WWE returned to the USA network for Monday Night Raw last night (May 20, 2013) from Kansas City, Missouri, featuring the fallout show from the Extreme Rules pay-per-view (PPV) this past Sunday night at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, ...
WWE returned to the USA network for Monday Night Raw last night (May 20, 2013) from Kansas City, Missouri, featuring the fallout show from the Extreme Rules pay-per-view (PPV) this past Sunday night at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Missouri.
Click here for full results and the live blog from the show if you missed it. Let's get right to reactions. Remember, these were written as the show moved along with real time reactions to everything that occurred hour-by-hour.
HOUR ONE
Ryback showing up to Raw in an ambulance would have worked better had John Cena actually, you know, went to the hospital last night. He literally refused to get into the ambulance and WWE publicized that fact many times over. They even replayed that footage shortly after Ryback came out. Oh dear god, this was all done to set up an Ambulance match between the two at Payback. "It doesn't matter if you can't get up, throwing a man into an ambulance is all that matters." Dear god, this is painful.
Ryback going off on the fans lack of nutritional education has to be the most unintentionally hilarious thing I've seen on WWE television in some time. Maybe other than a Ryback match itself. Remember, this is a guy who was introduced on Tough Enough and frequently made fun of for the fact that all he does is eat and he'll eat anything and everything in sight.
Yes, Michael Cole, people still go to the library. No, WWE, I don't want to spend multiple minutes of the evening listening to Jerry Lawler's old ass talking about the many ways he wants to violate Summer Rae.
Holy shit, Wade Barrett's new music.
Why am I supposed to care about Road Dogg cutting a promo during a match? The WWE App is not this important, is it? Do they actually want me to stop caring about the matches going on in the ring in favor of old guys in suits talking to Josh fucking Matthews? Really? Granted, Wade Barrett and Miz were involved in the match happening at the time, but still.
Okay, so I actually marked out quite a bit when Fandango just ditched the tag team match -- seriously, fuck a tag match like this just randomly thrown together -- and started dancing, with his music playing, while the match was still going on in the ring. His bailing on Summer was great too.
Kane and Daniel Bryan are finally showing more signs of dissension? That's nice to see. Kofi Kingston getting a bigger pop than both of them when he appeared on screen? That's just weird to see.
Not much to say about Sheamus beating Titus O'Neil other than how much it sucks that O'Neil hasn't been put in a better position to succeed.
HOUR TWO
Curtis Axel? Curt Axel? Ummmm ... yeah, I don't know about the name. I guess at least he got "Curt" out of the deal, although Hennig would have been better. That said, the utter and complete ridiculousness of the reaction from so many smarky fans almost ruined this. Everyone likes to bitch and moan that WWE never pushes a new guy, then they go and align McGillicutty with Paul Heyman and everyone continues bitching and moaning. It's unbelievable. This is why WWE will NEVER cater to you, EVER. You're impossible to please.
When Triple H's music hit, the very first thought running through everyone's already cynical mind had to be the same: "Oh god, they're not going to bury this kid already, are they?" That was my thought, at least. Sure enough, "The Game" brushed him aside verbally before literally open hand smacking him in the face. Oh and now they book a match between the two for later in the night. Ugh. Yep. "The boys" would call that hazing, or making Axel pay his dues, or some other dumb shit like that, but this was stupid. Unless Axel wins later, this makes ZERO sense.
While I'm still highly offended by Big E. Langston's ring attire, he gets a pass for using the old school rake to the eyes to beat Alberto Del Rio. And while I've always hated Hulk Hogan for his various transgressions during his time in the professional wrestling business, he always had the best rake