I really enjoyed Raw last night, it was always going to be based around nostalgia so I knew it wouldn't be a big focus on the actual matches, but for a 1000th episode I didn't really mind. It was a fun night and I am interested to see where they go from here on 3hours as they can't rely on nostalgia for all of them.
Vince opening the show was great with the 'Welcome to Monday Night Raaaaww'
I really enjoyed the D-X return with all the rest of the band coming out, I had a feeling it would happen but I popped for it when it actually did. All I wanted was to hear the Road Dogg do his bit and I got a bit of a laugh when he stuttered over the Bad A..Man Billy Gunn bit. There must be some big time love for Sandow backstage (no reason not to be he has done very well since his debut) to be given the opportunity to be the one to come out and interrupt DX and I was glad to see he did his job well.
The 6 man tag match wasn't memorable at all, other than Ziggler screwing Jericho and it wasn't really worth bringing JR out for at all, I would have rathered he stayed in the back to be honest this match had barely any time and the commentating would have been the same without JR because of this.
Brodus against Swagger was only there to have Dude Love come out and this really could have been done without having Swagger, who gave Ryback a bit of a go last week, be squashed by 2 moves.
Aj and Layla backstage was quite funny and I really did get a laugh out of May Young's son showing up
The backstage bit with HHH and Trish was funny and when I seen her there I knew this was going to be recreated and it worked out well enough and got the laughs WWE wanted.
Then up comes the wedding I really expected someone to come down and ruin this as is always the way but it never came and then Vince came out. I would never ever have guessed that AJ would be the new Raw GM and I am interested to see where this all goes now. (also AJ wore converse to her wedding)
Punk comes out to make fun of Bryan's failed marriage attempt, and shortly after the Rock comes out. He announces that he will be wrestling for the WWE title at the Royal Rumble. I am not overly happy about this as I see Rock winning at the Rumble retaining until Mania and it's Rock V Cena 2, with Cena having won the Royal Rumble match.
The 3 of these men do some nice little promo work which was enjoyable the Rock managed to do the whole bit with Punk without being childish which I really enjoyed and then for some reason decides Bryan is an umpa lumpa. He hits Bryan with the Rock Bottom and I fully expected Rock to turn round into a roundhouse kick from Punk, but this was saved till later.
Next it's Bret Hart out to announce the IC title match, not sure why he did it didn't really add anything to the match, seemed to be just a way to fire Bret into the show for some reason. Anyway the surprise opponent is the Miz. We get a nice enjoyable little match here with Miz picking up the win, seems like the most awesome wwe competitor of all time
is back on track.
Next up is HHH calling out Brock Lesnar and out comes the ultimate Slimeball himself Paul Heyman (God I love Heyman and his slimy character). Heyman tells HHH "NO", who didn't see that coming. The two have a verbal exchange with insults with HHH trying to goad Brock into the match.
Heyman crosses a line mentioning HHH's kids (A throw out at Foley and Ambrose?) and here comes the billion dollar princess to defend her kids. She slaps Heyman and gets HHH the match he wanted, didn't take much for her to goad Heyman into the match, and Heyman made a nice comment about how she learned that from Daddy and is teaching it to her kids. Steph (looking great) jumps Heyman and then Lesnar's music hits.
HHH allows Steph to stay in the ring as Lensar approaches probably should have just told her to get out straight away to be honest. A brawl ensues and HHH gets the better of Brock, builds up nicely for Summerslam.
Out comes Santino and hornswaggle for a very brief and pointless segment.
Next up is Heath Slater and he challenges any legend to a no DQ match. I was wondering who would come out and then I heard the music. Was great to see Lita back, and holy god she is still smoking hot. She comes down and announces she took out a little protection policy for this match. I was on the edge of my seat hoping for it and then POP! here they come it's the APA was great to have these two back.
Slater tries to duck out of the match and is ambushed by his past opponents and Sgt. Slaughter. He gets thrown into the ring and gets hit with a twist of fate. He gets up to take a superb looking Clothsline from Hell, that literally leaves Heath turned upside down ( it was hilarious how long he stood on his head for). Then Lita goes up top and hits a great looking moonsault for the 1,2,3...........................DAMN!
Out comes Kane and just before he sets the pyro off he is interrupted by 6 guys who 'haven't been given a shot on tv in 1000 episodes'. 2 of them got squashed by Ryback in the last 2 weeks, 2 of them wrestled the tag team champs and were in and 8 man tag match the week before. So 2 of the 6 had legit reason for being there. Anyway they surround the ring and then the gong hits. Nice to see Taker back if not only a little predictable. Now I get to sit through a very long entrance and watch the Brothers of Destruction clear house.
Ok so Main Event time (I already figured Cena would lose and it would be due to interference a thought only furthered by WWE's twitter pole which inexplicably featured RockShow. A dead give away that I already had a hunch on).
Anyway the ME is given 10 minutes or so to be finished. A little back and forth match, the Ref gets knocked down and here comes Show, like anyone didn't see this coming. Show batters Cena and then Punk does a great job selling his emotions and ultimately does what anyone would do goes for that W. (Also why would Punk help Cena against Show, Show is built as a wrecking machine why would you do something that sets his sight on you). Anyway Cena kicks out and locks on the STF. We see a DQ win, which allows the MitB briefcase not to grant a title to those who cash it in but doesn't make Cena look weak.
Out comes Rock to save the day and he manages to come in and dominate Big Show, makes sense right? Anyway Rock hits that old Spine on the Pine and goes for the People's Elbow but before he connects, wham! a big lariat from Punk. Punk then hits a GTS and leaves the Rock out in the middle of the ring. Nice work from all but a little predictable on Show's interference and Cena losing in my opinion (although it made sense).
Interesting to see next week if Punk is full fledged heel or if he just says he didn't like the Rock? Does Cena get another chance? What's AJ going to do as GM?
The show did what it meant to and also leaves people wanting to see more next week I enjoyed this show.