8 Ups & 3 Downs From WWE Raw (19 Aug - Results & Review)
Ups…
8. Heated Treadmill
On its face, the World Heavyweight Championship feud between Gunther and Randy Orton did not take any major strides forward. The two continued to verbally joust with a bit of physicality mixed in Monday night, but the crowd heat was off the charts.
Whether it was a result of opening the show, Orton’s popularity, Gunther’s pompous-but-accomplished foreign heel persona, or a combination of all three, fans were deafeningly loud Monday, letting Gunther know what they thought of him. The Ring General swore he’d never be taken by surprise by an RKO again, all but daring Randy to prove him wrong, while Orton continued to show the confidence of a 14-time world champion.
Ludwig Kaiser made his presence felt with a chop block, putting Orton down and giving Gunther an advantage. That served as a reminder of how Gunther retained his Intercontinental Championship several times during his historic run. But beyond that, there wasn’t much new ground covered. Both men declared their rivalry “personal,” but that’s more a case of telling, not showing.
Even the show-closing brawl between the two was just more of a heated continuation of things rather than a new development. Still, you can’t deny the crowd heat, which has to mean that even the simple show-opening exchange and show-closing brawl worked.