WWE Raw
February 18, 2013
Lafayette, Louisiana
The Cajundome
Opening Segment - Good opener for Raw last night. Cena wasn't out there trying to be cute & happy-go-lucky for the audience. He initially hyped his match with The Rock before CM Punk's music hits. Punk & Cena had a nice exchange with believable rather than over the top intensity. Punk complained about being screwed again while Cena called him out on whining about it. Cena's proposition of challenging Punk for the WWE Championship match spot at WM might seem illogical, but it's not when you look at Cena's character. Cena's character is the ultimate confident babyface. I also dig the fact that Punk told Cena that they'd do it next week rather than tonight. The live crowd didn't like that but for a match like this, some build is really needed. I do like that Punk basically called Cena stupid for this idea because it does seem stupid for someone with nothing to gain, except principle, though that's enough for Cena. Thumbs Up
Sheamus, Ryback & Chris Jericho - An interesting backstage segment in which it looked like Sheamus & Ryback were about to get into it before Jericho intervenes. Jericho got into their faces about the way they were behaving and told them that The Shield is the enemy. Jericho did a nice job of portraying them as a threat simply by comparing them to the now. Jericho seemed really energetic, especially after he suggested that he go tell Vickie that the three of them wanted The Shield in a six man tag tonight. It had me wondering if Jericho was going to turn, as there've been rumors that Jericho might face Ryback at WM. Thumbs Up
1. Mark Henry vs. Sin Cara - Pretty basic squash match with Henry decimating Sin Cara in about 2 minutes or so. After the match, The Great Khali's music hits and he comes lumbering down the aisle. As he gets into the ring, Henry shuffles on out of the ring laughing & mocking Khali. I liked this because Henry showed complete disdain for Khali not only with mocking him, but by also walking with his attention turned away from him like Khali wasn't worth his time. Which, let's be honest, he isn't. Henry already decimated Khali, he's proven time & again he's not "afraid" of Khali, so sparing us the sight of watching Khali getting beaten down again is just fine with me. I just hope & pray that this isn't Henry's feud because it's an absolute waste if it is. NA
2. Antonio Cesaro vs. The Miz in a NO DQ match - The match started out pretty well and was actually going better than I figured it would. Cesaro & Miz were both pretty physical and told a good story. Unfortunately, the match itself was much, much too short given the stipulation. It went only to about the 3.5 minute mark, not nearly enough time for a good no DQ match. A 3.5 no disqualification match is the kind of thing we used to see TNA do almost every week a few years back. Miz picks up the win via the Figure Four and WWE obviously wants to continue this feud. Personally, I wish they'd have had this match be a blow off to the feud with Cesaro picking up the win so he can move onto someone else. *1/2
Jack Swagger & Zeb Coulter Video - WWE showed a video that was posted on youtube! featuring Coulter & Swagger. They were standing against a plain brown background with a yellowish flag featuring a coiled snake on it and the words "We The People" beneath it. I'm really enjoying Coulter in this role and he seems very comfortable in it. I don't know if some of this anti-immigration stance is something the has some genuine belief in as far as his real world personal beliefs go or not, but he does a great job. Again, he doesn't go over the line. It'll generate heat for certain, but WWE has to be careful here. Thumbs Up
Kane, Daniel Bryan & Randy Orton - A fun little exchange between these three backstage. Bryan states that he has a match with Jack Swagger later on and that he doesn't quite trust Kane, so he wants him to stay in the back. Kane mentions something about Bryan being a snake and Orton pops up behind him. They have words with Kane saying he doesn't like snakes and that whenever one gets too close, he crushes its head with his boot. Orton replies that he would have found that intimidating once but now likens Kane to "Barney The Dinosaur" which I thought was kinda funny. As he left, Kane & Bryan has another slight exchange. Since Bryan has a match with Swagger, this was obviously a set up for Kane vs. Orton later on. Thumbs Up
3. Alberto Del Rio vs. Dolph Ziggler - Good match from Ziggler & Del Rio. The live crowd was into it and while it wasn't on the level of their match on Main Event last week, it was still an entertaining 10 minute match. The match has several believable near falls scattered throughout and I enjoy seeing the reverse superplex spot. It just looks cool, especially with Ziggler selling it. Del Rio also seems to come out to an okay response, but the fans always seem to pick up really nicely during his matches. Del Rio eventually gets the win via the Cross Armbar, forcing Ziggler to tap. Immediately, Big E. Langston comes in and takes Del Rio out. He talks some trash before nailing Del Rio with his finisher. The camera zooms in on Ziggler and his facial expression tells all the story needed. The fans are popping as Ziggler goes out and gets his briefcase. Just as he's about to hand it to the ref, Ricardo pops out of nowhere, grabs it and takes off in a dead heat with Big E. hot on his trail. Ricardo drops the case on the ramp and Ziggler rushes out to get it back. As he's getting back into the ring, Del Rio has recovered and catches him with the enziguri before he can get back into the ring & cash in. The match was fun and the aftermath was a great tease that I thought was really well done. The Lafayette crowd has to be a little bummed as they've had a couple of really huge teases during this show, only for them to be just teases. ***
4. Brodus Clay, Tensai & Naomi vs. Epico, Primo & Rosa Mendes - Standard squash with the babyfaces getting the win. Naomi has some impressive athleticism. Her springboard high cross body is the first time I can recall a female wrestler doing that, in WWE or TNA. NA
Jack Swagger & Zeb Coulter State of the Union - This was along similar lines as to what they were talking about on the video. However, one big difference is that Coulter hyped the World Heavyweight Championship match. He also officially kicked things off with the feud between Swagger & Del Rio by mentioning Del Rio by name. While a little over the top, I like the aspect of Coulter comparing Swagger winning the title as a metaphorical means of "Real Americans" like Swagger taking back their country. They're doing their part, so we'll just have to see if Del Rio can do anything other than pander to the fans. Thumbs Up
5. Daniel Bryan vs. Jack Swagger - A fun, competitive match even though you had to be about 99% certain that Swagger was going over. The match went longer than I expected and I'm glad for that. I was worried that they'd have Swagger decimate Bryan within a couple of minutes in order to make him look ultra dominant. I'm glad they didn't go that route, however, and realize that Bryan has shown himself to be much too valuable to be misused like that. Both wrestlers got in a good amount of offense and the live crowd was very much behind Bryan. Late in the match, Bryan manages to put Swagger in the Yes/No Lock but Swagger is too close to the ropes and is able to reach the bottom rope with his right leg. Afterward, Bryan goes for another dropkick in the corner but doesn't connect. He begins to sell his leg and Coulter could be heard saying "that knee's gone". Swagger then goes after the leg and eventually puts Bryan in the ankle lock, or the Patriot Lock as Swagger calls it. It would have been nice to see Bryan counter this move at least once, as he's a submission specialist after all. Bryan taps out, giving Swagger the win at the 9.5 minute mark. **3/4
Vickie Guerrero, Paul Heyman, Brad Maddox & Vince McMahon - I didn't really expect much from this segment and that's pretty much how it came off. I don't care that Maddox is now Vickie's assistant, neither did the live crowd for that matter. Vince popped up on the big screen and had a little go with Heyman before saying that he was going to return next week. He reminded Heyman that he said he'd do anything if Vince added the stipulation to the Punk vs. Rock match at Elimination Chamber. Vince said that he was coming back next week and that he & Heyman were going to fight. Vince just had hip replacement surgery so he's not going to be doing shit, he physically can't. This segment didn't do anything for me personally, the live crowd didn't care either, but I can guarantee that segment on next week's Raw will be among the most watched of the show. Thumbs Down
6. Chris Jericho, Sheamus & Ryback vs. The Shield - This was the hottest match of the night and the crowd definitely came alive for all the star power out there. The match had another intense, physical feel to it like the other Shield matches we've seen. Again, all three members of The Shield continue to look impressive. They did a good job of hyping this match throughout the night and it came off like a big deal, as it was The Shield's first match on Raw. The babyfaces worked well together and got in a lot of offense as well. The WWE set this up well and told a story of build up similar to what they did in the six man tag at EC, only with Jericho being the one fans were rallying around wanting to see tagged in. Jericho eventually is tagged in and goes to town. He & Ambrose worked really well together and the action broke down soon after. Roman Reigns is brawling with Ryback on the outside and manages to slam him into the ring post while, I'm assuming, Rollins has taken Sheamus out or has, at least, managed to get away from him. In the ring, Ambrose is in the Walls of Jericho and I like the fact that they didn't have him tapping out even though the ref wasn't there. The match ends when Rollins springboards off the top rope and nails Jericho with a knee to the head. Ambrose rolls on top of Jericho and scores the win at the 13.5 minute mark. While not quite as good as their ppv matches, this was still an extremely fun match and gave The Shield another huge victory. In their three matches alone in WWE thus far, WWE has done more with The Shield than TNA has done in 8 months with Aces & Eights. ***1/2
Kofi Kingston, Damien Sandow & R-Truth - Coming back from commercial, Kofi is in the ring when Sandow's music hits. Sandow cuts another fun promo before he begins to viciously assault Kofi. He beats Kofi down and R-Truth's music hits. Truth comes out and makes the save, nailing Sandow with some of his signature moves before Sandow beats a retreat. Nothing really great here, just probably a standard set up to some sort of feud. Now that Truth & Kofi are allies again, maybe it's time that WWE put Team Rhodes Scholars back together. NA
7. Randy Orton vs. Kane - I enjoyed this match. Kane & Orton worked well together at WM 28 last year and I thought they put on another solid match here. It was a bit slow at times, but that's to be expected generally when you have two guys wrestling who have a more methodical style. I'm also glad it was a competitive match rather than a quick brush off, as I figured we'd got with Bryan vs. Swagger. The second half of the match is when things picked up to a faster pace and was much more back & forth. Late in the match, Orton goes for the hanging DDT but Kane counters, with Orton sort of getting hung up on the top rope. As Orton starts to pick himself up, Kane readies himself for the chokeslam. Daniel Bryan limps his way out to ringside. He doesn't say anything but Kane takes his attention away from Orton for a few seconds. As he does, Orton pops up and delivers the RKO for the win about the 10.5 minute mark. Bryan doesn't smile or anything outside, he looks genuinely disappointed in Kane's loss. Another little brick pulled out of the foundation of Team Hell No. **1/2
The Rock's Celebration - This was a solid ending to the show I thought. The Rock came out initially after the University of Lousiana at Lafayette marching band plays, which gets a nice pop. When WWE said that this was going to be a "WWE Championship Celebration" at the start of the show, I had my hopes up that they'd debut a new title and that's what happened. As The Rock entered the ring, you could see a small table with a red cloth covering it, so it was official then that there was another belt under there. The Rock did his thing for a bit before turning his attention to the title. He did put down the spinner belt but not in an over the top way. The Rock said he respects what the belt represented. He said that it was introduced 8 years ago and some thought it was cool at the time. He said that the WWE Championship shouldn't look like a toy and that it shouldn't spin. The Rock gives the spinner belt to a production crew member and told him to make sure it went into the WWE Hall of Fame. The Rock then unveiled the new championship. I wasn't wild about the Brahma Bull side plates but I guessed that they were changeable. That was confirmed as I saw a pic of what the belt will look like after The Rock drops it. Looking at how the belt will look, I like it. I think it's an improvement over the spinner belt. It's a simple design, but much classier than the spinner in my opinion. I do wish they'd have done something a little different with the black background in the center plate. I just think it needs some sort of color. As The Rock begins to talk about his match at WM, Cena's music hits and he comes out on the ramp. Before Cena can come down, Punk jumps him from behind & hits him with the old title. I guess he mugged the crew member. He holds the belt out and drops it unceremoniously onto the floor and points at the new title and says "I want that one". The show goes off with Punk & Rock staring at each other over a prone Cena. Thumbs Up
Final Thoughts - I thought Raw was a fun show last night. It wasn't the super hot show I think many were expecting, but I think that will happen next week. After all, there's still a month and a half until WM so there's still plenty of time. Next week's show looks loaded and we'll probably know whether or not The Undertaker will be at WM by next week. Raw is in Dallas next week and Taker lives near Houston. I thought the build to next week's show was well done, though last night's show was fun as well. The main promo segments did their jobs well, but the Heyman & Vickie segment didn't do anything for me. Wrestling action on the show was very solid with four strong matches overall. The six man tag was the match of the night and The Shield gets a big victory on their first match on WWE television. Bryan vs. Swagger was entertaining as well Ziggler vs. Del Rio. Kane vs. Orton was a solid match that did it's job in my opinion. Cesaro vs. Miz had the potential to be really good but it's hard to get behind 3.5 minute gimmick matches. The new WWE Championship is pretty decent all in all, in my opinion. It's not perfect but I prefer it to the spinner.
Grade: B
