. Kane will be the 8th entrant in the MitB championship ladder match.
36. And Reigns hits Kane with a spear put of nowhere to close out the show.

Not on hulu:
1. Alicia Fox v. Naomi with Paige on commentary. Would have liked to have heard Paige.
2. No Titus O'Neil v. Bo(ring) Dallas. Thank you. Didn't need to see that. Again.
3. No Swagger v. Kingston. I hear Swagger got a broken nose in this one. I hope they give him a babyface turn soon.

Overall this was a pretty good show for a go-home show. The Barrett v. Ziggler match was 5-star, and the build-up for Money in the Bank was adequate.

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