WWE Raw: CM Punk vs. Daniel Bryan Set for Over the Limit, New Champions and More

WWE Raw opened with general manager John Laurinaitis. He bragged about revolutionizing the WWE in one night and put over Brock Lesnar.

That brought out Lesnar, who simply said he brought the pain at Extreme Rules. Triple H then made his way out and he said he never approved the changes to Lesnar’s contract that Laurinaitis agreed to.

That prompted Lesnar to attack the COO and break his arm with the Kimura Lock.

As soon as Triple H denied Lesnar all his little changes, I figured that he would attack him. The segment itself kind of bored me until the attack.

The attack makes me think. I know Lesnar isn’t going anywhere, so where does he go from here? Is his next feud really vs. Triple H?

It would certainly be interesting, and something I don’t ever remember seeing during Lesnar’s first run.

With Triple H’s arm “broken,” I suppose the feud itself won’t actually happen for a few months.

Eve then made her way out and announced a Beat the Clock Challenge to determine the No. 1 contender for CM Punk’s WWE Championship.

Thankfully we’re actually getting a No. 1 contender’s match this time around instead of people just being announced as the challenger.

The Miz vs. Santino Marella: Beat the Clock Challenge

The Miz defeated Santino with the Skull Crushing Finale in four minutes and 18 seconds. I thought this was a good match between the two. It featured some nice action and had a fast pace to it.

It was good to see the Miz actually win and be back in the title hunt. While I wasn’t into his first reign as champion, the WWE Championship scene is in desperate need of someone other than CM Punk and Chris Jericho.

Santino was quite good in the ring as well. When he puts the comedy aside, the superstar from Italy is a great in-ring performer. Despite going for the Cobra, he was allowed to showcase his skill here.

This was a good way to start the challenge.

Layla vs. Brie Bella vs. Nikki Bella: Diva’s Championship

This match lasted around 30 seconds, if that, with Layla retaining her title with the rollup of doom.

I was quite happy to see Layla return at Extreme Rules. The division finally gets a fresh face and someone who can actually perform. Layla has improved so much since her Diva Search days.

I was hoping that with her as champion, the division would actually get some proper attention and time given to it. Unfortunately, I was wrong as this match was quick and pointless.

Sure, it was a way to get rid of the Bella Twins as they were announced as being “fired” later on in the show, but it would have been nice to see them go out fighting.

Then again, WWE has a history of treating departing superstars like garbage on their final night.

Hopefully, that’s all this was and Layla will get the chance to have some real matches as champion sooner rather than later.

Chris Jericho vs. The Big Show: Beat the Clock Challenge

Jericho won the match by count-out but he wasn’t able to beat the clock. In fact, he missed it by one second.

It’s that one second that makes me think that this may have been a botch. With the announcers saying that Jericho beat the clock, I think that he was supposed to.

Of course, this could just be some great timing by Jericho, Big Show and the referee.

The match itself was decent. Jericho and Big Show work well together and if they had more time, they probably could have had a great match.

While I highly doubt, it would happen, I wouldn’t mind seeing them enter into a short feud before Jericho leaves again.

Brodus Clay vs. JTG

JTG became Funkasaurus chow here. It was the typical Brodus Clay squash match, so let’s just move on. Though seeing him bring in some kids from the audience to dance was kind of cool.

Backstage, Eve told Teddy Long to go away. He may have lost Lesnar and will probably be blamed for what happened to Triple H. He only had one problem, though, and that was figuring out John Cena’s opponent for Over the Limit.

Really, that’s his only problem? I would think that potentially losing Brock Lesnar and going down for Triple H’s injury would be much bigger problems than finding an opponent for Cena.

Randy Orton vs. Jack Swagger: Beat the Clock Challenge

Orton picked up the win with the RKO and beat the clock by two seconds.

The main problem with the challenge is that matches are forced to be short, and short matches tend to not be too good. I enjoyed this match, though.

For the first time in a while, Swagger was made to look like a contender. He had Orton down many times during the match and it seemed like he was actually going to pick up a victory over the Apex Predator.

Swagger is a great talent but he’s not always allowed to show it due to whatever storyline he’s involved in. This match with a main event star like Orton really showed that he can play with the top dogs and put on a good match at the same time.

Orton was good as well, but I feel that the star of this match was Jack Swagger.

Primo and Epico vs. Kofi Kingston and R-Truth: Tag Team Titles

After a Trouble in Paradise, Kingston and R-Truth were crowned as the new tag team champions. The two teams had a decent match, but it wasn’t anything too special.

Usually when a new champion is crowned I get excited about the feud over the belts and the upcoming matches that will happen. Unfortunately the Tag Team Championship is more worthless than the Divas Championship.

At least there is an actual Divas division.

This win for Kingston and Truth means nothing, and I don’t see any real reason to celebrate their win.

This “division” is a waste of time in my book. Tag team wrestling is dead in WWE; they should just scrap the titles and get it over with.

Backstage, A.W. approached Primo, Epico and Rosa Mendes. Rosa wanted to talk, but before A.W. could say anything important, the segment was cut short so the audience could see the Great Khali dancing in the ring.

You got cut for a dancing Khali, that’s how important your storyline is, A.W.

Kane vs. The Great Khali: Beat the Clock Challenge

The match ended in a no-contest when the clock ran out. This match was slow and boring.

The return of Kane’s mask has brought him nothing; I’m starting to think putting it back on was a bad move.

This match was just bad, so I’m going to move on.

Daniel Bryan vs. Jerry Lawler: Beat the Clock Challenge

Bryan defeated Lawler with the Yes Lock and with plenty of time left on the clock. CM Punk vs. Daniel Bryan is set of Over the Limit and I couldn’t be more excited!

The match itself was a quick little back-and-forth until Bryan locked in the submission so it wasn’t anything too special.

The most important thing here is that Punk and Bryan for the WWE Championship will be headlining a PPV.

Post-match, Punk came out and the two stared each other down with Bryan chanting “Yes” and Punk raising the title over his head.

As long as WWE doesn’t screw this up, I have a feeling that this will be the match of the year, wrestling-wise at least.

The show ended with John Cena finding out who his Over the Limit opponent was. After he and Laurinaitis went back-and-forth on the mic for a bit, Lord Tensai made his way out.

Most thought he was Cena’s opponent, including myself, but then Johnny Ace attacked Cena. Turns out Big Johnny will be his opponent.

Laurinaitis, Tensai and Tensai’s manager Sakamoto proceeded to beat down the face of the WWE. It ended with Laurinaitis smashing Cena’s injured arm between the steel steps and a chair.

I got to say, I didn’t see that coming. I expected Tensai, or even Ryback, to be his opponent.

It also makes you think about his future as general manager as well.

What happened when general manager Triple H competed in a match and lost control of Raw? He was taken out of power. Will this happen to John Laurinaitis?

This was quite the nice little swerve until I realized what John Cena vs. John Laurinaitis means.

It means that this match will most likely be main eventing over CM Punk vs. Daniel Bryan. I was excited for Over the Limit, but I’m now up in the air about it.

Overall, I thought Raw was an interesting show. It started out strong but started to dip in the middle and towards the end.

It picked back up a bit with the final segment, but it was certainly no show saver.

I’m kind of 50-50 on this week’s show. I liked it yet I didn’t, so I guess that means Raw was decent in my book.

I expected better after a very solid show like Extreme Rules, though.