WrestlingNerd Presents: WWE Raw 7/22/13 Review (Goat vs Company)

What up wrestling fans, I'm the WrestlingNerd bringing you another written review. Today we take a look at WWE Raw 7/22/13. What happens this week? Let's find out and start the review. 

Daniel Bryan vs Corporation 

We open up the show with a contract signing between John Cena and Daniel Bryan for the WWE title. Since Brad Maddox wants to do a good job in the eyes of Vince McMahon, he's trying to do everything in his power to convince people that Bryan isn't worthy of getting this title match and claims Cena made a mistake in naming Bryan the #1 Contender. Cena claims it isn't the size of a guy, but the heart of a guy that makes him stand out. I know it was supposed to be a powerful moment when Cena threw the championship towards Maddox, but I can't help but think the belt would act like a boomerang and just end up back in Cena's hands. Even when he tries to get rid of the title, it doesn't want to leave him. That's the power of John Cena. Daniel Bryan talks about deserving this opportunity for the WWE Championship, but the evil, big, bad corporation thinks Bryan is too small to earn a title match… Alabalabahlahabala. Maddox will put Bryan to a few matches this evening to 'prove' he deserves a title shot… Even though they both just signed the contract? Ehh… Who gives a crap? Like I mentioned earlier, it's the tension of Vince that's causing Maddox to act out in this fashion. More on this later in the review. 

Mid-show #1

Alberto Del Rio and Sheamus have a decent match. Throughout the match, Sheamus was selling a leg injury, but I doubt it was 'selling' by seeing his purple leg. Those bruises look brutal, but I wonder if that was legit or a good job by the make-up department? Either way, I like the effort from one or both sides of the coin. Del Rio wins the match since 1-800-FELLA has run out of minutes. Not sure where any of this is headed, but I'm sure this will be important for Sheamus in the coming weeks. The Christian/Titus O'Neil match was good, but doesn't really serve a purpose. I consider it an entertaining distraction. In other news, Ryback seems to think that by talking in food metaphors, he can get away with everything. It appears that Ryback needs a protein increase and Josh Matthews is the only one left. It's feeding time…

Meanwhile, Mark Henry calls out the Shield. I love the Kool-Aid mention by Henry. Makes me think Henry was aware of people calling him the Kool-Aid man when he was wearing red back in the day. They easily take the bait and attack the big guy, but never fear, the Usos to the rescue! Henry and the Usos use the real superpower of teamwork to take out the Shield. This is a follow-up to what happened on SD last week. While it does seem repetitive that the Shield has gone back to six-man tag matches, I don't really mind the move. It isn't the most intriguing move, but one of the things I like about it is the Usos aren't getting shoved to the sidelines. If anything, they have the most to gain for this temporarily alliance. While not the most interesting undercard match, I think it could be fun if it ends up on the SummerSlam card.

Boobies! 

After a few minutes of Dolph Ziggler whooping Darren Young's ass, Big E and AJ come out to run interference. The two go back and forth until Dolph uses his speed to escape Big E…

Oh, that tricky, tricky, Ziggler! You'll get him next time, Big E. Tonight's Miz TV segment was used to promote the Total Divas reality show, which is set to debut this week. Hey, it looks like Brie Bella is showing her appreciation for the beard to the public! I know wardrobe malfunctions are gonna happen, but it isn't like she was physically active as she was sitting down during the segment. I can't be the only one to think that was a little suspicious. I only bring up this segment because Eva Marie, one of the rookie divas, gave the worst slap on television. I never thought I say this, but Vickie Guerrero would do better in this situation. At least her slap looks like it would hurt, not the equivalent of throwing a slice of bread at your face. Yeah, so she didn't leave that great of an impression if you ask me. I'll give her a chance, but why do I feel she was only hired to be on this reality TV show and nothing more? For the record, I will NOT be watching and/or reviewing this show by any means. I have no problem if WWE wants to go forward with this idea, but I have no interest in this show since I watch very little reality TV shows.

Mid-show #2

Triple H confronts Maddox for siding with the old man and claims DB has earned the right to get the title match. One swoop of advice later, Maddox to get more advise from Stephanie. Yeah, I'm sure none of this will lead to his downfall in the near future. I like how they're taking their time by slowly progressing things between Vince and Trips. You continue to progress things between them without giving them a ton of TV time. If only another old man with wavy, bald hair and shades can learn something like this. The only mention of the Wyatt family this week was a video package of what they've done for the past couple of weeks. Once again, WWE isn't really overexposing the Wyatts, which is the best way to go since you want to keep their sense of mystery alive. This also goes back to presenting the Wyatts in small doses as opposed to giving you too much on your plate. Back in the mid-card rankings, Cody Rhodes went up against Flamedango…

Oh, it just slipped! In a short match, Cody picked up the victory, but not without Damien Sandow trying to screw over his old tag partner. I think I'm noticing a small pattern in the WWE. Anybody with a beard will win at least one MITB briefcase… Unless your name is Wade Barrett, then you're just screwed. #1 tip to make it in the WWE… Grow a beard. CM Wolverine is in the ring and basically says…

Yeah, that pretty much summarizes his promo. Paul Heyman brings it via satellite and tells Punk they accept his challenge for a match at SummerSlam, but claim Punk is biting off more than he can chew. Once again, another compelling segment from Punk and Heyman. I really like how all the pieces of the puzzle are coming together for this match. SS is definitely looking intriguing. 

The goat goes to war

I wonder how much Wade would have to pay in order to buy himself a victory? Hey, that could be a storyline for the guy, but I doubt they would use it. It's time for the main event this evening. It's coming a lot sooner than you would've thought, but WWE really wanted to flesh-out these gauntlet matches. DB defeats Jack Swagger in a matter of minutes, meaning he still has to be getting punished for the bust earlier in the year… Don't do drugs, kids! Antonio Cesaro was next and this was a solid match. Unlike the Swagger match, this one was giving a lot more time to development, thus allowing both to put out the full effort for this contest. Antonio was going insane with this uppercuts. What the hell did Bryan ever do to you? Did he steal your lunch money or something? Whatever the case, Bryan still gets the victory by getting Cesaro in a rollup. After defeating the Almost Real Americans, Ryback is the final opponent for this gauntlet match. The man is getting the crapped kicked out of him, but DB continues to fight back. He's got the strength, the will, the…

…Cracked ribs. Bryan wins the match via DQ, but Ryback isn't done. Cena runs out for the save, to only challenge Ryback to a Tables match for next week's show. Yeah, so we get to see… 1/3 of the Payback match again… YAY… Eh? The other announcement is Bryan going up against his 'best friend', Kane. With Bryan vs Kane, you have to imagine the Wyatt family being involved to some degree. It's almost absolute at this point. It seems the idea of tonight's show was to show how the EVIL corporation doesn't like Bryan and is trying to do everything imaginable to break the man, but Bryan continues to find a way to prove he's for real and is deserving of this opportunity… Or maybe it was the basis of the fall of mankind? I forget which by this point. 

Overall Impression:

Tonight's show did progress certain storylines, but it did see everything took a backseat to DB and the McMahon storyline this evening. I didn't have any issues with the decision for tonight's show. I felt with these two elements, this was an episode of Raw worth checking out. There was a lot of action in tonight's show, so if that's your thing, you should get a satisfaction out of this episode. This isn't as strong as last week's episode, but this was still pretty good. Give it a watch and judge for yourself. 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 ones.