WWE RAW Report (July 28, 2014): Brie Bella nearly ruins the whole episode

Overall, this was a great episode of RAW. I enjoyed just about every single segment on the show and even segments that I was too big of a fan of were passable…until we got to the final segment featuring Stephanie McMahon and Brie Bella.

I’m all for the divas getting the spotlight as much as possible. On that level, I’m happy RAW went off the air with the crowd chanting “this is awesome” as WWE agents that include Fit Finlay and Jamie Noble break up a fight between two divas. Having a WWE crowd legitimately excited about a PPV match featuring Brie and Stephanie is incredible.

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How we got there is maddening.

Make no mistake, Stephanie deserves comeuppance. Her power trips have gotten completely out of hand. She’s used her unchecked power to abuse Nikki Bella for no other reason that her embarrassment for Brie showing her up, and slapping her in the face, at Payback.

Brie has every reason in the world to get a match with Stephanie. This is about a simple as the heel/face dynamic can get. Yet somehow, the WWE found a way to have the entire situation make no logical sense.

Brie Bella goaded Stephanie into attacking her last week, had her arrested, and then used the assault charge as blackmail to get back the job she quit. As if that wasn’t already a leap in logic and questionable morality, Brie attempted to channel her husband, saying that wasn’t all she wanted from the Authority member standing in front of her. Only a match with Stephanie would convince her to drop the charges.

To recap: Brie is blackmailing Stephanie to get a job back that she willingly quit so she can assault Stephanie (again). This is far from the #OccupyRAW movement that Bryan pulled to finally push HHH into caving into his Wrestlemania demands.

Don’t think that Brie is doing this for Nikki either. Supposedly the entire motivation for Brie coming back was because of what Stephanie put her sister through. After all, on a personal level, Brie got the better of Stephanie at Payback. The slap in the face and resignation she delivered was a message to Stephanie and the Authority that she wasn’t going to be used as a pawn in their game to dethrone her husband as champion. What Brie didn’t expect was that her sister would later pay the price.

However, when Stephanie promised that Nikki would no longer be mistreated and would also get a raise, that wasn’t enough for Brie. If Nikki was really Brie’s main concern, that should have been enough, but she wanted to be vindictive, practically to a heel level, to get her hands on Stephanie because that’s what good guys (and gals) in the WWE do apparently. Oh, and to top it all off, Brie, yet again called Stephanie a bitch and condemned her to hell to get her point across–all while holding the assault charges over her head.

This infuriated me so much that I actually popped when Stephanie dropped the sad, terrified mother act (which, I must say, she played brilliantly all night) and slapped Brie to accept the match. She did so with a proclamation that Brie would become “her bitch” at SummerSlam. It was an absolutely horrible thing to say coupled with a vicious attack, but here I am cheering for her, because instead of seeing a power-hungry, out-of-control authority figure, I see a blackmailed mother pushed to her breaking point by an absolutely terrible person believing they are somehow justified by their selfish actions.

In comparison to the rest of the show, where simplicty and logic reigned supreme, this entire program stuck out like a sore thumb.

Paul Heyman played on Brock Lensar’s ruthless appetite for violence to such a level that even the usual split Cena crowd aligned in booing him and his client. Sure, Cena was victorious in their last meeting, but that was before Brock broke the streak and seemingly put the Undertaker out of commission as he hasn’t appeared or been mentioned on WWE programming save for Heyman reminding everyone of his client’s victory. For once, John’s fear of defeat doesn’t seem like an act and the crowd feed off of that, throwing support behind John against the mercenary that is Lesnar.

Chris Jericho made it clear that he wants another go at Bray Wyatt. It’s clear that “war” Bray declared last week after putting Jericho’s head through a locker isn’t over yet. Wyatt made sure Jericho knew it by attacking him yet again this week after his match with Seth Rollins. Jericho is a hunted man and he needs to stand his ground, but is forced to wait until SummerSlam thanks to his poor decision of enraging HHH by making jokes about his wife going to jail.

Randy Orton’s path to the WWE World Heavyweight Championship is blocked by Roman Reigns. HHH gave him a clear directive: get rid of Reigns or never see a title shot again. Randy’s demand to face Reigns on this episode of RAW was denied because HHH clearly has more faith in Kane. After all Orton has completely failed every time the Authority has requested something of him, something that has to be irratating HHH after handing him the title on a silver platter just one year ago. But despite HHH booking Reigns in a match with Kane, Orton set out to prove HHH wrong the best way he knew how: leading an all-out assault on Reigns and putting him through the announce table.

After viciously attacking A.J. Lee last week, Paige attempted to lie her way out of retribution. In doing so, she crossed yet another line by attacking A.J.’s mental state. A.J. never bought Paige’s lies and even restrained herself from attacking her in retaliation for last week. Paige calling her crazy was simply a step too far and ventured into territory that everyone in the WWE Universe knows is a very sensitive subject for A.J. Although Paige retreated up the ramp still proclaiming their friendship, no one believes what she’s saying and is in full support of A.J. putting an end to the “little girl” games that Paige is attempting to play.

Of course, Rusev facing off against Jack Swagger really needs no additional help with as hot as that conflict is right now as the USA vs. Russia dynamic is creating all the heat needed for that program. All Lana and Zeb Colter have to do is play into the simple formula and let their two hosses go at it and it’s an instant crowd on fire.

That’s five matches for SummerSlam all set up in logical, simplistic fashion. In comparison, the WWE is trying way too hard on the Brie/Stephanie program. The show opened with a package detailing what happened last week, a backstage segment had HHH consoling his terrified wife, the 9pm hour kicked off with HHH and Stephanie in the ring addressing the issue, and RAW went off the air in booking the SummerSlam match.

That’s a lot of TV time used to painstakingly build an illogical angle for a match the WWE Universe clearly wants to see based on the crowd reaction the last two weeks.

It should have all been much simpler than this. Brie shouldn’t have to resort to blackmailing Stephanie with legal action. If the WWE wants to draw parallels between Daniel Bryan goading HHH into a match, Brie could create some kind of diva movement, using Nikki as her contact on the inside, to antagonize Stephanie until she gets her job back. Or, as much as the WWE loves to blend Total Divas with the show, the entire cast (sans heel Cameron) threatens to walk out unless Brie can get justice for her sister.

I worry that the WWE doesn’t allow the crowd to organically love and hate things that they see. Once they notice they have a hot angle or gimmick they tend to push it way too hard and, in doing so, make a mess of things. Had the rest of RAW not been so great the ending segment would’ve completely ruined the show.

Despite not having two of their biggest stars in Daniel Bryan and CM Punk, the WWE has put together a strong card for SummerSlam. We are still two weeks away, yet the entire card is nearly set and the WWE Universe already appears to be all-in.

Please, WWE, I beg you, do not ruin this by shoving an illogical angle down my throat. You have the match you (and the WWE Universe) wants. Take it, run, and pretend the last two weeks of failed logic didn’t happen.

Quick hits from this otherwise fantastic episode:

• I give Cena a lot of hell for his stale character and boring promos, but he absolutely brought it this week. Both him and Heyman created one of the better opening promo “THE CHAMP IS HERE” segments that I’ve seen in some time. Cena’s character will likely never change from where it is today, but if I get more of this week after week, I won’t care.
• I love that Cesaro came out to stick up for his buddy, Paul Heyman. Friendship in wrestling stories is the absolute best. It’s simple, creates clear battle lines, and isn’t hard to justify or understand. Sure, Cesaro left Heyman for business (read: Brock Lesnar) reasons, but that doesn’t mean these two heels aren’t buddies!
• Cesaro playing on the “Cena can’t wrestle” meme cracked me up. Cena using that line to justify the extra effort in-ring later (even if it didn’t always look smooth) was perfect. The story in the ring played off the stories told on the mics.
• Logically, Cena had to win this match. Despite that, he put Cesaro over as best he could. The Cesaro superplex from the ring apron was an incredible strength spot. Cena ending the match on an Attitude Adjustment from the top rope made Cesaro look like a top-tier competitor that needed the kitchen sink thrown at him before he could be defeated. Sign me up for more of these matches.
• Paige aped A.J.’s skip once again as she came to the ring. Heel Paige is so great.
• By the way, let’s just take a moment to realize the divas had a promo segment built on logic in order to build their division’s title match. It’s truly a miracle!
• Props to the kid in the front row for the “Bring Back Shane-O Mac” sign.
• HHH vs the WWE Universe is one of the best dynamics the WWE has going. Treating the crowd as if they were a disappointing child cracked me up.
• Typically, “cool dad” joking Jericho is the worst, but he cracked me up tonight. Getting the crowd to sing “Bad Boys” was solid (and possibly a slight jab in the direction of TNA as it became rather well known yesterday COPS re-runs rate just as well as Impact Wrestling), theOrange Is the New Black joke worked, and I’m glad someone called HHH out for not going to Stephanie’s side immediately last week. HHH also angrily cut him off before Jericho went into the “Stephanie is a cheap whore” bit so I didn’t have to get upset by Jericho being a terrible babyface.
• I’m not sure what to think of the Usos/Zigger vs. Rybaxel/Miz match. It’s clear Zigger vs. Miz will be a SummerSlam match, but I’m not sure where the tag titles are going yet. Xaiver Woods has his new Nation of Domination stable looking on and Goldust/Stardust seem to be hinting that the “cosmic key” is actually the tag team titles. Do we have a four way tag match in the works?
• Bo Dallas cutting a promo focusing on R-Truth’s losses was a perfect setup for the surprise roll-up win and breaking of the undefeated streak. It was good to see pissed off, vindictive heel Bo make an appearance. He pulls the hypocritical inspirational speaker gimmick so well, but we’ve only gotten to see one side of it on RAW. I’m glad to see his character moving forward.
• “I’ve never seen Bo Dallas act this way. Be sure to buy the WWE Network and watch me GM a show that I clearly pay attention to” – JBL, basically.
• Sandow came out dressed as an astronaut, used the “Houston we have a problem” line, called Houston the problem, and the rest of the segment with Adam Rose plummeted to terrible after that lone high point.
• The entire Layla/Summer Rae gimmick of finding a new male wrestler to valet every week is getting beyond old. This angle is going nowhere fast and Summer Rae should be getting the chance to display her in-ring chops to the RAW audience to help build a divas division that can do nothing but benefit from a roster full of solid wrestlers.
• I have no idea what submission Naomi busted out this week, but color me impressed. She’s been doing some great work lately.
• Filed under “small in-ring things that make me happy”: Seth Rollins seeing Jericho’s arm under the ropes during a pin and moving it so the ref doesn’t call for a rope break. I don’t even care that the ref clearly didn’t see it and was sticking to the script. Too often the performers in-ring, refs included, will forget the basic rules of the ring and it kills the universe they create and I’m glad to see Rollins paying attention to the rules the WWE has created.
• Next week, the WWE hopefully pulls  “Jack Swagger tapped out to Rusev at Battleground!” retroactive story-telling with Brie and Stephanie so I can forget the illogical mess of the last couple of weeks ever happened.