The Good, the Great and the Awesome from Raw (1/13/14)

Family was the theme of the January 13 episode of Monday Night Raw.

Real brothers Jimmy and Jey Uso had their first shot at starring in the main event match of the evening, as they teamed to meet a family of a different sort. Their opponents on this night would be the cult-like Wyatt Family, led by the devious and disturbing Bray and the latest addition to the clan, Daniel Bryan.

The two teams would kick off the evening and end it in spectacular fashion, clashing inside a steel cage. One family would experience the bliss of victory while the other would be torn apart from within.

It was not a happy reunion for the Cena clan, as current WWE Superstar John watched Randy Orton once again assault his father, who was sitting ringside for the night's festivities.

Brothers Cody Rhodes and Goldust were in tag action, as they took on Ryback and Curtis Axel.

Would blood be thicker than water as Raw emanated from the Dunkin Donuts Center in Providence?

Find out now as we take a look back at the good, the great and the awesome from Monday night's show.

The Good

Photo Credit: WWE.com

John Cena vs. Damien Sandow

Cena and Sandow have repeatedly exhibited great chemistry with one another, and Monday's match was no different.

Despite everyone and their mothers knowing that Cena was winning, Sandow still put up a competitive fight and never appeared out of place against the top star in the sport.

Would it have been nice for the match to mean more than it did in the long run? Yes. Is the company sacrificing Sandow's potential to be a main event star? Yes. But he served his purpose well this week.

Cena looked great in preparation for his match against Randy Orton at the upcoming Royal Rumble.

Speaking of Orton...

Kofi Kingston vs. Randy Orton

What looked to be a guaranteed win for Orton turned into the most shocking upset of this young 2014, as Kingston scored a pinfall victory over the WWE World Heavyweight champion.

The upset infuriated Orton, who stomped around ringside before unleashing his anger and rage on John Cena's father, who was sitting in the first row and enjoying the evening's show.

Cena hit the ring and chased his Royal Rumble opponent off before turning his attention to his injured dad.

The segment may have landed elsewhere in this article had it not been so reminiscent to an angle from 2007 that saw Orton pull the elder Cena over the guardrail and deliver the sick punt to the head.

After all, if you had been attacked by a professional wrestler once, and you knew the depths to which that wrestler would sink to make an impact or send a message, would you not have gotten out of dodge when said wrestler was stalking around ringside? 

It felt like a contrived angle that creative hopes will drum up heat for a rather dead title feud.

Kofi's win was great. After a mid-match mistake during a bout against Orton nearly five years ago cost him a major push, it was nice to see him get a big win over The Viper this week. The story, which saw Orton become overconfident and, as a result, leave himself open to the upset, was well done and potentially sets up a scenario that Cena learns from at Royal Rumble and exploits Orton's weakness for a win.

Cody Rhodes and Goldust vs. Ryback and Curtis Axel

You know two guys are hot when their worst television match in recent months still manages to land them in the "good" section of this article.

WWE Tag Team champions Rhodes and Goldust were their normal great selves, but Ryback and Axel are lost in the midcard shuffle and were not overly motivated to bring their A-game for tonight's match.

Most interesting was the revelation from Michael Cole that, on the WWE App, Goldust vowed to eliminate his brother from the Royal Rumble to pay him back for last year when Rhodes did the same to the golden one.

Could that be the emphasis for what is a much anticipated Goldust-Cody WrestleMania match?

The Great

Photo Credit: WWE.com

CM Punk and The New Age Outlaws vs. The Shield

The match itself was a really solid, old-school six-man tag match that settled down and moved at a more leisurely pace than some of the more frantic matches that The Shield has become known for. What happened at the conclusion of the bout is what lands it solidly in the "great" section of this week's article.

Billy Gunn and Road Dogg dropping off of the apron and refusing to tag into the match, leaving Punk to suffer the wrath of the his three opponents, was brilliantly done.

In recent weeks, we know that Punk has been very outspoken in his dislike of The Authority. He came to blows with Triple H prior to TLC and has found himself consistently punished in matches against The Shield. Conversely, the Outlaws are longtime friends of Triple H and are enjoying a nice little run of television time and probably owe it all to the boss.

Rather than the rise of the New Age Outlaws or any sort of major TV push, tonight's segment sets in motion the story that will ultimately lead to CM Punk taking on WWE COO, The Game, Triple H.

Roman Reigns continued his winning ways, flattening Punk with the spear and pinning the former WWE champion for the second straight week. Moments later, The Shield put a definitive end to Punk's night with a triple powerbomb.

A great segment of television that will have long-lasting and long-reaching effects as we head down the road to WrestleMania XXX. 

Awesome

Photo Credit: WWE.com

The Usos vs. The Wyatt Family and Goat Face Rises

The only match announced for Raw in the days leading to Monday's show was the clash between the Usos and Bray Wyatt and Daniel Bryan. The tag match had been built up on Friday night's SmackDown with really strong promos from both teams. It was rare to see the company hyping up the coming Monday's main event on its B-show, but it was a welcomed change and helped generate some interest in the match.

That interest and excitement was misplaced early when the Usos scored a disqualification win thanks to Luke Harper and Erick Rowan.

Then came a backstage segment in which director of operations Kane and Raw general manager Brad Maddox came up with the idea for a steel cage match between the two teams, ensuring that Rowan and Harper will not get involved. Kane took it one step further, stating that the cage door will be chained shut and he alone would have the key.

The Usos made the most of their first real chance to shine in the spotlight that comes with the main event. They were mightily impressive against Wyatt and Bryan en route to scoring arguably the biggest win of their careers.

What came afterwards, however, was the stuff of magic.

After the bout, Bryan appeared to be giving himself up to Wyatt once again. When Bray grabbed hold of him to deliver Sister Abigail, Bryan shoved him away. The WWE Universe came unglued, erupting into "YES!" chants as Bryan stood across the ring from the man whom, just two weeks ago, he pledged his allegiance to.

Moments later, he exploded on Wyatt, delivering two vicious running dropkicks in the corner, then knocking him cold with kicks about the upper body and head, all the while the crowd in Providence chanting, "YES!"

With Wyatt unconscious, Bryan pulled off the blue jumpsuit he was wearing, climbed the cage and basked in the glory of thousands of WWE fans chanting alongside of him.

It was Bryan's milestone moment. After months of torment at the hands of The Authority, The Shield and The Wyatt Family, the Aberdeen native finally rose from the pit of despair and enjoyed the moment that should have been his months ago.

Even better is the fact that there are a number of storyline developments that can come from this. First is the eventual blow-off between Bryan and Wyatt, which should make for a great match. Wyatt bumped around the ring and really did an excellent job of selling Bryan's assault Monday night.

The second, and perhaps "bigger picture" development, was the involvement of Kane.

At any point, he easily could have handed over the key to the cage door to Harper and Rowan, but he did not. Which raises a question: What if WWE creative has known what it has been doing this entire time?

Kane was the first victim of The Wyatt Family. His assault at their hands at SummerSlam put him out of action for the entirety of Daniel Bryan's main event push, meaning he could not help his former tag team partner (and friend) in his war with The Authority, The Shield and Randy Orton.

Bryan spent the second half of the year being the punching bag for fellow Superstars, and the best way to finally get the upper hand was to sucker the Wyatts into believing he had joined them, then drop the hammer on them in a truly remarkable and memorable moment.

And all with the help of his former Tag Team Championship partner, who made it possible for Bryan's plan to unfold Monday night.

Could Team Hell No be working together to ruin The Authority's plans from the inside? If so, the creative team deserves so much more credit than it has been given to this point.