This week’s Saturday Shoot starts with a report from Wrestlezone.com that stated what The Undertaker’s immediate and future plans are. The report states that “The Phenom” will have surgeries on his hip and shoulder, but plans on competing at WrestleMania 30 against either, Brock Lesnar or John Cena. He also says that he is interested in working with The Shield, which I speculate that he could possibly work with at this year’s Summerslam event. I love this report from Wrestlezone because it means another Undertaker match at WrestleMania, plus a possible program with The Shield. Personally, I would love to see The Undertaker versus Brock Lesnar in a physical matchup, but I do not think The Undertaker’s body could withstand a bout with Lesnar. A “Streak Match” with John Cena makes the most sense as John Cena is the next person that could believably defeat the “Streak” as well as give The Undertaker a WrestleMania contest that is not too physical, but would be just as much of a treat to watch as past “Streak” matches have been.

Raw

The injured WWE Champion, John Cena, starts off this week’s Monday Night Raw. John Cena tells the WWE Universe that as long as he is medically cleared to compete, he will wrestle, including at Extreme Rules against Ryback. He also made a few other comments directed at Ryback that got me to chuckle, such as Ryback being “Down to Fandango.” Vickie then comes out and says that a stipulation will be added to the WWE Championship Match. Ryback chooses a Last Man Standing Match, which I love because Last Man Standing Matches involving John Cena in the past have always been entertaining to watch.

I do not know if I liked or did not like Sandow poking fun of Orton’s theme music as while it was amusing, it felt forced. This rematch from Friday Night Smackdown, was no better and no worse, but still saw Randy Orton winning with the RKO. P.S. I loved Orton’s Finlay-esque forearm cover. After the matchup, Orton gets KO’d by the Big Show on the entrance ramp.

So Fandango’s first loss in WWE is to R-Truth via count out!? Somehow Fandango should have won his match against R-Truth or it should have just ended in a no contest. Also, even though Chris Jericho’s presence made the segment funny, along with Tons of Funk, this match/segment seemed rushed and was a letdown.

During Daniel Bryan’s interview, he challenges Ryback to a rematch from Smackdown to which Ryback shows up to decline. Kane then calls out Ryback, who tells Kane that he is not the monster he used to be as well as said that the only true monster left in WWE would be himself.

Following this interview was Dolph Ziggler versus Alberto Del Rio. Midway through the match, Jack Swagger and Zeb Colter came out to ringside. I liked Zeb Colter’s commentary during the competitive in-ring action, along with Swagger’s silence. The finish of the match was perfectly executed, but I just wished it did not end in disqualification. After the match, Jack Swagger assaults Ricardo, Ziggler, and Del Rio with a ladder.

The Shield versus the team of the Usos and the United States Champion, Kofi Kingston, was not as exciting as some of the other 6-Man Tag Matches The Shield has been involved in, but was a good 6-Man Tag Match nonetheless, which once again saw The Shield come out victorious. P.S. Dean Ambrose’s finisher looked a lot better this week.

Also on this week’s Raw, we saw Antonio Cesaro’s subliminal losing streak come to an end against Zack Ryder. I liked Cesaro’s post-match promo, but he does not really have any business saying that no one is better than him after he just lost his U.S. title to Kofi Kingston.

We are then shown the video of Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman at the WWE World Headquarters. Paul Heyman was hilarious in his recording and Brock Lesnar was just plain badass, as usual. After the video is shown, Triple H comes out to respond to Paul Heyman, who had appeared via satellite. I liked Triple H’s comments and overall, I liked the entire segment as this feud needed to appear on WWE television after being absent last week. I also look forward to seeing these two, face to face, next week on the last Raw before Extreme Rules.

This week’s Divas Match featured the Divas Champion, Kaitlyn, teaming with the Funkadactyls to take on the Bella Twins and AJ. Kaitlyn gets the win for her team after the Bella Twins refuse to tag themselves in to help AJ avoid getting the Spear.

During the Wade Barrett/Sheamus Match, Sheamus faked throwing Barrett at Henry, who was at ringside, as well as hit him with the Brogue Kick. After the “Celtic Warrior” used the same move to defeat Barrett, Mark Henry beat Sheamus with a belt that he had stolen from one of the EMT’s that had come out to check on Henry. For those who say wrestling is nothing but fake, which would be all our non-wrestling fan friends out there, have them take a look at a picture of Sheamus’ back after Henry got done whipping him with that belt.

Due to their earlier backstage confrontation, Ryback versus Kane is the Main Event of Monday Night Raw. The match itself was just okay, but I did like Ryback grabbing Kane off of the top-rope for the Shell Shock to win the contest. Immediately after Ryback’s win, The Shield comes out, causing Daniel Bryan to run into the ring. After Ryback apparently bails on Daniel Bryan and Kane, John Cena comes to Team Hell No’s aid. I loved Ryback grabbing a steel chair to not only fend off The Shield, but to attack John Cena. Just like the Raw from a few weeks ago, Ryback standing over a fallen John Cena, closes out the show.

Main Event

The advertised Randy Orton versus Antonio Cesaro matchup starts off this week’s Main Event. I loved the battle of uppercuts midway through the match. I also have not seen the attempted German suplex off of the apron in quite a while, probably because it was a signature of Kurt Angle. My favorite spot in the contest would be Randy Orton’s superplex off of the top-rope because the height of the move was absolutely towering. The finish of this back-and-forth match saw Orton hitting the RKO out of nowhere for the win. Overall, a great contest on WWE’s Main Event.

The other contest featured on Main Event was a 6-Man Tag Match, which consisted of 3MB versus the team of Justin Gabriel and the Usos. This match ended up being decent. The best part of this 6-Man Tag was the hectic finish, which saw Gabriel hitting the 450 Splash, giving his team the victory.

The other noteworthy thing that occurred on Main Event was the official announcement of Sheamus competing against Mark Henry in a Strap Match at Extreme Rules. This match could be the silent gem of the pay-per-view if done correctly. At the very least, it is another “extreme” addition to the Extreme Rules Pay-Per-View event.

Smackdown

The Highlight Reel Segment featuring host, Chris Jericho, and guest, Ryback, opened up Friday Night Smackdown. This Highlight Reel segment was shorter than previous ones, but still showcased the Jericho wit that we have come to know and love. As far as Ryback is concerned, Creative better help Ryback with his mic work. With one liners like those, his heel run will fail before it even has a chance to begin. However, I did like that Teddy Long, filling in for a recently absent Booker T, made a Ryback versus Jericho Main Event for later in the night.

Following the Highlight Reel Segment was a good match between the United States Champion, Kofi Kingston, and Cody Rhodes. I liked the finish of the match, which saw Kingston catching Cody in mid-air with Trouble in Paradise, despite it not being as well executed as it could have been.

Daniel Bryan squaring off against Dean Ambrose was my favorite part of this week’s Smackdown. Clearly, WWE feels that Ambrose is the most in-ring talented of the three because he has been the only Shield member that has had three singles matches in three straight weeks, including one against The Undertaker. Dean Ambrose’s submission maneuver that had Bryan’s arms choking himself out was a treat to watch. This gritty/physical match ends in disqualification after Kofi Kingston interfered immediately after The Shield got involved. This will most likely lead to a 6-Man Tag at Extreme Rules, and if it does then I wouldn’t mind seeing them in a Tables Match.

Seeing Mark Henry pull two tractor trailers for a new world record was entertaining to watch. I do not know how legitimate it was, but if it indeed was legitimate, then Mark Henry is even stronger than I originally thought.

Big Show versus Tensai lasted about as long as it took me to type this sentence. After Big Show Speared Clay after the contest, Randy Orton came out and laid Show out with an RKO. I look forward to seeing Orton take on The Big Show at Extreme Rules in the match of the same name.

The Main Event, which was announced earlier in the night, happened to be Chris Jericho facing off against Ryback. I loved that these two superstars wasted no time in going at it in the ring. I really liked this matchup, not only because it was the first time they have faced each other, but also because it was a treat to watch. This Main Event ended in a disqualification victory going to Y2J. Even though I would have rather seen a clean Ryback victory, like the one he had on Raw against Kane, Ryback’s Meat Hook Clothesline that sent Jericho over the announce table, was a good way to end this week’s Friday Night Smackdown. I also just want to say that even though Josh Matthews was probably told what to say through his earpiece, he has no right of any kind to be making satirical comments about Jim Ross’ commentating, who just happens to be the greatest wrestling broadcaster ever, and I just wish that WWE would stop trying to make fun of him, but that probably will not happen anytime soon.

Clean Finish(Final Thoughts)

As you know, this is my last Saturday Shoot for the next several months, as I am taking a break from week to week WWE action. Although I am taking a break from Saturday Shoot, I will continue to try and produce more feature articles like my previous Damien Sandow article, as that article has been my most well-received article to date, among the four wrestling sites that I write for. I just want to thank all my readers that consistently view my week to week writing, and I will just end with this; I’ll be back.

 Match of the Week

 Randy Orton vs. Antonio Cesaro(Main Event)

Photos and Videos Courtesy of WWE.com

 News Articles/Reports Courtesy of Wrestlezone.com

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Ricki Hostutler