The closing segment where Cena was introducing his team for Summerslam would have been the perfect time to bring back Daniel Bryan, but that's just wishful thinking on my part.

I think it'll benefit The Miz if he doesn't cash in that briefcase anytime soon.

After such a big buildup, what a brutal match between Barrett and Henry. In a match where he needs to look like a top of the card heel who can wrestle, they give Barrett a guy to work with who is almost impossible to move around the ring.

Barrett does a lean back to gain momentum into his slam, that's what nearly wrecked it. I say he pulled it off though, he dropped him a bit head first, but it still looked good to me.

The Miz is a lovable heel, the fact that R-Truth didn't receive an ovation is proof of that. I wonder if in the future he has a Mr. Anderson like face turn.

How much better would it have been when introducing the 7th member that 'NO CHANCE IN HELL' went off and the billionaires walk came into effect and the man was Vince!

It is a testament to how hard Miz has worked that the crowd probably would have torn the roof off the arena if he had cashed in his MIB. From the most annoying character to, as Cole puts it, "The Future of Monday Night Raw!!!!".......AWESOME!!!!!!!

You can keep your comic relief (aka, Santino Marella). Suspension of disbelief doesn't even help with him. Maybe it's me, but I don't get his schtick, and I couldn't care less for it.

That was the only down part of one of the best Raw shows in recent history.

I have a feeling that Brett Hart is going to screw his team. He got fired and now is back?

I'm not really getting this whole Nexus thing. Doesn't it sort of diminish Wade Barrett? The purpose of NXT is to have one winner who gets a legitimate shot at a WWE cntract, right? I don't understand Barrett's beef. Do we know why Nexus is upset? And...if you were a member of NXT this season, wouldn't you be thinking, "Well, I can just join Nexus." Personally, I think this whole Nexus thing is dumb. It really doesn't make any sense that this faction can come into the WWE and cause this much havoc. If that's what the WWE is selling, I'm not buying it.

The Great Kahli? Really?????

I burst out laughing after reading the comment about Darren Young's hair. I thought the same thing.

What can I say? I think I'm becoming a Miz mark. (God, never thought I would EVER say that). But I was giddy thinking about him cashing that in on Sheamus last night. I groaned at the "every step you take, every breath you make" line. I could just hear Sting's guitar going. But that was sick looking when he did his face buster onto the case. I legitimately thought Sheamus was out after that.

Cena and the Nexus are boring me anymore. This thing is going longer than it should. And it bypassed beliveable a LONG time ago. Mainly around the time they put Vince on the shelf. I just want it to end anymore so we can be on to the next one.

The Triple Threat at the beginning of the show was PPV quality. I was surprised they gave that away as the opening segment of RAW. That had main event written all over it. Much more than Barrett/Henry. And I agree, it didn't look like that went well when he tried to dump Henry off his shoulders. I was sure he pulled something.

All in all, enjoyable RAW.

So during Raw I was thinking WWE is either going to have The Miz cash in his $ in the bank in Cleveland or the week before they go to Cleveland.

That way the Miz can say he did what LeBron James couldnt do and is now Clevelands king

As someone with chronic back pain, I winced when I Barrett attempt that move on Henry. He probably took a couple of years off of his career trying to pull that off.

Best Raw in a long time...

Kev, do you think Triple H's sideline extension is a swerve and he will return to cost Cena's team the victory against the Nexus at Summerslam, in turn aligning himself with the Nexus and revealing himself as their 'leader'?

I just knew the final member of the team was gonna be Vince, but instead it was the Hitman.

Would love to see Khali getting "attacked" and knocked outta the match & replaced by Vince, just to see the play on him having to co-exist with Bret.

Granted Vince and Bret at this point in there lives aren't the best performers, but then again neither is Tarver

Opening 3 way match was great, but you knew that Orton would win as he was the only face.
The segment with Edge and Jericho was fun, would love to see them in a long program.
Finally, I have to admit that I was totally wrong on the Miz. When this guy debuted I figured he'd wash out or at best be a bottom of the card guy. His mike and in-ring work has improved off the charts. He could be a future headliner.

You making fun of Darren Young's hair is like Sheamus making fun of someone for being pale. How many bottles of peroxide do you go through anway?

I usually find that a night after a pay-per-view, Raw isn't really that good. This week however, nothing could be further from the truth. I thought pretty much the whole show was really good, with some great moments.

The triple threat match to kick things off was brilliant. I agree that it was such a nice change to see the show kicked off with a match instead of a promo. I'm so sick of seeing wrestling shows beginning with someone talking for twenty minutes. Fair play to WWE for shaking things up a bit this week.

Perhaps I was being a tad naive, but I really did think The Miz was going to successfully cash in his contract on Sheamus. The excuse the announcers were using for the match not being started straight away was ridiculous though. The referee was checking on Sheamus to see if he was able to compete? Never before has that happened when a contract has been cashed in. Still though, I'm pleased The Miz still has the briefcase, as I think he should carry it for a while before eventually cashing it in.

Just before Bret Hart came out to make up the final member of Cena's team, I was struggling to think who it might be. I was praying it wasn't going to be Mark Henry. It would have been AMAZING if it was Daniel Bryan. Hart fits somewhere in the middle then. A fair choice because I was wondering when he was going to return from his Nexus beatdown, and quite a surprise one at that.

So, aside from the Marella/Koslov vs Ryder/Regal match, and the bizarre ending to the Divas one, this was a genuinely entertaining episode of Raw, something I haven't felt for the show for a very long time. Smackdown has a tough act to follow this week.

Kevin,
I think we were all suprised in the lack of Air Bourne on the Cena Team...I am actually hoping that WWE takes this opportunity to push Evan Bourne for a US Title Shot.

I know HHH has recently gone under surgery, but what are your thoughts on HHH coming back and Summer Slam and costing Sheamus the Title. Thus continuing the HHH Sheamus rivalry, since it was based on the same theme before.

If this did happen, I would also like to see the Miz cash in MITB at Summer Slam on a weakened Orton to kick off a new WWE Championship Rivalry.

What do you think?

What were the chances that Ricky Steamboat was suppose to be on that team? Too bad about his recent health problems he would have made more sense and been WAAAYYYY more exciting than Khali.
The MITB breifcase can do for Miz what the first one did for Edge if WWE plays it out right. You know Miz will cash it in when the champ is vulnerable, which has played itself out, but if you let him keep that hanging over everyones head for a while it'll put even more heat on him than he's got right now. That breifcase should be used as a means to help get a guy over.Opportunity like that shouldn't be squandered, like they did with Swagger.

Kevin,

I don't know if you can post this, but didn't Darren Young, with his new hair style, look like John Cena in black-face make up, and a bad wig? Look close at him, I actually thought it was Cena before he came out Monday night, and that he was going to put out another one of the Nexus guys and escape into the crowd!

So with R.Truth in with Cena and the mega tag match, where does that leave Miz and Summerslam? Wouldn't have it been better to have R-Truth and Miz matchup against each other? Also what kind of fan reaction would there have been if one of Cena's memebers was Vince?

I didn't see all of RAW - did they continue teasing who the anonymous GM was? Any quotes from the Rock in his emails?

RESPONSE FROM KE: No teases this week.

@Ray Herrick: LOL, I've been thinking the same thing for a few weeks now, wanted to mention it to Kev but thought it might be a little politically incorrect! My girlfriend first pointed it out when Young was still in NXT, and now we say it nearly every time he's on screen!

Great Khali seems like a placeholder, in that I'm guessing he will be attacked and knocked out of the match and replaced by someone else. Bourne, hopefully.

"I am actually hoping that WWE takes this opportunity to push Evan Bourne for a US Title Shot."

Me too. Hopefully he'll be the next one to hold the belt after The Miz becomes WWE Champion. The fans love him, he works his butt off, and he looks more credible now than he ever has before.

@Paul: Actually, they've done that consistently, at least the last few times. They always make the champion at least stand up before they cash in the contract. That's why you always see Mr. Mitb hit their finisher instead of just going straight for a cover.

I don't think we're going to see Daniel Bryan again until after Linda wins or loses her election for Senator - they don't want to offer her opponent anything more to criticize.

The Miz's push is reminding me of Mr. Kennedy's push a few years back. Miz proved me wrong. I thought he didn't belong in the wwe.

Had you told me 6 years ago heck even 3 years ago that the Miz would become one of the top heels in the wwe and that Maven (remember him) would completely fall off the radar of relevancy I wouldn't have believed you.

You making fun of Darren Young's hair is like Sheamus making fun of someone for being pale. How many bottles of peroxide do you go through anway?

Posted by: Rooster | July 21, 2010 10:00 AM

Hmmm. Looks like a perfect time to bring back the comment of the week.

Cena said he " was quietly recruiting his team" the whole time...
Really? He was recruiting Edge and Jericho....and who wants to see Khali on any team?

Hey Kev

Im getting that old NWO swerve here. August 96 Bash at the Beach. August 2010 Summer Slam. I know your going to disagree, but it wouldnt suprise me to see Cena screw over everyone. Who would expect it. This is his hand picked team. I can see early in Summer Slam a locker room attack occurs on Cena from the Nexus. Fast forward to the match. Cenas team minus Cena is starting to take over the match and out runs Cena to clean it all up. In the ring is Barrett and Hart. Everyone else is scattered around the ring. Cena enters the ring and he and Barrett lock eyes. Then out of nowhere he nails Hart with the Attitude Adjustment. Everyone is stunned. After the match Cena delivers a powerful speech ala Hulk Hogan at the Bash screwing the fans and the business. I know its pie in the sky, but Kevin I gotta tell ya. Im smell Bash at the Beach all over again.

I can't believe how far "The Miz" has come. What was once Mike Mizanin's drunken alter-ego on "The Real World" has now evolved into a future WWE champion.

A demon in a winter coat just waddled past my house.

Hey wont it be great to see the Nexus turn on Wade Barrett because in the end he is going to be only one to get a title shot at a PPV and rest of those guys will out in the cold.

re: tsteve28 - I dunno about that swerve you're putting out there. Hogan's heel turn in '96 was so great because it was completely unexpected. Too many people are expecting a Cena heel turn this time around; I don't think it would have the same effect. Plus, Cena's already getting heat (piped in pops notwithstanding), so it wouldn't be that big a stretch. Cena needs an antagonist now with Sheamus moving on, so Barrett is a logical choice. Too much invested in the Cena vs. Nexus angle. But that's just my opinion,

The Miz & Mr Anderson share alot of qualities in my opinion, both are genuine loudmouth's that are funny as hell. Just wind them up and let them go out to that ring with a mic. Both are solid workers in the ring, but I dont know if there would be room on the card for Anderson in his current TNA incarnation and The Miz as hot as he is right now. I see The Miz & CM Punk also fill similar roles for Raw & Smackdown respectively as the most natural sounding, amplified versions of themselves.

lol at rooster lecturing on making fun of someone while making fun of someone, that doesn't deserve a comment of the week, that needs "a scowling at" (hey it's what they used to say back then)

I'm getting really bored of comments about Darren Young. ON AIR he has called himself "the black John Cena" so what you are saying is not original people.Everyone knows Young looks like Cena. Just give it a rest.