WWE Raw - September 24, 2012
Opening Segment - I enjoyed the opener as it featured some great heel work from CM Punk & Paul Heyman. Both of them are really shining in their current roles, in my eyes, and both of them also put over the importance of being WWE Champion, in a heelish way of course. I like that they're using some of the real life issues with refs in the NFL as part of the storyline. It gives everything a little bit of a solid foothold in reality. I thought AJ did well in her role and she continues to do a good job of telling a story and selling situations through her facial expressions and body language. Heyman's "proposal" worked nicely as he & Punk generated heat by "picking on" AJ in a way. AJ sort of coming off as this cute, somewhat helpless girl that's being picked on is part of what got Daniel Bryan over as a heel. Thumbs Up
1. Kofi Kingston vs. Dolph Ziggler - We haven't seen these two wrestle in a while so, to me, the match felt fresh and it delivered. Jim Ross said alluded to the fact that this was a main event level match and I have to agree. Both men worked very hard and put over a great back and forth, highly athletic match. If they'd had just a little more time, this match could've possibly stolen the show at any ppv. Kofi & Ziggler have great chemistry together and everything was spot on from the timing of their moves to Ziggler's selling. There were a few very believable near falls here and there, especially when Kofi hit the SOS roll up on Ziggler. The end comes with Ziggler tossing Kofi upside down into a corner. Kofi stumbles out backward, selling the effects, and Ziggler hits the Zig Zag for the clean win at the 11 minute mark. Prior to the match, there was a confrontation between Vickie & R-Truth at ringside that ultimately saw Truth throwing his drink on Vickie. The ref sent both of them back, and Little Jimmy too, and I immediately had hopes that this would be a real match between the two that wasn't dogged by interference or shenanigans on the outside. Hot match that the crowd was into from bell to bell. ***1/2
Daniel Bryan, Kane & Dr. Shelby - They aired a series of new therapy videos featuring the three men eating at a local diner. The first one featured Bryan & Shelby sitting at a table with Shelby explaining that they were going to do a little roleplaying therapy. Soon after, Kane walks up with an apron around him and a notepad asking if he could take their order. Kane's deadpan delivery continues to just work for me and he eventually loes his patience with Bryan and explains what he'd do to Bryan but subsituting the "old cook" for Bryan. He explained that he shoved the old cook's face into the deep fryer, pulled off his beard, chopped it up and sprinkled it all over everything that he's cooked so far. I thought Kane's sarcastic "My name is Gerald", referencing the name tag he has on his apron, was funny. The second one featured Kane & Bryan sitting in a booth talking about how well they worked this past Friday on SD!. They both started making loud noises of satisfaction, such as Bryan screaming "Yes" in an elated fashion as a play off the famous diner scene from the movie "When Harry Met Sally" in which Meg Ryan is showing Billy Crystal how well she can fake an orgasm. As this is going on, Mae Young is in the diner and completes the play by saying "I'll have what they're having". It was a little dated, but still funny because both Kane & Bryan put so much into it. The third sequence had them doing another sort of role reversal by having what the other one would normally eat. A waitress puts a salad in front of Kane and a plate of spaghetti & meatballs in front of Bryan. Kane takes a bite of the salad and lets out an enormous canned burp. Bryan takes a bite of the meatball and says that it's not as bad as he thought before he starts to sell the effects of an upset stomach. He bends over in Shelby's lap and "pukes" all over him. The canned burp & puke was a little over the top, but the crowd was very much digging it. I don't think these were quite as funny as previous skits, but they were still funny. I could've done without the burp & puke but, again, Bryan & Kane put so much effort into making this work that I can't help but be impressed. Thumbs Up
2. Santino Marella & Zack Ryder vs. The Prime Time Players - A brief match that was used mostly to give the Players some momentum. The match was short, too short really to mean much of anything, but the right team won and they won decisively. The end comes with Titus making a blind tag as Santino sets up Young for The Cobra. Titus grabs Santino by the arm and spins him around. He then pushes him into the ropes and catches in in the Sky High slam. NA
Mick Foley & CM Punk - Before going to commercial, Jim Ross announced that there was a "special guest" on Raw and it turned out to be Mick Foley. Foley does his thing for a bit, mostly talking about how disappointed he is in CM Punk. Punk's music then hits and he comes out. This was an awesome segment in my mind with both guys delivering top notch mic work. Foley in this segment was the best I've seen him in quite a while. He delivered a heated, passionate promo and Punk continues to do a great job as someone that's just a flat out asshole with a chip on his shoulder. I also dig the fact that CM Punk is now insulting the audience. The WWE has gone full blown heel with Punk and not tried to make him the hip heel that it's cool for "edgy" fans to want to cheer for. Punk still gets some cheers, there's no way around that, but not nearly as much as he used to. Foley explained the reasons he was out there was mostly because AJ asked him to come out and make an announcement, as she's sitll upset from what happened earlier. Foley really came alive when he told Punk that fans don't care about statistics, referring to Punk putting over how long his reign is, as they care about "moments". He ask Punk if he wants to be a statistic or a legend? He informs him that he has a choice. AJ is showing him the respect by letting him decide if he'll face John Cena at HIAC and that Cena was in the building and that he could tell him face to face later on in the show. I expected Punk to attack Foley but he didn't and Punk just stood in the ring with a thoughtful, sort of sad expression on his face. Just a great outing from both men here. Thumbs Up
3. Ryback vs. The Miz - This match gave me the feeling of being more of a "tease" for a real match between the two. The Miz got in some offense on Ryback but Ryback continued to power his way through. I thought these two worked well together as everything felt smooth and crisp. Ryback does get the clean win after hitting his finisher. The announcers did their best at putting over Ryback's win as major, but it would've had imapct if Miz hadn't lost several non-title matches already. I get the feeling they're setting up a title match in which Miz is going to have to rethink his strategy and come up with a plan to handle Ryback. *1/2
4. Tyson Kidd vs. Wade Barrett - This was mostly another showcase match for Wade Barrett to get him back into the swing of things. You know Kidd was jobbing of course. There was some pretty decent action while the match lasted, though this match wasn't as good as Barrett vs. Gabriel last week. Kidd hit some solid offense but Barrett made his comeback. Barrett managed to put Kidd in the Boss Man Slam, as I still call it, and it looked awesome. He spun Kidd around several times before slamming him to the mat and it just looked like it had a ton of force behind it. Barrett then delivers the big elbow shot for the win. *1/4
Jerry Lawler Interview - This was a nice segment in my eyes. Nothing flashy about it, just a respectable interview. Lawler looked good and commented that his voice isn't up to par. The fact that he had a tube snaked down his throat for several days is the cause and it'll probably still be a little while before that fully heels. Lawler was smiling and while he did look energetic, he still looked like he was fatigued to me. He looked healthy and in good spirits but maybe it's the way he sounded more than anything else that makes me think of him as being kind of tired. He thanked all the fans, he cracked a few jokes and told everyone that he would return to Raw at some point as soon as he could. Thumbs Up
5. Sheamus, Rey Mysterio & Sin Cara vs. Alberto Del Rio, David Otunga & Ricardo Rodriguez - This was a match made earlier by AJ as the three heels came to visit her in her office, despite the fact that both Otunga & Del Rio told her that Ricardo isn't a competitor. Surprisingly, this match turned out to be much better than I thought it'd be. Ricardo wasn't running around out there acting like a clown. He was seriously, in his limited way while staying in character, trying to help his team get the win. I laughed when Cole referred to Ricardo as a "gnat" because it seemd appropriate. I thought the commentators did a good job of pounding home that this is another questionable decision by AJ because Ricardo isn't a wrestler. The match had some good action and Ricardo did well here. As I said, he actually tried to wrestle and managed to sell his lack of skills, he's a "ring announcer" after all, quite well by listening to coaching from Otunga & Del Rio. Even though is offense was limited mostly to cheap shots and some punches & kicks, it fit perfectly with the story being told. The end comes with the babyfaces rallying against the heels after Sheamus gets the hot tag. The end comes with Sheamus tagging in Sin Cara, who hits the Swanton Bomb off the top rope for the clean win at the 8 minute mark. I figured we'd have Ricardo suffer another Brogue Kick, further calling into question AJ's decision to put him in this match. But Otunga ate the move instead. **1/4
Team Hell No - Earlier in the night, it was announced that there'd be a Rawactive vote in which the fans could vote on Bryan & Kane's official team name. The choices were Team Teamwork, Team Hell No and Team Friendship. Bryan & Kane made their entrances and came out to await the results. I expected Team Friendship to get the nod but the winner was Team Hell No by a surprising margin. It kind of makes sense really. After all, Kane is the "devil's favorite demon" and so much of his character has revolved around aspects taken from Hell and Daniel Bryan's current catchphrase is "No!" so it does kinda fit. As they're looking on, Cody Rhodes & Damien Sandow come up behind them and jump them. Cody hits Kane with the Beautiful Disaster kick and Sandow puts Bryan in his neckbreaker finisher. Cody & Sandow walk onto the stage and Cody insults them on the mic for a bit before announcing that they're a team and that they'll take the titles from them. Rhodes said that their team name is "Team Rhodes Scholars" before walking away to leave Bryan & Kane selling the effects of the moves. I'm interested in this feud as it looks like the WWE is really going to cement Bryan & Kane as a team for a while. Even though they've only been tag champs for a week, they've already helped make tag team wrestling in WWE funner than it's been in quite a while. Thumbs Up
6. Layla & Alicia Fox vs. Eve Torres & Beth Phoenix - A brief but ok Divas match. While the Diva matches as of late certainly can't be called classics, they're also no longer the nonsense they once were and there's actually a story going on. Layla & Alicia worked well against Beth Phoenix before Even makes a blind tag. She runs across the ring and attacks Layla, knocking her off the apron, before she hits Alicia with her neckbreaker finisher for the win. Beth Phoenix is a little dismayed as she felt she did most of the work. Kaitlyn's music hits and she comes out on a crutch and tells everyone that she saw some footage of herself being attacked via security camera. She informs everyone the attacker was a blonde, which Beth allegedly being the attacker. Beth denies this vehemently as Eve accuses her and sells her disbelief. She then attacks Beth and hits her with her neckbreaker before walking out. 1/2*
7. Brodus Clay vs. Tensai - The match went for a few minutes with both men delivering some offense before Big Show's music hits. Show comes down to the ring and ultimately lays both men out before leaving. Not much here, just a showcase for Show's return. As they come back from commercial, Jim Ross announced that Big Show will meet Randy Orton in the main event on SD! this Friday. It looks like they're starting Show down the road towards being the next WHC contender. NA
John Cena & CM Punk - While this wasn't as good as the other promo segments on the show, it was still a pretty good one and continued the show long streak of doing a great job in promoting the upcoming HIAC match between these two. Even though it hasn't been announced, we all know its coming. Cena was a little goofy here, I hate it when he does all the cursing jibber jabber before making a PG reference. Just doesn't work for me. Cena seemed to be kinda somber and he did his routine before Punk comes out with Paul Heyman. Punk gets in Cena's face and basically threatens him after a bit, telling him that he'll turn his back and if Cena's still there by the time he counts down from five, he'll hurt Cena worse than he's ever been hurt. As Punk turns around, Cena pulls out a lead pipe and waits patiently. As Punk turns around, he sees the pipe in Cena's left hand and hesitates. Heyman bails and Punk takes a shot in the gut from the pipe before rolling out of the ring. Cena poses and gives high fives to fans around the ring before the camera cuts to Punk walking backstage clutching the title while selling the gut shot. He passes by Mick Foley with Foley just kind of looking at him. He walks back up to Mick and delivers a kick to the gut before walking on. He stops and turns back, figuring that he'll go back for some more, but stops dead in his tracks and his eyes widen to the size of dinner plates. He backs up slightly as the camera pans back to Foley's position and Ryback is standing in front of him staring Punk down as the show goes off the air. Thumbs Up
Final Thoughts - Personally, I think WWE is starting to find its groove with the three hour Raws. I thought tonight's show went very well overall. Even though there were no matches officially announced, the HIAC ppv was built well and several current storylines were progressed nicely. The three main promo segments were good, especially the first two, and did a great job of hyping the WWE Championship match at HIAC. Wrestling action all in all was pretty decent. Kofi vs. Ziggler was a great singles match that gives Ziggler another solid win as he moves his way up. The tag match between the PTPs and Santino & Ryder wasn't much but it gave the PTPs a solid win over two over babyfaces right now. Miz vs. Ryback was ok while it lasted and continues the story of Miz being someone that falters in non-title matches. I have a feeling, if this goes on, that they'll build a real match between the two. The six man tag match was better than I expected it to be and it told a good story. Ricardo did an excellent job of staying in character while trying to wrestle as someone with little to no experience as he's a "ring announcer". Kane & Daniel Bryan continue to be entertaining and now have an official team name in Team Hell No. I like the idea of them embarking on a feud with Sandow & Rhodes as it keeps a spotlight on the tag team scene in and of itself and seems to indicate that Bryan & Kane will be teaming for a while. The Divas & the Clay vs. Tensai matches were really the only things that felt like filler to me, even though they both did serve something of a purpose. All in all, I enjoyed last night's Raw. I do wish that there'd been a little more solid overall wrestling action, but it was still pretty decent and a lot of current angles were progressed nicely, especially the WWE Championship picture.
Grade: B+
and another note, for once the Divas match was pretty damn good