Official Raw/Smackdown Aftermath, Ratings and Review Thread

Grade tonight's RAW.

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WWE Friday Night SmackDown! - January 14, 2011

Opening Segment - I liked the opening segment of the show as it put focus on guys that are in the mid-card right now. Del Rio came out and did his thing, doing very well as usual, only to be interrupted by R-Truth. I'm not crazy about Truth on the mic but I thought he and Del Rio mesh well against each other. They're just two completely different characters and feel like natural enemies. Cody Rhodes comes out after a bit and does his thing as well. I like Cody Rhodes and though he did well on the mic. Finally, Mysterio comes out and mostly focuses his comments on Del Rio. Nothing groundbreaking here, but it was an interesting promo segment that hyped the Royal Rumble match well. Thumbs Up

Rey Mysterio & R-Truth vs. Alberto Del Rio & Dashing Cody Rhodes - Great opening tag team match with a lot of energy and a hot crowd. I thought it dragged just a little at a few points but all four have good chemistry together and put on an entertaining 15 minute tv tag match. Mysterio gets the win for his team by hitting the 619 and splash on Cody Rhodes. Truth gets a little measure of vindication at having lost to Del Rio in singles action on Raw the past few weeks, Mysterio also gets a little vidication after having lost to Del Rio in a 2 out of 3 falls match last week and the fans get a happy moment with the heels losing. Thumbs Up

St8 Outa Brooklyn With JTG - This was a harmless video segment but it didn't do anything for me. I just simply care nothing about JTG or any of his attempts to be funny. I think that JTG has potential and I think he's pretty decent in the ring, but this just does nothing for me. Thumbs Down

Wade Barrett Promo - I thought Wade Barrett gave a great brief promo backstage. He compared himself to Julius Caesar in terms of greatness and, like Caesar, fell due to the betrayal of others. I like that Barrett focused on SmackDown! and The Big Show and didn't really discuss what happened on Raw. Barrett came across as a little more laid back here but with the same smooth, comfortable delivery. Thumbs Up

Drew McIntyre vs. Trent Baretta - Decent little match while it lasted and I was a little surprised to see Baretta get the win here. The win was booked to look like something of a fluke for Baretta, which is the way to go here give that the choice was to give him a win. Now both guys have victories over the other in short matches. Next week, the WWE should give them 10+ minutes for a match. I like Baretta, I've watched him on Superstars a lot and he can work inside the ring. The WWE can screw this up in the next match with these two by having McIntyre demolish Baretta, which would make this match absolutely pointless. Still, the match did its job and made me want to see these two given a lot of time to do their stuff in another match. Thumbs Up

The Big Show vs. Wade Barrett - I'm glad that the match, what there was of it, didn't have Show swatting Barrett all over the place like a fly. Barrett went at him and hit Show with some basic, but still good and sensible, ground and pound offense to his left knee. About 3 minutes in, after Show tries unsuccessfully several times to hit Barrett with the chokeslam, Justin Gabriel & Heath Slater hit the ring. Show holds his own against the 3 former Nexus members for a bit until Ezekiel Jackson hits the ring and levels Show with a massive clothesline. They all beat on Show for a bit before Big Zeke eventually body slams Show, with ease I might add, and Gabriel hits the 450 Splash. I liked this beatdown here because it just seemed really smooth and natural to me. Here are four guys making up this group, I dunno if it's going to be some extension of Nexus or what, and all four do bring something unique to the table. Ezekiel Jackson looks like a friggin' monster and I love the idea of him being the muscle of a group. It'll keep him in the picture and give him something to do while covering up for his shortcomings inside the ring. As with all things, the WWE can wind up doing something to screw this up but I like what happened here tonight. Thumbs Up

Beth Phoenix vs. Michelle McCool - Good, solid match here from two Divas that can work inside the ring. I'm not a huge fan of women's wrestling and, truth be told, it wouldn't kill me if the WWE never had another women's match again. But, I do like what they've been doing with the Divas over the past month or so. They've actually put Divas into feuds and actually had them wrestle matches instead of 60 seconds of nonsense. Nothing overly special happened during the match, but both women have good chemistry and put forth a good 5 minute match. Beth Phoenix gets the win after countering a victory roll Michelle McCool used to counter the Glam Slam. I know the Divas are filler and that's fine. I don't mind filler as long as it's something watchable and does serve some sort of purpose. Thumbs Up

Kofi Kingston vs. Jack Swagger - Some good mic work from both of them before their match. The match was good while it lasted. It wasn't as good as we've seen out of these two but it was a fun 5 minute match with the crowd very firmly behind Kofi. Some good storytelling and back & forth action here but the match needed to be longer than what it was to really give it that oomph. Kofi gets the win after hitting the SOS roll up. Nothing spectacular here, but a good match to affirm Kofi as the new IC champ. Thumbs Up

The Cutting Edge - Really good work here from everyone involved. Of course, Edge & Vickie's past would be brought up and would be made a central part of the segment. I like that Ziggler stepped up here and did a good amount of talking. He held his own on the mic with Edge and I like that he also hit on some of the positives his own career had during his "relationship" with Vickie and that he put Vickie over. Things did eventually get physical and I like that Ziggler ultimately got the last laugh by pulling Edge outside and hitting a modified Zig Zag against the ring steps. He and Vickie close things out by making out while standing over the fallen Edge. Good closing segment and a good start to this feud. Thumbs Up

Overall Show - Very solid episode of SmackDown! that did a good job hyping the Royal Rumble match itself, devoting time to mid-card wrestlers and a good start to the Dolph Ziggler/Edge feud. It wasn't as good as last week's, but I don't think anyone could really expect it to be because last week's show was pretty much perfect. The wrestling content on the show was good and solid though I would've liked to have seen Kofi vs. Swagger go longer than 5 minutes. Wade Barrett, Justin Gabriel, Heath Slater & Big Zeke Jackson made a big impression tonight. On the surface, these four have the makings of a very interesting faction. I just hope the WWE doesn't screw this up. The Divas put forth a good effort and I also like that SD! put some real focus on its mid-card. They often give mid-card guys time on the mic and in the spotlight and I wish it's something that Raw would start doing. No real complaints about tonight's show. There wasn't really anything spectacular about tonight's SD!, but almost everything that happened had a purpose and worked out quite well.

Grade: B
 
Smackdown was great! the opening promos and tag match set the stage well. While McIntyre may still be fairly dull, this current angle with Kelly is the best thing they have done with him so far, hopefully it has a pay-off.

Big Show vs Barrett was solid for it's short run time and the formation of the SD-Nexus was pretty well executed, even if Zeke's initial stare down with Show was awkward, the subsequent clothesline and body-slam put Zeke over huge as the new monster in the WWE.

Beth/McCool was a decent little match and I liked the clever false finish switch up. Kofi cut an ok promo and then Swagger slobbered some words before the two had a good match, Kofi is really over but still sloppy as he botched the finish.

The Cutting Edge to close the show was awesome! All three got a chance to deliver on the mic and they did, Vickie's "It was our wedding day!" screech was hilarious and the whole segment was entertaining, Ziggler hitting the zig-zag on Edge into the steel steps looked brutal. It really was a great start to the build for their title match at the Rumble.
 
Smackdown Hits:

Cody Rhodes and Alberto Del Rio vs R-Truth and Rey Mysterio: A solid start to the show, and actually some semblance of a feel of building towards the Rumble in the opening promo by all four men! What a novel idea. Del Rio is the only one of the four who handled themself well in this promo, but it was harmless fun. The fifteen minute match itself was solid, and it was nice to see Rey bounce back and get a win after last weeks loss.

Wade Barrett promo: This was a strong promo from Barrett. I suspected he would say something of the sort, and it made sense that he went after the biggest dog in the fight after doing the same on Raw. The "Hail Caesar" part was corny, but a strong promo otherwise.

The Cutting Edge: Ziggler actually handled himself well on the mic, and the introduction of the videos by both parties was a nice touch. I like how Edge tried to show restraint, but would only take so much from Vickie. God to see Dolph fire the "first shot" in this feud with the(somewhat botched) Zig Zag on the steps, and the make-out pose over the fallen Edge. Not the best Cutting Edge, but a good one nonetheless that started the build nicely towards the Rumble match.

Trent Barretta vs Drew McIntyre: I think this was Barrettas first win ever on WWE TV, and it was well done. It was all offense for Mac, but his aggression got the better of him and cost him the win. I like where this is going with Kelly and Drew, and the Drew attack backstage on Barretta fit in well into Kelly questioning who he is. This should continue the Barretta/McIntyre feud as well, which Id say Barretta needs to win for this not to be an epic failure. But it made me want to see these two go again, and longer.

Kofi Kingston vs Jack Swagger: This was the best Kofi has handled himself on the mic in some time. It seems WWE doesn't see real money in either man, and Swagger's title run seems like a distant memory by the week. Still, this match was very good with Swagger being the aggressor and Kofi taking advantage of Swagger being unable to hit the Oklahoma slam and reversing into the SOS. Its good to see the SOS established as a legitimate finisher once again, even if it was botched a bit. Good match overall.

Wade Barrett vs Big Show: Barrett kept his word and went right after Show, not backing down. This made me happy, as it established him as a legitimate threat rather then someone for Show just to toss around. It seems Slater and Gabriel showed their allegiance to Barrett here, and interjecting Jackson into their faction makes the four look somewhat scary together. The match served its purpose in several ways in that it made Barrett seem strong on his own, and downright scary with the start of a new faction.

Overall Show: Really solid stuff tonight. There was a build towards the Rumble, Kofi looked strong in his first night as IC champion both on the mic and in the ring. The Barrett/Show match was good for what it was, and the aftermath was well done. It makes me want to see what will happen next, which is always a good thing. The Cutting Edge was a strong way to end the show and really helped establish Dolph as a main event player, at least for the time being. The show all in all succeeded where Raw failed, and thats in building towards the Rumble. Overall show gets a B+.

Smackdown Misses:

Michelle McCool vs Beth Phoenix: There was nothing wrong per se with this match, I just couldn't care less. There's no real investment by the company in creating a cohesive storyline for these women at the time, so why should I care about a meaningless match? I dont, and this match gets a miss.

Straight Outta Brooklyn with JTG: So WWE realizes that JTG is AWFUL in the ring, but they keep him around to do crap like this? It isn't funny, its not entertaining, and I dont want it on my TV. Either let the guy wrestle or don't use him, its that simple.
 
Thoughts:

Drew McIntyre and Trent Barretta had a really good match and the ending was good which set up for a nice backstage segment. I actually like the storyline they're doing right now with Drew McIntrye, and it's actually made Drew interesting to me. The problem is the person he's been stuck with, because Kelly Kelly is terrible. Why is Kelly Kelly such a horrible actor? My God. You can tell she's trying to remember her lines every single time she says ANYTHING. It comes out so wooden and fake, alongwith every emotion she makes. This storyline with Drew could've actually been good, and a nice way to elevate him, but I feel like it's sabotaged with Kelly Kelly opposite him. She shouldn't even be in the WWE.

I'm glad WWE decided to move Wade Barrett to Smackdown and to keep him as a heel. Clearly he would've been overshadowed by CM Punk on RAW, so this gives him te chance to continue to shine and develop in the spotlight and it also gives Smackdown another good heel. I enjoyed Barrett vs. Big Show, and I definitely liked the aftermath with another version of Nexus forming. Nexus was definitely too big on RAW, so decreasing their numbers on RAW was a good idea and Gabriel and Slater will work well on Smackdown with Barrett. I like the addition of Ezekial Jackson, too. I don't think he was working as a face, and he seems far better in the role of the heel. He was also lost in the shuffle of RAW's roster, so this move opens up more possibilities for him. He definitely works as the muscle of this group. Although, I do wonder where Skip Sheffield's going to fit in when he returns. I can't see him fitting back into Nexus on RAW, and on Smackdown they definitely don't need TWO monsters.

The Cutting Edge was a good segment and it built nicely towards the title match at the Rumble. I am kind of sick of Vickie Guerrero ****ting around with these different wrestlers, though. It's gotten old. Nice to see Ziggler with a push into the main events though. Whatever did happen to Kaitlynn, though?

One question though; why do Slater and Dolph Ziggler basically have the exact same move? And neither even looks very good.

Overall a good Smackdown this week, with a good Intercontinental title defense by Kofi Kingston, a good tag team match with the always entertaining Alberto Del Rio, some new storylines furthered, and a nice build up to Smackdown's main event at the Rumble. I give the show a B+.
 
Going to try something new with the way I grade these shows (not that anyone gives a shit :))

Smackdown, January 14th, 2011

Del Rio/R-Truth/Cody Rhodes/Rey Mysterio Promo Segment

The Good: Cody Rhodes. That's it.

The Bad : Everything else. I cannot understand a single word coming out of R-Truth's mouth. Can he get canned already? Del Rio is annoying, and says the same thing each week. Mysterio is as stale as stale can get. This segment almost put me to sleep.

Rey Mysterio/R-Truth vs. Del Rio/Rhodes

The Good: Not much here. Generic tag match, where nothing really happened. But when you're gearing up for the 30 man Rumble match, it's hard to build solid, personal feuds.

The Bad: I just cannot bring myself to care about anyone in this match, nor can I buy into it's importance. I find Smackdown to be very, very stale right now.

Trent Barreta vs. Drew McIntyre

The Good: Trent Barreta. This guy has a massive amount of talent, and it's nice he's being given some sort of chance to show it. Physically, these guys work great together, mostly due to Barreta selling his ass off (as usual).

The Bad: I fear this will end badly for Barreta, not only kayfabe-wise, but in terms of his career-path. He will job out to Drew, lose quickly in the Rumble, and I fear that will be the end of his push. I am really hoping Vinny Mac will see this guy has an abundance of talent.

The Big Show vs. Wade Barrett

The Good: Barrett did a good job with his interview segment earlier in the show, and should be a force on Smackdown. Physically, Barrett has the size to look at least somewhat credible against Show, so that alone makes this better. Also, I think Barrett works best when leading a stable. He has that swagger that just screams leadership.

The Bad: I like Barrett leading a stable, but I'm not sure where this Nexus #2 thing is going. Gabriel and Slater are with Barrett now, and so is Big Zeke...wait a second, Big Zeke?? I really don't get this move.

Also, I'm getting really sick and tired of this "Making a Statement" and "Sending a Message" crap. It's boring, and it's lazy booking/writing. Making these Nexus vs. whoever feuds a bit more personal might add a much needed spark.

Michell McCool vs. Beth Phoenix

The Good: Michelle and Layla are smokin' hot.

The Bad: It's Women's wrestling..the feuds mean nothing.

Kofi Kingston vs. Jack Swagger

The Good: They seem to have some sort of chemistry, mostly when Kofi is selling Swaggers offense.

The Bad: I think it's getting to the point where I may never be able to care about Kofi Kingston. He isn't given anything meaningful to say when he cuts a promo, and his matches are dead weight. He's either moving 500 m.p.h., or he's getting his head kicked in. Kofi has absolutely no flow to his matches, and they are the same thing over and over again. It's getting old.

The Cutting Edge w/ Vickie and Dolph Ziggler

The Good: This feud is already off to a much better start than Kane vs. Edge. Also, I think Ziggler can brings much more excitement (in the ring) than Kane ever could. This was funny as well. Edge and Dolph play well off of one another, and Vickie is always a heat magnet.

The Bad: Not a fan of the Cutting Edge. It consists of a mat covering the actual mat, and a few stools. It's boring. It's sure as hell no Piper's Pit, and it could be if it were given any kind of attention. Also, babyface Edge just doesn't bring it like heel Edge does.

OVERALL: C

It was solid, but boring at times. If I had one complaint about WWE at the moment, it would be complacency. They are doing a nice job of switching guys in and out of feuds, but they are using the same formula each time. "I want to make a statement." "Wow, he really sent a message with that victory." "He's got quite the win streak going."

Each week you can find something entertaining going on, but the show isn't evolving. We're getting the same ol' stuff, with new faces. Take this Ziggler/Edge feud. This feud will be over after the Rumble, where both men will probably be involved in the Elimination Chamber match. The other 4 or 5 men (how many ever are in the EC match) will enter the feud, and suck the life right out of it. This feud has potential, but won't get the proper chance to shine. The "formula" will get in the way, mark my words.
 
This week's RAW was entertaining at times but overall nothing special except of course the greatest superstar ever to step foot in a WWE ring. HBK returning after being deservedly inducted into the Hall of Fame was something to remember.
 
I didn't care for the opening promo at all, I mean Miz and Cena are not even feuding and the promo was pretty weak, Cena trying to be funny rarely ever works.

The tag title match was the usual fluff and while I don't mind Santino in skits I think it's stupid having him winning matches with the cobra.

Bryan/Morrison was a bit short but it was a decent match and I'd like to see a rematch at the Rumble. The aftermath stuff revealing the Bella's reason for being around him was meh but I guess it will put an end to an angle that wasn't really going anywhere.

Orton vs Ziggler being shoved on a show with no build up or reason just didn't sit well with me. It was a solid match but surely Miz should have made the run in before Ziggler took the pin, I can see no point in jobbing out a #1 contender like that.

The post match beat down was ok, but it's still very hard to take Miz seriously as a threat because he just doesn't look like one no matter how many times he beats down Orton.

The Divas match was the usual throw away stuff and then poor Ted had another embarrassing segment, it was pretty obvious big Mark was coming out and got to look strong again in the impromptu mini rumble, seems he is on a mini push for the main Rumble.

Cena vs Punk was great though, loved how equal both men looked, great chemistry in the ring and nice to see Punk break out the Koji Clutch which Cena sold like death. The Mason Ryan run in and closing of the show as Punk sacrificed himself for the DQ win was gold, Punk just looked an absolute star at the end.
 
WWE Monday Night Raw - January 17, 2011

Opening Segment - Raw opened with what I felt was a pretty strong segment that, to some degree, set the tone for the show and hinted at the possibility of a Cena vs. Miz match at WrestleMania. Cena came out and did his thing and was pretty solid. He made a few jokes out there, including a PG one so the smarks are going to be all over it, but I thought he did a good job. The Miz comes out shortly thereafter and more than holds his own on the mic against Cena in my view. I'm sorry but The Miz belongs in the main event. Hate on the guy all you want but you have to be blind, stubborn or both to not see that the man has loads of talent. They're interrupted a bit afterward by CM Punk and his new Nexus. Punk apologizes for interrupting The Miz, puts himself over and sends his three boys down to the ring. As they're beating on Cena and about to get the upper hand, Koslov & Santino rush in and help Cena. Just as Punk is about to join the fray, the Raw GM chimes in and says that Punk faces Cena 1 on 1 tonight and if any Nexus member interferes, they'll be out of the Rumble match. Overall, I thought it was a really good opening for the show and part of me is wondering if, somehow, it's going to be a Cena vs. Punk vs. Miz threeway at WM. It's still quite early, but the possibility is there. Thumbs Up

Santino Marella & Vladimor Koslov vs. The Usos - Lame tag title match that just shows how little the WWE cares for its tag team division. Simply put, title matches that last 2.5 minutes mean that the titles simply aren't relevant. The match wasn't bad while it lasted, but everyone knew the outcome before the match ever started. Santino & Koslov score the win after Santino hits the Cobra. I was actually hoping that they would be up against a couple of Nexus members, given that they interfered in their beating of John Cena and with what happened to them last week. Thumbs Down

John Morrison vs. Daniel Bryan - Very solid television match from these two. This match wasn't as strong as it could have been but it was still a high quality 8 minute tv match. It was pretty obvious that JoMo was going to win since they showed a little video homage to him before Daniel Bryan made his ring entrance. It'd be great to see these two given 15 minutes and just set loose. Good strong showing from both men here, some good mat wrestling and pinfall/roll up counters. Morrison eventually hits Bryan with the running knee for the win. As he & Bryan shake hands in the ring, nice little show of sportsmanship I thought that honestly is kinda refreshing, King Sheamus comes out and puts both of them down. Sheamus goes so far as to tell Morrison that he's the reason that JoMo is where he is right now as he forced him to step up his game. Sheamus also addresses Bryan a little bit, stating that neither he or Morrison is on his level. I'm wondering/hoping that this could lead to a 3 way match between them for the United States Championship. Enjoyable match and solid mic work from Sheamus. Thumbs Up

Randy Orton vs. Dolph Ziggler - This is the first time I've seen or even heard of these two wrestling each other. It was an entertaining, high quality match that was another strong performance for Ziggler. It wasn't as good as either of his matches against Cena, but Ziggler still looked strong and continues to look more and more like a main eventer. The match wasn't quite as good as I'd hoped, but there's also nothing to complain about. Ziggler loses the match at the 9 minute mark after Randy Orton counters the Zig Zag into an RKO. Another thing I've noticed about Ziggler over the past several months is that he sells moves well, especially the high impact moves that gets the crowd going. Nobody expected Ziggler to win and this was one of those matches against a huge name and one of the top guys in the company to show what Ziggler's got. Ziggler gets exposure, passes another test and gives a legit main eventer a competitive match. Thumbs Up

Randy Orton Beatdown - Directly following Orton's win, as his music is playing, The Miz & Alex Riley hit the ring and deliver a quality beatdown to the fatigued and "injured" #1 Contender. The Miz puts Orton into the post outside the ring, does some work on his "injured" left knee. Eventually, Orton is put through the security railing by Miz & Riley. The Miz then stands over Orton and says his catchphrase in an ominous tone. Thumbs Up

Natalya vs. Maryse - There's not really much to say here. The match lasts about 2 minutes here and while it isn't exactly a bad match, it's not good either. It's just one of those matches where you just kind of ask yourself "Why'd they put this on?" because it didn't really do anything except eat up some air time. Eve Torres & Melina are out there on commentary and Melina doesn't say a damn thing while Eve bores everyone to death. Natalya does get the win with the Sharpshooter and she does a good job at selling her enthusiasm for being Divas Champion. The Divas, over the past month or so, have been much more hit than miss, but this was a miss. Just ho hum stuff here. Thumbs Down

Mini Battle Royal - After Maryse gets all pissed and calls him a loser, Ted DiBiase calls out any of the Raw superstars to compete in an Over the Top Rope Challenge. Of course, here comes Mark Henry and he puts him over the top in about 60 seconds. Afterward, however, a large number of Raw mid and low carders come out for a little mini impromptu battle royal. Nothing great here, but the point was to give a little bitty hint of the Rumble and push the Rumble match and they were able to do that here. Mark Henry eventually winds up winning, even after eliminating Sheamus. I don't mind it as Henry is a guy that doesn't often get lots of glory. He's not going to win the Rumble match so having him win this little mini version doesn't hurt anyone and gives him a little exposure. No harm, no foul. I can understand if someone wasn't feeling this, but I'm glad this came about instead of just watching him make DiBiase look like a tool. Thumbs Up

John Cena vs. CM Punk - Damn fine match from Cena & Punk. Tonight is really the first time most of us have gotten an opportunity to see Punk in the ring for months and he looked great. Both of them delivered a strong performance in a competitive, high quality tv main event. Both of them took some of the other's best shots and I'm glad that the WWE actually gave them a lot of time to actually have a great match instead of having Nexus run a huge level of interference, which is what most people figured would happen. Punk's altered variation of the Anaconda Vice looked great and Cena did a great job of selling it. The match ended in a no contest at the 16 minute mark as Mason Ryan made his debut. Ryan winds up hitting Punk with a boot and the ref calls for the bell, which really should be a DQ win for Punk. Ryan then grabs Cena and hits him in something of a Rock Bottom type of move, delivers a lot of impact. The other Nexus members hit the ring and are about to lay into Ryan for kicking Punk. Punk, however, holds them back and smiles while selling the effects of the kick. Ryan drops to one knee and is presented with a Nexus armband before standing up, the show then closes with Nexus giving the salute. Great match and a great debut for Mason Ryan. Thumbs Up

Overall Show - I enjoyed Raw and thought that it was an overall much better show than last week. Raw did a good job at hyping the Royal Rumble ppvs, the WWE Championship match and the Rumble match in and of itself. With 40 men partipating in the Rumble this year, there could be a lot of surprises popping up. The Miz was great in his role tonight and I'm looking forward to his match against Orton at the Rumble. Morrison vs. Bryan & Orton vs. Ziggler were both strong, quality tv matches that ultimately made everyone look good. The main event of Cena vs. Punk was a great, competitive main event in which both wrestlers gave as good as they got. I don't mind the no contest ending at this point as it's so early in the feud. It also came with Punk & Cena at a standstill, having taken some of the other's key moves and still coming back. I don't know anything about Mason Ryan, but having him as the muscle of Punk's Nexus is a good move. Like Zeke Jackson on SmackDown!, I have a feeling that Ryan isn't exactly a Kurt Angle or Shawn Michaels inside the ring. So, having him as Punk's muscle, his enforcer if you will, gives him a prominent role in a major storyline while hiding his in-ring weaknesses until, hopefully, they can be ironed out.

Grade: B+
 
WWE Monday Night RAW-January 17th, 2011

Cena/Miz/Nexus

The Good: Good mic work (minus Cena's really corny jokes),it furthers the Punk/Cena storyline?

The Bad: I just didn't get Miz's involvement here. Maybe this is some kind of foreshadowing for Miz/Cena at Mania, or maybe even Cena/Orton, but it just didn't make sense to me. The ref announces Nexus is banned from ringside during the Punk/Cena match, like that was some huge shocker. This entire segment really did nothing for me.

Uso's vs. Vlad/Santino

The Good: The crowd is still going crazy for The Cobra, which may just the second most popular finished in the WWE right now (behind the RKO).

The Bad: It was a very short match, and the tag belts are being used as nothing more than props for the Santino/Kozlov connection. Don't get me wrong, I really like Santino and Kozlov, I just wish they had an actual feud going.

John Morrison vs. Daniel Bryan

The Good: Random one-on-one matches are great when you have two more-than-capable wrestlers, so I was alright with this. Nice contest, with both men shaking hands after.

The Bad: Morrison seemed a bit slow on the draw tonight. He was hitting moves a few seconds late, and I think it hurt the quality of the match (probably in my eyes only). The Sheamus promo wasn't great either, but with the Rumble coming up, it's understandable why he came out. Is it just me, or is that cape absolutely hideous?

Dolph Ziggler vs. Randy Orton

The Good: Almost everything. Easily the best match on the card. Ziggler worked the leg to perfection (something I wish we saw more often), and Orton sold his ass off. These two have decent chemistry for never having worked a program together. This is a full-time feud I would love to see down the road.

Miz and Riley worked Orton over pretty well after the match, and it actually gave some life to this feud that isn't being focused on nearly enough.

And Vickie. My God, that woman can draw heat. She could walk out wearing an Eddie t-shirt, and get boo'd. Have to give her some credit.

The Bad: Really nothing stuck out as bad. However, the RKO didn't go over as they planned (my guess at least). It looked decent enough, but I'm thinking it was supposed to look much, much better when it was planned.

Jim "The Anvi...wait, I mean Natalya vs. Maryse

The Good: Nothing.

The Bad: No one cares.

Ted's Rumble Challenge

The Good: There is nothing wrong with this kind of challenge. The Rumble is fast approaching, and something like this usually takes place.

The Bad: Miz-Ark winning. I just don't get it. Does anyone care about Mark Henry? Did they ever??? I know it's not a big deal, but we all know damn well Miz-Ark has no chance of winning The Rumble, so what's the point? Sheamus should have dumped him on his head, end of story.

CM Punk vs. John Cena

The Good: CM Punk is one of the best workers in the world, and always looks good out there.

The new guy looks like an absolute monster, and the whole getting Cena DQ'ed thing worked well. The ending shot looked really sweet.

The Bad: To be honest, I would much rather be watching a straight-up Cena vs. Punk feud. This whole New Nexus thing just isn't...well, it isn't New at all. Personally, I'm having a hard time buying into it, and it's boring the hell out of me.

OVERALL: B-

The Ziggler/Orton and Morrison/Bryan match really made this show worth watching, Orton/Ziggler especially. I'm really starting to buy into Ziggler as World Champion material, and it was nice to see he and Orton have a quality match.

Everything else was...blah. I can't say it was a boring show, but it wasn't exciting either. They are putting on quality matches each week, but the storylines are stale. I'm hoping heading into Elimination Chamber things will heat up, as they usually do prior to Mania feuds starting.
 
Raw Hits:


Cena/Miz/Punk Promo:While this dragged a bit, it was a good opening segment.Miz' involvement made sense here, as Cena emphasized his plan to regain the belt Miz is holding. I don't care for Cena taking the approach of a jokester when confronting the likes of WWE Champion Miz, as it shows he doesn't take him seriously whatsoever. But the focus was solid and it achieved two things in that it built towards the Rumble, and established the parameters for the main event of the evening. The Kozlov/Santino save was logical considering they had been beaten down the week before by Nexus. Even in his mannerisms, Punk has the delusional cult leader role down quite well, and continued this through the night in the backstage segments with Nexus.

John Morrison vs Daniel Bryan: While this wasn't as good as the Morrison/Sheamus matches(due to length) or the "classic" Lawler claimed it to be, this was still a very good TV match. The right man went over in this situation as well as Morrison may not be ready to be WWE champion, but he's above the mid-card level as well. I'd like to see what these two could do on a 20 minute PPV match, and I think we saw a small glimpse of that tonight. Good to see that they're consistently using Morrison's running knee as a legitimate finisher in consecutive weeks.

Sheamus promo: One might have thought that much of what Sheamus said directed at Morrison was a shoot, because much of it was true. Morrison has truly been elevated since his Falls count Anywhere match with Seamus back in October, and that push has continued by virtue of his three victories over Sheamus. Short but effective promo.

Randy Orton vs Dolph Ziggler: I've never been a fan of giving away matches like this on free TV with no build-up, and tonight was no different, especially if this was their first match ever as it was plugged. Ziggler could have used the win more then Orton, but he held his own much in the same way he did with Cena, as he countered many of Orton's signature moves like a veteran. So it's a win for Ziggler that he once again showed he belongs in there with men who have been main eventing for years, and this was a very good match as well.

Impromtu Battle Royal: While the booking of Sheamus continues to puzzle me as Henry disposed of him with ease, I give this a hit because it was the first semblance of a build toward the Rumble that we've seen on Raw other then talk. The results here mean absolutely nothing, but it furthered the build toward the Royal Rumble, so it was fine.

CM Punk vs John Cena: This was a great television main event that should allow the feud to continue between Punk and Cena despite the non-finish that was obvious a mile away. I didn't see it coming in the form of Mason Ryan, who i honestly thought was Batista upon first glance. Both men worked hard and I especially liked how both fought to make it to the ropes through the others submission holds, and the way they sold them after. Although I didn't hear an announcement, Id assume Punk gets the "win" after being nailed by a big boot from Ryan, which was clever booking. It also makes the "New Nexus" look more imposing heading into the Rumble, which allows for the distinct possibility that Punk could actually win the match.

Overall Show: The build to the Rumble on Raw began and started at the top of the show, and progressed nicely throughout. The Miz/Orton match at the Rumble actually has heat now due to the post-match attack by Riley and Miz on Orton, and there were three solid matches, all of which at the least hinted at having Rumble implications. Mason Ryan made an impressive debut and makes Punk's Nexus look far more dangerous then before. Overall, a very good show and a solid B+.
Raw Misses:

Santino and Kozlov vs the Usos: Im not sure which division is buried worse at this point, the women's or the tag team one. A title defense that goes under 3 minutes is bad for all parties involved. This match was just another example of how no creative thought is given to how the tag team division is booked. I can't recall the last time an actual storyline was in place in the tag team division, or a time when the belts meant less.

Maryse vs Natalya: Maryse is a two time Divas champion, and she submits to Natalya in under two minutes. Weak. I have no problem with Natalya being booked as a strong champion, but it's obvious that WWE doesn't care what we think about the rest of the competitors in the division. I fail to see the purpose of Eve being on commentary other then to give her air time, and Melina's presence was even worse. She said nothing. Four weeks ago, she was a smiling face, then she slapped Natalya, and she's a heel. And we still don't know why. Its this illogical booking all-around that makes the Women's division a joke.

The Bella Twins Make a Bit: Daniel Bryan entered WWE and NXT season 1 as a serious competitor, and WWE is doing everything they can to turn him into just another wrestler through the Bella Twins. I don't want to see him involved in silly backstage angles with PG attempts made by Nikki and Brie to seduce him, I want to watch him wrestle. This has disaster written all over it.

Derrick Bateman plugs cologne: I don't know who in WWE thought this was funny or Derrick Bateman is, but this made me cringe. Granted it's exposure for one of the rookies on NXT, but this was the wrong kind of exposure. I really don't know what they were going for here, as this accomplished nothing, and wasn't funny. Mercifully, it was short.
 
Monday Night Raw - 17th January 2011​

Opening Segment
This promo dragged on slightly. Basically your typical John Cena promo. I'm going to do this, I'm going to do that and I'm going be champion again. Miz and Riley interupt him. Verbal battle between Cena and Miz. Somewhat average segment, but Miz' promo wasn't too bad.

WWE Tag Team Championships
Santino Marella and Vladimir Kozlov vs. The Usos
Average opening contest, nothing brilliant besides the champions retaining cleanly. If anything, it made the champions look stronger as a unit, and made the Usos look horrible yet again. When are those guys going to get their break?

Daniel Bryan vs. John Morrison
Nice to see Daniel Bryan on Raw. He's like a shadow nowa'days. Not a brilliant match again, both guys have mutual respect for eachother and it was a true 'may the better man win' situation. John Morrison pulls through using his running knee to get the win. The Bella's look dissapointed that Bryan lost. Morrison and Bryan shake hands after the match and Sheamus interupts them and cuts a really nice promo. He says that he's going to win the Royal Rumble and personally eliminate the both of them. Long live the king!

Randy Orton vs. Dolph Ziggler
Best match on the card, Orton made Ziggler look absolutely great. Something Smackdown aren't managing to do brilliantly in my opinion. Randy Orton has his leg worked on expertly by Dolph Ziggler. The more and more I think about it, the more and more I'm liking Dolph Ziggler's chances of looking like a formidable World Heavyweight Champion over in blue country. While Ziggler would have benefit more from winning the match, Orton pulls out a victory. Ziggler goes for the ZigZag, yep. You guessed it. Randy Orton reverses it into an RKO and it looks very sloppy. I think they were supposed to make it look a hell of alot better, but what can you do after putting on a match like that? Best match on the card.

Maryse vs. Natalya
Not extremely bothered about Divas matches, but it's nice to see somebody else with the strap after seeing Michelle McCool and Layla's, Triple H like, monster title run. Maryse doesn't pull out a victory and goes on abit of a rage shouting at Michael Cole after being pushed by Eve. Why she had to get involved, I don't know, but Maryse goes on her rant.

DiBiase tries to calm her down, who seems to come out of nowhere, and she rejects him, calling him a loser. DiBiase gets pissed off and offers and open over the top rope match, claiming he can throw anybody over the top rope. More build up for the Rumble in 2 weeks. Mark Henry comes out and throws Dibiase over the top, followed by another brigade of jobbers from WWE: Superstars and all end up being thrown over. Sheamus comes back out and disposes of most of those, goes to eliminate Henry and doesn't prevail. Henry wins the inagural battle royal. Why, I ask why??

We all know Mark Henry has zero chance of winning the Royal Rumble, nor does he appear on TV nearly as often as any other guy. Sheamus could have done with winning this little brawl, just to add some more boost to him going into the Rumble. Espacially after his top-notch promo after the Bryan/Morrison match earlier.

Derrick Bateman promo
Derrick Bateman, Daniel Bryan's rookie from NXT does his own little studio promo. He's wearing a creepy looking lab coat, and plugs an aftershave/cologne, allegedly making you stronger, or something. It's called "World's Strongest Man". It looks like urine in a bottle and has a picture of Mark Henry on the bottle. Derrick sprays himself with some and starts acting strangely, smelling his armpits and shoes. Mark Henry narrates horribly in the background reeling off all the after effects the cologne may cause. Terrible promo. You can easily hear Mark Henry laughing in the background and chuckling after each word. Who the hell thought this was funny in WWE? Not needed whatsoever.

CM Punk vs. John Cena
CM Punk's such a good worker. But this match was all just build up for the New Nexus. You want to know the truth? I don't like anything about Nexus anymore. New Nexus is pointless and is all just build up for CM Punk, Nexus over on Smackdown is....well, that's Smackdown. They have their own little thing going on over there.

I would have much rather seen a normal CM Punk vs. John Cena match, no matter who won. The match goes on for about 7 minutes, before CM Punk applies his Annaconda Vice submission. Not seen that for a while, nice to see it back. Cena gets to the ropes before he passes out, literally. A new guy runs down to the ring, and for a split-second, I thought it was Batista. Sadly, it wasn't. Is this Mason Ryan from FCW? I've heard people are saying he's supposed to be the new monster in WWE and the new Batista. Funnily enough, I can see why. He's huge.

CM Punk smiles at the new guy and gets a swift boot to the face in sacrifice. Nexus run down to the ring and Punk calls them off. Punk pulls a nexus armband out of his boot (What, he just has those stashed in his boots?) and puts it on the new guy's arm. Cool shot of Punk, McGillicutty, Otunga, Harris and the new guy. (I think it's Mason Ryan.)

Overall Rating
Not a brilliant show, but it wasn't awfully bad. I don't normally rate shows by numbers and letters because I find it weird, but here goes.

I give it a C+. I'm still preferring Smackdown compared to Raw at the moment.
 
Last Friday's episode of SmackDown! drew a 1.92 Nielsen Rating and an audience of 2,977,000 viewers. The rating is virtually even with last week's and the show drew its largest audience since moving to Syfy in early October.

It appears that the "reset" episode of SmackDown! from a few weeks back has generated renewed interest in the show. It was a unique episode of SmackDown! that consisted almost entirely of wrestling matches in which several ongoing feuds were ended. Maybe this is a formula that the WWE should pull out every once in a while.
 
So I just finished watching RAW (late I know) but here are my thoughts.

Alberto Del Rio on RAW again? Why is he on RAW for the third time? Is he banging one of the RAW divas or something? Makes no sense. I liked the promo he cut on Mark Henry, this guy can talk.

I loved the backstage segment where it shower Morrison coming to the ring with a huge pop from the crowd. Then Bryan shows up all plain while Morrison looks like a million bucks. And then the Bella twins show up and make Bryan look like the million bucks. It was great.

The Mizs' interaction with Cena was good, not as good as I had hoped but good nonetheless. Miz has a lot of work to do on the mic still. He's not as great as many others think.

I loved the way Reilly and Miz beat down Orton, and then Miz as sick as possible, pulled Orton up and said he was awesome. That was good.

Miz is supposed to face Edge next week, he has got to win that match. No ifs ands or buts about it.

Liked the debut of the new Nexus guy. But a slam as your move? Really? Boring.

Ziggler Orton was good, we got a tag team title match out of nowhere.

Natalya still isn't getting enough ring time. Maryse is still hot!

All in all an okay show.
 
Raw was pretty decent this week. I like how they're really building up the Royal Rumble match. Having guys like Big Show, John Cena and CM Punk talk about how they're going to win pushes the importance of it. Orton/Ziggler and Cena/Punk were both good matches, though if I had to pick which one was better, I would probably go with Punk/Cena. The only BAD thing I can think of is the opening segment which sucked the big one. Again it's good that Cena and Punk are keeping the focus on the Rumble, but damn Cena's trash talk was horrid. The company being PG doesn't excuse you from trying to come up with a decent insult.
 
The ratings for the show are in and Raw had a good showing for the night. The January 17th episode of Raw scored a 3.3 rating with approximately 5 million viewers, which is the most since the November 22nd episode. The first hour scored a 3.2 rating while the second scored a 3.4. This past Raw was the first in many months in which there was no competition from football.

There's still plenty of competition for Raw on Monday nights, however. The Jersey Shore on MTV and American Pickers on The History Channel scored big ratings as well in all the various key demos. American Pickers scored 5.8 million viewers in total, an all time high for the show.
 
WWE Friday Night SmackDown! - January 21, 2011

The Corre - I enjoyed the opening of tonight's show. This new faction has a different dynamic about it than Nexus and I like the idea that that it's going to be about all of them. They're all going to play significant roles rather than simply be supporting characters to Wade Barrett. Barrett was great on the mic and I thought seemed a little re-energized. I also dug the fact that the other members of The Corre got some mic time as well. Jackson did ok but Slater & Gabriel need work. But, at least they got some time and if cutting promos is going to be common thing, they know they have to improve. The confrontation with Teddy Long was a nice touch I thought because they don't want this group to come off exactly like Nexus. Del Rio didn't really contribute anything, but he didn't take anything away either. Thumbs Up

Alberto Del Rio vs. R-Truth - Solid match here, though this is the last time that we need to see it. This makes three times that Del Rio has faced Truth in a singles match. Nothing overly spectacular here but it was a pretty good match while it lasted. Del Rio gets the win around the 11 minute mark with the armbar submission. Thumbs Up

Teddy Long Taken Out - During the Del Rio/Truth match, they cut away a few times for maybe 15 seconds each time to show Teddy Long unconscious backstage and being taken out of his office on a stretcher. This might lead to Teddy Long being off television for a while and result in Vickie Guerrero running the show. Of course, the obvious suspects are the members of The Corre. Again, nothing earth shattering here, but a potentially interesting development. Thumbs Up

Beth Phoenix vs. Layla - I enjoyed this match a lot. If you'd have told me 6 months ago that I'd have said that about a Divas match on SmackDown!, I'd have told you that you'd been smoking some good shit. I thought it was a fun, competitive Divas match in which both women looked good. It was a nice mesh of Styles with Layla as a more technical worker against Beth's superior strength. The crowd also seemed to be pretty into this match as well. It was only about 3.5 minutes long, but it was a qualit 3.5 minutes with Beth Phoenix getting the win via the Glam Slam. LayCool is racking up a lot of losses lately and it just seems to be laying the groundwork for Awesome Kong to make her debut before long. Thumbs Up

Rey Mysterio vs. Cody Rhodes - Good solid 4 minute match here. It felt like it was about twice that as both of them put a lot of high energy action into the match while it lasted. I would have preferred Rhodes win this match, however because he needed to win and because I think he's got the goods. Mysterio gets the win with the 619 and the splash afterward. Cody sold a nose injury after taking the 619 due to Mysterio's knee brace. I'd love to see these two get about 15 minutes and hope that something positive comes out of this for Rhodes. Thumbs Up

Kofi Kingston vs. Jack Swagger - I was really disappointed in this match. I like the novelty of having an amateur rules sort of match but there was no hype for this and the execution of it came across as extremely half assed. Whoever scored the most points in a 3 minute time limit, or whomever got the pin, wins the match. It seemed like for every move anyone hit, a point was given at the referee's discretion. This could've been an interesting little novelty match here but it was ultimately a waste. It only got exciting about the last 20 seconds of it when Kofi Kingston came on strong and almost managed to tie Swagger's score. Swagger gets the win with a score of 10 to Kofi's 9. Swagger knocks Kofi down afterward and takes Trouble in Paradise and a huge high cross body from the top so that even though Kofi lost, the crowd got a happy ending. Thumbs Down

Drew McIntyre vs. Trent Barretta - I'm a little mixed on this. On one hand, McIntyre won in a little over 2 minutes. However, it wasn't a squash match and both wrestlers employed some exciting, high impact moves during the match. It felt like it was significantly longer than what it was. McIntyre even channeled his inner Shelton Benjamin by running up onto the top turnbuckle while Barretta was up there and executed a modified belly to belly throw for the win. McIntyre tries to shake Barretta's hand afterward but takes a punch in the face. He goes back and starts to unload on Barretta until Kelly Kelly comes down to the ring and comforts Barretta while telling Drew to leave her alone. I'm not really sure where this is going but I have to say that I'm digging it a little. Barretta & McIntyre could have a truly great match if given the time. I almost normally never like 2 minute matches but, as I said, this didn't feel like a 2 minute match because there was a lot of action going on. Thumbs Up

The Miz & Edge - I thought The Miz & Edge were really good on the mic tonight prior to Edge's match. The Miz put himself over well after reminding everyone how he and Riley demolished Randy Orton on Raw. Edge came out shortly afterward and was in a very serious frame of mind, which I like because it works very well for him. I liked how he used the term "Raw rejects" to describe wrestlers that come to SD! to bascially take over. After a brief exchange of words, The Miz backs out of the ring. As Riley is about to shoot his mouth off, he takes a spear from Edge. Great promo segment that builds some heat for what should be a really good match between Edge & Miz on Raw this Monday. Thumbs Up

Edge vs. Justin Gabriel - Pretty good match here and I was surprised to see that Gabriel was going to be the member of The Corre to take Edge on. Gabriel looked pretty good against Edge, had a pretty strong showing for himself and held his own with a legit main eventer & World Heavyweight Champion. Dolph Ziggler was at ringside doing guest commentary and I thought he did a good job of hyping himself, his career, the importance of being WHC and even putting Edge over a bit. Eventually, as Edge is going for a spear on Gabriel, he knocks Wade Barrett off the apron and does the same to Heath Slater before taking a big clothesline from Big Zeke. The ref's back is turned as Gabriel gets the cover and, surprisngly, the win. Afterward, The Corre beats Edge down with Slater, Barrett & Gabriel all hitting their finishers and leaving. Dolph Ziggler comes in afterward and stands over a fallen Edge with his foot on his chest. Thumbs Up

Overall Show - I thought SmackDown! was a pretty solid show tonight. I didn't enjoy it overall as much as last week, but the show hyped the Royal Rumble well, it did a good job of hyping the Champion vs. Champion match for this Monday's Raw, The Corre feels quite fresh and I like the overall dynamic of the group so far. Justin Gabriel gets a win, of course not a clean one but a win just the same, over the reigning World Heavyweight Champion. It's a significant victory for Gabriel and for The Corre in and of itself. Wrestling content was a little subpar overall tonight. R-Truth vs. Alberto Del Rio was alright, but not overly interesting. We've seen it several times so hopefully this was the last time. Cody Rhodes vs. Rey Mysterio was a solid match but, if given the time, I think it could've been great. Beth Phoenix vs. Layla was an entertaining match, I'm just glad that the Divas have finally become watchable. It wasn't a classic, but it was a quality 3.5 minute match. Drew McIntyre vs. Trent Barretta was a little strange. It was short at just over 2 minutes but felt much longer. They packed a lot of action into those 2 minutes, including some pretty high impact offense. There was a lot going on on SD! tonight with establishing The Corre, the whole thing with Teddy Long being "injured" and final hype for this Monday's Raw that I think a few matches were cut short. Overall, I still enjoyed SmackDown! tonight.

Grade: B-
 
A solid Smackdown once again this week.

Pretty good Main Event with Edge & Justin Gabriel,The Corre beatdown of Edge I figured was coming. The Corre's Music isn't too bad I guess but Id have to hear it some more. Wish they would keep the Nexus theme for Wade's bunch and just go with Punk's music for his.

Rey/Cody Rhodes I liked and the stuff with Cody going nuts over his face was funny. Like someone said we could see him get a noseguard.

Who took out Teddy Long? The Corre? Dolph Ziggler? Micheal Tarver? Someone else?

Alberto/R Truth was a solid opener though it would be nice to see Truth beat Del Rio one time at least but oh well.

Drew Mcintyre/Kelly stuff is interesting and looking forward to see where that goes.
 
Decent, if low key, episode of SD.

Barret might say they are equals but he stands out a mile on the mic, I also thought Gabriel was surprisingly solid. The ginger was horrid. They need to give Del Rio something new to say, he's been cutting the exact same promo for the last 5 shows.

The Kofi/Swagger amateur contest was a dud as the scoring system was ineptly executed.

Drew McIntrye probably had one of his better outings offensively and I am curious as to where his current angle is going. I don't see him and Barretta role reversing but Kelly seemed to get booed when she went to him and Drew wasn't in the wrong this time.

Rey/Cody was a solid match and looks like the start of a feud as Cody will need a face mask for his dashingly broken nose! :lmao:

Beth getting the upper hand over Laycool again makes me feel the debut of Kong is imminent, to help them get back on top.

Not a bad exchange between The Miz and Edge, sets up their match well for Raw. The Edge/Gabriel match was decent and Edge really let Gabriel get a lot in, Dolph was good on commentary and the ending got both Corre and him over. I wonder if Big Zeke is going to use the lariat as his finisher.
 
Opening Segment (The Corre, Teddy Long, Alberto Del Rio)

The Good: The segment really made me feel like The Corre wasn't just Nexus on Smackdown!. Wade acknoledges that he made a mistake while leading Nexus and that Corre will have equal contribution from everyone - emphasized later with "There is no leader". I was a bit worried last week that it would be same old Nexus - just on Smackdown! - but with the multiple references to it not being the case and the shared mic time by all members, this can easily work out.

Teddy Long confrontation worked out as well. Again, it helped pound the message into our heads that this isn't the same thing as Nexus - which I'm sure I'm not alone in saying was getting rather stale on Raw.


The Bad: Gabriel and Slater need mic work, but it wasn't atrocious. I'm a huge Alberto Del Rio fan, but his participation in the segment didn't seem necessary at all. He didn't say anything new, nor have an impact one way or the other with the whole Corre discussion. I think he could have just come out right before his match with R-Truth and said the same thing. The promo itself was fine, just bad placement imo.




Alberto Del Rio vs R-Truth

The Good: What little part of the match we did get to see was pretty good. There wasn't anything we haven't seen before from these two, but it appeared to be an average match at worst with Alberto scoring the win with an armbar submission after Ricardo Rodriguez slowed up R-Truth slightly.

The Bad: As I said, from what little part of the match we got to see it seemed pretty good. Unfortunetely, during the match (about 10-12 minutes) we had a commercial break as well as two separate breaks to Teddy Long promos. Due to these interruptions, the match seemed to lack any sort of ebb and flow to me.



Teddy Long taken out

Recap: Essentially, Teddy Long was knocked out with a blow to the back of the head, was carted off to an ambulence, Corre denied having anything to do with it, and then Vicky was placed in charge over the show in Long's absence. She sets up a match between Edge and one of the Corre members before telling them (I don't recall the exact wording) to do what she's seen on Raw.

The Good: Anything that gets Vicki more time as GM is a good thing. She's able to get extraordinary amounts of heat, and imo is much better in the gm role than Long for getting people over. We also have Corre claiming no part of the incapacitation of Long - giving another example of how Corre is different than the Wade-led Nexus.

The Bad: The placement of the promos affected the Alberto/R-Truth match. We could have had one promo prior to the Del Rio match and one after and it wouldn't have made a difference to the content and wouldn't have hampered the match.



Beth Pheonix vs Layla

The Good: It was actually a pretty entertaining - albeit short - match. Layla showed an ability to work on a body part (left arm) well, and Beth showed her strength.

The Bad: Despite the short length of the match, I didn't find anything I really disliked about the match.


Rey Mysterio vs Cody Rhodes

The Good: You could tell that the two would be able to have a good match if given the time any sort of build up. More importantly, I enjoyed the broken nose of Cody and the places that could take us - namely the end of the blah "Dashing" gimmick I'm not a fan of (side note: I'm not a fan of it because it's just not a gimmick that seems main eventable. He's got a pretty good skill set, and if they switch up the gimmick some I think he can build to a main eventer in the future).

The Bad: It was a pretty short match, and Cody lost again. I won't get too into it, but the WWE has had a habit of wasting opportunities to put over some different guys lately: Ziggler losing to Orton Monday being the worst of all, but a win over Rey here could have been a lot better. Rey winning doesn't really accomplish anything to me.



Kofi Kingston vs Jack Swagger (Amateur Wrestling Match)

The Good: I do like the idea of the match; Showing Kofi not being afraid to get out of his comfort zone and face Swagger in a match which Swagger has a clear advantage is good for Kofi's character.

The Bad: Everything else about the segment. It seemed thrown together and confusing, as multiple times the ref didn't seem to know exactly how to award points. At one point a few seconds are wasted while Swagger has to tell the ref he should have two more points. Kofi ends up losing a close one, when it would have been better for Swaggers character to just decimate Kofi - showing complete dominance over who's most likely going to be your next PPV opponent in an area would be great ... especially since Kofi just got the title and is in all likelyhood not losing it anytime soon. Wasn't a fan of the end either with them fighting after the match.



Drew McIntyre vs. Trent Barretta

The Good: The match was pretty entertaining, with a few high impact moves being hit over a short period of time. Having Drew attempt to shake Trent's hand after the match showed him trying to be somewhat nice, and having him destroy Trent after the post-match punch was even better. It was like a mini-roller coaster, with a small uptick with the attempt at being nice, followed by the quick drop right back into Heel-Drew.

The Bad: The Kelly Kelly aspect of it. I'm hoping we get a decent payoff from this.


The Miz & Edge

The Good: Everything about the segment was great. Both guys were excellent going back and forth, their Raw match got hyped, Alex Riley showed himself to be a human punching bag again, and both the Miz and Edge's characters benefited from the segment. Miz continued his unwillingness to actually get into the ring unless it's attacking a weakened opponent, and Edge came off fearless and confident. Great promo.

The Bad: Nothing.


Edge vs Justin Gabriel

The Good: With the match slated as Edge vs a member of Corre, I was stoked that it was Gabriel that got into the ring. I'm a pretty big fan of his, and I thought he had a pretty good showing against the champion Edge. A couple high impact moves on both ends lead to an awful finish, but I'll get to that. Dolph on commentary was great as well.

The Bad: The end of the match made the opening/Corre denying involvement in Long's incident promos meaningless. After harping multiple times throughout the show that this wasn't the same as Nexus, it turns out that - yup - it is. Wade/Slater distract the ref and get hit by Edge, Ezekiel hits a clothesline on Edge with a distracted ref, and Gabriel gets the pin. Then we get the Nexus-like Corre beatdown of Edge where everyone does their finishing maneuver (ending with the 450 splash). It was EXACTLY THE SAME THING AS NEXUS. It was extremely disappointing, bland, stale, boring, etc.

Also, anyone else see the issue with Edge being down for the count from a clothesline from Ezekiel? I mean, I know the guys huge, but couldn't we come up with something better?







Overall:
I find this Smackdown! difficult to rate. If I take the show as a whole, I enjoyed nearly all of it. They promoted the Rumble, they had some decent - albeit short - matches, they promoted the Raw match between Edge/Miz, and they had some good storyline progressions. From an entertainment factor, the first 1hr 55min would get a solid B from me.

However, in the scheme of things the entire opening promo/middle Corre promo, and Corre-being-different-than-Nexus storyline was shown to be worthless in the last 5 minutes. So in a "did this episode take us anywhere" manner, I'd give it a C-.

I will say I've been enjoying Smackdown! more than Raw lately. It just sucks that the last 5 minutes really ruined it for me.
 
The opening segment was odd, it started out ok with Edge renewing his feud with the anonymous Raw GM and having a short impromptu mini Rumble, but the way it transitioned into the Nexus/Corre showdown was awkward as Edge just essentially disappeared.

Punk's mic work was strong all night and he is carrying a real air about him right now. Barrett was ok on the mic but I think Zeke needs to be a silent monster for now. The stare down with him and Mason was ok except Mason looked like he wanted to laugh.

The Sheamus/Del Rio vs JoMo/Henry tag was probably the best match on the show, Del rio looking strong by making the big man tap out with a nicely executed rolling arm-bar.

It was sad to see the Divas title match between Natalya and Melina just thrown away on Raw, Melina hasn't been given a chance to establish a heel character at all and is now being replaced by the tiresome and irritating Laycool. The match itself was ok, they perhaps tried for too much in such a short time frame and not everything came off, but the finish was awesome.

Edge vs The Miz was ok at best, Edge is not what he was and Miz is a very average worker. I thought Dolph did a good job on commentary given Cole and King never shut up and he is growing in confidence on the mic. The after match brawl was well executed and set up the SD main event to lead into the PPV well.

The inter gender tag match isn't worth talking about, the backstage segment after where Bryan got the last laugh on the Bellas was a decent pay off for a harmless angle, Hopefully he can get into a proper feud now and maybe Gail Kim can actually start wrestling on Raw seriously.

The non title tag match between Koztino and Nexus was solid and the result clearly sets up a potential tag title match at the Rumble.

The main event between Barret and Punk with Cena as the ref was utter nonsense, but Punk rose above it with his reactions to the ever increasing stupidity. The mass brawl at the end was standard stuff and kind of highlighted how low on genuine main event names this Rumble is.
 
I actually thought Raw for the most part was fine.

The opening segment was solid, as should be expected with Edge and CM Punk promos.

The tag team match between JoMo/Henry and Sheamus and - uh, shit I forgot what his name was...I guess I forgot because he didn't tell me what it was tonight, and I clearly did not already know that - was solid as well. I was a bit nervous though when Morrison landed hard out of the ring, instantly grabbed his knee, and either King or Cole (I don't recall which) quickly said some form of "uh oh". Since it happened right in front of them, and the "uh oh" in question didn't sound in character at all for whichever said it (was in a pretty serious tone) I'm hoping nothing happened there. As for the match, it again shows just how dangerous ADR finisher is with making Henry tap out almost immediately.

The Natalya/Melina match was actually pretty damn good for how short it was. The biggest highlight was a pretty creative reversal into the sharpshooter and then some ridiculous and intense torquing of it where Natayla was essentially laying on her back pulling Melinas legs near her own head. It was - and idk if this is good or bad - the highlight of Raw to me. I definitely let out an "OHHHHHHHHHHHHH" when I saw it.

Edge/Miz was what it had to be. You knew going into that an actual finish would be awful for the WWE (then again Orton beating Ziggler last week was too). I'm becoming a pretty big fan of Ziggler and his commentary was pretty tonight.

The Daniel Bryan/Ted Dibiase match was awful, but at least DiBiase didn't lose again I guess. I recalled someone on here talking about how awesome it'd be if Bryan actually had a GF and we actually got that payoff, which was amusing albeit briefly.

It's about time we got another tag team, and I was pretty impressed with what little of McGillicutys (I have no idea how to spell that one) ring work there was. Now if we could get Gabriel/Ezekiel/Slater as a tag team we'd actually have 4!

The promo between Cena/Miz was so awesome/awful. Cena was atrocious as has been the case lately. It's kind of strange, because he does touch on things we all find ridiculous - like the extra r in Corre - but then goes off and makes horrible taunts/jokes/ihavenoideawtfitssupposedtobe about it standing for rectum. I mean really? That's atrocious. If you're gonna go that route, go with "rejects". At least that makes sense. And the whole "take a shower you smell like raw sewage? sigh".

With that said, the Miz was awesome. The fake laugh Riley and him had got me bust out laughing, and the crowd reaction when he started directing comment to them was huge. He might be a slightly above average at best in-ring worker, but I've become a pretty big fan of him and his promos.

The main event had potential to be entertaining, and instead it was just horrendous. I'm not even that big of a Cena hater typically, but tonight was just so absurd and over the top. The end battle royal aspect was completely standard being the last Raw before the Rumble.
 
Really good RAW.

The beginning segamnt with Edge was weird, then Nexus came out and he just disappeared. Anyway, whoever picked The Corre's music need to have their ear's fixed, it's terrible!

The Tag match was good when Mark Henry came in, with Morrison it was a comedy skit, he can strike to save his life, he's all flip-sloppy. It's not good wrestling, i'll tell you that much. Henry was great, as usual. What is iwth Alberto Del Rio on RAW every week? Am I the only one who though Shaemus was gonna bro kick Del Rio after the match for the hell of it?

The Diva's Title match I kinda missed, mostly because I can't stand Natalya. Or Melina. But, from what I heard it actually was a good match, but Natalya retained, that's all I know.

Edge/Miz was actually good considering how band Edge is today. It took up two commerical break's whcih was crazy. And I kind of forgot about Ziggler could attack Edge for some reason. I was so into the match I guess. And Orton, man is he over as hell. I love when Orton does multiple RKO's.

The Bryan/Dibiase tag match was short and made a statemant.Maryse won a match, Diibiase can't.

The segment afterwords was good.

The tag match was what it was.

Cena was one agian on fire tonight. I mean, if you love being entertained, he's the guy you watch. Cena saying rectum and stating "hey that's aloud, was funny. He's been vocal onscreen about WWE being PG for the last couple of weeks.

The main event was hilarious. Cena throwing them out with all that enthusiam was funny as hell, not to mention him miming them being shoveled. Him throwing Punk over the ropes, signing autographs, and the reason for disqualification was trememdous.

"They used to much profanity, it's a PG show."

If you like to be entertain, laugh, have fun, well, the main event was the time of the
night.

The battle royal fight at the ending was good for it's purpose. To biuld up the Royal Rumble.

And why the hell was Michael Tarver lurking around RAW.
 
So ... Gail Kim? Huh. I don't see much potential from an on-screen relationship between the two of them, but thank god the storyline is over now. Now he can go back to awesome wrestling and hopefully an actual in-ring related storyline. Maybe a feud with William Regal....
 
itssoeasy123 said:
Cena was one agian on fire tonight. I mean, if you love being entertained, he's the guy you watch. Cena saying rectum and stating "hey that's aloud, was funny. He's been vocal onscreen about WWE being PG for the last couple of weeks.

The main event was hilarious. Cena throwing them out with all that enthusiam was funny as hell, not to mention him miming them being shoveled. Him throwing Punk over the ropes, signing autographs, and the reason for disqualification was trememdous.

"They used to much profanity, it's a PG show."

If you like to be entertain, laugh, have fun, well, the main event was the time of the
night.
Click to expand...

I can see how the Cena thing was funny but I would have rather seen a great match between Barrett and Punk which I know they would have had and then Cena screwing em both out of the match at the end instead of the focus being on Cena entirely throughout the supposed main event even though they both were heels.

Hopefully this is just the set-up for a huge rivalry between the Corre and Nexus culminating with Punk (hopefully with the WWE Title) vs. Barrett at SummerSlam or Wrestlemania.
 
WWE Monday Night Raw - January 24, 2011

Opening Segment - I thought the opening for Raw last night was very good. There was a lot of energy and they managed to fit in several different stories into the segment without making it seem rushed or clustered for me. Edge coming out and calling out The Miz was expected and I liked the little tease in which he had an over the top rope challenge against Tyson Kidd, Jack Swagger & Drew McIntyre over the #40 spot in the Rumble. Since none of them tossed Edge over the top, none of them got the #40 spot and that's the way to go. With so few huge names in the match, having as many surprises pop up during the Rumble no matter how minor or trivial they might seem can lend a little spice to it. CM Punk & Nexus coming out before Edge could destroy the laptop and get into a confrontation with The Corre worked nicely. I like the tension between them and I'm still wondering if this all won't turn out to be some sort of swerve in which they're all working together. The Raw GM announces that Wade Barrett will face CM Punk and the loser along with his entire group is out of the Rumble and John Cena is the guest ref. I don't expect there to be an actual match, which is unfortunate because I think it'd be a good one, but there'll be something go down. Like I said, a packed segment but the crowd was hot for whatever was going on and none of it felt clustered. Thumbs Up

John Morrison & Mark Henry vs. Sheamus & Alberto Del Rio - Good solid 10 minute tag match here that gave the heels a little extra momentum going into the Rumble. The heels controlled much of the match with Morrison doing some great selling during the match. The WWE is still painting JoMo as this tough, pretty boy scrapper and it's working for me. JoMo, Sheamus & Del Rio handled most of the action and that's how it should be because Henry just isn't on their level. JoMo eventually makes the hot tag and Henry comes in and does his thing for a little bit. Sheamus eventually catches Henry with the Brogue Kick before JoMo clotheslines him and takes them both over the top. Del Rio hooks in the armbar submission on Henry, it looked impressive with him taking someone the size of Henry off his feet easily and making him tap quickly. Good basic tag match. Thumbs Up

Natalya vs. Melina - Pretty good match here from the Divas. The only downside to it is that it was 3 minutes. The only complaint I've really got about the Divas now is that on Raw, the matches don't get quite enough time. Still, this was a good match while it lasted. Good physical match with both women showing some knowledge. Melina works best as a heel, she just seems more energetic to me and it showed during the match. Natalya did eventually get the win via the Sharpshooer to retain the Divas Championship. Natalya leaned so far back in the Sharpshooer that she was practically lying on her back with Melina folded like letter, it looked great and showed off Melina's flexibility well. After the match, LayCool comes out looking pretty damn hot in my view and do their thing. They come across now as mean girls instead of ditzy 10 year olds and envoke their rematch clause against Natalya at the Rumble. No real details are given on the match so maybe Natalya has to go up against both of them? It wouldn't surprise me to see Awesome Kong make her debut at the Rumble and help LayCool take the title. Thumbs Up

Nexus Backstage - Nexus members are shown discussing the potential ramifications if Punk loses his match tonight against Barrett. Punk comes in and does his thing and he really does shine in this role. Punk's got the charisma and and promo skills to pull off being the faction leader and I hope that we really get an opportunity see what Nexus can do under him. The Straight Edge Society had so much potential that wasn't even remotely tapped into, so I'm hoping for something better here. Thumbs Up

John Cena & The Miz - Cena is backstage with Josh Matthews talking about his involvement in the CM Punk vs. Wade Barrett match until he's interrupted by The Miz & Alex Riley. Punk & Riley do a good job of mocking Cena and his jokes and I like the build up of tension between the two of them. The Miz vs. John Cena is a potential WM idea that's being considered and wouldn't surprise me. The Miz didn't respond to Cena's taunt to start something with him then and there, which is the way to go. It builds heat, makes the fans see Miz as somewhat cowardly but also demonstrates that Miz has, kayfabe, nothing to prove as he's WWE Champion and will do things on his own terms. Thumbs Up

Edge vs. The Miz - Overall, I thought Miz & Edge gave a very solid match though it wasn't as good as I'd hoped. I suppose one reason is because I just didn't really let myself get wrapped up in it because I knew that this match was going to end in a no contest or DQ due to interference. The match was a little slow at times but picked up nicely in the second half and both worked well together. Dolph Ziggler & Vickie Guerrero came out and were doing commentary during the match. Ziggler did a really good job I thought and I'm glad that he did almost all of the talking out there rather than Vickie. If there's been any uncertainty, I think it's been Ziggler's ability to talk but he's shown himself to be pretty good in interviews and doing commentary. The match ends about the 17 minute mark when Ziggler grabs Edge by the foot and pulls him out as he's setting up to hit Miz with the spear. Ziggler beats on Edge for a bit before hitting him with the Zig Zag. Randy Orton runs out to the ring to a massive pop and nails Miz. I mean he just slams into him and is beating the piss out of him. He eventually hits an RKO on both Ziggler & Alex Riley as The Miz takes off with his championship. Overall, a good match that I think would have been ultimately better under different circumstances. Both of these guys are World Champions, they each have title matches at the ppv so, of course, neither of them is going to be pinned. Both have too much to lose right now for this match to have ended any other way and it provided some great final build up on Raw for their matches. Thumbs Up

The Corre - Josh Matthews talks to Wade Barrett backstage surrounded by members of The Corre. Barrett is still as confident and smooth on the mic now as he was while he was leading Nexus. None of the other members said anything but the group does had a different feel to it. They don't seem to be as rigid as Nexus does, which is expected I think because Barrett says that there is no leader in his group. It could be interesting to see what happens with this whole thing. Thumbs Up

Daniel Bryan & The Bella Twins vs. Ted DiBiase, Maryse & Alicia Fox - What the hell was this about?? It lasts about a minute with Maryse getting the pin over one of the Bellas. The WWE needs to get back on track with Daniel Bryan and this shit with the Bellas needs to end. This is just a waste really of both Bryan & Ted DiBiase. Thumbs Down

The Bellas, Daniel Bryan & Gail Kim - I gotta kick out of this segment for a lot of reasons. First and foremost, it means that this thing with Bryan & The Bellas is finished. Generally speaking, the thing with the twins hasn't been bad but, over the past few weeks, it's gotten in the way and started to bog Bryan down in something that's just useless. The Bellas walking into Bryan's locker room while he's making out with Gail Kim was kind of a surprise. Bryan explains that he & Gail have been seeing each other for about 6 months and I like how the WWE went with this. Over the past few weeks, we were given the impression that the Bellas were almost sort of pitying Bryan with their interest in him and that it was really more about some competition between the two. Gail Kim's comments about Bryan just sort of feeling sorry for them was a nice touch and that they hadn't had much to do since there aren't any guest hosts around anymore was a great little slap in the face before they all got into it. It almost makes the crap that went on in their match, if that's what you want to call it, worth it. Anyhow, I hope that this means the WWE can get things back on track with Bryan without the twins weighing him down. Thumbs Up

Santino Marella & Vladimir Koslov vs. Husky Harris & Michael McGuillicutty - Michael Cole mistakenly says that this match is for the tag titles before the commercial break but corrects himself afterward. I can't pretend that I'm overly interested in the tag team titles at this point but here's to hoping that this is a potential sign of some improvement. It was a short match at about 4 minutes, but it was solid while it lasted with the right outcome. Harris & McGuillicutty pick up a clean win and will probably be new tag champs at sometime in the near future. Nothing great here but nothing bad either. Just a little filler but it was ok filler and hints of possibly brighter days ahead for the tag team scene. I'm not holding my breath, but nothing wrong with hoping. Thumbs Up

Wade Barrett vs. CM Punk - I would have preferred an actual match between these two but given the stipulations applied to it, I'm not surprised that it went down this way. Cena basically used his authority as the special ref in the match to screw Nexus & The Corre out of the Royal Rumble match by DQing both of them. The Raw GM chimes in and calls Cena out on his conduct. The GM says that Nexus & The Corre will be in the Rumble due to Cena's conduct and that if Cena doesn't apologize for his actions, he'll be out of the Rumble match. Man, the crowd was hot for this and the GM & Cole got MASSIVE heat here. Cena does come into the ring, looking sullen, and does apologize before hitting both of them. He ducks out of the ring before all members of Nexus & The Corre can get at him, which leads to tons of guys pouring out of the back with an big brawl to close the show. The brawl that came at the end was standard formula for the situation and the overall situation with Punk, Barrett & Cena had the crowd hanging on everything that happened. As a fan, I'd love to see Barrett & Punk have a match but last night was the go home show to the Rumble and the final build up to it came off well in my view. Thumbs Up

Overall Show - Last night's go home Raw to the Royal Rumble was a great show in my view. There was a lot of energy going around and there was also just a lot of content packed into the show last night. While there was a lot going on last night, it didn't seem or feel like it was rushed to me. Most of the wrestling content on Raw last night was solid, but nothing spectacular. The tag match was a good solid 10 minute match featuring 4 wrestlers that've been heavily hyped to variable degrees over the past few weeks for the Rumble. The Miz vs. Edge was a good solid match that I think could've been better if it was a straight match. With things the way they are right now, there's really no other way things could've gone last night. The situation with The Corre & Nexus is an interesting scenario that I think could possibly lead to a feud between the two or could be a swerve in which it's revealed that they've been working together all along. I thought Raw did a great job with it's last push for the Rumble. There was a little filler that I think sort of slowed things down but, overall, I've got no major complaints.

Grade: B+
 
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