Official Raw/Smackdown Aftermath, Ratings and Review Thread

[Raiden46]

Raw 4/30/12

Wow, this was a god-awful edition of Monday Night Raw. On to my take on the show...

The opening of the show saw the signature open with "MONDAY NIGHT RAW STARRING BROCK LESNAR." I thought to myself that this could be the start of something awesome; kinda like how the nWo took over Monday Nitro for a while and renamed it. But nope, HHH comes out and tells Brock like it is. All of the demands Brock made to Johnny Ace have been voided. This leads to an assault by Brock on HHH and ends in him "breaking" his arm with the Kimura lock. Good spot in the show, I just wish it were John Cena on the receiving end. More on that later.

Eve comes out and announces a Beat the Clock challenge to determine the #1 contender for the WWE title in 3 weeks. 3 weeks? Really? How the hell do you build to a PPV in 3 weeks time? They really need to scrap some of these "tweener" PPVs. In any event, I already knew that the eventual winner would be a heel since Punk is a face.

BEAT THE CLOCK MATCH #1
Miz def Santino (non-title match)

I didn't give Santino a chance in hell here; especially since he already has the US title. At the same time, I knew Miz wouldn't win the BTC challenge because of his massive losing streak and supposed heat with the upper brass. Miz got the SCF and scored the win; getting back on the winning track. Good for him.

Triple Threat match for the Divas Title
Layla (c) def Nikki Bella and Brie Bella

What a damn joke and insult this was. Layla gets the victory in Sheamus-like fashion; possibly setting a record for a women's match. King made a comment in jest "too bad this isn't a Beat the Clock match!" I couldn't have agreed more. As far as I'm concerned, the main event at Over the Limit is CM Punk VS Layla. On the plus side, the Bella Twins were "fired" by Eve afterwards. Less dead weight to carry around. Now if only they would fire Hornswoggle...

BEAT THE CLOCK MATCH #2
Chris Jericho VS Big Show fight to a no-contest

I figured Jericho would win this match, but not the challenge since he has already gotten 2 consecutive title shots in as many months. Good action in the ring, but the ending was botched by the referee IMO. I believe the ending was supposed to have Jericho winning by countout with 1-2 seconds still on the clock, but the referee had his back to the clock, lost track of time, and didn't reach a 10-count before the clock ran out. They ended up doing the right thing and kept Miz in the driver's seat.

Brodus Clay VS JTG

Brodus Clay's elaborated dancing at the start of every match and overexposure is starting to get on my nerves. Not to mention the fact his squash matches are getting boring. We know what he can do against no-names, now let's see him in a real feud. PLEASE.

BEAT THE CLOCK MATCH #3
Randy Orton def Jack Swagger

An easy to predict matchup on paper. Orton gets the victory and takes the lead in the BTC Challenge. But again, knowing a heel had to come out of this BTC challenge, I knew Orton would not hold the winning time.

Tag Team Title Match
Kofi/R-Truth def Primo/Epico (c)

An unexpected surprise here as new Tag Team champions are crowned. The tag division is still an utter joke, but at least two credible stars are holding the belts now. I would much rather see a true TEAM holding the titles rather than two thrown together singles wrestlers, but Primo/Epico simply get NO crowd reaction and I could have cared less about them.

BEAT THE CLOCK CHALLENGE #4
Kane and Khali fight to a no-contest

Knowing that a heel would come out the victor, I again penciled in Kane as the favorite. Scratch that, I put Kane in with a sharpie. Who the hell seriously thought Khali would get a WWE title shot? In any event, the no-contest doesn't bother me one bit.

BEAT THE CLOCK CHALLENGE #5
Daniel Bryan def Jerry Lawler

Wow, I have so much to say about this. I was excited and disappointed at the same time. First things first, with Randy Orton leading at the time, I already knew that Bryan was going to win this match given that he is a heel. Disappointed by knowing the outcome ahead of time but ELATED knowing that we will be getting an awesome WWE Title match in 3 weeks. I wouldn't be surprised at all to see D-Bry walk out as the new champion. Secondly, JERRY LAWLER? REALLY? Was WWE so short-staffed tonight that they had to bring out the King here? If Vegas had odds on this match, I would have bet my life savings on the Yes-man.

In the final segment, Cena and Johnny Ace discuss Cena's next opponent. Lord Tensai(?!) comes down to the ring and I begin the gag cycle in my stomach, until JL suddenly assaults Cena from behind and smashes his arm with a steel chair outside the ring. He announces that he will face Cena at OTL. Again, REALLY? Unless there are some heavy stipulations involved, nobody in their right mind is going to give John L a chance in a straight up wrestling match with Cena. I can only hope Cena actually does take some time off so this matchup doesn't happen.

Final Thoughts

Predictability and stupidity ran rampant tonight in a vast majority of the matches and segments. Also, WWE's refusal to give the Divas more than 1 minute per match has come back to bite them in the ass tonight. The main event at Over the Limit should be CM Punk VS Layla; not Daniel Bryan (jk). I was happy to see that a Brock/HHH feud is starting to develop. Those two should put on a hell of a contest.

 

[The Eighties]

Not a good Raw as far as in ring action goes but with three weeks to the next PPV it did a good job setting up Raw's two main matches, and laying the groundwork for a BIG match down the line.

The opening segment was great, Triple H delivered a good promo that came off like a legit businessman as opposed to The Game, he's gauging the split just right. I knew Lesnar would snap but damn was it well done, Brock is such a beast he just enveloped Triple H before his brief fight back that ended with Brock hooking him up in the Kimura and breaking Trips arm, which was very effectively worked by Brock.

The Divas title match and Brodus umpteenth squash were a waste of time but damn does Layla look great.

The tag title match got more time than I figured it would and the title change is neither here nor there as it seems to be a jump off point for rebooting Epico and Primo. The match itself was ok and will hopefully get another outing at Over The Limit.

Eve is getting a lot of character time and making good use of it, she stumbled a little in her opening promo but overall is doing well, plus she looks incredible, the real life embodiment of Wonder Woman!

The Beat the Clock challenge wasn't very good, Miz vs Santino was weak, Jericho vs Show was solid but seemed to have a botched finish and Kane vs Khali was horrendous, it made Santino vs Miz seem like Flair vs Steamboat, asking Khali to go four minutes without a great carrier is suicidal. Orton/Swagger was ok and I was cool with an Orton/Punk title match, then D-Bry pops up, for a brief moment I thought they were gonna do something screwy but they got it right, quick tap-out win for Bryan.

Punk comes out and the crowd pops for both guys as they give knowing smiles. So the 5 matches produced little of note but set up a WWE title match I cannot wait for!

Cena and big Johnny's promo showdown was decent, Cena came off as weary but like he'd gotten his mojo back. Tensai's music hit early and the crowd response to him seemingly being Cena's opponent for the PPV was so silent you could hear a fart, only big Johnny pulls the swerve as Cena prepares to face Tensai and Odeshi and bashes Cena in the head with the mic, before revealing he will be Cena's opponent and proceeding to do a good job working over Cena's injured arm.

I think they could have made better pairings for the beat the clock matches and this was not a great Raw, but I think in the bigger picture it was progressively booked.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I enjoyed last night's Raw all in all. The Beat The Clock Challenge matches, most of them anyhow, had a real sense of urgency about them and most of them were good, solid tv matches that worked at a brisk pace. Miz vs. Santino was suprisingly good and, to be honest, I was a little surprised to see Miz get the win here. Four minutes and eighteen seconds isn't a huge amount of time but you'd be surprised how much action can be packed into that time.

Jericho vs. Big Show was much better than I expected, though I shouldn't be surprised as Jericho can have good matches with even the likes of Great Khali. The ending was a little confusing because it was clear that the clock wound down before Big Show was officially counted out. They still had a good match and I'm glad that they decided to stick with The Miz as holding the best time because he actually did have the best time. I wonder if they'll do some sort of follow up with this at a later time.

Orton vs. Swagger was also surprisingly good in my eyes. Again, a real sense of urgency here and Swagger looked stronger here against Orton than he's looked in months. Orton beating the clock by 2 seconds was a nice touch. I never doubted that Orton would win it here and I'm glad that Swagger gave him a competetive match under the circumstances.

Kane vs. Khali was pretty painful to watch. It wasn't as bad as most of their matches in the past, however, and I think a reason for that is that Kane kept Khali down most of the time. Kane did his best but he's just not enough to carry Khali through a passable match. I prayed that neither of these two would advance and, thankfully, my prayers were answered.

I was initially concerned about Bryan vs. Lawler in that I was worried that they'd have Lawler control most of the match and beat Bryan from pillar to post. It didn't go down that way, thank goodness. Lawler got in some offense, mostly punches, but Bryan forced him to tap to the Yes! Lock with about a minute & fifty seconds to go. As a result, it's Bryan as the #1 contender for the WWE Championship. Bryan winning was a surprise, I honestly thought it'd be Orton. A surprising result to the BTC Challenge and a great one in my view because we all know what Bryan & Punk can do in a match against each other. In my eyes, they've put on the best two matches on WWE television in 2012 thus far and both could've been main events on any wrestling ppv.

The opening segment with Triple H, Big Johnny & Lesnar was well done I thought. It dragged a little at times as Triple H repeated himself several times, but the end result was worth it all in all. Big Johnny continues to be hilariously great in his role and Lesnar got some good heat back by "breaking" Triple H's left arm. Trips sold the injury well and I especially loved the part of the promo in which Trips talks about what Lesnar brings to the table. I can't quote it word for word but it's a PERFECT example of why the VAST majority of internet fans don't know nearly as much as we like to think. He said something to the effect that some people love Lesnar, some don't, some outright hate him and all that but they all care about what he's doing and wanna see him. For all the complaining you hear some wrestlers get from some net fans, Triple H basically just explained the entire concept of what it actually means for a wrestler to be over in about 10 seconds. I heard some say that Lesnar was "buried" due to losing to Cena and it's another fucking stupid example of some net fans not having a clue as to what they're talking about.

The tag title match was ok while it lasted, nothing overly spectacular. Epico & Primo, in my eyes, did a good job as tag champs when you consider the limited role that they were given. I'm wondering if putting the titles on Kofi & Truth is sort of a re-start of Air Boom in the sense of putting more focus on the tag titles in general. After all, Air Boom was doing a good job and did get a decent amount of attention before Evan Bourne went & screwed it up.

The closing promo segment was, again, well done in my eyes. Cena came off and looked like someone that was weary, like someone that's been put through a physical & emotional ringer for the past month or so. His tension with Big Johnny was well played and Cena got FAR more cheers than boos last night than I've heard in a long time. When Big Johnny introduced Lord Tensai, as I figured he would, I can't say I was all that excited. When Big Johnny suddenly jumped Cena and aided in a vicious beatdown on Cena's "injured" arm and announced himself as Cena's opponent for Over The Limit, I was very surprised. This could turn out to be interesting or it could turn out to be shit, the follow up next week could determine how successful this is. As for last night, however, I thought it was well done.

As I said, I enjoyed last night's show. There were a few surprises, a couple of good promo segments, a handful of solid tv matches and overall progressive booking towards the next ppv. A few of the BTC Challenge matches did look weak on initial appearance but the wrestlers worked hard in my eyes and put on good matches, most of them anyhow, when you consider the concept & little time they had to work. I'd give last night's show a B.

 

[smokeyjoe414]

I enjoyed Raw last night, the BTC challenge had potential despite kane and kahli being indescribably awful, and the Brock v triple H fight excited me as its a decade over due.

My only complaint was that Orton was robbed of a deserved title shot because creative wants that scrawny yes chanting piece of cat shit dan brian to face Punk at OTL.
In future, whenever DB music hits i think il go get a coffee and a cigerette and watch the grass grow in my yard, so i wont have to endure the push this guy is recieving or feel the need to punch my tv whenever this guy wins anything.

At wrestlemainia 28, sheamus became my fave wrestler of all time when he beat that piece of cat shit in 18 seconds, i dont think iv cheered that hard since jeff hardy 1st threw himself off a ladder and into d-von and a table.

But anyway im looking forward to next week and im hoping OTL wont be as disapointing as most folk are making it out to be

 

[JuniorBOB]

I only have one question following RAW last night: Where on earth was Dolph Ziggler? Sure, he's jobbing to Brodus Clay at the moment, but surely he's more worthy of being part of the Beat the Clock challenge than The Great Khali, and even Jack Swagger to an extent.

 

[Raiden46]

My only complaint was that Orton was robbed of a deserved title shot because creative wants that scrawny yes chanting piece of cat shit dan brian to face Punk at OTL.

The fans, not creative, want to see D-Bry pushed. They are smart enough to know technical skill and thus they support him. Orton, while still a great wrestler, is getting stale IMO. He needs to add some new moves and/or evolve his persona a bit. Until that happens, I don't see him winning another world title. Don't get me wrong, he's nowhere near as in need of an overhaul as Cena, but a little *cough*evolution*cough couldn't hurt him at all.

 

[TLK]

Aside from the opening segment and the potential Punk/Bryan title match, I thought Raw was pretty bad. The Beat the Clock matches never do much for me, as it's painfully obvious who has a shot and who doesn't. Having Miz win in just over 4 minutes didn't bode well for the matches to follow since you knew Miz wasn't going to be the #1 contender. The divas stuff was bad but at least it was short. The tag title change would have been noteworthy had the division not been such an afterthought for years. The Cena stuff doesn't have me too excited considering the post-match promo he gave at Extreme Rules, and the supposed "vacation" he was due to take. I'm hoping Lesnar gets involved at OTL and sends Cena packing for a while.

 

[The_Sharpshooter]

I appreciated what they did on Raw. Despite H3/Lesnar taking the 1st half hour & Cena/Tensai finishing the show, they still gave us 5 Beat the Clock matches, a Broadus squash, a Divas Championship match, & New Tag Team Champs. I prefer to watch WRESTLING, not talking, but they gave me a good mixture of both. Yea the matches were short, but its only a 2 hour show & they showcased a good 85% of their top talent(No Ryder, Ziggler, Cody though?)

 

[TWJC: The Beginning]

The fans, not creative, want to see D-Bry pushed. They are smart enough to know technical skill and thus they support him. Orton, while still a great wrestler, is getting stale IMO. He needs to add some new moves and/or evolve his persona a bit. Until that happens, I don't see him winning another world title. Don't get me wrong, he's nowhere near as in need of an overhaul as Cena, but a little *cough*evolution*cough couldn't hurt him at all.

Has nothing to do with the fans "being smart enough to know technical skill". If that were the case, John Cena, Hulk Hogan, Steve Austin, and Dwayne "The Rock, The Toothfairy" Johnson wouldn't be the biggest draws ever.

DB is over because he does a great job at carrying his character and telling a story in the ring. I have no idea where you get this hilarious idea that fans (who, like you, don't actually know how to do the moves) know who is technically sound and that's why they're over. If that were the case, William Regal would have been a huge draw.

I agree that the fan want him to be in the match. He's very over. It's going to be interesting, they might cannibalize each other's fanbase.

I thought Raw was pretty good. You opened and closed strong. Which is huge in TV. The middle was filled with mostly good matches for BTC and the Tag match.

The only bad thing was Khali vs Kane. I appreciate how hard Kane tried to tell a story and I appreciate Khali for trying really hard be a good babyface but some things just don't mix. The crowd wasn't really into it. A double DQ brawl or something would have probably been more satisfying and accomplished the same thing.

 

[smokeyjoe414]

I dont deny that DB has the skills in the ring or he wouldnt have a job, but i, like many of the people i know who watch wrestling and are not on this forum, cant see why he should be getting this push when, as iv listed before, there are so many better more deserving superstars who should be in the title picture.
The only consolation is that the match is on a lesser ppv and not taking up valuable viewing time on one of the big 4 events.
In any case, titles dont seem worth a damn in wwe atm so to me this is just another match that will hopefully build to something bigger (with punk as champ, but no doubt il be disapointed)
As the ECW faithful would say..... IF PUNK LOSES WE RIOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[blue_dragon]

Raw wasn't bad at all.

The whole HHH-Lesnar storyline is interesting. I dunno where it's leading though and I can't say if I'm happy or not with the direction.

But hey as long as it keeps me tuning in each week we'll be right as rain. They probably did the best thing this year by bringing Lesnar in. Without him I would probably take one of those annual WWE breaks.

We'll see for how long they will be able to keep this ball running. I really hope it reaches summer to say the least.

 

[The Eighties]

I didn't think this was a particularly good Raw, the opening segment with big Johnny was ok but he's desperate without someone to play off, and Punk came out as a sort of cheerleader for Cena and pretty much skipped over his WWE title defense at Over The Limit, mentioning beating Bryan offhandedly as if he was more interested in watching Cena vs Ace. In retaliation to Punk calling Ace some names he books Punk vs Tensai. Ace also decrees that anyone that makes fun of his voice will be reprimanded.

Big Show is up next in a IC title match with Cody but he bumps into Johnny beforehand and mocks his voice which Eve overhears. The match is short and Cody runs away prompting a count out, Show threatens him and Eve's music hits.

She actually cuts a strong promo on Show, saying that outside of wrestling there is no use for a 400lb, 7 foot, 40 year old freak and makes him apologise for mocking Johnny, intimating he couldn't afford to lose his job. This was actually pretty effective in gaining sympathy for Show and as hot as Eve is it was easy to hate her here.

Ziggler vs Kofi is up next but the match was short and it was more about AW, Epico/Primo and Mason Ryan watching on the monitor as Vickie helped Dolph score the win. Looks like they might be setting up some heel managerial stable war.

Cena does an interview with Cole via satellite to hype his match with Johnny and put over the fact doctors have told him not to wrestle for months because of his arm but he's ignoring them, it's the type of promo Cena can do in his sleep.

There was a blink and you'll miss it Divas tag match that mainly served to let us know Layla will defend the title against Beth at Over The Limit, I'd really like to see these two get a good 7 to 8 minutes.

Next up is a tag match pitting Sheamus and Orton against Del Rio and Jericho, it's a decent match that gives each guy some ring time and has a finish that sees Jericho pinning Sheamus after he accidentally hits Orton with the Brogue kick. This leads to a post-match RKO and then a brawl between all 4 in Ace's office, which then leads to the WHC match at Over The Limit becoming a Fatal 4 Way.

I think it was around this point where there was a backstage segment of Show talking to two actors from a new USA cop show and they both are telling him he shouldn't have said sorry, Show aw shucks it and makes it appear he has no choice, they say they'll investigate Johnny to see what he has on the board to keep his job, they then mock Ace's voice which Big Show laughs at, only to be caught again by Eve giving him the sexymean stare. I have no earthly idea where this will lead for Show, or maybe it's just about making Eve a megabitch.

Brodus does his 5 minute entrance and we find out his victim this week will be The Miz, who cuts a promo on him basically mocking the idea that a guy of his standing is wrestling Clay, about 4 minutes later he eats the clean pin, probably the longest match Clay has had since he became The Funkasaurus.

We are then told Brock was invited to the show but had sent a legal representative in his place to make a statement. Brock's music hits and no one appears at first, and then suddenly out comes Paul Heyman power walking to the ring. He cuts a great promo where he takes digs at corporate WWE and how it's not the place it was 10 years ago as well as saying Triple H has always been jealous of Brock, before reading out a statement from Brock saying he has quit.

The Main event sees Punk make his way to the ring but then Johnny comes out to tell him the match is now a handicap match and it will be Bryan and Tensai vs Punk, neither get an entrance as we go to commercials.

I had hopes for Tensai but he seems to have an uncanny ability to suck the heat out of an arena and this was not the hottest crowd to begin with. The match is about 8 minutes long and only shows brief signs of life when Punk and Bryan are in together. Eventually the numbers game catches up to Punk and Tensai pins him with the Muta-mist claw, the crowd is silent.

After Tensai leaves Bryan wakes the crowd up by attacking Punk and putting him the Yes-Lock while engaging in a YES! vs NO! duel with the crowd.

It was one of those Raw's that just felt a bit flat in total even with a degree of storyline progression. I think it was a good chance to focus on building the Punk vs Bryan title match, instead Punk played Cena's surrogate in furthering the Johnny the power abuser angle.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

WWE Raw Supershow - May 7, 2012

Opening Segment - I enjoyed the opening segment for a couple of reasons: Big Johnny put some nice heat on himself, which he always does a good job, and he ditched the transparent benevolent GM act. He put himself over well last night and his revisionist history of his greatness was fun. It made him come off as even more of a douche than usual. Punk came out to a great pop and he did a good job of highlighting Big Johnny's anger towards Cena and why it's really there. He also touched on JL's revisionist history of his career and greatness, which the live crowd got a kick out of. Punk's comments about Johnny being ugly and having no friends came off as sort of juvenile. As punishment, Johnny puts Punk in a match against Lord Tensai. I saw that coming a mile away, but it was still a good opening segment that did it's job well. Thumbs Up

1. Cody Rhodes vs. The Big Show for the WWE Intercontinental Championship - I'm hugely disappointed here. This wasn't so much as match as it was Big Show tossing Cody Rhodes around the ring and chopping his chest for 2 minutes before Cody takes a powder and gets counted out. This is the kind of stuff that gives fans the impression of WWE not giving a shit about its titles. The match was too short to rate but it was definitely a thumbs down segment. N/A

Big Show & Eve - Pretty solid segment here in which Eve comes off as a real uptight bitch. She looked smoking hot and she's quite good in her current role as Big Johnny's assistant. Earlier, before his match with Cody, Big Johnny accidently runs into Show while he's texting on his phone. Johnny, whose in a bad mood, yelled at Show and Show made fun of his voice. Even comes out and demands that Show apologize, and he says "I'm sorry". Eve came off as a mean bitch here by saying that she didn't ask him to say he was sorry, she demanded he apologize for making fun of Big Johnny's voice. She basically threatens to fire him and says that there's not a lot of jobs out there for a 7'0" 441 pound freak like him. Show did a good job of selling his embarassment at being confronted like this and said that he apologizes before leaving the ring. Some probably didn't care for it, but I enjoyed it because Eve is really getting into her character, and it's certainly the most interesting thing a Diva has done in a LONG time. Thumbs Up

2. Kofi Kingston vs. Dolph Ziggler - Kofi had Truth in his corner while Ziggler had Swagger & Vickie. I guess that they're not going with Ryan being Ziggler's bodyguard, or they're just holding off on it & going to do it at a later time. While the match was only about 2.5 minutes, they squeezed in a good amount of action into the time they were given. We've seen Kofi and Ziggler wrestle a lot in the past so they have really good chemistry. The match seemed to last much longer than it actually did, and I mean that in a good way. There was a great near fall close to the end of the match where Kofi hit his SOS roll up on Ziggler. I thought it was over right there, given Ziggler's slump with Brodus Clay & Kofi winning the tag titles last week with Truth. Ziggler kicked out at the last possible instant. At one point, R-Truth climbs up onto the apron and gets the ref's attention, which brings Vickie up to the apron. Ziggler is on his hands and knees with Kofi on the second rope. As he's about to leap, Swagger grabs hold of his left foot and pulls in it, causing Kofi to fall and go splat. Ziggler recovers and pops up with the Zig Zag and scores the win. AW was watching backstage with Epico, Primo, Rosa and Mason Ryan. I'm assuming they were watching Kofi's match due to a possible feud, but I'm also wondering if AW may have also been scouting Ziggler. Anyhow, a good match while it lasted. **1/4

John Cena Interview - The live crowd wasn't into this nearly as much as they would have been if Cena wasn't speaking "via satellite". It was definitely a pro Cena crowd in Greensboro. At any rate, Cena did a good job of selling his anger towards Big Johnny and did a good job of hyping their match. I'm not sure how interested people are going to be in this as far as paying to watch Cena beat up Big Johnny. Cena showed good intensity and gave some new details on his arm "injury". Cena would've gotten a much bigger response had he been there in person and I liked the little twist in which Cena informed everyone that the reason the WWE Board of Directors hadn't contacted JL was because they talked to Cena first and Cena asked them to leave JL to him. Cole tried to be his usual asshole self by injecting a question in which he put over Big Johnny's abilities and said Cena might be afraid of him. It was a fairly short segment, but solid overall. Thumbs Up

3. Layla & Kelly Kelly vs. Natalya & Maxine - A waste of time, even more so than usual for Diva matches. Kelly Kelly & Natalya didn't even get tagged in and Maxine's offense amounted to little more than a big hair pull take down on Layla. Layla scores the win in about a minute with a neckbreaker on Maxine. N/A

4. Sheamus & Randy Orton vs. Alberto Del Rio & Chris Jericho - An entertaining match that told a good story throughout. Sheamus did a pretty decent job of selling his injured arm and Jericho & Del Rio seemed to work well as a team. The ending is what really put the match over for me. Orton takes out Del Rio while Jericho is struggling to get to his feet with Sheamus setting up for the Brogue Kick. Jericho ducks out of the way & Sheamus catches Orton with the kick instead. Jericho quickly comes up and hits the Codebreaker on Sheamus for the clean win at the 13 minute mark. Jericho then walks over and picks up the World Heavyweight Championship while screaming "this is mine". Sheamus helps Orton up only for Orton to quickly strike with an RKO before posing on the ropes. ***

Backstage Brawl - Backstage, just as Big Johnny is finished talking with Eve, Jericho comes in and says that he should have the next title shot as he just pinned Sheamus. Del Rio comes in and makes his case before Orton comes in and demands a shot. A brawl breaks out when Sheamus comes in with JL screaming for everyone to stop. Orton & Sheamus exchange words before Johnny informs Sheamus that they had a point, so Johnny makes the match at Over The Limit a Fatal 4-Way match. I thought they did a good job of selling the match with the brawl in general and I was hoping this would come about. Let's face it, Del Rio doesn't have the heat to go in against Sheamus as people just aren't all that into him at this point in time. Thumbs Up

5. Brodus Clay vs. The Miz - I expected another 30 second squash match here, so I was a little surprised to see The Miz come out. Miz & Clay had a match that went to the 5 minute mark and it was pretty decent. Not a classic by any stretch but it was a nice change to see Clay not being this human juggernaut that plows through his opponents in 30 seconds flat. Miz got in a good deal of offense on Clay and took him down a lot, which in and of itself was a little surprising, as guys Clay's size are usually portrayed as these immovable objects that's damn near impossible to knock down. The ending comes when Clay manages to counter Miz's second attempt at a double axehandle from the top by catching him and hitting him with his suplex/throw. Clay then delivers the big splash for the clean win. I guess Miz is still in the doghouse. **

Paul Heyman - As Cole & Lawler were updating people on Triple H's "injury" and what's going to be going on, Lesnar's music hits. Cole says that Lesnar isn't here but he sent his legal adviser to addrress the WWE. Surprisingly, out walks Paul Heyman. He didn't get a monster pop like I thought he would, but he got a decent pop. Heyman did a great job of putting over Brock Lesnar and played his part very well. He didn't come out and harp on ECW and what he's done in wrestling, he didn't try to cater to the crowd while bragging about his own greatness or any of that. Lesnar's situation was supposed to be the center of the thing and Heyman kept it that way. Having Heyman on Raw to represent him in the weeks that he'll be absent is a good idea as Heyman is infinitely better on the mic and Lesnar flat out needs a mouthhpiece. Heyman took a few shots at the WWE executives and the WWE fans themselves for their "treatment" of Brock Lesnar and reads a statement Lesnar wrote himself. Heyman delivers it well before announcing that Brock Lesnar has "quit" the WWE, which got a decent round of applause from the fans, before leaving. It's an interesting twist here and a pleasant surprise to see Heyman in this role. While Lesnar hasn't really "quit", it'll be interesting to see if he shows up next week as Triple H will be on Raw. I'm expecting Triple H to do something in which he's able to convince Lesnar to stay and I expect them to announce Triple H vs. Lesnar for SummerSlam, which should give Trips enough time to "heal up" and go through all the therapy on his arm. Thumbs Up

5. CM Punk vs. Lord Tensai & Daniel Bryan - Pretty good 7 minute handicap match that told a good story. Punk did a good job of holding his own against both Bryan & Tensai, with both Bryan & Tensai getting their licks in as well. Bryan seemed like a coniving opportunist here, which I love. It's so much better than him being a cowardly heel. Late in the match, Punk delivers a roundhouse kick that knocks Tensai down. He then climbs the ropes to go for the Macho Man elbow, but Bryan pulls his foot out from under him, causing him to straddle the top turnbuckle. Tensai recovers and grabs Punk by the throat and pulls him off the ropes. He tries to do the chokebomb but their timing was off and Punk didn't go up very high. Tensai then sprayed the green mist onto his hand and delivered the claw to Punk. Punk goes down to the mat and the ref makes the three count. I wasn't at all crazy about Tensai getting the win here as it was Bryan that needed it. After all, Bryan is the one facing CM Punk at the ppv for the WWE Championship. Bryan slapped the Yes Lock onto Punk while screaming "Yes!" over and over, which the live crowd was doing as well. The ref manages to break the hold but Bryan locks it back in a minute later. After it's broken a second time, Bryan stands over Punk's prone body while chanting his catchphrase. The live crowd joins in, with some fans chanting "NO" instead. **1/2

Final Thoughts - I thought Raw was a pretty solid show overall. It did feel a bit flat at times, such as Cena not being there & doing his interview via satellite, the IC title match and the Divas match. However, I thought that there was overall solid progression & hype towards the ppv. While the Cena interview didn't have as much pop as it would have with him being there, Cena still cut a good promo. Eve continues to do a really good job in her current role and character. The opening with Big Johnny & CM Punk was well done. Paul Heyman showing up was a nice surprise and he did a good job as Lesnar's "legal adviser" and needs to remain Lesnar's mouthpiece. There were also some good matches on the show in my view. While short, Kofi & Ziggler put on a fun match that worked at a good pace. It felt like they squeezed in a lot more action than the time of the match would suggest. The tag match between Orton & Sheamus vs. Del Rio & Jericho was fun, it told a good story and it set up a much more interesting fourway match at the ppv for the WHC, which is for the best because Sheamus vs. Del Rio is certainly not going to draw at this time. Clay vs. The Miz was a pretty decent effort and it was good to see Clay get an actual match on television after months of 30 second squashes. The handicap Punk vs. Tensai & Bryan match was also pretty good, though I didn't like the ending. I know WWE is trying to get Tensai over, nothing wrong with that, but Bryan should have been the one to get the win over Punk as he's the one that has a title match coming up. All in all, last night's show was solid in my eyes. It wasn't a spectacular show, but there was good progression in the major storylines going on and there were about 4 decent to very good matches on the card.

Grade: B-

 

[smokeyjoe414]

Hmmm my thoughts on RAW;
Well as opening segments go i liked ol johnny ace trying to big himself up before having the smile wiped off his face by Punk. Yes it was a bit juvenile but ultimately entertaining and im glad that the JL/punk feud is still simmering, although it will never match the austin/mcmahon feud we can only hope to see more from these 2.

The backstage bit with Show mocking the JL voice did get me smiling, however the predictable and disappointing match between show and cody further fuels my frustration that the I.C title continues to devalued. Then Eve comes out to do her mega-bitch impression, 10 years ago show would have chokeslammed her through the ring, but in this day and age the giant has been made to look soft by this ho'ski and my disappointment is at its highest with the nights Raw only 20 mins old

AHHHH redemption, a proper wrestling match that pits the talents of kofi kingston w/R-truth vs Dolph Ziggler w/swagger and couger gurrero.
Good back and forth action with the usual heel finish that has my interest in the show reignited, good to see ziggler actually have a match were he is not being squashed by a mediocre heavy weight cough clay cough, and id like to see Zig and Swag* vs R Boom* at OTL for the Tag belts. *anyone else like the tag names iv given them lol
Im also curious about this AW and weather he is going to start a faction to take over wwe, having already signed epico, primo, mason ryan and possibly 1 or 2 others.

Cena and Cole's interview segment was necessary although predictable, i agree with punk though.... i cant wait to see cena kick johnny ace's ass, although i forsee JL and 5 other guys mugging cena and forcing him off tv till summerslam. :/

Broadus Clay's music hits so i figure iv got 10 minutes to get a coffee and maybe check facebook and return just in time to see, with some surprise i might add, that his opponent of the evening is the MIZ. Now surely we are gonna see a proper match involving the funkasaures..... well after 4 mins of miz dominating, clay hits 4 moves, gets the win and que another 5 mins of dancing, oh well

Divas match.......... thats 5 mins im never gonna get back, they should have let clay keep dancing lmao

Next up the tag team match, WHY WASNT THIS THE MAIN EVENT!!!!!! Orton and Sheamus vs Y2J and Del Rio was the best match of the night IMO, im usually sceptical of the champ and an unrealistic partner vs the number 1 contender and a totally unrealistic partner but it somehow clicked, four very talented guys made this match a joy to watch, the ending was great and my initial thoughts were " this should be a four way title fight at OTL.
Well within minutes i thought we had gone back to the attitude era, a brawl in the GM office in front of the GM when does that ever happen in this day and age, and then JL did something that id never thought would happen, he made a decision that i agreed with,
and now we have a four way match for the whc at otl.

Cole and King are now going over the HHH/Lesnar situation and inform us that Lesnar's Legal counsel will be addressing the wwe universe and that Lesnar is not here tonight.
I am then confused as to why Lesnars music hits, is this a bluff? is he actually here? no its someone much better, welcome back Paul E Heyman, the undisputed king of heel managers and master of the mic. The man doesnt miss a beat as he rips into a diatribe against the fans and the wwe top brass, all while brilliantly keeping to his role as legal adviser, before reading a statement from Brock saying that he quits.
Now we all know he hasnt really quit so next week should be interesting, and i really hope this isnt the last we have seen of heyman, hopefully he reprises his role as brocks agent

Now its main event time, Punk vs Tensai, a punishment match for punks comments at the start of the show, Tensai is now JL's hired goon by all accounts and i was hoping to see a good back and forth match between these 2.
However, JL then inserts dan brein into the match to make it a handicap, and my interest in the nights main event dies so i switch off, checking back later to see the predictable result, good lord i hope Punk severely injures DB at OTL and makes the world a better place.

In conclusion, i thought this was a poor episode with only 2 matches worth a mention and the return of heyman being the only real talking points, others may have enjoyed the main event but i certainly did not and im hoping for a better showing next week.
GRADE D

 

[TLK]

Wasn't a fan of Raw for the most part. The highlight was Heyman's return, as he still has it on the mic and can be as convincing as anyone in that respect. I like him as Lesnar's mouthpiece so that Lesnar doesn't have to appear every week, thus saving his limited # of appearances for events that actually make Vince money (PPVs). However, I don't like the idea of a monster (probably the biggest monster) heel squabbling over contract negotiations. You say you're an ass kicker, so just kick some ass. Who cares about all the extracurriculars? That being said, I'm excited for the Hunter/Lesnar feud to officially commence, and I hope Lesnar goes over.

As for the rest of Raw, it was nice to see the show end with Daniel Bryan getting the better of Punk. Fans really have taken to his character. Should be a great match. I wish they were given promo time instead of jumbling around all the feuds (why revert back to Johnny Ace/Punk when it's now Johnny Ace/Cena?). Fatal Fourway should be good even though the way it was brought about seemed completely forced and predictable.

Now onto my biggest gripe. I'm sure there will be many that disagree, but it should be pretty obvious to all. Punk's character is a joke. I like CM Punk, and think he has all the tools (good in the ring, great on the mic) but his character has eroded so much since last July that it's hardly the same guy. At times I find myself rolling my eyes when he cuts promos because I know exactly what he's going to say. Most of the time it's hypocritical. Sometimes it's just plain cheesy (toolbox?!?). Just last November, he was going on about how the "fans of professional wrestling" don't want to be addressed as the "WWE Universe," but just last night, he referred to the audience as such multiple times. I don't know if the higher-ups are pushing him to use that "buzzword" as he called it, or not, but it's almost embarrassing how far his character has fallen. He used to have a certain edge and create a special buzz whenever he appeared and grabbed a microphone. Now it's the same recycled cut-and-paste promo week in and week out (the same thing Cena catches a ton of flack for). And why is Punk going to bat for Cena, the same guy that he ran down last summer to become the hottest thing in pro wrestling? I don't get the sense of rebellion and an anti-establishment resonance from Punk like I did when he was really catching fire. He seems really watered down, and I find myself questioning his ability to remain a top face unless he regains that edge. The fans still seem to love him, which I guess is all that matters, so time will tell.

 

[JaylisJayP]

Wasn't a fan of Raw for the most part. The highlight was Heyman's return, as he still has it on the mic and can be as convincing as anyone in that respect. I like him as Lesnar's mouthpiece so that Lesnar doesn't have to appear every week, thus saving his limited # of appearances for events that actually make Vince money (PPVs). However, I don't like the idea of a monster (probably the biggest monster) heel squabbling over contract negotiations. You say you're an ass kicker, so just kick some ass. Who cares about all the extracurriculars? That being said, I'm excited for the Hunter/Lesnar feud to officially commence, and I hope Lesnar goes over.

As for the rest of Raw, it was nice to see the show end with Daniel Bryan getting the better of Punk. Fans really have taken to his character. Should be a great match. I wish they were given promo time instead of jumbling around all the feuds (why revert back to Johnny Ace/Punk when it's now Johnny Ace/Cena?). Fatal Fourway should be good even though the way it was brought about seemed completely forced and predictable.

Now onto my biggest gripe. I'm sure there will be many that disagree, but it should be pretty obvious to all. Punk's character is a joke. I like CM Punk, and think he has all the tools (good in the ring, great on the mic) but his character has eroded so much since last July that it's hardly the same guy. At times I find myself rolling my eyes when he cuts promos because I know exactly what he's going to say. Most of the time it's hypocritical. Sometimes it's just plain cheesy (toolbox?!?). Just last November, he was going on about how the "fans of professional wrestling" don't want to be addressed as the "WWE Universe," but just last night, he referred to the audience as such multiple times. I don't know if the higher-ups are pushing him to use that "buzzword" as he called it, or not, but it's almost embarrassing how far his character has fallen. He used to have a certain edge and create a special buzz whenever he appeared and grabbed a microphone. Now it's the same recycled cut-and-paste promo week in and week out (the same thing Cena catches a ton of flack for). And why is Punk going to bat for Cena, the same guy that he ran down last summer to become the hottest thing in pro wrestling? I don't get the sense of rebellion and an anti-establishment resonance from Punk like I did when he was really catching fire. He seems really watered down, and I find myself questioning his ability to remain a top face unless he regains that edge. The fans still seem to love him, which I guess is all that matters, so time will tell.

He went from edgy to corny. And to me he's losing whatever he had that helped him back up his attitude to begin with. Been saying for a while he's just another PG stooge now, and I get ready to change the channel every time he motions for the Go To Sleep. It's horrible. His Pipe Bomb thing is even worse.

 

[TLK]

It's almost as if he's trying too hard to be edgy and cool, but falling flat on his face. His promos and insults are (unfortunately) comparable to the PG-induced humor found in most Cena promos. Ironically, Cena is the guy Punk targeted as the corny corporate stooge when the whole "pipe bomb" thing began. He was better before he started seemingly begging for reactions. Turning him full face and changing his music might've been the worst thing to happen to him.

 

[WWEvsJosh]

As for the rest of Raw, it was nice to see the show end with Daniel Bryan getting the better of Punk. Fans really have taken to his character. Should be a great match. I wish they were given promo time instead of jumbling around all the feuds (why revert back to Johnny Ace/Punk when it's now Johnny Ace/Cena?). Fatal Fourway should be good even though the way it was brought about seemed completely forced and predictable.

Now onto my biggest gripe. I'm sure there will be many that disagree, but it should be pretty obvious to all. Punk's character is a joke. I like CM Punk, and think he has all the tools (good in the ring, great on the mic) but his character has eroded so much since last July that it's hardly the same guy. At times I find myself rolling my eyes when he cuts promos because I know exactly what he's going to say. Most of the time it's hypocritical. Sometimes it's just plain cheesy (toolbox?!?). Just last November, he was going on about how the "fans of professional wrestling" don't want to be addressed as the "WWE Universe," but just last night, he referred to the audience as such multiple times. I don't know if the higher-ups are pushing him to use that "buzzword" as he called it, or not, but it's almost embarrassing how far his character has fallen. He used to have a certain edge and create a special buzz whenever he appeared and grabbed a microphone. Now it's the same recycled cut-and-paste promo week in and week out (the same thing Cena catches a ton of flack for). And why is Punk going to bat for Cena, the same guy that he ran down last summer to become the hottest thing in pro wrestling? I don't get the sense of rebellion and an anti-establishment resonance from Punk like I did when he was really catching fire. He seems really watered down, and I find myself questioning his ability to remain a top face unless he regains that edge. The fans still seem to love him, which I guess is all that matters, so time will tell.

As D Bryan would say. YES! YES! YES! YES! I agree 100%. Punk to me has already lost all of his edge. I dont hate him and like i have said many times on this site i was a huge fan of the SES gimmick he once had but Punk is boring now. There is no reason to cheer him other than "he wrestles better than Cena" Who cares? I mean i is great in the ring but the same can be said about half the talent in the WWE also. "Your ugly"? "Your stupid"? People call that mic skills? In think in the next half a year he will loose some fans.

 

[BigThunder]

The trouble is, they needed a #2 face to go after John and advance the storyline, and Punk was the wrong fit for the job. WWE really doesn't have a face who could've done this, given that Cena doesn't have many SL friends or allies.

I can only imagine that Punk was probably not happy about some of the characterization he was forced to do. I really wish they'd let him say something along the lines of: "I can't believe I'm actually defending John-Boy, but his hill of suck and lameness is nothing compared to the Mount Everest of suck and lameness that is YOU!"

Also -- as an aside -- I loathe handicap matches. This was better than the usual "punishment" match, but I really hope this does not become a staple of the John L era.

 

[The Eighties]

I thought the Fatal 4 Way got some good development through the failed tag and the two singles matches, it has crafted a beef between all 4 guys and the matches were decent.

I also thought Truth vs Swagger was surprisingly good and AJ squashing Kaitlyn was a surprise, the spoilers said it was a physical match, Bryan's post match doucheness was great as always, I just wonder what the pay-off will be.

Young and O'Neil are an impressive team, I never in a million years thought these two would be entertaining but they are! and their match with CoBro was solid.

Ryback needs to be defined, this Goldberg style push wont work in this era IMO.

Cesaro on the other hand is already interesting despite hideous music and a pointless Rugby past. He's getting a bit of heat off humiliating Teddy and Oksana is a good fit with him plus in ring he's been impressive.

 

[MWRedskins]

a lot of complaints about Punk's promo, but anyone who has seen the show has heard better true, but we pretty much know what Punk thinks of John Laurentius already. he's called him a stooge, dull, boring, clueless to what the people want among other things numerous times. the problem i had with the promo was Punk should've questioned why he challenged Cena and not him because Punk's challeged John numerous times and he backed out.

 

[TLK]

Raw was unbearably bad last night. I watched the opening segment, which felt like my TV screen was doing its best Inspector Gadget impression and slapping me clean across the face. I like Triple H, Paul Heyman and Brock Lesnar, and I understand that they need to preserve Brock's limited appearances, but please don't insult my intelligence with yet another lawsuit angle involving THE biggest heel on your roster (who also happens to be a monster who shouldn't care about the legality of kicking ass).

The tag match w/Punk and Santino vs. Bryan and Cody was fine. I enjoyed it, and thankfully (unlike the rest of the show) we had a clean finish. It's amazing what clean finishes can do to build feuds and cement positions. Someone should inform the writing team that it's OK to book clean finishes. Feuding opponents are allowed to exchange wins. That's for another thread entirely, though. Bryan continues to be one of the most over members of the roster.

After this match, things just plummeted. I found myself skipping parts I didn't care about (the awful Big Show angle - more on that in a moment), and before I knew it, I had skipped all of Raw. That's not a good sign.

Back to the Big Show debacle. I don't understand why he is being made to look like a complete joke. I understand he's a fan favorite. I understand they want people to hate Johnny even more. What I don't understand is why, week-in-and-week-out, they force one of the biggest (no pun intended) superstars in the history of the industry - a man who has drawn buckets full of money - to act like a blubbering fool. How can he be taken seriously ever again? He's 7 feet tall and "500" pounds. He should treat Johnny like a "whack-a-mole" and pound his head into the ground. How are we, as the "WWE Universe," expected to believe that Punk and Cena can call Johnny (unfunny) names and pretty much get away with it, yet Show laughs and is made a fool of then fired? Vince is clearly delusional. I'm not even that big of a Show fan (and now that I think about it, it probably has a lot to do with shit like this), but some of the shit they come up with is just mind-numbingly bad.

 

[MWRedskins]

How are we, as the "WWE Universe," expected to believe that Punk and Cena can call Johnny (unfunny) names and pretty much get away with it, yet Show laughs and is made a fool of then fired? Vince is clearly delusional. I'm not even that big of a Show fan

first let me say that, people are making WAY too big a deal out of ONE promo where Punk didnt insult Johnny like he usually does. one promo where he just sounded Cena-like cant erase the other promos, including one of my favorites when he compared Johnny to a guy from the office and another one where he trashed him trading in his lame tights for his equally lame suits and instead of sucking, just sucked up. basically what i'm saying is that Punk has insulted Johnny so much, that one promo cant make me forget all the other ones he had where he trashed him more. Cena's one promo vs. Johnny when he sounded good wasnt bad, but it was never like Punk's was which i think Johnny would've found insulting in real life.

As for that segment, i didnt like it either as it makes Johnny look cheesy, but then again, i think he is pretty lame with his character, i mean, one insult from Cena and he's challenging him, but Punk has flat out called him a suck up numerous times, yet, he has NEVER faced him one on one yet which i always found quit odd. As for the Big Show, i look for him to turn heel to get his job back, so that segment does tend to make sense.

 

[TLK]

If Show turns heel, great. I'll eat my words.

As for the Punk promos, in my opinion, he hasn't cut a memorable one in a while. The pop culture references do nothing for me, and I feel they often fly over the audience's head. To me it seems that Punk's edge is forced now. Before, he'd slowly walk to the ring with a scowl on his face, and people still cheered him. Now he comes off as a typical pandering face. That isn't what made him popular. I wish they hadn't lost sight of what made his character unique. It's why people were calling him "The Next Austin." Now he's just your typical babyface. Nothing special, but still a great talent in the ring and on the mic (when he cuts a serious promo, a la the Jericho feud).

 

[MWRedskins]

If Show turns heel, great. I'll eat my words.

As for the Punk promos, in my opinion, he hasn't cut a memorable one in a while.

i see him turning heel, it just seems like it's going to happen and even if he doesnt then that means that Big Show is taking time off and will likely somehow, someway down the road get re-hired. As for Punk not cutting a memorable promo in a while, i thought the one he cut on Jericho was memorable where he was trying to back up his family on Jericho. he's not Cena as a promo cutter like some people are thinking. sure the insults on Johnny were Cena like, but he doesnt always do those promos. he's usually not this happy go lucky guy like Cena tends to be and seems serious, that's why i usually like his promos, the only one i didnt like was the one with Johnny and that was because of what wasnt said.