WWE Monday Night RAW: 13th January, 2013 - Superstar Ratings

Bray Wyatt and Daniel Bryan

The curse of WWE pulling off bad shows seems to be gone with the wind with the arrival of 2014 as the company produced another solid Raw this week.

The scene of Daniel Bryan on top of the cage embracing the usual “Yes” chants was the major head line from the show while Kofi Kingston’s upset over Orton and the turn of New Age Outlaws also made the crowd grow wild.

The show went off air leaving the fans wanting for more as next week promises to be a stellar one with the much anticipated return of Batista along with the developing stories. But for now, let’s take a look at how the superstars faired on WWE’s flagship show with this week’s Superstar ratings.

Damien Sandow- 4

Damien Sandow

At the moment there are no good signs for the Damien Sandow fans out there as he ended up with another loss this time.

But luckily this time it was to someone who could actually wrestle a bit. Yet putting Sandow in a sure lose situation isn’t the way the WWE should be planning to use a wrestler like him who is good with the microphone along with being good in the ring.

Cena and Sandow had some good chemistry brewing up but it didn’t do anything good for Sandow as he fell short.

Jack Swagger- 4

The Real Americans

Another high profile jobber this week was Jack Swagger. He got to be the scape goat for the creative’s attempt to make Big Show more credible ahead of Royal Rumble.

For starters, Swagger has been already overshadowed by an impressive Antonio Cesaro and to make things worse the WWE has decided to put him in matches like this. From World Title contender last year to tag team division, Swagger tried to stay relevant by adapting to the situations. The match has cost him dearly and once again proved that he is more suited to the tag team wrestling than singles competition.

Randy Orton- 4.5

Randy Orton

Last week we saw Orton defeat Big E Langston at SmackDown and thought that he is finally proving that he is worth being the unified champion. And this week on Raw, he loses to Kofi Kingston. Simple as that, the top champion and face of the top promotion of the world loses to a guy who is yet to have a clear push.

The loss can only be seen as the attempt of the creative to put some heat into the stale Cena-Orton storyline because there is no other logical explanation for what went down.

Orton was made to look like a fool with the defeat and hopefully he picks up before Royal Rumble.

Rybaxel- 4.5

Rybaxel

Ryback, Curtis Axel, Damien Sandow and Dolph Ziggler fall into the category of wrestlers who has the potential to be break out stars but are held back by the creative who decides to go the other way.

Ryback after his rants in Twitter seems to be buried the victim of a burial every week and he seems to be taking Axel with him. The loss to Rhodes brothers might not sound so bad on paper but taking the direction of the duo into consideration, there aren’t many things that could go in a positive way for them at the moment.

Rey Mysterio- 5

Rey Mysterio

From his ECW days itself, Rey Mysterio is known for the ultimate underdog acts that he pulls out. And yet the WWE decided to make his return without any credible backup story.

Mysterio seems to be an independent wrestler being booked randomly for matches at the moment. For a wrestler like him who won the Royal Rumble and went on to headline WrestleMania with his size, he clearly deserves better things.

The match against Del Rio showcased Mysterio in his usual flashy style but the lose did nothing to help the highflyer.

John Cena- 6

John Cena

Cena was pitted in a squash match against Damien Sandow this week as mentioned earlier. And there were no surprises either as Cena came home with the win.

No one would’ve been stupid enough to put their money on Sandow on this match as Cena was the clear winner even before the bell rang. One must feel sorry for the wrestlers put against Cena since they are the ones who are bound to be squashed by the leader of the Cenation. A win against Sandow was nothing extraordinary and the match carried minimum heat.

CM Punk – 6.5

CM Punk

Punk clearly deserves a lot of respect for his willingness to put young stars over at his expense. Back in the ECW days, Terry Funk used to be the one who did this job and he ended up being the legend in the business. In the future Punk might also end up being like that.

For the third time in a row, Punk fell for the hounds of Justice but this time he suffered the defeat in a tainted manner. The turn of new age outlaws came as a surprise and took the sting of Punk’s loss. The Punk-Shield storyline isn’t over yet and could provide with some more intriguing results like this.

Big Show- 6.5

Big Show

The purpose of putting Big Show in a squash match with Jack Swagger was to build up some momentum for the Giant before him big clash against Brock Lesnar at Royal Rumble.

In one angle it’s good to see Big Show being dominant after so much time in the other; a squash match is a squash match. Some months back a Swagger vs. Big Show match would’ve been unpredictable to the core but at this time, everyone knew Show was going to win unless Lesnar produced an attack.

The win builds some kind of momentum for Show but the WWE should be thinking about putting him in more risky matches rather than safe ones like this.

Alberto Del Rio- 6.5

Alberto Del Rio

Del Rio made his return after the concussion and looked more credible than the time he left the scene. A win over Sin Cara and taunt of Batista seemed to be on the bull’s eye.

Following it up with a win over Batista’s former tag team partner Rey Mysterio puts Del Rio in the correct path for his main event return. The match between Mysterio and Del Rio looked solid and with the animal making his return next week a lot can be expected of this direction of Del Rio.

Kofi Kingston- 7

Kofi Kingston

For those of who that don’t know Alexander Rusev, he’s a Bulgarian guy who defeated Kofi Kingston last week on NXT. And Kofi Kingston comes to this week’s Raw and gets one over Randy Orton- don’t you just love how the WWE works?

A win against the WWE World heavyweight Champion is a great thing for Kofi, but without any clear push or storyline, a random win isn’t going to help him in anyway. But Kofi played the major role in the biggest upset of this week and he deserves the rating for that.

Rhodes Brothers- 7

Rhodes Brothers

The re incarnation of Goldust and the tag division is one of the best things that happened to WWE last year. Ever since that, the brothers have been a treat to the WWE Universe.

This week also Cody Rhodes and Goldust produced some vintage tag team wrestling to see off the lights off Ryback and Curtis Axel. For some there wasn’t anything different in the win but The Rhodes brothers go out every week and remind us of what wrestling was all about back in the old days.

The Wyatt Family- 7

Wyatt Family

For the first time since their debut, Bray Wyatt was made to look weak when Bryan turned against him inside the steel cage. The Wyatts have been taking tag defeats for a couple of weeks now and the turn of Daniel Bryan proved to be a major blow.

Not only they took two losses in one night, they also got embarrassed by Bryan. The storyline is still red hot and the Wyatts needs to get back on winning ways as their creepy promos aren’t the only thing that makes them look credible.

The Usos – 8

The Usos

If there is a tag team which is rich in luck at the moment it has to be the Usos. The WWE could’ve easily gone with Rhodes Brothers for the Wyatt storyline, but the Usos got the lucky pick.

Being entangled with the hottest storyline in the company has given the Usos great momentum which they could take forward through to the Royal Rumble. There might be an argument that the Usos was overshadowed by the sheer talent of Bray Wyatt and Daniel Bryan but a win is a win itself and it’s not every day that you get to be part of moments like this. And this makes the Usos one of the best gainers from this week.

Daniel Bryan- 8.5

Daniel Bryan

In a storyline way, this might not have been the best decision that the creative made but it was awesome when it lasted. With the swerve he just etched his name as the most over wrestler in the locker room at the moment.

Bryan ended up in the losing side in both the matches he took part, but the impact he made simply takes out the loss out of the equation. He carries the best momentum as the WWE heads to Royal Rumble and the fan wouldn’t mind seeing him go all the way through to WrestleMania main event at this rate.

The Shield – 8.5

The Shield

The shield carried their last week’s momentum through to this week also. As always it’s a pleasure to see the trio inside the ring, put in some nostalgic master piece in the form of New age Outlaws and highly energetic CM Punk into the mix: that’s something worth watching.

Roman Reigns might be the company backed one in the trio but Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins also deserves praise for the amount of work they put in every week.

Another deserving win makes the Shield standout performers of the week, and as far as an average fan is concerned its just enjoyment while the trio lasts.