WWE Raw Supershow - January 2, 2012
Opening Segment - On the surface, much of last night's opening promo from John Cena came off like your standard Cena stuff regarding the reaction of the fans, how they've earned the right to boo or cheer him and all that. We've heard Cena say it lots of times in the past and, to me, the idea of the angle came across as Cena trying to convince himself. You ever heard someone rationalize something to themselves constantly to the point where they're able to convince themselves? That's the sense I get from Cena's character at this point in the angle. Kane interrupted Cena eventually, though he didn't come out to the ringside area, and basically continued with his Sith-like proclamations to Cena. I'm not a big Star Wars guy but I really do see the similarities others have made between Kane and the whole Sith thing. They're taking their time with Cena & Kane, they're not trying to give away too much at one time and I think they've made this angle intriguing. Kane isn't the one dimensional monster that others were hoping he'd be and that's a plus in my view. Kane's character started out like that and going back to that would be a step backwards in my view. Thumbs Up
1. Daniel Bryan vs. Cody Rhodes - Pretty good match while it lasted, though it didn't last long enough for these two to really let it all out. Both got in some good offense, with Cody getting in a bit more. Bryan looked resilient as he took some of Cody's signature moves. I kept expecting outside interference in this match as both men have title matches this Friday on SmackDown!. Cody hits a couple of modified Gordbusters to Bryan before trying for another. Bryan counters and rolls Cody up into the small package for the clean pin at the 3.5 minute mark. To be honest, I'm glad for the clean win here. Rhodes is a great talent, but Bryan is the current WHC and it makes all the logical booking sense in the world for a mid-card champion to lose to the current World Champion. Bryan celebrated afterward and I'm just not hating on how they're pushing Bryan. It's believable in my view. I know the IWC wants to see every wrestler heel or face regardless of size or look booked as a badass but I'm digging Bryan's enthusiasm. He looks at and holds the WHC with sheer reverence and I think his excitement at being WHC is good for the title. After all, it's the World Heavyweight Championship and Bryan is doing a good job at putting over how much it should mean. **1/4
The Miz, John Laurinaitis & R-Truth - Decent segment that helped to push along the current Truth vs. Miz storyline. JL actually comes across as impartial regarding Miz's situation with Truth, something he's done several times actually. Truth sort of stalking Miz backstage while Miz is looking over his shoulder makes me wonder when Truth is going to get to him tonight. Nothing overly spectacular here, just a decent segment that pushed things along. Thumbs Up
Wade Barrett - I thought Barrett did a nice job during his promo last night. He seemed even more confident and generally comfortable in his character than usual. He also came off as being extremely smug as being the guy who took Randy Orton, a 9 time World Champion, out of the game and put him on the shelf for a while. Barrett put himself over well and it's good to see WWE has gotten back on track with him. Thumbs Up
2. Wade Barrett vs. Santino Marella - Santino interrupts Wade Barrett and does his thing for a minute, even calling Barrett "stupido", before the match begins. Aside from a couple of shots from Santino, Barrett dominated. Typical squash match for Barrett to put over his dominance. Barrett gets the win at the 2 minute mark after hitting Winds of Change. 1/2*[/
Sheamus, Miz & R-Truth - This was originally a match between Sheamus & Miz. Miz rushes the ring and beats Sheamus down for a bit, even tying him up in the ropes for just a bit before Sheamus breaks free. Sheamus delivered what had to be a good 15 or 20 shots to Miz's chest that looked absolutely brutal, and I'm sure they were and Miz's chest has got to be bruised and sore. Miz tries to escape and R-Truth walks out among the crowd. Truth does his Lil' Jimmy thing and Miz eventually hops back over the railing and straight into a Brogue Kick from Sheamus. Truth then smacks Miz upside the head with a water bottle. I wasn't a fan of Truth as a face back when he did his singing & dancing bit, but I do like his current character. He's a little bit crazy and can be geuniely funny & menacing when the situation calls for it. Thumbs Up
Dolph Ziggler - They next featured Josh Matthews backstage in an interview with Dolph Ziggler and I thought Ziggler did a great job here. He spoke with conviction, confidence and passion. He put himself over as a star as well as hyped the importance of being WWE Champion. The crack he made to the Tennessee audience was a little old fashioned, but it's always a good way to get heat. Dolph sounded like a star in my view when he hyped that this night would be a moment in history and that Matthews will remember where he was when Ziggler became WWE Champion. Very, very nice work from Ziggler here. Thumbs Up
3. CM Punk vs. Dolph Ziggler for the WWE Championship - Another great match between Punk & Ziggler that had both of them looking like stars. The match started out slowly with both of them sort of feeling each other out and it eventually progressed to a very nice, back & forth pace in front of a hot crowd. There were a couple of nice, believable near falls here and there, but you could tell that Punk & Ziggler were holding back a bit as this match wasn't as good as the one they had on Raw several weeks back. I thought the ending to the match was a lot of fun because it kept you guessing. Once you saw the turnbuckle pad "accidentally" ripped from the corner, the immediate thought was that someone was gonna hit the thing and it'd help someone get the win. As the match continues, JL comes down to ringside and is jawing with the referee about putting the pad back on the turnbuckle. The ref says that he's trying to call a match, but he & JL start to put the pad back on. While this is happening, Punk has the Anaconda Vice locked in and Ziggler eventually taps. Punk gets up, thinking he's won and sees JL & the ref over in the corner. Now here is where you think Ziggler comes up from behind with a roll up or something for a win, but Punk avoids the attack and Ziggler accidentally runs into JL on the apron. JL holds onto the ring ropes, selling the force of the impact while struggling to stay on his feet. Ziggler pushes Punk off of him and towards the ropes where JL's feet conveniently give out on him while he's holding onto the ropes. He "slips" on the apron while his weight pulls down the top rope just as Punk flies over it. Punk is eventually counted out, giving Ziggler his second consecutive win over Punk at the 14 minute mark. Ziggler runs around celebrating, even grabbing the title while Punk sells his anger & frustration at JL costing him another match. I thought it was a very entertaining match with an ending that had several twists and turns that did a good job of playing off several outside interference situations. ***1/2
4. Kelly Kelly & Eve Torres vs. The Bella Twins - Typical 2 minute Diva filler match with the Bellas getting the win, due partially to "twin magic", with one of the Bellas delivering the most heavily botched small package roll up I've seen in forever. N/A
CM Punk & John Laurinaitis - JL is back in his office selling some stiffness in his arm when Punk barges in. Punk is fuming at JL having almost cost him the WWE Championship. He said he could almost let last week slide, but it happened again tonight and it nearly cost him the title. JL interrupts and informs Punk that since Ziggler beat him twice, he's going to get another shot at Punk & the title at the Royal Rumble. JL is about to introduce himself as the special ref before Punk interrupts him and threatens him. Punk says that if JL screws him over, he'll be going to jail for animal cruelty because he'll beat JL like a bitch. Punk's sarcastic rebel is a lot of fun, but it's also fun to see this more angry & viscious side of Punk come out sometimes too. Punk almost lost the title last night and he should be pissed, so having him not make any sort of sarcastic insults to JL was the way to go. Thumbs Up
Chris Jericho Returns - I loved this segment. I thought Jericho's return came off great and was very memorable just because of the great reaction he got from the fans. Jericho looked refreshed, he's in great shape and he looked genuinely & extremely happy to be back. Jericho spent the entire segment slapping hands and just getting the audience pumped. He didn't get on the mic, which I'm sure bummed some people out, but I thought it was a great hook. We've known that Jericho was coming back, we know that the plan is for him to feud with CM Punk and now we wanna hear him get on the mic and proclaim his intentions. Only, we didn't get that last night. Jericho left the audience wanting more last night and I see nothing wrong with that whatsoever. He didn't blow the whole nut last night. He got people reved up and left them anticipating when he'd get on the mic and do his thing. If you're someone that's into immediate & instant gratification, which is one of the huge flaws in internet fans especially, then you probably didn't like it. Thumbs Up
5. John Cena, Zack Ryder & Big Show vs. Kane, Mark Henry & Jack Swagger - Unusual match last night. It'd been announced earlier in the evening by JL. Kane's music hit last but he didn't come out. David Otunga strolled out and informed the ref that Kane wouldn't be in the match, so it was a handicap match with Henry & Swagger being at a disadvantage. The match was decent and went pretty much as you'd expect. Henry got slugged with a chair on the outside, resulting in both he & Big Show being eliminated from the match. Swagger holds his own against Cena & Ryder for a while and I thought, for a bit, that Swagger was going to make Ryder tap to the ankle lock in a believable looking near fall spot. Ryder desperately manages to tag Cena and Cena hits the "Five Moves of Doom" for the win at the 8.5 minute mark. **
Kane - As Cena is checking on Ryder in the corner, Kane's music hits and Cena jumps out of the ring and stands at the ramp looking to intercept Kane. Kane comes up out of the ring and takes out Ryder before going outside. He wraps his hand around Cena's mouth & nose once more, suffocating him until he passes out. Kane grabs Cena by the ankle for a moment before turning to look back into the ring. Ryder has recovered and Kane climbs back in. Ryder tries to make a run for it but Kane grabs him and starts pulling him down into the hole until Cena makes the save and pulls Ryder free. A large pillar of fire bursts from the hole in the ring a bit later while Ryder & Cena look on, both selling their shock and dismay to close the show. It was unusual to see Kane go after Ryder, but I can see it as Ryder is one of Cena's closest friends. Thumbs Up
Final Thoughts - For me, the first Raw of 2012 was extremely entertaining. I thought the show featured some very nice, solid storyline progression for several feuds such as the Punk/Ziggler/Laurinaitis situation, Cena vs. Kane and Miz vs. Truth. Overall wrestling action was solid for the show with Punk vs. Ziggler being the clear standout in terms of quality. It was good to see Daniel Bryan get a clean win over Cody Rhodes, which was surprising as I expected tons of outside interference. Cody losing was logical in my view and him losing two weeks in a row on Raw gives the impression that his title reign is in jeopardy against Booker T this Friday on SD!. Wade Barrett delivered a good quality promo and looked dominant against Santino, the Diva match was the usual bit of filler and the six man tag to close the show was ok, though certainly below standards for that type of match. Chris Jericho's return was extremely well done in my view. He looks great, he looked excited to be there, the fans were ecstatic to see him and he ultimately left us wanting more. Build to the Royal Rumble is also off with the announcement of CM Punk vs. Dolph Ziggler for the WWE Championship at the event. Aside from the Diva match, everything on the show had a purpose and progressed some current programs along nicely.
Grade: B+
