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WWE Raw results (08/25/14): 10 observations from this week's episode

Boy, was watching this week's episode of Raw a chore or what?

I don't know what it was, but nothing seemed to click on for the WWE Monday night.

It's one thing if the angles and storylines are bad, but the WWE usually knocks it out of the park with the wrestling. Something even seemed off about that aspect of the show.

We've got a good amount to dig through this week, but we dig too deep, let's run through the full match results from the show:

- Rusev def. Jack Swagger via match stoppage

- No. 1 contender's match for United States Championship - Cesaro def. Rob Van Dam

- Paige def. Natalya

- WWE Tag Team Championship – Goldust & Stardust def. The Usos via count-out

- Dolph Ziggler def. Damien Sandow

- Roman Reigns def. Kane & Seth Rollins

- Los Matadores def. Heath Slater & Titus O'Neil

- Bo Dallas def. Kofi Kingston

- John Cena def. Bray Wyatt via disqualification

- John Cena, Mark Henry & Big Show def. The Wyatt Family

Now, let's dive deep into what occurred at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif. Monday:

Did Bray Wyatt have to be John Cena's victim?

I'm all in for John Cena's character developing a mean streak. I think it's long overdue and it is definitely needed in order for him to be taken seriously against Brock Lesnar again.

But did it really have to come at the expense of Bray Wyatt? Really?

In case you missed it, WWE Hall of Famers Shawn Michaels, Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair took part in an underwhelming forum (more on that in a bit) discussing the rematch between Cena and Lesnar for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at Night of Champions.

Cena interrupted the proceedings and stated that he took a whooping from Lesnar and now he's ready to give one back.

He set out to prove that point against Wyatt by German suplexing him numerous times, like Lesnar did to him at SummerSlam. Wyatt essentially got no offense in and Erick Rowan and Luke Harper didn't even do as much as to distract Cena from dominating their leader.

I understand that in order for Cena to truly get his point across, he had to do it against someone that would make people notice. It wouldn't have any impact against Heath Slater, but there wasn't anyone else that could have been in that position?

They couldn't get Ryback? He's not doing much, and even though he hasn't set the world on fire for the past year, he's still imposing enough that it would look like an accomplishment if Cena straight up dominated him.

But nope, it had to Wyatt, the same guy the WWE has been building up as some sort of main event star for the past year and some change.

I wasn't alone in my discontent for this match. People were outraged on Twitter as well. That may not mean much because people are always outraged on Twitter, but the people in the Honda Center were upset as well.

My good friend Bill Hanstock of SB Nation was in attendance and took the temperature of the room:

hope this is coming across on television because this crowd is MOLTEN

Gosh, that was really bad. Not the story that was told, but the collateral damage that was done to Wyatt and The Wyatt Family as a whole.

That's a group that should stay strong. That's a group that should be immune to cycling up and down the card.

Yeah, maybe they should act more like heels, but you also can't stop every fan in every arena from using the flashlight on their cell phones when they come out neither.

At the end of the day, they've earned their spots in the pecking order and deserve better than what they got Monday night.

Family reconciliation fail

While John Cena beat up Bray Wyatt during the main event, his girlfriend, Nikki Bella, beat up her own sister during another cringe-worthy segment between the Bella Twins.

Jerry "The King" Lawler stood in the ring with a microphone in his hand (that's pretty much all he did) while Nikki Bella and her sister Brie Bella held a family reconciliation that was destined to go wrong.

The segment consisted mostly of Nikki Bella berating her sister while Brie Bella simply cried and asked her sister to stop.

This segment had some potential, but it was just executed poorly.

Nikki Bella did an admirable job on the microphone, but that's in comparison to the poor showings she usually has when she talks.

The promo she was given was pretty well written, but it wasn't delivered properly. Although Nikki Bella showed some necessary fire and emotion, you can tell that her words were still hollow.

You can tell she wasn't quite feeling it. There were certain parts, especially the part where she said she hoped Brie Bella died in the womb, that could have had a ton of impact, but didn't because Nikki Bella didn't get them across as good as she should have.

That's what happens when you have overly-scripted promos, I guess.

What was worse was Brie Bella just sitting there crying. Come on already!

When The Undertaker went against his brother Kane for the first time, he was understandably reluctant to fight him, but he didn't just sit there and cry.

Now, Brie Bella isn't a dead man, but she doesn't have to cry. I could understand the reluctance to fight you own sibling that you have literally spent your entire life with, but at some point she has to show some gumption.

Babyfaces have to show some type of fire, some type of gumption. No one wants to get behind a crybaby. Why? Because he's/she's a crybaby that's why.

There's a difference between being reluctant and crying all over the place and the WWE has made Brie Bella swing way too far to the latter.

Brock Lesnar spoke, and it was awesome

Brock Lesnar doesn't speak often (and he should keep it that way), but when he does, it's quality entertainment.

Since Lesnar nor Heyman were on the show this week, the WWE aired a pre-taped interview with the two of them discussing the dominant victory over Cena at SummerSlam and the invocation of his rematch clause at Night of Champions.

While the Bella Twins are relegated to sticking to the script, Lesnar is the complete opposite during his promos.

He's unfiltered and most importantly unscripted and does not mince words when it comes to Cena.

The best part had to be when he talked about Cena's dad filling his mind with junk when he was kid. That combined with the footage the WWE used to go along with his words was great stuff.

I don't see how anyone could complain about having a part-time champion when you get either a great video like this or another tremendous live promo from Heyman when Lesnar isn't there.

I just love these things and it helps fill the gaps from week to week. It also made me more excited to see this match at Night of Champions.

Hall of Fame panel was just average

What didn't spike my excitement for the Lesnar-Cena match was the panel that began the show involving Shawn Michaels, Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair.

The banter between the three was pretty good, with Hogan playing the blind Cena follower while Michaels and Flair tried to talk some sense into him.

Cena's promo was average, but I honestly could have done without the whole panel discussion and would have been fine with just Cena cutting a promo.

I love seeing Michaels, Hogan and Flair, but I would have been okay with just a Cena promo.

Goldust and Stardust turn heel

I definitely didn't see that coming, but I must say I wasn't upset about it either.

Actually, I thought the way it played out was pretty cool.

One of the Usos (I can never tell them apart) looked as if he suffered a knee injury after doing dive to the outside of the ring.

While Stardust made it back in the ring before the 10-count, he did not and it cost The Usos the match. However, they kept the tag team titles because a title can only change hands via pin fall or submission.

This upset the Rhodes brothers, as Goldust demanded an immediate rematch because he thought the Uso faked his injury.

After the referee denied their rematch request, Goldust and Stardust took matters into their own hands and commenced to beating up The Usos, effectively turning them heel.

Like I said earlier, I liked the way this played out. Goldust and Stardust have legitimate gripe, but took it too far with the beating, which makes them bad guys.

I'm also intrigued to see where this team can go as heels. As faces, Goldust and Stardust seemed more like a comedy act.

Now you give them a mean streak and some edge and they've caught my attention, not to mention can be taken more seriously.

I always thought Cody Rhodes (Stardust) was a pretty good heel, but I don't think the Goldust character has been a heel since 1999 or something like that (I may be wrong, so I'm sure someone will correct me), so it will be interesting to see where Dustin Rhodes will take the character.

Seth Rollins vs. Roman Reigns coming up?

Since Seth Rollins took out Dean Ambrose last week, he suddenly doesn't have much to do.

That changed Monday when Reigns interrupted Rollins while he was eulogizing Ambrose, which Rollins did a pretty good job at I might add.

After Reigns cleaned house of Rollins and Kane, Rollins wanted to team with Kane to take Reigns in a handicap match.

The match was merely done so that Rollins and Kane could get their hands on Reigns, as they were quickly disqualified and attempted to smash Reigns' head through cinder blocks.

However, Reigns managed to escape.

I think a Rollins versus Reigns was the next logical step for the time being. Rollins still has unfinished with Ambrose, who is off filming a movie. You have to believe they will rekindle that feud once he wraps production.

Reigns has some more to do with Randy Orton as well, but in the meantime, these two going against each other will do just fine.

Cesaro become No. 1 contender for WWE United States Championship

By virtue of his victory over Rob Van Dam Monday, Cesaro is now the No. 1 contender for the United States Championship.

He will face the champion Sheamus presumably at Night of Champions.

You have to believe that their banter at the WWE 2K15 roster reveal had something to do with this coming to fruition.

Cesaro and Sheamus were pretty entertaining throwing jabs at each other and hopefully we get to see some of that play out on television.

What I'm most happy about, however, is that Cesaro is back to doing something relevant again. Let's hope the ship hasn't sailed on this incredible talent just yet.

Dolph Ziggler still on a hot streak

Someone who could relate to Cesaro is Intercontinental Champion Dolph Ziggler, who had to suffer in mid-card purgatory for a long, long time before finally coming up for air with his title win over The Miz at SummerSlam.

Ziggler has not cooled off since then and continued his run with a win over Damien Sandow, who was dressed as The Miz, Monday night.

Jack Swagger is not a happy camper

For the second time in eight days, Jack Swagger's encounter with Rusev ended in a stoppage.

Rusev worked over Swagger's ribs Monday to the point that the referee stopped the match. After a tough eight days, this apparently was the straw that broke the camel's back, as he went to the ring and delivered a big body slam to Bo Dallas after he defeated Kofi Kingston.

Now, Dallas is a heel. Swagger is supposed to be a face, but the way this came across it is the other way around.

I'm kind of confused by all of this, but I'll give it a chance and see where it goes.

Paige-AJ Lee feud taking some strange turns

Here's a prime example of the WWE adding too much to a storyline or what I like to call adding extra mustard to the mustard sandwich.

Instead of promoting this feud as the two best female wrestlers in the company vying for the championship, what we have instead is a feud between two crazy women.

I guess the fact they're probably the two best female wrestlers in the world isn't enough. Let's add an extra layer to this to spice things up.

In short, it's unnecessary.