Good afternoon. (Hopefully this doesn’t go up sooner or later, but in the case it does, change the wording to the appropriate form.) It is I, your trusty recapper, Bobby here (apologies if that upsets anyone), but I have been asked to fill in for Cryssi this week on the Raw Redux, and to be honest, I’m ecstatic that I was asked on this week of all weeks. Last night’s Raw, on many levels even beyond just the Divas, reminded me of my sweet ceremonial bliss that was a certain yellow roped show. And for that, I thank the powers that be. Diva wise, we had no match, and I’m perfectly fine with that because segments do so much more than matches in terms of the Divas. I’ll take two minutes of speaking and a brawl over a two minute match any day of the week!
We had quite a few confrontations, in a Raw that seemed to revolve around the love life of AJ Lee following accusations that she had been caught hooking up with a Superstar during her reign as general manager. In addition to that, everyone’s favorite Queen Diva, Vickie Guerrero provided quite the catalyst against our sweet Jersey gal, AJ; Plus Kaitlyn, Eve, and Layla got involved in a good old fashioned backstage fight by the makeup table! And since nothing can go wrong with that, let’s begin!
A Jersey Girl’s Loss of Power: Business Dinner or More…
We return to Raw, just near the second hour’s start, as Vince McMahon stands in the ring with the woman who rose to power so quickly unlike anything we’d ever seen before, the woman who idolized this company from such a young age, the woman who was in her teens when Vince and Stephanie had one of my personal favorite feuds ever… the woman named AJ Lee! AJ does not look happy, in fact she sort of resembles my reaction when I see Naomi‘s entrances on Raw get cut. Mr. McMahon informs us that AJ had a meeting with the Board of Directors earlier regarding her tenure as general manager. From there, he hands the mic off to AJ and she unveils what happened!
AJ states that because of allegations that she fraternized with a WWE Superstar, she is hereby resigning as general manager of Raw! She confirms that the allegations are false, but understands that she’s done a lot of scandalous things that could attribute to firing her, such as attacking Vickie Guerrero and Paul Heyman. That’s the reason why AJ decided to resign. She feels that people may consider her mentally unstable, but deep down, AJ feels that people like a crazy chick! This elicits a nice reaction from the crowd, complete with a “Yes” chant! AJ knows this is coming to an end a little sooner than she wanted, but goes on to tell us about her story growing up near the Jersey town they’re in, as well as her rise from poverty to power.
She thanks the WWE universe for accepting her and all of her quirky ways, before thanking Vince as well, complete with a hug! Suddenly, Paul Heyman interrupts and walks down to the ring as he trashes AJ’s life story in the process. (Seriously?! Just a few weeks after proposing to her? Not a good near-husband Paul.) Heyman then argues to Vince that he should be the new general manager of Raw, but Vince has another idea in mind. With that, he reveals the new managing supervisor of Monday Night Raw… Queen Diva, Vickie Guerrero! The crowd immediately erupts with boos, as out walks Vickie with a big smile on her face.
AJ looks upset with this decision, as Paul just seems shocked in general. Vickie shakes Vince’s hand and takes the microphone, but I can barely hear her over the insanely loud amount of boos she is getting. (Amazing) Vickie tries to thank the Board of Directors for the opportunity she is being given, as Paul chimes in and tries to sway Vickie’s mind in favor of all things CM Punk. She disregards Heyman’s banter, instead combating that with the announcement that she has booked Sheamus vs. CM Punk in the largest lumberjack match in history for the main event! This infuriates Paul to no end, as he simply gives up and leaves the ring to the sight of Vickie laughing.
Once he’s out of sight, Queen Diva realizes that there is another person in the ring behind her… AJ! She spins around and begins degrading AJ for losing her job so quickly and not being right for this job due to her immaturity and little girl dress clothes! Vickie then brings the allegations to the forefront, in that AJ not only fraternized with a talent… but she also had an AFFAIR! This simply disgusts Miss Guerrero, who orders AJ to go backstage and clean out what is now her former office! AJ looks like she’s about to snap, but begins to slowly exit the ring as told. Suddenly though, she twirls her head to the side and spins around with a slight smile… before pouncing on Vickie and going psycho! The two roll around the ring beating the crap out of each other, as AJ nearly strips Vickie of her shirt! Vickie then begins spanking AJ as Vickie runs out of the ring and heads to the back. AJ buttons her top up and then collects her thoughts as she skips up the ramp! Good lord.
Backstage again, we spot Santino Marella talking to AJ about how he felt she did a good job as general manager. She thanks him, before being interrupted by John Cena! Cena asks if she needs anything to let him know, as she is just at a loss that this happened. She doesn’t feel the allegation that took her down was right, as Cena can’t believe AJ just stood out there and took it without fighting back, or hiring Alicia Florrick to represent her. (Okay, my own words on that one.) John asks for a name of the guy, and she reveals that it’s him! He seems confused, but AJ reveals that she didn’t fight it because she didn’t want to drag his name in it. Cena asks if it was the business dinner they had, and doesn’t know how anyone can think that was an issue. AJ agrees with him, but thinks it was Vickie who did it. She begins to break down, but Cena consoles her and says he will take care of her… that of which I’m sure teenage AJ never thought in her wildest dreams would happen with then, white rapper John Cena one day.
After the break, Cena then approaches Vince McMahon to get more information. He can’t believe Vickie got AJ’s job for that lame date garbage. Cena downplays the corporate B.S. and wants the truth about what happened, which Vince reluctantly tells him that there was some incriminating evidence to support Vickie’s claims. John continues to seem dumbfounded, but Vince lets him know that AJ was a ticking time bomb and it just so happened this was what took her down. He claims Vickie’s job position is probably just interim, and it is what it is. With that, Vince rides off into the sunset with his limo.
After the next break, John is now confronting Vickie! She tells him he can’t just barge into her office like this. He then calls her a backstabbing liar, but she refutes that by stating she will not be given attitude just because his little girlfriend AJ Lee-Cena can not separate business from pleasure. John says it was strictly a business dinner, and that VIckie cost a girl her job that she loved! Vickie believes that perception is reality, and that John asking AJ out on a date got her fired, and the reality of that is that he was the one who cost AJ her job. Cena walks off, as Vickie is left smiling and pleased with herself.
The Case of the Great Mystery Attacker Now Causing Even More Diva Dissension
Eve is shown on the phone backstage, talking to someone we don’t know, but for my own interest I’m going to pretend it’s Paula Deen. She runs down AJ’s long list of male friends in WWE, even namedropping Primo! Kaitlyn walks up behind her, which forces Eve to end her conversation. Kaitlyn feels that Eve shouldn’t be discussing unprofessional behavior, when the Divas Champion is the one who arranged for someone to be attacked from behind. She brings up the blonde wig, and adds that it’s the one Eve had Aksana attack her in… WHAT?! She saw the email on Eve’s iPad, which upsets our champion that Kaitlyn went through her personal belongings.
Eve tries to leave, but Kaitlyn pulls her back and tells her to drop the little nice girl act… stating she’s still the same caniving witch she’s always been. With that, Eve pulls back and smacks her across the face! Kaitlyn fights back and throws Eve on the table nearby! She pounds away at Torres, until Layla and a bunch of refs come in. Layla pulls Kaitlyn off, as Eve then goes after Layla and all three end up in this brawl for all that ends with Brad Maddox intervening and keeping them all separated!
Thoughts: To say I loved the Divas stuff this week would be an understatement. I don’t care how not so great a match between AJ and Vickie might be due to Vickie not being a wrestler, that match potential has got me beyond excited. It’s sort of like Stephanie and Trish Stratus‘ early feud where the match wasn’t a technical masterpiece, but it was gritty and entertaining in a way that made it memorable. AJ and Vickie could definitely do something similar to that, given how much the fans enjoy one and despise the other. To be honest, I wouldn’t really be that bummed if this feud built all the way into WrestleMania, because really I would love to see a womens match that the fans are invested in. AJ and Vickie are probably the two women who get the biggest response from a crowd in terms of face and heel, so even if it’s a mixed tag or something, I would honestly enjoy seeing it after lots of build like last night.
I also am really happy with the Kaitlyn/Layla/Eve stuff. I did not like all the interesting things with the mystery attacker angle going on during SmackDown because Raw is the main show and I feel like a lot of it will be lost to a pay per view audience if it doesn’t happen on Raw. This episode brought all the SmackDown things into perspective, and had Kaitlyn step up to Eve and not continue to be confused by her actions. Now I have no idea if Aksana really just got revealed, or if it’s a fake out, but I hope for the latter because I think the story has been built up nicely to just give it away in a simple line like that (which I didn’t even hear when I was watching live.) The one thing I continue to be suspicious of though is that this somehow is going to relate to Aksana and Teddy Long. Teddy was the one who showed Kaitlyn the iPad after all, and I can’t put my finger on it, but I just have this suspicion that their past isn’t quite over now that Aksana is single again. Personally, I hope something big happens at Hell in a Cell, but I’m not sure since Aksana hasn’t even been seen in a long time to give us any sort of clues in order to see if we can take this as a serious accusation or not. I guess time will tell!
So in conclusion, was last night’s Raw perfect for the females in my opinion? No. I didn’t get to see Naomi wrestle or dance after all! But was it the closest to perfect we’ve gotten in a while (probably since the infamous AJ Table Spot 2012 for me)? Why yes, yes it was!
