Tonight was quite the shocking night for the world of Pro Wrestling, a Raw in the middle of the summer that was not only good, it was downright awesome. I’m not sure what happened on the way to Hartford but they actually put on one of the best Raw’s that I’ve seen in quite some time tonight. Coming off of a slapped together pay per view from Boston that actually turned out to be quite good, people were questioning what we would get tonight, and boy did the WWE deliver. A night of returns, a night of shocking moments, and a night that many fans will never forget.
Easily the most shocking moment of the night came when the Russian emigrant Rusev and his handler Lana came to the ring to speak about his match at Money in the Bank and how nobody could stop the Bulgarian Brute. Rusev has been on a tear since debuting earlier this year, beating anyone thrown in his way while Lana talks down about how horrible America is as a country. Tonight his challenge was answered by none other than Jack Swagger, setting up the most awkward turn in recent WWE history. A character that was nearly racist and xenophobic has suddenly become the hope of the American fan. Never in my life did I expect to hear a “let’s go Swagger” chant, it was a welcome change.
Later in the night we got a two for one shocker, a returning former world champion who is a “multimedia superstar” was teased with everyone expecting Chris Jericho to come to the ring, that’s when The Miz’s music hit and he came to the ring to berate the fans. Fresh off his latest movie role The Miz was in full on Hollywood mode, as Miz was getting over with the crowd there was a pyro explosion at the top of the ramp bringing the crowd to it’s feet. Jericho was back, and the fans couldn’t possibly have been any more excited. As Jericho started to work the crowd with a return promo, Bray Wyatt and his crew appeared and attacked him, which made me pop because we’re going to see such a stellar feud between Jericho and Bray.
As if that wasn’t enough we got a special little treat toward the end of the show, the Divas champion came out to cut a promo about how she typically lets her actions speak for her, and how she’s proven she belongs after winning the title. As she spoke the crowd once again lost their minds as the entrance theme for AJ Lee played in the arena. AJ left as a hated heel, but returned as a babyface, oddly enough forcing a turn of Paige into an evil character. This looks like a possible amazing feud between the current megastar and her young upstart competitor. In her return to Raw AJ talked Paige into a title defense and won back the title she covets so dearly. As a fan of WWE, it’s hard to ask for a better showing on Raw than what we got tonight, and to be honest it’s about damn time.
