Just six days from the biggest party of the summer in LA, WWE rolled into the Golden State capital of Sacramento for Raw. Was it a California dream of a go home show? Or a party pooper as we head into Staples Center this Sunday? Well, let's break it down and I'll give my thoughts. The night begins with Daniel Bryan making his way to the ring to compete in a rematch with Wade Barrett. Daniel Bryan, with rally towel in hand (somewhere the former Ricky Ortiz is complaining of gimmick infringement) and wearing The Beard Is Here shirt as it is announced that Brad Maddox is the special guest referee. There wasn't much to this match as the story was Maddox does a quick three count giving Barrett a victory. Bryan attempts to go after Maddox, but the Raw General Manager quickly exits the ring heading up the ramp. This plays into the show little a bit later. That Sacramento crowd was off the charts insane. The whole night they were very vocal with guys like Daniel Bryan, Rob Van Dam and many others. Unlike the crowd last week in Green Bay , who really seemed not to care. I have said this many times before the live audience can make or break the overall flow of the show. Next up on the show, we got the battle of the Mr. Money in the Banks Damien Sandow versus Randy Orton. Cody Rhodes joined commentary at ringside as his former friend handcuffs the new Sandowized briefcase (which I love) to the ring post.Cody definitely showed that charisma on commentary once again making jokes that the briefcase looks like chocolate and admitting that he did steal the briefcase. Great stuff. The match itself was solid, although there were a lot of rest holds. Orton is definitely on top of his game. In the end, Cody Rhodes distracts Damien by attempting to grab the briefcase once again. Orton takes advantage hitting the RKO for the win. We go backstage and see RVD stretching and hear that site there will be a twenty man over the top rope Battle Royal for a US title shot at SummerSlam. They cut to Dean Ambrose along with Rollins and Reigns who says that no matter who wins the Battle Royal tonight no one can beat him. He says he's the most feared champion in wrestling history. Ambrose mocks saying that Punk is a tag line and Cena can carry his trophy. But he is the most feared champion in WWE and unless the ghost of Andre The Giant is in the match no one has a chance. Rollins then says it's time for the old guard step down and stop living off their past accomplishments. It's time for the new generation to take the rightful place on the card. Reigns and Rollins say that whoever wants a shot at the tag team titles just step up. They will prove that they are unstoppable. Great stuff. We see a airing of the interview with Brock Lesnar this past Friday on Smackdown. The video package has The Beast talking about how Punk has nothing on him, given his NCAA credentials and his size. He gives CM Punk credit saying that 434 days as champion is rather impressive. But he never fought someone like him. Lesnar says size matters and Punk will find that out at SummerSlam. Proof that Brock is much better taped although not as entertaining. At least he did not say something stupid. We hear from CM Punk, who is asked about tonight's match with Paul Heyman and says unless his former mentor has grown a set for or just said something stupid. There is a plan in place and it's a chess game with all Heyman's pawns are in position but you cannot overtake the King. He knows Brock Lesnar is there and says the beast is not the best, the best is the best. We then head to a train wreck of a segment as Big E Langston and AJ lost to Natalya and her Punjabi Playboy. This really did make any sense. But what made it worse was the fact that the referee was clearly out of position for the first attempt at the finish as Natalya got the submission with the Sharpshooter. After the match, Langston attempted to bully the returning Hornswoggle and gets a chop for his efforts. The babyfaces then dance afterwards. The only good in that segment was the Goldman box promo from Langston says Dolph always needed him to watch his back but now he only has Kaitlyn. Show Off. No show over. Langston definitely has personality, which is very rare in a big man. I hope they capitalize on that more as the weeks roll on. Dolph and Kaitlyn were backstage looking on. It felt like a waste of a segment compared to Friday. Why even do this? They did the same thing with Christian showing a nice video package and doing a backstage promo with Del Rio. Del Rio almost lost to Kofi Kingston. I think this shows on the hierarchy where the World Heavyweight Title really lies. They are definitely making it seem like Christian may capture the title and retire. A video package later in the night makes it seem like a retirement thing. I would not be surprised if we see a double briefcase cash in at SummerSlam with Damien Sandow and Randy Orton with the intellectual Savior getting the best of a tired Christian and Randy Orton doing the same to Daniel Bryan as the corporate champion. I got things a little out of order. Before this segment with Del Rio and Christian, Mr. McMahon calls Brad Maddox to the ring and asked him why he made the quick count on Daniel Bryan. Maddox says he might've been a little rusty and would like another chance. He asked the chairman if he would let him be the referee this Sunday for the WWE championship at SummerSlam. After feigning concern, Vince is ready to make Maddox the guest referee when Triple H makes his appearance saying all the criteria you want in a referee is in him not Maddox. Then he gives the most awkward Pedigree in quite some time to Maddox as Vince stomps away. Looks like McMahons plan was thwarted. McMahon was quite funny in the segment. (But do we have a swerve coming? Remember Survivor Series 1998 with Shane McMahon turning on Steve Austin? I think Triple H may turn on Daniel Bryan. I may be wrong and will be glad if I am but it feels like something more's coming.) Kane defeats Titus O'Neill who has an impressive showing but falls prey to the Chokeslam. Just as Kane goes to celebrate with his trademark Pyro, the Wyatt family shows up and attempts to attack the Big Red Machine but before Bray blows out the lantern for their entrance Kane exits the ring and is up the ramp. Bray (wearing his first ever T-shirt) is just laughing maniacally. (It will be interesting to see what they will do with the Ring of Fire match will be without the stipulation of lighting your opponent on fire. Although I do believe that someone Kane will be lit on fire to write him out so he can film See No Evil 2.) We get our Total Divas segment of the night as Brie Bella and Natalya set up a match for this Sunday. Each woman will be flanked by another. Brie will be flanked by Eva Marie and her sister and Natalya will be flanked by Naomi and Cameron. (Interestingly, there was news that this may be a celebrity tag match with Extra correspondent Maria Menounos and Natalya against the Bellas. I guess Nikki cannot get cleared medically following her shin injury.) As I mentioned before Alberto del Rio defeated Kofi Kingston by submission. While I understand the need to get Kofi over, it seems rather foolish to make your number one contender take that much offense from a guy that just recovered and elbow injury when you have an arm submission. I know I'm over thinking. But perception is reality in sports entertainment. After a promo from Zeb Colter recycling part of the plot from Escape from LA saying the state should drift off into the ocean taking the immigrants with it. The match itself was nothing special as the Usos trade wins with The Real Americans outsmarting We The People. Often times they call the biweekly Miz TV segment, the most controversial talk show on WWE TV. This time they actually were right as John Cena and Daniel Bryan gave one hell of promo one another. Basically, Daniel Bryan calls John Cena a parody of a wrestler. Saying that he is a wrestler with skill with John Cena responding saying that Daniel Bryan is just disgruntled on how the system works that are the fans that love him don't think he's a joke or a parody. Cena says Brian is on a roll, but he's not at his level. Things get heated and Daniel Bryan looks to initiate Cena to Japanese customs of fighting spirit went Triple H appears on the scene to separate the two. Just when things calm down Randy Orton shows up and looks on from the ramp holding the briefcase in the air. It should be noted that even though he was at the forefront of the segment, the Miz actually played his role very well instigating tension between the two. It's funny that John Cena mentioned how often these segments are train wrecks. The company definitely knows how bad these segments are now that we get them two times the week. If you need to watch one segment this week, this is it. We get a dance contest not a match with Fandango and R Truth. Heyman is backstage with Curtis Axel saying he has doubts about his match later on with CM Punk. Then we get the number contender US title Battle Royal with a bunch of people we saw earlier in the night. In the end, Rob Van Dam eliminates Mark Henry . Henry gets back in and gives respect to RVD. Just as it looks like Mark is going to leave the Shield's music hits. RVD and Henry back to back are bracing themselves for a Shield attack when the Big Show makes his return and runs off the Hounds of Justice. (It looks like it will be Big Show and Henry versus Rollins and Reigns for the tag team titles.) The final segment has Paul Heyman gloating about his best friend Brock Lesnar and how he blames the people for CM Punk turning on him. Heyman introduces Lesnar and say that Brock came up with quite a plan. The match will not be just Heyman, but Heyman and Lesnar against Punk. So either Punk can be a smart coward or a down hero for the people.. Punk's music hits as Heyman and Lesnar look on. The straight edge superstar enters from the crowd grabbing a camera from a cameraman on the apron and nailing Lesnar in the back of the head sending him out of the ring. Punk does a dive on Lesnar, grabbing a chair and beating the holy hell out of him. After that Punk attempts to go after Heyman , but Curtis Axel shows up and gets a GTS for his efforts as Punk looks strong as we go off the air. All in all, a good go home show for Summerslam. I am very intrigued for Sunday. Is it possible we will see one Money in the Bank cash in or two? Will Triple H turn on Daniel Bryan or John Cena or both? Will it be the Best or the Beast that triumphs? Until next week everyone.