WWE Raw results (07/14/14): 12 observations from this week's episode

WWE Raw emanated from The Richmond Coliseum in Richmond, Va. this week and the final episode before WWE Battleground this Sunday was a good and very noteworthy show.

We have a lot to get through, but before I dive deep into what happened on Raw, I must say that the card for Battleground is shaping up quite nicely, in my opinion.

While last year's Battleground was arguably the worst pay-per-view of the last five years, this year's card has some very intriguing matchups.

Before we go any further, let's dive into the match results from Richmond:

- The Miz def. Sheamus

- Dolph Ziggler def. Fandango

- Alberto Del Rio def. Rob Van Dam

- Alicia Fox & Cameron def. Nikki Bella

- Big E def. Cesaro

- AJ Lee def. Eva Marie

- Bo Dallas def. The Great Khali via count-out

- John Cena & Roman Reigns def. Randy Orton, Kane & Seth Rollins via disqualification

Now let's dive into my highlights and observations from this week's show:

WWE 2K15 promo featuring Sting was pretty awesome

This doesn't happen often, maybe because I'm a jaded wrestling fan of more than a decade. I don't know. But I genuinely got goose bumps watching the promo air for Sting's inclusion in WWE 2K15.

I have some more details about his inclusion here, but let's get into what this actually means. First off, Sting, whose real name is Steve Borden, must have put pen to paper at some point recently despite numerous reports stating that he hadn't. But those reports came after prior reports of him actually signing.

None of that matters now because Sting would not be in this game if he hadn't signed some type of deal with the WWE. Will we see him on television at some point? I certainly hope so. Will we see him in the ring for a match? Hmmm, it's possible I guess. That depends on the type of shape he is in and whether the right opponent arises.

Either way, this is still pretty awesome. Sure, Sting has been on television within the last year in TNA and it wasn't like he was tearing the house down with his matches. He was wrestling in a t-shirt and just didn't look like the Sting we know and love.

But what has me so excited is that he's going to the WWE. In the WWE, he will get that WWE coat of paint, that makes everyone looks shiny and new and revitalizes him or her.

He's going to have the fantastic WWE production team behind him, which will make him look even more epic than he ever has. It will certainly make up for any physical limitations he may have. He is into his 50s after all. He's sure to have some.

But the WWE will do him right, at least from a production standpoint. Their production will get the fans excited to see Sting again. The promo from Monday night was prime evidence of that. Although the WWE may have not produced that spot all on their own, their brand wouldn't accept anything less than something of quality.

Let's not forget the historic significance behind him being involved with the WWE. Sting has never worked for Vince McMahon and the WWE despite many opportunities to do so. For whatever reason, he's always declined and worked elsewhere.

He's the biggest name from the biggest time period in professional wrestling, the late 1990s, to have never worked for the WWE. Just for that alone this promo from Raw marks a historic occasion.

Oh and by the way, there's no way in hell I'm not pre-ordering WWE 2K15 this year. 2K Sports has already earned my money.

Roman Reigns punks John Cena on the microphone again

For the second week in a row, Raw did not open with The Authority boo loving their way to the ring. Yes, I just used boo loving in a blog about professional wrestling. Get over it.

But starting the show with something besides The Authority needs to happen so much more often. It makes the show look repetitive, formulaic and just plain lazy. That one thing helps the show take a step in the right direction.

What we got instead was an in-ring promo from WWE World Heavyweight Champion John Cena and Roman Reigns. Cena was busy cutting his usual long and mostly boring promos when Reigns cut him off by telling him to get to the point, to which Cena said, "Say what?"

That makes two weeks in a row that Reigns has punked Cena on the microphone and I loved it. Someone like Reigns wouldn't just stand there while Cena rambles on. They would either tell them to shut up or punch them in the face. The latter may happen one day, but Reigns didn't take to fisticuffs to get his point across.

We need to see more of this. We far too often get two enemies standing in the ring together with seemingly no tension between them. But there is clear tension between Cena and Reigns and it makes sense.

Why have Dean Ambrose get beat up and not return?

What didn't make a ton of sense to me was having Dean Ambrose get jumped by Randy Orton, Kane and Seth Rollins without getting any help from Cena or Reigns.

Even worse, he didn't even make his back for the main event. He was just taken out and that was it. Last week, the WWE had Ambrose lose clean to Orton. This week, he gets beat up by three guys and sent to the hospital.

Does the WWE not realize that Ambrose is one of their most over babyfaces and that no one should really be laying hands on him at this point. I will say this, if Ambrose can defeat Rollins at Battleground then it may help him bounce back, but then what does that do for Rollins?

Is the WWE retiring the World Heavyweight Championship?

Before the main event, Ric Flair went to the ring and predicted Cena to retain his title at Battleground. While Cena was making his entrance for the match, he handed the World Heavyweight Championship to Flair. Flair and Cena posed with the title and Flair walked to the back with the belt.

I didn't think much of this moment until after the show when I stumbled upon multiple reports wondering if the title had been retired when Flair was told to keep it by Cena.

If that was indeed the case, I wouldn't mind it. I like the big gold belt, as it is affectionately known, but if you have a unified title there's no need to have to carry around two title belts.

It always looks awkward to carry them both to the ring and it must be hectic getting them through airport security.

Just stick to one title and that's it.

Chris Jericho does what John Cena didn't

Chris Jericho went to the ring and cut a promo about all of the things he's seen during his time with the WWE, which included Naked Mideon. Thanks for putting that image back in my head, Chris.

But he also said that he had never seen anyone like Bray Wyatt. Jericho went to say that he could get just as crazy as Wyatt, but was eventually taken out by Wyatt with a Sister Abigail.

Jericho accomplished a lot with this segment. First off, he cut a pretty entertaining promo, but importantly, he made Wyatt look like a serious threat.

You know what he didn't do? Make fun of Wyatt and compare him to Jimmy Buffet and Michael Jackson within minutes. He also didn't superimpose The Wyatt Family's heads onto women to get a few laughs.

Jericho made Wyatt look like a credible threat, and then he took the man's finishing move on the stage.

Did Cena have to lose to his feud to Wyatt? No. I'm not super upset that he didn't, but what he should have done was make Wyatt look more credible, not make a fool out of him.

Even in defeat, Wyatt could have come out looking better, but he didn't. In one promo, Jericho showed why he is one of the greatest performers in the ring and on the microphone of all time. He just gets it.

You're not supposed to completely disparage your opponent during a promo. You're supposed to talk bad about him a little, but eventually talk about why you are better than him.

Jerry "The King" Lawler talked about this on a past episode of the Steve Austin Show. He talked about his feud with his mentor Jackie Fargo back in the day.

When a young Lawler called Fargo an old, washed up has-been, Fargo took offense. Not because he was sensitive about his age, but because it made Lawler look stupid. That's because he was going to eventually lose to that old, washed up has-been.

Fargo taught Lawler this lesson in a much more colorful way than I just recounted, but the point remains the same. Jericho gets it, and he did that Monday night.

Paul Heyman hints to "Plan C"

While The Authority was talking about something backstage, Paul Heyman came up to them and offered them a "Plan C" just in case their "Plan B" for bringing the WWE World Heavyweight Championship back to them didn't work.

What would "Plan C" be? More than likely it's Brock Lesnar. The word on the street is that Cena will retain his title at Battleground, which will set up a money main event between him and Lesnar at Summerslam. It's mostly the reason why Cena got the title to begin with.

Why is Cesaro on a losing streak?

Speaking of Paul Heyman, another one of his clients, Cesaro, is on quite the losing streak for no apparent reason. For the third week in a row, Cesaro was lost on Raw, this time to Big E, who had Kofi Kingston, the man that beat Cesaro the last two weeks, in his corner.

This doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. If Cesaro is in line to win the Intercontinental Championship, then why have him lose week after week before winning it. It doesn't do any good to the title nor the man holding it.

Maybe he isn't in line to win. Maybe the WWE has given up on him, which would be a shame. The WWE is already spreading the tale that Cesaro has fired Heyman as his manager, which explained why the pair wasn't together Monday.

Cesaro is an incredible talent with main event potential. I sincerely hope the WWE isn't moving past him already.

CM Punk documentary to air on the WWE Network

Another one of Paul Heyman's charges was mentioned in a big way during Raw, as the WWE ran multiple spots promoting the premiere of CM Punk's 2012 documentary "Best in the World."

This is a great addition to the network and is a must-watch for someone reading this that hasn't seen it yet. It's one of the best documentaries the WWE has ever done, in my opinion.

But one has to question: What is up with this exactly?

It would be hard to believe that this would be a sign of CM Punk's return. I don't think anyone could deduce that from this with any credibility at this point.

Maybe it's just a way for the WWE to make some money off his name without even having him in the company, which is more than likely the case.

Is it possible that this much adieu about nothing? I think so, but it is noteworthy nonetheless.

The Miz is making this movie star character work

I've always thought The Miz had talent, but never as a babyface. He just doesn't fit that role. But what he was always good at was being a heel.

The Miz came back as a heel recently, which was a welcome sign. But he didn't go back to being the same character he was before his idiotic babyface turn. He took a page out of his friend's Chris Jericho's playbook and evolved his character upon his return.

Now, he is a movie star that has an ego the size of Hollywood. One of his biggest issues is that he does not want to damage his face or as he calls it, his "money-maker."

He even plastered his face on the titantron for the duration of his match against Sheamus, which he won.

I'm leaning toward liking this character. The Miz is making it work, in my opinion. Besides the fact that he looks like Johnny Cage from Mortal Kombat, there's some good potential for The Miz with this character.

Sandow selling Sonic, Adam Rose relegated to this type of stuff

Speaking of potential, I still feel that Damien Sandow has a ton of it. I also think that the Adam Rose character doesn't have nearly the potential the WWE thought it would.

Now they're both relegated to shilling another one of the WWE's corporate sponsors. This week, it was Sonic. Sandow played dress-up again, as he was donning the uniform of a Sonic employee on roller blades.

Rose and his rosebuds made the segment more annoying just by popping up.

For Sandow, this was just more of the same ridiculousness he's been enduring for months now. For Rose, this type of stuff is a sign that he has fallen out of some type of favor.

If the WWE has big plans for someone, it is not going to put them in segments like this. I highly doubt we're going see Reigns sipping on some Sonic lemonade some time soon.

Jack Swagger gets the best Rusev again

The WWE held a détente between Zeb Colter and Lana. Colter wasn't there to play any games, however, as he simply wanted an answer to the challenge he laid down to Rusev.

Rusev spoke another language, but eventually accepted the challenge for Battleground.

Craziness ensued when Lana slapped Colter, which prompted Swagger and Rusev to go at it. Swagger eventually got the better of Rusev by putting him in the ankle lock.

The most important part of all of this was the reaction all of this got from the crowd. Rusev should beat Swagger at Battleground and eventually move on to a stronger opponent. Once Rusev finally receives his comeuppance, the crowd will eat very ounce of it.

Layla & Summer Rae join Dolph Ziggler

Dolph Ziggler may lose a lot of matches for no reason, but he's still a winner with the ladies, specifically Layla and Summer Rae, who both turned on Fandango recently.

They then distracted him during his match Ziggler by dancing on a table, which was a much better sight than Fandango swinging his hips last week.

What does this mean for Ziggler? I have no idea. It's something, which is better than him losing random matches. He still deserves better despite the two lovely ladies on his arm.

Bad News Barrett will be at Battleground

WWE announced Monday that Bad News Barrett will be at Battleground to present the Intercontinental Championship to the winner of the battle royal.

Barrett will miss a couple of months of action due to a severe shoulder injury, which forced him to be stripped of the Intercontinental title.

If he doesn't deliver some bad news to the new champion, I'm going to be upset.