The Undercard
Mark Henry and The Uso's defeated Prime Time Players and Wade Barrett in a 6 man tag team match. Mark Henry is such a great heel, but he is being used right now because of his size to fend off The Shield. I really think he is so versatile in his ability to switch from heel to face, but it may backfire in the long run. The Uso's bring energy to every match and are beginning to be taken more seriously from week to week. I think PTP are due to split and you can see the beginning stages of that on Smackdown. The end of the match came when Jey hits a superkick and Henry hits his finisher on Titus. It was a basic match to put the faces over and nothing more. Poor Barrett.
Grade: C+
Alberto Del Rio defeated Rob Van Dam in a quick match that should have gone much longer. Many people assumed that this would be the World Heavyweight Championship match at Summerslam, but I never believed it. RVD kicked Del Rio and he screamed at the referee to distract Van Dam. Del Rio hit a kick to the back of the head for the win. I really got nothing out of this and was a waste for RVD and the World Heavyweight Champion. I would much rather have seen WWE invest their time into a storyline for Del Rio heading into Summerslam, not a quick match that had no real meaning.
Grade: D
The Wyatt Family defeated Tons of Funk in a very underwhelming performance. Harper and Rowan are the lesser of the in ring talents in this match. The WWE Universe could see how green they really are. The wrestling is not going to get these two over, but their facial expressions and storytelling in the acting department will. Harper hits a big splash onto Sweet T and Rowan was very slow in transitions. This was a smart way for WWE to debut them, keeping their weaknesses only seen by half of a WWE Raw audience. Give us Bray in the ring because we know what he can do. If, or when, Kane joins the group, HE will be perfect with Wyatt in getting to the next stage of his character. For now, this was a weak match that was saved by a solid promo from Bray Wyatt.
Grade: C-
Christian defeated Jack Swagger in a solid bout between two former World Heavyweight Champions. Christian, since his return, is getting victory after victory. One would assume that he could potentially be in line for a world title shot because he is the only guy that is consistently winning. Swagger shows his strength and athleticism with a belly to belly from the ropes on Christian. Christian sets up a Killswitch but Swagger blocks it, so Christian hits an inverted DDT for two before setting up a spear, but Zeb stops that from occurring. Swagger hits the turnbuckle when trying to attack Christian and that transitions into a Killswitch. Christian and Swagger were timed perfectly throughout the match, as you can see why they are valuable to WWE. They are two guys who know how to work a simple, yet effective, match.
Grade: B
