Daniel Bryan had diagrams drawn up. Diagrams and strategies, man. He was prepared for his battle with The Shield, but I bet he had diagrams drawn up for years. As a guy who grew up watching wrestling, there's no doubt that Bryan had in the back of his mind that he'd want to be like the Undertaker, or at least a star comparable to him like Shawn Michaels or Bret Hart or Sting. I can't make hacky sportswriter comparisons about how this must have been living the dream for Bryan, but there's something about watching a generational bridge being built in front of you, even if it happened via tape delay. That says nothing for the other three guys across the ring from the Brothers of Destruction and even Bryan himself, who was somewhat of an independent wrestling pioneer and a signpost wrestler for Jon Moxley and Tyler Black to follow at the very least.
The subsequent clash between the old and new schools of WWE and wrestling in general lived up to every expectation that was levied upon it, but it wasn't the only match that delivered tonight. The wrestling was whimsical at the very least, and meaty and tension-filled at best. Chris Jericho vs. Dolph Ziggler was good enough to be the main event on more than a few WWE TV shows this year. Antonio Cesaro yanked a decent match out of R-Truth (though don't get me started on the yodeling), and given more than a couple of seconds, Cody Rhodes and Tensai did some work too.
In fact, outside of the opening segment, where Paul Heyman, after giving Trips the props that all opponents of his are seemingly contractually obligated to give him, got beat up for getting underneath Trips' thin skin, RAW was incredibly good. I guess when you have ALL THOSE MUSCLES, the cells covering them can't be too thick. Oh well, can't win 'em all.
Still though, even the main event stuff got me interested. Say what you want about Ryback, but the guy is acquitting himself like a WWE main eventer. I don't know if it's too much, too soon as to why people aren't latching onto him, but whatever it is is clicking with me. That's a big qualifier though. John Cena did his part well, both as Mick Foley's ear to listen to, as well as the best possible version of the modern WWE babyface. He cleared out The Shield and made the save, even though he really didn't have to. I heard a lot of people on Twitter groaning at the attack, but he had a receipt coming. Cena's a good guy. He's not a saint.
But even though they retreated, The Shield were the gangstas of the night from their arrival until the end when they needed a cyborg with a steel chair to chase them out of the ring. Seriously, they arrived at the arena in a helicopter. The future is now, people.
The subsequent clash between the old and new schools of WWE and wrestling in general lived up to every expectation that was levied upon it, but it wasn't the only match that delivered tonight. The wrestling was whimsical at the very least, and meaty and tension-filled at best. Chris Jericho vs. Dolph Ziggler was good enough to be the main event on more than a few WWE TV shows this year. Antonio Cesaro yanked a decent match out of R-Truth (though don't get me started on the yodeling), and given more than a couple of seconds, Cody Rhodes and Tensai did some work too.
In fact, outside of the opening segment, where Paul Heyman, after giving Trips the props that all opponents of his are seemingly contractually obligated to give him, got beat up for getting underneath Trips' thin skin, RAW was incredibly good. I guess when you have ALL THOSE MUSCLES, the cells covering them can't be too thick. Oh well, can't win 'em all.
Still though, even the main event stuff got me interested. Say what you want about Ryback, but the guy is acquitting himself like a WWE main eventer. I don't know if it's too much, too soon as to why people aren't latching onto him, but whatever it is is clicking with me. That's a big qualifier though. John Cena did his part well, both as Mick Foley's ear to listen to, as well as the best possible version of the modern WWE babyface. He cleared out The Shield and made the save, even though he really didn't have to. I heard a lot of people on Twitter groaning at the attack, but he had a receipt coming. Cena's a good guy. He's not a saint.
But even though they retreated, The Shield were the gangstas of the night from their arrival until the end when they needed a cyborg with a steel chair to chase them out of the ring. Seriously, they arrived at the arena in a helicopter. The future is now, people.