Official Raw/Smackdown Aftermath, Ratings and Review Thread

[Brahma_Bull9]

Watching it on DVR, when Rock goes and Heyman is out I'm done with this shit. That Hornswoggle or whatever the fuck his name is was ridiculous. Every week they do some shit that insults my intelligence. I mean who wrote that shit, I know its for kids, but what the fuck.

 

[Radical]

Jack Hammer - it's like one must have such indignation for goofy segments in order to have such passion and interest in wrestling. The Mae Young segments were cute and goofy. How can you not get some enjoyment from an 86(?) year old woman doing campy comedy? What do you think of Betty White? That woman is huge right now.

WWE has done some lame-ass comedy bits through its history but something involving the Muppets, Brodus Clay, R-Truth or Heath Slater, etc. is nothing compared to the dreadfully unfunny bit with Mae Young. Those segments were just terrible. TERRIBLE. And it is why people constantly have to debate if they should keep watching wrestling because it's really hard to defend liking that type of stuff. Inevitably, people who watch wrestling have to always say "Well, I like some parts of it but other parts I don't like" because there is just so much utter garbage WWE puts out.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

WWE has done some lame-ass comedy bits through its history but something involving the Muppets, Brodus Clay, R-Truth or Heath Slater, etc. is nothing compared to the dreadfully unfunny bit with Mae Young.
Those segments were just terrible. TERRIBLE.

I can't speak for your taste but WWE does six hours of cable programming a week, plus PPVs, internet shows, and house shows. What do you expect from them? Perpetual perfection? It's not a blow job, it's entertainment and bound to have flaws. It's also wrestling, it's fake, stupid and over the top. Sometimes they try silly things that are not meant to be taken seriously or offend. You can't keep an audience focused on intense violence for 180 minutes straight, it leads to burnout. Plus, isn't it kind of cool to see a woman Mae Young's age still being able to be a part of something she loves?

And it is why people constantly have to debate if they should keep watching wrestling because it's really hard to defend liking that type of stuff.

Why would you defend liking something you find "terrible"? Defend the stuff you do like, and criticize the stuff you don't. What world do you live on where 100% of a movie, TV shows, date, marriage, job, or video game is completely enjoyable?

Inevitably, people who watch wrestling have to always say "Well, I like some parts of it but other parts I don't like" because there is just so much utter garbage WWE puts out.

Again, out of countless hours of programming there is going to be some shit. And when did the world get so uptight that a dwarf in a diaper is not funny? Is this a PC thing?

 

[Brahma_Bull9]

I can't speak for your taste but WWE does six hours of cable programming a week, plus PPVs, internet shows, and house shows. What do you expect from them? Perpetual perfection? It's not a blow job, it's entertainment and bound to have flaws. It's also wrestling, it's fake, stupid and over the top. Sometimes they try silly things that are not meant to be taken seriously or offend. You can't keep an audience focused on intense violence for 180 minutes straight, it leads to burnout. Plus, isn't it kind of cool to see a woman Mae Young's age still being able to be a part of something she loves?




Why would you defend liking something you find "terrible"? Defend the stuff you do like, and criticize the stuff you don't. What world do you live on where 100% of a movie, TV shows, date, marriage, job, or video game is completely enjoyable?



Again, out of countless hours of programming there is going to be some shit. And when did the world get so uptight that a dwarf in a diaper is not funny? Is this a PC thing?

usually about the time your balls drop that bit isnt funny, and Mae is so old it's uncomfortable to look at. I mean, if they did it differently, like had her have a fake baby or something in 9 months.... lol you can do something with that especially with old ass women having babies now. But it's not that it isn't politically correct, I like when it isn't politically correct. I like Comedy in the show I don't mind it, but I mean for someone to come up with that idea, and then for it not to get shot down shows the lack of talent in the WWE when it comes to writing. That's all... I don't get it, you say criticize the parts you like and give credit where credit is due. Then you go on and criticize people for being critical of a completely ******ed segment. I mean if you like it cool, I'm just shocked anybody over 7 to 10 age range could actually think that's funny, and I don't even know if many of them would have thought that was funny. blow job? perpetual perfection? Have u ever had a bj most girls suck at suckin dick lol. dont get that one either

 

[George Steele's Barber]

usually about the time your balls drop that bit isnt funny, and Mae is so old it's uncomfortable to look at.

If it's her physical appearance that is the problem I don't know what to tell you Channing Tatum. People age, it's not pretty. Personally, I kind of like the idea of someone doing something well beyond the age of appropriateness. On top of that, I think it's great that WWE occassionally pays tribute and gives opportunities to their legends, even if it occassionally upsets some of you.

I mean, if they did it differently, like had her have a fake baby or something in 9 months.... lol you can do something with that especially with old ass women having babies now.

So your solution for a 5 minute bit that you hated is to turn it in to a 9 month storyline. Have you been in charge of the US Debt for the past 30 years? I see parallels in your logic.

But it's not that it isn't politically correct, I like when it isn't politically correct. I like Comedy in the show I don't mind it, but I mean for someone to come up with that idea, and then for it not to get shot down shows the lack of talent in the WWE when it comes to writing.

It was a bit based on an angle from years ago. It had an element of the movie Aliens. It wasn't laugh out loud funny for me but I liked the nostalgia. It was a cute little harmless bit that took no time at all. The outrage and anger from people is painful to listen to.

That's all... I don't get it, you say criticize the parts you like and give credit where credit is due. Then you go on and criticize people for being critical of a completely ******ed segment.

Except the level of hatred and threats of never watching the show again and criticism of the lack of the writers ability when they've been bringing countless hours of entertainment from years just sounds so reactionary and short sided.

I mean if you like it cool, I'm just shocked anybody over 7 to 10 age range could actually think that's funny, and I don't even know if many of them would have thought that was funny. blow job? perpetual perfection? Have u ever had a bj most girls suck at suckin dick lol. dont get that one either

So you prefer guys, that's cool.

 

[TWJC: The Beginning]

usually about the time your balls drop that bit isnt funny, and Mae is so old it's uncomfortable to look at. I mean, if they did it differently, like had her have a fake baby or something in 9 months.... lol you can do something with that especially with old ass women having babies now. But it's not that it isn't politically correct, I like when it isn't politically correct. I like Comedy in the show I don't mind it, but I mean for someone to come up with that idea, and then for it not to get shot down shows the lack of talent in the WWE when it comes to writing. That's all... I don't get it, you say criticize the parts you like and give credit where credit is due. Then you go on and criticize people for being critical of a completely ******ed segment. I mean if you like it cool, I'm just shocked anybody over 7 to 10 age range could actually think that's funny, and I don't even know if many of them would have thought that was funny. blow job? perpetual perfection? Have u ever had a bj most girls suck at suckin dick lol. dont get that one either

Usually, by the time your brain matures past age 15, most of the Attitude Era wasn't awesome either. It's pro wrestling. It's grown men oiled up in underwear pretending to fight. In the 80s Hogan carried the flag, coked up, balding, flexing, yelling, just ridiculous.

Also, the Mae Young stuff was "fun". Am I on the floor rolling around like I've just heard an Anthony Jesselnik joke? No, but it's fun. It's no different than choppy choppy pee pee, the first time Mae Young birthed something strange, Golddust, basically any 80s skit, Kane raping a corpse, or really, the idea that when I whip you into the ropes you do a very coordinated move and pivot then run at me dumbfounded and let me clothesline you. It's pro wrestling. It's an entire spectrum. Campy and corny to intense to sad. It's all live performance and it's all awesome. Stop taking yourself so seriously.

I really liked the show. Felt like it had a good amount of variety.

Your name is Brahma Bull8 or some bullshit. The Mae Young segment was smarter than "Kung Pow Bitch" whatever the hell that means. The Mae Young stuff at least referenced an old ridiculous Attitude Era segment and was almost a character trait continuation.

 

[King Regal]

While your at it, have the shield jump Booker T, and insert Paul Heyman as the GM. That would be a fun

That would be awesome - throw a big heel stable behind him with Lesnar making an odd appearance and I'd be glued. IF we could trust the writers to build it up, of course.

 

[MisterRob]

It's clear by reading some of the comments about this past Monday's RAW why and how the internet world has ruined the wrestling business and had such a negative effect for the fans. When people watch a 3 HOUR show, one that was actually quite good overall, and they pick at one FIVE MINUTE segment and negatively beat that one segment like a dead horse, basically writing off the rest of the whole show because of it, it makes me shake my head.

Who gives a crap if five minutes of the show was utterly terrible? That doesn't erase the rest of the show, and the rest of RAW was entertaining and all around good. RAW had some very good wrestling matches, some interesting segments and feuds evolving, and it even had a nice title change with Barrett winning the Intercontinential belt.

When we're talking about five minutes of a show, I really think we should just instead focus on the positives. It's really not that hard in this instance. This generation is just full of people who want, like some strange addiction, to grab any little bit of negativity and focus all their efforts on that.

 

[Mustang Sally]

Just a word about last night's Smackdown, addressed to the people who criticize the quality of the matches.

Two of the contests were terrific. Heath Slater vs. The Miz was classic; I was surprised and pleased the two worked so well together. I've never been a fan of Miz, but he mixed it up with Heath in a contest that didn't have a single flaw, as far as I could see. Especially after McIntyre and Mahal were banished from ringside, the two performers worked about as well as could be. The match told a story and kept me absorbed the whole time.

As if that wasn't enough, the Kofi vs. Wade Barrett match for the IC title was far better than I expected.....and far more effective than their other efforts against each other. One minute, I was sure one guy was going to take it.....followed by just the opposite a moment later. They handled the momentum swings and offensive thrusts with an expertise I didn't realize either possessed. Before the match started, I was sure Wade would retain, but there was plenty of cause to doubt that as the contest went on.....which is the essence of a good wrestling match, no?

Both matches went about 10 minutes, which was also pleasing given that most WWE contests are much shorter in duration and barely are given the time to get the fans interested. By the way, that was also pleasing; I kept looking at the fans at ringside and saw they were actually watching the matches rather than glancing everywhere except the ring, as so often happens.

Watch the undercard; the best stuff is often presented there....as it was last night.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

WWE Friday Night SmackDown! - January 4, 2013

Opening Segment - I thought the opening of the show last night was pretty decent. It wasn't great, but it ultimately did it's job in setting up the main event, starting off the soon-to-be Sheamus/Orton feud and introducing tension into said feud. I didn't really see a need for Cesaro's presence but I don't have any real complaints. He's being put in the main event of the night with three main event level stars, but I'd have rather seen him begin toward a new feud because I have a feeling he'll be mostly fodder for Sheamus & Orton. Thumbs In The Middle

1. The Miz vs. Heath Slater - Color me surprised, but this was a pretty damn good match. I was expecting something along the lines of a 3 or 4 minute encounter in which Miz mostly dominated while Slater got in a brief bit of offense. Slater looked good against Miz and Miz is getting over with his babyface character. While it's a lot like his heel persona, it's getting a good response. Slater got in a lot of offense and they worked this match well together. While there was no real surprise as to who was going to win, it's nice to see WWE starting Slater off in 2013 without him looking like a clown. I'm not wild about 3MB but Slater, Mahal & McIntyre are doing their best. The Miz does ultimately get the win about the 16.25 minute mark with the Skull Crushing Finale. Nice work from both in a surprisingly entertaining match. ***

Barrett & Kofi Promos - Prior to the next match, Striker briefly interviewed Wade Barrett backstage. After the next match, he'd do the same with Kofi. I thought they both did a good job in hyping their match and the title in general. There wasn't anything spectacular or mind boggling or anything, just two brief, solid promos to set up the match. Thumbs Up

2. The Great Khali, Hornswoggle & Natalya vs. Primo, Epico & Rosa Mendes - I have no idea what happened here and I don't care. I took a bathroom break and got a snack. I just know the faces won. NA

3. Wade Barrett vs. Kofi Kingston for the WWE Intercontinental Championship - This was a great effort, the best match they've had yet. It would've held up perfectly well on any ppv. Kofi was probably a bit more aggressive here than usual while Barrett was a little more coniving, and they used it to tell a great story. The second half of the match is when things kicked into high gear and it turned into a lot of back & forth action. Kofi used a variety of roll up attemps on Barrett throughout while Barrett consistently tried to simply pound the crap out of Kofi. At one point in the match, Kofi manages to hit Trouble In Paradise but Barrett rolls to the outside. The commentators brought up the Barrett may have rolled out accidentally or instinctively. At any rate, little tidbits can add to a match. Kofi rolls Barrett in and he does a good job of selling the move as he's mostly dead weight but he ultimately kicks out. At another point in the match, Barrett finally hits the Winds of Change slam, AKA Boss Man Slam, and it looks great but Kofi kicks out. The end comes with Barrett & Kofi going at it for a bit. Kofi dodges a move and moves to the second rope. He jumps off and it looks like he's going to hit something, like a big punch or something, rather than just looking like a guy that's jumping off waiting to get hit. Barrett counters the move and lands the Bull Hammer to the side of Kofi's head. Barrett gets the win at the 17 minute mark and retains the IC title. This is the best match I've see on SD! in a while and, as I said earlier, it was definitely ppv quality. ***1/2

4. Layla vs. Tamina Snuka - A decent outing generally. The WWE has some good women wrestlers on its roster and people would really notice that if they gave them a good deal of time to wrestle. Tamina & Layla did well for the time they were given but Tamina comes up with the win after hitting the Superfly Splash at the 3.5 minute mark. *1/4

5. Sheamus & Randy Orton vs. The Big Show & Antonio Cesaro - This match was ok but the match felt kinda lackluster to me. I think the problem here is that it was too obvious beforehand that Cesaro was mostly going to be fodder. Cesaro looked ok but, in my eyes, didn't get in enough offense. He was mostly background here for the Sheamus/Orton/Big Show situation. I do like that they're upping the tension with Orton & Sheamus but didn't flat out pull the trigger. I look for a heel turn for Orton to come about during the Royal Rumble ppv. At one point, Sheamus hits Show with the Brogue Kick and is able to tag in Orton. Orton does his thing on Cesaro for a while before Sheamus makes a blind tag. Orton sells his dismay & frustration outside as Sheamus hits White Noise on Cesaro. As he sets up for the Brogue Kick, Orton slithers into the ring and hits the RKO on Cesaro. Sheamus sells his own bit of dismay before ultimately pinning Cesaro at about 14 minutes. **

Final Thoughts - Last night's SD! was a pretty solid show. Aside from the wastes of time with the six person tag match, there wasn't anything bad about the show. The opening was pretty solid. Not great, but it did kick things off for Orton & Sheamus. The highlights of the night were the great IC title match between Kofi & Barrett and the surprisingly good Miz vs. Slater. Both matches went past the 15 minute mark and were both really well wrestled. The main event was a bit lackluster as the use of Cesaro & the overall ending of the match was simply too transparently telegraphed. But, all in all, a big WM feud has was kicked off and there was some overall really strong wrestling on the show last night.

Grade: B

 

[HBsam31]

Smackdown to me has started to step it up a little. I agree that Miz and Slater was a pleasant surprise, and that Kofi and Barrett had their best match so far. I like the tension that is starting to brew between Sheamus and Randy Orton. I think that could be a good feud down the road. I liked the main event, but I agree that it was obvious that Cesaro was going to be used to take the fall in this. One of my only complaints of the show would be that Cesaro had a chance to really shine here, and I don't think they did as much with him in a main event situation as they could have. More offense would have helped. Overall a good first Smackdown of the year.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

WWE Raw - January 7, 2013

Opening Segment - I liked last night's opener mostly because it was energetic. The already lively Florida crowd got into things and that's what helped to make the segment. Cena's reference to the weiner joke was, in my eyes, pretty funny and the wave he started with the crowd afterward was fun. The first half of Cena's promo was basically hyping Raw, which isn't a bad thing. Cena eventually challenges Dolph Ziggler to a match and Big E. Langston accepts on Ziggler's behalf. For a moment, I thought Big E. was going to step in for Ziggler and go up against Cena. Anyhow, a nice little segment with a lot of energy and not too much cornball schtick from Cena. Thumbs Up

1. John Cena vs. Dolph Ziggler - This was a highly entertaining match, much better than I was expecting to be honest. I figured they'd go for a while with Cena going for the Five Moves of Doom after about 5 minutes, forcing Big E. Langston to interfere. The match itself was ppv quality and was packed with back & forth action and a lot of believable near falls, especially when Ziggler caught Cena with that super kick after floating out of the AA attempt. Some are going to rag on this match because Cena kicked out of everything that Ziggler could give, but it's WrestleMania season people. Cena's a draw and he's going to have a top match at WM no matter what. I thought the ref bump that took place was done in a way that didn't make it seem cliche. Ziggler was on Cena's back and had him in the Sleeper and Cena just kind of threw/knocked Ziggler off his back with Ziggler bumping into Scott Armstrong. Cena then puts Ziggler in the STF in the center of the ring. As Ziggler tries to escape, and I'm glad he didn't tap even though there was no ref to see, Big E. comes down to the ring, he & AJ had been sent back earlier in the match by the ref, and delivers his finisher to Cena. He drapes Ziggler over Cena before he leaves and a new ref makes his way down for a close 2 count. The end comes eventually with Cena hitting the AA for the win at the 17 minute mark. From a personal standpoint, I was a little chaffed that Cena took every big move of Zigglers and kicked out but they had Cena pinning Ziggler with a single AA. Still, a very hot match to start the show off with. ***1/4

2. Eve Torres vs. Kaitlyn for the WWE Divas Championship - A surprisingly good, by Diva standards, 5 minute match that had the women feature some good wrestling holds. I say that often about Diva matches lately because you never know if they're going to be decent or pure crap. They told a decent story all in all when you take into account the history between the two. There was even a believable near fall in the match after Kaitlyn hit her finisher on Eve. The end comes when Eve ducks out of the ring and runs out among the fans with her title and is counted out. She's done this before with Kaitlyn. Over the weekend at house shows, it's reported that she & Kaitlyn worked a 12 minute match and I was kind of hoping we'd see that here. *3/4

3. Team Hell No vs. Team Rhodes Scholars[/B] - A solid 8 minute tag match. The Florida fans ate up everything Daniel Bryan did from his kicks to his No chants to his facial expressions. There was a slight mishap with Kane nearly slipping off the top rope as he wa going for his big clothesline, but they covered it up pretty well. These two teams work well against each other and the match told a nice story. At one point, Bryan sells a knee injury as he does his flip out of the corner and TRS goes to work on the knee. Kane attacks Sandow as Cody keeps the ref distracted several times while Bryan is tied up in the ropes. Cody delivers a sort of baseball slide dropkick to Kane outside before turning his attention back to Bryan. Rhodes delivers Cross Rhodes to pick up the clean win. I'm glad they gave Team Rhodes Scholars the win here because they needed it. They've lost two tag title matches to Kane & Bryan, so they needed this win to put things on a more level playing field. **1/2

4. Randy Orton vs. Heath Slater - I was disappointed in this match to be honest. I knew Orton would win but I honestly expected they'd make Slater look better. This past Friday on SD!, Slater probably had the best match of his career when he took on The Miz in a damn good 16 minute match. Slater got in some decent offense on Slater but, as a whole, Orton ultimately made 3MB look like a bunch of chumps. Orton hits the RKO on Slater for the win at the 4.5 minute mark. He then delivers an RKO to Mahal & McIntyre. I thought they took a big step forward with Slater this past Friday but I guess I was wrong. *1/2

5. Wade Barrett vs. Santino - Nothing really to say here. Pretty standard 3 minute Santino match in which he ultimately loses to Barrett. It was kinda cool seeing Ricky Steamboat in Santino's corner but ultimately, there didn't seem to be a point to it. NA

Sheamus Promo - This was pretty lousy. Sheamus can be really good on the mic but not when he's being this much of a stereotypical Irish lug. His confrontation with 3MB was what killed the segment. It seems pretty obvious that WWE has no intention of doing anything serious with 3MB. Sheamus pokes fun at them and challenges one of them to a match later. Oh joy. Thumbs Down

6. Antonio Cesaro vs. The Great Khali - This match was similar to their match at Main Event last week, just not quite as long. Again, Cesaro carries Khali in what I honestly thought was a pretty decent match. The crowd popped for Khali's big chops and for whenever Cesaro hit a big move on Khali, like that flying Very European Uppercut from the ropes. I figure the main reason for this match was so that a wider audience could see Cesaro hit his finisher on Khali. Cesaro does put Khali in the Neutralizer and it does look impressive. The crowd pops pretty decently for the move and Cesaro gets the win at the 4 minute mark. **

7. Sheamus vs. Jinder Mahal - I don't really know what happened here. I took a bathroom break and made a snack. I just know that Sheamus won. NA

8. CM Punk vs. Ryback in a TLC Match for the WWE Championship - A strong, physical TLC match from these two. It wasn't in the league of Ryback & Team Hell No vs. The Shield at the TLC ppv, but it was still a very good match. Both guys got in a lot of offense and I'm glad we didn't get a repeat of Hell in a Cell in which, mostly, Ryback spends 10 minutes tossing Punk around. There weren't really a lot of teases for climbing the ladder & getting the strap, but there were still plenty of good spots. At one point, Ryback tries to spear Punk through a table but Punk side steps then goes for the title only to be stopped. Ryback gorilla presses Punk up and throws him into the ladder as its leaned up against the ropes, twisting it all to hell. Punk recovers soon after and beats on Ryback for a few minutes, including hitting a few of his signature running knees into the corner. After the second one, Punk tries to go for a bulldog but Ryback powers Punk over the top rope, putting him through a table at ringside. Ryback retrieves another ladder under the ring and sets it up. He begins to climb and the crowd is as lively as they've been the entire match. Ryback gets to the top and puts his hand on the title. Suddenly, the lights in the arena go out. I thought, for a second, it might be The Undertaker coming out or would be in the ring when the lights came on. When they did come on, it was Ambrose & Rollins on the ladder duking it out with Ryback. Ryback initially gets the best of The Shield, taking out Rollins & Ambrose before he clotheslines Reigns over the top. Ryback goes to try to take the title again but Reigns comes up behind him and hits him repeatedly with a steel chair. The Shield beats on Ryback for a bit and bring him outside. A table it set up on a top the bottom platform of the steel ring steps, which Ryback took apart earlier in the match to use against Punk. The Shield triple powerbombs Ryback through the table and onto the steps before leaving. Ryback does a good job of selling the beating and the effects of the move, coughing and trying to get up but unable to do so. Punk drags himself back into the ring, cradling his left arm and selling that he tweaked his knee. Punk slowly drags himself up the ladder one rung at a time and gets to the top. He looks down and sees Ryback taken out and smiles smugly as he pulls the WWE Championship down. Punk retains the title at the 19 minute mark. ***1/2

Backstage Promos - Backstage, Matt Striker comes into Punk's locker room to talk to him about the match. Punk puts himself over and reiterates that he has no connection to Maddox or The Shield. He states that he's going to be out there in the ring in a few moments and that it's time for another pipe bomb. A few seconds later, they show Team Hell No backstage with Bryan icing his knee. He & Kane get into an argument as it seems that signs of their old friction is coming back. Vickie interrupts them and informs them that Dr. Shelby will be on Raw next week for their 4 month follow up evaluation. Kane & Bryan get into an argument as to whether Shelby is a monster or a nerd, which Bryan keeps going when Bryan calls him a monster after Kane agrees that Shelby is a nerd. Thumbs Up

9. The Big Show vs. Kofi Kingston - The hell was the point of this? The match lasted about 20 seconds with Kofi delivering kicks to Show, driving him back into the corner with the ref trying to separate them. Show pops Kofi with the KO punch for the win. There was no point to this at all and piss poor use of Kofi. NA

CM Punk & The Rock - While this promo segment was pretty damn long, it was extremely damn good and didn't drag in my eyes. Punk comes out first and cuts another promo similar to his "shoot" promo of 1.5 years ago, only it's much more of a heel promo this time. Bryan insults the WWE in and of itself but mostly focuses on the fans. It didn't feel at all rehearsed and Punk played off the crowd and vice versa. Punk used their responses to further ridicule them while he put himself over as someone that made it big not because of the fans but in spite of them. This goes on for maybe 10 minutes before The Rock's music hits. He comes out to a huge pop and does his thing for a bit with posing before the fans before he addresses CM Punk. The Rock does a great job here of both putting Punk down with some of his trademark zingers while simultaneously putting him over. The part of the promo I liked the best was simply Punk's reaction to Rock and telling him that he was gonna kick his ass at the Rumble. He said it multiple times, he said it with conviction and he didn't let The Rock's zingers get under his skin. Punk stated that he didn't care about Rock's "lame ass" catchphrases or jokes and that nothing he says will get to him. The Rock's tells Punk that he should get a couple of new tattoos right on his ass. On one cheek, he should get an M&M, a Snickers, a Milky Way and something else. On the other, he should get The Rock's boot as a reminder of The Rock kicking his candy ass. The Rock says he'll walk out of the Rumble as WWE Champion a few times and ultimately closes things off by hitting Punk with the Rock Bottom. Punk sells the move and rolls out of the ring while Rock basks in the adulation of the fans to close the show. This was an extremely well done promo segment in my eyes that very much did its job of hyping their match at the Rumble. Thumbs Up

Final Thoughts - All in all, last night's show was pretty solid. It wasn't an altogether super hot show or anything. I wonder of that was partially by design. The first hour of the show was really good but the second hour had a lot of filler matches. With the BCS Championship game on, it seems like WWE was spreading out its best stuff during this show and timing it to coincide with certain elements of last night's game. For instance, the TLC match started at the top of the 3rd hour just as the football game was going to halftime. The highlights of the show were Cena vs. Ziggler, Team Hell No vs. Team Rhodes Scholars, the WWE Championship match and the promo featuring Punk & The Rock. Cena vs. Ziggler & the TLC match were both two very strong, physical 3+ star matches. The tag match was well wrestled and Team Rhodes Scholars got a needed win. As for the promo of Punk & Rock, it worked one very level in my eyes. People can argue about who had the best zingers or whatever all they like, but the real point of the segment was to put massive hype & anticipation on their WWE Championship match and they did that perfectly. You can already tell that Punk & The Rock have great chemistry. The Rock was his usual charismatic self and I like that they didn't portray Punk as a heel getting pissed at Rock's comments. The Rock wasn't able to get under Punk's skin and I liked that. Punk held his own and things are on even footing right now with Rock surprising Punk with a Rock Bottom. It wasn't an overall epic show, but the three main highlights of the show were extremely good.

Grade: B

 

[Brahma_Bull9]

Usually, by the time your brain matures past age 15, most of the Attitude Era wasn't awesome either. It's pro wrestling. It's grown men oiled up in underwear pretending to fight. In the 80s Hogan carried the flag, coked up, balding, flexing, yelling, just ridiculous.

Also, the Mae Young stuff was "fun". Am I on the floor rolling around like I've just heard an Anthony Jesselnik joke? No, but it's fun. It's no different than choppy choppy pee pee, the first time Mae Young birthed something strange, Golddust, basically any 80s skit, Kane raping a corpse, or really, the idea that when I whip you into the ropes you do a very coordinated move and pivot then run at me dumbfounded and let me clothesline you. It's pro wrestling. It's an entire spectrum. Campy and corny to intense to sad. It's all live performance and it's all awesome. Stop taking yourself so seriously.

I really liked the show. Felt like it had a good amount of variety.

Your name is Brahma Bull8 or some bullshit. The Mae Young segment was smarter than "Kung Pow Bitch" whatever the hell that means. The Mae Young stuff at least referenced an old ridiculous Attitude Era segment and was almost a character trait continuation.

lol you're a douchebag...

Hogan was a shitty wrestler but funny and that was the time. The kane raping a corpse segment I stopped watching wrestling until last year because of it. It was that stupid. Golddust is the only one of those bits u mentioned that was funny. 80's wrestling, yea never really watched it before my time. I was a baby in the late 80's.

Mae was a stupid segment, and the attitude era had a lot of dumb segments too. Some of us on here just have a problem with being honest and an odd jealously/hatred of certain wrestlers.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

The viewership info for Raw just came out and the show had a very strong night when you consider the competition.

The first Raw of 2013 drew an overall average audience of 4,442,000 viewers. Also, for the first time in quite a while, the viewership for all three hours increased as the night went along. Hour 1 drew 4,290,000 viewers. Hour 2 increased slightly to 4,320,000 viewers. Hour 3 increased to 4,650,000 viewers. I haven't read anything as to the actual rating yet, but that should be probably about a 3.2 Nielsen Rating.

When you consider Raw went head to head with the BCS Championship game on ESPN, it pulled very strong numbers. The title game of Alabama vs. Notre Dame drew roughly 26.4 million viewers, up between 9-10% over last year's game. The fact that the game was a blowout with Alabama winning over Notre Dame 42-14 probably helped the numbers for Raw as well.

With no football next week and the popularity of shows like American Pickers & Pawn Stars being down compared to what they were this year, Raw has a good shot at being #1 in viewers this Monday.

 

[Suneeboy]

Thank God for DVR. It is one of the greatest inventions of all time. I basically read the results of the show the next day, and then watch RAW on fast forward stopping only at the parts that sound good. I stopped on the TLC match, and the Punk/Rock promo. I think I also paused for the Steamboat/Santino/Barrett interaction briefly.

The show as usual was unentertaining except for a the mentioned spots. Why should I watch Jinder Mahal versus Shaemus? Is there really a point to that? 3 hours and 15 minutes cut down to a nice 30 minute viewing session. Time saved. Even if I forget to DVR...am I really missing anything?

I give RAW a C-

 

[pharrison0scorpion]

I'm just going to start by saying I am a big fan of CM Punk. I'm a big fan of his in-ring work and think he can go toe-to-toe with the best in terms of mic skills. That being said, his 'pipebomb' on RAW seemed a little off. All of it sounded like it should, with him talking about people getting pushes and things that people shouldn't be talking about, but there really didn't seem any point to it. All he ended by saying was that the Universe couldn't win and they were losers which, in my opinion, is something someone who has zero mic skill would say to get cheap heat. It just seemed like it was a pipebomb for the sake of being a pipebomb, rather than actually meaning anything. Sure, it made The Rock come out and he got insulted because 'no one insults The People' but to me the reason behind their confrontation was kind of like a reason someone might have in the mid-card. For example, R-Truth had his feud with Cesaro because Cesaro was insulting the USA and Truth didn't like that. CM Punk insulted the People and the Rock didn't like that. This is only the first week, so I'm sure it's going to get better but on RAW, I was waiting and waiting for CM Punk to get to his point about the Rock or some kind of way of bashing him, and I was disappointed.

What do you guys think? Did you enjoy the pipebomb? What do you think will happen in the rest of the feud?

 

[Harthan]

Opening Segment

The usual kind of Smackdown opening. Booker T tells us we have a world championship match; Big Show complains and puts his hands on the GM. Alberto del Rio runs out and jumps Big Show, hitting a couple of big shots and a nice enzuigiri. Formulaic, but well executed, and I think Alberto del Rio saving the GM was a good move to further his face turn.

Randy Orton vs Antonio Cesaro

Fun match. Both of these guys are on a crusade to look good on their way to the Royal Rumble. Orton is in a little bit of a holding pattern; he hasn't got much going for him other than a vague desire to be champion again. Still, at this point in his career, he doesn't need much. I think he could do with new music by now, though. Cesaro is more interesting, to me; his anti-US thing is a little old school, but he's executing it well. It's interesting that they didn't bring the Miz in at all here, so maybe that feud isn't going to be much. The match was fine, nothing remarkable, but they both got in some of their signature spots. Orton hit his corner roll up that I love, and Cesaro hit as usual his beautiful pop-up European uppercut. It was roughly seven minutes or so of good action before the Shield came in to rough up Randy Orton and get the match thrown out. Distancing themselves from Punk is interesting, and I like how the WWE is keeping us guessing on what they're about, what they're trying to do.

Match Rating: **

Promos Etc.

3MB does their shtick in the back. I like them as the new comedy jobbers of the WWE, though I'm a little bummed that this is the best Drew McIntyre can do. Heath Slater is good in this role, though. Maybe one day he can be more, but for now, this works.

Punk begins the first of a two part promo on the Rock by standing in Sun Life Stadium and talking about the Rock's football days, how his old glory is gone, and how the new WWE is Punk's to rule. Pretty good material here, for a pre-taped segment. Solid, but not anywhere close to the Pipe Bomb #2 from Raw.

There's a brief, unremarkable promo from Alberto del Rio. Ricardo is the personality of this team, at least on the mic. But Alberto del Rio brings it in bunches in the ring. One of those guys who is loaded with in ring charisma. We'll see it later.

Mixed Tag Team Match: Dolph Ziggler & AJ Lee vs The Great Khali & Natalya

Ziggler and Khali do a little back and forth of the nature you might expect. Remember when this was a feud, and Ziggler kicked Khali's ass with the sleeper hold? Those were good times. Ziggler gets his ass handed to him and he brings in AJ. AJ, amusingly, tries to jump Khali, but of course Natalya is an automatic tag. Natalya beats on AJ for a while before AJ starts to BITE her - hilarious. After a huge bite, AJ nails a SHIRANUI (WHAT) on Natalya. I was laughing and applauding. Great spot. She pins Natalya for the win. A totally unremarkable match outside of the amazing highlight of AJ's shiranui, which is just the bomb.

Match Rating: *

Punk Talks, Then A Rock Promo

Punk has the continuation of his last promo. More of the same themes, and Heyman talks this time. Solid, good building block stuff. Took advantage of an opportunity to use Miami with all the football stuff, and it was pretty good.

The Rock comes out to an expected explosion. He starts by talking about how important football was to him, how it made him the man he is, etc., etc. All really good, well delivered, great content. Miles better than he was on Raw. Sandow and Rhodes come out to interrupt. They posture for a bit and then play their little three question game with the Rock. The Rock gets them right, while messing with them in typical Rock fashion along the way, then poses his own question that leads to him destroying both of them. A really great segment - Rock was so much better on his delivery and his content, and he benefited from beating up on a couple of guys, just to remind us of his physicality.

3MB vs Sheamus (3 on 1 Handicap)

3MB starts to bail, then sneak attacks Sheamus. Except only Slater has the balls to go through with it. He's alone vs Sheamus. Takes the Brogue kick, 1, 2, 3, and it's over. Average squash with tons of screen time for Sheamus. Because he's not over enough.

Match Rating: None

Team Hell No vs Prime Time Players

PTP gets jobber entrances...and then they job. This is about a two minute squash. Hell No dominates PTP and Kane wins it with a chokeslam on Young. Unremarkable.

Match Rating: 1/2*

World Heavyweight Championship: Big Show (c) vs Alberto del Rio (Last Man Standing Match)

This match is seriously good. Just loaded with great spot after great spot. But, it makes loads of sense for these two. Big Show doesn't set up anything - he just wails on you and nails the WMD. Del Rio sets up for the cross armbreaker, but it doesn't do much for him in this match, though it does factor in to the finish a bit. Big Show comes out dominating del Rio, putting him down with slams and very shortly through a table. Del Rio fights back with an attempt at the cross armbreaker, but Big Show tries to lift him up. Alberto winds up countering it into an armbar in the ropes, which is super cool. With no rope breaks he keeps it on for a while before Big Show breaks out of it. After a commercial break, there's another table in play, which gets into the corner, which ADR dropkicks Big Show through. Awesome spot. ADR soon eats a chokeslam; then gets tackled through the barricade; THEN eats the WMD. This shit is over, right? Nope. He slides out of the ring and stands up at nine, supported by the apron. Cheap, but cool. Big Show tries to finish it with the ring steps, but ADR ducks and the steps hit Show in the face. ADR gets the steps and smashes them into Show's face and his injured arm, eventually putting him down after like four shots. Then, in the final awesome spot, he gives a Herculean effort to dump the ANNOUNCE TABLE on top of Show. The effort knocks him down too, but he's up at five. Show is totally buried and can't answer to ten; ADR wins the match and is the new World Heavyweight Championship.

AWESOME match, finds a perfect balance of spotfest and logical build, ADR's heroic comeback totally sells his face turn. Awesome, awesome stuff. Best WWE match of the early campaign.

Match Rating: ****

Overall: Mixed bag show. Pedestrian for a while match wise, some really good promos, then an epic main event. All you really need to see out of it is this awesome title match.

 

[pepentorresHHH]

It was shorter than what we are used to, it wasnt that good, it was great, i was more entertained by the brawl, the rock should do concerts every month.......

What was your reaction coming off the rock's latest concert?

I thought it was shorter and not as funny as past concerts.....l and quite frankly i liked the brawl more because it showed more intensity ......

What did you thought about the rock concert that bashed paul heyman, vickie guerrero and the cookie puss himself, cm punk?

 

[dotty_84]

Nothing great, he had some funny lines, cheesy yes but Punk should have been involved sooner maybe even cutting off the 'Concert'.

 

[entertainer101]

It certainly was much shorter than I had expected. Still... it was funny. We've seen it before so it wasn't quite "electric," but it made me laugh. The entire time he was in the ring I thoroughly enjoyed it. Since it entertained, I say it was a success. I would have liked Punk to interrupt rather than get called out, but that's just being picky.

 

[Jenna.]

Um it was a little awkward in the beginning. I felt like he was stalling, but I laughed when he violated Vickie smh lol. Crowd reaction was pretty similar too now that I think about it. The brawl at the end was a little flat to me. I would of let them duke it out a little longer, but that's what happens when you leave these segments at the very last minute you run out of time. Anyway it was cool for what it was...I'd take it over most promos nowadays.

When he was calling out Punk...I honestly thought he was going to call out Austin for like a duet...I guess that was just wishful thinking...but the 10 year old little girl in me who misses the AE was a little disappointed. :/

 

[JJ15776]

It was definitely shorter than I expected. I would've had Punk interrupt Rock, it would've made more sense for it to be short if he was interrupted...but for as long as it was, it was entertaining as hell, definitely.

 

[ITALIAN NYC]

It was the first time I have seen the Rock on TV since he came back before mania 2 years ago, that I wanted to just turn it off because I did not care.

His jokes are so lame now. I do not know what happened. I cringed at that backstreet boy comment about himself. I laughed at the Vickie thing but thats about it.

The brawl was so weak looking without anyone barely hitting eachother. When they were locked up, it did not seem like anything was going on. Just moving around doing nothing with no punches. The rock is MASSIVE and cant get past a few refs? That was just was not believable.

I dont know what it is. Maybe the great feeling of his return has faded since last year. It is starting to get very repetitive. At least in my opinion.

I thought the Smackdown appearance was lame also.

Hopefully it gets better. I am looking forward to the match of course, but its mainly only because of the way punk is acting and how serious he is about it on the mic. I'm not even a huge punk fan either but I can see whos actually making the match worth wild so far.

Rock needs to wrestle more on these shows. It will not cause anyone NOT to order a PPV. If anything, it will get people excited. I have seen all the talking MIC same old crap. I want something a little different.

 

[KingSully06]

I thought the Concert was pretty funny. Well, the beginning of it when he ripped into Vicki. Yet, the show itself? Total let down. 20th Anniversary. And no one would show? No SCSA? No HBK? No other past WWE stars? WWE dropped the ball on this BIG TIME. I am awaiting reports to see as to WHY this show was a total waste. Big deal we got to see old clips. You can do that on YouTube. This was basically a normal show. WWE had 3 hrs to do some major cool things. Like having Stone Cold come out during Punk's segment after his match. Talk about planting an early seed for a FUTURE WM match. They've done this kind of thing before. Actually, this whole future match has been teased for a couple years now, here and there. The seed was planted already. They could have nurtured it tonight. And why couldn't HBK, Orton, HHH and a surprise visit by Batista come out to Flair during the Miz's show? God, I am sitting there and I was saying "now" when I would think was the moment a cool "surprise" could happen. WWE dropped the ball down a 100 mile hole on this show. It wasn't a bad show, if you were doing a normal RAW show. Yet, this was the 20th Anniversary show. You go all out and make it "WOW" people. They didn't. They pretty much pulled a "Bait and Switch" on us. Oh...and we already knew Foley was the first nominee to the WWE Hall of Fame. We knew that last week. And they still robbed us of some cool Foley time.

 

[dashing]

Didn't laugh once through Rock's segment, felt like a rehash of the one he did a year or so ago. Also he sang an Eric Clapton song, i fucking hate that guy, mainly for reasons outlined here.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Clapton#Controversy_over_remarks_on_immigration

despite that the segment at the end should have been better, Punk could have interrupted him verbally rather than just come out and brawl.

The Rock is coming across as a bit of a douche throughout this feud too. He said to Punk "you're not God" in reference to Punk's "Your arms are too short to box with God" comment. That phrase itself is the title of a play, and I think when Punk used the phrase it was more of a metaphor, as in "You're not good enough to get in the ring with me". You actually saw Punk starting to laugh rather than get offended when Rock mentioned this, which I guess backs up my theory. We still get another Raw and two Smackdowns of build before the inevitability of Punk jobbing to the Rock which i'm sure we're all excited for, so hopefully Rock starts to take Punk a little more seriously.

the whole show itself was a big let down, literally just Flair and Foley as the surprises, and even then they've been on Raw over the last couple of months. Lots of filler with the best of raw stuff too, but i guess that's to be expected.
On the other hand there was some good matches, really enjoyed the Orton and Barrett match, as well as Cena and Ziggler.