The post-Money In The Bank Raw featured a decently hot crowd and a good build to the biggest show of the summer.
John Cena picks Daniel Bryan.
The show-long storyline was that Brad Maddox, in his first full Raw on the job, gave John Cena the chance to pick his opponent for SummerSlam.
Randy Orton came out while Cena was in the ring to start the show and basically told Cena that he’s going to cash in when Cena least expects it. Fandango came down to ask Cena to choose him, but Orton jumped him for interrupting and they had a fun match. There were two best parts of the match. Orton hit a sweet superplex on Fandango. And he also was up in the corner and gave Summer Rae a look that said, “How you doin’?” She screamed at him to stop looking at her. Well, he is single. Watch out divas.
Throughout the show, guys like Chris Jericho, The Great Khali, and Jack Swagger/Antonio Cesaro were mentioned.
At the end of the show, all the guys came out from the back and stood on the stage while Cena discussed his decision inside the ring. He wanted the fans to help him even if they don’t like him. He mentioned several guys including Heath Slater (it was his birthday), Ryback, Jericho, RVD, and Sheamus (who received a ton of boos). The crowd kept chanting for Daniel Bryan and finally Cena picked him.
Bryan ran down and the crowd was going nuts. Cena was goofy, but overall, the segement worked.
Brock Lesnar beats up CM Punk
Punk came out and immediately called out Paul Heyman and Brock Lesnar. Heyman came out and said that he had to backstab Punk because Punk didn’t listen to him and Brock is better.
Punk told Heyman that he trusted him, but also that Heyman knows when Punk is lying and not and when he really wants something. Heyman seemed worried. Heyman called out Brock and they had quite the battle. Punk was wearing shorts, which made his legs look really skinny. Otherwise, it worked. Brock gave him the F5 on the announcer’s table. Brock and Heyman left and Punk struggled to his feet and didn’t want any help.
Dolph Ziggler breaks up with AJ – Big E beats up Dolph.
Ziggler immediately broke up with AJ after she was looking for him backstage. She looked very upset.
Ziggler faced Alberto Del Rio in another good match, but this time, AJ purposely caused him to lose. He hit the FameAsser and had Del Rio for the pin, but the bell rang abruptly and the referee stopped his count to see what happened. It was AJ who rang the bell. The referee restarted the match, Del Rio hit the super kick and he pinned him.
AJ was angry and sad and happy and crazy. Big E hit his finisher on Dolph.
And the rest…
- Mark Henry was out to ask John Cena for another chance and then the Shield attacked and left him laying, including a triple power bomb. Henry looked like he hit the back of his head while taking the move. It was impressive.
- R-Truth came out rapping and had his hair back, which showed off a receding hairline. Not a good look Truth; go back to your old haircut. The Wyatt Family jumped him and then he was in the middle of the ring with Bray who begged him to hit him with a chair. But Truth was watching his back so as to not get attacked by the other two members and instead, Bray attacked him. Bray also cut a promo. It looks like they’re going to continue with Kane.
- The WWE app fans voted The Usos to face Swagger and Cesaro and then beat them in a quick match.
- Christian beat Damien Sandow who was quite confident before losing. Cody Rhodes jumped him to a big pop.
- Naomi beat Brie Bella.
- Maddox was interrogated by Stephanie and HHH who insinuated that Vince wouldn’t like his choices, including who Cena may choose to face. They don’t think Vince would like Bryan if Cena chose him.
- RVD beat Chris Jericho in a pretty good main event. It was slower than you’d expect, but hey, RVD was in a car crash ladder match last night. Jericho was great as always and RVD hit a 5 Star Frog Splash for the win.
Overall, a strong show, especially the last hour. They are paving their way to a pretty big SummerSlam.