RAW Review 15/04/2013

This past weeks RAW threw up some interesting talking points, most importantly, the direction of the World Heavyweight Championship, the seemingly never ending Triple H-Lesnar fued, CM Punk's supposed exit (for now at least) from the WWE and finally the interesting heel turn of Ryback.

Last week on Raw, Dolph Ziggler finally cashed in his MITB contract on Alberto Del Rio, winning his second World Heavyweight Championship, the fact he made it past the end of the night with the title also makes it his longest current reign, after an hour long reign back in 2010. After the cash in we knew the direction of the title fued could be confusing, after all Swagger would surely get another shot, and ADR is due a rematch, right?

Dolph after winning the WHC last week.

Well, it turns out our presumptions were right, as during a Ziggler promo, Alberto Del Rio cam out and said he will invoke his rematch clause there and then, Vicky Guerrero emerged after this to confirm the match would happen there and then. Unfortunately Ziggy didn't get the chance to defend his title - and show off doing it - as no sooner had he handed the title belt to the ref to be held up, did Jack Swagger and Zeb Colter come down the ramp, as Colter reminds Ziggler that if it wasn't for Swagger, he wouldn't have the title, and that ADR doesn't deserve another shot at it, Swagger then attacked ADR, focusing on his injured leg, stopping the match before it even began.

To me this shows that Ziggler's cash in was well timed, as it has thrown the Swagger-Del Rio fued into disarray, and probably had WWE Creative scrambling to come up with ideas for going forward, I think as a champion Ziggler really shines, and I can honestly say that belt has never suited anyone more than it does Dolph. Later on in the night Ziggler faced Swagger in a continuation of the nights earlier events, rather predictably however, ADR got some measure of revenge by taking out Swagger from behind after he'd lost the match.

The man-beast Brock Lesnar, will his fued with Triple H ever end?

 Poor 3MB, when will they ever catch a break? Not only are they jobbers for everyone on the roster, they became a target for Brock Lesnar's fury this week, while calling out The Shield, the wannabe rock stars got more than they bargained for when the beast known as Brock Lesnar hit the ring, and thre them around for a while, even F-5'ing Heath Slater on the barricade twice, before Paul Heyman came down and seemingly calmed down his client, he then preceded to tell us how he respected Triple H for showing his fighting spirit at Wrestlemania, however, Brock Lesnar does not feel the same way, he wants to decide once and for all who the dominant man is, Heyman then issued a challenge of a Steel cage match for Extreme Rules.

Now, when it was announced that there was going to be a rematch between these two titans, I defended the match, despite the flak the booking team got, I thought it was a match worthy of a second encounter, but a third time? Sure, you could argue that with the scores tied at 1-1, there should be a deciding fixture, but I honestly can't see what these two have new to offer in a match, they've already had two good matches, which clearly took their toll on the ageing Triple H. Who knows, the match could steal the show at Extreme Rules, I still think it should have been laid to rest at the grandest stage of them all.

CM Punk is, at this time, one of WWE's best talents. That doesn't cover the fact he's been working hurt for a while, and we knew that tonight would possibly be the last we saw of him for a while. This, while in terms of Punk's health, is good, as where as he can rest up now, when he returns, he'll be ready to put on more 5 star matches (which, if we're honest, he can also do while hurt).

This gave him the opportunity for a promo teasing to his return, and he certainly didn't do it subtly. Whereas some people will be subtle concerning taking time off, Punk clearly walked out, leaving no one wondering what the conclusion could be. The promo he cut before leaving was top notch in way of delivering his goodbye emotionally, as he looked as though he was about to break down. CM Punk is currently a wounded man, he hasn't won on PPV since Survivor Series back in November, and his character's ego has been taken such a blow recently, I'm surprised he still has one to walk around with. I'm sure on a personal level too, Punk won't be happy with the way the last few months have been booked, but we shall soon find out.

Now onto the WWE's current main storyline, Ryback and his heel turn. I'm gonna reveal something now, which may or may not be a surprise, I'm not a Ryback fan. He just feels like a character we've seen so many different men portray. However, he's only been heel for a week, and already I love it. It gives him such an edge, he now seems so fitted to be a heel, he even gave an outstanding promo, which is something I thought I'd never say about Ryback, the passion in his delivery, his death stare down the camera, he's got my attention.

To finish off RAW Cena and Ryback came face to face in the ring, with Cena going to the same jokes, the same lines and shtick he's used for years, Ryback just stared ahead and never said a word, and God, was it effective, it makes the viewer believe that Ryback is the biggest challenger to Cena's title. Even standing watch Cena get beat down by Shield looked effective, and downright threatening. I think this heel turn could be the best thing WWE creative have done in a long, long time.

Nathan Major

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