WrestlingNerd Presents: WWE Raw 6/24/13 Review (Bryan's Song)

What up wrestling fans, I'm the WrestlingNerd bringing you another written review. Today we take a look at WWE Raw 6/24/13. How do things go this week? Let's find out and begin. 

YES! NO! YES!

We open up the show with Daniel Bryan. The man claims he wasn't in 'The Hobbit' and he will defeat Randy Orton tonight. For some reason, I'm just trying to picture Daniel in the 'Lord of the Rings' films….

Well, that's an image for you. Anyway, Randy comes out and continues to be a douchebag about the whole thing. I ask again, this is supposed to be a good guy? I think Randy's character lives in the realms of opposite day. The match doesn't last long as the referee can't seem to keep either person in control, thus resulting in a double DQ. Bryan would demand for another match with Orton this evening, but this sub-plot would be used to elevate the sub-plot of the McMahon storyline as well. Vickie Guerrero gives Bryan his rematch, but the evil, big, bad, Mr. McMahon says Bryan doesn't deserve a rematch because he's insane. Later on in the show, Vickie is about to cancel the match until Triple H comes in and claims Daniel should get this match since the fans want to see it. Vickie caves in to Trips' request since she can't seem to think for herself. That was all the interaction you got this week with the McMahons. I'm guessing Vince was more concerned about taking a nap than to build up his own storyline. 

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More divas

During the Kaitlyn/Aksana match, AJ came out looking like Hulk Hogan dressed in drag since she wants to continue to embarrass Kaitlyn. Big E even joins in on the fun in order to add more salt to the wound. Layla was holding her back since she really has nothing else going in her career to end the scene. The AJ/Kaitlyn rivalry is one of the better rivalries that's happened in women's wrestling. While I have shown my hang-ups with the acting (Seriously, can't one woman on this show making crying look real?), the rivalry isn't too bad and it could be a lot worse. What I'm trying to say is I don't have a problem with WWE milking another match out of these two…..hmmm, something about that last sentence doesn't sound right. 

Revenge is a dish best served cold

Chris Jericho/Alberto Del Rio delivered another good match. In fact, I felt it was better than the match they had on Smackdown last week. The finish comes when Ricardo attacks Jericho with a tin can that was loaned out from Spencers. Actually, this would explain why Del Rio never comes out in cars anymore. He can't afford them after all the months of just renting the automobiles. After the match, Dolph Ziggler comes in to attack Del Rio. Once it's down to Jericho and Ziggles, Dolph hits the Zig Zag on Jericho. After Jericho attacked Dolph on SD this past week, it only made sense for Dolph to retaliate in the same measure. I'm guessing we should prep for another Dolph/Jericho match in the next few weeks, but you have to wonder how that will go since Jericho would get a new program by the end of the night. More of that later in the review. 

Video games & forced matches

Yes, purchase the latest copy of the WWE video game since it's the same game you've gotten in the past, but with FIVE NEW CHARACTERS!!! The Rock ended up being on the cover. I'm fine with the cover, but this is what I would've done….

Getting back to the show, Ryback vs Khali was the next match of the evening. I only bring this up for two reasons. Did JBL really just say this is something Steven Spielberg would book? Spielberg would book whimsical fantasies, not this cannibal fighting a giant tree. I mean, WOW was that a stupid line. The other reason I bring this up is because this would lead into a Ryback/Jericho match at MITB….what? Yeah, WWE just basically farted a Ryback/Jericho match out of thin air. What's the purpose? Nothing at all. Vickie just saw both guys bitching and figured, 'hey, let's make this happen'. I love how both guys complained about wanting in world title situations, but end up not caring now that they have a match against each other. Duuuurrrr, wasn't I in here for a reason? Oh no, I done goofed. Joking aside, the match isn't that bad of an idea. I may not be big on how this was slapped together, I can forgive it if they make this feud entertaining between now and the MITB match. 

John Cena's bag of promos

After recovering from Mario's fight, John Cena comes out to talk about Mark Henry's fake retirement and how he tricked everyone. I swear that Cena is the master of cliches. While I respect what Cena does on a weekly basis, the man literally cuts the same 3-4 speeches every week. Blah, blah, blah, I will always fight. Blah, blah, blah, the champ is here. Blah, blah, blah, watch me smile. Blah, blah, blah, buy my products. That's basically what you get this time around as Cena sets up his match with Henry at MITB. Much later in the show, Henry would come out to make a speech in how he fooled everybody. That's right. Dance, puppets, dance!!! By the way, Spielberg's name was dropped yet again on this show. What's going on here? Is Spielberg making a movie with WWE being involved. Oh no, Spielberg's next movie is ET 2: ET Phones Cena. That might be a bigger train-wreck than the ET video game. 

Friends lie to other friends....are you sure?

Paul Heyman finally explains himself to CM Punk….well, sort of. Punk and Pauly start to shoot as they talk about how backstage politics and Punk's stance in the company years ago. Thanks to Paul, Punk at least had a chance to get somewhere. Punk tells Heyman he's coming after Brock Lesnar and wants to know if Heyman had anything to do with Brock's attack. Pauly claims despite the circumstances, he had nothing to do with Brock's actions since there's always been jealously between Punk and Brock, but this is where Heyman continues to show why he's one of the best villains on this show. He agrees that he's a liar and a manipulator, but somehow made CM Punk look like a terrible friend in all of this. While it's clear Punk is the heel and Paul is deceiving, it's how he delivered the scene that makes it truly interesting. I knew this was gonna be an interesting storyline, but these two may have made an interesting storyline even more interesting. That doesn't come as a surprise to me since both guys are masters in explaining exposition. For the time being, Punk seems to believe that Pauly had nothing to do with the attack since Pauly somehow talked his way out of it, but it changes nothing between Punk and Brock. Things would not end as Punk had a match with Darren Young this evening. In a pretty good match, Punk manages to get the victory with the Anaconda Vice. I liked this match because of Punk's body language during this match. He shows that he's distracted because of Heyman's words earlier in the night. That's just good storytelling all around. After the match, the PTP attack Punk until Curtis Axel comes in to save Punk. It turns out Paul sent Curtis out there to 'protect his friend'. We would find out that PTP would face off against Punk and Curtis next week. Punk doesn't like this idea since he wants to do things on his own, while Heyman continues to cover ups his own tracks. It's definitely gonna be a fun couple of months watching this whole thing being played out. 

Return of the Bryan

CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, Randy Orton, 1-800-FELLA, Christian, Kane, and RVD will be competing in the WWE Championship MITB ladder match. No word if there's gonna be a MITB ladder match for the WHC, but we'll wait and see. Thanks to the WWE App….

…we get a Street Fight between Bryan and Orton. This was a very good match. This was right up there with the quality of a PPV match. I've talked about what Bryan can do in the ring, but Orton deserves some love as well. The man might have the personality of toilet paper, but Orton definitely knows how to tell a story inside a wrestling ring. Bryan makes things difficult for Orton while Randy is doing everything to finish him off….

The force is with you, young Bryan, but you're not a Jedi yet

Bryan continues to do everything in his power to make things difficult for Orton. Finally, Bryan has the No Lock applied and Orton cannot deal with it anymore. Orton taps out and Bryan has finally defeated Orton in clean fashion….

It was great to see Bryan get that victory, which I think sets himself up to be the favorite going into the MITB ladder match. They could use this big victory to carry Bryan to another big win. Right now, Bryan is one of the most interesting characters to watch. I say give him a shot and let him keep rolling with this hot streak. 

Overall Impression:

While this isn't quite as good as last week's show, this was still pretty damn good. There was a couple of matches that really stuck out this evening, but things also got interesting with the storytelling side of things. I like how things went between Punk and Heyman since it shows two people with different ideals for what they want/don't want. Things did lighten up with the McMahons this week, but I admit that I'm interested to see where this is headed. And of course, the DB/Randy match. This is another episode of Raw that should be worth a look if you're interested. Things are looking good in WWE Land as we get closer to Money in the Bank. That does it for the review and I hope you enjoyed it. Tell me what you thought of my review or tonight's show. I will see you guys and girls in the next one.