WWE RAW 26th August 2013 - LIVE Discussion

[Dale]

1. Intercontinental Champion Curtis Axel vs. CM Punk
Some friendships just fade away, while others implode like that of Paul Heyman and CM Punk. On last week’s Raw, Punk displayed a raw fury the WWE Universe has perhaps never seen. For weeks, The Straight Edge Superstar has made it abundantly clear that he wants to beat the heck out of Heyman! The Second City Saint accepted Curtis Axel’s challenge issued on SmackDown and is itching to put a hurting on Heyman’s prized young Superstar this Monday. If Punk takes care of business against Axel, is Heyman next to feel his wrath?

2. World's Largest + World's Strongest
Ever since their debut, The Shield have taken on — and taken down — a slew of WWE Superstars. During their path of destruction, Seth Rollins & Roman Reigns have held a stranglehold on the WWE Tag Team Titles. Now that Big Show & Mark Henry have declared their allegiance, Rollins & Reigns find themselves in the sights of two of WWE’s largest and most dangerous Superstars. Will the massive pairing finally be the force to crush The Shield and their brand of “justice�

3. RVD's new alliance
While the friendship between World Heavyweight Champion Alberto Del Rio and Ricardo Rodriguez has disintegrated, another has formed between Rodriguez and the great Rob Van Dam. After revealing their alliance last week, Ricardo interrupted a match between Del Rio and Christian on SmackDown to introduce Van Dam. The distraction led to Christian dropkicking Del Rio and Van Dam finishing him off with Rolling Thunder. Will the World Heavyweight Champion be looking for retribution on Raw?

4. Where is Kane?
At 323 pounds, it’s pretty hard to just disappear. But that is exactly what has happened to Kane since he was last seen being carted away from the ring at SummerSlam by The Wyatt Family. The Big Red Monster failed to surface on SmackDown. Will we find out more about his whereabouts on Raw?

5. Summer of The Viper
Randy Orton has found himself in a very comfortable position. Former WWE Champion John Cena is out of commission for up to six months. WWE COO Triple H is firmly in The Viper’s corner — although Orton claims he had no idea Triple H was going to do what he did at SummerSlam. And Mr. McMahon himself said he didn’t want Daniel Bryan to emerge from SummerSlam as WWE Champion.

The odds are certainly against the submission specialist ever becoming WWE Champion again. But the journeyman grappler who Stephanie McMahon described as a “B+†Superstar will get another chance at the WWE Title at Night of Champions. Can you think of a bigger underdog than Bryan in recent years?

Last week Bryan suffered a beating from The Shield and an RKO from The Viper. What might the powers that be do next to try to keep Bryan down? Find out Monday at 8/7 CT on USA Network.

DISCUSS
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[Chris]

Other than the Trips/Orton/Bryan stuff, I really don't care much for the that things they have going on and I didn't really realize that until reading this preview.

 

[NotReallyaGoodUN]

Other than the Trips/Orton/Bryan stuff, I really don't care much for the that things they have going on and I didn't really realize that until reading this preview.

As for Bryan/Orton, I didn't like Bryan's argument on SmackDown! and the general precedent he is putting forward. At all. "I had to wrestle in a dungeon, etc. I had to wrestle in a staph infested mat, I had to wrestle in front of 30 people, sleep in my car. I know how to wrestle while Orton is pretty, etc."

How exactly is that different from what Orton is doing? (Hanging on to his lineage as a means for success?) I know wrestling is scripted and that Bryan and Orton are probably drinking beer together during their free time, but bear with me for a minute here. The whole focus of this storyline seems to be that Orton wouldn't have been who he is if he wasn't a "third generation" superstar, and that he wouldn't be who he is if he didn't have the privilege of "knowing" Triple H. OK. Well and good. At least Orton has the decency to stick to one side, that is the WWE and not conveniently oscillate between being "independent" and "corporate".

Yeah, you wrestled in a dungeon. Yeah you wrestled in front of 30 people. Yeah, you weren't recognized as much as you are today when you were a smaller wrestler. (Sorry, couldn't resist, pun intended.) You are forgetting that was in the past. Now you're in the WWE. By honoring and eulogizing your irrelevant past, you are simultaneously invalidating the present, and for that reason, Bryan's "pride" is in some ways, even worse than Orton's "biased rise" to the top.

 

[Keith]

Will check this out on YouTube after it airs. Summerslam has gotten me excited in WWE's product again.

 

[Troy]

Is the Curtis Axel CM Punk match non-title? Punk should be able to get some emotion out of Axel and hopefully bring his personality to the front a bit more. Are they going to go with Axel/Punk for the IC title at NOC?

Looking forward to what they do with the tag team division this week, last week featured about seven teams and in this preview they are talking up Show and Henry's new team. Bit soft if they get a title shot right away but I guess it works since they have had their issues with The Shield.

 

[Keith]

Is the Curtis Axel CM Punk match non-title? Punk should be able to get some emotion out of Axel and hopefully bring his personality to the front a bit more. Are they going to go with Axel/Punk for the IC title at NOC?
Looking forward to what they do with the tag team division this week, last week featured about seven teams and in this preview they are talking up Show and Henry's new team. Bit soft if they get a title shot right away but I guess it works since they have had their issues with The Shield.

Not sure but I am not a fan of them giving away the match before the PPV. Think it will be some kind of DQ finish here.

 

[Kiffy Lube]

Lookin' forward to more Bryan/McMahons/Orton build up the most. Axel/Punk should be fun too. I'm not really upset that they have a match on Raw though. They haven't announced that they are fightin' at Night of Champions yet so this should just be storyline filler to get us closer to that.

 

[Dale]

RVD vs Alberto Del Rio in a non-title match has just been announced :hm:

 

[Keith]

RVD vs Alberto Del Rio in a non-title match has just been announced :hm:

Am starting to wonder if they are trying to throw us off the scent...

 

[Andrew]

I smell a DQ Finish, I wouldn't mind if it lead to a TAG MATCH.

 

[Andrew]

Corporate Shield, HHH & Orton to open the show.

I like!

 

[PHX]

Good to see this is a permanent thing with Shield being Trips bodyguards basically.

 

[Andrew]

I like the Corporate Shield thing,

is it me or is HHH making RAW like 1999 but with it being PG?

 

[PHX]

I like the Corporate Shield thing,

is it me or is HHH making RAW like 1999 but with it being PG?

Not sure what you mean by that.

 

[Andrew]

The ratings weren't even that high