WWE Raw - December 10, 2012
Opening Segment - Pretty solid segment that started the show off overall. Ziggler continues to improve on the mic and he's drawing great heat from the crowd without the presence of Vickie Guerrero. Ziggler puts over his match with Cena while standing atop a ladder with his MITB briefcase hanging above. After a few minutes, Sheamus' music hits and he comes out for a bit. Sheamus was hit & miss for me as I'm not a huge fan of his jovial, fun loving Irish lug babyface character. I like Sheamus, but I think he could be far better as a more serious babyface and he's far better as a heel. Big Show interrupted next and did a nice job in his role. He put down both Sheamus & Ziggler before Sheamus did his usual schtick. Sheamus acknowledged the no contact contract they had to sign on SmackDown! this past Friday but said he could have contact with someone else before pushing the ladder over, causing Ziggler to straddle the top rope. You had to know it was going to happen the second Sheamus' music hit. Nothing spectacular here, just solid work from Show & Ziggler. Sheamus was ok and you also got a feeling this would set up a match for Ziggler & Sheamus later. Thumbs Up
Vince & Vickie - Basically a repeat of Vince's interaction with Vickie in which he sort of coaches her into making matches. In this one, he winds up making a match between AJ Lee and Vickie, which the crowd popped big for. Nothing good or bad happened here, just a brief interview segment on the stage to set up something for later. NA
1. R-Truth vs. Wade Barrett - This was disappointing. The match lasted barely 2 minutes with Truth scoring a clean win over Barrett via a modified victory roll. Kofi did a nice job on commentary and his comment about Cesaro's man purse made me chuckle a little. I do like that WWE has made Truth & Cesaro an actual feud. It's not a great one, but at least it's something that WWE has put some effort into rather than something that just feels tacked onto the ppv. I don't really have much of a problem with Truth winning the match, my problem is that it took 2 minutes to do it. Barrett is someone that we've seen in 15-25 minute wars against Sheamus & Randy Orton over the past couple of months, yet we're supposed to buy into Truth beating him in 2 minutes? Piss poor booking. NA
2. The Usos vs. Team Rhodes Scholars vs. The Prime Time Players vs. Primo & Epico - This was a four-way elimination tag match with the winning team going onto TLC to face Rey Mysterio & Sin Cara in a Tables Match to determine the #1 contenders for the WWE Tag Team Championship. I'm a little mixed on this match. There was some good action in the first few minutes between E&P and the Usos, but E&P have been so devalued in their ridiculous program with Khali & Hornswoggle that it made me feel as if they shouldn't have been in this match. They're eliminated about the 4 minute mark before they go to commercial. When they come back from commercial, it's revealed that the PTPs have been eliminated by the Usos, so it felt like something of waste of even putting them in the match. The Usos and TRS put on a pretty decent match, however, so that's a plus. Another plus is that it's nice to see the Usos being used well. They're a team with a ton of potential and I'm hoping that this match is a step forward in them being a force within the tag team scene. The end comes when one of them goes for the Superfly Splash on Rhodes, but Rhodes got his knees up at the last instant. He then delivers Cross Rhodes for the clean win at the 11 minute mark. Team Rhodes Scholars go onto TLC. **1/4
3. Eve vs. Alicia Fox - I dunno what happened here as my satellite lost the signal for a little bit. I doubt I missed much. NA
CM Punk & Paul Heyman - Pretty solid promo segment from Punk & Heyman. It wasn't as passionate as some of their more recent stuff, but it was still solid work. I like that Punk addressed the issue of his injury, though I thought WWE should've been talking more about it up to this point than they had. Punk put himself and his run over, including listing some of the people he's beaten since becoming champ. He put down Ryback as someone not smart enough to want him healthy, thus costing him his title shot at TLC. I also liked that they seem to have begun the hype for his match with The Rock at the Royal Rumble. All in all, just a solid & brief segment that did it's job and didn't drag. Thumbs Up
4. Sheamus vs. Dolph Ziggler - Strong showing from both wrestlers here. It wasn't the best match I've seen out of them, but it was still a strong match just the same. Ziggler seemed more focused & aggressive here than usual, not nearly as much "showing off" and gave Sheamus a competitive match. The biggest spot of the match came with Sheamus going for the Battering Ram off the top but Ziggler hops the turnbuckles and pulls him off the top for a Facebuster for a great near fall. Sheamus makes a comeback a bit later and hits the Irish Curse for another good fall. Sheamus sets up for the Brogue Kick but Ziggler dodges and takes a powder outside. Sheamus follows him out but gets slammed in the gut with a steel chair. The ref calls for the bell as they make their way back into the ring, after which Ziggler gives Sheamus a hard shot across the back with the chair. He winds up to give Sheamus another shot but Sheamus is able to Brogue Kick the chair out of Ziggler's hands, prompting Ziggler to hit the road. I like that they protected Ziggler and Sheamus here, I don't know why they haven't protected him like that against Cena. A strong, physical 16 minute match. ***
The Shield Promo Replay - This past Friday on SD!, they showed a brief video promo made by The Shield and they simply showed it here on Raw. It was brief and well done with Ambrose & Rollins being the clear standouts in terms of speaking for the group. Reigns comes off more as someone that's the mostly silent bruiser of the group, which works fine. Ambrose shines here and I'm guessing he's probably the overall leader of the group, if there is a leader. Thumbs Up
5. Zack Ryder vs. Alberto Del Rio - I actually groaned when I heard Ryder's music hit. We've seen Del Rio destroy in in so many 2 minute squash matches in the past that it's ridiculous. However, I was pleasantly surprised that we actually got a pretty decent match that was fairly competitive. Ryder got in a lot of offense on Del Rio and, all in all, looked better than he has in quite a long time. Ryder took a lot of Del Rio's key offense and kept coming back. I thought for a while that Ryder might come up with an upset win, the announcers mentioned it a bit, but I'd forgotten that Del Rio faces Ryback this Wednesday on Main Event. When Cole mentioned that, I immediately knew that Ryder wasn't going to win. Del Rio gets the win via the Cross Arm Breaker at the 7 minute mark. It was a filler match but it was pretty decent filler. I'll take it over 2 minute squash matches any day. **
6. AJ Lee vs. Vickie Guerrero - There wasn't really much to say about this match all in all. The overall segment featured some nice storytelling though, believe it or not. Once Vickie & AJ are both in the ring, Vickie calls out to Lawler & Cole that they need a referee. After a few minutes, Brad Maddox walks out onto the stage with a smarmy look on his face dressed as a ref. He gets pretty decent heat as he slowly makes his way to the ring. He calls for the bell and the gals fight for a bit, Vickie gets the upper hand as she jumps AJ from behind. AJ mounts a comeback and slaps Vickie hard before going for the pin. Maddox stands over in the corner, still looking cocky and doesn't make the count. AJ confronts him and Vickie rolls her up. Maddox makes the count and Vickie scores the win. I was surprised that Vince didn't walk out and restart the match but, frankly, I kinda like that he didn't. I think WWE tries to put on too many "feel good moments" for the fans sometimes and AJ losing keeps the angle going. It also makes you wonder if Maddox was "hired" by Vickie before the match or if he's hoping to earn his way into her good graces. The match wasn't anything to speak of, as I said, but some decent storytelling took place. NA
7. Kofi Kingston vs. Antonio Cesaro - This was a damn good effort from both men. Kofi & Cesaro have great chemistry against each other and Cesaro's more ground & pound, brawl/power based stuff is fun to see against Kofi's high flying quickness. The match started off a little slow but it picked up very nicely into an eventual back & forth thing. Cesaro looked strong tossing Kofi around here and there while Kofi looked resilient bouncing back from it. Kofi hit a great near fall after rolling Cesaro up in the SOS. Cesaro has great timing in these near falls he gets as he manages to always kick out right at the last possible instant. In this case, he reaches out to grab the bottom rope. Late in the match, Kofi climbs up to the top to go for the high cross body and jumps. Cesaro catches him in mid air across his right shoulder and spins him over into a backbreaker. A killer looking spot that made Cesaro look like a beast. Cesaro than puts Kofi in the Neutralizer and gets the clean win a little past the 14 minute mark. ***1/2
Miz TV - There was a Miz TV segment that was set up on the stage with Miz interviewing Team Rhodes Scholars. I'm mixed on this segment. I thought Rhodes & Sandow did well overall, Cody is already drawing some good heat for the mustache he's grown. I'm a little confused on what WWE is trying to do with The Miz. He's still the same smarmy, annoying bastard now that he was when he was heel. I kept hoping that Team Rhodes Scholars would jump him throughout the segment. His insults to Cody & his mustache, and the little tongue in cheek gay joke, was pretty funny. It initially looked like Miz was trying to cause some trouble between the two but it went from "Sandow" saying stuff about Cody to it being clear that Miz is just being an ass. Cody responds to Sandow not to worry as he's not buying anything that someone dressed like "Colonel damn Sanders" is saying. They leave with Miz calling them "the pink and the stink". It was an ok segment, but Miz was more annoying than entertaining. Thumbs In The Middle
8. The Big Show vs. John Cena - A surprisingly good 15 minute match between the two of them. The match did drag a little bit at times, which is something that almost always happens in Big Show matches, but they put on a good main event for the show. Show looked impressive by consistently overpowering Cena and, usually, just brushing aside his offense, with Cena looking...well like Cena after bouncing back each time from Show's offense. Cena eventually launches into the Five Moves of Doom, though it's only four this time as he only lands one shoulder block on Show. As Show recovers from the Five Knuckle Shuffle, Cena manages to hoist on on his shoulders to deliver the AA. Show rolls over towards the ropes as Cena collapses from exhaustion. Before any one of them can follow up, The Shield comes through the crowd and begin to attack Cena. The ref calls for the bell, so I'm assuming Cena gets the win via DQ. **3/4
Brawl - The final minutes of the show were devoted to a final sales pitch for TLC by having all of the wrestlers in a top match get together in the ring for a big brawl. As The Shield is taking out Cena, Team Hell No comes running down and things start to get even, as Cena soon recovers and joins in. Dolph Ziggler hits the ring and attacks Cena. Ryback's music hits and he gets involved. Big Show is back in things and helps Ziggler with Cena. Sheamus' music hits and he runs out and begins fighting with Ziggler & The Shield. Sheamus & Show didn't touch each other, so it's good to see that WWE didn't decide to just forget about the no contact clause stuff. The show goes off the air with the brawl going on. It was an effective, chaotic brawl. It's something that WWE doesn't do too often, so they can't be accused of beating a dead horse. Thumbs Up
Final Thoughts - Last night's Raw was pretty solid overall, though it wasn't the hottest go home show I've seen. The promo segments were generally pretty solid, though nothing really stood out. Probably the best overall promo segment was the replay of The Shield video that they originally showed on SD! this past Friday. Wrestling action was solid overall, though some matches didn't really work. Truth vs. Barrett didn't click because I don't buy into Barrett losing in 2 minutes to someone like Truth when he's taken Sheamus & Orton to the limit in the past few months, including scoring some wins here and there over them. I didn't see the Divas match but I'm doubting I missed anything. The tag team elimination match was pretty decent almost entirely due to The Usos & Team Rhodes Scholars. Team Rhodes Scholars going onto face Mysterio & Sin Cara at TLC makes sense and I'm hoping this means a brighter future for the Usos as they had a good night and showing for themselves. Sheamus vs. Ziggler was a strong tv match and I like that they protected Ziggler here. Both have huge matches so neither needed to really lose. Kofi vs. Cesaro was match of the night and was a great effort that gave Cesaro a strong win. Del Rio vs. Ryder was filler, but at least we got what was an ok match rather than a 2 minute squash. AJ vs. Vickie was good for what it was as it stirs some questions as to Brad Maddox. It honestly wasn't the train wreck that I figured it'd be. They didn't try to have an actual match and that's a good thing, because they've gone that route a few times with Vickie in the past and it was awful. AJ seems to be heading back towards the emotionally unstable "crazy chick" that's helped make her a star in 2012. Cena vs. Big Show was a good, solid main event that was better than I expected. The big brawl at the end was entertaining. It was strange that Ryback & Team Hell No hadn't made an appearance on the show before then. At the same time though, it wouldn't be long before people were complaining that they were on the show too much.
Grade: B-
