Raw 1000th was pretty good but honestly how can they NOT have stone cold steve austin there?? he had sum great matches wit the rock,the undertaker ect...and y wasnt edge involved somewhere along the way i mean he did join the hall of fame earlyer dis yr and we was there at the building?? but overall wasnt 2 bad.
I enjoyed the show for the most part, but yeah, Austin needed to be there. I also couldn't help but feel like they wasted a lot of airtime on promotional stuff, like the Charlie Sheen cut-ins, Santino and Hornswoggle getting a full entrance to promote those new stuffed animals, the Sonic drinks. Shameless promotion is agitating, sure, but it isn't usually as frustrating because it happens on a generic Raw. When you have a show of this magnitude and need to fit so many faces on it, you can't afford to waste time on this stuff (from an entertainment standpoint; from a business standpoint, I'm sure they made bank).
The opening was a little long but enjoyable, and the ending was terrific. For me, the show dragged some in the middle, and I feel like they missed a few opportunities to pay tribute to Raw's lineage, but they couldn't have possibly hit on every major contributor and moment in just three hours.
The opening was a little long but enjoyable, and the ending was terrific. For me, the show dragged some in the middle, and I feel like they missed a few opportunities to pay tribute to Raw's lineage, but they couldn't have possibly hit on every major contributor and moment in just three hours.
Teddy Irving
Pre-Show Stalwart
I really enjoyed Raw last night, it was always going to be based around nostalgia so I knew it wouldn't be a big focus on the actual matches, but for a 1000th episode I didn't really mind. It was a fun night and I am interested to see where they go from here on 3hours as they can't rely on nostalgia for all of them.
Vince opening the show was great with the 'Welcome to Monday Night Raaaaww'
I really enjoyed the D-X return with all the rest of the band coming out, I had a feeling it would happen but I popped for it when it actually did. All I wanted was to hear the Road Dogg do his bit and I got a bit of a laugh when he stuttered over the Bad A..Man Billy Gunn bit. There must be some big time love for Sandow backstage (no reason not to be he has done very well since his debut) to be given the opportunity to be the one to come out and interrupt DX and I was glad to see he did his job well.
The 6 man tag match wasn't memorable at all, other than Ziggler screwing Jericho and it wasn't really worth bringing JR out for at all, I would have rathered he stayed in the back to be honest this match had barely any time and the commentating would have been the same without JR because of this.
Brodus against Swagger was only there to have Dude Love come out and this really could have been done without having Swagger, who gave Ryback a bit of a go last week, be squashed by 2 moves.
Aj and Layla backstage was quite funny and I really did get a laugh out of May Young's son showing up
The backstage bit with HHH and Trish was funny and when I seen her there I knew this was going to be recreated and it worked out well enough and got the laughs WWE wanted.
Then up comes the wedding I really expected someone to come down and ruin this as is always the way but it never came and then Vince came out. I would never ever have guessed that AJ would be the new Raw GM and I am interested to see where this all goes now. (also AJ wore converse to her wedding)
Punk comes out to make fun of Bryan's failed marriage attempt, and shortly after the Rock comes out. He announces that he will be wrestling for the WWE title at the Royal Rumble. I am not overly happy about this as I see Rock winning at the Rumble retaining until Mania and it's Rock V Cena 2, with Cena having won the Royal Rumble match.
The 3 of these men do some nice little promo work which was enjoyable the Rock managed to do the whole bit with Punk without being childish which I really enjoyed and then for some reason decides Bryan is an umpa lumpa. He hits Bryan with the Rock Bottom and I fully expected Rock to turn round into a roundhouse kick from Punk, but this was saved till later.
Next it's Bret Hart out to announce the IC title match, not sure why he did it didn't really add anything to the match, seemed to be just a way to fire Bret into the show for some reason. Anyway the surprise opponent is the Miz. We get a nice enjoyable little match here with Miz picking up the win, seems like the most awesome wwe competitor of all time is back on track.
Next up is HHH calling out Brock Lesnar and out comes the ultimate Slimeball himself Paul Heyman (God I love Heyman and his slimy character). Heyman tells HHH "NO", who didn't see that coming. The two have a verbal exchange with insults with HHH trying to goad Brock into the match.
Heyman crosses a line mentioning HHH's kids (A throw out at Foley and Ambrose?) and here comes the billion dollar princess to defend her kids. She slaps Heyman and gets HHH the match he wanted, didn't take much for her to goad Heyman into the match, and Heyman made a nice comment about how she learned that from Daddy and is teaching it to her kids. Steph (looking great) jumps Heyman and then Lesnar's music hits.
HHH allows Steph to stay in the ring as Lensar approaches probably should have just told her to get out straight away to be honest. A brawl ensues and HHH gets the better of Brock, builds up nicely for Summerslam.
Out comes Santino and hornswaggle for a very brief and pointless segment.
Next up is Heath Slater and he challenges any legend to a no DQ match. I was wondering who would come out and then I heard the music. Was great to see Lita back, and holy god she is still smoking hot. She comes down and announces she took out a little protection policy for this match. I was on the edge of my seat hoping for it and then POP! here they come it's the APA was great to have these two back.
Slater tries to duck out of the match and is ambushed by his past opponents and Sgt. Slaughter. He gets thrown into the ring and gets hit with a twist of fate. He gets up to take a superb looking Clothsline from Hell, that literally leaves Heath turned upside down ( it was hilarious how long he stood on his head for). Then Lita goes up top and hits a great looking moonsault for the 1,2,3...........................DAMN!
Out comes Kane and just before he sets the pyro off he is interrupted by 6 guys who 'haven't been given a shot on tv in 1000 episodes'. 2 of them got squashed by Ryback in the last 2 weeks, 2 of them wrestled the tag team champs and were in and 8 man tag match the week before. So 2 of the 6 had legit reason for being there. Anyway they surround the ring and then the gong hits. Nice to see Taker back if not only a little predictable. Now I get to sit through a very long entrance and watch the Brothers of Destruction clear house.
Ok so Main Event time (I already figured Cena would lose and it would be due to interference a thought only furthered by WWE's twitter pole which inexplicably featured RockShow. A dead give away that I already had a hunch on).
Anyway the ME is given 10 minutes or so to be finished. A little back and forth match, the Ref gets knocked down and here comes Show, like anyone didn't see this coming. Show batters Cena and then Punk does a great job selling his emotions and ultimately does what anyone would do goes for that W. (Also why would Punk help Cena against Show, Show is built as a wrecking machine why would you do something that sets his sight on you). Anyway Cena kicks out and locks on the STF. We see a DQ win, which allows the MitB briefcase not to grant a title to those who cash it in but doesn't make Cena look weak.
Out comes Rock to save the day and he manages to come in and dominate Big Show, makes sense right? Anyway Rock hits that old Spine on the Pine and goes for the People's Elbow but before he connects, wham! a big lariat from Punk. Punk then hits a GTS and leaves the Rock out in the middle of the ring. Nice work from all but a little predictable on Show's interference and Cena losing in my opinion (although it made sense).
Interesting to see next week if Punk is full fledged heel or if he just says he didn't like the Rock? Does Cena get another chance? What's AJ going to do as GM?
The show did what it meant to and also leaves people wanting to see more next week I enjoyed this show.
Vince opening the show was great with the 'Welcome to Monday Night Raaaaww'
I really enjoyed the D-X return with all the rest of the band coming out, I had a feeling it would happen but I popped for it when it actually did. All I wanted was to hear the Road Dogg do his bit and I got a bit of a laugh when he stuttered over the Bad A..Man Billy Gunn bit. There must be some big time love for Sandow backstage (no reason not to be he has done very well since his debut) to be given the opportunity to be the one to come out and interrupt DX and I was glad to see he did his job well.
The 6 man tag match wasn't memorable at all, other than Ziggler screwing Jericho and it wasn't really worth bringing JR out for at all, I would have rathered he stayed in the back to be honest this match had barely any time and the commentating would have been the same without JR because of this.
Brodus against Swagger was only there to have Dude Love come out and this really could have been done without having Swagger, who gave Ryback a bit of a go last week, be squashed by 2 moves.
Aj and Layla backstage was quite funny and I really did get a laugh out of May Young's son showing up
The backstage bit with HHH and Trish was funny and when I seen her there I knew this was going to be recreated and it worked out well enough and got the laughs WWE wanted.
Then up comes the wedding I really expected someone to come down and ruin this as is always the way but it never came and then Vince came out. I would never ever have guessed that AJ would be the new Raw GM and I am interested to see where this all goes now. (also AJ wore converse to her wedding)
Punk comes out to make fun of Bryan's failed marriage attempt, and shortly after the Rock comes out. He announces that he will be wrestling for the WWE title at the Royal Rumble. I am not overly happy about this as I see Rock winning at the Rumble retaining until Mania and it's Rock V Cena 2, with Cena having won the Royal Rumble match.
The 3 of these men do some nice little promo work which was enjoyable the Rock managed to do the whole bit with Punk without being childish which I really enjoyed and then for some reason decides Bryan is an umpa lumpa. He hits Bryan with the Rock Bottom and I fully expected Rock to turn round into a roundhouse kick from Punk, but this was saved till later.
Next it's Bret Hart out to announce the IC title match, not sure why he did it didn't really add anything to the match, seemed to be just a way to fire Bret into the show for some reason. Anyway the surprise opponent is the Miz. We get a nice enjoyable little match here with Miz picking up the win, seems like the most awesome wwe competitor of all time
is back on track.Next up is HHH calling out Brock Lesnar and out comes the ultimate Slimeball himself Paul Heyman (God I love Heyman and his slimy character). Heyman tells HHH "NO", who didn't see that coming. The two have a verbal exchange with insults with HHH trying to goad Brock into the match.
Heyman crosses a line mentioning HHH's kids (A throw out at Foley and Ambrose?) and here comes the billion dollar princess to defend her kids. She slaps Heyman and gets HHH the match he wanted, didn't take much for her to goad Heyman into the match, and Heyman made a nice comment about how she learned that from Daddy and is teaching it to her kids. Steph (looking great) jumps Heyman and then Lesnar's music hits.
HHH allows Steph to stay in the ring as Lensar approaches probably should have just told her to get out straight away to be honest. A brawl ensues and HHH gets the better of Brock, builds up nicely for Summerslam.
Out comes Santino and hornswaggle for a very brief and pointless segment.
Next up is Heath Slater and he challenges any legend to a no DQ match. I was wondering who would come out and then I heard the music. Was great to see Lita back, and holy god she is still smoking hot. She comes down and announces she took out a little protection policy for this match. I was on the edge of my seat hoping for it and then POP! here they come it's the APA was great to have these two back.
Slater tries to duck out of the match and is ambushed by his past opponents and Sgt. Slaughter. He gets thrown into the ring and gets hit with a twist of fate. He gets up to take a superb looking Clothsline from Hell, that literally leaves Heath turned upside down ( it was hilarious how long he stood on his head for). Then Lita goes up top and hits a great looking moonsault for the 1,2,3...........................DAMN!
Out comes Kane and just before he sets the pyro off he is interrupted by 6 guys who 'haven't been given a shot on tv in 1000 episodes'. 2 of them got squashed by Ryback in the last 2 weeks, 2 of them wrestled the tag team champs and were in and 8 man tag match the week before. So 2 of the 6 had legit reason for being there. Anyway they surround the ring and then the gong hits. Nice to see Taker back if not only a little predictable. Now I get to sit through a very long entrance and watch the Brothers of Destruction clear house.
Ok so Main Event time (I already figured Cena would lose and it would be due to interference a thought only furthered by WWE's twitter pole which inexplicably featured RockShow. A dead give away that I already had a hunch on).
Anyway the ME is given 10 minutes or so to be finished. A little back and forth match, the Ref gets knocked down and here comes Show, like anyone didn't see this coming. Show batters Cena and then Punk does a great job selling his emotions and ultimately does what anyone would do goes for that W. (Also why would Punk help Cena against Show, Show is built as a wrecking machine why would you do something that sets his sight on you). Anyway Cena kicks out and locks on the STF. We see a DQ win, which allows the MitB briefcase not to grant a title to those who cash it in but doesn't make Cena look weak.
Out comes Rock to save the day and he manages to come in and dominate Big Show, makes sense right? Anyway Rock hits that old Spine on the Pine and goes for the People's Elbow but before he connects, wham! a big lariat from Punk. Punk then hits a GTS and leaves the Rock out in the middle of the ring. Nice work from all but a little predictable on Show's interference and Cena losing in my opinion (although it made sense).
Interesting to see next week if Punk is full fledged heel or if he just says he didn't like the Rock? Does Cena get another chance? What's AJ going to do as GM?
The show did what it meant to and also leaves people wanting to see more next week I enjoyed this show.
The show was enjoyable, it was not as groundbreaking or historic as I would have liked to have seen, but I did not go in expecting any announcements or events that would shake the foundation of the WWE. Miz as Intercontinental Champion will open Christian back up to main event again (Sheamus feud, anyone?) while Miz rebuilds himself with another midcard reign. The legend returns were all really cool to see, nostalgia made this a much better show than it otherwise would have been, other than Mae Young, I NEVER WANT TO SEE HER ONSCREEN EVER AGAIN!!!! WHEN WILL WWE GET IT, SHE IS NOT FUNNY SHE IS AWFUL!!!!
AJ as GM will be interesting and I would have never guessed Vince to be the one to interrupt the wedding. Punk retaining against Cena was the right call, Cena failing his cash-in is not the end of the world, he's firmly established as THE guy still. Charlie Sheen wasn't watching Raw, I'm 100% convinced he was given things to say and he pretended to be enjoying the show. Those segments were so pointless. I look forward to the new 3 hour format, the new logo and new song were pretty cool. The new WWE Championship design will likely be coming soon now too....
DAGGER'S REVIEW
B+
AJ as GM will be interesting and I would have never guessed Vince to be the one to interrupt the wedding. Punk retaining against Cena was the right call, Cena failing his cash-in is not the end of the world, he's firmly established as THE guy still. Charlie Sheen wasn't watching Raw, I'm 100% convinced he was given things to say and he pretended to be enjoying the show. Those segments were so pointless. I look forward to the new 3 hour format, the new logo and new song were pretty cool. The new WWE Championship design will likely be coming soon now too....
DAGGER'S REVIEW
B+
Where was Stone Cold Steve Austin Last night ?? Raw 1000 without Stone Cold is like Simpsons without Bart.
I find it stupied there is no stone cold and i really dont know why even a pretaped segment if he is working on a film, TV Series
I would like to also to ask why no Edge he is another that should have been there
I find it stupied there is no stone cold and i really dont know why even a pretaped segment if he is working on a film, TV Series
I would like to also to ask why no Edge he is another that should have been there
closet_fan
Mid-Card Championship Winner
I didn't care for it at all. It was okay, but it didn't live up to the hype that it created for itself. It looked like it had potential when the "other" members of DX came out. But damn, that skit dragged on for what 20 minutes? And then you had HHH again for what, another 15-20?
They really don't know how to book a good RAW when they have legends coming back. They simply lump them all together in one skit and that's it.
And no Austin? That's beyond ridiculous. The only thing I could think of as to why Austin didn't want to be on was because he didn't want to share the spotlight with the Rock. But even so, Austin made RAW for years.
I'll get bashed for this, but it didn't live up to the expectations I had for it.
They really don't know how to book a good RAW when they have legends coming back. They simply lump them all together in one skit and that's it.
And no Austin? That's beyond ridiculous. The only thing I could think of as to why Austin didn't want to be on was because he didn't want to share the spotlight with the Rock. But even so, Austin made RAW for years.
I'll get bashed for this, but it didn't live up to the expectations I had for it.
Programmes like this need to be watched without dirt sheet and IWC interaction. Its the dirt sheets and the IWC that hype these events/programmes up!!! Its not unusual to feel deflated and let down after but without the hype it would increase the enjoyment so much more.
And you seriously think WWE didnt reach out to Steve Austin? Seriously?! Maybe Austin turned them down. Maybe Austin didnt want an irrelevant cameo. Maybe he wants to return when the time is right for him and make it huge.
MinistryofDeath89
CM Perfection
Overall I really enjoyed Raw last night it was good seeing the wrestler's I grew up watching come back for one night Road Dogg, Billy Gunn, X Pac, HBK, APA, Trish , Lita, all the legends who faced Heath Slater. I thought Raw kicked off pretty good with DX mind you didn't really see the point in damien sandow coming thought it was pointless and killed the DX mood a bit. 6 man tag was good entertaining, I liked when Dude Love came out with Brodus Clay. The Wedding I had mixed feelings for like I thought when AJ said someone else asked her to marry her thought it was going to be a emenus person to come out. But she was the new GM which im ok with but Im afraid it's properly going to get stale after a while in my opinion. I thought the Cm Punk and Daniel Bryan and The Rock promo was pretty good. But The Rock just skooled Daniel Bryan on the mic. ( Thats why he's the best talker on the mic well up there with Ric Flair) I thought the miz winning the I.C Title was stupid if you ask me. I wanted to see a Legend come out and face Christian someone like Steve Blackman. I really liked the Brock Lesnar and HHH segment it was great seeing Stephanie again. Health Slater match was pretty fun seeing lita and APA kick his ass. But it's safe to say thats properly the end of Heath Slater's glory time in the ring. I loved seeing Kane and Undertaker again that was epic. What annoyed me was you didn't see Edge or Stone Cold on Raw very pissed off with that. Main Event was ok tbh. Cm Punk been a face is getting a bit Stale atm but they could of done a better job for the ending of the show. I think and if that is the Big Summer Angle that rumors have been going around it's not all that great.
What you think of Raw last night.????
What you think of Raw last night.????
Raw was awesome last night. I was live in attendance and everybody I expected to see was there except for edge and of course stone cold. But the complaint I keep hearing is the st. louis crowd sucked, well the crowd didnt suck, it's just that the st. louis crowd didnt have a constant flow of energy for some reason! When people made their entrance and exits pops were HUGE but after that there were no real chants or anything. It were alot of kids who didnt know who lita was, or slick or even dude love and that kind of made me upset that they wweren't getting proper respect but what ever. Promos were great, CM Punk is still going to be cheered by me, I'm anticipating the rumble, anticipating summerslam, and I'm anticipating just basically everything that would happen next. Bravo WWE.
RAW 1000??
Hmm, I have to say i'm kinda leaning towards it was a good show. Some spots that were just pathetic and pointless didnt help the cause, like giving DX 30 mins airtime that wasnt funny! DX are great and its started well, but man didnt it drag and what was up with X Pac, he was obviously stoned or drunk! The 6 man tag was rubbish, it started then there was a commercial and then it ended. Y2J didnt have any airtime or anything, he was a big part of RAW during the ratings and after....
Then the predictable we knew they wouldnt get married segment... ALthough props to Vince beacuse I never saw the Raw GM announcment, although i would have preferred the vince proposal idea better lol!
The Rock, Punk and Bryan was great, I thought Bryan was excellent in this, The Rock was the Rock we expect it. However I am angry about the Rock being given a title shot at The Royal Rumble whats that about? He would have had 1 match in a year come the Rumble and he gets a shot, and we wont even see him now until December SHOCKING! I love the Rock but as a Wrestling fan I think I would rather see Cena take the straps then the Rock at the Rumble he should have entered it and won it and at least say he earned it! And that brings me onto PUNK, hes gone heel because the Rock and Cena always get the spotlight etc, and thats the promo he'll cut next week!
Disappointed to not see Austin, or Edge, but guys come on how smokin hot was Lita and Stephanie.......Oh Lord!!!
What you all think?
Hmm, I have to say i'm kinda leaning towards it was a good show. Some spots that were just pathetic and pointless didnt help the cause, like giving DX 30 mins airtime that wasnt funny! DX are great and its started well, but man didnt it drag and what was up with X Pac, he was obviously stoned or drunk! The 6 man tag was rubbish, it started then there was a commercial and then it ended. Y2J didnt have any airtime or anything, he was a big part of RAW during the ratings and after....
Then the predictable we knew they wouldnt get married segment... ALthough props to Vince beacuse I never saw the Raw GM announcment, although i would have preferred the vince proposal idea better lol!
The Rock, Punk and Bryan was great, I thought Bryan was excellent in this, The Rock was the Rock we expect it. However I am angry about the Rock being given a title shot at The Royal Rumble whats that about? He would have had 1 match in a year come the Rumble and he gets a shot, and we wont even see him now until December SHOCKING! I love the Rock but as a Wrestling fan I think I would rather see Cena take the straps then the Rock at the Rumble he should have entered it and won it and at least say he earned it! And that brings me onto PUNK, hes gone heel because the Rock and Cena always get the spotlight etc, and thats the promo he'll cut next week!
Disappointed to not see Austin, or Edge, but guys come on how smokin hot was Lita and Stephanie.......Oh Lord!!!
What you all think?
boywithbluehanger
I have to poop.
I really enjoyed the 1000th episode of RAW and I think it had many worthy moments. Some dragged on a bit as they normally do anyway. The matches were interesting. The outcomes were decent. The shining moment of the show were the segments.
Surprisingly, the funniest moment was when Slick came out to marry AJ and Daniel Bryan. I think I've rewound my DVR recording of it at least 4 times now! So I leave you with this in remembrance.
Slick: My friends
Crowd: WHAT!!
Slick: I need to tell u something
Crowd: WHAT!!
Slick: Marriage!
Crowd: WHAT!!
Slick: I said marriage!
Crowd: WHAT!!
Slick: I said maAAArrrrrriage!
Crowd: WHAT!!
Slick: Is a sacred institution!
Crowd: WHAT!!
Slick: Marriage!!
Crowd: WHAT!!
Slick: Should not be entered into ...lightlaaaayyyy!
Crowd: WHAT!!
Slick: Marriage!!
Crowd: WHAT!!
Slick: Is between TWO UNADULTERATED TOTALLY IN LOVE PEOPLE...*gets caught up in the moment and is then stopped by AJ*
*Michael Cole chuckles*
Surprisingly, the funniest moment was when Slick came out to marry AJ and Daniel Bryan. I think I've rewound my DVR recording of it at least 4 times now! So I leave you with this in remembrance.
Slick: My friends
Crowd: WHAT!!
Slick: I need to tell u something
Crowd: WHAT!!
Slick: Marriage!
Crowd: WHAT!!
Slick: I said marriage!
Crowd: WHAT!!
Slick: I said maAAArrrrrriage!
Crowd: WHAT!!
Slick: Is a sacred institution!
Crowd: WHAT!!
Slick: Marriage!!
Crowd: WHAT!!
Slick: Should not be entered into ...lightlaaaayyyy!
Crowd: WHAT!!
Slick: Marriage!!
Crowd: WHAT!!
Slick: Is between TWO UNADULTERATED TOTALLY IN LOVE PEOPLE...*gets caught up in the moment and is then stopped by AJ*
*Michael Cole chuckles*
I enjoyed the show. A few random thoughts:
Slick during the wedding segment was hilarious and it was funny to see Bryan and AJ trying not to laugh at his overacting.
The Mae Young hand cameo was one of the only times I've laughed out loud at something on WWE since the goofy Kurt Angle/Austin days in the Alliance
Lita, AJ and Steph looked amazing. Especially Lita. Haven't seen her look that fit since she was with Essa Rios
I think the Punk heel turn makes perfect sense. Somebody else said it was illogical, but if you think back, the past few weeks people have brought up to Punk that even though he steals the show every night and he's had the longest WWE title reign of the past decade or whatever, he's still NEVER in the main event. Rock, Lesnar, Cena etc always get top billing. Then last night Rock comes back and announces that after having 3 matches in the last 8 years, he gets a straight shot to the main event at the Royal Rumble no matter what. Of course Punk would be mad about that and attack him.
Slick during the wedding segment was hilarious and it was funny to see Bryan and AJ trying not to laugh at his overacting.
The Mae Young hand cameo was one of the only times I've laughed out loud at something on WWE since the goofy Kurt Angle/Austin days in the Alliance
Lita, AJ and Steph looked amazing. Especially Lita. Haven't seen her look that fit since she was with Essa Rios
I think the Punk heel turn makes perfect sense. Somebody else said it was illogical, but if you think back, the past few weeks people have brought up to Punk that even though he steals the show every night and he's had the longest WWE title reign of the past decade or whatever, he's still NEVER in the main event. Rock, Lesnar, Cena etc always get top billing. Then last night Rock comes back and announces that after having 3 matches in the last 8 years, he gets a straight shot to the main event at the Royal Rumble no matter what. Of course Punk would be mad about that and attack him.
Jack-Hammer
YOU WILL RESPECT MY AUTHORITAH!!!!
The numbers are in for last night's 1,000th Raw and Vince has probably sprayed his shorts because the show drew some of the biggest numbers Raw has seen in years.
Overall, last night's Raw drew a 3.84 Nielsen Rating and an average of 6,019,000 viewers for all three hours. Hour 1 at 8pm drew a 3.48 rating and an average audience of 5,439,000 viewers. Hour 2 at 9 pm increased to a 3.94 rating and 6,318,000 viewers. Hour 3 increased to a 4.09 rating and 6,300,000 viewers. The traditional 2 hour timeslot of the show drew a 4.02 rating and 6,309,000 viewers. The first hour alone is the largest audience Raw has had since May of last year and it's been more than 3 years since Raw drew right at or above the 4.0 mark. On cable last night, Raw was #1 in terms of both the male demographics and overall viewers, beating out The Closer at 5,836,000 and Perception at 4,540,000 viewers respectively. On all of television Monday night, only Hell's Kitchen & Master Chef on Fox drew better than Raw with audiences of 6,460,000 & 6,400,000 viewers respectively. Something that will make Vince especially happy is Raw's social media score. It went through the roof with a score of 907,443, easily surpassing the year high of 343,333 on the night after WrestleMania.
The show definitely drew some nostalgic and very, very casual viewers. It was heavily hyped for more than 2 months and generally garnered tons of attention and sheer curiosity. A drop off is certainly going to happen in the coming weeks as there won't be piles upon piles of former legends on the show, but this gives Raw a ton of positive momentum to build on going forward.
Overall, last night's Raw drew a 3.84 Nielsen Rating and an average of 6,019,000 viewers for all three hours. Hour 1 at 8pm drew a 3.48 rating and an average audience of 5,439,000 viewers. Hour 2 at 9 pm increased to a 3.94 rating and 6,318,000 viewers. Hour 3 increased to a 4.09 rating and 6,300,000 viewers. The traditional 2 hour timeslot of the show drew a 4.02 rating and 6,309,000 viewers. The first hour alone is the largest audience Raw has had since May of last year and it's been more than 3 years since Raw drew right at or above the 4.0 mark. On cable last night, Raw was #1 in terms of both the male demographics and overall viewers, beating out The Closer at 5,836,000 and Perception at 4,540,000 viewers respectively. On all of television Monday night, only Hell's Kitchen & Master Chef on Fox drew better than Raw with audiences of 6,460,000 & 6,400,000 viewers respectively. Something that will make Vince especially happy is Raw's social media score. It went through the roof with a score of 907,443, easily surpassing the year high of 343,333 on the night after WrestleMania.
The show definitely drew some nostalgic and very, very casual viewers. It was heavily hyped for more than 2 months and generally garnered tons of attention and sheer curiosity. A drop off is certainly going to happen in the coming weeks as there won't be piles upon piles of former legends on the show, but this gives Raw a ton of positive momentum to build on going forward.
JWGunslinger
Warrior Forever
The only complaint I have about Raw 1000 was they hyped it up a little too much, otherwise I loved the show. Great start the Raw history highlights, I still cry anytime I see Eddie Guerrero or Edge and Flair's last nights on Raw, that was done perfectly. Vince opening the show because nobody else can, followed by a brilliant DX reunion with my heros Road Dogg and Billy Gunn. I went crazy for Lita and the APA coming out to deal with Slater followed by all the Legends that have been kicking his ass the past few weeks.
The six man tag match was a bit cheap, it felt thrown together in a few minutes and aside from Ziggler hitting his partner Jericho to further their feud it didn't do much for me.
AJ and DB's wedding was better than I expected, I would have preferred to see Ted Dibaise Sr out there as the minister considering he is one but Slick was a nice blast from the past I didn't see coming. The reactions from Slick and Daniel Bryan when AJ said no were classic, and although I was looking forward to Edge as the new GM but AJ was an exciting turn. Punk/Bryan and Rock's segment was great, it was an awesome moment for Punk and DB to work with Rock and pissed off yelling Daniel Bryan is my new favorite thing. He looks like the angriest dwarf youve ever seen, like Gimli on speed.
Taker and Kane was a great surprise, it was so great seeing the Brothers Of Destruction out there together again.
Great ending with Cena failing to cash in and Punk turning heel, I was hoping for it but part of me didn't think they'd let it happen. Very glad they had the faith in Punk and I think it's setting up for big things. Overall I would give Raw 1000 a 8 1/2 out of ten because they hyped it up too much and Stone Cold wasn't there. I know he had a good reason he couldn't be and it's nobody's fault but it didn't feel right without him.
The six man tag match was a bit cheap, it felt thrown together in a few minutes and aside from Ziggler hitting his partner Jericho to further their feud it didn't do much for me.
AJ and DB's wedding was better than I expected, I would have preferred to see Ted Dibaise Sr out there as the minister considering he is one but Slick was a nice blast from the past I didn't see coming. The reactions from Slick and Daniel Bryan when AJ said no were classic, and although I was looking forward to Edge as the new GM but AJ was an exciting turn. Punk/Bryan and Rock's segment was great, it was an awesome moment for Punk and DB to work with Rock and pissed off yelling Daniel Bryan is my new favorite thing. He looks like the angriest dwarf youve ever seen, like Gimli on speed.
Taker and Kane was a great surprise, it was so great seeing the Brothers Of Destruction out there together again.
Great ending with Cena failing to cash in and Punk turning heel, I was hoping for it but part of me didn't think they'd let it happen. Very glad they had the faith in Punk and I think it's setting up for big things. Overall I would give Raw 1000 a 8 1/2 out of ten because they hyped it up too much and Stone Cold wasn't there. I know he had a good reason he couldn't be and it's nobody's fault but it didn't feel right without him.
This whole bit on Raw 1000 just seemed very odd to me.
Now bare in mind Triple H is the face and Brock Lesnar is the heel. Yet all through this painfully slow burning feud Triple H has bullied Paul Heyman verbally and physically to get him to make Lesnar fight, this doesn't seem like a very good guy thing to do?
Last night was the weirdest of all. Heyman came out to say no before he was almost forced to stay in the ring by Triple H and Stephanie, and when that didn't work he was physically assaulted until Lesnar came out to make the save.
This seemed all too heelish to me, and if Brock Lesnar is supposed to be this bad guy who only cares about money and himself like WWE has been pushing, why save Heyman? Paul Heyman is not a family member of Lesnar's and the WWE just announce him as his representative, would you take a beating for your lawyer? I know I wouldn't.
So just wondering if anyone else thought the whole angle seemed a bit strange on Raw, or if it was just me.
Now bare in mind Triple H is the face and Brock Lesnar is the heel. Yet all through this painfully slow burning feud Triple H has bullied Paul Heyman verbally and physically to get him to make Lesnar fight, this doesn't seem like a very good guy thing to do?
Last night was the weirdest of all. Heyman came out to say no before he was almost forced to stay in the ring by Triple H and Stephanie, and when that didn't work he was physically assaulted until Lesnar came out to make the save.
This seemed all too heelish to me, and if Brock Lesnar is supposed to be this bad guy who only cares about money and himself like WWE has been pushing, why save Heyman? Paul Heyman is not a family member of Lesnar's and the WWE just announce him as his representative, would you take a beating for your lawyer? I know I wouldn't.
So just wondering if anyone else thought the whole angle seemed a bit strange on Raw, or if it was just me.
Mustang Sally
Sells seashells by the seashore
Not only that, but Heyman had been instructed by his client to tell Triple H that Brock would not agree to the match at Summerslam, which Paul faithfully did.
Then, when Heyman felt insulted by Stephanie, he went against his client's wishes and made the match. I'm almost surprised Brock didn't attack Heyman for disregarding his instructions.
If Heyman has his power of attorney privileges revoked, we'll know why.
George Steele's Barber
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Heyman overstepped some pretty significant boundaries in the words and language he used against HHH and Stephanie. Maybe Cena is too big of a puss to slap the flavor out of The Rock mouth when he makes inflammatory comments about Cena's mom and wife (now ex-wife) but that doesn't mean it isn't appropriate some times in life and in the world of professional wrestling to hit a guy who has gone too far. I don't think the Helmsleys have gone heel at all in this scenario.
I see Heyman as Lesnar's keeper who basically is paid to make decisions for Lesnar. Stephanie took advantage of this.
I didn't see Lesnar coming out of the back to save Heyman. Heyman was getting beat up by a woman. I saw him coming out to go after HHH and make another statement, maybe even break his arm again so he doesn't have to fight him.
It was just you.
I see Heyman as Lesnar's keeper who basically is paid to make decisions for Lesnar. Stephanie took advantage of this.
I didn't see Lesnar coming out of the back to save Heyman. Heyman was getting beat up by a woman. I saw him coming out to go after HHH and make another statement, maybe even break his arm again so he doesn't have to fight him.
It was just you.
There wasn't anything "heel-ish" about Triple H or Stephanie's actions, really. There's more to being a heel or a face than just actions. It's called context. If you summarize the events as "Triple H and Stephanie bullying Paul Heyman," then yeah, maybe that's heel behavior. But frame it in the appropriate context, wherein one guy has been repeatedly insulted on a personal level, threatened, sued, and assaulted to the point of a broken arm, and suddenly it doesn't look that heel-ish at all.
The thing about storylines that are driven by personal aspects is that they ultimately blur all the cliched lines between heel and face. That's the point of it being a personal feud: the bad guy pushes the good guy to the point of snapping, thus adding edge and intensity to that character.
The thing about storylines that are driven by personal aspects is that they ultimately blur all the cliched lines between heel and face. That's the point of it being a personal feud: the bad guy pushes the good guy to the point of snapping, thus adding edge and intensity to that character.
Jack-Hammer
YOU WILL RESPECT MY AUTHORITAH!!!!
WWE Friday Night SmackDown! - July 27, 2012
1. The Miz vs. Christian for the WWE Intercontinental Championship - Prior to the match, Miz came out to deliver a victory speech after winning his match against Christian on Raw 1,000. The Miz's promo was short and to the point. Miz's new attitude, thus far, seems to be more focused and he does seem to be more mature, as would be pointed out for the match. Christian interrupts Miz and demands his rematch for tonight. As for the match itself, a very good outing for both men and a strong match to start the show off with. Much of the match was back and forth with both men looking good throughout. The second half of the match was especially good as the pace picked up and had even more of a back and forth feel going on, as well as a couple of good near falls. Both men tried hitting their finishers multiple times but were never able to complete, which was a nice little touch because neither really has that aura of being able to take the other one's top move and kick out. The end comes with Miz delivering a thumb to the eye before rolling Christian up via schoolboy. He grabs a handful of tights to score the win at the 13.5 minute mark. The Miz is off to a good start as IC champ and Miz putting over the title during his promo was a good touch. It's something basic, but basic is good when it comes to hyping a title and it's something a lot of guys in numerous wrestling companies don't do enough. ***1/4
2. Ryback vs. Jinder Mahal - The match was ok, to me at least, in the sense that it switches things up a little. While I don't understand why Mahal was made to look stronger against Ryback than both Reks & Hawkins combined, it was nice to see Ryback really have to struggle for a bit. Ryback gets his second wind and starts to get the better of Mahal before Mahal takes a powder and gets counted out. Booker pointed out that, to him, it looked as though Mahal might be sizing Ryback up for another time. That suggests that this might be Ryback's first actual feud. A feud against Mahal is nothing to really get excited about, but at least Ryback could be heading to a feud. He needs it to further develop. *1/4
Tout Videos - Last night, the WWE showed a handful of brief Tout videos from fans. I kinda like this concept because, all in all, it's harmless and it is nice to see and hear what some actual fans think about something. WWE is doing the right thing with them by keeping the Tout moments short and not piling them on throughout the shows. Thumbs Up
3. Sheamus vs. Cody Rhodes - Pretty entertaining match from Cody and Sheamus with good action throughout. While I like Sheamus better as a heel, he does make an ideal strong, babyface champion in most ways. Sheamus wrestles frequently on television and his matches are almost always good. Cody Rhodes continues to look like a star to me. His push seems to have halted for the time being, but Rhodes is someone that I think has shown over the past 2.5 years that he's got the ability and WWE isn't in a rush to push him too hard and fast. I know that might sound odd, but it's not really when you take into account that Rhodes has been in WWE several years already and he's only 27 years old. About half way through the match, Dolph Ziggler's music hit and he came down with his briefcase, teasing another potential cash in. As with Christian vs. Miz, the second half of the match really picked up and featured some good back and forth action. Cody Rhodes had a believable near fall after nailing Sheamus with the Beautiful Disaster kick at one point. He goes for another one but Sheamus catches him across his shoulders and hits White Noise before landing a Brogue Kick. Sheamus gets the win at the 13.5 minute mark. After the match, Ziggler teases cashing in his briefcase even though Sheamus is still strong. After mulling it over for a few minutes, Ziggler backs slowly away from the ring saying that he'll decide when it's time. Chris Jericho comes up behind him and shoves him into the ring where Sheamus hits him with a Brogue Kick. After Sheamus leaves, Jericho comes in slowly and ultimately nails Ziggler with the Codebreaker before leaving. If they really let Jericho & Ziggler go, it'll be a great feud with some awesome matches. **3/4
4. Santino Marella vs. Antonio Cesaro - A decent match for what it was. I like Cesaro's style in the ring, it's a nice physical style that matches his physical look well. Santino did most of his usual stuff and, personally, I'm always impressed whenever I see him do those martial arts throws during his matches. I know Santino has extensively studied martial arts and he makes the throws look effortless. The match ends with Cesaro countering a Cobra attempt into a spinebuster before he hits his finisher for the win at the 3 minute mark. It's encouraging to see Cesaro get the win cleanly and I'm hoping that Cole mentioning Cesaro as a challenger for the United States Championship as a forshadowing of things to come. *1/4
5. Yoshi Tatsu vs. Damien Sandow - Pretty basic Sandow squash match. I like watching him in the ring as the guy has such as smooth flow to his moves. He almost seems to glide at times, he just moves effortlessly it seems. I also like this really aggressive side that comes out during his matches. He destroys Yoshi and scores the win about the 2 minute mark. N/A
6. Rey Mysterio vs. Daniel Bryan vs. Kane vs. Alberto Del Rio in a Fatal Four-Way #1 Contender's match - A strong match that made good use of the fourway stipulation and had a fast paced, high energy feel from the beginning. To me, the WWE really has the formula for these matches down pat as they're almost consistently entertaining. While there's a lot of energy, it's not a directionless chaotic clusterfuck. Everyone was given a chance to shine. Mysterio played the role of the valiant babyface well, Kane also did well as the dominant monster, Del Rio did well as the opportunistic heel and Bryan worked out nicely as an intense, pitbullish heel. Throughout the match there were some fun near falls and generally strong chemistry between the wrestlers. One reason the match really worked, for me at least, is because all four of the guys were legitimately viable candidates to be #1 contender. Maybe Kane's viability wasn't as strong as the ohter three, but he looked great during his involvement in the Punk vs. Bryan feud. The ending comes after Bryan nails Kane with a flying knee off the ring apron and knocks him over the railing. As he gets back into the ring, he ultimately winds up taking a 619 from Mysterio simultaneously as Del Rio. Rey goes for the pin but Ricardo reaches in and pulls him out from under the bottom rope. Del Rio scurries over and covers Bryan for the win at the 13.5 minute mark. ***1/4
Final Thoughts - Last night's SmackDown! was a really entertaining two hour wrestling program. There wasn't much in the way of mic work on the show last night, but there were several strong matches on the card. Miz vs. Christian was much better than their match on Raw and Miz is off to a strong start as Intercontinental Champion. Sheamus vs. Cody Rhodes was also a lot of fun, though it would've been better I think if the distraction of Ziggler hadn't been there. Still, at least it made sense for Ziggler being out there. The #1 contender's match was a lot of fun with a fast paced, high energy feel that kept going throughout the length. I'm not overly crazy about Del Rio being #1 contender for the WHC again but with Mysterio back on the scene, I'm looking for WWE to possibly insert him into this feud and make it a threeway. After all, when Mysterio returned last week, he resumed things with Del Rio. I thought the show did a solid job of talking about what happned on Raw 1,000 without bogging things down. They highlighted all the important stuff, especially CM Punk's heel turn and wondering what's going to happen on Raw this Monday. Antonio Cesaro getting a clean win over Santino Marella is a hopeful sign that he might be the next United States Champion and Sandow looked dominant over Yoshi Tatsu. With Jericho attacking Ziggler, Miz successfully defending his Ic title and Del Rio being named #1 contender for the WHC; it was pretty decent storyline continuation.
Grade: B+
1. The Miz vs. Christian for the WWE Intercontinental Championship - Prior to the match, Miz came out to deliver a victory speech after winning his match against Christian on Raw 1,000. The Miz's promo was short and to the point. Miz's new attitude, thus far, seems to be more focused and he does seem to be more mature, as would be pointed out for the match. Christian interrupts Miz and demands his rematch for tonight. As for the match itself, a very good outing for both men and a strong match to start the show off with. Much of the match was back and forth with both men looking good throughout. The second half of the match was especially good as the pace picked up and had even more of a back and forth feel going on, as well as a couple of good near falls. Both men tried hitting their finishers multiple times but were never able to complete, which was a nice little touch because neither really has that aura of being able to take the other one's top move and kick out. The end comes with Miz delivering a thumb to the eye before rolling Christian up via schoolboy. He grabs a handful of tights to score the win at the 13.5 minute mark. The Miz is off to a good start as IC champ and Miz putting over the title during his promo was a good touch. It's something basic, but basic is good when it comes to hyping a title and it's something a lot of guys in numerous wrestling companies don't do enough. ***1/4
2. Ryback vs. Jinder Mahal - The match was ok, to me at least, in the sense that it switches things up a little. While I don't understand why Mahal was made to look stronger against Ryback than both Reks & Hawkins combined, it was nice to see Ryback really have to struggle for a bit. Ryback gets his second wind and starts to get the better of Mahal before Mahal takes a powder and gets counted out. Booker pointed out that, to him, it looked as though Mahal might be sizing Ryback up for another time. That suggests that this might be Ryback's first actual feud. A feud against Mahal is nothing to really get excited about, but at least Ryback could be heading to a feud. He needs it to further develop. *1/4
Tout Videos - Last night, the WWE showed a handful of brief Tout videos from fans. I kinda like this concept because, all in all, it's harmless and it is nice to see and hear what some actual fans think about something. WWE is doing the right thing with them by keeping the Tout moments short and not piling them on throughout the shows. Thumbs Up
3. Sheamus vs. Cody Rhodes - Pretty entertaining match from Cody and Sheamus with good action throughout. While I like Sheamus better as a heel, he does make an ideal strong, babyface champion in most ways. Sheamus wrestles frequently on television and his matches are almost always good. Cody Rhodes continues to look like a star to me. His push seems to have halted for the time being, but Rhodes is someone that I think has shown over the past 2.5 years that he's got the ability and WWE isn't in a rush to push him too hard and fast. I know that might sound odd, but it's not really when you take into account that Rhodes has been in WWE several years already and he's only 27 years old. About half way through the match, Dolph Ziggler's music hit and he came down with his briefcase, teasing another potential cash in. As with Christian vs. Miz, the second half of the match really picked up and featured some good back and forth action. Cody Rhodes had a believable near fall after nailing Sheamus with the Beautiful Disaster kick at one point. He goes for another one but Sheamus catches him across his shoulders and hits White Noise before landing a Brogue Kick. Sheamus gets the win at the 13.5 minute mark. After the match, Ziggler teases cashing in his briefcase even though Sheamus is still strong. After mulling it over for a few minutes, Ziggler backs slowly away from the ring saying that he'll decide when it's time. Chris Jericho comes up behind him and shoves him into the ring where Sheamus hits him with a Brogue Kick. After Sheamus leaves, Jericho comes in slowly and ultimately nails Ziggler with the Codebreaker before leaving. If they really let Jericho & Ziggler go, it'll be a great feud with some awesome matches. **3/4
4. Santino Marella vs. Antonio Cesaro - A decent match for what it was. I like Cesaro's style in the ring, it's a nice physical style that matches his physical look well. Santino did most of his usual stuff and, personally, I'm always impressed whenever I see him do those martial arts throws during his matches. I know Santino has extensively studied martial arts and he makes the throws look effortless. The match ends with Cesaro countering a Cobra attempt into a spinebuster before he hits his finisher for the win at the 3 minute mark. It's encouraging to see Cesaro get the win cleanly and I'm hoping that Cole mentioning Cesaro as a challenger for the United States Championship as a forshadowing of things to come. *1/4
5. Yoshi Tatsu vs. Damien Sandow - Pretty basic Sandow squash match. I like watching him in the ring as the guy has such as smooth flow to his moves. He almost seems to glide at times, he just moves effortlessly it seems. I also like this really aggressive side that comes out during his matches. He destroys Yoshi and scores the win about the 2 minute mark. N/A
6. Rey Mysterio vs. Daniel Bryan vs. Kane vs. Alberto Del Rio in a Fatal Four-Way #1 Contender's match - A strong match that made good use of the fourway stipulation and had a fast paced, high energy feel from the beginning. To me, the WWE really has the formula for these matches down pat as they're almost consistently entertaining. While there's a lot of energy, it's not a directionless chaotic clusterfuck. Everyone was given a chance to shine. Mysterio played the role of the valiant babyface well, Kane also did well as the dominant monster, Del Rio did well as the opportunistic heel and Bryan worked out nicely as an intense, pitbullish heel. Throughout the match there were some fun near falls and generally strong chemistry between the wrestlers. One reason the match really worked, for me at least, is because all four of the guys were legitimately viable candidates to be #1 contender. Maybe Kane's viability wasn't as strong as the ohter three, but he looked great during his involvement in the Punk vs. Bryan feud. The ending comes after Bryan nails Kane with a flying knee off the ring apron and knocks him over the railing. As he gets back into the ring, he ultimately winds up taking a 619 from Mysterio simultaneously as Del Rio. Rey goes for the pin but Ricardo reaches in and pulls him out from under the bottom rope. Del Rio scurries over and covers Bryan for the win at the 13.5 minute mark. ***1/4
Final Thoughts - Last night's SmackDown! was a really entertaining two hour wrestling program. There wasn't much in the way of mic work on the show last night, but there were several strong matches on the card. Miz vs. Christian was much better than their match on Raw and Miz is off to a strong start as Intercontinental Champion. Sheamus vs. Cody Rhodes was also a lot of fun, though it would've been better I think if the distraction of Ziggler hadn't been there. Still, at least it made sense for Ziggler being out there. The #1 contender's match was a lot of fun with a fast paced, high energy feel that kept going throughout the length. I'm not overly crazy about Del Rio being #1 contender for the WHC again but with Mysterio back on the scene, I'm looking for WWE to possibly insert him into this feud and make it a threeway. After all, when Mysterio returned last week, he resumed things with Del Rio. I thought the show did a solid job of talking about what happned on Raw 1,000 without bogging things down. They highlighted all the important stuff, especially CM Punk's heel turn and wondering what's going to happen on Raw this Monday. Antonio Cesaro getting a clean win over Santino Marella is a hopeful sign that he might be the next United States Champion and Sandow looked dominant over Yoshi Tatsu. With Jericho attacking Ziggler, Miz successfully defending his Ic title and Del Rio being named #1 contender for the WHC; it was pretty decent storyline continuation.
Grade: B+
BigThunder
Pre-Show Stalwart
Christian/Miz is probably my favorite television match this year. I thought they did a really good job last night, and I hope we see this one again soon.
And Shamus was, well, a dick in the segment you didn't mention. I can't really blame Bryan for being upset. The guy gets his wedding busted, and all people do is mock him. Poor DB. (though his anger management issues are increasingly entertaining: he's become the Yosemite Sam of WWE)
And Shamus was, well, a dick in the segment you didn't mention. I can't really blame Bryan for being upset. The guy gets his wedding busted, and all people do is mock him. Poor DB. (though his anger management issues are increasingly entertaining: he's become the Yosemite Sam of WWE
)Yeah, it was an unbelievable rating.I dont remember the last time the Raw ratings were this high. They promoted Raw 1000 as a big deal and it got the casual fans interested.
It will be interesting to see if they can carry some of that momentum. I think their will be a big time drop off. Going 3 hours weekly is going to hurt the ratings.
wow.. so many things that sucked tonight. AJ as GM is actually worse than I thought. That was a HORRIBLE decision and she will never be able to pull it off. Is she heel? is Daniel bryan heel? is Punk? Is Jericho? is Ziggler? Whats going on. Ziggler TOTALLY missing Christian was an intersting spot. BTW Tyson Kidd jobbing out to Tensai was so stupid and un needed. Kidd needs a push. Tensai needs to do anything different. I swear HOW MANY TIMES do we need to see Brock Lesnar and HHH and Stephanie from Raw 1000? I lost count and every time i seriously considered changing the damn channel. If they would have NEVER mentioned what AW said, if they didnt do that stupi forced apology then it would have went away but NO they are going to draw all this attention to it and then bitch about how controversial it was. Most of the audience missed it. I was watching the show and I didnt catch it. I swear t6his stupid senate run for Linda is going to kill pro wrestling for every fan of the company. this overly sensitive PG shit is KILLING WWE. What is up with the way RAW went off the air? I swear I am losing my loyalty each week. Thank god for Daniel bryan
The Eighties
Forward Thinking Nostalgist
Awful show, but first credit to Sheamus, Bryan, Cena, Show, Jericho, Christian, Ziggler and Miz. I thought all of these guys worked their assess off in their respective matches, all of which were good, especially Bryan vs Sheamus.
As I feared Punk is the same cookie cutter heel as all other WWE heels, the crowd don't seem to to know exactly how to respond, it's a muted response at best. Punk isn't really saying anything untrue, King is the WWE's agenda voice and the whole thing with Rock is ridiculous, but he's doing it in the standard whiny heel way, this was cemented when he came out at the end to protest about defending his title in a triple threat, because now he's suddenly scared of a challenge despite 9 months of defenses.
I like AJ, she looked great in her power suit, but the new role for her character just doesn't fit IMO, it's impossible to take her seriously.
Poor Daniel Bryan, I guess he's going to eat a shit sandwich or two for getting too over. He got lots of air time tonight and had a good match, but the skits with the shrink were stupid and I am guessing he'll wrestle Kane at Summerslam with Sheen somehow involved, oh goodie!
I like the simplicity of the Ziggler/Jericho angle and I think they'll deliver the best pure match on the card at Summerslam, I just hope they get some more mic time to flesh out the simple but effective storyline....and yes King, the crowd were cheering Ziggler when he hit Jericho with the MITB case, WWE forcing him to blatantly lie is absurd.
I can't remember the rest of the stuff they wheeled out tonight except the dozen or so recaps of the Haitch/Lesnar angle from last week, each one further enforcing Stephanie as a hypocrite, a hot hypocrite, but still a hypocrite, and I hate it when they try to make her and Triple H sympathetic "Oh no he mentioned my kids!" please! after all the shit Hunter has done lol. Just let him be a smug ********, it's his natural state.
TNA's booking pretty much reeks as well but it's far less oppressive than WWE's presentation right now, so I think I'll get my wrestling fix there and check back around Survivor Series to see what they are doing with Taker, if anything.
As I feared Punk is the same cookie cutter heel as all other WWE heels, the crowd don't seem to to know exactly how to respond, it's a muted response at best. Punk isn't really saying anything untrue, King is the WWE's agenda voice and the whole thing with Rock is ridiculous, but he's doing it in the standard whiny heel way, this was cemented when he came out at the end to protest about defending his title in a triple threat, because now he's suddenly scared of a challenge despite 9 months of defenses.
I like AJ, she looked great in her power suit, but the new role for her character just doesn't fit IMO, it's impossible to take her seriously.
Poor Daniel Bryan, I guess he's going to eat a shit sandwich or two for getting too over. He got lots of air time tonight and had a good match, but the skits with the shrink were stupid and I am guessing he'll wrestle Kane at Summerslam with Sheen somehow involved, oh goodie!
I like the simplicity of the Ziggler/Jericho angle and I think they'll deliver the best pure match on the card at Summerslam, I just hope they get some more mic time to flesh out the simple but effective storyline....and yes King, the crowd were cheering Ziggler when he hit Jericho with the MITB case, WWE forcing him to blatantly lie is absurd.
I can't remember the rest of the stuff they wheeled out tonight except the dozen or so recaps of the Haitch/Lesnar angle from last week, each one further enforcing Stephanie as a hypocrite, a hot hypocrite, but still a hypocrite, and I hate it when they try to make her and Triple H sympathetic "Oh no he mentioned my kids!" please! after all the shit Hunter has done lol. Just let him be a smug ********, it's his natural state.
TNA's booking pretty much reeks as well but it's far less oppressive than WWE's presentation right now, so I think I'll get my wrestling fix there and check back around Survivor Series to see what they are doing with Taker, if anything.
Jack-Hammer
YOU WILL RESPECT MY AUTHORITAH!!!!
WWE Raw - July 30, 2012
Opening Segment - A strong way to kick off Raw 1,001 in my opinion. Punk did a very solid job on the mic and I found myself both agreeing with his explanation for why he did what he did and thinking that it's logical. CM Punk is the WWE Champion and him not getting as much attention as Cena or Rock is a genuine base for a heel turn. Punk basically affirmed that he hadn't turned on the WWE Universe, as Lawler suggested, and stated that Rock isn't the WWE Universe. He's just one single man, a highly charismatic man, but a man all the same. Thank you...I've been hoping and praying for someone to finally say something along those lines. Rock is great, but all the ******io Rock gets from fans is too much sometimes. Big Show interrupted and did a solid job playing his part and I like that Punk, while definitely showing heel tendencies, didn't back down from him. After a bit, Cena's music hits and he comes to the ring and attacks Show. Show takes a powder just before AJ's music hits. She announces that Cena will face Show in the main event in a #1 contender's match. Short, simple, to the point and AJ looked comfortable. Thumbs Up
1. Santino Marella vs. Alberto Del Rio - I'm mixed on this match. We've seen Del Rio beat Santino a hundred times, usually in about 1 to 1.5 minutes, so naturally it's hard to get excited. At the same time, they had an actual match. It wasn't a fantastic match, but it did tell a decent story with Santino being the loved, over babyface struggling to overcome the aggressive heel that's just too far out of his league. I think that Santino should've gotten some more offense in than he did, but I'll take this over a 1 minute squash. Del Rio gets the win via the armbar submission about the 7.5 minute mark. Del Rio looked strong and I continue to like the more aggressive side we see of him. He stands over Santino, as Santino sells his arm injury, and talks down to him, claiming that he's beneath him and that he won't wrestle again until it's for the World Championship. *1/2
Brodus Clay, Vickie Guerrery & Damien Sandow - I let out an agonized groan when I saw this segment was going to feature Vickie dancing. I just shook my head in disgust and thought that this was a waste of time. Thankfully, not long after Vickie started, Damien Sandow came out and interrupted them. I'm assuming that Sandow was originally scheduled for a match against Brodus. Sandow did his thing for a bit, I really dig listening to him on the mic. As Clay turned his back to help his dancers out, Sandow jumps him from behind and spends about 2 minutes kicking the snot out of him. Like Del Rio, I love that they're having Sandow as an aggressive heel. He goes after Clay, beats him down and leaves him laying. Sandow also got good heat despite this being only his 2nd time on Raw. Sandow saved this segment and I was so relieved when he came out. Thumbs In The Middle
Daniel Bryan & AJ Lee - This is a backstage segment in which Bryan finally works up the nerve to get into AJ's office. It was short, but sweet and the two still have a dynamic chemistry together. In my opinion, AJ seems comfortable in this role thus far. She's not doing anything whacky and seems confident. Telling Bryan to shut up and that she's his boss now is a good touch. Also, touching up on the guys in the white outfits, the guys who looked like orderlies from a booby hatch, was nice. AJ tells Bryan that she's putting him in a match against Sheamus. Bryan grins slightly and asks if it's for the title and AJ mocks him by starting a "No!" chant. Thumbs Up
Highlights of Triple H, Paul Heyman, Stephanie McMahon & Brock Lesnar - A good video package that highlighted this segment from last Monday's Raw. It ultimately does a good job of hyping the match between Lesnar & Triple H. On the surface, I'm not sure how the match is going to end. I think it'll be a mistake if Triple H goes over and I'm wondering if any sort of no disqualification stips will be added over the next few weeks. Heyman could help Lesnar and give him a win, plus giving Trips an out. They played this again later in the show and while it might seem like overkill, I like that they're hyping it but not constantly shoving it down our throats. They ultimately did the same thing with the CM Punk/WWE Championship picture throughout the night, which is a good thing in my eyes. Hype this stuff and plug it often now that there's plenty of time to do it as much as needed. Thumbs Up
2. Sheamus vs. Daniel Bryan in a Street Fight - Just after the match was announced, the commentators told us that this would be a Rawactive match in which fans could vote on what sort of match. The first option was no holds barred, the second was falls count anywhere and the third was a street fight. Very little difference in any of these particular match types, with the exception that you can be pinned anywhere in FCA matches. Bryan comes out to a great response and briefly cuts a fun promo in the ring that really gets the crowd going. It was basic reverse psychology but it worked very very nicely. It worked because Bryan's great in his role and fans are digging it. The match itself with Sheamus was great, this is the kind of action people are hoping for now that Raw is 3 hours. It was a hard hitting, physical brawl with both guys looking strong and resilient throughout. It told a good story as well with Sheamus as this big, strong brawler against this much smaller & weaker scrapper. They both made good use of the kendo stick in the match and the chair was used a few times, but not quite as much as needed I thought. I was actually hoping that Bryan could get the win here via Del Rio interfering, which I thought he might since the match was no DQ. Near the end, Bryan puts the base of the steps into the ring. He and Sheamus scramble a bit for the kendo stick and ultimately Sheamus tries to set Bryan up for White Noise on the base. Bryan wiggles out and pushes Sheamus off the base, only for Sheamus to deliver a Brogue Kick for the win at the 15 minute mark. It would've been nice if the match had gone a little longer and if we saw the chair & stairs really utilized, but it was still a great match. ***1/2
Daniel Bryan, Kofi Kingston, R-Truth & AJ Lee - Coming back from break, Bryan is in the ring screaming into the mic that he hurt his neck and that he's not leaving until he sees a doctor. Bryan was slurring his words a litlte here and there, which I thought was a fun little touch as it made it look as though Sheamus' kick really rattled him. After a while, Kofi's music hits and he comes out with R-Truth. Truth is in a suit no less. Kofi tells Bryan to please just do everyone a favor and leave the ring. Truth refers to little Jimmy and Bryan gets up and goes over to the corner and talks to Little Jimmy, including patting him on the head, before delivering a big soccer kick that "knocks Little Jimmy" out of the ring. I laughed my ass off that that. I thought it was hilarious and I've been dying for someone to lay out Truth's imaginary buddy for ages. Bryan screams at Truth at how goofy he is as he's outside ministering to an imaginary child, which Bryan actually says. AJ's music hits and tells him that she thinks he's unstable and wants to have him to undergo a psychiatric evaluation as she fears he promotes an unsafe work environment. Bryan's performance here was spot on in my eyes and he leaves with the "orderlies" accompanying him, threatening them occassionally to not touch him. I'm glad to see Bryan getting so much exposure on Raw as of late as he's earned it. Thumbs Up
3. Kofi Kingston vs. Titus O'Niel - An ok match, nothing special, but it did keep the feud between Kofi & Truth and the PTPs going. AW's comment, which I later found out was a rape joke involving Kobe Bryant, will probably get his ass chewed out. I just hope that they don't take it out on Young & O'Neil. The match was kind of slow, nothing particularly memorable. AW gets on the apron and throws a shoe at Kofi, distracting him for a bit as Kofi throws the shoe back at him. O'Niel has recovered from the Boom Drop by this time and hits Kofi with the Sky High slam for the win at the 3 minute mark. 3/4*
4. Randy Orton vs. Heath Slater - I'd forgotten about Orton to be completely honest. His music hit and he came out to a big pop after Slater hyped himself on the mic for a bit. The match lasted about 2 minutes and went like you figure. It was just used as a reason for Orton to come out on the show. N/A
5. Christian & Chris Jericho vs. Dolph Ziggler & The Miz - A very fun, physical tag team match that also did a good job of further pushing these two individual feuds along. They'd mentioned these individual feuds and talked about them a few times during the show and the match was entertaining, especially with Jericho & Ziggler were in there against each other. Ziggler messed up a spot in the match, though I think it was mostly Christian's fault as he didn't look where he was supposed to be, but Ziggler went on without missing a beat. There was some good back and forth action at times through the match and all four of the wrestlers were given time to show some of their stuff. The end comes after Ziggler eats a spear from Christian and rolls to the outside. Miz has been at it with Jericho, and they looked good together as well, and just countered a charge from Jericho with an elbow shot. Christian leaps up on the apron and gives Miz a thumb to the eye, just as Miz did to him on SD! this past Friday, and Jericho delivers the Codebreaker for the win at the 12 minute mark. Personally, I think he heels should've won, but they gave solid hype for these two current feuds and delivered a fun match. ***
6. Tyson Kidd vs. Tensai - I'm definitely mixed on this match. On one hand, Kidd looked really good and the fans were definitely behind him. His Blockbuster move off the top looked great and got a great near fall. However, Tensai comes back and delivers a chokebomb before hitting the Senton for the win. He continues to beat on Kidd after the bell, prompting the ref to reverse his decision. Kidd wins via DQ. I don't like when they do this. Once a match is over, how can you reverse your decision? The match is finished, which means the ref has no authority over what the two wrestlers do. Tensai then starts to beat on Sakamoto, AKA his man bitch, for a while. I think where they're going with this is to have the two feud for a while. Kidd beat Tensai, albeit in a flukey way, and Tensai showed that he can beat Kidd, even though the decision was reversed and he's technically 0-2 against Kidd now. I'm guessing they'll meet for a third time with Kidd getting a decisive win over Tensai soon. *1/2
Daniel Bryan Evaluations - They showed three brief segments backstage in a secluded room with Bryan talking to a "psychiatrist". The first one has the shrink asking some basic questions, with Bryan answering yes. He gets irritated before launching into a heated "YES!" chant, which the live crowd picks up. The second one shows Bryan underoing an inkblot test. He shows Bryan three different pics and Bryan answers. As the shrink puts the papers down, the three pictures actually form the head of a goat, which I thought was really funny. Bryan then goes off before asking if Charlie Sheen put the doctor up to this. The final one involved Bryan passing the evaluation before Kane comes in and rams him into a wall. I thought these segments were entertaining, though I find myself wondering why Kane was involved at all. Thumbs Up
7. John Cena vs. The Big Show in a #1 Contender's match - I enjoyed this match from Cena & Show. I know some people will hate it because of the deliberately slower pace, but the action was solid and so was the storytelling. Show's over 400 pounds and 7 feet tall. The laws of nature won't allow him to move like Kidd or Punk or Bryan. Show looked good in his role as the near unstoppable monster heel and Cena as the brave, never-say-die babyface. CM Punk was out on commentary during htis match and was arguing with Lawler a bit, but was still entertaining. Lawler really is awful because his points of view make absolutely no sense. Cena eventually hits the Five Knuckle Shuffle at one point before going for the AA, but Show counters into a huge chokeslam for a great near fall. The match moved outside and Show is rammed into a ring post, Cena goes for a flying tackle, but Show moves and Cena flies over the announce table and accidentally takes Punk out. The ref is counting and there's a great tease that Cena might not be able to make it back in but does just before the ref counts to 10. Show sets up for the WMD but misses and Cena goes for the AA. Punk has recovered by this time and enters the ring. He pushes Show over on top of Cena, prompting the ref calling for the bell. As Show stirs, Punk delivers a big roundhouse kick to the head, taking him out, while Cena is laid out. Punk gets on the mic and declares that the winner is no one. As Punk departs and heads backstage, AJ's music hits again and she comes out and declares Punk is wrong. She says that because of Punk's interference, he'll face John Cena & Big Show in a triple threat match at SummerSlam for the WWE Championship. Punk comes out and argues with AJ as the show goes off. ***
Final Thoughts - Personally, I don't know what anyone's complaining about. I thought last night's show was great from top to bottom. There were a few things I wasn't that wild about, like Del Rio vs. Santino and Kidd vs. Tensai, but I thought the show was very entertaining for the most part. The show delivered solid hype & strong build for SummerSlam, several wrestlers were given chances to shine, several current feuds & storylines were given a good amount of hype & further build and the show delivered three strong wrestling matches. That's not to say that there wasn't some filler, such as the brief Tout videos and the double replay of Triple H & Lesnar. However, everything on the show had a purpose. They did a good job of hyping CM Punk throughout the show, Damien Sandow did us all a favor by possibly starting a feud with Brodus Clay & ending what would've been an abortion of a segment, AJ did a good & compotent job as GM, Daniel Bryan excelled in my eyes tonight, the main event for SummerSlam is set. By next week, I imagine that Miz vs. Christian & Ziggler vs. Jericho will be announced for SummerSlam and their individual feuds got good attention as well. I'm sorry but, I just don't understand the complaints. Good wrestling, good use of time in order to hype the upcoming ppv, good progression of current feuds & storylines.
Grade: B+
Opening Segment - A strong way to kick off Raw 1,001 in my opinion. Punk did a very solid job on the mic and I found myself both agreeing with his explanation for why he did what he did and thinking that it's logical. CM Punk is the WWE Champion and him not getting as much attention as Cena or Rock is a genuine base for a heel turn. Punk basically affirmed that he hadn't turned on the WWE Universe, as Lawler suggested, and stated that Rock isn't the WWE Universe. He's just one single man, a highly charismatic man, but a man all the same. Thank you...I've been hoping and praying for someone to finally say something along those lines. Rock is great, but all the ******io Rock gets from fans is too much sometimes. Big Show interrupted and did a solid job playing his part and I like that Punk, while definitely showing heel tendencies, didn't back down from him. After a bit, Cena's music hits and he comes to the ring and attacks Show. Show takes a powder just before AJ's music hits. She announces that Cena will face Show in the main event in a #1 contender's match. Short, simple, to the point and AJ looked comfortable. Thumbs Up
1. Santino Marella vs. Alberto Del Rio - I'm mixed on this match. We've seen Del Rio beat Santino a hundred times, usually in about 1 to 1.5 minutes, so naturally it's hard to get excited. At the same time, they had an actual match. It wasn't a fantastic match, but it did tell a decent story with Santino being the loved, over babyface struggling to overcome the aggressive heel that's just too far out of his league. I think that Santino should've gotten some more offense in than he did, but I'll take this over a 1 minute squash. Del Rio gets the win via the armbar submission about the 7.5 minute mark. Del Rio looked strong and I continue to like the more aggressive side we see of him. He stands over Santino, as Santino sells his arm injury, and talks down to him, claiming that he's beneath him and that he won't wrestle again until it's for the World Championship. *1/2
Brodus Clay, Vickie Guerrery & Damien Sandow - I let out an agonized groan when I saw this segment was going to feature Vickie dancing. I just shook my head in disgust and thought that this was a waste of time. Thankfully, not long after Vickie started, Damien Sandow came out and interrupted them. I'm assuming that Sandow was originally scheduled for a match against Brodus. Sandow did his thing for a bit, I really dig listening to him on the mic. As Clay turned his back to help his dancers out, Sandow jumps him from behind and spends about 2 minutes kicking the snot out of him. Like Del Rio, I love that they're having Sandow as an aggressive heel. He goes after Clay, beats him down and leaves him laying. Sandow also got good heat despite this being only his 2nd time on Raw. Sandow saved this segment and I was so relieved when he came out. Thumbs In The Middle
Daniel Bryan & AJ Lee - This is a backstage segment in which Bryan finally works up the nerve to get into AJ's office. It was short, but sweet and the two still have a dynamic chemistry together. In my opinion, AJ seems comfortable in this role thus far. She's not doing anything whacky and seems confident. Telling Bryan to shut up and that she's his boss now is a good touch. Also, touching up on the guys in the white outfits, the guys who looked like orderlies from a booby hatch, was nice. AJ tells Bryan that she's putting him in a match against Sheamus. Bryan grins slightly and asks if it's for the title and AJ mocks him by starting a "No!" chant. Thumbs Up
Highlights of Triple H, Paul Heyman, Stephanie McMahon & Brock Lesnar - A good video package that highlighted this segment from last Monday's Raw. It ultimately does a good job of hyping the match between Lesnar & Triple H. On the surface, I'm not sure how the match is going to end. I think it'll be a mistake if Triple H goes over and I'm wondering if any sort of no disqualification stips will be added over the next few weeks. Heyman could help Lesnar and give him a win, plus giving Trips an out. They played this again later in the show and while it might seem like overkill, I like that they're hyping it but not constantly shoving it down our throats. They ultimately did the same thing with the CM Punk/WWE Championship picture throughout the night, which is a good thing in my eyes. Hype this stuff and plug it often now that there's plenty of time to do it as much as needed. Thumbs Up
2. Sheamus vs. Daniel Bryan in a Street Fight - Just after the match was announced, the commentators told us that this would be a Rawactive match in which fans could vote on what sort of match. The first option was no holds barred, the second was falls count anywhere and the third was a street fight. Very little difference in any of these particular match types, with the exception that you can be pinned anywhere in FCA matches. Bryan comes out to a great response and briefly cuts a fun promo in the ring that really gets the crowd going. It was basic reverse psychology but it worked very very nicely. It worked because Bryan's great in his role and fans are digging it. The match itself with Sheamus was great, this is the kind of action people are hoping for now that Raw is 3 hours. It was a hard hitting, physical brawl with both guys looking strong and resilient throughout. It told a good story as well with Sheamus as this big, strong brawler against this much smaller & weaker scrapper. They both made good use of the kendo stick in the match and the chair was used a few times, but not quite as much as needed I thought. I was actually hoping that Bryan could get the win here via Del Rio interfering, which I thought he might since the match was no DQ. Near the end, Bryan puts the base of the steps into the ring. He and Sheamus scramble a bit for the kendo stick and ultimately Sheamus tries to set Bryan up for White Noise on the base. Bryan wiggles out and pushes Sheamus off the base, only for Sheamus to deliver a Brogue Kick for the win at the 15 minute mark. It would've been nice if the match had gone a little longer and if we saw the chair & stairs really utilized, but it was still a great match. ***1/2
Daniel Bryan, Kofi Kingston, R-Truth & AJ Lee - Coming back from break, Bryan is in the ring screaming into the mic that he hurt his neck and that he's not leaving until he sees a doctor. Bryan was slurring his words a litlte here and there, which I thought was a fun little touch as it made it look as though Sheamus' kick really rattled him. After a while, Kofi's music hits and he comes out with R-Truth. Truth is in a suit no less. Kofi tells Bryan to please just do everyone a favor and leave the ring. Truth refers to little Jimmy and Bryan gets up and goes over to the corner and talks to Little Jimmy, including patting him on the head, before delivering a big soccer kick that "knocks Little Jimmy" out of the ring. I laughed my ass off that that. I thought it was hilarious and I've been dying for someone to lay out Truth's imaginary buddy for ages. Bryan screams at Truth at how goofy he is as he's outside ministering to an imaginary child, which Bryan actually says. AJ's music hits and tells him that she thinks he's unstable and wants to have him to undergo a psychiatric evaluation as she fears he promotes an unsafe work environment. Bryan's performance here was spot on in my eyes and he leaves with the "orderlies" accompanying him, threatening them occassionally to not touch him. I'm glad to see Bryan getting so much exposure on Raw as of late as he's earned it. Thumbs Up
3. Kofi Kingston vs. Titus O'Niel - An ok match, nothing special, but it did keep the feud between Kofi & Truth and the PTPs going. AW's comment, which I later found out was a rape joke involving Kobe Bryant, will probably get his ass chewed out. I just hope that they don't take it out on Young & O'Neil. The match was kind of slow, nothing particularly memorable. AW gets on the apron and throws a shoe at Kofi, distracting him for a bit as Kofi throws the shoe back at him. O'Niel has recovered from the Boom Drop by this time and hits Kofi with the Sky High slam for the win at the 3 minute mark. 3/4*
4. Randy Orton vs. Heath Slater - I'd forgotten about Orton to be completely honest. His music hit and he came out to a big pop after Slater hyped himself on the mic for a bit. The match lasted about 2 minutes and went like you figure. It was just used as a reason for Orton to come out on the show. N/A
5. Christian & Chris Jericho vs. Dolph Ziggler & The Miz - A very fun, physical tag team match that also did a good job of further pushing these two individual feuds along. They'd mentioned these individual feuds and talked about them a few times during the show and the match was entertaining, especially with Jericho & Ziggler were in there against each other. Ziggler messed up a spot in the match, though I think it was mostly Christian's fault as he didn't look where he was supposed to be, but Ziggler went on without missing a beat. There was some good back and forth action at times through the match and all four of the wrestlers were given time to show some of their stuff. The end comes after Ziggler eats a spear from Christian and rolls to the outside. Miz has been at it with Jericho, and they looked good together as well, and just countered a charge from Jericho with an elbow shot. Christian leaps up on the apron and gives Miz a thumb to the eye, just as Miz did to him on SD! this past Friday, and Jericho delivers the Codebreaker for the win at the 12 minute mark. Personally, I think he heels should've won, but they gave solid hype for these two current feuds and delivered a fun match. ***
6. Tyson Kidd vs. Tensai - I'm definitely mixed on this match. On one hand, Kidd looked really good and the fans were definitely behind him. His Blockbuster move off the top looked great and got a great near fall. However, Tensai comes back and delivers a chokebomb before hitting the Senton for the win. He continues to beat on Kidd after the bell, prompting the ref to reverse his decision. Kidd wins via DQ. I don't like when they do this. Once a match is over, how can you reverse your decision? The match is finished, which means the ref has no authority over what the two wrestlers do. Tensai then starts to beat on Sakamoto, AKA his man bitch, for a while. I think where they're going with this is to have the two feud for a while. Kidd beat Tensai, albeit in a flukey way, and Tensai showed that he can beat Kidd, even though the decision was reversed and he's technically 0-2 against Kidd now. I'm guessing they'll meet for a third time with Kidd getting a decisive win over Tensai soon. *1/2
Daniel Bryan Evaluations - They showed three brief segments backstage in a secluded room with Bryan talking to a "psychiatrist". The first one has the shrink asking some basic questions, with Bryan answering yes. He gets irritated before launching into a heated "YES!" chant, which the live crowd picks up. The second one shows Bryan underoing an inkblot test. He shows Bryan three different pics and Bryan answers. As the shrink puts the papers down, the three pictures actually form the head of a goat, which I thought was really funny. Bryan then goes off before asking if Charlie Sheen put the doctor up to this. The final one involved Bryan passing the evaluation before Kane comes in and rams him into a wall. I thought these segments were entertaining, though I find myself wondering why Kane was involved at all. Thumbs Up
7. John Cena vs. The Big Show in a #1 Contender's match - I enjoyed this match from Cena & Show. I know some people will hate it because of the deliberately slower pace, but the action was solid and so was the storytelling. Show's over 400 pounds and 7 feet tall. The laws of nature won't allow him to move like Kidd or Punk or Bryan. Show looked good in his role as the near unstoppable monster heel and Cena as the brave, never-say-die babyface. CM Punk was out on commentary during htis match and was arguing with Lawler a bit, but was still entertaining. Lawler really is awful because his points of view make absolutely no sense. Cena eventually hits the Five Knuckle Shuffle at one point before going for the AA, but Show counters into a huge chokeslam for a great near fall. The match moved outside and Show is rammed into a ring post, Cena goes for a flying tackle, but Show moves and Cena flies over the announce table and accidentally takes Punk out. The ref is counting and there's a great tease that Cena might not be able to make it back in but does just before the ref counts to 10. Show sets up for the WMD but misses and Cena goes for the AA. Punk has recovered by this time and enters the ring. He pushes Show over on top of Cena, prompting the ref calling for the bell. As Show stirs, Punk delivers a big roundhouse kick to the head, taking him out, while Cena is laid out. Punk gets on the mic and declares that the winner is no one. As Punk departs and heads backstage, AJ's music hits again and she comes out and declares Punk is wrong. She says that because of Punk's interference, he'll face John Cena & Big Show in a triple threat match at SummerSlam for the WWE Championship. Punk comes out and argues with AJ as the show goes off. ***
Final Thoughts - Personally, I don't know what anyone's complaining about. I thought last night's show was great from top to bottom. There were a few things I wasn't that wild about, like Del Rio vs. Santino and Kidd vs. Tensai, but I thought the show was very entertaining for the most part. The show delivered solid hype & strong build for SummerSlam, several wrestlers were given chances to shine, several current feuds & storylines were given a good amount of hype & further build and the show delivered three strong wrestling matches. That's not to say that there wasn't some filler, such as the brief Tout videos and the double replay of Triple H & Lesnar. However, everything on the show had a purpose. They did a good job of hyping CM Punk throughout the show, Damien Sandow did us all a favor by possibly starting a feud with Brodus Clay & ending what would've been an abortion of a segment, AJ did a good & compotent job as GM, Daniel Bryan excelled in my eyes tonight, the main event for SummerSlam is set. By next week, I imagine that Miz vs. Christian & Ziggler vs. Jericho will be announced for SummerSlam and their individual feuds got good attention as well. I'm sorry but, I just don't understand the complaints. Good wrestling, good use of time in order to hype the upcoming ppv, good progression of current feuds & storylines.
Grade: B+
thesquaredcircle
The internet champion
I actually liked all the wrestling and most of the segments. The one thing that made this a bad raw WAS THE CONSTANT RECAPS. It seemed like they recaped the fire about 5 times, same with the triple H segment with brock lesnar last week. I also don't like how they turned punk into a whiny heel at the last segment. As someone else said above, he has held the title for 9 months but complains about being in a triple threat. Overall without the annoying recaps I say the raw was good, but with the recaps it would be average at best.