Official Raw/Smackdown Aftermath, Ratings and Review Thread

Grade tonight's RAW.

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WWE Raw Supershow - June 25, 2012

CM Punk vs. Daniel Bryan vs. Kane in a Triple Threat Elimination Match - Prior to the match, Vickie Guerrero came out on stage and did her "Excuse me" bit. Vickie got lots of heat and I always enjoy her. I was a tad confused at first as I thought this elimination match would be to determine a participant in the Raw MITB match when Bryan came out. At any rate, it was a strong match to start the show off and the crowd was hot for it. It wasn't as good as their match at the ppv, but it was still highly entertaining and all three of these men work well together. Bryan & Punk have brought out the best in Kane inside the ring, I think, as he looks better than he has in a while. Kane's someone that doesn't get nearly enough credit for his in-ring ability, but he's been especially good in his role within this three way feud. There were some fun sequences and I very much like how WWE has booked all three men to come off as pretty much equal during this feud. None of the wrestlers has been more dominant or devestating than the other two and all have scored solid victories. AJ appeared and came out to do her little skip as Kane was setting up for a chokeslam. He got distracted for a few seconds and allowed Punk to hit the GTS for the win. A few seconds later, Bryan connects with a roundhouse kick to Punk and winds up winning the match. Again, very interesting as to where they're going with AJ as she's "accidentally" helped each of the three men score wins during the feud without the interference being extreme or making any of them look weak. ***

Vickie, Dolph Ziggler & Alberto Del Rio - This was a brief backstage segment in which Del Rio is backstage sort of sucking up to Vickie, saying he is the rightful #1 contender to the WHC. Ziggler comes into the picture and does a good job of holding his own. I think Ziggler is on the verge of a face turn as he's been getting a pretty strong face response from the crowds lately. There was some nice tension between Del Rio & Ziggler, so Vickie makes a match between the two, a contract on a pole match. I cringed a little bit as these matches are often notoriously bad, but I was intrigued at the same time. The winner would face Sheamus on SD! for the WHC this Friday. An ok segment that was short and did its job. Thumbs Up

2. Brodus Clay vs. Big Show - The match was ok for what it was. The action was short but it told a decent story and accomplished what it needed to: giving Show a solid victory while protecting Clay in the process. Clay got in some early offense, including taking Show down with the battering ram charge. Show then targeted Clay's "injured" knee and spent the next few minutes working on it. Clay did a solid job of selling the assault in my view and the fans popped when he mounted something of an offense as Show was going for the WMD. Clay knocks Show into the ropes and tries to scoop him up for a slam. He gets him half way before his knee buckled and Show falls on top of him. Show hooks the leg and scores the win at the 3 minute mark. After the commercial, footage is shown of Clay being helped back by refs & trainers only for Show to pop up on the right side of the screen and hit the WMD. All in all, a solid way to give Show momentum going towards MITB, yet proteting Clay by giving him a valid excuse for losing and making him look sympathetic. *1/2

Kane & AJ - Solid backstage segment with Kane & AJ backstage. I know a lot of people don't like to see Kane "humanized" to any degree, but I don't mind it at all because they'd gone as far as they could with Kane as a one dimensional monster heel a LONG time ago. AJ is damn good in this role as this mentally & emotionally unstable woman and Kane basically says that she's too crazy even for him and "breaks up" with her. Her response after he walks off is a mixture of crying & laughter, which is made all the more disturbing when you take into account how petite & cute she is. I don't know if this means that Kane is fully out of this picture or not but, in any case, it leaves us wondering what's going to happen and that's been part of the fun with this entire angle. Thumbs Up

3. Santino Marella vs. Jack Swagger for the WWE United States Championship - I'm mixed on this match. It bugs me, as it does others, to see the title wasted on Santino in this way. I know that Santino is over with a lot of fans and, at the end of the day, I suppose that's ultimately what matters the most. As for the match, it was decent while it lasted but it obviously didn't mean anything. I actually found myself hoping that Swagger would regain the title here and there looked like there was the possibility of that for a bit. Ultimately, Santino hits the Cobra at the 3 minute mark for the win. *

John Cena, Chris Jericho & Vickie Guerrero - I'm mixed on the segment overall due to John Cena's "Star Wars" promo. John Cena is damn good on the mic, it's laughable for anyone to try and say that he's not, but I do understand the annoyance a lot of fans get when Cena is out there being as goofy as he was last night. The Star Wars references fell pretty flat until Cena started with his Yoda impression, which I do have to admit was pretty spot on. The lights went off in the middle of his promo & Jericho made his return to a nice pop. Jericho was strong on the mic and I like that he seemed more grounded here. He came off as a tweener to me as he had something of an edge about him. He was insulting Cena, but he wasn't raging at the crowd as he would when he was a heel. Jericho did a great job of putting over the WWE Championship MITB match as well as the title itself once Cena announced he was putting his hat in for that particular match. Jericho worked hard putting over the importance of the match and what it can mean before declaring that he was going to be in the match as well. Vickie Guerrero came out & interrupted the both of them, asking who they thought they were by just putting themselves in a match. Jericho, in full tweener mode here, "apologized" to Vickie but asked what was she going to do, suspend him? The fans popped solidly for that and Cena insulted Vickie for a but Vickie ignored it by announcing that the WWE Championship MITB match, and there will be two MITB matches at the ppv despite what some internet rumors have claimed, would feature all former WWE Champions. She only announced four wrestlers, so I'm wondering if more will be added to the mix as there's still 3 weeks until the ppv. She said that Jericho & Cena would be in the match along with Kane & the Big Show. Vickie then booked the main event for the night, which was Cena vs. Jericho. It's an interesting idea having the Raw MITB match be comprised of only former WWE Champions and makes me wonder if this will be when the winner unsuccessfully cashes in since an unsuccessful attempt won't do any real damage. Thumbs In The Middle

4. Sycho Sid vs. Heath Slater - The match went about as you figured it would. Sid got a pretty decent pop when he came out but he certainly didn't get the response Vader did. That's not surprising as Sid's popularity was never anywhere close to Vader's. Sid was in good shape. He wasn't in his prime but, then again, what 50 year old is? Sid got the win at the 2 minute mark via the Powerbomb. N/A

5. Dolph Ziggler vs. Alberto Del Rio in a Contract on a Pole Match - In all honesty, I enjoyed this match. I know, I know the booking was extremely weird in this but I honestly don't care because it injected a lot of life into what is traditionally a pretty lousy match. Ziggler & Del Rio both worked hard here and told a good story of two guys who wanted to be #1 contender. The match didn't have a lot of big spots or anything like that, but it had lots of fun teases as to who was going to get the contract. The live crowd was really pulling for Ziggler and he & Del Rio both wind up on the top rope a couple of times fighting to get the contract. Late in the match, Ziggler pulls the contract down but Del Rio manages to slap it out of his hand as both of them fall to the mat. The commentators go onto say that even though Ziggler did pull down the contract, he was never "in control" of it. I guess they're saying that the winner has to actually have physical possession of the contract for a certain amount of time. I know a lot of people are going to hate that, I can understand, but I really liked it. Ziggler & Del Rio both scrambled for several minutes trying to get the contract, which also generated some fun teases. Just when it looked like one of them was going to get it, it slipped out of their grasps of was knocked away at the very last possible instant. At one point, the contract flies outside of the ring while Ziggler & Del Rio, still fighting, tumble through the ropes to the outside on the opposite side of the ring. As they're about to go at it again, Sheamus' music hits and he comes out and announces that he talked with Vickie as this was all going on and told them that there'll be a triple threat match this Friday on SD! for the title featuring both of them. So, the match ends in an apparent no contest. I was disappointed that the match ended in a no contest, but I liked the energy that both men put into the match. WWE is going a little nuts with the triple threat matches as of late but, really, I can't say that I mind because they've been extremely good. **1/4

6. Divas Battle Royal - More or less the waste of time you'd expect with a few exceptions. Vickie came out and announce herself as a participant while all the Divas were standing in the ring wearing bikinis. Most of them weren't the ultra revealing type but WWE did a similar battle royal about this time last year in which the Divas were all wearing flat, one piece suits that didn't show nearly enough skin. Vickie came out and did sort of a striptease that honestly made me laugh and, to be honest, Vickie didn't look bad. She wasn't as hot as the Divas, of course, but Vickie's in her 40s and has had a buttload of kids. I'm glad that Lawler didn't really make any fat jokes because, in all seriousness, Vickie did look good. Any normal guy probably wouldn't have kicked her out of bed. The match itself was pretty lame except for AJ & Vickie getting into it the last minute or so. AJ winds up eliminating Vickie for a good pop from the fans, especially when she started doing the Daniel Bryan "Yes!" chant & pose. Was it nonsense? Sure, but it was also kinda fun. *1/2

7. John Cena vs. Chris Jericho - Pretty solid match while it lasted. Both Cena & Jericho looked good with neither guy really dominating the other. Jericho & Cena had some good sequences in which Cena launched into his "Five Moves of Doom" bit but Jericho pops up before Cena can hit the Five Knuckle Shuffle & tries to put him in the Walls of Jericho. Cena works out of it and manages to hit Jericho again with his modified side suplex, which Jericho goes a nice job of trying to fight off, before finally hitting the FKS. As Cena goes for the AA, Jericho counters and manages to lock in the Walls of Jericho as Big Show's music hits. Show walks slowly to the ring before stepping inside and delivering a leg drop to Cena while he's still in the Walls of Jericho. Show & Jericho look at each other a bit, as Jericho wasn't happy that Show interferred. Show taunted Jericho a bit but Jericho just smirked and exited the ring. Show then hits Cena with a great looking chokeslam before putting him in the Colossal Clutch, Show's modified version of the Camel Clutch, and Cena eventually "passes out" from the pressure. The show ends with Big Show looking over at the ref that'd asked him to stop. **1/4

Final Thoughts - A strong, solid & newsworth episode of Raw last night, much better than last week. The opening match was another well booked one featuring Bryan, Punk & Kane. Bryan scoring the win evens things out between these guys as they've all scored wins over each other during the course of this feud. AJ continues to shine in her role and I thought they did a good job of making us wonder exactly where this is going. Even though Kane seemed to be "ending" things, it's hard to tell. Vickie did a good job as GM. She wasn't all over the show & her segments were pretty entertaining. Show vs. Clay did it's job if making Clay look like a sympathetic, brave babyface while giving Show a solidified pinfall victory. It was also announced during the show that Lesnar will be on Raw next week to address Triple H's challenge, so that's a nice hook to get people to tune in next week. Santino vs. Swagger didn't do much for me. The Diva battle royal also wasn't much, though the sequence with AJ & Vickie was fun and, in all honesty, Vickie looks good. She's lost a lot of weight so she should be proud of herself, I just wish they'd quit with the fat jokes once and for all, especially when someone isn't fat. Cena's "big announcement" of being in the Raw MITB match is an interesting twist. I didn't care for his "Star Wars" promo but Jericho saved the segment by putting over the importance of the MITB match, the MITB concept and the WWE Championship all at the same time. The idea of the WWE Championship MITB match being comprised of former WWE Champions will rub some the wrong way, but this could be a novel way of having an MITB winner fail to successfully cash in without really doing any damage to the wrestler. Let's be honest, if John Cena does win MITB but isn't able to beat the champ upon cashing it in, it's not going to hurt him. If anything, it might be a positive thing. Ziggler vs. Del Rio, to me, was a fun match that injected some entertaining energy into what's traditionally a lousy gimmick match. The main event with Cena vs. Jericho was good while it lasted and Show interfering was a way of keeping his rivalry with Cena going while continuing his dominant heel turn. I'm wondering if there'll only be those four in the WWE Championship MITB match. I'm doubting it as there's still 3 weeks to go until the show. With the WHC MITB match participants to be named, the WWE Championship MITB & and other Punk vs. Bryan match at the show, it's shaping up to be a strong card.

Grade: B
 
I enjoyed last night's RAW. There was a moment in particular at the end of Jericho's match with Cena where I thought that I saw a Jerishow-esque understanding between Big Show and Jericho. I'm not sure that it was just a mutual understanding that they both wanted to make a statement regarding MITB at Cena's expense. I thought that it was a nod that since neither of them will probably be champs anytime soon that they may resort to working together here and there as they did a few years back. Last week, Show was adamant about making it clear that he was through with Cena. But he went out of his way to attack him last night. And Jericho's return promo was mainly anti-Cena. Two men with a common enemy who had a bit of success working together.

Then again, maybe I'm just seeing what I want to see.
 
The opening was good and set up the WWE title match for MITB, I can't recall the last time a Diva was featured in so many segments of a show, but AJ has earned it, even her bikini match stuff with Vickie was fun.

Swagger jobbing clean to Santino was stupid, I don't rate Swagger that highly but Santino is a comedy act, not a US champion who should beat guys, he doesn't need it to be over, in fact I think the crowd are tiring of him, he's better in small doses. Swagger appears to be in the shithouse.

I thought Ziggler and Del Rio put on a really agressive match that showcased them as "Hungry young Lions" to quote JR, even if the finish was messy and Sheamus smiley promo was irritating. Honestly, he no sold the danger to his title a triple threat is supposed to present and do WWE really think the US audience are that impressed by him saying the UK version of ass?

Sid looked really seedy and got a medium response in comparison to Vader, but in fairness he always was vastly inferior. I'm actually digging Heath Slater in these jobber segments, he reminds me of early days Miz.

I can't remember the rest other than Cena was the half way main event and the closing main event and he did a decent Yoda impersonation. His notion that no one can stop Show if he wins MITB and then Show choking him out at the end was stupid and went against Show saying he was moving on in his promo on SD last week.

Jericho's return promo was solid, he seems to have tweaked his character again.

I'm finding I zone out of Raw now once the Punk/Bryan/Aj stuff and Ziggler are done, the WWE champion being put behind anything Cena does is just enthusiasm sapping.
 
The D-Bryan, CM Punk, Kane, and AJ story line is a perfect example of how WWE Divas can be relevant. I'm sorry to all the WWE Divas who think that they themselves can ramp up the Diva division if they got more tv wrestling time but it is and has always been their involvement in the male storylines that have boosted their popularity. Ex. Mero/Sable/Jacqueline. Or even a little more relevant Trish's start with TNA and Lita's rise with the Hardy Boyz. The one unique aspect about this storyline is that CM Punk the WWE Champion isn't even the central aspect of the storyline, It is AJ. Also the storyline involves multiple people so there are endless creative directions to go with in terms of storylines and backstage promos. This storyline also keeps the entire show or even both shows for that matter intriguing since WWE has chosen to have some superstars cross over.

All in All, AJ is taking this opportunity and is brilliantly playing her character which in turn has obviously increased her popularity. Notice how her cheers are actually audible when her theme song hits or when she is shown in a promo. And for a divas match, her match against Layla wasn't bad either.
 
Best Raw in quite a while in my view, it did a good job of promoting the WWE title match and MITB with equal importance.

Cena kicked things off talking about getting his focus on the MITB ladder match after last weeks events with Jericho and Show. Bryan interrupted with some Yes chants and took some digs at Cena, who let him before feeding a lead in line for Punk who came out and had some fun with the crowd using Bryan's catchphrase. Then Jon Bon Jericho arrives and insults them all before Kane and Show come out to do some monstering with Show as the only guy left standing.

Overall it was a good segment for everyone and while the crowd wasn't super hot, the first 4 out were pretty over.

I confess that I missed the tag match that followed and just saw the heels leaving Oiltunga stranded before Brodus and co danced with a bunch of kids.

The Kane vs Show match was a classic bowling shoe ugly affair that saw Show go over with a spear and chokeslam on the chair as they continue to point out he's unstoppable now...after 15 years of being stoppable.

Heyman cut a low key promo saying Lesnar will give Haitch his answer on the 1000th Raw, they are drip feeding this angle given Lesnar's limited dates. Heyman putting over Brock the career killer was good and he basically accused Triple H of wanting Lesnar to finish him off in much the way Hunter claimed Taker wanted him to end his career.

Tyson Kidd beating Tensai was good as I think Kidd has talent, Tensai then attempted to regain heat he never had by beating up Sakamoto and then Kidd during his post match promo.

Doink was this weeks blast from the past, no one cared and he jobbed to Heath Slater. DDP then showed up, got a nice response and hit Slater with the Diamond Cutter.

Bryan and Jericho are backstage in the funniest segment of the night, arguing over their jackets before having a catchphrase-off.

I saved mentioning AJ till last as the little Lady was again the most central character on the show. First she had a great segment with Bryan where he tried to charm her with a rose, she saw through it and bit it's head off before claiming she was going to win her match and then celebrate with her soul mate Punk.

The Match is a mixed tag with AJ and Sheamus facing Dolph and Vickie, Dolph gets some chants again and shows off, AJ pins Vickie to win the match, only when she gets to the back she finds out Punk hadn't even watched, cue her bunny boiler personality switch at not getting attention.

A bit later Eve returns in a brief backstage segment with Teddy before seeing AJ and trying to mock her attempts at manipulating men like she does, AJ rips her and then tells her she'll show her how to get attention, before skipping off.

The main event tag was good stuff with Cena and Punk vs Bryan and Jericho, the table seems to be getting laid for Cena vs Punk, with Punk saying he'll take the lead to Cena in the pre match promo. The match breaks down and Cena and Jericho battle to the back leaving Punk and Bryan to have an awesome exchange in the ring that has the crowd going.....Then AJ's music hits.

She skips down and they ignore her, so she goes around the ring looking for something before finally dragging out a table, as she sets it up the crowd are sitting in silence captivated by her, she then climbs to the top rope as if she is going to throw herself through the table, kinda like a non lethal suicide. Bryan tries to stop her by standing in front of the table pleading with her, and then Punk climbs up and tries to talk her down, suddenly she plants a big kiss on Punk, grins at him as he looks confused, and then shoves him off the top onto Bryan and both crash through the table. She then grins another crazy smile and gets the whole crowd chanting YES! as Raw goes off air.

All in all a good Raw and AJ truly is a unique aspect that has been brought to the show, many just thought she was cute as hell but she has shown she's a lot more with some truly excellent character work.
 
All in all, Raw was a solid show last night. I was disappointed somewhat in the lack of quality wrestling action, but the storyline progression and hype for the MITB ppv made up for it.

The opening for Raw was very strong with tons of energy all around. Jericho & Bryan stole the segment in my eyes and it's nice to see the classic Y2J shining through lately.

As I said, wrestling action overall wasn't that great. The 8 man tag match had potential but it kinda degenerated into a circus. Slater vs. Doink was a nice tease. I was disappointed at first but at least Slater got the win and I was surprised to see DDP. I was never a huge fan of DDP, but I liked him ok and it was nice to see him. The tag team main event was a lot of fun, especially Bryan & Punk wrestling against each other. They started off the tension between Cena & Punk ever so slightly last night backstage with Punk telling Cena to "follow" his lead and Cena reluctantly agreeing. Nothing staggering, but it got the wheels in motion just a little.

AJ pretty much stole the show last night. The girl is just spot on in her character and she elevated her stock even more last night. Her friction with Punk is something that needed to happen and I hope to see expanded upon. Her involvement in the main event and her need for attention really pushed the "mentally unstable" aspect of her character. Personally, I would've loved to have seen her actually jump through the table, thereby ending the match and getting "injured", which would've put even more attention on her. I could picture it in my head as they wheeled her out on a stretcher in which she flashed a disturbed, chilling smile now that ALL the focus was on her, including the attention of Punk & Bryan. Still, the way they did it worked out nicely.

The Lesnar announcement was something I saw coming a mile off. I figured they'd wait until the 1,000th show before bringing Lesnar back and have him announce his choice in person.

Overall, I give last night's show a B. Quality storyline progression, great hype for the ppv & tonight's special live episode of SD! and a fun main event. Both the WWE Championship & WWE Championship MITB match got a good amount of focus as well.
 
Raw barely finished ten minutes ago and I am hard pushed to remember anything outside of the opening segment, the MITB tag match and the main event. Basically the show was full of 2 minute matches and stupid skits, the worst of which saw Lawler, Cole, Santino and Hornswaggle pratting about like the 4 stooges, dreadful stuff.

The opening however was a lot of fun, the storyline hit the ridiculous mark on the crazyometer but the three involved are so committed to their roles that they pulled it off and had the crowd fully into it.

AJ started off with a short promo that introduced Punk who came out to a huge pop. Punk then stood looking uncomfortable as AJ told him he turned her on before asking him to marry her! Cue The Yes! Man, Daniel Bryan hauls ass to the ring yelling NO! he proceeds to own the building with a great promo berating Punk before telling AJ he was planning to ask her to marry him! Punk then butts in and asks if this was the case then where is the ring? Bryan mouths "It's in the back", Then the Anonymous Raw GM pops up and makes Bryan and Eve vs AJ and Punk as the main event.

AJ proclaims she will leave Raw tonight with her future husband and skips off. Punk was great in this whole segment, he allowed the other two to do most of the talking and he sold it all with his reactions, including dropping the mic as AJ made her big statement, it was a real "less is more" approach from Punk.

FFWD to the midway main event and Cena comes out in his hideous green ensemble, I bet he can't wait for the next rainbow entry they throw on him. He cuts a strong promo selling the importance of MITB and guaranteeing a victory. The subsequent Cena/Kane vs Show/Jericho tag is practically the only decent wrestling of the night but has a DQ that makes zero sense, since when was breaking up a pin in a tag match a DQ? :shrug:

Post-match Show busts out the ladders and beats up Jericho and Kane a bit before Cena gets back in and waffles him with a ladder leading Cole to get all excited and yell about this possibly being Cena's key to victory this Sunday.....Using a ladder to hit someone in a ladder match only just occurred to Cole as useful?....ok.

The most interesting segment of the night then happened, a backstage segment between Punk and Eve where she initially starts off just pushing his buttons about losing the belt, then she pipe bombs him by saying he's been champ for 7 months but overshadowed by Cena, Rock, Triple H, Big Show and Brock, but now he's even being overshadowed by AJ "Must be emasculating" the spray tanned Wonder Woman taunts!....Punk looks angry, maybe time for pipe bomb #2?

The main event was a fun little mixed tag where apparently Punk and Bryan paid tribute to some MMA fight from the other night and AJ and Eve had a decent exchange. AJ/Punk win when Bryan refuses to tag and AJ pins Eve.

Post-match Bryan points out that his actions prove she means more to him than any match. Punk cuts him off and tells AJ that he wont be marrying her even if it costs him his title, she whimpers and slaps him, he looks irritated. Bryan then smugly opens his arms and beckons her home, he cracks me up. :lmao: AJ seems like she's going back to Goatface for a snuggle in his beard, but no! she slaps him, grins an insane grin, throws up some Yes chants and skips off leaving both guys rubbing their slapped beards.

Bar the great work of Bryan, Punk and AJ, and a solid tag promoting the Raw MITB, this was a dull and filler packed Raw.
 
agree. some will over react and say it was the worst RAW, but it wasnt. i enjoyed the Cole and Lawler reaction with Cole spilling water on Cole, didnt like their "match" and of course didnt like the GM reveal as i predicted the GM to be some comedy character when/if they revealed it on that show. the best thing was the Tag Match (except the finsh being a DQ that usually doesnt occur) and of course AJ, Bryan and Punk. good story being told and of course we all expect Bryan and Punk to deliever in the ring on Sunday, now the question is will WWE pull the trigger and put the title on Bryan like i think they could do, but then again, i've been wrong with the past two Punk title matches.
 
I just finished watching it thank god it was recorded i fast forwarded through most of it.
I found it quite boring except for the all the stuff with punk, aj and bryan.
I'm a huge fan of Kane but I am damn bored with the way the WWE has dropped the ball on him since the big resurrection.. i think Cena has the MITB match won already so basically fast forwarded through that.
 
Raw was definitely up and down last night.

The opening segment, while it went on longer than it needed to, featured more good work from Punk, AJ & Bryan in their current angle. AJ's facial expressions & body language did a lot for me in this segment. It didn't feel rushed, but it did feel like it dragged at times. Punk's done a good job of selling the awkward feelings of discomfort AJ's overzealous attentions towards him have generated. Bryan did a good job as playing the creep of the angle. The live crowd was heavily into the segment, aside from a few "What?" chants early on. The double proposal bit was a nice touch to further the ambiguous question of who AJ's ultimate allegiance lies with.

Cena's pre-match promo was very well done. When Cena is in serious mode, he can cut promos better than almost anybody. He continued do a great job in putting over MITB as a whole, including the concept and the match itself. The tag match that followed was an entertaining, long match also did a good job in hyping the WWE Championship MITB match. The ending was stupid as shit as it's the first time I can recall a tag match ending via DQ because a participant in the match broke up the count by pulling his opponent out of the ring.

The mixed tag match wasn't much as far as wrestling action goes but, again, more good storytelling in this angle. Punk turns down AJ's proposal while trying to be the upstanding guy that's not trying to play with the emotions of an unstable chick. He gets slapped in the face as does Bryan. Again, the live crowd ate all this up. Punk sold his frustration & anger at AJ's reaction nicely, it looked completely natural. Bryan's shocked expression was perfect and he couldn't have sold it any better if AJ had told him that she was born a boy. Punk & Bryan can deliver a show stealing match any night of the week and I hope that happens at MITB without the drama of the "love triangle" storyline getting in the way of the action.

The rest of the show was an absolute bust. Overall wrestling action was flat out lousy, practically nonexistant aside from the tag match between the WWE title MITB participants. The stuff with Lawler & Cole made me wanna gag because it's been done to death. The live crowd loved it but I'm long since over it. I have no desire to watch announcers wrestle. The time that was eaten up here could've been put to FAR better use. Santino was running around like a goof, as usual, and the revelation that Hornswoggle was the anonymous GM all along was...well it was just stupid. There's no other way to put it, so I'll just leave it at that. Bob Backlund came out and it just made me think of Ron Howard, famed movie director and Opie from The Andy Griffith Show, was having a "senior moment" and running around in his underwear.

Some will overreact and say Raw was the worst they've ever seen. Overall, it was a bad show but far from the worst I've seen. It was definitely weak for a go home show. They did at least accomplish something by giving the WWE Championship & WWE Championship MITB matches a strong final hype. The "love triangle" storyline continues to be entertaining and it was a nice treat to see these three not only open the show but close it as well. The rest of the show just didn't work. There was FAR, FAR too much useless filler. I give last night's show a C-.
 
Ugh. Such a stupid Raw last night, for the most part.

I swear I thought they were trying to go for the record for the shortest average match length in an entire show. And, if you take away the tag match with Cena and the CM Punk vs D-Bryan match you basically have a bunch of matches which lasted under 2 minutes! Ridiculous! In fact, the tag match with Punk/AJ vs Bryan/Eve wasn't even really that long and even the other tag match with Christian/Kidd vs Ziggler/Tensai was pretty short.

The whole show was pretty laughable. You could tell all they cared about was pushing the hell out of the WWE MITB ladder match and the CM Punk/Bryan/AJ angle/match.

But so many things could have been better done with more purpose. Here are just a few ideas off the top of my head as I look back at Raw:

- Jack Swagger vs Sheamus - I know Sheamus had to win this one but why the hell didn't they let Swagger beat Santino a few weeks back and win the US Championship? At least that way Swagger (and the announcers) could say Swagger has an important victory in recent memory. And this match could at least be made to SEEM more important as a Champion vs Champion match. And they could have let Swagger get in maybe a FEW moves, whether they be cheap or not... I mean, c'mon Swagger is a heel, at least let him do a few cheap heel tactics that get Sheamus down a bit but of course Sheamus would just use it to fuel his rage and win but that's, I guess, fine since it had to happen, but at least the match would have been better if done that way.

Sin Cara vs Slater - I'm maybe one of the few people who actually likes Sin Cara (and Slater for doing good at his role) but there is ZERO reason to put Sin Cara in this match especially at this stage of the game. Sin Cara can't win MITB, he has had no build. The only reason I can see them putting Sin Cara in this match is because WWE are sick freaks who want to make Sin Cara have to do some dangerous spots again which might get him injured and out for another 9 months.

Bob Backlund "vs" Heath Slater - When an old guy like this comes out you really start to wonder why wearing short short trunks ever became popular in pro wrestling. It looks pretty ridiculous.

Then the whole Lawler, Cole, Santino, Hornswoggle bit was pretty useless. I mean, I admit, at the time they hinted there would be a match between Lawler and Cole I only slightly felt I wanted to see this because I was hoping Lawler would be able to toss Cole around the ring and beat him like a rented mule for a final feel-good moment to put a cap on their feud once and for all and then that would mean Cole would be to beat up from that to keep commentating that night and Booker T and or Josh Mathews would have to come in and finish. But that wasn't the case and it was a stupid match and a stupid resolution to the Anonymous GM but I didn't expect much since they dropped the Anonymous GM for so long I knew they weren't going to make the An. GM anyone which they could actually build a real storyline from.

What frustrates me the most is that which so many pointless matches they could have AT LEAST thrown in a #1 contender match for the Tag Team Titles. Have Huncio & Camacho vs The Usos. Then that match would be sure to have some good action and a final result. Why couldn't they have done that? Because I hear Huncio & Camacho will face R-Truth and Kofi (presumabley for the Tag Titles) in the Pre-Show match, so why not AT LEAST throw in a #1 contender match instead of just throwing together matches willy-nilly.
 
Well, this is my first time on here in a while--had to create a new account because I forgot my info---but I had to put my two cents worth after watching what could possibly be one of the worst Raw's I have ever seen.

We open with AJ, who is the best thing we have going right now, and I watch this storyline fall into the 8-10 year old genre, like about everything else they are doing now. Marriage Proposals? Are you kidding me? AJ has went from Psycho-chick to ten year old little princess in the span of 5 minutes. This storyline is about as beleivable as the Iron Sheik's twitter ramblings. So let's have a mixed tag main event involving Eve, who hasnt wrestled in months---but we need to throw somebody in there.

Sheamus burys Swaggar in a meaningless squash. Need to hurry up and get these irritating wrestling matches over quick to we can give time to the announcers and the midget. They kill what momentum they had for this storyline by haveing the vicious evil Del Rio appear....VIA SATELLITE! I havent see the SD spoilers..did Del Rio miss another appearance or something. And another kick to Swaggar because he is a BAD GUY, and BAD GUYs dont win matches anymore.

Was there a tag match after that? I went to the kitchen for a refill and when I came back Albert was pinning Christian. About two minutes devoted to what is supposed to be one of the biggest matches of the year. And the visual of Albert and Vickie....

YES! YES! YES! Cole vs Lawler. THAT's why we have to have short matches tonight. Glad they are keeping their priorities straight.

And here comes Akeem the African Dream against the Chosen Jobber. Yep, hurry this one up too, because we need to have time to see us some Hornswoggle later on!

SuperCena comes out and cuts the exact same promo he cut every week since Johnny left. Thankfully, we have the piped in Let's go Cena chant to drown out anyone who might have a negative thing to say about Cena in the live crowd. The match was decent, a typical Raw main event that we've seen for the past 5 years. And the DQ finish because someone broke up a pinning attempt in a tag match. Who the hell is in charge here? Bill Watts? Oh, and Big Show is a BAD GUY, and how will Jericho survive after being crushed by a 20 pound piece of aluminum.

Another MITB qualifier. Will we reward the guy who has been working his ass off on Raw for the past few weeks making 60 year old men look good, or will the spot go to a spot monkey who cant pass a drug test? My question is, will the MITB match be contested under the Mood Lighting?
BTW, Bob Backlund does not look like Opie! Have some respect people! He looks like Buck Owens in his underwear.

And here comes the Match of the Year Candidate. Yep, Flair-Steamboat has just been topped. So glad Bill Watts reversed the decision. And now the answer to the mystery of what was the biggest storyline last year. The Man behind the laptop is................Hornswoggle! (little bastard) What a payoff!

Main event time...AJ is much better outside the ring than inside. Very little action between Bryan and Punk, and Aj wins with the ROLLUP OF DOOM! And we're back to see if Prince Charming marries his princess. The Double slap was actually a good way to end the show, after the kiss on Smackdown. The whole marriage angle was absolutely stupid however.

Final Thoughts-
MITB WILL be a four way, despite what everybody else wants. Big Show is bad.
Punk and Bryan have been completely overshadowed by AJ/
And that's about all we got out of Raw this week.

High spot- Had to think hard on this, but I liked the Jeri-Show promo
Low spot- Pretty much the rest of the show

Rating- .25 out of 10
 
The numbers for Raw last night are in. While the show was pretty lousy as a whole, it still delivered solid numbers on a night with some tough competition.

The show drew a 3.13 Nielsen Rating with an average audience of 4,407,000. It is down compared to the last several weeks, but I figured it'd be considering the Home Run Derby was on ESPN last night. Hour 1 of Raw drew 4,295,000 viewers while hour 2 increased to 4,520,000.

Raw was fifth in total viewers last night and was one of several shows with a large adult male fanbase that lost viewers due to the Home Run Derby, which itself drew roughly 6.9 million viewers. Baseball also took a chunk out of Pawn Stars, with the 10 pm show doing 5,112,000 viewers and the 10:30 show taking a drop down to 4,796,000. American Pickers, which started at 9, did just slightly more than 4,000,000 viewers. Last night was also the premiere of the 1st of the final 6 episides of The Closer, which drew 6,145,000 viewers and it was the series premiere of Perception, which came on after The Closer on TNA, and it drew 5,600,000 viewers.

Raw lost some momentum this week. They need to recapture it with a strong showing at the MITB ppv this Sunday and put on a hot show for Raw #999 next week to keep interest up for the 1,000th show on July 23 with the show going to 3 hours for the forseeable future.
 
What a despicable episode, one of the worst raw had in years. Seriously, i want to take the episode and beat it with a tire iron. Punk/Bryan/Aj is definitely my pick for worst storyline of the year(neck and neck with kane/cena/ryder's hot garbage).Btw, nice bit of "continuity" with cena and kane tagging in the match, but thats just being nitpick with a show like this.
 
Much better RAW this week after last weeks AWFUL go-home RAW leading to MITB. If you DESPISE Cena, MITB was awful - otherwise, it was solid but not spectacular. (The anti-Cena crowd just lets him ruin their life, I do not understand it). I thought the four advertised matches did the job and gave MITB a B/B- rating. The filler kills it though, and that's due to the lack of a solid mid card currently. Granted a lot of the guys were in the MITB match but how about a tag team title match? Or actually build a divas feud instead of just throwing a 6-diva tag together? Anyways I digress...

SO that brings us to tonight's RAW:

We open with a CM Punk / Big Show segment, which I thought was well done by both men, putting heat on the main event and teasing Cena cashing in to add some drama to the non-title bout. I know TBS isn't everyone's favorite, and he is what he is in the ring (which is not great but better than most give him credit for) but he's pretty solid on the mic. You can tell he gets the business and understands the roles he's supposed to play. Kudos to the big man.

Tag team title match: Kofi and Truth vs PTPers. Why they didn't do this last night instead makes little sense to me - I don't have a huge problem with it, if WWE isn't going to emphasize its midcard neither am I - but it was noteworthy as backwards booking. Pretty average cookie-cutter match and I'm wondering if the powers-that-be are cooling on the PrimeTimers as they continue to job out. Kofi and Truth are fairly over though and should continue to carry the belts until appropriate competition comes along.

Zack Ryder vs Albert Del Rio- not much of a match but we get Mysterio returning in time to make an appearance on SmackDown in his hometown of San Diego tomorrow night, and this surely will lead to an ADR/Mysterio match at Summer Slam. So a necessary component, if not groundbreaking, to get Rey back into the fold. With Sheamus going over clean last night, this almost surely cements Sheamus and Del Rio going in new directions respectively.

RAW 999 then brings back another legend - I'm not a huge Rikishi fan but I did get that warm, fuzzy feeling seeing the big 'Kish get some ring time with his twin sons. And Heath Slater had better get some reward for this after RAW 1000! Kid is taking a beating week after week - he's got potential, I'd like to see him go with Santino over the US title in a lighter-themed feud.

Mixed Tag Match: Daniel Bryan/AJ vs Miz/Eve - the match was decent, and had a clever end with DB helping AJ get the pin, but the real story was after when DB proposed and AJ said yes. Honestly, even for as long as this story has gone on, THIS part of it feels rushed.

Not really a fan of this ATM but I will reserve judgment and see how it goes. Hoping they will explain more to my satisfaction (like, why the sudden change of heart from AJ???) on SmackDown and the Peep Show. Overall, I'm not a big fan of the wedding angle, we've done this too many times before on WWE tv.

Squash: Swagger /Ryback - I give them credit, they are trying to do some different stuff to build Ryback, but honestly, I'm just not into the guy. And I feel bad for Swagger.

Dolph /Jericho segment: Dolph came off well but I'm pretty sure he forget the punchline at the end, making it akward. Also, a speechless Jericho was odd to me, and having him fit his finisher in frustration just made him look like a pouty kid who had his favorite toy taken away. BTW, who is the face here? I think its Jericho...

Squash: Brodus / JTG - so tired of Brodus. NEXT.

Main Event: CM Punk vs Big Show- despite the clash of styles I thought this was a very good match, Big Show kept up and the two meshed surprisingly well. The DQ ending was predictable but it had to be done to get the desired conclusion. Punk had to be beaten up to tease Cena cashing in, but Big Show couldn't go over clean. I'll live with it, I was entertained.

Now the cash-in: While most are eye-rolling over Cena winning MITB and cashing in, I suppose I'm in the minority because I'm a fan of both Cena and Punk and the payoff is getting to see the two fight at RAW 1000 (and likely Summer Slam, too). Unfortunately, Cena's cash-in promo was just so...corny. It was all set up- then the words came out of his mouth. Sorry, John. You're better than this.

But I'm not going to let that ruin the whole night. I give this RAW a B+ and we're rolling into STL and RAW 1000 next week!
 
WWE Raw Supershow - July 16, 2012

Opening Segment - The opening was a good, solid back & forth verbal segment between CM Punk & Big Show. Punk whipped up an already lively Las Vegas crowd early on and did a nice job of touching on his history with his infamous "shoot promo" that happened a little over a year ago & hyped his WWE Championship run. Big Show came out and added a nice bit of tension to the segment by putting himself over, reminding everyone of how dominant he is and all that while hinting that Cena won due to a fluke. The handle of the MITB briefcase breaking does make that scenario plausible. Punk went the Cody Rhodes route and basically called Show a choke artist but did it in his own way all while Show reminded Punk of Cena now having the briefcase. It set the tone for tonight in making us wonder how Cena was going to pop up and whether or not he'd cash in. It also set up the main event for tonight well and it should be a solid match with good storytelling. Thumbs Up

1. Kofi Kingston & R-Truth vs. The Prime Time Players for the WWE Tag Team Championship - Pretty solid tag title match here with the four men working well together. AW being out there on his little headset microphone honestly didn't bother me. I wasn't all that wild about that aspect when they started doing it, but he hasn't used his presence out there to distract from the match. The match wasn't overly spectacular but there was a pretty decent tease, in my eyes, of the PTPs getting the win. After all, Truth & Kofi have been tag champs for a while, even though Truth has been out injured for a while. The end comes with Kofi hitting Trouble in Paradise, or a slightly modified version of it, on Titus before Truth hits his finisher about the 8 minute mark. Slowly, it continues to look like WWE is building an actual tag team division. The PTPs are a fun team that continue to show promise, but this is the second match in two days they lost. I'm hoping that WWE isn't losing interest in them. **1/4

Daniel Bryan, AJ & Eve - A brief but solid backstage segment that set up a nice tease for what's next with the Bryan & AJ story. It looks as though Punk might be out of the picture now as I think Bryan's feud with him is over for now. Eve interrupts the two and tells them that they're up against her and an opponent of her choice tonight in a mixed tag match. AJ's facial expressions continue to be gold as she does a good job of selling her conflicted emotions here. She wasn't in whack-a-doo mode here, but I figured we'd see it before the showwas over. Thumbs Up

2. Zack Ryder vs. Alberto Del Rio - Pretty much what I expected, with the exception of Ryder getting in a little more offense. The match did serve its purpose of further hyping the new aggressive direction they're going with Del Rio and he gets the win via the armbar at the 2 minute mark. As he goes back to work on Ryder's arm, Rey Mysterio's music hits and he makes his return. He goes down to the ring only to be attacked by Del Rio, who has the upper hand briefly, before Rey catches him in the modified head scissors before hitting him with the 619. The commentators hyped their history a bit, using Del Rio as the reason why Rey has been out for so long. As I said, the match had a duel purpose in continuing to show a more aggressive side to Del Rio and to set up Mysterio making a heroic return. The Match: N/A - The Promo: Thumbs Up

3. Rikishi vs. Heath Slater - Pretty much the standard for what we've come to expect from this gimmick. Rikishi recieved a much warmer reception than I figured he would, a lot of people in the audience remembered him. The crowd popped huge for the stink face he gave Slater. Rikishi also gave something of a nice tribute to both Umaga & Yokozuna, who're members of Rikishi's family, by first hitting Slater with the Spike before ending the match via a Banzai Drop. Afterward, Rikishi did his dance routine with his sons, Jimmy & Jey Uso, out there with him. I was never a huge Rikishi fan, but it was still kind of fun to see him. Given his unusual look coupled with the dancing and all that, he could probably still be a viable mid-card babyface today. N/A

4. Daniel Bryan & AJ vs. The Miz & Eve[/B] - The match was nothing to speak of but, then again, I didn't really expect it to be as it was going to be a build up to something else. I'm not really sure why they put The Miz in this only for he & Bryan to have only a brief period working against each other before AJ & Eve went at it. The end comes with Miz accidentally distracting the ref once Eve rolls AJ up in a small package. Bryan comes in and reverses the move, allowing AJ to score the win for the team. Afterward, Bryan tells AJ that he loves her and she continues to do a good job here of selling her conflicting emotions. As with every other aspect of this storyline, the live crowd was eating it up with loud duel chants of "Yes!" and "No!" being heard almost simultaneously. Someone hands Bryan a ring and he gets down on his knee to propose to AJ. AJ eventually accepts and they engage in a passionate kiss, again to a huge crowd reaction. After the commercial here, it's announced via facebook that Bryan & AJ will have their wedding next week on the 1,000th episode of Raw. It feels like a bit rushed but, at the same time, I think they did need to progress this thing further. The fact that it's so rushed does go with the impulsive and unstable factors of AJ's personality. As long as it doesn't eat up half the show next week, it should be interesting. The Match: NA - Promo: Thumbs Up

Ryback & Jack Swagger - Their match never got started as Swagger attacked Ryback before the bell and got the best of him for a couple of minutes. I like when Swagger is cocky and aggressive, he's a talented guy and I think WWE could make so much better use of him. Swagger made Ryback work for things here but Ryback ultimately was able to get the best of him. I'm just glad this wasn't another squash match, rather it looked like the beginning of a possible feud. I don't expect it to be a grand feud but, again, it's a much needed step forward for Ryback. Thumbs Up

Chris Jericho & Dolph Ziggler - I liked this segment a lot and Ziggler cut a great promo in my eyes. Ziggler carries himself like a star and he seemed both comfortable, passionate and a little cocky here. Ziggler does a good job of hyping his MITB win before Jericho interrupts. I dug the fact that Ziggler didn't even let Jericho get a word in while hyping himself and reminding people of the fact that Jericho hasn't really won a bit match since his return, teasing that Jericho might have "lost" his touch. Ziggler taunts Jericho for a bit before Jericho takes him by surprise and hits the Codebreaker before exiting the ring with a somewhat dour look on his face. I love the idea of a Jericho vs. Ziggler feud, the promo segments can certainly work and I've no doubt these two can deliver match of the year candidates. Jericho is one of these guys that can continuously lose but come out shining like a brand new penny. It's very rare to have someone like that around. Thumbs Up

5. Brodus Clay vs. JTG - Typical Brodus Clay stuff, but it took a little longer than normal for Clay to get the win over JTG. N/A

6. CM Punk vs. The Big Show - A fun, entertaining match that did tell a good story as I figured it would. Show played his part as the dominant monster well while Punk looked like the resilient, never say die champion. Both men sold each other's offense well and the crowd rallied behind Punk when the moments called for it. I thought Show did a great job of selling those three running knees Punk hit in the corner. The spit flying out of his mouth after being hit with one of them and the glazed over look in his eyes were both great touches. The crowd really popped for Punk once he hit the flying elbow for a nice near fall. Afterward, he goes for the springboard clothesline only to be caught. Show then delivers a chokeslam, which Punk was able to get out of by placing his foot over the bottom rope. Show puts Punk over into a corner and starts to pound him before knocking the ref down. The ref calls for the bell at the 9.5 minute mark, giving Punk the win via DQ. As Show is gearing up for the WMD, Cena's music hits and he sprints down to the ring carrying his briefcase. He & Show confront each other, albeit from across the ring, before Show gets out of the ring. Show then gets on the mic and taunts Cena a bit, tempting him into cashing in the briefcase while Punk was weak, pointing out that Cena would never get an easier title win than this. Cena staring at the briefcase for a bit while the ref came into the ring was a nice touch before he vehemently tells Show No. He addresses Punk and tells everyone that he'll cash in the MITB briefcase next week on Raw against Punk when Punk is fresh and resting. He then runs to the apron and waffles Show with the briefcase. Punk & Cena stand in the ring with Cena holding the briefcase up and Punk holding up the title. The match was very solid in my eyes and I love the fact we're getting this match on next week's Raw. I'm expecting some degree of interference from Big Show, maybe in which he lays both men out during their match next week or maybe causes Cena to lose. The Match: *** - The Promo: Thumbs Up

Final Thoughts - As I was hoping, Raw rebounded nicely from the dull and extremely lackluster go home Raw from last week. The WWE turned the page here and moved forward with some storylines and started up some new ones very nicely. CM Punk & Big Show started things off nicely and the tag title match was pretty solid. The Bryan/AJ storyline was moved along nicely and their "wedding" next week could be a lot of fun. I'm looking forward to Jericho vs. Ziggler as well. I was surprised to see that Ziggler dominated the promo segment with Jericho saying nothing, but I don't mind it because Ziggler did quite well and he's the one that needs to be put over. Punk vs. Show was a very fun David vs. Goliath match and Cena's announcement that he cashes in next week on Punk capped off what was already a pretty newsworthy Raw. I'm happy to see Cena cash in the briefcase next week, I was hoping that it'd happen. As long as Cena doesn't actually win, it'll be a lot of fun. They did a consistently great job of hyping next week's 1,000th episode of Raw. We know that DX will start the show off next week. I don't know if it'll be just Triple H & HBK or if other members of the group will show up. Brock Lesnar will also be on Raw to address Triple H's challenge and whether or not he'll accept it. Fans were given an option to vote on as to whether the US, IC or Divas Championship would be defended next week. The votes were close but Christian squeezed out the victory, so he'll defend the title next week on Raw. The Rock returns next week, as will a lot of other legends I'd expect. Daniel Bryan & AJ are getting "married" next week and CM Punk will defend the WWE Championship against John Cena as Cena will cash in his MITB contract.

Grade: B+

EDIT: Aside from being a far better show than last week and generating some serious momentum quality wise going into next week's show bit 1,000th episode, it also regained momentum as far as ratings go.

Last night's Raw pulled a 3.44 Nielsen Rating, second only to the post Royal Rumble Raw's 3.55 rating for the year's best, and generated an average viewership of 4.88 million, which is up just slightly compared to last year's post MITB Raw. Hour 1 of last night's show drew 4.72 million viewers while hour 2 increased to 5.038 million. Raw was #3 in overall viewers last night, beaten by The Closer and Perception on TNT, which drew 6.362 million & 5.331 million viewers respectively. Raw was #1 in all the various male demos across the board as there weren't any new episodes of American Pickers or Pawn Stars on History last night.
 
I thought this weeks Raw was a big step up on the way to the big 1000th episode. Maybe it's because I'm oldschool but I loved seeing the show built around 3 guys all in each others face over the WWE title and wanting to be the top guy.

The Dolph/Jericho segment was another highlight, it's a good rivalry for Dolph going into Summerslam and Dolph did a solid job on the mic, his character is in an interesting place right now with the MITB briefcase and the split crowd reaction, his smirk as Jericho walked off post-Codebreaker was a nice change of reaction to the tired chickenshit heel so often foisted on guys.

The Bryan/AJ vs Miz/Eve match was short but fun, Miz seems to have caught the AJ bug so there may be fallout from the match at tomorrows wedding. The post-match proposal was a bit awkward as the crowd responded in a loud but mixed way, but Bryan and AJ troopered through as always.

Punk vs Show was a good match that ended as I expected it would, and I knew Cena would give Punk the straight up MITB challenge, the surprise to me was that it was for the 1000th Raw as opposed to Summerslam, although in hindsight I can see the logic, I just hope they have something big planned for the match and not just Cena beating Punk clean.
 
1,000 Raw was great. A memorial night and the crowd stayed static. Everything just
felt great. Great Veterans. Very positive and were wa Stone Cold. The badass Rattlesnake? It felt like it was missing something throughout! No Arive. No raise hell. Drink beer leave.. it felt weird for a big shoow like this.!!

Thoughts???
 
I enjoyed this Raw right up to the mind boggling ending, yes it was mainly nostalgia stuff but there is nothing wrong with that given the occasion.

The opening with DX was fun and I thought it actually served Sandow's character really well to be involved with them, it made him seem more important to many WWE fans who maybe haven't caught him on SD.

The six man tag was solid stuff that was used to give JR a run out on commentary and get the guys on the show who didn't have a big angle. Ziggler causing Jericho to lose the match was pleasing to see as hopefully that means they will have a match at Summerslam.

The backstage segment with Triple H and Trish was a fun riff on their classic Smackdown skit but I'd have liked Trish to have gotten a more interesting role. Why a high as a kite X Pac did that creepy hug scene with her is anyone's guess.

Foley danced with Brodus after a very quick Job Swagger squash..........

The AJ/Bryan wedding was hilarious, just crazy stuff and the swerve of Vince making AJ the new Raw GM was pretty cool, it is a huge role for her and shows WWE have real faith in what she brings.

The aftermath of Bryan going nuts that led into a promo between him, Punk and The Rock was great and I thought all 3 guys came off great in the segment, sadly despite Bryan getting quite a lot of focus on such a huge Raw, it does look like he is going to get lumbered doing some stupid nonsense with that idiot crackhead Sheen at Summerslam.

Nice to see Mr Perfect got a pop when Bret mentioned him in his ring introduction for the IC title match. Christian vs The Miz was ok, I had hoped to see Christian work Sandow in an IC title feud, but Miz winning the belt seems like it is the start of rebuilding him.

The segment with Triple H and Heyman was ok, Steph looked amazing when she came out to get involved because they are protective of their kids lol. The fact Heyman was duped so easily and that Triple H got the upper hand on Brock didn't do much for me, it was a bit weak and predictable, but I'm not overly bothered about what they do here as it's a novelty match.

Speaking of looking amazing, Lita! Wow did she look fantastic, and her, the APA and all the legends whooping my new favourite comedy heel was the perfect way to wrap up the Heath vs the legends angle that has ran that last couple of months.

The Brothers of Destruction reunion was the perfect way to use both guys on the show. Taker isn't coming back yet as far as I know, so it was a simple Road Warriors style oldschool beat down of some jobbers that had no storyline implications and that the crowd lapped up.

Then we came down to it, Cena vs Punk, a match booked to clearly show Cena had Punk beaten clean twice if not for the Big Show, then Punk goes all Anakin Skywalker, Rock runs out to save the day, only mid way through the People's Elbow Punk slides back in and clotheslines The Rock, before hitting him with the GTS, still looking conflicted but make no mistake, he's Darth Punk now, or CM Vader, whichever you prefer.

I thought it was the most illogical heel turn I've seen in a long time, finally WWE had two very over faces and they were ying and yang which was perfect, now Punk's a heel, so we can now take the big grinning Irish guy as the other top face? No thanks.

Punk will cut a promo next week saying how nothings changed as guys like Cena and Rock still get all the breaks etc....He'll be branded a whiner and eventually be added to SuperCena and The Rock's job card, perhaps Austin's at Mania as well......

And that brings me to maybe the biggest oversight of the night, how do you have the 1000th Raw without the biggest star the show has ever seen? Surely there should have been an Austin/McMahon segment.

As a nostalgic 3 hours+ it was a very good show minus the glaring Austin absence, but when the dust settles and it returns to normal next week, where the show is heading leaves a bad taste in my mouth and no interest in tuning in, just as well TNA has picked up.
 
it was an interesting show to say the least. the dx thing was what i thought it would be, though, i expected X-Pac to come out first by himself then hear Road Dogg's music hit and hear him and Billy come out as the Outlaws.

the six man wasnt bad, but it felt something was missing. Swagger vs. Clay was quick and painless and just there to get Dude Love over. the Wedding wasnt bad (except that annoying pastor) and then AJ was named GM and i was surprised as it was a curveball i didnt expect, BUT it has potential. there's no doubt that AJ can act, maybe she will surprise us in her new role and be one of the best GMs, maybe she'll flop, but all i know is she's interesting with her look and even her music gets me.

the ic title switch seems to be a way to get Miz's character back on track. the Brock/HHH/Heyman/Steph segment was very entertaining and everyone played their parts well. Lita's return was a surprise, but a good one. the Undertaker and Kane thing was predictable, but not bad and the main event was shocking and compelling and i cant answer if it's good or bad.

if done right Punk's turn can be great, but if done wrong, it could fall apart, but Punk as a heel can be great as his promos usually are best as a heel.
 
As someone who has been around for nearly every episode of Raw since 93. I gotta say I have mixed feelings about tonight's show. Honestly it was a let down.
Yeah it was GREAT seeing a lot of the older guys back but at the same time most of them were completely mis-used. There were a number of guys in the back that didn't get used like Steve Blackman.
Vince opening the show was perfect. I couldn't have asked for a better way to do it. And I loved the way Trips and Shawn played up the "didn't there used to be more of us?" Classic. The problem I had with the segment was that we have had reunion after reunion of Trips and Shawn. Everyone wanted to see the rest return and I am glad we finally got it. But why in the heck would you focus the attack on Sandow (who I could have thought of about a hundred more qualified guys) with Sweet Chin Music and a Pedigree? IS X-Pac so far gone he couldn't have treated us with a bronco buster? Could we not see a Shake Rattle and Roll from RoadDogg? A Famouser from Billy Gunn? It just would have made that whole segment even better.
I'd have also liked to see the New Age Outlaws get involved in the tag match somehow.

Speaking of the tag match, was that really the best they could put together for JR? Yeah Dolph screwing Jericho was fun but the rest of the match wasn't memorable in any way.

Charlie Sheen's first appearance was rather pointless.

AJ and Layla segment was priceless. And AJ is right the WWE Locker room is definitely unstable. R-Truth and Piper was good but the Mae Young and Hand! was epic! Only thing that could have improved that was if Mark Henry had been there to claim it wasn't his and then had something to do with Jerry Springer. But I know Henry has been out with injury and I understand.

Can someone tell me why the heck they chose to put Mick Foley in Dude Love gear and pair him up with Brodus Clay? Most people barely remember Dude Love and Mankind would have been better. Foley could have done more than dance.

The Triple H and Trish segment was another EPIC moment and I found outrageously hilarious. Very well done.

The wedding was the biggest JOKE of the night. I see a lot of people online talking about how funny it was etc. Slick was funny yes but the whole thing was horrifically produced, pointless, and AJ as GM can not and will not last. I really expected a Kane interference of some kind or perhaps this would have been the perfect time for what should have been a Stone Cold return.
The Daniel Bryan/CM Punk/ Rock exchange that came after that was great.
Christian and Miz had a great match. But you could tell that Bret Hart was not happy about his place on the show. And you know what? neither was I. It would have made sense if the challenger was somehow tied to the Hart family. Heck even Cody Rhodes or tyson Kidd would have been acceptable.
The whole Triple H/Lesnar deal was pretty good. I really hope that their match has the same energy they displayed in the ring tonight. And I hope we see Brock and Trips get involved between now and Summer slam.
After that the show REALLY went to CRAP!
Lita's return was fun. She looked amazing!!!! I expected to see Edge involved somewhere in there. BUT Could we not have done something respectable with the legends? Could we not have let them wrestle? At least some of them? Perhaps another 6-man tag with Heath Slater and say the prime time players verus, Vader, Animal, and I don't know maybe Sid? Still got the APA involved which was FUN but would have loved to see Bradshaw back in black and moustache (even if it was a wig). Irregardless that was one of the most vicious clotheslines I have ever seen from JBL! And I gotta give credit to Heath for playing along with this angle. The guy is talented.
Who the heck was this Mooney guy? The catchphrase clip was fun but why so much talking and so little action tonight?
GTV segment was again pointless and a waste of perfectly good talent in Mean Gene Okerlund. He could have announced a match too or at least conducted a backstage interview like old times.
Kane vs Jinder Mahal was set to be the biggest squash of the night. Fun to get the brothers back together for a night...Where was Paul Bearer?....he was in the back.
This would have been a great time for DX to have come running out to wipe out the excess baggage brought out by Jinder Mahal.

Sheen Challenges Bryan to a match....DUMB!

Cena/Punk about as predictable as a match could get. Rock running out was cool and a surprise sort of. But anyone watching could have seen that coming and CM Punk's turn was going to be obvious.

Bottom line, the show had a few high points but mostly disappointed. It simply didn't live up to the hype. We had what was supposed to be 6 matches and really only got 4.
If this is what we can expect from Raw 3-hours every week we are in for a LONG down period in the business.

As someone else said how do you have a big show like this without Austin's involvement. Where was Shane? Linda? Why invite guys like Steve Blackman and then not use them? Why was 90% of the show all promos?
 
So the wwe tried to redo the rvd thng wnd announce the match where it will be cashed in ahead of time (not including Daniel Bryan) only difference rvd won. Last night on the 1000 Raw episode we seen john cena win the wwe championship match ...... via DQ which means he get no title which means he's the 1st person to cash in and walk away empty handed.

Did this come to a suprise or did you kinda figure wwe would make Johnny boy drop it?

Will the wwe just keep moving along or will they note you can lose just look at john cena time with the MiTB.

Was there any real point in giving john cena the briefcase just for the wwe championship to be defended at the 1000 Raw
 
What a total letdown! The night started with promise......a new intro, new theme music.....new logo. Vince coming out with his "Welcome To Monday Night Raw" was good. It reminded me of when I watched the very first episode.

DX reunion, part 57. At least this time they actually had all the members....but watching 40 year olds act like teenagers isn't really funny or entertaining anymore. They can't say ass but they can say suck it?

Back from commercial break at 34 minutes and 30 seconds into the show and FINALLY.....a match...which started during the break! And it ends at 38 minutes and 58 seconds. A six man tag that lasts roughly 4 and a half minutes?

Charlie Sheen looked drunk.

The Mae Young Hand was as stupid as the birth.....

51 minutes into the show and we get match #2. Swagger is already at ringside???? He's a jobber tonight. Brodus Clay's music......yep, Swagger is a jobber! Mick Foley comes out to try and give some of his rub to Clay. Match ends in 3 minutes....

Another old guys trying to act like teenagers segment.....Xpac is stoned.
Why was Daniel Bryan talking to those guys? Makes no sense....

Crickets for Slick. Nobody knows who he is......and apparently he's getting paid in "yard bird" tonight. Is that racist? AJ says no to getting married because she has a job now.....she can't work AND be married? Is that sexist?

The WWE Champion, CM Punk gets put on the backburner for cRock......again! And Punk not saying anything makes the "PipeBomb" look more and more like it was planned and staged. cRock gets a title shot at Royal Rumble??? Isn't that in January? So we get 6 more months of "via satellite" interviews and build up? Do you think cRock only agreed to do Royal Rumble because his GI Joe movie got pushed back to a Jan/Feb 2013 release???? Hmmmmmm.

Bret Hart.....man if only Goldberg didn't end his career.......1 hour 37 minutes into the show, and only the 3rd match. Christian......is the only way to get him over is to mention his former tag team partner, Edge every time he wrestles? Seems like it. Miz WILL be the longest reigning IC title holder! Longest match of the night.....8 minutes!

3rd HHH segment of the night. They couldn't call Billy Gun Bad Ass in the first segment, but HHH can call Heyman a horse's ass? So Heyman isn't allowed to talk about HHH & Steph's kids, but it's ok for Steph to talk about Heyman's kids? Steph still looks great! Brock sits in the back watching his mgr get beat up, waits for his music to play, then walks down to the ring? I think Vince signed Brock just to job him out in every match.....

As soon as Heath Slater said he will take on any legend in a no DQ match, you knew ALL those legends were gonna come out! Lita still looks great! Anyways, 2hrs 20 minutes into the show we get match the 4th match, but this was comic relief, so it won't count as a match! But JBL's clothesline was awesome! One thing Slater can do is sell others moves!

2hrs 39 min and we get Taker. Glad he was there, since he, and Vince, are the ONLY 2 guys that have been in WWF/E since the first episode. But why have 6 young, up and coming superstars get squashed by a part timer?

And at 2hrs and 58 minutes, the 5th and Main Event Match starts. I'm not a Cena or CM Punk mark, but it's sad when the only way the WWE Champion can get a Main Event Match is when Cena is also in the match.....Longest match of the night at 12 minutes! Unfortunately, I don't think Punk turned heel. I think he just jumped cRock because of the PipeBomb interview when he said Dewayne didn't deserve to be in the Main Event anymore. I watched a three hour talk show with a few matches inserted. I give it 1 1/2 out of 5
 
If this show wasn't about nostalgia, it would have sucked. Fortunately, it was mostly about nostalgia, so it was pretty damn good.

What really worked for me was that the nostalgia played really well with the current talent. Sandow was gold with DX tonight, and it was great seeing Bryan and Punk get a rub from the Rock. It was also great seeing Lita and the APA demolish poor Heath Slater. Stephanie, never one of my favorites, looked and acted better than she's ever been in making the HHH/Brock feud personal. Nice to see the Brothers of Destruction destroy Mahal's Midcard Madness March, though I really wish for better for Drew. The E must reasonably high on Mahal if they give him the leadership role here. I also liked that they remembered Bret and the Miz's antipathy. They should have had Bret announce the winner and played with that a little more, perhaps get Bret goad the Miz into defending against Tyson Kidd, which would be a good match.

I didn't see the wedding swerve coming at all. Was I the only one thinking "what about Linda?" AJ can act, but I'm not sure her current character is good GM material.

I missed Stone Cold and Edge. Didn't miss Randy Orton at all; he can have a big return at some other point, the later the better. Punk's heel turn was perfect, and a Punk-Heyman-Lesnar alliance vs. the McMahons-Cena could be the feud that sets up the major storylines for the rest of the year. I'm sorry to see Daniel be the next victim of the "let's stroke a celebrity's ego" curse; it would be nice to see one of them be willing to get demolished in an Andy Kauffman or Pete Rose manner. Although I hope he enjoys the media attention he'll receive.
 
All in all, I enjoyed last night's Raw. The use of the legends was done very well, they used them all in very small doses and that was the way to go. DX starting things off, the whole band back together, was a lot of fun. The various use of the legends throughout the night was also fun, especially as they were kept short and sweet.

The wedding segment was nicely done, though it felt a bit rushed. At the same time, I'm glad they didn't take up half the show with it as they've done with wedding segments in the past. Slick was terriffic as his role as the reverend, which isn't a stretch as he's been one for a very long time. He played into the What chants by really getting into that holy roller vibe and I laughed my ass off. AJ turning Bryan down and ultimately being named Raw GM was a fun surprise and it gives AJ something to do. She's already bigger than the Divas Championship, so it'll be interesting to see what happens. Bryan sold his emotions well during the segment and I'm glad they went this route instead of having someone come out and bust things up.

The segment with The Rock, CM Punk & Daniel Bryan was hugely entertaining for me. I would've liked to have seen Bryan get some more stuff in during his promo with The Rock, but I felt like the two had good chemistry, so it didn't bother me that Rock got the better of him on the mic. Rock gets the better of everyone on the mic, it's his thing. The interaction between Punk & Rock was done very well and I relish the idea of a possible match between the two. Announcing that The Rock will face the WWE Champion at the Royal Rumble was a nice treat. The Rock didn't treat Punk like a...well a Punk and I liked that. The Rock seemed to take Punk seriously and that's a refreshing change from listening to The Rock make some juvenile comments as he did with Cena for almost a year.

Triple H, Stephanie, Heyman & Lesnar also had a strong segment. Personally, I thought Stephanie stole the segment and it was fun listening to her put down Heyman for a change. I like how they used some of Heyman's history here without going over the top. Let's be honest, as a businessman, Heymen is kind of a failure as far as wrestling goes. The Lesnar/Triple H brawl was nicely done with Trips getting the better of Lesnar this time around.

I enjoyed Taker's return, it was done well and the live crowd ate it up. Personally, I'd have rather seen Kane get Nexus'd by the 6 guys at ringside, but the show was about celebrating Raw's history so you knew Kane & Taker were going to dominate. Taker wasn't as cut or in shape as he was a few years back, but he looked healthy and rested.

I was disappointed by the wrestling action on the show, though I'm not surprised by it. Once I heard all the various segments that were certain to be on the show, I knew we'd have TONS of promo & talking segments. The six man tag match wasn't all that memorable. The IC title match between Christian & The Miz was a fun, well paced match with Miz looking better than he's looked in a while. The title change was something I saw coming and, to be honest, Miz needs it right now. The WWE looks to be starting afresh with Miz, so here's hoping they don't go back into old habits. The WWE Championship match was disappointing, I was really hoping for an epic main event encounter between the two.

However, the ending of the show made up for the lackluster match. Punk turning heel was a surprise and I dig how he sold his conflicted emotions during the whole thing. With Cena down & taken out by Big Show, what's he supposed to do after all? Just not go for the win? Just give up being champion or something? So him trying to take advantage had a natural feel to it, especially with him being so reluctant to do so. Show came out and attacked Cena from behind again and beat him down when The Rock's music hit. Rock came out and looked like he was going to save the day and deliver the People's Elbow only for Punk to come out of nowhere and waffle him with a clothesline. Rock may have oversold the move a bit, he acted like he'd just been hit by a Mack truck, but at least he didn't undersell it. Punk then hit the GTS and left Rocky laying in the middle of the ring. Punk's actions provided another great hook to tune in for Raw next week because people are going to wonder why he turned and what he's going to do next.

The show was very memorable and newsworthy. I'm not completely sold on Raw going three hours permanently. They had a stacked show last night but they won't have that going forward. If they want to keep people interested, I think they're going to have to do what they can to make sure there's not a lot of filler. Since there won't be tons of cameo appearances by legends next week, a good way of taking up tv time in a meaningful way would be having more matches and longer matches.

I give last night's show a B+. It was fun, delivered some great surprises and provided some interesting hooks for next week's show.
 
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