WWE Raw - August 6, 2012
Opening Segment - A good, solid opener for Raw that featured some good interaction between Punk & AJ and then Punk & Cena. I also like that they haven't gone the route of portraying Punk as a snivelingly cowardly heel. Given how the show went off the air last week with Punk complaining to AJ about the triple threat match, I thought they were going that route, so I'm thankful they didn't. Punk still tried to get AJ to reconsider, but he didn't kiss up to her. I also liked that AJ put her foot down once Big Show came out. AJ is someone that has a surprisingly broad emotional range that she's able to tap into when the circumstances require it. She books all three of the wrestlers in matches for the night, including CM Punk. I also like that Punk complained at first, thinking he wasn't going to be in a match. Again, like Bryan, Punk is being portrayed as something of a douche bag, but not a cowardly one. AJ made Punk's match a Rawactive match with Rey Mysterio, Kane & The Miz as potential partners. My only complaint is that Punk's match didn't go on later in the show, but a good segment all in all that didn't drag out longer than was needed. Thumbs Up
1. CM Punk vs. Rey Mysterio in a Rawactive match - After the break, the voting results were revealed with Mysterio getting the most. The match itself was very solid in my eyes. It's not as good as most of their ppv matches a few years back, but it was a good showing from both men. The match wasn't as fast paced as I expected, but I don't mind Punk's more methodical style in this match against Rey. Rey's so fast and agile that it makes sense to keep him grounded for a good bit. There was some good back and forth action with Rey hitting most of his signature offense and Punk just coming back. Rey manages to hit 619 on Punk before going for the big splash. Punk gets his knees up just in time before hitting Rey with the GTS for the clean win at the 10.5 minute mark. A good clean win for Punk over a beloved & popular babyface. **3/4
2. Christian vs. Alberto Del Rio - Prior to this match, Del Rio talks with AJ about how he shouldn't have to compete until SummerSlam. AJ says she doesn't have him scheduled for a match before walking off. Del Rio says he's glad she didn't do something crazy, which sets AJ off so she puts him in this match. As for the match itself, it was ok. Certainly nothing compared to the great matches we saw between Christian & Del Rio last year, but it was good for what it was. The match was well paced and it did have a lot of action, so much that it felt like the match was longer than it actually was. Del Rio winds up winning with the armbar submission at the 3.5 minute mark. As Del Rio celebrated, Sheamus appears on the Titantron and compliments Del Rio on his Ferrari. He says that Ricardo left the keys in the ignition and he decides to take the car for a sight seeing tour of San Antonio before driving off. *1/2
3. Randy Orton vs. The Big Show - Pretty decent match between the two. Nothing overly spectacular, but a solid 6 minute match that had both guys looking pretty good. Show did his thing as the near unstoppable babyface well and Orton did well as the tenacious babyface giving it everything he has. Orton looked good, I don't see any signs of ring rust. The end comes with Orton being knocked outside the ring. After fighting for just a bit, Big Show hits a spear on the outside of the ring, causing both to be counted out. Show tosses Orton back into the ring and goes for the WMD. Orton ducks and manages to land an RKO. For some reason, the WWE just can't go without having Orton land his finisher if a match ends via DQ or count out. **
4. Ryback vs. Curt Hawkins & Tyler Reks - Pretty decent for what it was. The match went about 3 minutes, which is about twice as long as I expected. It was nice to see Ryback get something of a real match but, at the same time, Hawkins & Reks deserve better in my view. They'e both pretty talented and I don't see why they're not in the tag team picture right now. However, at least they got some decent exposure on Raw this week. Reks & Hawkins actually controlled most of the match and hit some nice looking offense on Ryback. The end comes with Ryback backdropping Hawkins over the top and into Reks before he goes out and tosses Hawkins back in. He picks Hawkins up and delivers his finisher for the win. *1/2
4. Primo & Epico vs. The Prime Time Players - A decent tag team match, better than I was expecting, and the live crowd is starting to warm up to both teams as they got decent pops & heat throughout the match. I thought Darren Young looked really solid out there and this match made me want to see a good 15 minute match between these two teams at some point. Late in the match, Kofi & Truth come out wearing suits to cut off the PTP's retreat. Epico & Primo came out and they brawled for a bit, with the Players getting the upper hand. Darren Young & Epico are back in the ring, the two legal men. They go at it for a bit more with Young getting distracted by Kofi & Truth. Epico comes up from behind and delivers the Backstabber for the win at the 5 minute mark. There was some good energy to this match and I'm glad to see all three of these teams are getting decent response from the crowds. **1/4
Brodus Clay & Damien Sandow - Prior to this match, Sandow cuts a brief backstage promo with Josh Matthews and does his usual thing. I really like listening to this guy on the mic. As Clay is making his entrance, Sandow runs up from behind and clips him from behind. He then launches into another aggressive assault on Brodus Clay and continues to focus on Clay's left knee. Just a good, solid beatdown from Sandow and he's someone that's getting strong heat on Raw, even though he's only made a small handful of appearances. I just hope that they don't make Sandow look like a chump against Brodus when the two finally have a match. Thumbs Up
AJ Lee & Daniel Bryan - They featured another brief, backstage segment featuring AJ & Bryan. I enjoy the dynamic between these two as they've really proven some poeple wrong in my opinion. They're both good at using their facial expressions & body language to tell a story during their promos. Bryan states that after he beats Cena tonight, AJ should make the WWE Championship match at SummerSlam a 4-way. AJ states that Bryan is already scheduled for a match at SummerSlam against Kane. Bryan & AJ launch into a duel of "Yes!" and "No!" chants. With AJ's frequent mentioning of the phrase "anger management", it makes me think that Charlie Sheen will have some sort of involvement in Bryan's match. After all, Anger Management is the name of Sheen's show on FX. Thumbs Up
6. Kelly Kelly vs. Eve Torres - This was Kelly Kelly's first appearance on Raw in a few months. While nothing to write home about, this match was still considerably better than most Diva matches on television are. They were given a pretty good amount of time for a Diva match, roughly 4 minutes, with Kelly looking pretty decent. All in all, a better effort from the Divas than what we're used to. Kelly gets the win with a hurricanrana pinning combination. *1/4
Shawn Michaels, Brock Lesnar, Paul Heyman & Triple H - A good segment here that gave the Triple H vs. Brock Lesnar match at SummerSlam a little more juice with the announcement that HBK will be in Triple H's corner. The segment didn't last nearly as long as I thought it would, which isn't a bad thing really as they've had several segments & matches on tonight's show that've featured younger talent. HBK tells Lesnar that he thinks Triple H will win and just as Lesnar looks like he's going to attack Shawn, Triple H's music hits and he comes out in a t-shirt & jeans with his forearms taped up looking ready to fight. Lesnar laughs and tells him he'll see him at SummerSlam. He tells HBK that he'll see him before SummerSlam, so maybe they'll do a segment next week or the week after in which Lesnar delivers a beatdown to HBK. Thumbs Up
7. Alex Riley vs. Dolph Ziggler - An ok match that did a good job of further hyping the Ziggler/Jericho feud. Jericho did a good job on commentary and Ziggler also did a good job of showing off inside the ring, which Jericho used to help tell the story of the match. The action was pretty decent and it set up the story nicely of Jericho being the seasoned & patient veteran while Ziggler as a cocky show off that can be distracted, thus providing a possible strategy for Jericho to exploit. The end comes with Ziggler talking trash to Jericho as Jericho stands up. Riley comes up from behind and rolls Ziggler up for a surprising win at the 4.5 minute mark. Jericho remarks that he can still win "the big one" while Ziggler can't even win "the little one" against Alex Riley. Nice progression of their feud here and it's announced during commercial that Jericho will host the Highlight Reel on SD! this Friday with Ziggler as his guest. *1/2
8. The Miz vs. Kane - This was another match that had a good deal of action into a short amount of time. The match only went 4 minutes, but it felt like about twice that. The crowd was pretty flat for this match, which is understandable to some degree since both these guys are heels. There's nobody really to root for. All in all, pretty solid back and forth match. I like that Miz is being portrayed as more tenacious than he has been in the past, it does make him seem a lot different. A few tweaks here and there can do that. I was surprised at the ending with Kane getting the clean win via the chokeslam. Miz could've used the win here but, then again, so did Kane. I guess Kane vs. Bryan is a higher priority right now than Miz as IC champ. I don't see the loss as really hurting Miz, he has only returned recently and this only makes his third or fourth match since being back. **1/4
9. John Cena vs. Daniel Bryan - A strong main event to close things out with. It was a very nice mix of Styles with Cena as the near inhumanly strong, never-say-die baby face against Bryan as this tenaciously skilled little pitbull. They definitely didn't go all out for this match, but they certainly delivered a very good match all the same. Bryan's intensity is great and he got in a lot of offense on John Cena. There were a couple of good near falls spread here and there during the match, including Bryan's big diving headbutt that went about three quarters of the way across the ring. Close to the end, Cena locks Bryan in the STFU and Bryan contemplates tapping. Bryan countered the move skillfully and tries to lock Cena in the "No! Lock". He's not quite able to get it locked in and Cena counters with his strength by standing up and swinging Bryan onto his shoulders. Cena then delivers the Attitude Adjustement for the win at the 14 minute mark. The live crowd was hot for this match from beginning to end and both men got great responses. It would've been great to see Bryan get a victory here, I expected CM Punk to pop up and provide a distraction or maybe nail Cena from behing. However, I'm not surprised it didn't go down this way. ***1/4
Closing Segment - As Cena celebrates, Punk's music hits and he comes down to the ring. He climbs in, stands in front of Cena and holds up the WWE Championship. Big Show is running down the ramp and Cena shoves Punk out of the way. Cena is able to pick Show up for the AA before Punk pushes him over just like he did last week. Punk goes for another roundhouse kick on Big Show, but Show catches his leg and hits him with WMD. As Cena is starting to stand up, Show hits him with WMD as well. He picks up the title and poses over the prone bodies of both his SummerSlam opponents to close the show. Thumbs Up
Final Thoughts - I thought that Raw was another highly entertaining show this week. After comparing the two shows, I have to agree with other posters today that've said last night's show had a smoother pace to it. Another plus for this show is that there were several matches or segments that featured young talent that allowed them to further their current storylines. That didn't really happen so much last week. There was a lot of wrestling action on last night's Raw as well, with 9 matches in total. While most of the matches were on the short side, they made good use of the time they had and they didn't feel like filler. Most of them had a good amount of energy to them and managed to accomplish goals. All in all, last night's Raw made good use of the extra time. There were two solid promo segments that I'm pleased didn't eat up tons of time. Most of the matches were at least solid while Punk vs. Mysterio & Cena vs. Bryan were two strong tv matches. They were good matches and I felt like they didn't give everything away. We've seen Punk & Rey have better matches a few years back and I'm sure Cena & Bryan could put on a potential match of the year candidate everytime out if they wanted to. Damien Sandow, the key players in the tag team picture, Hawkins & Reks and the Jericho/Ziggler feud all got decent to good exposure on last night's Raw. There were no skits, no constant replays of past events, no foolishness with Santino or Hornswoggle. Just overall solid wrestling, solid promo segments, solid storytelling and solid exposure for some younger & fresh talent on the roster.
Grade: B+
that was a true mark-out moment for myself, as I am an unashamed Jerichoholic. To answer your question however, I agree that Vickie did too much talking, especially since the feud is between Ziggler and Jericho. However, if they'd have made Ziggles come out and do the insulting instead of Vickie, they would've HAD to make Jericho squash Dolph...again. The guy reinstating himself as a fan-favorite persona can't do down clean to the guy he's been humiliating week-in and week-out. The way it was played out allowed both men to come out strong. On Jericho's side, the fans can make excuses for him such as, "he was blindsided, there's no way that would have happened otherwise! He's Y2J!" So as lame as that part was, it was needed in order to make both men still come out strong.
