Before I get started with this, I just wanted to note what a great Raw this was last night. As I sat there watching, I couldn't help but thinking that a completely different booking team had written the show. It felt fresh and progressive, which it hadn't in some time to me. Not that Raw has been bad, but this Raw was excellent.
Raw Hits:
Piper's Pit: As much as I don't want to get ahead of myself here, it truly seems they're doing a slow build towards a John Cena heel turn. Between Foley, Miz last week, and now Piper, all three have really hammered home the idea that the boos have to be getting to Cena. WWE has always acknowledged that Cena isn't beloved by all, but they never devoted segments to it as they've done the past three weeks. AS for the segment, Piper certainly brought his A game last night, which isn't always the case. Piper has been very hit or miss for me these past few years(his MSG segment two years ago was an example of a miss of epic proportions), but he was great last night. I loved the slap to close the segment where Cena left shaking his head, as it appeared he was conflicted. The best thing about Cena at this point is that we
don't know what's next for Cena. For a mid-carder, that's not a good thing, but for the face of the company, that's a great thing. This segment continued the suspense, which is great booking.
The Miz: Color me surprised, WWE has managed to make Miz look like a legitimate threat again in just two weeks time. His attacks on Truth on JoMo the past two weeks and his subsequent promo last night following defeating Morrison is quickly making me forget that he was treated as an afterthought during the Rock/Cena shenanigans leading up to Survivor Series. The funny thing of the matter is they chose Miz to write two men off TV who were leaving already, whether it be short term or for good, so it gives me faith they're truly getting behind Miz' character. I expect him to be challenging Punk for the title come TLC, which should make for some great promo work and a solid match come TLC. I love what they're doing with Miz' character right now, as they couldn't be rebuilding him better.
Dolph Ziggler vs Randy Orton: As clean of a win as you're going to see a heel get over Randy Orton. I know they complaints here are going to be this match was all about the Orton/Barrett dynamic and their impending feud, but they killed two birds with one stone here. One, they furthered the Barrett/Orton feud, and secondly, they continue to move Ziggler closer to main event status. As for the match itself, it featured two great workers who have shown they work well together in the past, so what were you expecting? A very good TV match with back and forth action with Ziggler playing the opportunist at the end by taking advantage of the Barrett distraction. Ziggler's ascent continues, and Barrett and Orton was forwarded without overshadowing the actual match. Well done.
***
Daniel Bryan/Mark Henry segment: I can't heap more praise on these two then I have already. I was so glad to see them follow up on the events of Friday night rather then wait to do so. The key theme I picked up here is Henry tried to take from Bryan the thing that meant most to him- his career- so Bryan tried to do the same in return, taking Henry's most prized possession, the World Title. Bryan was excellent on the mic last night, and showed as much fire as we've seen from him during his WWE days. They did a great sell job of making me care and eagerly anticipate their cage match tomorrow night.
CM Punk vs Alberto Del Rio: First off, I'm extremely thrilled they hyped this match a week in advance, and plugged it throughout the show. And the two of them delivered what was a very good match. I especially liked the ending when CM Punk used the turnbuckle that Del Rio had exposed against him. So often, we see babyfaces who are unwilling to use such tactics just for the pure simple fact that they're faces. In this case, the ending completely fit with the CM Punk character we've seen in the past. He saw an advantage, and he took it. Besides that, this was a good main event that featured many plausible near falls with some excellent counters and reversals, along with great pacing.
***1/4
Raw Misses:
Alicia Fox and Kelly Kelly vs the Bella Twins:It appears that Alicia Fox is the new flavor of the month to challenge Beth Phoenix, and she's the least believable one yet. WWE started out with a great premise regarding Beth and Natalya, but they've yet to create any true challengers to make the storyline mean anything. The match itself was too short to mean anything, although I did get a good chuckle out of Beth and Natalya running laps around the ring.
1/4*
Jack Swagger vs Zach Ryder: I'm still not sure what they're doing with Vickie's stable of wrestlers, as it seems we can't have even one Raw where both pick up victories. I like Ryder in small doses, but I feel he's being overexposed and paired with the wrong opponents at this point. And three minute matches do neither man a favor.
*
Final Thoughts: This was an excellent episode of Raw. We were given two solid TV matches with Orton/Ziggler and Punk/Del Rio, both which included believable nearfalls and great psychology in the endings. Feuds were furthered in a believable way, especially Bryan/Henry, which featured some of Bryan's best mic work to date. WWE did a fantastic job of plugging Smackdown and its main event, which is something that needs to be done every week. I'd rather have seen Morrison go out with another epic Falls Count Anywhere match as he did on the first round of the year, but the beatdown by Miz was well done. And the intrigue that's been created with the Miz, and especially John Cena's character makes Raw must-see next week. The best Raw of the fall, in my opinion.
A
. I dont think they are setting up a WM match between the two. I just think they are using Henry to try to help DB get over with the crowd. 
