The show began with Triple H cutting a promo, protected
by The Shield. It was another explanation from the COO, this one regarding his
actions at the close of the previous week's RAW. Trips said he had tricked and
beaten Daniel Bryan in the closing moments of the August 19th show
because Bryan had made it personal. Which was a logical thing to say
considering Bryan had screamed and shouted at 'The Game's' wife and generally
made a nuisance of himself by not “going back down to the mid-card”.
Tripper's other chosen topic was WWE champ Randy Orton.
Talking Orton up as the face of the company is only going to make him unpopular
after the ease with which he won the title. This is the point, of course. We
are supposed to see 'The Viper' as a paper champion, a corporate tool and the
McMahon family's pawn. Comments made in a backstage segment later on in the
evening by Triple H, that he considered the WWE championship his personal
property and that he allows Orton to carry it for him, further illustrated this
point. That Orty didn't pick Triple H up on the comment showed us that he knows
he's on to a good thing and doesn't care about how he's perceived.
The opening segment featured Trips giving Orton a gift in
the form of a Cadillac Escalade. I'm not really one for cars so I'll have to
assume this is a particularly lavish and desirable make. As anyone who has
watched WWE for a while can tell you, cars are rarely safe when introduced to
the environs of Monday Night RAW. The car would be covered in orange lettered
"YES"es later on in the evening by Bryan as a way of antagonising the
bad guys.
Bryan also interrupted Orton and 'The King of Kings' at
the top of the show. At that point he was more focused on thanking various
people for opportunities and belittling the champion than defacing an
automobile. Bryan once again showed that he has a good enough sense of timing
and an ability to judge and ingratiate himself to a crowd to work at the very
peak of WWE. Those promo skills are just as important as his (rightly) vaunted
ring skills. You can't survive as a WWE headliner for a substantial amount of
time if you can't carry your weight in a speaking segment. And it's important to
note that Bryan can because the fact often gets overlooked. 
When the WWE Hall of Fame is built this car will be on display. That's fact
Bryan's interruption resulted in him being booked in a
gauntlet match against The Shield. It was, we were told, what was best for
business. That not only showed us that Triple H is corrupt but that he
recognises Bryan has attained a certain level of popularity. After Bryan had
defaced Orton's lovely car Day Tripper decided that the rest of the roster
would have to stand and watch the match(es) from the top of the ramp, with
anyone interfering being fired.
This was similar to the previous week's white hot show
closer but that didn't matter. It reinforced that Triple H is now ruling the
company through fear and that the reason nobody has come to Bryan's aid is that
they've been placed into a position where they can't.
A side note, at this point: WWE has run variations of
this story before. The most recent I can think of before this was when Triple H
saw the entire roster walk out on him in a vote of no confidence in 2011
(leading to the laugh-a-minute reign of 'Big' Johnny Laurinaitis). Another
occurred during the McMahon-Helmsley Era, which occurred within the much
broader and more popular Attitude Era, and was mentioned on Monday's show by
Christian. The reason I mention these examples isn't to highlight WWE's lack of
creativity, because I don't view it as a lack of creativity. Running the same
basic story a few times in over a decade isn't unimaginative, in no small part
because the situations have arisen and played out in different fashions each
time.
The reason I mention it is to draw attention to the fact
that WWE tends to have the person who’s been walked out (funnily enough that's
Triple H in each of the three examples I've given) on receive their comeuppance
in the end. It indicates that sooner or later the Superstars™ and Divas™ will
tire of 'The Game's' antics. That's months down the line though, not something
we need to overly concern ourselves with yet.
The gauntlet match was the main event. Bryan successfully
defeated Seth Rollins in a competitive match before getting jumped by Dean
Ambrose. 'The Dazzler' quickly got the Shield member into the Yes Lock and
looked like he was going to win by submission... but Roman Reigns broke the
hold to instigate a three-on-one beating. For the record that means Bryan won
his second match by DQ and the third simply never took place.
After 'The Hounds of Justice' had laid out Bryan with
their signature triple power bomb Orton and Triple H appeared. The champ
sauntered to the ring and pulled a limp Bryan to his feet to be dropped with an
RKO. Up at the top of the ramp 'The Cerebral Assassin' stared at Big Show,
Dolph Ziggler and others. Nobody met his gaze for long and it was once again
clear that guys can’t stand up to him else they lose their jobs (presumably Big
Show’s iron clad contract has expired). 
Daniel Bryan gave Seth Rollins a kicking in the main event
The programme went off the air with WWE's Most Hated
heading to the back and The Shield standing over Bryan in the ring. It was more
great booking. Bryan was again shown as someone who won't be cowed, giving fans
all the reason they need to believe in him, while Orton was presented as
someone who hasn't earned the title he carries and is benefiting from
preferential treatment. There are few things more likely to irk the modern
wrestling fan than that.
Elsewhere on RAW CM Punk beat Curtis Axel in a non-title
match. Per a pre-match stipulation, voted into existence through the combined
power of the WWE App and the WWE Universe, that earned 'The Second City Saint'
the opportunity to get his hands on Paul Heyman in the ring.
Heyman was forced into the ring by security but was saved
by his client before Punk could do any real damage. Punk was then handcuffed
and beaten with a Singapore cane by Axel and Heyman. It was another overly long
segment. The same effect could have been achieved in half the time.
Rob Van Dam defeated Alberto Del Rio in a non-title match
when ADR was distracted by Ricardo Rodriguez. It was fairly enjoyable and RVD
and Ricardo worked well together. They should be a fine addition to the Night
of Champions card.
The best thing to happen on the show didn't involve
anyone previously mentioned. After what appeared at first glance to be a
generic time filler match pitting Brie Bella against Natalya, with the
Funkadactyls, Nikki Bella and Eva Marie at ringside (Brie won), AJ Lee
appeared. The Divas champion proceeded to cut one of the greatest promos I've
ever seen in WWE or anywhere. It was easily the greatest mic work to come out
of the Divas division and the best piece of work in general since the days of
Trish Stratus, Lita, Mickie James and Victoria.
Playing off what are probably real life frustrations at being
overshadowed by the female performers who appear on Total Divas despite being
the Divas champion AJ knocked every woman at ringside. She upped her game when
she called the entire group cheap, interchangeable, expendable, useless women
who’ve turned to reality TV because they couldn’t get work as actresses. A
comment was added, presumably to cover Natalya, that they were not talented enough
to be the champion.
AJ said she’d done more in a year than all of them had in
their collective careers. Which is absolutely true. This time last year AJ was
one of WWE’s most over characters and she’d gotten there by working hard and
making the most of what material she was given. AJ earned the Divas
championship by making herself a compelling, multi-layered character. No other
woman in the promotion has worked as hard to make something of themselves than
AJ Lee.
"OMG I just watched last night's episode of Total Divas!" AJ cutting one of the greatest promos ever
And AJ said this. She said she’d worked her entire life
to make it to and in WWE. Her comments about being handed fifteen minutes of
fame were not true of all the women at ringside. Natalya has certainly earned a
spot on the roster, although she was covered by AJ’s nepotism remarks. But they
were true of the Total Divas cast members and that was the point of what is
irritatingly being dubbed a “pipebomb”.
After telling the ladies they’d never be fit to lace her
Chucks AJ finished on the punnishly wonderful line of “And that… is reality.” If
this was the beginning of a resurgence for the Divas division (I’ve written
those words before but this time it feels different) then there is not a better
women to lead the way.
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