It was not going to be a proper go-home angle for CM Punk , who was victorious over Drew McIntyre this past Saturday at Bad Blood in Atlanta, GA until he gave a curtain call. Having him open the show to cap off his latest WWE run was smart because it made ‘RAW after’ the PLE feel special, but did the ‘Hell in a Cell’ match this weekend, Punk’s first since facing Ryback 12 years prior, have a bigger negative effect than positive if Punk will need a lengthy recovery? While Wyatt Sicks has been feud-free since putting American Made to bed, we received a few easter eggs in the form of technical difficulties. Though this show was the return of 2-hour programming for RAW , it felt a bit sloppier, and the number of commercials stood out more.
In a 3-hour show, the commercial break can be welcomed as a pee break. Sexy Red was in the St. Louis arena to promote being on NXT tomorrow on CW—further capitalizing on the hip-hop crossover.
Heavyweight Title Match Gunther and Sami Zayn delivered a memorable segment at Bad Blood to promote tonight’s match. RAW saw a shocking title change a mere couple of weeks ago when Jey won his first single’s title. Tonight, however, WWE did well in giving the lure of ‘anything can happen’ as Zayn caught up with Cody Rhodes in the house to promote the Crown Jewel match between champion and champion of both the blue and red brands.
Zayn said he planned on facing Cody but also asked if Cody wanted to talk about the recent turn from Kevin .