A show with some pretty good wrestling, one that saw the return of Curt Hawkins to the ring on WWE Superstars and a show that really put over SummerSlam.
We kick off with R-Truth coming out rapping and the crowd are in to it - it’s amazing how a break from a gimmick when replaced by an even worse one (Little Jimmy) can make people appreciate it when it returns. Out next is Drew McIntyre to his 3MB entrance music. Tony Dawson and Alex Riley kayfabe don’t know where he is and speculate that the “band may have had musical differences” when in actual fact Jinder and Heath are on the Raw tour to the Southern Hemisphere while Drew is in the final stages of getting his Green Card.
Match 1 –R-Truth v Drew McIntyre
Truth and McIntyre lock up and posture to the crowd to get them going. R-Truth’s ‘wassup!’ gets a good response from the crowd here and it sounds legit, not post-production sweetened as is often the way on this show. After a shoulder block from Truth, he uses his sitout hip toss on McIntyre and then lands his leg drop to the back of Drew’s head. Truth dominates this match from the start and he moves into wrist locks and hip toss chains. McIntyre powers out and goes to the top turn buckle to launch into an attack on Truth but he gets up and scoop powerslams him to the mat.
Alex Riley is good on colour commentary but every week has a few pre-planned phrases. This week he comments on McIntyre’s “AAA stamp: attitude, anger and aggression” as he reverses an Irish whip and hits Truth with a big boot. Well, he’s better than The Miz at this so I’ll leave him alone. This leads to the first near fall of the match and as Truth kicks out, McIntyre starts to beat Truth down to gain some momentum. He chokes him using the middle rope, uses a fairly sloppy suplex and then rolls Truth up for another near fall. This is followed by a backbreaker and a near fall, another big boot and a further near fall. Truth turns the tide by hitting a spinning heel kick out of nowhere and both men go down to the mat as referee, Chad Patton , starts a 10 count.
R-Truth is up from the count first and gets the heat, hitting McIntrye with several clotheslines, a hurricanrana and a facebuster for a very close 2 count. Drew gets to his feet and hides through the ropes so that Truth cannot get to him and the referee has to usher Truth away. When McIntyre goes for another boot, Truth ducks and hits the Lie Detector for the win at 9:13. This was a good match by Superstars standards but, as usual, there’s nothing special here. Drew could be something if they gave him a push but there are too many better than him in a similar mould at the moment.
Next is the Raw Rebound which is Vince and Daniel Bryan’s segment from the start of the show and then the Bryan and Kane match with the Wyatt family interference.
Out next is Sin Cara who is looking a little heavier around the midriff. The lights are still there everybody. His opponent took me by surprise: Curt Hawkins. He’s had a haircut and now looks like another nobody, kind of like Dolph did when he cut his hair and stopped bleaching it a few years ago. Anyway he’s on television, which is a start, and he’s playing a ‘prince of Queens’ gimmick.
Match 2 – Sin Cara v Curt Hawkins
They lock up and Hawkins uses a wrist lock takedown which Sin Cara powers out of using stiff kicks to his legs and midsection. While Hawkins is down, Sin Cara quickly climbs to the top rope and uses a cross body which when he lands he turns into a hip toss. This is a very creative match from the word go, Hawkins is a good foil for Sin Cara’s Lucha style and sells and anticipates well. Hawkins rolls to the outside and Sin Cara quickly launches himself over the top rope and hits him with a corkscrew plancha. As Sin Cara gets back up onto the apron he goes to kick Hawkins who ducks and then sweeps his legs so that he lands on his back on the apron.
Hawkins shows that he’s more than capable in the ring here. He’s had an odd career to date in the WWE: he was a member of the Edge’s La Familia in Edge’s title runs in 2007, then he won the tag titles with Zack Ryder in 2008 but more lately he’d been tag teaming with Tyler Reks. When Reks left to be a Dad, he was back at the bottom of the deck again. Hunter likes Hawkins and used him to help get into ring shape for his match with Undertaker at WrestleMania 28. I wonder whether there is anything for him on Raw – he could easily be in the same position as Curtis Axel right now and he’s far more competent on the mic. Here, he uses a range of moves and lands a German suplex on Sin Cara and then applies a reverse chin lock.
Dawson and Riley eventually get round to mention the haircut. Apparently, he had it ‘styled’ by the same stylist who does The Situation’s hair. Noteworthy indeed! Meanwhile, Sin Cara powers out of the chin lock and hits a super kick followed by a hurricanrana and his handspring back elbow as they begin to build to the finish. They exchange moves and near falls: a plancha by Sin Cara gets 2; a power slam by Hawkins gets 2 and then a small package by Sin Cara gets a very close 2. The finish sees Sin Cara going for a hurricanrana which he stops halfway in order to plant Hakwins’ head into the mat. Dawson and Riley say that they have never seen it before but I think we would call it a hurricanrana driver. Sin Cara gets the pin at 4:32 in what was a very entertaining match.
The show ends with the Cena and Ryback tables match from Raw.
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