Hello, everyone, and right now I’m on such a high since I’ve chosen to write this as Raw goes off the air. If you didn’t notice, I am not your Khaleesi, for she could not be with us tonight. Never fear, though, as I’m sure she would be very proud of what happened this evening on Raw. (Note: I’ve asked her to watch before viewing this Redux to get her live reaction.) This week, Raw once again proved more and more why I’m loving it as of late… by continuing to channel its inner NXT Redemption! We had Eve team up with a partner of her choosing to face Daniel Bryan and AJ in a mixed tag match, which also featured a huge announcement when it was all said and done! In addition to all of that glory, we also had appearances from the Queen Diva, Vickie Guerrero, as well as my honorary Diva (each member of the team gets one) in JTG who I get to actually talk about this week since Naomi and Cameron were present during his match! Allow me to squeal in excitement at the thought as we begin this week’s Raw coverage!
We spot AJ backstage on her phone when none other than Daniel Bryan approaches her. She states that if he’s upset with her, she’s sarcastically sorry if he didn’t like that. He changes his tone and apologizes for all the things he said to her since WrestleMania. Bryan claims there are no hidden motives this time, and he was wrong in making her his scapegoat. Last night it hit him, and tonight he can finally admit that… oh, we’ll have to wait as Eve Torres approaches him! She is not amused with his ditching her last week in their main event match so she went to the board of directors and got what I believe is our third mixed tag in a row (not that I’m complaining because I love them) tonight. She enlightens us that she will choose her own partner to face Daniel and his pipsqueak, AJ.
“You know what they say about payback… It’s, well, exactly what you are, AJ.”
Oh, snap! Eve heads out to scout for partners as I plead her to choose Johnny Curtis, which leaves AJ wondering what Daniel wanted to say. He simply states that he will share it after the match tonight and leans in to kiss her on the cheek. She seems skeptical at first, but he dives in anyway like me when I discover an unopened box of chocolates in the fridge.
In the rare case you don’t know what happened already, what will Daniel’s announcement be? Is he with another woman? Are he and CM Punk working together? Is he bringing back NXT Redemption?! I don’t know, and yet I’m beyond excited.
“Sheeeeeeeeee looks good to me!” The national anthem of early 2012 hits and out walks Eve, looking somehow devilish and attractive all at the same time. She walks down the ramp with a scowl on her face as we get a recap of last week’s actions that saw Bryan jump off the ring apron and leave Eve to be pinned by AJ. Back in the ring, Eve has a microphone in hand (and you know it’s been a good few weeks when the sight of a Diva holding a microphone doesn’t cause you to stare in shock). The “Hoeski” chant breaks out which oddly pleases me because I’m glad that Eve can still attain the reaction she had despite being off TV for a month. Eve introduces us to her partner… The Miz! I guess frogface loser doesn’t last forever. It’s nice to see they’ve made up in true Be a STAR fashion. Out next comes Daniel Bryan, which really pleases me that they’re giving AJ the final entrance after two former World Champions and a former two time Divas Champion. God, I love this woman (in a non creepy way). Up next, we light it up like shooting stars in the sky, and out walks the woman of the night sporting my favorite color as she skips down the ramp bubbly as can be.
The bell rings as the two male counterparts decide to start things off. They lock up, as Miz shoves Daniel to the corner. Daniel ducks a punch attempt and destroys Miz with a flurry of kicks. Bryan tries to work over Miz’s arm, but Miz scores with a sick knee and then kicks Daniel into the corner where AJ blind tags herself in! The Divas lock up, but Eve shoves AJ back and scores with some sharp kicks of her own.
She proceeds to choke the bubbly plaid loving geek goddess on the ropes, and then revert the choke into a corner variation. Torres continues to tower over mini queen AJ, but AJ finally fights back and levels Eve with a spin kick! She then hits the shining wizard, but The Miz distracts the referee. This cranks up the crazy in AJ as she hits a running dropkick to knock Miz off the ring apron! They exchange crazed looks, as Miz tries to run in after her. Eve scores with a small package, but Bryan sneaks in and reverses it so Eve’s shoulders are on the mat! The referee counts the three and our blushing duo emerge victorious!
Eve can’t believe what happened, but we’re back in the ring now with Daniel and AJ. He takes to the microphone and a “YES!” chant breaks out. Daniel explains to AJ that she always used to tell him she loved him, but he was too scared and stupid to say it back. Now though, he realizes that his entire life won’t be right until he says it back. With that, D-Bry confesses his love to AJ which seems to shock our seemingly unshockable Diva. She looks confused, as Bryan reveals that last week he DID just want the title… but this week, he has nothing but the best intentions in mind. And just like that, he plops down on one knee and proposes to AJ! The crowd does not want AJ to say YES, but she goes against their judgement and agrees to marry Daniel! He places the rock on her finger as the two celebrate their pending nuptials by making out all over the ring and engage in matching “YES!” chants like the wonderful people I know they are.
We return to Raw and spy the all so important televised letter opening invitation to the wedding of AJ and Daniel Bryan to take place next week on Raw’s 1000th episode! As an expert of wrestling weddings, I know that you can NOT have one take place without this invitation being shown the week before. Kudos, WWE, for not forgetting either! Then in an announcement that I’m sure would have caused your Khaleesi to bow at her screen if she were the one writing this, we discover Daniel and AJ will be guests on Christian’s Peep Show this Friday on SmackDown! I already can’t wait for this brilliance to occur.
But tonight, we have a match involving Brodus Clay… which means our fly Funkadactyls, Naomi and Cameron, are at ringside. And speaking of fly… his opponent is none other than one of my idols in wrestling (judge me and I will report you to the Khaleesi) JTG! JTG, who actually GETS an entrance, walks out to my overjoyed reaction. And then the impossible happens. This is so impossible that I need a second to calm myself.
“The last time I saw JTG he was on NXT getting some sort of a makeover I think by Alicia”. – Michael Cole.
… Goodbye, world. Not only does JTG get an entrance… not only does Michael Cole bring up NXT Redemption… but the duo that I invested my everything into for two weeks before it was dropped, JTG and Alicia Fox, are actually acknowledged on Raw! After about three hundred sixty five thousand six hundred replays of that line, I finally am able to continue writing. The bell sounds as Brodus and JTG lock up to no avail for Brooklyn’s Finest. Clay continues to dominate as Naomi and Cameron cheer from ringside. I begin to beg Alicia Fox to run out and tackle the Funkadactyls, as Brodus continues to dismantle JTG. JTG finally fights out and begins to show some life as he takes the Funkasaurus down! He continues to beat down Brodus with shots and kicks, as he taunts the crowd in such a brilliant way that only JTG could do. Capitalizing on these minutes JTG, and this is why I continue to support you. Nonetheless, Brodus eventually makes his comeback and pins JTG with the splash… but dang it, I got so much from this match that I never expected in my life that I’m okay with it. Plus, Naomi and Cameron get to dance, even if I wish they would start wrestling instead.
In addition to all of this, check out what I feel is one of Dolph Ziggler’s best segments of his career that also features our Queen Diva, Vickie Guerrero below:
Positive Thoughts: The backstage segment with AJ, Daniel and Eve was exceptionally well done and I’m so glad they continued this stuff with Eve and Daniel when he ditched her last week. At Money in the Bank, I assumed she was just going to enter the division and forget what happened, but it’s nice to see continuation. We’ve complained about when Eve was a face that she would show no fire when things happened to her. Times like when she lost the Divas Title and the next night came out dancing with Khali like nothing happened. Now she’s become an entirely new (and better) character that fights back against Daniel Bryan for jumping off the apron last week. I feel like it’s so much easier to connect with her in terms of her persona now because we understand what she feels, and why she feels that way.
The mixed tag match was probably my personal favorite of the three we’ve seen recently in terms of ring work. I loved that they main evented last week, but I wasn’t crazy about AJ and Eve’s chemistry together, to be honest. This week, though, I thought they shined opposite one another and really changed my opinion on wanting them to have a singles match. I’ve seen complaints about how AJ falls when she does her spin kick, but honestly I love that she does it because it shows that she’s putting all of the force she has into her moves. She’s not the tallest Diva they have, so she has to pack an extra hard punch if she wants to compete with women that tower over her. Also enjoyed the moment AJ dropkicked Miz off the apron. It feels like forever since we’ve seen a Diva do something like that to a male, and I think it just continues to speak volumes of how they view AJ that they’ve let her push Punk and Bryan through a table and now take Miz down off the ring apron with a dropkick. Women don’t normally get to do these types of things to men outside of slaps or low blows so it’s really cool to see a Diva get to perform such different moves on the guys.
I also absolutely loved the marriage proposal! I like the actual matches don’t get me wrong, but I’m honestly more of an entertainment fan than I am just a wrestling fan. I like to be invested in these people before I see them compete against one another. It’s part of why I enjoy the over the top things like NXT Redemption and now this. I feel like the crazier it gets, the more I enjoy it because I have no apparent idea where they could take things next. I can’t wait to see AJ and Daniel’s wedding (even if I wish it was at SummerSlam, I know they want to put it on the 1000th episode of Raw to treat it as a big deal so I’m okay with it). So many hopes run through my head about what can happen so there’s really no telling.
My honorary chosen Diva of the night, JTG getting a match and entrance on Raw will always make my positive thoughts portion of any Redux. And if I didn’t say it enough, the fact my two weeks of perfection that was he and Alicia Fox got a mention has almost made me overlook every horrid thing Michael Cole’s presence has brought to our screens in the past few years… ALMOST.
Negative Thoughts: I will admit I’m kind of bummed CM Punk was just moved away from the storyline in the blink of an eye with no explanation. As Raw went on, I was waiting for some sort of backstage segment where he and AJ pretty much close off things for her to move straight to Daniel… but we never got it. Maybe we’ll get something next week before the wedding where he warns her or something, but I still felt it was a little odd to involve them in two separate storylines tonight and the only mention of them together was just him stating what took place at the pay per view Sunday.
Naomi and Cameron, I forever want you on TV and after all the waiting I had to endure for Naomi, I’ll watch any time you’re on, but please, transition into wrestling. Hornswoggle’s brief inclusion in the Funkasarus stuff completely killed the whole thing for me and I’ve never had the same enjoyment since that. I’m ready for you to feud with one another and enter the division. Naomi is beyond ready, and I even really enjoyed Cameron’s FCW work so if she’s been keeping the training up since then, she should be at an even better place.
Layla, this Divas Title reign needs to either pick up or sadly end. I was kind of hoping the title to be defended next week would be hers just so that the belt doesn’t continue collecting dust, but at least she beat Santino (if the poll was legit). They really have made her such an afterthought and it’s depressing in a way that they can’t even give her matches on Superstars to at least keep her face out there. It’s like they only use her to fill time and go weeks without noticing she’s even employed. And I don’t mean this as a knock on Layla at all, because I think she has stepped up her wrestling so much since returning, but I feel like she’s getting nearly as bad of a treatment as Beth did when she was champ. The belt is pretty much proving to be a curse to whoever holds it. Nikki Bella only seems to have escaped it because she was champion for six days.
Okay, that’s the end of the negative thoughts portion. So until next week, let’s prep for the wedding in style with some tweets!
… Oh, and did you really think I wouldn’t include this last one?
What will you be doing to prepare for this bountiful occasion? Leave a comment and let me know!
