Raw Reax - 6/30/14

Read on for my take on the 6/30 Raw.
If you cut out Cena's really terrible lines about pools, that opening segment was about as good as you can get from another round of Cena, Orton and HHH as main eventers. I have a ton of respect for the accomplishments of all three men, and the angle itself is pretty interesting. It's just that I've seen Cena feud with Orton and HHH so much, it's not special anymore. Anyway, the idea of Rollins potentially cashing in at Battleground was a clever tease.

I was very impressed with Rollins vs. Van Dam. RVD being the bigger man gives an interesting dynamic to the match, as was seen with Neville in NXT. RVD's a valuable part of the roster.

I LOVED the post-match. I want more interesting characters like Rollins and Ambrose and less stale, sterile characters like Cena, Orton, etc.

I really liked Lana's promo. She can get heat pretty well.

I actually like the idea of Swagger as a face against Rusev. God knows Swagger could use a reboot. I think they'll need to tweak things for the character to work well as a face, but they don't need Swagger to turn into the second coming of Bob Backlund.

I enjoyed the six-man tag. The Wyatts got some heat back after not winning at MITB.

It makes sense to put Nikki in a handicap match. I wonder if we're in for a heel turn by Cameron?

Pretty funny Bo Dallas segment. I think he's going places.

Good enough handicap match. It was just kind of a means to end, really.

I don't care a ton about Naomi vs. Cameron, but they're doing a good job of teasing the split.

I wish Barrett a speedy recovery. He was really coming into his own with a gimmick I initially disliked.

Paul Heyman's promos are always good. I'd love to see Cesaro as IC Champ (unless they have something bigger planned for him).

Kofi has a "midcard title" alarm that's triggered every so often. It looks like he's back in the hunt.

Kind of funny to finally have a match end during commercial break. I don't know if that was an intentional gag or some kind of miscue, but it was a nice nod to that complaint. Kofi beating Cesaro was interesting. I guess it's just to build him as a contender.

I liked the post-match to get heat on Cesaro. Cesaro vs. Kofi could be a pretty good feud.

I hope you like segments that are thinly-veiled advertisements. I think they're only going to get more common.

I got a kick out of Damien Sandow's impression, and at least this gimmick gets him on TV. But I don't think there's much of a reason to do this if there's no end game in mind for Sandow. Honestly he'd probably have to disappear from TV for a while for us to take him as a serious contender again.

Khali vs. Sandow makes me glad I was too busy for wrestling this week.

OH SHI- that was a cool segment. I wasn't a big fan of Miz's return because the character is in a rut, but I'm willing to give it a chance. Jericho vs. Wyatt could be really great. They had one hell of a match in NXT.

That was cool enough to make Summer an official babyface. I expected more from Summer vs. Layla at the PPV. Hopefully the team of Ziggler and Summer Rae bears fruit for both.

I'm glad Vickie leaving was given a look back. I'm also glad we might never have to see her bullied and humiliated again.

Stardust is a hit for me so far. I liked this match and hope it's a career resurgence for the former Cody Rhodes.

AJ as a face and Paige as a heel? That could be good. AJ vs. Paige has been something fans have wanted for years.

That match was good for telling the story of a surprise upset of an arrogant champion with the roles reversed from a few months back. AJ had reached her peak as a heel, so this works for me. I just hope Paige as a heel (if that's what this means) reaches her full potential.

Nice touch to have Sheamus defend the gold on July 4th.

Good main event. Cena as champion is still pretty lame, but I think WWE can make the most of it.

Fun post-match to keep stories moving. This show was a good deal better than I expected from the first night of Cena's 15th reign. There are some interesting stories brewing.

More wrestling later.