Official Raw/Smackdown Aftermath, Ratings and Review Thread

[Dagger Dias]

Welcome to Dagger's Approval Rating. I will write these as I watch Raw, Smackdown, Impact, etc and start with a neutral rating. Any segment or match gets a LIKE or a DISLIKE. Then in the end I score the show in either a positive or negative number depending on how much I liked about it. Full of random thoughts by yours truly along the way.

So this is my first Raw review in my new approval rating format. Can't wait to see the Punk/Ziggler match and who was behind the cryptic videos.

So we start off with a video package instead of a promo or a match? Different. Cena's out after the video highlights of Kane's promo with Cena last week. That Twitter graphic in the botton left corner is annoying. I will never EVER use Twitter. Cena talks about changes coming for him this year. Cue more heel turn threads.... He does a good promo about how he loves the fans. Here comes Kane with his awesome oldschool music and new mask. Great start for the show.

LIKE.

Bryan is out now. I like that he is our World Heavyweight Champion. He wil have a match against Big Show on Smackdown, but now he's facing.... Cody Rhodes! This should be good. Cody is apparently facing Booker again on Smackdown. Cody and Bryan is a feud I would not mind seeing in the future. What? A dog named Asparagus? Bryan wins and Cole mocks him again....

LIKE.

A recap of Truth attacking Miz. I do not think Truth will be winning this feud or too many others. Laurinaitis texts as Miz walks in. I bet Laurinaitis was texting Brodus telling him sorry maybe next week. Miz's Awesome shirt is pretty cool even though I dislike the guy. Miz storms out and Truth.... quacks....? This segment was kind of dumb.

DISLIKE.

A Royal Rumble commercial. I like when they highlight old footage. Brings back memories. They mention the Punk/Ziggler match. Why wasn't that first? Oh well. Hey look here comes Barrett. Recap of the confrontation with Orton from friday. Barrett brags about what he did to Orton in his promo. He claims we will win the Rumble but gets interrupted by Santino!? What does he want? Good Grief. Why do they bring up how he was second place in the Rumble last year, that was such a joke. A match starts. I don't CARE what's trending on Twitter!!!! Barrett wins. Not much of a match and Santino ruined the segment.

DISLIKE.

Miz with the Bella Twins.... Automatic dislike unless someone else shows up. Truth does a cartoon style SHHHH at the camera. Nope that wasn't enough to save that stupid segment.

DISLIKE.

They plug a 2011 PPV collection DVD that I won't be buying. Here comes my puppy's namesake, Sheamus! He will be facing The Miz. Wow, Cole is surprisingly not going into full Miz fanboy mode for once. That's a miracle. Truth interrupts the match with a promo from within the crowd. Little Jimmy is invisible? Truth sure is weird. At least he is not rapping WHAT'S UP anymore. The water bottle of doom to Miz! Nearly a dislike for involving that kid so randomly like that but Miz getting attaked is usually an automatic like for me.

LIKE.

Another recap of last week to show how Ziggler earned his title shot this week. Matthews has an interview with Ziggler who was standing on his head. He brags about his skills. Decent interview.

LIKE.

Ryder backstage with Eve. Awful joke by Ryder about sending Swagger to the ER.... They get put into a tag team match by Laurinaitis... Might be fast forwarding that one. It doesm't sound like anything more than filler.

DISLIKE.

WWE Championship match time! Punk is out first. There comes Ziggler. He really needs to ditch Vickie. Dolph's skills can speak for themselves at this point. Ugh they brought back that annoying Twitter graphic again. This match should have been the opening of the show. It would have been a great way to set the pace for the rest of the year. So far so good. These guys should do a lengthy feud together. LOTS of two counts. Laurinaitis is out to ruin things. I miss having Trips in the authority role. Ziggler won by countout. Zigger's in the crowd with the WWE Championship! Wait a minute. Something doesn't feel right. What a match though.

LIKE.

Bella Twins come out to face Kelly and Eve while I go to the kitchen to grab some chocolate to snack on and a bottle of water. The match gets fast forwarded and was an automatic dislike.

DISLIKE.

Punk runs in on Laurinaitis and Otunga. Punk VS Ziggler at the Rumble? I'll take it! Punk is MAD. Otunga could have said more but I liked this segment. Honestly it was probably because it followed a pointless divas match. It's hard to not like the next segment after one of those. I wonder who the cryptic videos will be for.

LIKE.

Cryptic video time! WHO IS IT!?!? Lights are off. Jericho!!!! Cool jacket. So do we get a promo or what? He's just walking around in the ring. Oh come on! Jericho is awesome and all but this is a waste of time. I DON'T CARE WHAT'S TRENDING!!!! Seriously, they could have done two matches by now. No promo at all? No return match? Wow. Way to mess with the fans. Is he back for good? Hope so. This could have been done far better because it completely wasted several minutes.

DISLIKE.

Back to Raw and Big Show is out first. Oh this is for that big tag team match I wasn't that interested in. Ryder is out next. I'd rather see him in a singles match than something like this. Cena is out after that. Now we have their opponents. Mark Henry comes out and I fight the urge to hit fast forward. Swagger follows. Better than Henry but not enough to make me interested in this match. It just seems put together at the last moment. Had Jericho not wasted so much time these could have been three singles matches. Kane's turn.... He didn't come out? Otunga comes instead with a memo. No Kane? Ok I am even less interested. Fast forward. Big Show hit Henry with a chair! That's more like it. Not fast forwarding anymore. Cena and Ryder win the match. Kane's in the ring! He attacks Cena and Ryder. Kane tried to drag Ryder under the ring. Wait, isn't the area under the ring Hornswoggle's house? Cena saves Ryder before pyro goes off from the hole. Kane set fire to Hornswoggle's house! This started off boring but got really good.

LIKE.

So for the overall rating....We started with a neutral rating. Each match and segment are worth one point. Likes are positive and dislikes are negative.

This edition of Raw gets a +3. Dagger Approves!

Another of these will be coming again next week, I will try to do Smackdown and Impact too.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

WWE Friday Night SmackDown! - January 6, 2012

1. Cody Rhodes vs. Booker T for the WWE Intercontinental Championship - Very nice work from both men here. I thought they put on a very good back & forth match that delivered exactly what was needed. They set a nice pace, the match told a good story and the match ended exactly as it should have. Booker looked a little rusty as he a bit out of position when Cody went for the moonsault off the top rope and he looked a little gassed by the ending of the match, but he held it together nicely. Cody Rhodes showed great resilience after taking Booker T's Ax Kick for a believable near fall as it was the move Booker used to beat him on Raw a few weeks back. The ending comes about the 12 minute mark as Cody hits the Beautiful Disaster kick for the clean pinfall. ***1/4

Cody Rhodes & Dustin Rhodes - Coming back from commercial, Cody Rhodes is walking backstage with the IC title draped over one shoulder and a towel over the other. Dustin steps up and congragulates Cody on his win but Cody quickly shoots him down. Cody Rhodes has come such a long way overall, especially on the mic and he delivered a great heel promo to his brother, even going so far as to say that he was close to even surpassing their father. This could be an interesting and personal feud that could be fun as long as they don't take the title off Cody and put it on Dustin. Thumbs Up

2. Hornswoggle vs. Heath Slater in an Over the Top Rope Challenge - Pretty much a waste of time here, but they kept it short at only about 90 seconds. As expected, Hornswoggle got the win over Slater. Slater beats him down for a bit before Justin Gabriel makes the save. N/A

3. Ted DiBiase vs. Hunico - Solid match between DiBiase & Hunico. DiBiase has been getting some decent pops for a while now and continues to show a little personality. While this match was on the short side at just a little over 3 minutes, they packed a ton of action into the time they were given. Hunico gets the clean win after locking in this weird, but very cool looking submission/pinning combination move. These two could have an outright great match against one another I believe if given the right amount of time. **

Wade Barrett, Sheamus & Jinder Mahal - Good segment overall that did a nice job of putting Barrett over as a legit heel presence and a threat to just about everybody on the SD! roster. Sheamus is hugely over and I like the guy, but I'm not really into all the family stories he talks about in his promos. It makes him come off as a little too laid back in my view. Mahal comes out and smacks Sheamus before they get into it. Barrett joins in and Sheamus does a good job of holding the both of them off for a while until Barrett eventually catches him in the Winds of Change/Boss Man Slam. He walks out and leaves Mahal to lock Sheamus into the Camel Clutch. I'm not really sure what WWE was looking to accomplish with Mahal out there as he's been dominated by Sheamus for weeks. Maybe last night was sort of a turning point for Mahal. Thumbs In The Middle

4. Santino Marella vs. Drew McIntyre - This match was set up earlier in a backstage segment by Teddy Long. If Santino wins, he's Teddy's new assistant. If Drew wins, he has a more secure foothold. The match was actually ok while it lasted, there wasn't as much comedy in it as I expected. McIntyre looks very crisp inside the ring and this match further pushed along the current storyline they're going with him. The ending comes when Santino sort of slips off of the top turnbuckle as Drew is going for a superplex & is momentarily distracted by the ref. Santino's momentum pulls Drew downward and he smacks into the ring post. Santino rolls back into the ring and hits Drew with The Cobra while he's down at the 2.5 minute mark. *

5. Air Boom vs. Epico & Primo - Fun, fast paced tag team match between two teams that have good chemistry. Epico & Primo are both tight inside the ring and Bourne definitely looks like he hasn't missed a step during his suspension. Lots of fast paced action in this one with Epico & Primo ultimately getting the win. Bourne is going for Air Bourne but Epico pulls Primo out of the way, causing Bourne to go splat. Primo then makes the cover for the clean win. **1/2

Big Show & Daniel Bryan - Matt Striker is interviewing Big Show backstage. Show explains that he's feeling extremely confident about his chances of winning the WHC. He says that he isn't taking Bryan lightly but it seems somewhat obvious that he is. Bryan interrupts Show and touts himself as a good wrestler who'll one day be a great wrestler. Bryan explains that he's had to work hard to get where he is and that he's not a genetic freak like Show. He goes on to say that if he had Show's size & his ability in the ring, there'd be no such thing as a 9 year drought or the shortest title reign in history. Bryan shows a lot of confidence here and gets under Show's skin again. Show threatens Bryan and Bryan returned the threat. Nice dynamic between these two with good work from both on the mic and in terms of facial expressions. Thumbs Up

6. Tamina vs. Natalya - Standard 2 minute Diva match. Nothing really to talk about except for Tamina delivering the Superfly splash to Natalya and getting the win. 1/4*

7. Daniel Bryan vs. The Big Show for the World Heavyweight Championship - Bryan & Show delivered a very entertaining match, one that was much better than I thought it would be. I was worried that they'd basically have a 2 minute match where Bryan was completely dominated before some sort of DQ took place. Fortunately, they didn't go that route. Bryan & Show put on a competitive match that told a good story. Bryan got in a lot of offense on Show and took him off his feet a surprising number of times during the match. Mark Henry was on guest commentary during the match and I thought he did a phenomenal job. I imagine that the IWC in general let out a cheer when Henry told Cole to keep his mouth shut if he didn't have anything intelligent to add to the conversation. Henry talked some trash on both Show & Bryan but also put both of them over for their toughness. At one point, Show goes for a chokeslam but Bryan counters the attempt and locks Show into a Guillotine Choke. Show's face is beet red by this time and is sweating profusely, all of which just helps him to sell the effects of the move. As Show started to slip out, Bryan spun around and countered, taking Show to the match and putting him in the LaBell Lock. Bryan doesn't have it 100% locked in but it still looks cool. Show screams, selling the move and teases that he's going to tap several times before he manages to power out of the move. Show locks & loads the WMD but Bryan takes a powder to the outside. He confronts Henry outside and Henry pushes him to the ground, giving Bryan the win via DQ a little past the 10 minute mark. Bryan, who is bleeding from the mouth, grabs the title and celebrates with it while Henry & Show stare at each other, talking some trash. ***1/4

Final Thoughts - SmackDown! was a very entertaining show overall last night. Aside from the Over the Top Rope challenge & Diva match, everything on the show had a purpose. There was some really nice promo work from Cody Rhodes, Wade Barrett, Big Show & Daniel Bryan lat night, especially for Cody Rhodes. There were also several really enjoyable matches on the show. Cody Rhodes vs. Booker T for the IC title was exactly the sort of match I was expecting & hoping for. Hunico & Ted DiBiase delivered a fun match that makes me want to see what they can do against each other with some real time. Air Boom vs. Epico & Primo was another fun, highly energetic match between these two teams. The WHC match went off much better than I was anticipating. Bryan gave Show a very competitive match and showed that he can hold his own & deliver an entertaining bout against the much bigger wrestler. The main event did a good job of telling the story. Some will probably hate the ending but it makes sense. Neither Bryan or Show looked bad and it sets up what I'm guessing will be a triple threat match at the Royal Rumble.

Grade: B+

 

[Richard Blonoff]

Tonights Raw is pretty good so far. Santino hit The Cobra. Brodus had a wacky gimmick that is pretty good after the initial shock settles. Swagger and Punk had a good match. Johnny Ace played well to set up a potential turn or screwjob at Rumble. Ricardo is getting some screen time(I have always liked him) and is coming off solid. Truth is being batshit crazy. Good so far

Also Cole has really toned it down tonight. He is still that dickish heel but it isn't over the top. I like this Cole.

 

[Jessie Lynn DivaGirl]

I'll cut right to what's been bugging me:

Was anyone else getting really pissed at Eve for being a bitch and listening to Ryder when he told her to stay in the car? I know it's all plotted but, hell, I LIKE Zack. What the hell was with that?

Also, could Ricardo be leaving Alberto when he gets back? Maybe stick around for a few weeks until Alberto and his sensetive spot get better than have Alberto go batshit pisssed and turn Ricardo face? They're leading to it.

Oi Ziggles! Dye your hair back! Bleach-blonde isn't that bad, brown is excellent but PLATINUM? Really? EW. And put your butt down you sissy!

Shhwagger ihhs shhtill too shhtupid for words. Well, for me anyway. He needs to leave. Or get beat by Zack. Either works for me.

Brodus Clay: BEST DEBUT EVER. Oh come on, you have to admit that was funny. Nothing is funnier than watching a large, tattooed fat guy do in-ring commentary and dance before and after the match. Funny as hell.

Kane: The worst person to meet...anywhere. Unless it's Glenn Jacobs, then you're fine. His alter ego however...

And Edge is joined by the Four Horsemen for Hall of Fame! Honestly didn't expect that. Next week Randy Savage NEEDS to go in. Then maybe... Vince.

 

[Tyler44]

I've already seemed to lose interest in Jericho already. He's been made as incredibly over-rated ever since his last heel character which was one of the most stalest characters in WWE.

I don't understand the love for what he's doing right now. It's a different approach, it leaves you wanting him to talk because he is a great promo worker, but you know if he does this for one more week you'll lose interest in him and get sick of it (probably what WWE intends...he'll get boos and become heel. It's a risky experiment). You'd just be afraid to admit it because online Jericho is a God.

 

[itssoeasy123]

RAW tonight was highly enjoyable and entertaining. Brodus Clay's new gimmick was hilarious, and I feel sorry for the people who don't like it. You know, it's ok to laugh sometimes. Jericho's "trolling" on the other hand is weird and I'm beginning to think about what the hell this is going to do? I think next week he probably comes out angry.

The whole Kane/Cena/Ryder storyline looked like it was straight out of a horror movie, and I loved every minute of it.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Gonna have to keep it short this week.

Raw was an interesting show this week. The wrestling content overall was pretty weak except for Punk & Swagger, who delivered a very good back and forth match. I was disappointed by Bryan vs. Kofi in that it only lasted about 2 minutes but, at the same time, it was good to see Bryan as World Champion get a dominant win over a guy that's had a good deal of success in WWE.

I'm enjoying the feud between Kane & John Cena. I thought Kane delivered a very good promo tonight and the brawl segments with Cena were nicely done. I wasn't all that thrilled with how Zack Ryder was booked. I've got no problem with Ryder being intimidated by Kane, Ryder's character isn't a badass and Kane is a Sith Lord's wet dream, but having Kane dominate him and lay him out when he has a United States Championship match next week on Raw against Jack Swagger just didn't make me overly anxious to see the match.

Edge & The Four Horsemen going into the WWE HOF this year is brilliant. They're all deserving and I'm wondering how this is going to work out with Ric Flair being in TNA. Can Flair appear on the HOF broadcast, I wonder? One would think there'd be something in his TNA contract prohibiting him from doing so.

Brodus Clay's debut was definitely memorable. It's going to have people talking & debating or outright pissing & moaning for a good week. I'm still not ultimately sure where I stand on the whole thing but I will say that WWE did something very unexpected by not bringing out Clay as a one dimensional monster. Clay got himself a pretty good reaction from the live crowd and displayed some personality. He showed he can be more than just another big heel with anger & dominance issues.

Jericho did the same thing tonight, mostly, as he did last week. I'm intrigued by where they're going with this and it does build anticipation for when Jericho does actually speak. At the same time though, I don't think they're going to be able to pull this off for much longer.

Overall, a pretty solid Raw with some buzz worthy moments. I give it a B-.

 

[ThinkinSmart]

Any one else think the ref fudged the ending of the Punk match? It seemed like it was poorly timed and as soon as he won Punk got up and was screaming at the ref about something. I don't think thats how the match was supposed to end.

 

[vincent_kennedy_mcmahon]

Any one else think the ref fudged the ending of the Punk match? It seemed like it was poorly timed and as soon as he won Punk got up and was screaming at the ref about something. I don't think thats how the match was supposed to end.

I was thinking the same exact thing. I think he said "what the f***" and after the ref rose his arm again: "what the f*** was that, man" or something along the lines.
The elbow drop isn't Punks finisher... even though I love his execution of the move, and it certainly is in his standard arsenal... so probably Swagger would have recoverd only to stumble into the GTS ...which is as often pointed out a rather weak lookin finisher, espacially against bigger opponents... so even though Punk clearly didn't like the threecount as it happend, I can live with it quite comfortable.

Edit: On second thought, if maybe the match would have had a totally different ending. Idk maybe interference by Vicky or more probable Laurinitis (why would the otherwise made severall comments about him beeing there), to screw Punk over again. Then the ref would have botched heavily, in some way even storyaltering.

Edit2: After watching on... which one should always before posting... they mentioned it on air. So now I really don't know what to think of it anymore. It hasn't had any consequences... has it... Man I just should watch on and maybe return to this topic later.

 

[JaylisJayP]

RAW is really losing me. I went through my DVR'd show in maybe 15 minutes tonight. There is just no thought going into any writing or any character development. They are on total cruise control with this garbage because they know they're going to get the buyrates for Wrestlemania out of Cena/Rock no matter what.

Zach Ryder's character is insanely annoying now, and even worse with Eve. Brodus Clay...what can you say about that? I won't even try.

Jericho? I'll probably just start fast-fowarding through all his segments unless somebody tells me he talked. Otherwise, waste of time. And given the track record of WWE throughout the last year, I actually doubt there's any real angle or story behind it, or at least much like his debut, there's not anything that's going to live up to any hype.

My final word on Jericho and RAW is that people who want instant gratification on storylines these days probably remember that WWE hasn't followed a single storyline through to it's conclusion, and in ridiculous fashion throughout 2011 dropped probably 3-4 MAJOR storylines without any explanation or conclusion. So to think they're going to miraculously carry this Jericho thing into anything other than another disappointment is, I would say, being somewhat naive at this point.

WWE stories without instant gratification = Dropped angle with no resolution.

 

[nwh]

Disaster. Again. Actually three things were done well tonight. The HOF choices were good and Cole has been dialed back into a basic color commentator for the most part which is what he should be. That's something to give WWE credit for. Cole was becoming a detriment to the company and they finally wised up to that over the past few weeks. If you missed the last several months you would never know Cole was recently insulting Kings dead mother weekly. And finally the match with Punk and Ziggler was great but the end definitely seemed botched. That didn't bother me much. They might even get another week of story to spin because of the botched call. Why is the Kane/Cena storyline taking precedent over this again?

Now the bad. Everything else. Clay made me ashamed to consider myself a wrestling fan. First it's been done before and second it was done better. I think this proves the WWE is really doesn't have any long term plans for anything (except Rock vs Cena and even with that I doubt they know what they're going to do...just that the match will happen). Clay was packaged as an unstoppable monster in his original promos. Then WWE figured out that they had one too many monster heels and delayed his return until they could figure out a new way to package him. What they chose tells me WWE creative is bankrupt of ideas.

Again with the Jericho garbage. First off it was buried in the middle of hour 2. Why? Doesn't really build excitement even if you did care about what he was going to do this week when you put him in that time slot. Then he does the same thing as last week except he throws crying into the mix. Okay and how is this hooking people in? Casual fans are not intrigued. Casual fans are changing the channel just like last week.

The Kane/Cena/Ryder angle is so very cheesy. Bad idea to keep Kane talking and especially to open the show with him talking. He has been saying the same thing since he returned and it still doesn't make any god damn sense. Then him stalking Ryder was the same looney tunes crap they did last week with R-Truth but it fit in with his wacko character. Kane isn't wacko but psycho. Or at least he should be. "Vanishing" after throwing Cena into a pile of boxes? Lame. Throwing Ryder off the ledge into an obvious softmat? Lame. Putting his glove over Cena's mouth again (is this seriously going to be his new "signature" move?)? Lame. The whole car subplot with Ryder and Eve? Lame.

Then for the mostly pointless. Sheamus and Santino match. Boring and pointless. Eve vs Phoenix...didn't happen. I don't care either way. Ricardo and Truth. It was an okay angle but it just went on for too long. Kofi vs Bryan. I guess they really are pissed with Bourne. They could have had this match with any mid-carder. I guess this was ok. The submission end was good. I'm not sure about the Big Show angle. I thought this would have and should have been done in a more subtle way but they seem to want to beat everyone over the head that Bryan is turning heel. Don't care about their match on SD. No DQ means Bryan will win with weapons and help from Henry. Laurenitis still texting? Seriously? He's been texting for months now with zero clue as to who he's contacting or what he is contacting them about. By the process of elimination it's gotta be either a McMahon or Nash.

To conclude...it was mostly awful.

 

[LSN80]

Raw Hits and Misses for 1/9/12​

Opening Segment: I'm still not a fan of Kane cutting promos if he's going back to the masked monster gimmick, but I liked what he said. His delivery was solid, and his questioning the audience as to motivation for chanting Cena sucks was well-thought out. Cena was all business as he stormed the ring, and went right after Kane. The brawl was intense and very good, and a different start to Raw then we've seen recently. Cena's serious nature and intensity needs to carry over into his promos from this point going forward while feuding with Kane.

Chris Jericho: This was somewhat overshadowed by the HOF announcements, but was well done for a second straight week. For those who are finding these segments to be boring, or wasting of time, you're missing the point. The theme I'm seeing from this if for Jericho to take viewers on an emotional roller-coaster. Most of us cheered him for 9 of 10 minutes last week before catching on what he was up to. When it seemed he was prepared to do the same again this week, he became choked up and cried openly, too emotional to talk. This was brilliant, as it took heat and turned it into sympathy, allowing this storyline to continue to grow. If you hated last week, you probably did this one as well, but I found it to be outstanding.

Hall of Fame Inductions: As like last year for HBK, Edge is entirely deserving of going in his first year eligible. I thought they might wait until next year in Toronto, but I'm not complaining. An appearance by Edge would have been a nice bonus, but the announcement was good enough. The announcement of the Four Horsemen is overdue and well-deserved. This class is shaping up quite strongly already.

Jack Swagger vs CM Punk: The problem with this match was the stipulation John Laurinitis added at the beginning. If Punk won, Vickie and Swagger are banned come the Rumble. With Laurinitis remaining out there, it would be easy to overlook the action, awaiting a screwy finish. Couple that with the fact that Swagger has no credibility because he never wins(more on this later), and a screwjob of some kind seemed evident. In this case, it was the referee messing up the count, counting Swagger's shoulders down when he clearly kicked out. The hit here is for the in-ring action, which was simply outstanding. I felt this was a better match then Ziggler/Punk last week, and was impressed with Swagger seemingly having a counter for each signature move of Punk's. Quality TV match. **3/4

Daniel Bryan vs Kofi Kingston: I don't like what they're doing with the tag champs, but this was exactly the type of win Bryan needed. Paul Heyman once said he would use Daniel Bryan as a destroyer that would make people submit within two minutes, and that's exactly what happened here. I didn't like Bryan's post-match exchange with Big Show, and I fear they'll take the title off of him on Smackdown, but this was a credibility building win for Bryan nonetheless. *

Miz, Rodriguez, and R-Truth: The crowd seems disinterested in this feud, but I really like it. Ricardo and Truth were hilarious in their exchange, and Truth's face turn hasn't changed his character, which is important for getting him over again. It feels like they're not sure where to go with this with the Rumble approaching, and it's not a money-making feud, but it's a nice undercard feud.

Overall Show: This was a nice rebound from last week. The Punk/Laurinitis feud took a new twist, and although Ziggler appears to be lost in the shuffle, he looked good against Cena. Kane/Cena/Ryder is developing well, Jericho continues to be gold, and Bryan looks strong heading into his title defense. The Hall of Fame announcements were a nice addition to the show as well. B

Raw Misses:​

Sheamus and Santino vs Jinder Mahal and Wade Barrett: I don't understand this matchup for the like of me. Barrett is on a roll, and he's barely on the radar in a three minute tag match The only thing worse would have been him eating the pin. Mahal getting pinned by the Cobra doesn't exactly excite me for the Sheamus/Mahal matched teased for Smackdown. 1/2*
Brodus Clay debuts: Let me start with the good: Brodus looked good in squashing Hawkins, as his offense was crisp and he moved far better in the ring then I remembered. And that's all. He's hyped as a destroyer, and he comes out as with a Funk gimmick, playing hommage to Johnny Ace, perhaps? Brodus won't get over this way, as this is a gimmick that would only have worked in the 80's. One of the more rediculous debuts I've seen in some time. Was that Earnest Miller's old music Brodus came out to? The video package portraying him as the "Fall of Man" was the perfect gimmick, as Raw is in desperate need of a monster heel. Instead, we get a big man who dances and gyrates during his match. Rediculous. 1/4*

Zach Ryder: I'm getting the feeling that the social experiment with Ryder is over. Instead of showcasing him in a meaningful way, he's your US Champion who is tip-toeing around the entire show out of fear. Further, he's essentially admitting he's nothing without Cena. I don't understand the logic of giving Swagger a title shot, especially since he hasn't won in as long as I can remember, but I fully expect a title change next week. Ryder seems to have peaked at winning the title, but has sustained no momentum.

 

[The Champ]

Kane suddenly not being able to talk after talking for years wouldn't make any sense. He never talked when he was masked because he had a mouthpiece in Bearer, something that he no longer has now. Also, we believed that he didn't have the ability to talk, or wasn't well spoken. Now, we're coming off years of him cutting long winded promos, most recently ones about his diabolical ten year plot to destroy The Undertaker. The mask being brought back doesn't make much sense either, but it would make even less sense if he suddenly went mute.

Honestly, I think the promos he's cut have been by far the best part of the feud, whereas the segments where he beats up Cena and Ryder often have me yawning. You could blame that on incompetent booking I guess, but it's just coming off as repetitive and stupid at this point. Not to mention that it was entirely predictable once Cena's match started with Ryder still in the parking lot.

 

[JWGunslinger]

For the second week in a row I have been left completely satisfied with Raw, and I must say that I'm loving it. The only weak point of the show was the tag match featuring Sheamus & Santino vs Jinder Mahal vs Wade Barrett, it was a decent match but it took two superstars that are hot as hell and paired each with a superstar that doesn't have much at all.

Aside from that I absolutely loved Jericho's bit and thought it was brilliant, I wasn't sure if he'd be able to pull off another week of not talking but to his credit the crying bit worked perfectly and got him some more awesome reaction, the man is incredible.

Everything with Kane is excellent, I've always been a fan but for the first time in a while I am really loving his promos and I think they're running the show, if you asked me if he could be in the hottest feud with John Cena on Raw a few months ago I would have called you crazy but he's doing just that. I also really enjoyed them throwing in Ryder and Eve, it gave it a real Matt Hardy & Lita vs Kane feel to it, excellent stuff.

Brodus Clay, at first I was face palming but halfway through his match with Hawkins(aint seen him in a while) I realized it was perfect. There are more than enough monster heels right now, having him debut as such would have been too repetative and they avoided that by giving him a surprising but awesome role. He really seemed comfortable out there hailing from Planet Funk, it was surprising, it was entertaining(loved his comments during the match) and I loved it, waiting for his debut was worth it.
Anything with Punk is gold and he continues to deliver with the help of Jack Swagger and Co(Ziggler), anyone who follows my posts knows I'm high on Ziggler + Punk so anything with them I consider an instant classic, can't wait for their match at the Rumble.

I'm really not into Daniel Bryan, I used to enjoy him but god is he stinking up the WHC scene which I was really into a few weeks ago when Mark Henry was running shit on the blue brand, I'm hoping he drops the title soon but I dont see it. The most realistic thing I can hope for is a heel turn(called by Notorious) and I think it's his last hope to make his reign interesting.

Finally the HOF announcements, I am very very happy with both. The Four Horsemen are long overdue for their spot amongst the immortals and Edge may be young but the man is more than deserving of the induction, the guy is my favorite World Heavyweight Champion so I'm obviously happy.

Like I said, overall I think Raw has really been delivering as of late and I loved it, hope they keep it up.

 

[SmarkySmark84]

I'm a little upset that CM Punk, the WWE CHAMPION, got exactly ZERO mic time this week. I fear that WWE is going to do to Punk what "X-Men: Wolverine" did to Deadpool... he's the MERC with the MOUTH, damnit! Let him speak and be awesome!

Other than that, in general, RAW gave me this feeling that I haven't had since 2001. I'm not saying it was great, but it had that je n'est ce qua that the WWE product has been missing for a LONG time. It was weird, it was funny, it was entertaining, and Punk won(?) a match with Randy Savage's elbow drop. Oh, and FUNKASAURAS!

Take care, change that spare! Woo woo woo, you KNOW it!

 

[XXJJ]

I thought Raw was okay. A couple of thoughts from Raw..

-Kane promo was really good. I wasn't a fan of him speaking this quickly at first, but I changed my mind. His promos have been solid and are building the feud with him and Cena.

-Jericho- Again he is trying to turn heel by pissing off the crowd. I think it will work. If he comes out next week and does the same no talking schtick.. people will just be so tired and sick of him.

-Kane stalking Ryder was fine. I know some fans are complaining that its not "realistic". But its the "entertainment" part of the WWE. The one thing I will say is Eve is horrible. I dont want to see her and Ryder doing segments again. I understand why the WWE doesn't use their current divas much in storylines... they are garbage.

-Brodus Clay debut was shocking. Not how I had envisioned it. I'll give them credit for doing something a little different. It's kind of risky because if it doesn't work out it could really hurt his credibility going forward.

-Punk vs Swagger was a solid match. the ending was a little odd.

-Daniel Bryan vs Kofi Kingston- The thing that stood out to me... the fans were more into Kofi than DB. Not good if a mid carder is more over than your World champ. DB needs to turn heel to save him from having a horrible title reign.

-Sheamus/Santino vs Wade Barrett & Jinder Mahal- Horrible booking. How am a suppose to take Jinder seriously as Sheamus oppponent on SD? He just lost to the cobra. This is when the supershow concept hurts. Their was no need for this match. All it did was make Jinder look bad.

 

[SmarkySmark84]

-Daniel Bryan vs Kofi Kingston- The thing that stood out to me... the fans were more into Kofi than DB. Not good if a mid carder is more over than your World champ. DB needs to turn heel to save him from having a horrible title reign.

I think they started turning Daniel-san heel on Smackdown, but the beauty of it is that Daniel Bryan doesn't know he's the bad guy, or that he's becoming one. It's a pretty awesome strategy and I'm looking forward to see how it pans out. His match with Kofi was great for what it was; the World Champion squashed a mid-carder (like he should be doing) but even though it was a diva-length match the spots were still really cool. I especially liked Bryan's throwback to his RoH days with the handshake at the beginning.

 

[TheMaskedEcecutioner#58]

Is it just me or was the crowd at Chorpus Christi for Monday Night RAW completely horrible? Granted there was not a whole lot to be excited about but come on. There were a couple matches and segments to get excited about. I hope WWE never goes back there again because a hot crowd can make an average show better by how it comes across on TV.

 

[It's Damn True]

Ziggler plays well to the show-off gimmick when he is doing hand stands and other things out there, while executing ground moves. Very impressive.

 

[TWJC: The Beginning]

pretty good show. Furthered stories, had a mix of comedy, horror, action, etc. Pretty much everything your weekly TV show should be.

 

[TWJC: The Beginning]

RAW is really losing me. I went through my DVR'd show in maybe 15 minutes tonight. There is just no thought going into any writing or any character development. They are on total cruise control with this garbage because they know they're going to get the buyrates for Wrestlemania out of Cena/Rock no matter what.

Zach Ryder's character is insanely annoying now, and even worse with Eve. Brodus Clay...what can you say about that? I won't even try.

Jericho? I'll probably just start fast-fowarding through all his segments unless somebody tells me he talked. Otherwise, waste of time. And given the track record of WWE throughout the last year, I actually doubt there's any real angle or story behind it, or at least much like his debut, there's not anything that's going to live up to any hype.

My final word on Jericho and RAW is that people who want instant gratification on storylines these days probably remember that WWE hasn't followed a single storyline through to it's conclusion, and in ridiculous fashion throughout 2011 dropped probably 3-4 MAJOR storylines without any explanation or conclusion. So to think they're going to miraculously carry this Jericho thing into anything other than another disappointment is, I would say, being somewhat naive at this point.

WWE stories without instant gratification = Dropped angle with no resolution.

WAH WAH WAH WAH it's not exactly what I want, it wasn't 100% serious all the time WAH WAH WAH. Jesus fuckin christ. this is the reason I stop posting on here for weeks at a time. First off, they don't usually just drop stories, it's that stories DON'T END. So they can't have some sort of movie ending, there has to be continuation.

Second, there was a TON of character development. Let's see, Kane continuing to attack Ryder and get more demonic. Cena still standing up to Kane but getting hurt at the end. DB dominating a match and more hints at heelishness. Miz getting the upper hand on Truth and getting more despirate. Brodus Clay's whole thing. Jericho adding to his character.

Why do people not see this as every other TV show? Did Bones have Bones and the dude get together on the first episode? No. On TV shows, things have to be relatively the same week to week or you lose your audience because not everyone watches every week.

From the 3-5 threads I've read so far, the stupidity from "is the WWE burying Ryder" to "Vince playing dirty honoring the Horsemen" to most shit on this thread that makes no sense and sounds like a bunch of bitching that your individual interests weren't pleased despite the show making a good amount of business and artistic sense....just holy shit. I understand not liking a show, I was unsure about the Brodus Clay stuff, but what makes a guy more memorable? "Grrr I'm a badass just like everyone else who's big with tatoos" or the funkasaurus? I know which I'll remember more. If you can't have fun watching wrestling, get out. It's huge muscular men in skimpy outfits pretending to fight each other, if you think it should be 100% serious, there is something wrong with you psychologically.

 

[SD619]

RAW Thoughts:


Kane’s promo was quite good and he continues to show how underrated he is on the mic. The brawl between Kane –Cena needed to happen and it furthered their storyline.

Sheamus/Santino vs Barrett/Mahal: A bit of a pointless match here. The main problem with this match was the lack of interaction between Sheamus and Barrett. And Cole needs to get his facts right, Mahal has not stared in any Bollywood movie.

The Miz-Laurinitis segment was quite funny especially his line “I’m not a little Jimy, I’m a big Johhny”.

Edge getting in the 2012 HoF was a pleasant surprise. WWE did a great job with the video package as usual. THEY SHOWED HOGAN IN THAT VIDEO. The Four Horseman announcement was quite welcome.

Zack Ryder asking Eve for a date was . Its not that either of them is involved in any story.

Kofi vs Bryan: Nice match but should have lasted longer. The ending where Bryan converted the crossbody into a LeBell lock was quite impressive. The promo by Bryan did seem a bit cocky and heel-like and it would be interesting to see if Bryan can win in a No-DQ match against Show.

Brodus Clay’s return was . The match was nothing but a squash.

Punk vs Swagger: An decent match. Swagger showed that he can put on a good match if given some time and a good opponent. The referee botch was probably planned as a part of story of JL being the guest referee.

R-Truth was hilarious as usual. Thankfully, he is sticking to his ‘Little Jimmy’ shtick and not rapping and singing ‘Whatsup’. Ricardo playing the coward was nice and his singing and dancing, though weird, was funny. REMIX BABY.

Chris Jericho continued to play the crowd. I am really looking forward to what this ‘Silent treatment’ will lead to.

Cena vs Ziggler: Once more on this episode, the match was more about the storyline than the match. Kane attacking Cena and Ryder and standing beside them as RAW ended was a really nice way of ending RAW.

Overall Rating: B

 

[Yesiamaduck]

This Raw was FUN

Yes. FUN. And I like the general direction the last few Raws have shown though I have to admit this is the first to actually deliver it well, I don't know I just find something more entertaining about watching Characters in fictitious fights as opposed to seeing 2 athletes competing in fictitious fights. Brodus Clay is already over, which is a good thing because he oozes charisma!

On the serious side of things, Ziggler really delivered one of the best promos on Raw I've heard in a decade at the start of the show, Jericho's antics continue to intrigue me and the was good wrestling. Great Daniel Bryan character development during the match & all in all I just felt like the show had a list of clear objective and achieved them.... I think R-Truths character hit the sweet spot for face truth tonight unlike last week which was plain irritating. 8/10

 

[sjdigitall]

Very very good RAW. Biggest thing to note was Ziggler's promo at the beginning. It was his best mic work ever. Brodus Clay was good as well. What i really liked was the interaction between R-Truth and Wade Barret. Two completely contrasting characters, it was really fun because Wade is so serious and Truth is just crazy as shit lol. Mick Foley, CM Punk and Laurinitis reaching melting point at the end was great. And Jericho's antics have me intrigued as to where this will go. All in all a very well paced RAW.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

WWE Raw Supershow - January 16, 2012

Opening Segment - Great promo segment to start things off with. Foley popping up was a nice surprise and, as usual, delivered well on the mic. His announcement for participating in the Royal Rumble wasn't shocking, but I like that he got to the point quickly. He didn't try to be funny or anything, didn't pander that much and got a nice response. Ziggler came out with Vickie to massive heat, due in part to Vickie being on the mic. Ziggler got on the mic inside the ring and did extremely well in my view. He came across as an arrogant young guy telling the veteran that he's over the hill and did it in an entertaining way that garnered tons of heat from the Anaheim crowd. I also like that Foley didn't try to talk over him, didn't interrupt him or didn't do anything to try and upstage Ziggler. CM Punk's music hits and he comes out to a big pop. Punk starts insulting Ziggler while putting over how cool it'd be to face Foley, before turning his attention to Big Johnny. Johnny Ace comes out shortly thereafter to massive heat and does his thing. He also denies Foley's request to be part of the Rumble, which drew even more heat. I have little doubt that Foley will ultimately wind up in the Rumble match. The segment accomplished a lot by pushing along the Punk/JL situation, interest in seeing Foley possibly be in the RR match and Ziggler delivering some very good work on the mic while building heat towards his match with CM Punk at RR. Thumbs Up

1. Epico & Primo vs. Air Boom for the WWE Tag Team Championship - This was a return match from this past weekend where Air Boom dropped the titles at a house show. The match was shorter than I was hoping for, but it was extremely fast paced with a lot of fun action crammed into the time they were given. All four of the wrestlers looked very crisp and fluid during the match. Kofi winds up hitting Trouble in Paradise and I thought we were looking at a very short title run from Epico & Primo right there. Bourne is tagged in and is going for Air Bourne when Primo pulls Kofi outside the ring and slams him into the ring post. Bourne takes his eyes off Epico for a few moments and Epico takes advantage to knock him off top, then hits him with the Backstabber for the win. I'm disappointed that this match wasn't longer, but they made the most of the time they had and put on a fun, fast paced match. **

2. Zack Ryder vs. Jack Swagger for the WWE United States Championship - Prior to this match, they'd showed a video package of what Kane's done the past few weeks, especially to Ryder, and they briefly interviewed Ryder backstage with Eve. Ryder was selling his injuries well and refused to forfeit the match. The match itself wasn't anything special, it was mostly a glorified squash that I didn't care for at first. There was some good storytelling going on and Lawler & Cole helped to put things over by keeping emphasis on Ryder's injuries. Swagger hits several high impact moves on Ryder, which he kicks out of, including two gutwrench powerbombs. Swagger hits a third one and picks up the win, becoming the new United States Champion. There wasn't really enough offense from Ryder to make this much of a match but, as I said, the overall match coupled with the interview & vid package helped to tell a nice story and protect Ryder because he's "injured". N/A

Ryder Backstage - After coming back from commercial, Ryder is backstage with Eve being checked over and he's still selling his injuries. Johnny Ace pops up out of nowhere and has notes from medical personell saying that Ryder isn't medically cleared. He says "my bad" while "showing concern" and is about to leave it at that before Eve gets in his face but JL tells her to shut her mouth, which got a response from the crowd. This seems to confirm that they're using the injury angle to protect Ryder and it's nice to see Eve showing concern for Ryder. She's being supportive and not treating him like some tool that she's just not crazy about being around. Thumbs Up

3. Kelly Kelly & Alica Fox vs. The Bella Twins - I have no idea what happened here and I don't care because I have a feeling it's not really worth knowing. It was a piss break and the match was over by the time I got back. I assume that Perez Hilton interfered or something. N/A

R-Truth & Wade Barrett - I enjoyed this segment overall. Truth was legitimately funny throughout and I thought it made a nice contrast with the seriousness of Barrett. Truth's pictures with Disney characters was cute and the one with Pinnochio & his "I don't think that's even PG" joke had me laughing my ass off. I've not heard a good "PG" joke in a while and I just liked this one. Miz comes out & jumps Truth from behind and Barrett joins in for a bit before Sheamus' music hits. Sheamus comes out to a huge pop & helps R-Truth clean house before Teddy Long's music hits. He decides to make an over the top rope challenge match with all the men gathered. Overall, an entertaining segment in my view. Thumbs Up

4. Sheamus vs. R-Truth vs. The Miz vs. Wade Barrett in an Over the Top Rope Challenge - An ok match that I thought did a fairly decent job of giving a little taste of the potential excitement. I was surprised to see Wade Barrett eliminated so early, & with Miz helping the faces do it at the same time. It became a three way thing with Sheamus getting in much of the offense. The ending comes when Sheamus tries to put Miz over the top. Miz holds on & R-Truth comes along and pushes both of them out. I was surprised to see Truth get the win here. Nothing overly great here, but it was decent. Again, not much time was given to this and that's something that hurt it in my view. Personally, I would've rather just seen a tag match or a fatal fourway. *3/4

John Cena & Johnny Ace - Cena came into JL's office calling him out on what happened with Zack Ryder. JL tries to calm him down a bit and tells him that he'll face Kane at the Royal Rumble. Cena is in a serious mind frame and is told that he'll be able to get a little revenge for his friend Ryder by facing Jack Swagger. I don't feel good about this upcoming match as I just have a feeling that Cena will just plow through Swagger and will just make the new US champ look bad. Thumbs In The Middle

John Cena & Jack Swagger - Very nice brawl segment in my view and it showed a very different side of Cena from what we're used to seeing. Cena attacked Swagger before the match started and before Swagger was really ready. Cena's facial expressions & body language did a good job of portraying his anger, as did him just kicking the snot out of Swagger. In my view, this is an example of what Cena needs to sort of revitalize him. He's gotten very stale in some ways and seeing him go nuts on a guy and just beat his ass was a very nice change. Cena picks up the ring steps and looks like he's about to do something unnatural to Swag with them before Kane's pyro goes off & music hits. Kane pops up and tells Cena that it looks like he's getting it. Cena very much embraced the hate and unleashed it all over Swagger. "Good...use you're aggressive feelings, boy. Let the hate flow through you." Yeah, it's a Star Wars reference but, hey, it fits here. Cena is embracing his "dark side" as it were. Thumbs Up

5. Brodus Clay vs. JTG - There wasn't much too this match but Clay is fun. I'm not that wild about the gimmick overall but I do have to admit that Clay is doing a good job with it. He's really throwing himself into the "Funkasaurus" character and is giving it his all. The live crowd seemed to be pretty into it. The match was mostly just Clay beating JTG down and eventually hitting the cross body for the win before more dancing took place. I'm sure the IWC smarks still hate this because Clay isn't the one dimensional monster heel they wanted. N/A

Daniel Bryan - Nice work from Bryan as he came out to some good heat from the live crowd. His heel turn isn't overt, it's not in your face and it's progressing at a steady pace. At any rate, it seems to be working as he got himself a nice response from the Anaheim fans. Bryan updated AJ's condition and did it with a nice, solemn expression while running down Big Show for his actions. Bryan accuses Big Show of being heartless and that he was crying "crocodile tears" this past Friday. Bryan does seem to be more comfortable than we've seen him. Bryan's mention of AJ saying she loved him got a lot of sarcastic "awwwws" from the crowd and Bryan said he was dedicating his match against Mark Henry to AJ. Overall, solid work from Bryan. The angle is progressing nicely and fans are embracing him as a heel. Thumbs Up

6. CM Punk, Daniel Bryan & Chris Jericho vs. Dolph Ziggler, Mark Henry & David Otunga - This was a wild match in some ways. There was some good action from Punk, Bryan & Ziggler while Henry was mostly there as a means of pushing his storyline with Bryan along. Jericho was getting a huge face response and was playing up to the crowd as he's been doing for the past few weeks. After Jericho is eventually tagged in, he runs around the ring absorbing the crowds cheers and suddenly tags in Daniel Bryan before heading to the back. As he's leaving, he's still smiling & selling his enthusiasm while the crowd is booing the piss out of him. Brilliant. Punk & Ziggler continue to work extremely well together and it showed in this match. Eventually, Henry & Bryan get into it a bit when Henry eventually attacking Bryan, who is selling a knee injury, while herding him away from the ring. Foley's music suddenly hits and he comes out to Punk's corner. He tells the ref that JL said it was ok and that he was now in this match. Punk eventually makes the tag to Foley & Foley starts beating down Otunga for a bit before pulling out Mr. Socko. Foley was hugely over here as he jammed Socko into Otunga's mouth. The ref calls for the bell, giving Punk & Foley the win. As I said, a wild match that had some unexpected turns in it. At the same time, it was overall quite entertaining. ***

Punk, JL & Mick Foley - As Punk & Foley are celebrating, JL comes out and says that he never told Foley he could particpate in this match and reverses the ref's decision as Foley was an "illegal participant", giving the match to the heels. Punk suddenly goes off and delivers a fantastic promo, maybe the best we've heard from Punk since late summer. He really cuts into JL, mentioning his medicore career in the ring and how it frustrates him to see Punk do what he could never do. Punk's delivery was heated and very much in JL's face. Punk threatens him once more if he screws him over at the Royal Rumble before leaving. Foley gets on the mic and dresses down JL a bit too before coming out and asking him if he's gonna screw Punk. Johnny Ace comes out of his shell a bit and says that he is. He then goes into a meltdown and rants & raves about how he's sick of having the wrestlers try to intimidate him each week and how he does his best to put on a great show week after week with no respect or thanks for it. He then slams the mic into Foley's head before leaving the ring and heading up the ramp to close the show. Thumbs Up

Final Thoughts - Raw was short on quality wrestling content tonight but more than made up for it with some overall fantastic promo work, great storytelling and progression of current feuds heading into the Royal Rumble. Punk was gold on the mic tonight while Ziggler & Bryan continued to show lots of improvement and overall good work on the mic. it was also nice to see Foley out there as well. I wasn't thrilled with Ryder losing the title at first but this could all work out into something that will help Ryder in the long run. He looked like a courageous champion and was, in a way, screwed over by Johnny Ace as he was wrestling without medical clearance. Cena went ape shit all over Swagger tonight and it's a very, very refreshing change to see Cena so serious minded. No smiles, no pandering to the crowd, just straight aggression. We're not used to seeing it from Cena and it goes hand in hand with his angle with Kane. The six man tag match was easily the best match of the night. There was some good action but, again, tonight was all about storytelling and the progression of angles. Chris Jericho came in to a massive pop and left to a chorus of boos. Each week whenever Jericho has left the ring without saying a word and, this time, without wrestling, he's gotten progressively more heat from the crowd. Jericho is quickly becoming one of the top heels in WWE again and he hasn't said a word. It's just damn good use of Jericho's charisma. The WHC match this Friday on SD! got some good hype & exposure while the closing promo segment had Punk delivering his best work in months. JL's meltdown was a good change for him. I thought he sold his anger and frustrations well, Punk got under his skin and he took it out on a beloved wrestling legend in Mick Foley, garnering even more heat for himself. In the end, tonight was all about giving things a big push forward and I think they did it and did it very well.

Grade: B+