Official Raw/Smackdown Aftermath, Ratings and Review Thread | Page 132 | WrestleZone Forums

Official Raw/Smackdown Aftermath, Ratings and Review Thread

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Grade tonight's RAW.

  • A

  • B

  • C

  • D

  • F


Results are only viewable after voting.
Honestly I'm going to put myself out here...anyone else confused as much as I am after watching RAW? They jumped the storylines between the Cena/AJ storyline and brought that into the Survivor Series Main Event storyline. Also, just a thought. Why are there Authority Figures if VKM keeps showing up? I don't know but why not just scrap the GM's? They don't make the matches, creative team does. I don't know I just still wished that these wrestlers would be on 1 show a week. Anyways, I don't see how many people can be mad in love with Wade Barrett? What does he do that's so exciting to see? Now I may be in the same boat as the anti-Cena fans who question why people like Cena. RAW last night overall was garbage in my opinion like I said, the storylines were hard to keep up with but CM Punk barely made any TV time which was good enough for me.
 
Honestly I'm going to put myself out here...anyone else confused as much as I am after watching RAW? They jumped the storylines between the Cena/AJ storyline and brought that into the Survivor Series Main Event storyline. Also, just a thought. Why are there Authority Figures if VKM keeps showing up? I don't know but why not just scrap the GM's? They don't make the matches, creative team does. I don't know I just still wished that these wrestlers would be on 1 show a week. Anyways, I don't see how many people can be mad in love with Wade Barrett? What does he do that's so exciting to see? Now I may be in the same boat as the anti-Cena fans who question why people like Cena. RAW last night overall was garbage in my opinion like I said, the storylines were hard to keep up with but CM Punk barely made any TV time which was good enough for me.

I agree with this. I have no idea why they changed the main event like this. The teams now don't make any sense. The whole reason was for Foley to Show Punk what respect is and now Punk nor Ryback are apart of the teams. I don't know if they will make sense out of this in the next couple of weeks or not, but it seems like a cluster now. I agree to that why have authority figures if Vince is just going to show up and change their decisions. The Gm roles aren't really interesting anymore anyway. I hope things get in order soon because after Raw I was a bit confused as to why certain decisions are being made.
 
Just thought about this....

Wasn't there a report last year or the year before about WWE possibly being done with Survivor Series? I've never been a huge fan of SS, maybe in the late '80s/early 90s I was, but it's outdated now....back then, WWE could get away with not having the title defended on SS and having everyone in a 5x5 elimination match because of the slow build in their storylines.....it was a way to extend storylines an extra few months. I don't think it works anymore. Soooo......

The seeds have already been planted with Miz, Punk, and Ryback out of the match. I say over the next 2 weeks, have the whole match fall apart with the rest of the participants either quitting, getting 'injured', getting 'suspended', agreeing to other matches (tag title match?), Orton gets mad at Foley or Barrett gets mad at Heyman (I love that Heyman owes Barrett a favor.....I see good things coming from Barrett), etc.....Finally, VKM comes out, mad that the match has been screwed up so much, and he kills it, saying that we'll never see another SS.

That could leave us with a better card for this PPV anyway. We could have a Dolph run-in against Cena in the ME to set up a match between the two in the next ppv.....we could have a 4 way for the IC belt between Kofi-Orton-ADR-Miz, with Kofi retaining (although an IC belt 4 way would probably be held off until TLC, without Orton or ADR in it).....

I don't know, just thinking aloud what I thought about while reading what you guys were saying about the buildup towards SS.
 
Enjoyable show, even though the main purpose was to continue storylines leading to Survivor Series, but we got just enough (and not too much) of the sagas of Sheamus-Big Show and Punk-Ryback-Cena to keep momentum going. Other lesser programs were kept alive, too.

Also, they advanced the soap opera tale of A.J.-Cena, and I'm really curious as to where they're going with this. By the way, it's the type of program in which Vickie Guerrero can be used most effectively; don't make her the star.....instead, use her as the irritant.

Of course, it was great to see Jerry Lawler back, and after his short speech in ring center, you knew Punk would be arriving to make trouble. I also figured that Punk telling Jerry: "It's good you left the ring because I would have beaten you to death" would spur a post on this forum condemning the political correctness of that segment.....and of course, it did. Still, it's wonderful to see the King back at his post.


Note: Randy Orton and Kofi Kingston as tag team partners? When Randy re-entered the ring after Kofi was pinned, didn't you expect him to start yelling at Kofi?: "Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!"
 
Raw's numbers have been recovering the past several weeks and have returned to the normal range for this time of year. According to tvbythenumbers.com, all three hours of Raw last night scored more than 4 million viewers. That's the first time that's happened during this fall television season if I'm not mistaken.

Hour 1 of the show drew an average of 4,154,000 viewers, hour 2 increased to right at 4,400,000 viewers and hour 3 drew 4,027,000 viewers. As a whole, Raw averaged 4,200,000 viewers with the first 2 hours averaging about 4,277,000 viewers. While hour 3 did drop and ultimately draw less than the 2 previous hours, it didn't drop by nearly as much. It's been the usual norm for a while for hour 3 to drop in viewers to about the 3.85 million range. Interest was higher in hour 3 all in all, I'm betting, because of John Cena vs. CM Punk main event.

On cable tv last night, Raw was 3rd in terms of male demographics and viewership. As usual, Monday Night Football won the night with an average of 12,824,000 viewers. Sportscenter on ESPN afterward drew 6,875,000 viewers. For the second week in a row, Raw beat out the usual competition of Pawn Stars & American Pickers, the new seasons of which began last Monday. The 1st half hour episode of Pawn Stars drew 3,376,000 viwers while the 2nd half hour increased to 3,653,000 viewers for an average of 3,514,500 viewers. American Pickers at 8 pm drew 3,355,000 viewers. While those are still big numbers for a cable show, Pawn Stars' audience has especially dropped off. At this time last year, Pawn Stars was generally averaging in the very high 5 to low 6 million viewer range. The last batch of new episodes earlier this year were only averaging in the low 4 million range. Like Jersey Show, which has only been drawing in the upper 2 million range for its final season, it looks like the boom period is over for the History shows. Things will probably pick up some once Monday Night Football is over for both them & Raw.
 
Raw's numbers have been recovering the past several weeks and have returned to the normal range for this time of year. According to tvbythenumbers.com, all three hours of Raw last night scored more than 4 million viewers. That's the first time that's happened during this fall television season if I'm not mistaken.

Hour 1 of the show drew an average of 4,154,000 viewers, hour 2 increased to right at 4,400,000 viewers and hour 3 drew 4,027,000 viewers. As a whole, Raw averaged 4,200,000 viewers with the first 2 hours averaging about 4,277,000 viewers. While hour 3 did drop and ultimately draw less than the 2 previous hours, it didn't drop by nearly as much. It's been the usual norm for a while for hour 3 to drop in viewers to about the 3.85 million range. Interest was higher in hour 3 all in all, I'm betting, because of John Cena vs. CM Punk main event.

I was thinking the same thing too, but it turned out that Cena vs Punk main event didn't draw. The first half of their match was surprisingly the lowest rated part of the entire show. They did a 2.42. They picked up some viewers during overrun which usually happens.
 
WWE Friday Night SmackDown! - November 16, 2012

Opening Segment - While this went on for a bit longer than it needed to, it was a good promo segment that gave everyone on each of the Survivor Series teams some mic time. I also liked it because of the emphasis put on the match. The WWE has hyped this as an important match and a truly meaningful part of Survivor Series and that's how it should be. I also enjoy the friction that both teams are experiencing, it just makes it a much more interesting scenario when there's dissention on both teams rather than one team getting along well or both teams getting along. Making three matches featuring members of each team was another great way of putting final emphasis on this match. Thumbs Up

1. Kofi Kingston vs. Damien Sandow - Good match from Kofi & Sandow. I thought the two had good chemistry with each other and the match seemed pretty even with each of them getting in a good amount of offense. I like the story told, backed up on commentary a bit, of Kofi's offense keeping Sandow a little off balance as this was the first time they've ever been in the ring against one another. The finish was a little bit weak as Sandow rolled Kofi up and held onto the tights for the win at the 10 minute mark. All in all though, a good match. **1/2

2. Kaitlyn, Layla & Natalya vs. Eve, Alicia Fox & Aksana - In the grand scheme of things, the match wasn't all that hot. For a Divas match though, it was a pretty decent match that did feature some good wrestling from the women. Even Aksana was good in the limited way she was used. The match was a basic way to plug the Divas Championship match at Survivor Series this Sunday. Kaitlyn gets the hot tag and hits the inverted DDT on Alicia Fox about the 4.5 minute mark for the win. *1/4

3. Randy Orton & The Miz vs. Dolph Ziggler & Alberto Del Rio - A good quality, tag team match that, again, put great emphasis on the Survivor Series tag match. The WWE also did a solid job of highlighting the tension between Miz & Orton. I especially enjoyed the times we got to see Miz & Ziggler in the ring. They worked a really good pace and showed great chemistry. Their match on Main Event Wednesday should be very entertaining. The winners of the match were never in doubt as you know Team Foley had to pick up a win to even things out. Orton is about RKO Del Rio when Miz tags himself in. He locks Del Rio in and delivers the Skull Crushing Finale for the clean win at the 10.5 minute mark. After the match, Miz is celebrating his victory by posing on the ropes in front of his hometown crowd while Randy Orton is brooding menacingly over in the corner, pissed off that Miz tagged himself into "steal" the win. As Miz comes back over to Orton, he pops up and delivers an RKO to Miz. I think it's WWE policy that someone eat an RKO whenever Orton is on television. A simple but effective way to highlight the troubles of Team Foley and, who knows, maybe the start of a potential feud between the two. ***

Sheamus & Big Show - Overall, this was the most enjoyable mic time I've seen out of Sheamus in a while. I like Sheamus as either a face or heel, he's much better as a heel, but it's good to see that intense side that he often showed while he was a heel come out. It's something we haven't seen nearly enough of in the past year. Sheamus wasn't out there beying the jovial, laid back Irish lug and that's a good thing. We've seen too much of that while too little of the pissed off Irish badass. Show did a good job as well and pulls off the character of being a very confident, monster heel champion well. Booker T stepped in and pretty much told Sheamus to leave the building, which Sheamus eventually does. Nice job. Thumbs Up

4. Kane vs. Wade Barrett - The match itself was too short to rate. I knew that once Barrett hit the Boss Man Slam that it was going to be a really short match. Eventually, all the members of Team Ziggler come down and beat down on Kane. Team Foley's members come out one and a time, a nice little touch of symbolism to point out how disjointed they are as a team. He's eventually beaten down as is Daniel Bryan when he comes out. Orton then comes out and the team starts to rally. They get the heels out with Orton delivering two more RKOs. Miz walks out on stage holding his jaw and stares at Orton & the rest of Team Foley inside the ring. The match barely got started but the final brawl was a near perfect way to end a night of great hype for the traditional Survivor Series match. NA

5. Sin Cara vs. Antonio Cesaro - This was a surprisingly good match and I think that Sin Cara may have looked the best he's ever looked in a WWE singles match against Cesaro. These two have great chemistry with each other and both looked good. I'd love to see these two get a long match against each other on Main Event at some point. Sin Cara's high flying style meshed nicely with Cesaro's ground & pound stuff. The end comes with Sin Cara going for a move off the top only for Cesaro to deliver the Very European Uppercut. The move looks great and, personally, I think it should be his finisher. He puts Sin Cara in the Neutralizer for the clean win a little past the 4 minute mark. The match was a little short but they packed a lot of action into it. Antother 6 to 8 minutes and it would've been a 3 star or more match. R-Truth was beyond awful on commentary, it's just not his thing. After the match, Truth climbs up onto the announce table and eventually starts a USA chant against Cesaro before Cesaro leaves. The build for this match hasn't exactly been stellar, but, as with everything they've done with Cesaro, it's another step in the right direction overall. **1/4

6. The Great Khali vs. The Big Show - More or less what I expected once I heard Khali's music hit. The match was extremely slow and a little awkward. Big Show did his best to make Khali look like a force, but Khali is so limited that nobody's buying it. The match went to the 3.5 minute mark, which is about 3 minutes too long, before Show hits the Knockout Punk for the win. 1/4*

Brawl - After the match, Sheamus' music hits and plays for a bit but nobody comes out. Then they play Shows music as he exits the ring. They cut to the backstage area and Show is heading for the bus that he takes to shows whenever he can. He opens the door & Sheamus pops out and begins attacking Show. They brawl back over toward some cars and Sheamus has the upper hand before Show grabs him and tosses him roughly against the windshield of one of the cars. Sheamus sells the effects for a moment, as does Big Show. Sheamus recovers after a bit and leaps off the top of the car and hits Show, knocking him into a nearby car and breaking its windshield. She beats Show down with a barrage of punches before officials begin dragging him off. Show lies on the ground, not moving as the show ends. A pretty decent brawl that put a good final emphasis on the title match at Survivor Series.

Final Thoughts - A strong go home show for SmackDown! in my opinion. With the exception of Show vs. Khali, the wrestling content on the show was pretty strong. Kofi vs. Sandow, Miz & Orton vs. Ziggler & Del Rio and Cesaro vs. Sin Cara were all three good matches. The Diva match was good for what it was. Kane vs. Barrett didn't really get started and Show vs. Khali was awful. The center of attention on tonight's show was the 5 on 5 Survivor Series elimination tag match. It got a lot of attention and great hype on this show. Sheamus vs. Show didn't get a ton of attention but it didn't really need it. What they did with it last night was enough, more than enough really, as it brings the match to another level. They did a few recaps but they didn't take up a lot of time on the show, not nearly as much as they used to. All in all, good wrestling, good storytelling and good final hype for the ppv.

Grade: B+
 
I thought this was one of the better Smackdown episodes recently. Everything was about building and hyping Survivor Series. I thought everything they did with Team Foley and Team Ziggler was well done. Sandow is great, I laughed when he said Kofi was a neon mute that thinks he can fly.

I like that they are trying to make Sheamus more intense. The corny joke telling Sheamus was just awful to watch.

Josh Matthews is still terrible though. He missed pointing out that Sandow grabbed Kofi’s tights. He needs to get replaced with a play by play guy that actually has a bit of a personality.
 
So that Raw was pretty damn good as far as Raws go in the modern age without one of the mega stars being there. What exactly was wrong with that one?

Are we so far gone into hating that we can't sit back and say - "You know what forget all the problems for a second, that was a pretty good Raw" ?

Ryback opening and match - good
Wade vs Kofi - good
Heyman speaking - gold
punk speaking - gold
ryback vs men in black - gold
punk standing over ryback, credits - gold

This Raw was reminiscent of the old days imo
 
That was the best episode of raw in a long time. Is it just me or are things getting slightly more edgy? It's been a while since wrestlers were being battered by chairs, put through announce tables and the risqué kiss between AJ and Cena? Wow.

The Ziggler-Cena feud is building up as one of the most interesting feuds involving Cena since the Rock.

Most of the matches were decent aside from the pointless khali-primo/epico match. It was great to see Barrett gain more momentum and the Orton/Del Rio match was great.

The highlight for me was Titus O'Neil on commentary during the team hell no v rey/sin cara match. That guy has great charisma and Jerry Lawler could barely contain himself during the match due to his great banter.

Having the NXT guys once again destroy Ryback was also a good continuation of that angle.

Overall a very good show.
 
WWE Raw - November 19, 2012

Ryback - Raw opens with Ryback coming to the ring to deliver a promo. He comes out to a pretty strong pop and his brief promo was pretty decent. He showed good intensity on the mic but, personally, I thought it would've been better without all the various "feeding" references that he put in. However, I thought Ryback showed good presence on the mic and the crowd was firmly behind him with the "Feed Me More" chants. Ryback addressed both Punk & the NXT wrestlers, saying that he'd tear everything up if they didnt' come down. Vickie Guerrero comes down and sorta puts Ryback in his place by saying that while she enjoyed watching him destroy people, she wasn't going to have him step out of line and threatened him with a fine and/or suspension if he did before booking him in a match with Tensai. Nothing particularly amazing here but not bad for his first real promo. Thumbs Up

1. Ryback vs. Tensai - I kinda groaned a little bit once Tensai's music hit but this match was surprisingly decent. I fully expected Ryback to tear through Tensai with no problem at all but it wasn't a squash. Tensai himself got in a pretty good amount of offense in the match. This match was also, in it's way, kind of important as far as gauging Ryback's popularity. CM Punk was nowhere in sight, yet the live crowd was very much behind Ryback and digging whatever he was doing. While it was obvious that Ryback wasn't going to lose to Tensai, it was refreshing to see that he had to struggle some to get the win. It show that Ryback is progressing. Ryback has no problem getting Tensai up for Shellshocked, as opposed to the first time they wrestled, because Ryback picked him up more along the lines of a Samoan Drop rather than hooking his leg like he's going for a Fisherman's suplex. Ryback gets the win about the 4 minute mark and poses with the crowd. **

2. Kofi Kingston vs. Wade Barrett - This was a very nice outing between Kingston & Barrett. While an IC title program isn't what I had in mind for Wade Barrett, he & Kofi can do some good things together and deliver a great feud for the title. Barrett's going to be in the main event picture before long. It's not gonna be for a bit as Show & Sheamus are keeping their feud going, so at least they're giving Barrett something meaningful. Good chemistry between Barrett & Kofi and I like the story they told with Barrett working on Kingston's eye. Barrett working over Kofi's eye had a real old school feel to it because, frankly, I can't really remember the last time I saw someone do it. Usually, the heels will focus on an arm or a leg, sometimes the rips or the back, but it's been ages since I saw a heel go for the eyes. Kofi did a good job of selling his "injured" eye throughout the match. Both guys looked good and Kofi looked resilient against the bigger, stronger Barrett. The end comes shortly after Kofi hits the SOS on Barrett for a good near fall. Barrett gets himself between Kofi & the ref just after this and rubs Kofi's "injured" eye over the ring rope. He then comes up with the Bullhammer elbow for the win at the 13 minute mark. A good win for Barrett and a good start to the feud. ***

CM Punk & Paul Heyman - There was a brief backstage thing with Punk & Heyman, with Matt Striker interrupting. Nothing overly special here but they kept the momentum going by further hyping the WWE Championship celebration. The commentators had been doing it throughout the show, so this moved things along. It was being made to seem like a big deal and an interesting hook to get people to tune in, especially with the possibility of Ryback being involved. NA

3. Kaitlyn vs. Aksana - While this match was kinda clunky, there was actually a pretty decent response from the audience. Usually, the audience is almost entirely dead for Diva matches but, comparatively speaking, this one got some good responses. That being said, the match wasn't all that great. I didn't expect it to be really because Aksana is the weakest Diva on the roster, whether in the ring or on the mic. The crowd was behind Kaitlyn and did pop whens he got the win. While the match wasn't much, at least the crowd seemed to be somewhat invested so that's a potentially positive sign going forward for Kaitlyn. 3/4*

3. Brodus Clay vs. Antonio Cesaro - An ok match but nothing particularly interesting. Cesaro looked good against Clay, though that's no longer saying much as Clay is pretty much a jobber now. Is it just me or has Clay lost a good deal of weight? To look at the guy, to me, he looks a good 20 pounds lighter. R-Truth was out there on commentary, so it looks like Cesaro vs. Truth is going to continue. While I can't say that it excites me, at least they're giving Cesaro a feud with a star that's decently over. Truth still sucked on commentary, but not nearly as bad as last time. Cesaro gets the win over Clay after hitting the Neutralizer about the 3 minute mark. *1/4

Make-A-Wish - This is a perfect example of why John Cena is so over with people. There was a video regarding Cena granting his 300th wish for the foundation. There were a lot of genuinely touching comments made in the video and whether you like Cena's character or not, you've got to respect his devotion to the foundation. It's something that Cena believes in very much and I gotta give it up to him for it. Thumbs Up

AJ & Vickie Segment - I'm a little mixed on this segment. The Vickie allegations are getting really tired, in my opinion. But these segments seem to be over with the live audience every week. Vickie brought out to "witnesses" regarding AJ & Cena. One was a waitress in the "restaurant" where AJ & Cena had their "business dinner" and the other was a valet for the "restaurant". The valet says that Cena & AJ were basically knocking boots in Cena's care and that one of the customer's told him about. Before Vickie was about to show "nude stills" on the big screen, AJ's music hit. I like AJ on the mic as she's really good at conveying emotions. She tells Vickie to "shut the hell up" which got a big pop from the crowd. Cena's music hit soon after and he comes down to get in Vickie's face before saying he'd give her something to talk about. He then kissed AJ and the crowd popped huge. He then turned back to Vickie for a bit before AJ spun him around and kissed him again. Dang, AJ's a ****. :p First Bryan, then Kane, then Punk and now Cena. Girl's had a busy year. Dolph Ziggler hits the ring and busts up the make out session by attacking Cena. Cena gets the best of him and runs him out of the ring. As Cena gets off the apron, he definitely takes a wrong step and looks like he either twisted his ankle or did something to his knee as he hobbled up the ramp after Ziggler. Throughout the night, there was talk that Cena might have a partially torn Meniscus. Since they actually would show Cena back in the locker room in a little while getting his knee wrapped, it looks like the injury may have been a work. I don't see WWE showing that it it was legit. From my vantage point, it looked like Cena might've just tweaked his ankle a little. The segment was mixed for me, as I said, so here's hoping that the allegations are done. Thumbs In The Middle

4. Randy Orton vs. Alberto Del Rio in a 2 out of 3 falls match - This match was pretty solid, not really great in my opinion, but I liked the overall story. The first two falls of the match happened quickly but, again, the story behind it was solid. Del Rio sacrificed the first fall, giving it to Orton via DQ, by relentlessly slamming his left arm against the ring post to soften it up. The ref was counting but Del Rio wouldn't stop so the ref disqualified him. Del Rio won the second fall soon after by putting Orton in the Cross Armbreaker. Orton fights it at first but is unable to hold out and quickly taps. I like that Cole mentioned that Orton quickly tapped so that he wouldn't be in the hold for long. The third fall was more action packed that the first two and completed the story being told. Del Rio puts Orton in the Cross Armbreaker again for a believable near fall before Orton is able to roll Del Rio up onto his shoulders to counter the move for another nice near fall. The end comes with Del Rio going for the step up enziguiri in the corner. Orton ducks out of the way and comes around to deliver the RKO to win the third fall at the 13 minute mark. **1/2

5. The Great Khali vs. Epico & Primo - This was horrible, just flat out horrible. This match and segment had Vince McMahon's fingerprints all over it. Epico & Primo are two good tag team wrestlers and deserve better than to be fed to Khali. During the match, Hornswoggle comes out with some flowers that he's bringing to Rosa. Rosa leans down to smell them and gets squirted in the face with water. Khali gets the win and starts to dance a little in the ring with Hornswoggle. As I said, this segment seemed to be something that Vince McMahon personally wanted to see. To me, it showed once again that Khali & Hornswoggle are the two worst members of the roster. These two should be future endeavored as soon as possible. Shitty segment all in all. NA

6. The Miz vs. David Otunga - I can't say that this match did much of anything for me. I do understand why it happened though as WWE is turning Miz face and is giving the audience time to adjust to him as a face. He's still cocky but it looks like WWE is doing things organically with Miz. The match with Otunga was generally more competitive than I expected, it went to about the 7 minute mark. However, it showed just how limited Otunga is because a lot of his offense revolved around keeping Miz in a reverse chinlock. Miz eventually rallies and hits the SCF for the win. Miz got a decent babyface reaction, including a decent little "Miz is awesome" chant. The match wasn't much but for Miz as a face, it was step in the right direction. *1/2

Sheamus & Big Show - This promo segment started out kinda slow but it heated up very nicely in the middle and the end. Sheamus was getting the "What?" treatment from some of the fans and, to be truthful, the beginning was kinda boring. Big Show came out to the ramp limping after Sheamus called him out. As Big Show talks, Sheamus interrupts him and sets Show off. They both start screaming threats and Show helped save the segment. When Big Show displays intensity, it's very believable given his size. He & Sheamus were getting pretty heated when Damien Sandow's music hit to end the segment. Thumbs In The Middle

7. Sheamus vs. Damien Sandow - While this match wasn't quite as good as the first match they had a while back, Sheamus & Sandow still delivered a strong physical match. The first bit of the match was about Sheamus seeming confident & strong while sorta pushing Sandow around a bit. Sandow rallies and turns it into a fight and he held up really well against Sheamus. Sandow looked every bit as aggressive as Sheamus during the match and held his own. Eventually, Sheamus rallies and starts hitting some of his signatures. He delivers White Noise and follows it up with the Brogue Kick. Sandow really sold the Brogue Kick well. Sheamus gets the pin at the 15 minute mark. The outcome was never really in doubt here, but the match was entertaining. I would've liked to have seen Big Show cause a distraction and for Sandow to pick up an upset win, but it would've gone against Show selling the injuries caused by all the chairshots he took during his match against Sheamus the night before. ***

AJ & Dolph Ziggler - After the match, AJ makes her way into the men's locker room. A bunch of wrestlers are in towels as Vickie walks up to Ziggler sitting in the corner. She gets in Ziggler's face for a bit before Ziggler goes off on her. Ziggler throws some pretty nasty insults AJ's way all without having to use a single swear word. Ziggler sold his emotions well as the tone of his voice & facial expression showed nothing but disdain for AJ. He calls AJ weak and ultimately just trash before sitting back down. AJ looked as though she was going to cry during Ziggler's rant and she eventually goes off on him and starts beating the snot out of him. Cena eventually comes up and pulls AJ away and Ziggler attacks him. They go back & forth for a few seconds before Ziggler kicks Cena's wrapped knee. So yeah, it's a work. As Cena limps away Ziggler runs up and tackles Cena through the bathroom stalls and starts to relentlessly pound him as the refs and some wrestlers, including Titus O'Neil pull Ziggler off Cena. On the surface, this could be a prelude to setting up a Cena vs. Ziggler match at TLC where Ziggler ultimately loses. However, in all honesty, I think most of us didn't expect Ziggler to beat Orton cleanly to win the match at Survivor Series, so maybe WWE will surprise us. All in all, a good segment that looks to be developing into a pretty heated feud between Ziggler & Cena. Thumbs Up

8. Team Hell No vs. Rey Mysterio & Sin Cara - An enjoyable tag team match featuring two very different teams. Both teams looked good here with neither team staying in control for too long and for all four men to get in a good amount of offense. The Prime Time Players were on commentary and, personally, I really enjoyed it. While I do think the joking got a little too out of hand, all four of them seemed to be genuinely having a good time. O'Neil is a really good talker, which is surprising, and Young did well I thought. He was more focused on the match while O'Neil was into it with Cole & Lawler sometimes joking while always putting over his team. The end comes with Mysterio hitting Kane with 619 and he goes to Drop the Dime. By this time, Bryan & Sin Cara have taken each other out on the outside. As Rey drops for the splash, Kane reaches up and grabs him by the throat, stopping the momentum. Kane gets up from the mat and is getting ready to deliver the chokeslam when the PTPs hit the ring attacking them. The ref calls for the bell at the 11 minute mark. The heels keep the advantage for a bit but the faces rally and make a comeback by working together. Kane delivers a chokeslam to Titus after Rey hits a double 619, sending them scattering. Afterward, Kane & Bryan are doing the "I'm the tag team champions" bit while looking down at Mysterio & Sin Cara at ringside. A solid match and more solid attention put on the tag team division. **1/2

CM Punk's WWE Championship Celebration - I'm certain there'll be a lot of bitching and moaning, as usual, regarding this segment because they didn't debut a new WWE Championship belt. I was disappointed in that myself but, all in all, I enjoyed the segment. Heyman was in the ring first putting over CM Punk and his accomplishments. I flat out loved Heyman's dig at all the people complaining about mocking Jerry Lawler last week because, in my opinion, he was 100% dead on. People tweet & tout and post online about how much they want the Attitude Era back but piss all over the place when WWE gives a little taste of it. He mentions ECW in the same sort of way. Great work from Heyman. He introduces Punk and Punk comes out. They show a video package of Punk, showing some of the highlights of his run. Punk then puts over his title run by saying that he intends to be the longest reigning WWE Champion in history. While that certainly won't happen, Punk does a great job here while putting himself over while running down, and even mocking, some of the greats of the past like Hulk Hogan, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin. Ryback's music suddenly hits and the crowd pops for it. Punk backs up against the ropes, looking ready to either bail out or take it to Ryback as he stalks towards the ring. As Ryback gets to rindside, Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns come out of nowhere and attack him. They spend a couple of minutes wildly brawling with Ryback. Ryback manages to climb into the ring and continues to fight against the NXT guys with Punk out of the way. Rollins & Ambrose back Ryback up to the ropes and Reigns grabs his feet to pull him outside. They then gang up on him and beat him down relentlessly. Reigns goes over and prepares the announce table as Amrose & Rollins pick Ryback up. They help put Ryack up onto Reigns in position and help him powerbomb Ryback through the announce table. They stand over him for a few moments before getting into the ring and just look out at the audience. Punk displays confusion in the beginning, trying to convey that he has nothing to do with this. He grins though as he slowly makes his way over to the prone Ryback. He squats down next to him for a few moments, still smirking before standing up. He stands over Ryback holding up the title as the show goes off the air. While the celebration wasn't some mega epic or anything, it featured strong mic work from Punk and Heyman and put the NXT guys in the closing segment of the show. I like that the NXT wrestlers haven't revealed their motives or what they're about yet. Keep the suspense up and keep the buzz going for a bit. Thumbs Up

Final Thoughts - Aside from a few things. Raw was a strong show. Cesaro vs. Clay, Khali vs. Epico & Primo and Miz vs. Otunga were the low points of the show, especially Khali vs. Epico & Primo. Miz vs. Otunga was ok for what it was in the sense that WWE is taking their time and letting fans get used to a babyface Miz, but it's just too hard to care about Otunga. I'd like to see the guy gone personally. Aside from that, the rest of the show delivered several good matches and promo segments. It looks like the Cena/AJ scandal is over and is becoming a heated feud with Ziggler & Cena. Let's hope they treat Ziggler right moving towards TLC. Big Show & Sheamus had an overall good promo segment that, in my opinion, Big Show ultimately saved. Ryback vs. Tensai was a decent match that was important in the sense that the fans are still behind Ryback and were into him here. Ryback also showed promise on the mic as well. Kofi vs. Barrett, Orton vs. Del Rio, Sheamus vs. Sandow and Team Hell No vs. Mysterio & Sin Cara were all really solid to very good matches. The closing segment of the show as disappointing to me only in the fact that we didn't get a new WWE Championship belt. Other than that, I thought it was really well done. Heyman & Punk delivered on the mic and put over Punk's run as champ and the NXT wrestlers got to be part of the closing segment of the show. Some will complain that they didn't say anything tonight and that we don't know ultimately what's going on but I really like it. I don't mind a little mystery to keep me guessing. There was also kinda sorta the feeling that maybe, just maybe, the three NXT guys are in league with Heyman & Punk. It wasn't anything overt, mostly just the way CM Punk smiled at Ryback after he'd been taken out and while he was standing over him. Punk kept his distance from the NXT guys, as did Heyman, but it further reinforced the question of whether they're aligned with each other. Also, I was just pleased that they didn't feed these guys to Ryback. It's still early on, but the fact that Vince used Tensai as cannon fodder rather than any of the NXT guys is a good sign.

Grade: B
 
Some thoughts from Raw...

- I liked that they had the NXT rookies attack Ryback and put him through a table again. It keeps the viewers speculating what their motives are for another week.

-I thought Ryback opening promo was fine. Ryback is an ass kicker. You dont want him standing in the ring talking for 10 minutes. His promos need to be short, direct and he needs to show a lot intensity. I agree with Jackhammer, they dont need to force a bunch of "feeding" references through out his promo. His feed me more chant at the end is more than enough, its as over as DB Yes/No deal.

-Some of the booking is still strange. Shouldn't they have had Foley and Orton cut a promo together? Foley needed to question why didn't Orton just pin Ziggler instead of going for the punt. Orton had Ziggler beat.

-Orton/Del Rio was solid, but they wrestled so much lately. They need to put Orton in a fresh new angle.

-Since their trying to elevate Ziggler they should of focused more on Ziggler winning SS. It was probably his biggest ppv win in his career. Instead, they just threw him back into the AJ/Cena/Vickie nonsense. They have plenty of time to set up him vs Cena at TLC.

-Team Hell No vs Rey/Sin Cara was entertaining. Between Team Hell No, Rhode Scholars, Rey/Sin Cara, The Colons, PTP, Kidd/Gabriel they have done a good job building the tag division. The only question is if they actually give them decent angles?

-Sheamus/Big Show promo was alright. The "what" chants are stupid. I felt a little bad for Sheamus, he cant really fire back at the crowd because he's a babyface.

-Kaitlyn vs Aksana- I think it might be time to get rid of the diva's division. Just look at the crowd reaction for these matches. Diva's cant get over if they are not put in male wrestlers storyline. AJ being able to do angles with Cena, DB, Kane and Punk is better for her career than actually wrestling in the divas division.

Overall, I feel like these last few episodes of Raw would be so much better if they were just two hours. Too many commercials, filler and replays with 3 hour Raw's.
 
Good Show, I'm not into the Ryback character which is complete garbage.... I don't care if people want to say its good now because people cooled it on the goldberg chants and he gets a pop now. I know its PG, but it's a stupid character that no one over the age of 10 should like imo. I'm actually embarrassed to associate myself with wrestling when I see the touts and ridicolous stuff people who are middle aged or atleast adults do with all the feed me more and finish it. The guy sucks on the mic, and hasn't shown me anything in the ring. He's big and can throw smaller guys around, what guy can't who is built like him? Titus O'Neil has a much bigger upside and is better in almost every aspect of wrestling imo.

Sorry just sick of Ryback the character will be stale in a few months. I watched the whole show, and I agree it was good for the most part and the Heyman was great in the Celebration segment hoping they will get The Rock to build the Rumble match up and it ended the same way it seems Raw ended for 5 weeks now....
 
Ratings aren't a big deal to me, but they seem to be to others. I'm not sure how concerned the WWE is about them but it's obvious that the Three hour Raws haven't been a success so far. When people first heard about the possibility of Raw being Three hours everyone speculated what we might be seeing. We have seen a handful of longer matches, but besides that the programming has pretty much remained the same. I think there are some obvious things the fans would like to see like bringing back the Cruiserweight division and improving the women's. But i started thinking what are some realistic things they can do? Although bringing back the Cruiserweight division is completely possible it's not a priority for the company. I thought of two simple ideas. Now the ideas aren't anything amazing, just little tweaks more or less. The first idea would be, promise the final hour of Raw to be more edgy. Everyone wants the Attitude era back even though we're all aware that will never happen. So by them promising this final hour to be edgier it could give the fans a reason to hang out, just to check it out. There is still a lot of things they can do with the PG rating. This would also allow parents to monitor what their children is seeing without getting offended. Once that final hour hit they would be viewing at their own risk. As well as depending which time zone you live in, a lot of children are in bed before Raw even ends. It could help draw in some of the older fans and give everyone what they want basically. The other idea would be just a guaranteed gimmick match. Every Raw would be promised one "Extreme" match and maybe they could have the fans vote each week. One week there could be a guaranteed Tables match and the next week have a guaranteed Steel Cage Match. Those are just some simple ideas i came up with that i thought was slightly realistic. What do you think of my ideas and what would you personally do to help improve the ratings?
 
I would agree with you in regards to bringing back the cruiserweight division, last hour being edgier, and the gimmick match. However, I would like to expand on the gimmick match and last hour being edgier with the reintroduction of the hardcore title.

Let the hardcore match be, like you said, a gimmick with the fans getting involved on the stipulations ( table, ladder, chair, cage, etc. ) Let the hardcore match be the start of the last hour (upper mid card.)

The cruiser weight division would be a good jumpstart for Sin Cara and other wrestlers that have the same high flying ability, such as Kofi, Bourne, Rey, etc.

The hardcore divison would be a good jumpstart for the likes of Ryback, Barrett, and other tough persona wrestlers.

Enough of the long rehashing of former promos and forgoing of the chances for other wrestlers to break out.
 
First off, good idea for a thread, secondly, I don't think that having an 'edgier hour' or guaranteed gimmick matches would work... I don't know, I don't see it working, the final hour should just be for the WWE Championship's fued. As for the other times, well well well...

You said that stuff like improving the Women's division and bringing back the Crusierweight division wouldn't be realistic, my question is... Why? Personally I think they have the power to bring it all back just like that! *Click. But they just don't want to because they THINK it won't bring in the ratings...

Also, I think one of the reasons why they brought in the third hour (which in a way screwed them a bit) was to keep Raw a 'supershow' having both brands on there. I hated the 'supershow' when it was announced because I liked the idea of splitting the talent into two different shows, giving more time to younger superstars, it works! Sadly though that all ended... Although I do hope that one day, they will sort out the rosters again and have Smackdown on Smackdown and Raw on Raw.

As for the extra time, well it's easy... HAVE MORE FUEDS! Instead of having the WWE Champion make 3 appearances that night, have him make 2, one half way through the show in an interview and one for the main event. There's also no need to have soooo much talking... The Cena / Vickie fued is driving me crazy, whomever came up with it should be smacked with a rolled up newspaper.

I also think that the WWE Champion shouldn't start the show, or the main event fued, it should be the mid-card championship fued or a tag team division match or even just a normal match. I don't wanna see every show start with Cena's annoying music over and over again, does anyone else hate that?

"Welcome to Monday Night Raw, we are live here in Dallas! Let's kick things off here tonight..."

"Duuuu'h, nuuuu'h, duuuu'h, nuuuu'h... Prprprprp-ARMONDO!"

Ugh, so annoying...
 
The following matchcards for PPVS/Raw can be set in this manner:

Cruiserweight title (in order to get the crowd pumped)

Filler match (if time allows)

Tag Team title

Filler match (if time allows)

US Title

Intercontinential Title

Hardcore Title

Heavyweight Title

WWE Championship Title

Or possibly the reintroduction of the European title and the order of the prominence of the titles would go like this
WWE Championship Title > Heavyweight Title > Intercontinental Title > US Title > European title > Tag Team Title > Cruiserweight Title.
 
@TheLurker- if you that many title matches on every raw, i believe it would devalue them severely, especially the WWE/ Heavyweight belts.
as much as most everyone would love that many matches on a given night, the promo times allow each match to be built up even if it is just a small promo segment. The WWE seems to want every superstar to be a great inring talent and be gold on the Mic. in order for that to happen, people need Mic time
 
Want to improve the ratings in the final hour? Brilliant. I have a radical suggestion. Here it comes... Make it so that the final hour is preceded by only one hour of Raw. Tops. Make sure there isn't enough mediocre WWE content that people get burned out. Because I promise you, in the WWE's current state, there's nothing you could put on in a third hour that will really set the world on fire. Except perhaps the Rock and Austin. Which isn't feasible every week. Might as well admit it: Raw just isn't exciting enough to blow people's skirts up for three hours. It lacks the steam. The end. Goodnight. And good luck.
 
I enjoyed tonight's RAW. Some thoughts.....

Anyone catch Heyman's and Punk's back and forth in Vicky's office?

Punk: What is wrong with her?!
Heyman: Everything!
Punk: What....What is wrong with HER?!
Heyman: You want a list?

Hilarious....I chuckled out loud.

I'm convinced Ambrose will be a star, just from those 5 minutes. He gives off an incredibly balanced feeling of non-chalant and passion at the same time. If you think about, those are opposites, yet he somehow conveys both. I'm hooked. Rollins is great too. I love the concept. The Shield. I can live with that. Down the road 6 months from now, if WWE needs to, they can still make them Heyman or Punk guys, but for now, they are somewhat on their own. Great exposure for them to start out their WWE career.

Does anyone else think Tamina is about 2 feet taller than her dad? What the hell?

The Smackdown replay of Cena-Ziggler was the first time I'd seen the STF on Ziggler from Friday. He even sells that well. He looked like he was really choking. He's a great talent, but I wished during his promo, instead of saying 'Cena, you know.....when AJ grabbed your neck, climbed on you, etc, etc....she was thinking about ME'....instead of saying that, I was hoping he was going to say 'Cena, you know just as well as I do that at that moment, You went soft....I'm better than you, you're on the way down, and I'm just starting. I'll beat you on my way to bigger and better things, etc.' Oh well......As long as he goes over at TLC, I'm happy.

I like Barrett and think he can be a main event, constant top 4 guy for a while, but if he's going to be in the mid-card for a little bit, all the better for the mid-card.....I hope they give him and Kofi a strong program to work with and give them enough time to make it a decent tenured feud. They can add in other elements when needed, other challengers and intertwine some storylines, but if that is the central feud, it can be a great thing.

Bryan deserves better. Whatever. He's a guy I'd feel confident letting him decide where to take his character and I wouldn't try to hold him back....he can get anything over if given the chance. He's that good.

Even though i couldn't watch the match, I'd love to see a Sheamus-Cesaro feud, with both looking strong and coming out better, but with Cesaro ultimately coming out on top. Some might say 'why would Sheamus go from the WHC to the US belt'.....make it a personal thing between them and it won't feel like he's being demoted and going for the weaker belt. Strong mid-card = stronger main event level.

Anyone else feel like Jack-Hammer should take over writing the RAW reviews for the main site instead of Isenberg? Please WZ, make this happen.
 
WWE Raw - November 26, 2012

1. Ryback vs. Titus O'Neil - A match that was pretty decent for what it was, at least in my opinion. The match seemed like it was following the set up of WWE progressing Ryback further. He's getting over without completely obliterating the competition as he used to. Titus got in a pretty decent amount of offense and was holding his own against Ryback for much of the match. I thought it was a little refreshing to see Ryback getting knocked down & tossed around. I knew what the ending would be, but it still looks like they're moving forward with Ryback. Ryback mounts a comeback and hits Shellshock for the win at the 3.5 minute mark. *1/2

Ryback Promo - I thought Ryback did well here. Nothing innovative or anything, just solid work on the mic with his trademark intensity. Like the matches we've seen of him lately, for the most part, the promo was another step in Ryback's development as a character. I like that Vickie Guerrero sold intimidation of Ryback when she came out to confront him even though she was about a hundred feet away. It keeps with the notion of Ryback being this near invincible beast, heightening it even as he's someone that basically intimidates the "boss". Ryback holds the show hostage for a bit and refuses to leave until he gets Punk, Ambrose, Rollins & Reigns. Telling Vickie to shut up was a nice, simple touch to further get the crowd behind him. He also tells Vickie that he wants Punk at TLC in a tables, ladders & chairs match. So as not to look completely inadequate, Vickie gives Ryback his match at TLC and gets him to leave the ring, after he beats up one of the security guards and scares the crap out of the others. Simple and effective. Thumbs Up

2. The Great Khali vs. Alberto Del Rio - Nothing really to say here. Del Rio ultimately gets the win over Khali with the Cross Armbar. This was done to kinda sorta defend Rosa's honor I suppose. Whatever. NA

Ambrose, Rollins & Reigns Interview - I thought this was a very good performance from all three men. Rollins & Ambrose delivered quite well with Reigns doing his part as the mostly silent muscle of the group. Anybody else think he looks almost exaclty like The Rock? His facial features are very similar to his and he's built like a tank. Ambrose & Rollins both looked comfortable and I like the fact that they didn't seem to give too much away here. They didn't have these three come out in front of everyone and spend 15 minutes laying out their entire agenda. The sit down interview was short, probably about 5 minutes, but the group ultimately said what they needed to say right now and keep people ultimately wondering about where their allegiances lie, if they have any that is. The bit about them simply being against injustice is something they can use to justify heel behavior. After all, different people can have a skewed view of what qualifies as injustice. Due to a comment made by Rollins, Ambrose announces that they're calling themselves The Shield. I also like that they didn't really give Michael Cole an opportunity to say anything, apart from the first 20 seconds or so to get things started. Some will probably dislike it because it wasn't in front of the live audience but, as this was their very first opportunity to speak, taping it was a good idea as they needed to make a clear first impression. Thumbs Up

3. Alicia Fox vs. Tamina Snuka - Pretty dull Divas match featuring probably the two dullest Divas on the roster. WWE is obviously going for Tamina to be the new dominant Diva. She has a good enough look for it but the girl is just flat out dull. She hits the Superfly Splash for the clean win about the 2.5 minute mark. 1/2*

AJ/Cena Scandal Segment - As with the other segments revolving around this, I had a mixed reaction to this. There's nowhere left to go with this so it's time to move on from it. The story in and of itself is already bland. I still like AJ on the mic as she does a good job but the whole bit of her sort of sexually harassing Cena with Cena standing with his hands folded in front of him looking shy was kinda stupid. It's 2012 people, it's ok for a man and a woman to like each other that way and to show it. :P Ziggler came out and did a good job on the mic, he's really starting to come into his own and he's developing a good presence on the mic. The comment about AJ ultimately thinking about him instead of Cena was a nice touch as it moves this angle into a direction in which AJ could possibly turn on Cena in favor of Ziggler. Vickie ultimately makes a match between the two for later in the night. Not a great segment overall by any stretch, but not horrible either. Thumbs In The Middle

4. Kofi Kingston vs. Tensai - Nice little showcase match for Kofi in putting him up against a big 300+ pounder. Wade Barrett did a nice job on commentary as well. The match wasn't quite as smooth as we're used to from Kofi but I thought a lot of that had to do with Tensai. He looked a little sloppy in a few spots and his timing was off. Tensai hit some nice high impact moves on Kofi and it did a decent job of countering much of his offense. The end comes with Kofi hitting the springboard high cross body at the 4 minute mark. As Kofi celebrates, Barrett walks into the ring carrying the IC title while smirking. He hands the title to Kofi and walks out. In the next few weeks, the WWE needs to give Kofi some mic time as he's starting to slip back to being just another mid-card guy. *3/4

5. Rey Mysterio vs. Daniel Bryan - This was partially the result of a Rawactive poll in which fans voted on who would face CM Punk in the main event: Daniel Bryan or Kane. Kane got the majority of the votes, which is the first evidence that I've seen since WWE started doing it that the poll is rigged. So Bryan was put into a match with Mysterio instead. A very good match with a good pace from these two. As with just about everyone else I've seen, Bryan has good chemistry with Mysterio and this could easily be the kind of match we could see on Main Event sometime. I'd love to see these two get 25 minutes to work. The match also gave some attention to the tag team scene as there's a good chance that Team Hell No will face Mysterio & Sin Cara at TLC for the tag titles. Bryan tries to put Mysterio in the No Lock a couple of times but comes up short. The second time he tries it late in the match, Mysterio manages to counter it and sets Bryan up for a slingshot sort of move. Bryan smacks into the middle turnbuckle and Rey delivers an improvised version of the 619 by swinging himself around the ring post. Mysterio then hits the Drop the Dime splash for the win at the 12.5 minute mark. Next week, we'll probably see Kane against Sin Cara with Kane picking up a win to even things out. ***

6. John Cena vs. Dolph Ziggler - Great effort from Cena & Ziggler with a lot of good back & forth stuff from them both. Ziggler looked strong against Cena and Cena's "injured knee" didn't seem to be giving him any problems until very late in the match. The match had a crisp pace to it and was basically what we've come to expect from Ziggler. I was disappointed in the ending, however, as this was a perfect shot to give Ziggler a meaningful win over John Cena. Cena sets Ziggler up for the AA but Ziggler counters and sort of flips out of it and comes up with the Zig Zag for a great near fall. Late in the match, Cena takes a powder outside and sells his knee problems, with a couple of officials checking him out. In the meantime, Ziggler climbs the ropes and begins to untie one of the turnbuckles. AJ comes down to stop him but Vickie stops her and gets her attention. The ref comes over to see what the commotion is about and Ziggler grabs the MITB briefcase. He attempts to waffle Cena with it but he ducks and this time puts Ziggler successfully in the AA for the win at the 12 minute mark. This probably sets up a rematch between the two at TLC, I'm betting a tables match. If that goes down and they give Ziggler a real win over Cena rather than a flukey one, then him losing on the show served a purpose. Otherwise, a wasted opportunity. ***1/4

7. Sheamus vs. Antonio Cesaro - I was really impressed with this match and this is the best Cesaro has looked since coming to WWE. Like we saw with Sheamus' matches against Wade Barrett, this was a strong physical match that had both guys look like a couple of studs. There was a lot of back & forth stuff and Cesaro hit several nice looking power moves, including some sort of inverted Torture Rack type of slam on Sheamus at one point in the match. Late in the match, Sheamus goes for the Battering Ram off the top but Cesaro counters with that great European Uppercut of his. He then goes to put Sheamus in the Neutralizer but Sheamus counters with a back drop before coming off the ropes and hitting the Brogue Kick. The kick knocks Cesaro out of the ring and he lies motionless on his face. As the ref begins to count, Big Show's music hits and he comes walking out slowly onto the ramp carrying a steel chair. Sheamus takes his attention from Cesaro and looks at Show. The ref counts to 10 and Cesaro is counted out at the 13 minute mark. Sheamus delivered a nice, brief promo afterward further hyping their WHC match at TLC and Show then proceeds to rip the chair apart before heading back. The ending of this match protected Cesaro and makes the fact that he lost to R-Truth in 3 minutes on SD! this past Friday seem even more useless. ***1/2

8. Zack Ryder vs. Damien Sandow - Fairly solid 5 minute match that served its purpose of giving Sandow some momentum heading into Wednesday's Main Event against John Cena and as a buffer for the main event. Nothing overly special here, just all around solid work from both guys. I continue to enjoy listening to and watching Sandow, there's money in this guy in the long term. I get the impression that WWE mostly just has him cooling his heels right now until Cody Rhodes comes back and they're able to resume working together as a tag team. Sandow gets the clean win with his neckbreaker finisher. **

9. Kane vs. CM Punk - A good main event match to close the show with. As we saw with them earlier this year, there's good chemistry between Punk & Kane. At one point in the match, it looks as though Punk may have tweaked his knee a little. I dunno if it was just for the match or if he really hurt it a bit. If it was hurt, then Punk showed guts by working through it. If it was a work, then Punk sold the crap out of it all through the match. At one point, Kane manages to hit a chokeslam on Punk but is unable to capitalize and make the cover. Heyman reaches into the ring and grabs Punk's foot to pull him closer to the ropes but the ref catches him. Kane then picks Punk up and looks like he's going for the Tombstone but he seems the members of The Shield standing out in the audience. Punk slithers down Kane's back and hits Kane in the back of the left knee. Punk puts Kane up on his shoulders and delivers the GTS for the clean win at the 10.5 minute mark. ***

Closing Segment - After the match, Ambrose, Rollins & Reigns slowly make their way into the ring. Punk backs into a corner, crouching, looking as though he's ready to either spring towards them or out of the ring. He sells concern as they climb into the ring but they turn their attention to Kane and begin assaulting him. I like that Cole brought up that maybe they thought that Punk was, once again, the victim of some sort of injustice with Lawler playing the skeptic. Daniel Bryan runs out to help Kane but is ultimately beaten down as well. As Punk is about to leave, Ryback's music hits and he makes his way down to the ring. He goes at it with The Shield and initially gets the upper hand, looking impressive as he holds his own. CM Punk runs up from behind and hits Ryback but Ryback grabs Punk. He goes for a powerbomb but Reigns rushed towards him and delivers a spear, taking Ryback down. The Shield then start to decimate Ryback, beating him down for a bit before they deliver powerbomb to him in the middle of the ring. As The Shield left, Punk stands over Ryback as he did last week. A strong segment to close things out. It kept things mysterious concerning the relationship between Punk & The Shield. While it's easy to suspect they're working together, you can't really be sure. The fact that they're not associating with him is enough to create some doubt. Thumbs Up

Final Thoughts - A strong show overall with only a couple of hiccups in my opinion. The whole AJ/Cena love story continues to drag on. I won't mind it so much as long as the mostly pointless promo segments come to an end. The Diva match & Del Rio vs. Khali served as cheap filler. The rest of the show worked very nicely with storylines being progressed, a strong debut for The Shield as a formal group, overall strong wrestling content and good hype for TLC. The best matches of the show were easily Mysterio vs. Bryan, Cena vs. Ziggler, Sheamus vs. Cesaro & Punk vs. Kane, with Sheamus vs. Cesaro being the match of the night in my opinion. Most of the rest of the matches served their purposes as a buffer or showcase match to give a wrestler some momentum.

Grade: B+
 
Ok I don't know if this bothered anyone else but the Shield storyline tonight was just really unrealistic.

We start off with The Shield attacking Team Hell No so....Where was Ryback to begin the night??? Why didn't he come out here to even the odds, why wait until the end of the night?

Later we get The Shield attacking Randy Orton so...Again where was Ryback here, better yet...Where was Team Hell No???

To End the night The Shield comes out and attacks The Miz to end the Miz TV segment. Team Hell No comes out this time followed finally by Ryback, now what happened to Randy Orton why didn't he come out now and where was Ryback the other two times The Shield attacked???

Does the WWE really expect us to believe someone would get attacked and not come out to try and get even as soon as possible??? This was just some really bad booking that was literally unbelievable. At least show Ryback arriving to the arena after the 1st two attacks and then come out in street clothes when he comes out for the save and maybe even show Orton leaving. As for Team Hell No, have them come out to save Orton only for The Shield to hightail it out of there or something without them being able to get a piece of them.
 
Ok I don't know if this bothered anyone else but the Shield storyline tonight was just really unrealistic.

We start off with The Shield attacking Team Hell No so....Where was Ryback to begin the night??? Why didn't he come out here to even the odds, why wait until the end of the night?

Later we get The Shield attacking Randy Orton so...Again where was Ryback here, better yet...Where was Team Hell No???

To End the night The Shield comes out and attacks The Miz to end the Miz TV segment. Team Hell No comes out this time followed finally by Ryback, now what happened to Randy Orton why didn't he come out now and where was Ryback the other two times The Shield attacked???

Does the WWE really expect us to believe someone would get attacked and not come out to try and get even as soon as possible??? This was just some really bad booking that was literally unbelievable. At least show Ryback arriving to the arena after the 1st two attacks and then come out in street clothes when he comes out for the save and maybe even show Orton leaving. As for Team Hell No, have them come out to save Orton only for The Shield to hightail it out of there or something without them being able to get a piece of them.

Then you must've hated every heel faction storyline going back to before D-Generation X, the nWo, and even the Four Horsemen. The concept of having a handful of guys taking out & beating up members of the roster at will while the other 40 or 50 guys in the back don't rush out to help has ALWAYS, and I mean ALWAYS, been a key element of getting a faction over. The Four Horsemen was nothing more than a small group of guys but they took over back in the mid 80s. The nWo originally started out with two men, Scott Hall & Kevin Nash, before adding Hulk Hogan and they decimated WCW. D-Generation X basically had the run of WWE in the late 90s despite initially being made up of two men & a steroid enhanced woman. At various points, they ALL did exactly what The Shield did on Raw last night. So c'mon, don't just nitpick at The Shield for doing this just because they're the latest thing while leaving some of wrestling's most celebrated factions & storylines untouched for doing the EXACT same stuff.

If you want straight up realism, then it doesn't make the slightest bit of sense to watch a program in which there are fake feuds, men & women portraying fictional characters and said men & women engaging in fake fights in which the outcomes are predetermined.
 
WWE Raw - December 3, 2012

1. Team Hell No vs. The Prime Time Players - This was a good, solid tag match between the two teams. The constant presence of The Shield hanging about and ultimately moving slowly closer to the ring during the match delivered a nice slow build up to what we all knew was coming. I liked this approach because it kept you guessing when they were going to hit while actually letting them put on a real match. It's a refreshing change from having guys hit the ring 3 minutes into a match. The storytelling was solid with Bryan & Kane being distracted & watching their backs while having to take on one of their top contenders. The ending of the match comes with Darren Young rolling Bryan up, just after knocking him into Kane, but Bryan reverses the roll up for the clean win at the 11.5 minute mark. Just as the bell rang, and with Kane knocked to the floor, The Shield suddenly strikes. It was a good bit of timing with the ending of the match helping to set up the inevitable beatdown. Two of them work over Kane outside, including targeting his arm, with one taking on Bryan in the ring. After Kane is incapacitated, the other two join in and quickly take Bryan down before ultimately delivering their group effort powerbomb. I personally might've gone with another team instead of the PTPs, like maybe the Usos, but I can't complain much because it was a solid tag match that featured good use of The Shield to keep Bryan & Kane going in their more productive direction as a team. **1/2

2. AJ Lee vs. Tamina Snuka - Pretty decent as far as Diva matches go. In the grand scheme of things, nothing to be awed about. All in all, the gals told a decent story with AJ as the scrappy & tenacious girl going against the bigger, stronger daughter of a wrestling legend. AJ did a good job of selling Tamina's offense and the crowd was behind AJ. The ending was predictable with AJ quickly rolling up Tamina for the win at the 3 minute mark after Tamina just begins to climb the ropes to go for the Superfly Splash. *1/4

CM Punk & The Miz - Very good mic work from CM Punk and Paul Heyman, which has become par for the course. Whenever Punk gets heated up and goes on a passionate tirade, it's a lot of fun to hear in my opinion. Punk reaffirmed that he has nothing to do with Brad Maddox or The Shield while ultimately putting over his title reign. The Miz interrupts and comes out wearing a suit. He does his schtick and it's ok, but not the best we've seen from The Miz. Miz's promos are far more entertaining when he puts passion into it rather than trying to be the snarky, cocky & sarcastic guy. He ultimately challenges Punk to prove his innocence by appearing on MizTV and taking a lie detector test. I thought it sounded interesting because, all in all, I wasn't sure how it would end. Punk trades insults with Miz for a bit before ultimately agreeing to undergo the test. It wasn't the best promo segment, mostly because of The Miz, but it sets up something that's potentially interesting. Thumbs Up

3. John Cena & Sheamus vs. The Big Show & Dolph Ziggler - Fun tag team match that the live crowd was hot for from beginning to end. It was a nice showcase overall and a way of combining two current feuds. Big Show looked pretty dominant here as he tossed Cena & Sheamus around but he didn't look over the top dominant, so it kept the match interesting. Ziggler was his usual athletic & entertaining self during the match. The ending comes with a cool double spot in which Cena delivers AA to Ziggler & Sheamus delivers White Noise to Show simultaneously. Cena covers Ziggler for the win at the 12 minute mark. I'm not that thrilled with Ziggler losing to Cena again, so I'm hoping that this is all ultimately leading up to a big win for Ziggler at TLC. **3/4

Damien Sandow - Sandow came out to cut a promo in which he states he's looking for an apprentice. He did this for the first time this past Friday on SD!. I enjoy listening to Sandow on the mic. He's very good in his current character and his promo style is different from most other wrestlers. He picks someone out of the audience to come out. One guy thinks he's picked and is excited before Sandow states that he was talking to the guy beside him, the one with all his teeth. The crowd reaction was hilarious. The guy comes into the ring and Sandow reprimands him in a deadpan way for being excited. He asks a couple of routine questions that the guy gets right before throwing a hard one at him, the answer of which is John Keats, before Sandow ridicules him and dismisses him. Santino's music hits and he comes down for a bit and tries his comedy bit with Sandow before Sandow decks him, ultimately setting up a match. Nice work from Sandow in a segment that didn't feel like it dragged. Thumbs Up

4. Santino Marella vs. Damien Sandow - Not much to say here. The match was joined in progress and Sandow ultimately gets the win with his neckbreaker finisher. NA

Vickie Guerrero Backstage - Vickie had some encounters with a couple of wrestlers backstage. First, she's speaking with Dolph Ziggler and Ziggler puts himself over while saying Big Show was a lousy tag partner. He convinces Vickie to give him a one on one rematch against Cena at TLC, which she agrees to. She then heads into her office where Brad Maddox is waiting. I thought Maddox did a nice job of coming across as a cocky guy that's accomplished a lot that's accomplished nothing. It's a character that fits well in today's society in which it seems damn near everybody, no matter how untalented they are, seems to have their own reality show or something. Maddox having his own camera man helps to paint Maddox in the whole reality star light. He asks for a contract and Vickie says he'll get one if he can beat his opponent tonight, though she doesn't tell him who it will be. Nothing overly special about this but it did what it was supposed to in announcing a big match for TLC and setting up something to watch Maddox get killed. NA

5. Sin Cara vs. Alberto Del Rio - A surprisingly good match, one that delivered much more than I was expecting. I kinda groaned a little when Del Rio's music hit because we've seen this match several times. The crowd wasn't all that into it either at first either. Like me, I'm betting they were expecting Del Rio to put Cara way in 3 minutes or so. However, also like me, they got into the match pretty solidly once they saw it wasn't going to be a 3 minute deal. Sin Cara looked good against Del Rio and got in a lot of offense. Sin Cara really has improved a lot as there really wasn't any sort of botch to speak of, except maybe for right at the very end of the match. The end comes with Del Rio locking on the Cross Armbar submission at the 13 minute mark, forcing Sin Cara to tap. I expected Del Rio to win but I didn't expect to see a pretty good match. **3/4

Vince McMahon Returns - Pretty decent segment with Vince & Vickie out there in the ring. It was something along the lines of a briefer promo segment the two had a while back in which Vince sort of coached/coerced Vickie into altering the Survivor Series line up by putting Cena, Punk & Ryback in a triple threat match. Vickie did a nice job of selling as if she was walking on egg shells around Vince as she was both intimidated by him and wasn't sure what he wanted. Vince sort of coaches/coerces Vickie into adding a stipulation to the Cena vs. Ziggler match in which the match is now a ladder match & Zigglers MITB brieface is on the line. Ziggler's gonna have a cow. I also like how Vince called Vickie on all the "crap" with AJ & Cena. Put a nice little twist on things and seems to indicate that those segments are done with. Vince mentions the lie detector test thing and Vickie, mostly on her own, comes up with the idea of having Paul Heyman face Ryback in a match next week of Punk fails the test. All in all, a fun little segment that really upped the intensity for Cena vs. Ziggler and put all that much more attention on the lie detector segment. Thumbs Up

6. Randy Orton vs. Brad Maddox - Orton squashes Maddox in about 2 minutes. As Orton starts to celebrate, he's suddenly attacked from behind by The Shield. They beat Orton down for a bit before putting him in their powerbomb move before leaving him laying. This was a nice, fairly subtle suggestion of Maddox being part of The Shield, or at least working with them. The possibility of this was voiced on commentary during Orton being beaten down. NA

Vickie Backstage - There were a few more brief backstage segments with Vickie & various stars. Ziggler comes in and complains before telling Vickie that she's becoming just like AJ. Paul Heyman comes in and the two share one of the longest staredowns in history before Heyman leaves. Then Cena comes in all smiles & happy about his shot at Ziggler's MITB briefcase. Vickie shows a couple of bows to Cena that she found belonging to AJ. She tells Cena that it's a sign that AJ is getting obsessed with Cena just like she has with every other guy. Cena walks out with something of a worried look. NA

7. Antonio Cesaro vs. Kofi Kingston vs. R-Truth vs. Wade Barrett for the WWE United States Championship - This was originally set up as a tag match before Teddy Long came out & announced that it was changed to a Fatal Fourway championship match. The fans would vote on which title would be defended. About 87% voted for Cesaro to defend his title. The match itself was excellent, far better than what I was expecting to be honest. The crowd was hot for the match from start to end and all four men looked good, especially Kofi & Cesaro. WWE is really good at setting up these sort of matches as they're able to pull them off without the action becoming a chaotic clusterfuck. There were several great near falls during the match and Cesaro coming up at the last possible instant to keep the ref from counting Barrett's shoulders down added a nice suspenseful moment to things. The end comes with Kofi nailing Wade Barrett with Trouble in Paradise and he goes for the win. However, Cesaro comes up behind him and physically hoists Kofi off Barrett in a gut wrench. I thought it was going for the gut wrench suplex that he does but he positioned Kofi for the Neutralizer. It was an impressive display of power as, at one point, he was holding all of Kofi's weight up against his body with one arm while he positioned the other. Cesaro hits the Neutralizer for the clean win at the 13 minute mark to retain his title. This is a match that could've easily gone for another 10 or 15 minutes without being the least bit dull. A good outing for Kofi & Cesaro especially and it further sets up their one on one match this Wednesday on Main Event. ***1/2

MizTV Segment - I was mixed on this segment all in all. The lie detector aspect of the segment simply didn't do much for me. It just felt kinda dull and it dragged on. It didn't feel like a "serious" thing with Miz making juvenile insults at Punk through his questions. It picked up at the end though when Miz got to the real question of Punk's involvement with Maddox & The Shield. As Punk gets ready to answer, The Shield comes out and start to beat Miz down. They beat on Miz for a bit while Punk gets out of the way. Team Hell No comes out and they get involved in things. The Shield starts to gain the advantage when Ryback's music hits. He comes out to a big pop and helps turn the tide, evening things up in terms of numbers. Team Hell No & Ryback beat The Shield back, driving them over the railings and out through the crowd. Punk is back in the ring taunting a fallen Miz, including delivering some kicks to him. With his attention on Miz, Punk doesn't know that Ryback is in the ring behind him. He attacks Punk, ultimately hitting him with Shellshock. He goes under the ring and pulls out a steel chair and gives Punk a single, but very stiff looking, shot to the back. He then pulls a ladder out from under the ring and gives Punk a hard thrust to the gut. As Punk sells the effects of Ryback's offense, Ryback sets a table up inside the ring. Ryback then delivers a powerbomb to CM Punk, putting him through the able while celebrating with the crowd. The first half of the segment didn't do much but the second half was a lot of fun that the crowd was super hot for. Ryback got some payback on The Shield & Punk. Thumbs In The Middle

Final Thoughts - Raw was an extremely strong show last night in my opinion. It felt more like a hot go home show even though the go home show for TLC isn't until next Monday. From an overall perspective, this may have been the best use of the additional television time since Raw went to three hours. The Shield was used perfectly well throughout the night. They weren't brought out & used against just anybody as they took out Team Hell No & Randy Orton, three of the top stars on the roster. The main promo segments were solid overall with Punk & Heyman doing a good job as always. Vince coercing Vickie into making Cena vs. Ziggler at ladder match for Ziggler's MITB briefcase works great. It's an opportunity to give Ziggler a big win over Cena without it looking like a fluke. Much better than having a tables match. Wrestling action on Raw last night was pretty strong overall. The opening tag match with THN vs. the PTPs was a solid match with Cena & Sheamus vs. Show & Ziggler being a little bit better. Sin Cara vs. Del Rio was a surprisingly good, very solid outing. The Fatal Fourway US title match was easily the match of the night and was really great, FAR more than what I was honestly expecting. All the top matches on the show were given a good amount of time with the US title match being a legit ppv worthy match. I kind of wish they'd have built this match up over the course of the night as it would've made it even just a bit better. The lie detector segment was hit & miss. The lie detector aspect fell flat but the brawl afterward was a hot way to close the show. Ryback gets some revenge on The Shield and beats Punk down to the crowd's delight. A hot show and I hope WWE is able to keep this level of excitement up for next week as it's the actual go home show for TLC.

Grade: A-
 
I agree with your review Jack Hammer. For me it was the most entertaining Raw in a good while. Raw has been steadily improving over the past few weeks.

The highlight for me was the fatal four way. Antonio Cesaro proved that he can rise to be a main eventer. All four competitiors looked strong and proved that the WWE's mid-card is as strong as it's been for a while.

Sandow was very entertaining, certainly enjoyed that more than watching Khali and Hornswoggle dance in the ring or some other silly segment like that. It provided light entertainment without it being overly childish. Sandow has quickly become one of my favourites on the roster.

The Shield destroying Team Hell No and then Orton was a nice touch and added to their mistique. I was also happy to see Maddox back, he's a good actor and although he'll probably just job hes at least got an interesting character.

I disagree slightly with your views about the Miz's promo with Punk and Heyman. I actually thought the Miz was excellent and he's coming across well as a face. It was a a great teaser for what could be an interesting feud in the future. The lie detector segment was a bit silly but thankfully the Shield, Team Hell No and Ryback turned it into a good ending. It was nice to see Ryback get some retribution on Punk at the end.
 

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