Official Raw/Smackdown Aftermath, Ratings and Review Thread

[avi01]

One of the best raw in a long time. Not a weak point. Crazy, crazy crowd. The Daniel Bryan love just shows how much off the page wwe was with that match at Wrestlemania. Lesnar`s returns was one holy shit moment. WWE is giving the fans what the want: a quality product and I`m just hooked.

 

[XXJJ]

A couple of quick thoughts about Raw...

-Brock returning was a big time mark out moment. Wish the crowd didn't chant "We want Lesnar" right before.

-The crowd was insane. I dont remember a Raw crowd like this in a long time. The "yes" chants are funny. They will probably replace the played out "what" chants.

-They went a little overboard with the Daniel Bryan love. Their was even a Daniel Bryan chant during Punk and Henry match. It did kind of remind me of the "we want ryder" chants that were so big in november/december. He needs to thank Vince for booking an 18 second title match.

-Santino power walking to get away from Ziggler and Swagger was funny. The way Ziggler sold Clay's headbutt was awesome.

-Jericho pouring alcohol on Punk and smashing the bottle over head was great. Jericho needed to do something really personal to Punk if they wanted to continue this feud.

 

[mr.wrestling iv]

I was thrilled about the Daniel Bryan and "Yes" chants. It shows that the man who was humiliated the night before was more over then the man who took the title from him. I have nothing against Sheamus at all. Been a fan of his since WWECW. Must have sucked for him to come out to boo's when he is supposed to be the crowd favorite. So the real winner, D-Bryan. Hope this crowd reaction continues past Miami, and maybe, just maybe WWE will listen to its fans. Lets not give Vince credit for this though. He wasn't intending for last nights reactions to happen. He wanted a new wrestlemania record for shortest title defense.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

WWE Raw Supershow - April 2, 2012

Big Johnny Addresses The Roster - This was a short but good way to start Raw off. JL was backstage before the assembled majority of the WWE roster. He wasn't over the top or really rubbing it in, he just sort of told it like it is and flexed his GM muscles a little. He booked a US title match in which Santino goes against Ziggler & Swagger. Punk then steps up and reignites his personal feud with Big Johnny and, as a result, is booked to defend his title against Mark Henry. I like that they showed that JL, of course, isn't exactly going to be impartial without trying to go overboard here. Nice way to start the show off and it puts Punk right smack in the middle of an uphill struggle against Big Johnny. Thumbs Up

The Rock - The Rock came out to a MASSIVE pop from the live Miami crowd and put on one of the most overall enjoyable promos he's given since he came back. The Rock seemed...I dunno..more likeable here than he has been. He put over John Cena's attempt at WM and, surprisingly, didn't rub in the fact that he won the match. The live crowd was white hot, I mean they were just digging every single thing Rock was doing or saying. Rock's declaration that he'll be WWE Champion someday has already got the rumor mill started that he'll be going after the title at WrestleMania 29, which doesn't bother me at all as it'll have everyone guessing and wondering how the build will go and who it'll be against. Thumbs Up

1. Santino Marella vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. Jack Swagger for the WWE United States Championship - An overall decent match that went exactly as I expected it to. The match told a solid story with the heels working together to mostly dominate Santino before ultimately turning on each other. Again, the live crowd is just super hot and created an atmosphere that only served to heighten this match. Ziggler & Swagger do turn on each other, as predicted, and allows Santino to get the victory after striking Swagger with the Cobra. Santino retains at the 7 minute mark. Not a great match, but it was well booked and made sense. Ziggler didn't take the loss and still gave the impression that Santino'd be no match for him in a one on one setting. **

2. Alex Riley vs. Lord Tensai - This was a 3 minute squash match in which Tensai dominated Riley the entire time. I like that WWE acknowledged Tensai's, AKA Prince Albert's, past involvement with WWE without actually mentioning his past gimmick. Tensai looked solid and dominant, delivering some nice powerful, high impact moves. He looks powerful, though he's not a gym rat. He's a little pudgy but he's got a lot of muscle under the pudge. After a bit, the ref stops the match as Riley just can't continue. Post match, Tensai spits Green Mist onto his hand and puts Riley in the claw. Nothing fantastic about his debut but it was ok. *1/2

3. CM Punk vs. Mark Henry for the WWE Championship - I thought this was a great match, far better than I was expecting. They were given lots of time and told a helluva story. Henry was the dominant and near unstoppable monster that we've gotten used to seeing, moreso than he's been in the past few months. His smack talk to Punk while he was beating him down was great and he just looked like a human juggernaut. The crowd was massively into the match and rallied behind Punk. Punk sold his injured back incredibly well and looked like a courageous & determined champion. He had a strong comeback and made the match competetive. The end comes surprisngly clean when Punk goes for the bulldog out of the corner. Henry counters in what looks like a back suplex attempt but instead tosses Punk over the top rope. Henry drops down, dazed & hurt from Punk's flurry of offense, while Punk struggles to get back into the ring. Punk is counted out, his injured back preventing him from getting back into the ring in time. Henry wins via count out at the 13 minute mark. After Henry recovers his senses sufficiently, he realizes he hasn't won the title and heads outside to take his frustration out on Punk. He pulls him up and delivers the World's Strongest Slam onto the floor, with Punk continuing to do a great job of selling the effects of the move. Henry walks back, leaving Punk physically decimated. Post match, Big Johnny & David Otunga walks out on the stage and JL addresses Punk. He says that Punk defending the WWE Championship on Raw is going to become more frequent and that he sees dark days ahead of him. This was a great match that accomplished several things: The way it ended and the way that Henry just physically overpowered nearly everything Punk threw at him made him look like the monster we're used to seeing. It also sets up a possible return match as Henry definitely established himself as a threat. The match made Punk look like a courageous, fighting champion and the ending with Big Johnny reaffirmed that he's got it in for Punk. ***1/2

Jericho Strikes - Just as JL finishes on stage, Jericho's voice is heard on the microphone and he comes out through the crowd, taunting a decimated Punk on the floor. Jericho mentiones Punk's family issues again before going and pulling out a bottle of what looks like Jack Daniels. He pours the bottle over Punk, still taunting him before going and getting another one. This one, he breaks over the back of Punk's head. It broke a little too easily, but the live crowd still ate it up and gasped like they were supposed to. It was kind of funny seeing Jericho slip in the booze as he was trying ot dropkick Punk on the ground. I thought I heard a little "You fucked up" chant. Jericho looked despicable here and I'm glad to see that this feud is going to go on for a while. Thumbs Up

Sheamus & Alberto Del Rio - Solid overall segment that featured a surprise return of Alberto Del Rio. I'm guessing this means he's back on SmackDown!. I thought he & Sheamus had good interaction with each other and, again, the live crowd here was just amazing. They were extremely pro Daniel Bryan and it seems as though the "Yes Yes Yes!!" chant is quickly becoming the new "What?". It's gotten stronger over the past several weeks but damn near everyone in the crowd was doing it last night. Del Rio established himself as someone gunning for Sheamus and I liked that Sheamus didn't say much. He's not nearly as good on the mic as a babyface so him being more of a guy of action works better. They set up a match between the two for SmackDown! and if Del Rio wins, he gets a future title shot. Del Rio starts having mic difficulties and reaches outside the ring to get Ricardo's mic. As he turns around, he catches a Brogue Kick. Backstage, Daniel Bryan is looking angrily at the screen, which is a good indicator that Bryan just simply isn't going to fade from the title scene. I was worried that he might just be taken out of the main event picture altogether when Del Rio came out and made his announcement. Thumbs Up

4. Kofi Kingston vs. Cody Rhodes - This match was mostly just a setting for the continuation of Rhodes & Big Show's feud. Cody pretty much destroyed Kofi in the first minute or so. He hit the Beautiful Disaster kick and looked as though he was about to pull Kofi up to deliver Cross Rhodes when Show's music hits. Show came out sporting the IC title and taunted Rhodes a little by showing stills of their match at WM in a similar way that Rhodes' has been doing to Show. Cody turns his attention back to Kofi and eats Trouble in Paradise. Kofi gets the win. The match was really too short to rank but Show & Cody continued to have good interaction and I'm glad to see that this feud will continue for a while. N/A

Mark Henry & AW - This was an interesting and brief backstage segment. Mark Henry is backstage preparing for his match and AW, AKA Abraham Washington, pops up and says he wants to represent Mark Henry as his "agent", which I'm guessing is a term Vince probably likes more than manager these days. Nothing overly special here, but I'm all for the idea of Henry having a manager. To me, it seems to reaffirm that WWE is going to get back to pushing Mark Henry as this near unstoppable monster that's a threat to everyone on the roster. Thumbs Up

Eve Torres - This was a brief promo segment in which Eve came out on stage and briefly addressed her little part on Team Johnny winning at WM. The crowd booed the crap out of her and Eve seems to be quite comfortable, and surprisingly good, in this new role. She basically affirms her allegiance to Big Johnny. Nothing overly great here but it did what it was supposed to. Thumbs Up

5. Zack Ryder vs. The Miz - While this match was only about 3 minutes, the two worked at a fast pace and packed a good deal of action into the time they were given. While this match didn't feel particularly important by this time, as the big angle with Cena was closing in, it was still a pretty solid match that was actually much better than I thought it would be. The Miz looks to be getting back on track as he took most of Ryder's best shots. The Miz gets the clean win here by delivering the Skull Crushing Finale. **1/4

John Cena - John Cena came out and delivered what I thought everyone was expecting from him. He wasn't out there being all happy & friendly, but he acknowledged his loss and admitted that Rock was the better man. Cena got tons of boos from the Miami crowd, even more so than usual, and there was a massive "You're a loser" chant at one point. Cena kept his composure and, all things considered, seemed like a great sportsman. I know a lot of people hate on Cena but in the grand scheme of things, he's exactly what a true wrestling babyface should be. He didn't make excuses, he didn't whine or complain. He asked Rock to come out a few times, which honestly had me wondering if he was going to waffle Rock and go heel like many of us were expecting. There were a couple of loud "We want Lesnar" chants and a lot of Daniel Bryan "Yes Yes Yes!!" chants. Cena acknowledging Bryan with a grin on his face got a good pop from the crowd. Cena asks Rock to come out one more time and, surprisingly, Brock Lesnar's music hits. The place went absolutely ape shit when Lesnar walked out on stage. I have to admit that I myself marked out a little. I was never a big advocate of Lesnar returning but the show had been so hot and everything had been so well done that I just downright got into it. Lesnar hit the ring after a few minutes and looked like he was going to shake Cena's hand. Instead, he pulled him up onto his shoulders and delivered a massive F-5 and the crowd just went crazy. Lesnar stands over Cena to close the show. I've gone online this morning and read that there were "spoilers" that Lesnar was going to be at Raw tonight. This segment is a great examples of why I don't read spoilers, it just makes everything so much easier to enjoy. It was a white hot segment from a white hot crowd to close the show with. Thumbs Up

Final Thoughts - Last night's Raw, overall, was even better than the post Royal Rumble Raw and that's quite a feat as the Post RR Raw was damn near perfect. There were some great storyline progressions going on and overall decent wrestling action with logical booking. The Big Johnny Era is off to a fanastic start and I like the fact that JL wasn't all over the show tonight. He could have been and I think many of us were expecting him to, but he wasn't. Less is more sometimes like it was here. The Rock's promo was great and Rock came off more likeable in my eyes. Overall wrestling action was decent but Punk vs. Henry was a great match. It wasn't as good as the Punk vs. Bryan matches, but it was still a helluva match that made Henry look like the Henry that we've all come to really enjoy. It also established him again as someone that's a threat to anyone on the roster. The live crowd last night is one of the hottest I've ever seen for any wrestling event and created an incredible atmosphere. The final segment with Cena & Lesnar was done perfectly. Lesnar coming out was a huge surprise for me. I figured he'd signed with WWE but I wasn't sure. Lesnar came out, didn't say a word and just planted Cena in the middle of the ring. Just a perfect way to end a perfect show.

Grade: A+

 

[The Fabulous Rougeau's]

WWE is in a good place right now with enough over talent to put on interesting shows where the outcome is not so obvious. The best part about the current state of the WWE is that the two workhorses over the past few years (Cena and Orton) do not need to be relied on as heavily as they once were. With Jericho and Punk having a great program, Bryans new found overness (for lack of a better word), Sheamus' new heat, Brodis Clay finally interacting with main show talent, Tensai's debut, and of course Lesner's return, the shows will be stacked.

This also makes for a good mid-card (If done right something WWE has had a tough go of in the past). Guys like Ziggler, Rhodes, Miz, Swagger, Santino, Kofi, Ryder and DiBiasi (I hope they can get him here) can be mixed and matched to make interesting storylines that give these guys the oppertunity to go over on one another. FOr it to work though these guys not only need the ring time, but the promo time to fully get themselves over. Also they need minimal interaction with the top guys who are only gonna squash them. You have all the NXT guys and others like Hawkins and Recks who can provide fodder for the main eventers when needed. This also allows the bottom feeders a chance on the big show where they can have a shot at getting over with the crowd and possibly work there way into mid-card status. It won't happen by fueding with one another on Superstars.

These next few months leading up to SummerSlam will be most interesting. With a multitude of options WWE creative has alot of work on their hands, but with enough options at their disposal they need to and should get this right. There is also the returning Barrett which if done right should put him on the top level and ready for a big program sometime in the summer.

 

[New Hot Fed]

I swear when Cena was in the ring trying to kiss ass again and saying Rock was a great champ, I almost exploded. I hate the guy so much. And then my prayers were answered.

 

[Maximus9000]

@ New Hot Fed,

Did you get the impression that Cena's promo was almost too deliberately kiss-ass, almost sickeningly? It was almost like a reverse heel promo, generating masses of heat. He was literally begging The Rock to come out and shake his hand, until Brock came out and silenced him with an F-5. It was interesting to say the least. I wonder where they'll go with Cena's character. Will he sink to a low point, all chips down type thing, with nothing going right for him? He was basically humiliated on Raw and the crowd were loving every minute of it.

 

[Steve0904]

@ New Hot Fed,

Did you get the impression that Cena's promo was almost too deliberately kiss-ass, almost sickeningly? It was almost like a reverse heel promo, generating masses of heat. He was literally begging The Rock to come out and shake his hand, until Brock came out and silenced him with an F-5. It was interesting to say the least. I wonder where they'll go with Cena's character. Will he sink to a low point, all chips down type thing, with nothing going right for him? He was basically humiliated on Raw and the crowd were loving every minute of it.

I haven't seen the promo. Will probably look it up on youtube, but I will say this. Not that every crowd loves Cena because they obviously don't, but we'll probably only see that type of crowd a handful of times in a year. That's what I like to call the after WM crowd. I'd say only about half of those people were actually from Miami. Might be more, but that was the "smart" after WM crowd you get on that particular RAW almost every year.

 

[Maximus9000]

@ Steve

You're probably right about the crowd. I saw dozens of flags from all over the world, lots of Brits & Aussies in particular. Definitely a very "international" crowd. It'll be interesting to see the crowd reaction next week.

Watch Cena's promo though if you can. I can't decide whether he's a really good actor or a really bad one as I don't know where they're going with his character. He looked visibly somber though, but the thing I found odd was the fact that he was almost begging Rock to come out to shake hands; it almost became grovel-like.

 

[rge2010]

This is normally WWE's highest rated show of the year because all the fans buying the Wrestlemania PPV want to see the 'fall out'. WWE planted the seeds well with Lesnar (twitter) so this news would have spread like wild fire and even more fans will have tuned in to see him return.

WWE had to deliever a solid show and they went even better than that. Hopefully the extra fans will return next week to tune in. This will hopefully entice WWE to bring their 'A game' most weeks just like they did last night. The fans were amazing. Truly amazing. Hottest crowd in years.

As for Cena, his loss last night was all part of the bigger picture. Rock said a few nice things about Cena, Cena was humble in defeat, almost looking for sympathy and then Brock comes out and destroys him with an F-5. Cena will probably lose to Brock before finally 'snapping' and turning on the fans.

Rock will be back for Summerslam, Brock has returned a face? Do they really need Cena as a face given Punk is also very popular?

 

[Steve0904]

@ Steve

You're probably right about the crowd. I saw dozens of flags from all over the world, lots of Brits & Aussies in particular. Definitely a very "international" crowd. It'll be interesting to see the crowd reaction next week.

Watch Cena's promo though if you can. I can't decide whether he's a really good actor or a really bad one as I don't know where they're going with his character. He looked visibly somber though, but the thing I found odd was the fact that he was almost begging Rock to come out to shake hands; it almost became grovel-like.

Just watched the promo. Wouldn't call it grovel like at all. Seemed like a good acting job to me. He simply said he lost and he accepted it like a man. It wasn't as if he was down on his knees begging the Rock to come out and saying "If you don't shake my hand I'll cry myself to sleep tonight." You know I'm kind of liking hearing from people on this forum saying Cena makes me sick and turn him heel and such because it makes me laugh. I think eventually it will happen, but I'm really enjoying hearing about peoples panties getting all up in a bunch about it. He's at least half heel anyway. Last nights crowd is probably a bad indicator, but when Cena talked about snapping on the fans they started a YES! chant and then when he said bad news is that won't be happening they lost their shit and booed him again. I'm enjoying Cena just as he is honestly.

 

[Kenny Powers]

Last night was a great show and one of the most enjoyable shows I have seen in a while. There have been some good Raws before WrestleMania, but this post Mania Raw was really well done. Rock cut a great promo and left us with some intrigue as to who he will be challenging in the future for the WWE championship. Johnny Ace is in charge of both shows and Mark Henry looked dominant against CM Punk.

Jericho coming back was a surprise since I thought the feud would be over with by now. Jericho regained his heat back by pouring those alcoholic beverages on punk. Even though he fell on his ass he was still able to gain some heat back. I enjoyed seeing Albert's debut as Lord Tensai even though I don't think he needs the Japan gimmick to get over as a heel. I guess it is better then just being some bald white guy with tattoos.

It looks like Brodus Clay and Santino will form a team against Ziggler and Swagger which could be entertaining. The Miz has won two matches in a row which is a record for him now, which is good. The crowd made the show even better with the yes chants and Daniel Bryan chants. I kinda feel bad for Sheamus getting booed but the crowd was just in favor of Bryan that night. I could care less about a Sheamus vs. ADR feud. Last night felt like an attitude era or a ECW show with the crowd involved.

I hope more crowds in the future are as enthusiastic but I doubt we will see the same energy since that was a Mania crowd. Lesnar and Cena had a great confrontation. I enjoyed Cena's promo that gave The Rock respect without adding little jabs about how we won't see him again. The place erupted when Lesnar came out. I don't care how long he is with the WWE or how many dates he has. I'm excited to see Lesnar a part of WWE again.

What else can the guy do? He is too banged up for NFL and UFC or MMA. Wrestling is the only logical choice. He doesn't have to be full time to get a great reaction from the fans. I wonder how other fans from other venues will react to Lesnar. Who will be the heel in this feud? Cena had tons of material about the Rock leaving WWE. Just imagine what material he could come up with for Lesnar who left on worse terms then almost anyone.

Great show and I can't wait until next week.

 

[Mustang Sally]

I swear when Cena was in the ring trying to kiss ass again and saying Rock was a great champ, I almost exploded. I hate the guy so much. And then my prayers were answered.

Still, he handled it in the manner we would expect from John Cena. He was an adult; he didn't whine, didn't make excuses, admitted he had sunk everything into winning this match.......and stayed true to his character when he lost.

Normally, a wrestler would start the recovery process from a major setback by going after the guy who beat him. Of course, we knew that wasn't going to happen in the near future because the Rock isn't a full-time performer anymore. WWE had to give Cena (and us) something in it's place, and so.......with impeccable timing.....we get Brock Lesnar, otherwise known as Rock's replacement in Cena's re-building effort. In retrospect, I would say the deal to hire Lesnar was probably months in the making, with the knowledge it would start the night after Cena lost to Rock. After all, if Cena has to recover from a major defeat, you don't start him off with a feud against The Miz or Alberto Del Rio, do you?

No, you give him someone with huge, huge impact: Brock Lesnar.

It's a brilliant plan; it really is.

 

[rge2010]

Still, he handled it in the manner we would expect from John Cena. He was an adult; he didn't whine, didn't make excuses, admitted he had sunk everything into winning this match.......and stayed true to his character when he lost.

Normally, a wrestler would start the recovery process from a major setback by going after the guy who beat him. Of course, we knew that wasn't going to happen in the near future because the Rock isn't a full-time performer anymore. WWE had to give Cena (and us) something in it's place, and so.......with impeccable timing.....we get Brock Lesnar, otherwise known as Rock's replacement in Cena's re-building effort. In retrospect, I would say the deal to hire Lesnar was probably months in the making, with the knowledge it would start the night after Cena lost to Rock. After all, if Cena has to recover from a major defeat, you don't start him off with a feud against The Miz or Alberto Del Rio, do you?

No, you give him someone with huge, huge impact: Brock Lesnar.

It's a brilliant plan; it really is.

So you think Brock is been fed to Cena to help build Cenas character?! If these two go into a fued then Brock is going to come out on top. You dont bring a legit tough guy back for him to lose to Mr Fruity Pebbles. Cena is been fed to Brock to build Brock!!!

 

[Jack-Hammer]

The initial numbers are out for last night's Raw and I'd say Vince is pretty pleased, especially considering that Raw was going head to had with the NCAA Championship game between Kentucky & Kansas. According to tvbythenumbers.com, the game drew 19,310,000 viewers, making it the most watched show on all of television last night. As expected, it also drew a 7.0 rating in the 18-49 male demos.

The post WrestleMania XXVIII episode of Raw drew an average of 5,014,500 viewers according to tvbythenumbers.com.

Hour 1 drew 4,957,000 viewers and hour 2 increased slightly to 5,072,000 viewers. I haven't run across anything giving the actual household rating, but I'm guessing it's probably somewhere in the area of a 3.5 or a 3.6 Nielsen Rating.

 

[JakeAdams]

I hate the numbers mean everything because Brock being back adds attention to Brock. Not guys like ziggler, swagger, kofi, truth, ryder, Tyler black, jon Moxley, etc. Also I hope they give Cody Rhodes more conditioning because he has that "it" factor.

 

[TWJC: The Beginning]

I hate the numbers mean everything because Brock being back adds attention to Brock. Not guys like ziggler, swagger, kofi, truth, ryder, Tyler black, jon Moxley, etc. Also I hope they give Cody Rhodes more conditioning because he has that "it" factor.

Pretty short sided of you. If Brock brings more viewers, that's more eyes on Ziggler, Swagger, etc isn't it?

If Ziggler and Swagger dont' draw, that's their own fault. Having a big draw on the show doesn't hurt anyone.

As for the show itself, I loved it. Tensai's debut wasn't as exciting, but MAN what a hot crowd. Loved the Santino/Clay stuff. I like that Rock thanked Cena but still made fun of his fans to keep it going. Cena was great at the end and Brock showing up made the show memorable.

anyone else think it was hilarious that the crowd chanted 'YES' when he said "is this finally the time I lash out"? I think it's funny because they boo him, but that clearly shows me that he's simply a heel to some. They DESPIRATELY want him to turn. They have the fans exactly where they want him.

I would like a heel turn, but a brief one, and then a fairly quickly turn back. Almost like a "haha fuck you" type of thing. I think it'd generate a lot of heat.

As someone else said, it's almost like he was too deliberate in his speech. Definately there to generate heat and to make Brock look good. Although it would have worked a lot better had he won at Mania, instead it sort of looked like kicked a wounded dog. Which may have been the point.

 

[DetectiveZelix]

Raw was awesome last night and after mania I respect Rock and Cena highly and Rocks promo was good palming the crowd as usual the idea of Rocky as Champion is exciting but with Rock specifically saying 'One Day' means not anytime soon. As for Tensai's debut was poor in my opinion. never was an A train fan and cant really buy into this Jap Juggernaut gimmick but I will wait maybe he'll have some interesting fueds hope he goes after Clay jajaja. Miz winning was sweet I really loved Miz Championship run. It saddens me to see how far he's fallen. Cena's promo was good because he stayed in character I dont think Cena the man even believed what he was saying but he's like a fan in some way so I can buy him still being a fan of the Rock. as for owning up to his loss and eating humble pie was admirable of Cena the Character then The Pain returns and literally grimfaces Cena the whole way to the ring and Cena the fan believes Brock wants to be Kosher. Big Mistake. takes and F5 stunning the few Cena fans in attendance and brock kicking his hat disrespectfully meant alot to me as Im a long time Cena the character hater. so this could be a change of venue which would i hope tweak Cenas character and turns him from Vanilla alterboy to ruthless killer or anything other than the character he has. Overall awesome Raw and I hope Vince can follow it up successfully next week. Thank You

 

[XXJJ]

Raw had a 3.43 rating. I think their post WM raw did a 3.8 last year. WWE was expecting this to be the highest rated Raw of the year. But the Raw after the Royal Rumble did a 3.55. To be fair they were going up against the NCAA basketball game...I'm sure that took some viewers away.

It will be interesting to see what the ratings are next week now that everybody knows Brock is back.

Its funny Rock/HBK/HHH coming back really didn't increase ratings.

 

[TWJC: The Beginning]

Raw had a 3.43 rating. I think their post WM raw did a 3.8 last year. WWE was expecting this to be the highest rated Raw of the year. But the Raw after the Royal Rumble did a 3.55. To be fair they were going up against the NCAA basketball game...I'm sure that took some viewers away.

It will be interesting to see what the ratings are next week now that everybody knows Brock is back.

Its funny Rock/HBK/HHH coming back really didn't increase ratings.

This is like the 100th time I'm saying this, but you really can't use ratings as the end all metric. Sooooo many people I know don't even have cable or direct tv anymore. It's not worth it. You pay 50 dollars a month for maybe 3 channels you like. It's a lot cheaper and more convenient to just use the internet.

Also, ratings are based on sampling. I don't know what the error is or the standard deviation we should use, but who's to say that the difference between 3.43 and 3.55 is even statistically significant?

It basically looks to me like the product has been on a steady pace for some time now. It makes sense. There is SOOOO much to chose from when it comes to entertainment now that everyone can find their niche. 10 years ago I wouldn't have been able to watch the English Premier League living in middle America. Now I can. Imagine that with entertainment. I have friends who watch hours of hackey sack for Christ's sake.

Considering Wrestlemania apparently drew nearly 2 million buys, I'd say the Rock coming back paid off.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

WWE Friday Night SmackDown! - April 6, 2012

Opening Segment - This segment wasn't all that great, but it was ok I thought. The main point of the segment was to put heat on Big Johnny and make him come off like a douchebag, so mission accomplished. JL hasn't been doing over the top stunts like Vince's character would be doing and I think that's the way to go as he's working well as the uncharismatic, arrogant, power hungry & soulless corporate executive. Otunga was just out there but he still makes a good right hand man for JL. Johnny bringing up Teddy's grandkids was a nice touch as it gives things a more personal spin and a legit reason for Teddy to stay around and work for Big Johnny. It wasn't a hot opening or anything, but it ultimately did what it was supposed to so it was passable. Thumbs Up

1. R-Truth vs. David Otunga & Mark Henry - This was a short match, too short to rank I think but, again, the match told a good story of Big Johnny using his authority to get back at a wrestler that opposed him. The match ends with Henry delivers the WSM. Otunga begs to be tagged in, which Henry does, and Otunga makes an arrogant cover for the win. Nothing great here but overall decent storytelling. N/A

2. Randy Orton vs. Kane in a No DQ match - I thought this was another really good effort from both men. All in all, I enjoyed it more than their WM match, which I also thought they did well in, as it just didn't feel important on the WM card. While the Kane/Orton program has been kind of weak on why they're feuding, their work together is pretty underrated in my eyes. I thought they also did a good job of making it look as though Kane could win this match. Whenever Orton tried to brawl with him during the match, Kane always managed to get the upper hand after a little while. The match featured some good back & forth action and some nice physical looking spots. The ending comes when Kane attempts to put Orton into an exposed turnbuckle, Orton reverses it and slams Kane into the turnbuckle chest first. As Kane turns, he hits the RKO. Orton gets the pin at the 14 minute mark. Orton gets a win and neither guy came off looking weak. ***1/4

3. Ryback vs. Barry Stevens - This was a squash match featuring the returning Ryback, AKA Skip Sheffield, against a local jobber. Ryback looked impressive and had a nice intensity about him. The match was only about 90 seconds but it showed that Ryback, while certainly a powerhouse with a smash mouth physical style, isn't the slow & lumbering muscle guy like Ezekiel Jackson, Rob Terry or Mason Ryan. The end comes when Ryback hooks Stevens up for what looks like a Fisherman's Suplex. He has him up, cradling the leg and walks around for a bit before dropping back onto the mat. Ryback scores the win. Too short to rank really but the guy looked good. N/A

Daniel Bryan - Daniel Bryan came out with AJ in tow and delivered the best promo of his career. Bryan came off like a true heel asshole here and blamed AJ for him losing the title. He belittled her and I thought she did a good job of looking & sounding hurt. Initially, she was trying to cheer him up by pointing out that the live crowd was really behind him. Bryan did get a lot of boos but he was also getting a lot of cheers and "Yes" chants. Bryan stayed in character and belittled the fans as well, calling them "sheep" that didn't really support him and he spun it in a way that, in his mind, made it so that he thought they were mocking him. The live crowd was definitely full of smarks and cheered Bryan while he belittled AJ & seemed more than happy to boo her as she was selling her sadness, including a "Hey Hey Goodbye" chant after he turned his back on her. Bryan was great here and delivered the best heel promo he's done. In spite of the crowd response here, Bryan came off like a real piece of crap. Thumbs Up

4. Big Show vs. Heath Slater - Show squashed Slater in about a minute while Cody Rhodes was out there on commentary. This segment didn't really do anything for me as Rhodes sounded like someone that was humbled instead of griping about being robbed or making excuses as to why he lost, like a good heel should. Still, it's refreshing to see that they're keeping this feud going, which I do think will ultimately end with Rhodes regaining the IC title. N/A

5. Nikki Bella vs. Beth Phoenix - Didn't see it. I know it wasn't much. I went for a Pepsi. N/A

Damien Sandow - This was an interesting, brief backstage promo from FCW talent Damien Sandow. Sandow came off like an elitist intellectual and I thought he did a good job. He sounded legitimately comfortable here and helped sell his promo with solid facial expressions. He didn't try to go over the top here and it had a more realistic feel to it. The guy's criticism of what Americans find as entertainment reminded me a lot of some of these intellectual pundits that pop up on these news shows sometimes, going on about how shows like Jersey Shore are an example of the decline of Western civilization. It'll be interesting to see how they flush out his character. Thumbs Up

6. Sheamus vs. Alberto Del Rio[/B] - Overall, I thought this was a really solid effort from both guys. This is the first time I've seen Del Rio in action in a while and he looked good. Both wrestlers put out a good, physical looking match in which they hit many of their signature spots. The ending of the match did suck in my view and took away from the match somewhat as a whole. Sheamus gets DQ'd at the 11.5 minute mark as Del Rio sells as though Sheamus hit him with a chair that he'd brought into the ring. Del Rio wins and, as a result, gets his future shot at Sheamus' title. **1/2

Final Thoughts - I thought last night's show was pretty solid. It wasn't the hottest SD! ever but I'd have been blown away if it'd have the energy of Raw this past Monday. The opening segment was solid overall. It put heat on Big Johnny and I like that they used a logical rationale to keep Teddy Long around to work for him. I also like that this storyline altogether hasn't taken up a lot of time. Orton vs. Kane was very enjoyable in my view and I suppose this means there'll be a rubber match at the upcoming ppv. Much of the rest of the wrestling action on the show didn't do much for him. Show vs. Slater felt like a waste as Cody didn't contribute really in any way. The Diva match was a waste, I'm pretty sure as it's just what we're used to. Ryback looked pretty good. It's too early to really form an opinion but I like his intensity and the fact taht he's much faster and more athletic overall than the big muscle men we've seen the past while. Daniel Bryan's promo might have been the overall highlight of the show. He put forth a helluva heel promo and seemed like a true ass. Even though the Orlando crowd had lots of cheers for him, Bryan spun things around nicely by claiming they were mocking him rather than supporting him. Great work from Bryan and I'm glad that he briefly mentioned his rematch clause, so he's not out of the title picture altogether. Damien Sandow delivered a fun little promo. His character seems to be an arrogant intellectual and he seemed comfortable. Again, I'll have to wait until I see more before I can really get a handle on him. The main event was solid, though I felt the ending brought the match down. All in all, a pretty good show last night.

Grade: B-

 

[MattyB]

Tonight's raw was average, would have been better with a good crowd. They were starting to heat up at the end of the show which sucked, but it helped sell the Lesnar F5. I hope the build up to Extreme Rules is gonna be better then tonight though. Next week is in London which is always a good crowd. Id give a 3.5/5 for tonight's show.

 

[The Eighties]

I think this Raw was one that creative decided to pour everything into Brock/Cena and Punk/Jericho. Everything else felt like unimportant filler. If you did a time breakdown I'd bet those two angles took up half the shows run time.

One thing I think is unfortunately going to struggle is Lord Tensai, the crowd just crapped on his match tonight and I think if they want to get him over as a destroyer he needs to do something more visually devastating than the Von Erich claw.

The opening segment with Cena and Brock was awesome, the smugness of Brock, the defiant slap from Cena and then the big pull apart brawl, simple and perfect.

Brock's smug war machine promo was awesome and everything a heel should be, short and to the point.

The Punk/Jericho/Henry segment was long and at times a bit uncomfortable, but despite this crowd not being the best they stayed with Punk, and Jericho is such a colossal asshole that his heat was on by the time it was done. I think these last 2 weeks are being done to maximize Punk as a face under pressure and to also create a more vulnerable side under the snarky master of the pipebomb Punk, not a huge fan of the angle but long term I think it will do Punk good.

Shame we got a very quick DQ in the Punk/Henry match but I think the way it sets up their no DQ match next week will open the door to Punk going ballistic.

Cena vs Otunga was strange, I expected Cena to come out and destroy Otunga but instead he was all smiles and it was a by the numbers match. Brock's cheap low blow, F-5 and smug smirk followed by him wagging the finger when the crowd chanted "One more time!" was superb heel work. Brock may hate the all round aspects of the business, but he understands it and I think he enjoys the performing aspect.

 

[MayorMcCheese]

Ratings are outdated.
Alot of people watch on the internet
Alot of people watch on DVR.

If WWE is smart and wants to accurately track viewers, they will live stream RAW on their website as I don't think they know just how many watch online.

Now for 4-9 RAW, the show started great, and then went downhill.

WWE trying to squash the DBD momentum? show him breaking up the fight, but don't use him(or Sheamus, or Orton)

Otunga in the main event was a joke, he doesn't belong there.

 

[rge2010]

I am really looking forward to tonights 'Live Smackdown' with all the legends. I really hope Barry Stevens is on again and cuts an epic promo like last week!