Official Raw/Smackdown Aftermath, Ratings and Review Thread

[The Eighties]

I only saw the stripped down 4 match version of SD but I'm sure like many I made the extra effort this week due to the Taker vs Ambrose match.

First though I have to say what a great match between Sheamus and Show, it still amazes me that Show can work a match at that pace with so much movement and so many bumps. It was physical as hell as well, just two big sweaty beasts smacking the tar out of each other, great stuff!

Now to Taker and Ambrose, anyone who thought Ambrose was going to, or should have, won go stand in the corner. This was a free TV match for starters and Ambrose's first singles outing, personally I'd have just ended it in a DQ but losing to the most Iconic wrestler who is still active did zero harm to Ambrose.

The match itself was probably about 8 minutes long but it was good, Taker gave Ambrose a lot of offense and IMO made him look a star. You have to keep in mind this was Ambrose's first singles match in the WWE and yet Taker worked him like he was an established star, even the finish came more as a quick counter to a young heel getting cocky as opposed to the dominance of a Tombstone win.

The post match beatdown of Taker showed once again his dedication to the business, he took the spear from Reigns through the barricade and then the hardest powerbomb through a table The Shield have done, no soft placements here like on some recent occasions. The show goes off the air with The Shield standing over the wreckage of The Undertaker, showing no fear, the image putting them over huge.

Across the course of this weeks Raw and SD Taker has elevated The Shield massively, first by how he's worked them as a threat, and secondly by how he let them get over on him at the end of SD, now they can brag about how they took the legendary Undertaker out, how they stopped the most unstoppable guy of the last two decades. The ending of SD stood in stark contrast to the farcical ending to this weeks TNA Impact.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

WWE Raw
April 29, 2013
Nationwide Arena
Columbus, Ohio

1. Ricardo Rodriguez vs. Big E. Langston vs. Zeb Coulter - When I found out who was initially in this match, I groaned. I wasn't expecting anything except a waste of time really but, frankly, this entire segment was pretty damn entertaining. Even though this wasn't really much of an actual match, the match & segment all in all told a really good story. Coulter did a great job of showing his cowardice, Ricardo showed a lotta guts and Big E. was dominant. I can't say that this is something I want to see even every so often, but it worked in this case because, for me, it was just a lot better than I was expecting. All three of the wrestlers in the WHC triple threat match were at ringside and made themselves known in the match. Coulter tries to steal the pin after Langston has been taken out of the picture due to Del Rio and the fact that the three wrestlers had taken each other out of the match. AJ comes in and keeps the ref from counting three and Coulter, naturally, is steamed and complains about it. Ricardo comes up from behind him with a schoolboy roll up and scores the win. The live crowd really liked Ricardo winning it and I think it was the right call. As a result, Del Rio gets to pick the stipulation for the triple threat match at Extreme Rules. As I said, it was fun & entertaining because of the story that was told and the antics, while funny, weren't over the top and the actual wrestlers ultimately didn't steal the spotlight. **1/4

Make A Wish Segment - This was really just a sweet, touching segment and I'm so glad to see that the fans in Columbus showed the kind of class & dignity that was missing from the WWE Hall of Fame audience in New York. It's sickening to me that there are fans out there who are low enough to jeer a video presentation hyping the Make A Wish Foundation that features sick and/or dying children. The segment began with showing some footage of John Cena on NBC's Today Show in which Cena grants a wish to a little boy. Cena handed the boy the WWE Championship & invited him & his family to Raw. Cena came out with three boys named Jacob, Logan & Nicholas, who came out with their mothers, and their wish was to experience Raw live. They were named honorary WWE Superstars and told the crowd that their WWE names would be "Lightning Logan", "Nick the Stitch" & "The Eliminator". Cena hyped the foundation's website and generally what it's all about and praised the audience. This segment, as I said, was touching & heartfelt and I'm glad that the Columbus fans had the decency & class to do the right thing. Thumbs Up

2. Randy Orton vs. Cody Rhodes - I was very surprised by this match. It was a very good outing and that's what surprised me. I figured we'd get something along the lines of a 2 to 3 minute squash match for the purpose of making Randy Orton look like a beast. Instead, we got a strong & surprisingly competitive 16.5 minute match in which Rhodes looked stronger than he has just about all year. This match also served as a reminder that Cody Rhodes is & can be so much more than a comedic heel. I like the "Cody's mustache" bit and all, but Rhodes is a damn fine wrestler and he showed that last night. I'm hoping that last night was the beginning of WWE going back to booking Rhodes in a more serious light. The ending comes with Orton going for the RKO but Rhodes counters it into Cross Rhodes for a great & very believable near fall. I honestly thought that Rhodes was going to pull it off as Orton hasn't been booked to be almost unbeatable in quite a while. Rhodes did a great job in selling his frustration and was going to go for the Disaster Kick. The announcers tried to sell it like that anyhow, even though Cody's position in jumping from the rope was in a clear dive so that Orton could catch him for the RKO. Orton gets the win. Personally, I would have enjoyed it more if Rhodes had gotten the surprise victory over Orton because, as I said, I hope to see him booked strongly again, but he still looked like a star here for the first time in months. ***

3. Naomi vs. Nikki Bella - Standard Diva crap with Nikki, or rather Brie, picking up the win in about a minute via "Twin Magic". NA

The Shield - Good segment overall that continued to ultimately build tensions between The Shield & Team Hell No. It begins with The Shield gloating over their undefeated stance in WWE and of having taken out The Undertaker on SD!. Ambrose & Rollins both do very well as being the more vocal aspect of the trio while Roman Reigns pops in with just the right thing to say with the proper delivery. They're interrupted by 3MB who come out looking for revenge since they were jumped by The Shield a few weeks back on SD! as they were about to attack Triple H. The three get into it with The Shield gaining the clear & early advantage. I thought WWE might portray 3MB here as scrappy underdogs. Suddenly, Kane's pyro goes off and he comes down the ring with Bryan at his side. As they enter the ring, The Shield takes a powder and heads off through the crowd. Solid segment overall that did what it was supposed to do in building heat for the group with them "running away" from Team Hell No and showing off their dominance over the top stars in the company. Thumbs Up

Backstage Segment - Backstage, John Cena is shown with a trainer getting his ankle taped & wrapped. WWE has ultimately kept the mystery of the true condition of Cena's Achilles tendon very hush hush. Ryback comes in and looks down at Cena, in which Cena tells him that he's good and that he'll be ready for the match. Ryback responds that he can't take that chance before storming off. Given the mystery surrounding Cena's injury and just how badly it is, it heightened the mystery surrounding what's going to happen in the main event. NA

4. Dolph Ziggler vs. Kofi Kingston - While I do believe that WWE is going overboard lately with the champion vs. champion matches, this was a great one in which both guys looked like a million bucks. I've seen lots of Dolph vs. Kofi matches and this is right up there with the top ones. Again, as with Orton vs. Rhodes, I didn't expect this match to be anything close to what it was. I expected it to be pretty short and to end as a result of interference in which Kofi lost or Ziggler was disqualified. Ziggler's ability shined through in this match and, again, Kofi showed that he has the potential to be much more than just a guy carrying around a mid-card title for a while. Still, Kofi has been booked stronger as US champ in the past few weeks than Cesaro was in the last few months of his run. The match had several great near falls, including one where Kofi hits Trouble in Paradise. As the ref is counting, AJ reaches into put Ziggler's foot on the ropes just as Ziggler himself starts to move his foot to the ropes anyhow, so I don't really look at that as interference. Kofi lands a big high cross body off the top that Ziggler sells amazingly for another great one. The closest one of the match was when Kofi reversed a roll up on Ziggler. Considering that Ziggler lost his first match as WHC to Swagger a few weeks ago, it's not out of the question to think that Ziggler could lose again. The ending comes when Kofi is going for a modified version of the springboard splash he does off the second rope. Ziggler moves out of the way & Kofi eats the canvas. Ziggler pops up behind him and hits the Zig Zag for the win at the 13.5 minute mark. ***1/2

Backstage Segment - Dolph, AJ & Big E. are all walking backstage. Ziggler is gloating over his win and praises both AJ & Big E. for their roles during the match before they run into Natalya & Kaitlyn. Kaitlyn & AJ trade a few insults & talk smack for a few moments, mentioning their former friendship & their eventual Divas Championship match. Damn, a Diva match with some degree of build up. Who knew? A guy brings a small bag up, a present, and AJ assumes that it's from Dolph before it's revealed that it's for Kaitlyn. Kaitlyn pulls out a studded hat that looks like something Judas Priest would wear back in the 80s. There's a note that ultimately reveals that Kaitlyn has a secret admirer and Natalya teases her a little. Harmless segment that actually had a little bit of a story behind it. NA

5. Zack Ryder vs. Jack Swagger - Better than the complete squash I figured it would be. It looks as though Ryder is making a slow transition from his Long Island Iced Z character. Prior to the match, Ryder mocks Zeb Coulter & replays the video of Ricardo beating him earlier. Wouldn't surprise me if he goes heel before long. Ryder & Swagger work a pretty solid 4 minute match in which Ryder gets in more offense than I would have guessed. Swagger suffers a bloody lip during the match but ultimately scores the win via the Patriot Lock. Zeb taunts Ryder after the match and delivers a right hand as Swagger pins him against the bottom rope. *1/2

Tug of War - This was a lousy segment in my eyes. Mark Henry was given the time to do a "tug of war" with two opponents, who happen to be Tensai & Brodus Clay. After he beats them, Sheamus comes out & taunts Henry with the most childlike, blatant reverse psychology bullshit there is. He convinces Henry to take his challenge. Sheamus is on the verge of losing when he lets go of the rope, causing Henry to lose his balance. He then nails Henry with a Brogue Kick. Pretty pointless really. Thumbs Down

6. Alberto Del Rio vs. Antonio Cesaro - For the third time tonight, WWE has delivered a strong match in which a mid-carder has wrestled a main eventer & looked stronger than he has in months. Again, I wasn't expecting too much here as I figured it'd be over with quickly. Cesaro delivers a very strong, competitive match against Del Rio. The match starts off kind of slow but it progresses to a nice pace. By this time, the crowd is getting tired and they're just not into Del Rio or Cesaro as much as Kofi vs. Ziggler or Orton vs. Rhodes. Still, over the course of the match, the crowd comes alive and gets into the action. Cesaro scores a couple of great near falls in the match and, again, there are a few times in the match where it looks like an upset is about to take place. The end comes with Del Rio hitting the superkick before going for the Cross Arm Breaker. As he spins into it, Cesaro quickly rolls him up for a close 2 count and Del Rio quickly slips him into the submission. Cesaro fights it for a while and teases being able to reach the bottom ring rope with his foot. Cesaro ultimately taps at the 13.5 minute mark. As I alluded to earlier, by this time, the fans were very much into the match. After the match, Del Rio announces that he's picked the stipulation for the triple threat match and that it's going to be a ladder match. ***1/4

Dance Off - I'm not sure what happened here as the power blinked off for a few minutes. It came back on just in time to see Fandango leaping off the top rope & delivering the leg drop to Khali. I'm assuming that Khali & Natalya won the dance off and Fandango didn't like it all that much. NA

7. John Cena & Team Hell No vs. The Shield - Earlier in the night, Ryback "left" the arena & Cena convinced Vickie to put him in the match with Team Hell No. The match itself was a strong main event that told a great story. Bryan & Kane carried most of the match and wouldn't tag Cena in, except for a tag that was made to Cena earlier on in the match. Cena tagged out quickly, selling his ankle hurting him after he delivered a kick to one of the Shield members. Again, I dunno how much of it was legit and how much of it was simply for the match. The crowd was behind everything that Bryan was doing and both he & Kane did well. The Shield members also worked well together and got in a lot of offense of their own while Cena sold frustration on the apron both at not being tagged in and from being unable to help. Early on in the match, Kane nearly gets disqualified after nearly losing his temper because of what The Shield did to Taker on SmackDown!. Cena calms him down and that was the brief time Cena was in the match initially. Kane is eventually able to make the tag to Cena, as Bryan is out on the floor recovering. Cena does his thing for a bit and hits the running shoulder blocks and the Five Knuckle Shuffle. Rollins jumps off the top rope for a high cross body but Cena catches him and rolls through. He picks him up and hoists him on his shoulders and is going for the AA but his ankle buckles and he drops Rollins on his feet. Roman Reigns, who is the legal man & to whom Cena was against before Rollins popped in, comes out of nowhere and hits Cena with the spear and picks up the clean win for the group at the 15.5 minute mark. The Shield wins again with, surprisingly, John Cena taking the pin. Even though Cena was hurt, it was still surprising to see him be the one to take the fall. A few trainers come in the ring and begin checking on Cena's ankle as Ryback walks out on the stage and simply stares at Cena in the ring to close the show. ***1/2

Final Thoughts - The opening match with Ricaro vs. Coulter vs. Big E. wasn't an action packed thriller, but it was entertaining and told a surprisingly good story. It wasn't some hopeless train wreck that had people bored shitless like I figured it would. There was, however, a lot of great wrestling action on the show with four matches going past the 13 minute mark. It's been a long time since we've seen that many long matches on one television card. Orton vs. Rhodes, Ziggler vs. Kingston & Del Rio vs. Cesaro were all much, much better than I was expecting. The three mid-card guys looked stronger & better than they have in months, so I'm hoping it's a sign of WWE getting back to serious business with the three of them. The Diva match was crap and the tug of war segment was the low point of the show for me. Surprisingly, what got the most attention on the show was the World Heavyweight Championship scene and The Shield. They didn't beat us over the head with constant updates on Cena and reminding us of what happened, nor were we bombarded with hype regarding Triple H vs. Brock Lesnar. As I said, most of the attention seemed to be focused on the WHC picture, various mid-card wrestlers, Team Hell No & The Shield. Cena's injury still has people guessing as to what's what. Since he was wrestling on the show, however briefly, one can assume that he's going to be able to compete by the time Extreme Rules comes around or WWE would have had him in there at all. Still, WWE looks like they're going to play this up and maybe it leads to a title change. The main event was also a very good match with a surprising outcome. It wasn't surprising in that The Shield won, but that it was John Cena who was pinned in the match rather than Kane or Daniel Bryan. The Make A Wish segment early on in the show was really well done and I can't say enough how glad I am that the Ohio fans had the decency to conduct themselves with class. Take the Diva match & tug of war segment out, and this was a fantastic show all in all.

Grade: A-

 

[LSN80]

LSN's(belated) Raw Hits and Misses for 4/29/13

Raw Hits:​

Zeb Coulter vs Ricardo Rodriguez vs Big E Langston: I found myself somewhat confused as to why Coulter and Langston were just hanging out in the ring when Ricardo and Del Rio made their entrance, but it's a minor complaint. You would figure on a three hour show they could find the time for the announcers to set what is coming up, and do full entrances. Still, this was one heck of a fun train wreck, and a great start to Raw. I'm all for switching up the formula of the normal promo segment to start Raw in favor of a match. This isn't one I'd want to see again for a few years, and it defies logic that the champion and his challenger's fates lay in the hands of their managers/heavies, but it was fun for what it was, and got the crowd invested early on. *

John Cena and Make a Wish: If you can't put this in perspective of what it was, you're heartless. Thankfully, the crowd responded appropriately, and say what you will about Cena, but what he's done for Make-A-Wish is remarkable. This may be the best segment to air on Raw all year. Kudos to the crowd for making the kids and Cena seem welcome.


Cody Rhodes vs Randy Orton: So much damage has been done to Rhodes over the past year, both in turning him into tag team fodder and his inability to win single's matches. It makes me lament what this type of match could be, as former mentor vs mentee, on a level playing field. That's not what we got, but what we did get was an incredibly enjoyable match. Rhodes and Orton match styles and compliment one another very well, as they have in the past, and this was no different. The RKO off a springboard move, this time the Disaster kick, never gets old. Excellent TV match. ***1/4.

Shield, 3MB, and Team Hell No: This wasn't the best promo from the Shield, and part of me feels that the still shots of them destroying various Superstars interfered in the promo. Still, this was a strong segment transitioning from 3MB as fodder for the Shield to a legitimate threat in Team Hell No. 3MB can bump for anyone, and did so effectively again on Raw. Kane and Daniel Bryan taking their frustrations out on 3MB because they couldn't get their hands on the Shield yet was appropriate and set the main event up well.

Dolph Ziggler vs. Kofi Kingston: It's a pairing we've seen a thousand times, and while the outcome is predictable here, I'm convinced they have the best chemistry together of anyone in the company. Kofi loses nothing in defeat, and had Ziggler pinned clean if it weren't for A.J. It would be nice to see the World Champion go over stronger, but if continues to produce matches of this quality, I won't complain much. The athleticism in this match was unreal, and while we've seen these two uncountable times together, they manage to produce matches that feel fresh each time. Awesome TV match. ***3/4.

Alberto Del Rio vs. Antonio Cesaro: Again, if I have a complaint, it's that the outcome of the match here is incredibly predictable, especially with Swagger and Ziggler both winning. Still, it was a fun, competitive match that I don't recall seeing before, and that alone made it worth its entertainment value. The ending sequence with Del Rio hitting the superkick and Cesaro blocking the cross-armbreaker only for Del Rio to roll through on it was excellent. Not up to par of the previous matches, but still good stuff. ***

The Shield vs John Cena and Team Hell No: Forget WrestleMania, Undertaker and Team Hell No, or their match at TLC, this was the biggest win for the Shield yet. Sure, they gave Cena an out with an 'injury', but Roman Reigns pinned John Cena clean in the middle of the ring. The Shield beat the WWE Champion and the Tag Team Champions. At this point, I'm convinced that no one should defeat the Shield, and any implosion should come from within. It's one of the more impressive debuts I've ever seen, and I can't help but think this is how the Nexus should have been introduced as well. Further, the match told an excellent story of Team Hell No not wanting to tag Cena in because of his injury, and Kane's anger over his brother being taken out on Smackdown partly leading to the loss. The Shield continues to look credible against everyone they step in the ring with. ***1/2.

Overall Show: The complaints are minimal, although I'll get to that. The 3 hour format continues to be troublesome, as there's simply too much filler at times. However, there's no cure for an ailing show then good wrestling, and we got that in abundance on Raw. Rhodes/Orton, Kofi/Ziggler, Cesaro/Del Rio, and The Shield/Team Hell No and John Cena all delivered in spades, even if the outcome for all 4 were predictable. Sometimes, predictability isn't bad if it's the right outcome, and here, it was. The video package for the steel cage match between HHH and Lesnar was a nice reminder of their impending match as well. A solid show with some decent comedy, a touching moment with Make a Wish, and great wrestling. A-.

Raw Misses:​

Del Rio's choice: I know all three are MITB ladder match winners, so it makes sense for the babyface to do the 'noble' thing and position the match in a place where all three seemingly have an equal chance to win. However, wouldn't a submissions match make more sense? Few other then jobbers have tapped to Swagger's ankle lock, and I can't recall anyone tapping to Ziggler's sleeper. The cross-arm breaker is Del Rio's primary finisher, and thus, the logical choice for this match. The ladder match should be more entertaining, but a submissions match is the more logical choice.

Ryback: I buy him as a monster, destructive heel, but he's just unbearable on the mic. I still have an issue with how he got his title shot, and he's done nothing to justify it since except snort and sound menacing. Ryback is a believable heel, but simply better seen, and not heard.

Fandango and Khali: It's painfully obvious that they're stalling for Jericho's return and the set-up for a match between Jericho and Fandango at Extreme Rules, but this segment was just brutal. Fandango looks vicious in destroying Khali, but another dance-off? There has to be a better way to hype Jericho and Fandango, even with Jericho not present.

Tug of War: In news from 1998, Mark Henry is the World's Strongest Man. He's also not very bright in accepting the challenge from Sheamus, expecting Sheamus to play fair after attacking him week after week. I may be in the minority of those who like a bull-rope/four corners match, but again, this was a brutal way to get there.

The Divas: While I'll give the Bellas credit for looking vicious in their beatdown of the Funkadactyls, when has the referee overturned the decision of a match because someone....complained? I've never seen it before. Kaitlyn is wasting away as the Divas champ, as she's terrible on the mic, a bad actress, and green in the ring. I don't care about the "secret admirer" storyline, and AJ(hopefully) taking the belt off of her at Extreme Rules can't come soon enough.

 

[The Fabulous Rougeau's]

Highlites of last nights Raw go to Heyman and Brock and Cesaro. While the 10 times we were reminded of Brock and Paul's trip to Stamford was annoying, once we saw the live footage it was well worth it. Heyman commentating the whole thing while taking jabs at HHH and his family worked and felt personal. Brock being Brock and tearing apart the office works because anytime his freakish strength is on display its aewsome. Cesaro's promo post match could be a turning point. He showed great presence and did a great job of building himself up and making it seem legit even with the recent slide he's been on.

Match of the night honors go to Del Rio and Ziggler. Two great workers who put on a real solid match. The double reversal of the finishers and Ziggler's dropkick are just some of the highlites of the match.

 

[The Fabulous Rougeau's]

Forgot to mention the low points.

It begins with the beginning of the show and Cena's promo. Its pretty sad when you have to rely on using Bryan's and Fandango's material so that you can avoide the mixed reaction. Outside of that its the same compaints which are the recaps. They mentioned the Lesnar WWE headquarters thing three times in the 1st hour alone.

 

[Fire Marshall Bill]

Forgot to mention the low points.

It begins with the beginning of the show and Cena's promo. Its pretty sad when you have to rely on using Bryan's and Fandango's material so that you can avoide the mixed reaction. Outside of that its the same compaints which are the recaps. They mentioned the Lesnar WWE headquarters thing three times in the 1st hour alone.

Actually last night's crowd seemed pretty pro face in general. That was one of the more positive pops I remember in a while for Cena. The largest smark chants I remember last night, which were fairly brief, were the "Goldberg" chants and the "Let's go Shield" chants. But with that last one, frankly the fans are losing reasons to boo The Shield except for their repetitiveness. They put on great matches and have really slowed down on random 3v1 attacks, except to build storylines, ala Cena/Ryback. But in general, attacking Cena isn't only going to generate a negative reaction.

 

[LSN80]

Raw Hits and Misses for 5/6/13​

Alberto Del Rio vs Dolph Ziggler: Another Raw, another excellent TV match for Dolph Ziggler. He's certainly WWE's go to guy for that, and Del Rio put in an excellent effort as well. The ending sequence with Del Rio countering into the cross-armbreaker was sick, and it was good to go with a no-contest to not hurt either man heading into the PPV. The only problem I had was with Langston needing to get involved to keep Ziggler from tapping. It's obvious WWE is going to book Ziggler as a weak heel champion going forward, but that doesn't bode long for his chances of retaining long term. Still, a very solid match that furthered the feud well. ***

Jack Swagger: Where the heck did this come from? Where was this Swagger....at any point in his career? He looked like an absolute beast in destroying everyone but AJ. If WWE wants Swagger to be taken seriously as an upper-mid card/title contender, this is how. He destroyed Langston, and flung Ricardo into the barrier like a rag doll. He then destroyed both Del Rio and Ziggler with a ladder, and looks like a strong contender at last.

Randy Orton vs Damien Sandow: Sandow's gimmick is normally enjoyable, but his re-working of Orton's song was groan-enducing. Still, they put on a solid TV match, albeit with a predictable ending. This was little more then another victory for Orton to lead to the advancement of the Orton/Big Show feud, but it served it's purpose. Sandow is enhancement talent right now, so no complaints here. Now, can they find someone else for Orton to wrestle? **1/2

The Shield vs The Usos and Kofi Kingston: The Shield are now in the position of being able to give rubs, and they gave a big one to Kofi Kingston. Kofi generated several near falls in what I assumed would be a squash, and The US Champ taking the fall here works because he spent the majority of the time on offense against The Shield. **1/4

Kane vs Ryback: The kind of win Ryback needs. Kane got in enough offense to look respectable, but Ryback was dominant for much of the match. Kane is perfect for this type of match, as he's teflon and can bounce back easily. Why Ryback acts like such another cowardly heel when he's able to dominate is beyond me. Not a great match, but it served its purpose well enough. **.

Brock Lesnar, Paul Heyman, and HHH: Well, at least Heyman and Lesnar look like the heels here. They went close to comedy with Lesnar's destruction of HHH's crappy looking office and Heyman's commentary while Lesnar was doing so, but Heyman saved it with his promo on how he'll be managing his 'client" going forward. HHH deserved some retribution for the pedigree he hit on a defenseless Heyman two weeks ago, but this how a heel acts. They take an act of being wronged, and go far overboard. HHH's promo was decent, and his reminiscing of his time in DX and the Attitude Era, while it dates him as "older", shows that he is very much a force to be reckoned with.

Mark Henry and Sheamus: I liked this feud in 2011, and was disappointed that we never got a real conclusion to it. They really haven't given us a reason for this go-around, as Mark Henry just attacked Sheamus one week on Smackdown. Still, two men, one a heel, one a face, that aren't afraid of fighting one another is a hit for me. Compare Mark Henry's character with Ryback's, and you tell me which is more effective right now. Another week with a solid build, with Mark Henry getting the advantage this week.

Overall Show: A minor hit. Several feuds were furthered as we head towards Extreme Rules, and while the two major feuds(HHH/Lesnar and Cena/Ryback) seem to be moving slightly forward(HHH/Lesnar), or backwards(Cena/Ryback), there was enough good wrestling and feud advancement to make this show a hit. With only one week to go, however, WWE needs to deliver a hell of a go-home show to get the 'average' viewer to buy. C+

Raw Misses:​

Opening Segment: This is the John Cena that a certain demographic loves to boo. I'm as big a Cena defender and absolute mark for the guy that you'll find on this forum, but even I found him humorless in mocking Ryback. It does nothing for his opposition when Cena acts as if his opponent is clearly beneath him, and Ryback needs all the help he can get right now. Cena reigned it in and took the announcement of the Last Man Standing match seriously, but it wasn't enough to save this.

Ryback: This Ryback sucks. He declines a challenge from Daniel Bryan, a beat-up 175 guy he just dominated 3 days earlier. He's a whiner who runs from fights. He's a 300lb monster, he should be beating people up the way Mark Henry does, not declining challenges and running from the ring.


Fandango vs R-Truth, Chris Jericho: Fandango takes his first loss in 90 seconds by count-out to...R-Truth? Why? I love Chris Jericho, but why bother coming back to be used so marginally, and with a comedy tag team at that? Fandango warming up backstage with his dancer before his match was hilarious, but everything else here was bad. And we get a Fandango/Chris Jericho dance off next week. Joy.

Wade Barrett vs Sheamus: Well, at least it got the IC Champion on the show this week. With all the TV time they have, they still have no idea how to book their mid-card champions or not make them look like chumps. Both mid-card champs lost again this week. It's fine with Kofi, who looked strong in defeat, but Barrett lost in less then five minutes. Unexcusable.

P-Diddy and WWE: P-Diddy wants to join WWE in an anti-bullying campaign? My wife pointed out the irony of this in him being the same guy who made his 'Making The Band' candidates walk to New Jersey to get him Junior's Cheesecake, then to tell them off for getting there 5 minutes late, and refusing to eat the Cheesecake. And he's the guy WWE chooses to team up with? Unbelievable.
I really need to ween my wife off the reality crap.

The Bellas and AJ vs. Kaitlyn and the Funkadactyls: I don't care about Kaitlyn as champ, and I don't care about this division. I don't care about Kaitlyn and her secret admirer. Can we put the title on AJ already to give it some semblance of relevancy? Thanks.

Antonio Cesaro vs Zach Ryder: Cesaro dominated Zach Ryder, then bragged about how great he was. I could take this seriously if he wasn't coming off of 10 losses in a row and losing his U.S. championship. Maybe he was trying to convince himself, because he wasn't convincing me.

 

[It's...Baylariat!]

This week's Raw officially drew a 2.9 rating, with an average of 3.92 million viewers across three hours. The number is down from last week's average of 4.3 million viewers.

No matter how you slice it, that's not good. Less than 4 million viewers for ANY flagship show is bad. If this were network television, Raw would be on the chopping block for cancellation. It's amazing how the WWE has managed to put itself in such a hole that it'll take a major breakthrough for it to recover.

And here's why the ratings are low! The show's too long, the most popular wrestler isn't there (I'm talking about CM Punk), and the quality of storylines are nearly unbearable to watch. And recapping everything left and right... I mean the vast majority of folks have DVR or don't care for the recaps of every minute detail of what's going on.

The WWE's brass is so out of touch with what the fans want that it borders on absurd. It's like Vince and the rest of the WWE are simply poking fun at us and trying to dictate what people want. When TV shows are slipping in ratings, they have focus groups telling them what's wrong and if that focus group has similar gripes with other groups, then there's changes made based on what the network wants. Problem is, USA does whatever the WWE wants them to do and won't risk losing WWE programming to a rival network.

This rating's not just a one-time thing... it's a pattern of ratings that culminated into this being a huge red flag. And there's no Monday Night Football to blame on this.

 

[Fire Marshall Bill]

No matter how you slice it, that's not good. Less than 4 million viewers for ANY flagship show is bad. If this were network television, Raw would be on the chopping block for cancellation. It's amazing how the WWE has managed to put itself in such a hole that it'll take a major breakthrough for it to recover.

And here's why the ratings are low! The show's too long, the most popular wrestler isn't there (I'm talking about CM Punk), and the quality of storylines are nearly unbearable to watch. And recapping everything left and right... I mean the vast majority of folks have DVR or don't care for the recaps of every minute detail of what's going on.

The WWE's brass is so out of touch with what the fans want that it borders on absurd. It's like Vince and the rest of the WWE are simply poking fun at us and trying to dictate what people want. When TV shows are slipping in ratings, they have focus groups telling them what's wrong and if that focus group has similar gripes with other groups, then there's changes made based on what the network wants. Problem is, USA does whatever the WWE wants them to do and won't risk losing WWE programming to a rival network.

This rating's not just a one-time thing... it's a pattern of ratings that culminated into this being a huge red flag. And there's no Monday Night Football to blame on this.

If you're so worried about it now, I imagine you were last year as well when they were getting regular 2.9's. I think I even remember a 2.7 in there somewhere last year when they said it was the lowest rating in 15 years.

Wrestling in general is at a low point. Blame anything you want. Storylines, stars, technology, etc. I believe it's a collection of everything, plus wrestling just isn't nearly as popular these days. I can accept it. That doesn't mean I don't want to watch good programming, but currently, even the most innovative programming I don't believe will generate as much buzz as it did in the Attitude Era. Just like most things in life, it's cyclical.

 

[Mustang Sally]

Wrestling in general is at a low point. Blame anything you want.

There's just too much WWE programming. Back when Raw first began, it was a 1-hour program.... packed with action because it had to be. That was the only original programming WWE had; there were two other shows, but they were recaps of what had happened during the week at Raw, plus an occasional clip from a house show.

There was no 2-hour Raw (let alone 3 hrs), no 2-hour Smackdown, no NxT, No Main Event, no Saturday morning show.

Here's the point: if WWE suddenly went back to the 1-hour Raw, with no other original programming......what do you think the ratings would be? If that was the only WWE show available, wouldn't more people be watching it?

Vince McMahon has followed the modern-day marketing practice of finding something successful and capitalizing on it by giving the public more and more until they get sick of it. Then, we try to analyze what went wrong. Jeez.

 

[Fire Marshall Bill]

There's just too much WWE programming. Back when Raw first began, it was a 1-hour program.... packed with action because it had to be. That was the only original programming WWE had; there were two other shows, but they were recaps of what had happened during the week at Raw, plus an occasional clip from a house show.

There was no 2-hour Raw (let alone 3 hrs), no 2-hour Smackdown, no NxT, No Main Event, no Saturday morning show.

Here's the point: if WWE suddenly went back to the 1-hour Raw, with no other original programming......what do you think the ratings would be? If that was the only WWE show available, wouldn't more people be watching it?

Vince McMahon has followed the modern-day marketing practice of finding something successful and capitalizing on it by giving the public more and more until they get sick of it. Then, we try to analyze what went wrong. Jeez.

Given the short attention span of many people, this isn't necessarily a bad strategy. Of course that doesn't work for quantity of programming. I was more talking about fads like "fandangoing" and the like.

As for the rest of your post I agree to a point. But you have to consider would the extra (maybe) viewers who would tune into Raw because it was only 1 hour generate enough money to offset the loss of the rest of the programming? Also, as I believe it was Jack-Hammer who mentioned this somewhere, Superstars and Main Event cost very little to produce since they are taped in accordance with Raw and Smackdown respectively.

That said, I agree they should cut down programming. Get rid of Smackdown and Main Event since they're taped together. They can bring Superstars, or NXT, back to TV and make it more relevant and less recaps. Keep that show only 1 hour though. It seems Vince doesn't understand that you can get too much of something. That's why, generally, sitcoms and shows air only once a week. It keeps people wanting more and doesn't oversaturate the viewer. But oh well. What are we gonna do?

 

[TWJC: The Beginning]

No matter how you slice it, that's not good. Less than 4 million viewers for ANY flagship show is bad. If this were network television, Raw would be on the chopping block for cancellation. It's amazing how the WWE has managed to put itself in such a hole that it'll take a major breakthrough for it to recover.

And here's why the ratings are low! The show's too long, the most popular wrestler isn't there (I'm talking about CM Punk), and the quality of storylines are nearly unbearable to watch. And recapping everything left and right... I mean the vast majority of folks have DVR or don't care for the recaps of every minute detail of what's going on.

The WWE's brass is so out of touch with what the fans want that it borders on absurd. It's like Vince and the rest of the WWE are simply poking fun at us and trying to dictate what people want. When TV shows are slipping in ratings, they have focus groups telling them what's wrong and if that focus group has similar gripes with other groups, then there's changes made based on what the network wants. Problem is, USA does whatever the WWE wants them to do and won't risk losing WWE programming to a rival network.

This rating's not just a one-time thing... it's a pattern of ratings that culminated into this being a huge red flag. And there's no Monday Night Football to blame on this.

im not sure you understand tv. Network tv is available in more homes, thus, they're more likely to draw bigger numbers. Look at Raws ranking. In all likelihood, the ratings will naturally decline over the next 20 years as cable dies off. You think WWE is out of touch, but your analysis of the industry fits late 90s metrics.

 

[TWJC: The Beginning]

There's just too much WWE programming. Back when Raw first began, it was a 1-hour program.... packed with action because it had to be. That was the only original programming WWE had; there were two other shows, but they were recaps of what had happened during the week at Raw, plus an occasional clip from a house show.

There was no 2-hour Raw (let alone 3 hrs), no 2-hour Smackdown, no NxT, No Main Event, no Saturday morning show.

Here's the point: if WWE suddenly went back to the 1-hour Raw, with no other original programming......what do you think the ratings would be? If that was the only WWE show available, wouldn't more people be watching it?

Vince McMahon has followed the modern-day marketing practice of finding something successful and capitalizing on it by giving the public more and more until they get sick of it. Then, we try to analyze what went wrong. Jeez.

Go back and watch the old Raws. They were not "packed with action". It was squash, squash, interview, squash, interview, main event with a top guy vs a mid carder. It's hard to watch.

 

[crazy_lou]

Go back and watch the old Raws. They were not "packed with action". It was squash, squash, interview, squash, interview, main event with a top guy vs a mid carder. It's hard to watch.

Actually, if you looked throughout the card, each wrestlers had a interesting storyline, even with the mid card titles and tag divisions. it wasnt like today when its just random match ups. Your right though, the problem of the russo era of wwe television was definitely the quality of the matches. you cant deny the quality of the storylines was great.

Bottomline: That attitude old school style of writing and booking could work today with todays worked matches, not rushed and ******ed like a russo style gimmick match every too seconds.

Raw lacks interesting stories. I cant think of one interesting feud with cm punk off tv. I want to like lesnar HHH, but i really only liked heyman.

 

[The Fabulous Rougeau's]

High points of last night's RAW:

The interaction between Shield and Team Hell No. These guys now have a good chemistry with each other and it shows in the ring. Look forward to watching Hell No v Rollins and Reign at the ppv.

Jericho's promo post dancing segment. Traded in the jokes for the intensity after being dupped by Fandango again. Adds a legiticimy to their match and makes Fandango look stronger in the process.

HHH/Lesnar segment. These guys just get it. As much we can complain about getting Lesnar/HHH III, they put on a good program. Brock in the ring is just crazy. He's always moving forward and I hardly ever see him cover up when getting hit in the face or being run into something. Makes anything involving him look so intense and real.

 

[The Eighties]

The last couple of Raw's have been very dull, just so much filler and good talent being used weekly as jobbers to the stars, their value continues to sink and the win doesn't mean much for the star as there's not often any storyline progression involved, just random matches.

The only highlight this week was the six man elimination tag match, I could have done without the SuperCena stuff at the end but overall it was a good match, Bryan in particular was on fire.

The only other things I enjoyed were the random Orton vs Cesaro match and AJ's submission finisher.

I thought Del Rio losing the vote by a large margin and King repeatedly trying to make an excuse for it was hilarious, and in case you didn't know WWE have an App! that fucking thing gets a better push than most of the wrestlers.

 

[scottyshowman82]

If RVD came out when as Paul Heyman's new acquisition I would have marked out, but WWE has a habit of falling short on big suprises, so once I had that understanding in mind I was ok with the the man who eventually came out. The man as former known as Michael McGillicutty came out to some impressive new music and I liked it. When we're talking about being a natural in the ring, and having talent of ring awareness that some people just have the man now known as Curtis Axel is at the top of the list. He's one of the most polished guys on NXT and he's waited his time, the ball is his and when it comes to in ring wrestling I think he'll do very well. He's got the perfect mouth piece to help him get that heat in Heyman.

I liked that Triple H came out and a match was put together for the end of the night. If Axel got the 1,2,3, on The Game, Triple H could always fall back on the fact he was in a war with Lesnar the night before. I just didn't like the way the show ended, with a dizzy, disoreinted Triple H on floor. I understand WWE is a soap opera that wants you to tune in each week but there should be some commitment to fufilling the billed contests of the night. Those were the cards dealt and we'll just see how they pick on this story in the next week.

 

[The Fabulous Rougeau's]

Overall a good show. Really impressed with Ryback's promo to open the show. He's getting comfortable with his promos and its showing.

 

[The Eighties]

I thought Ryback arriving in the ambulance and then cutting his promo while standing on top of it was an effective visual. The promo itself was pretty solid, I felt he got lost a bit in the middle but finished strongly.

Despite looking like Urkle on roids and wearing a skimpy singlet I'm starting to enjoy Big E's ring work, his finisher is still a bit silly but his squat weightlifter physique gives him explosive power and he has good mobility. His match with Del Rio was decent and it was interesting that he got the win. The highlight of the match were his power counter's to the arm-bar.

When Joe Hennig aka Michael McGillicutty now Curtis Axel came out as the new Heyman guy I was partly relieved it wasn't RVD, partly thinking "WTF?" and partly intrigued. Then Heyman gets on the mic and starts selling ice to Eskimo's after a virtually silent reaction, but it's ruined when captain smug comes swaggering out, treats Axel like a bitch and makes a match between them as the main event.

The Shield vs Team Hell No and Kofi was comfortably the highlight of the show, the pre-match promo from The Shield once again showcased Ambrose's mic skills while Rollins also delivered well, Reigns as usual only had a brief soundbyte.

The match was all action, I felt every guy came out of it looking good, all of them busted their ass and Daniel Bryan yet again was just on fire in there. Not a big surprise that The Shield won but I'm glad Kane took the pin, hopefully that means we aren't going to get a continuation of Bryan fretting over being seen as the weak link.

The short match between AJ and Layla was fun and Layla got herself a handful of Miss Lee's ass cheek when tapping out of her neat submission finisher which was a nice visual. I love the way AJ uses her character in her matches in the same way Ambrose does, she also sold a sidekick from Layla like death.

The vote to see who would wrestle Swagger was so pointless given the choices, you didn't need to be psychic to know who was going to win. I did feel sorry for R-Truth though, it must suck to know that more people wanted to see Khali wrestle than you.

The Orton/Swagger match was decent but the clean win for Orton surprised me as Swagger lost at the PPV as well and I thought this may be the start of an angle between him and Orton as both are seemingly done with their previous feuds.

The main event was a non event, I don't think it did anything for Axel and do we really need another Triple H sympathy angle? We know he'll be off TV (thankfully) until at least Summerslam and surely he's done eating up Brock's dates? So I'm not sure where this is going but it certainly was an odd and underwhelming choice of angle to close Raw on.

 

[Brahma_Bull9]

The WWE is fucking lost.... that main even sucked and the only way it could have sucked more is the way it ended. Two nights in a row you are going to pull some shit like that? What a bunch of lazy fucks, everyone in creative should be fired. They knew last year they were gonna have Rock drop the title to Cena probably, and this is what u came up with for Extreme Rules? That cop out shit?

And tonight, I don't even know what that was. Maybe it wasn't the worst ending, I almost half expected HHH to come out and kill the dude and his career before it began once that match was announced. But for real, that was a stupid ass ending.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

The WWE is fucking lost.... that main even sucked and the only way it could have sucked more is the way it ended. Two nights in a row you are going to pull some shit like that? What a bunch of lazy fucks, everyone in creative should be fired. They knew last year they were gonna have Rock drop the title to Cena probably, and this is what u came up with for Extreme Rules? That cop out shit?

And tonight, I don't even know what that was. Maybe it wasn't the worst ending, I almost half expected HHH to come out and kill the dude and his career before it began once that match was announced. But for real, that was a stupid ass ending.

It sounds like you obviously have no clue when wrestlers are telling a story, and a good one at that.

Ryback literally just turned heel within the course of the past 5 or 6 weeks. He's finally finding his voice as he delivered a strong promo overall last night. He's not to the point just yet where putting the WWE Championship on him is truly going to enhance him to the degree WWE wants. At the same time, John Cena needed to retain the title at Extreme Rules in order to look strong while, simultaneously, keeping Ryback strong. Ryback came out of Extreme Rules looking like a beast that took it to John Cena in a way that's never been done before. For instance, WWE kept Cena completely off Raw last night to further sell the devastation of his match with Ryback, whereas Ryback came out looking right as rain. Whereas Cena was in seclusion nursing his wounds, Ryback was walking about bragging about what he did to Cena and taking out wrestlers on the roster as if what happened at ER was a typical walk in the park. Now, over the course of the next month or so, WWE can continue to build Ryback as even more of a beast against Cena.

As for how Raw ended last night, again, it doesn't seem as though you grasp the concept of telling a story. Triple H ignored the advice of doctors and competed in a match. Over the course of this match, the story is that the effects of his match with Lesnar came about while he was going against this young upstart who got in his face. It'll possibly be revealed that Trips suffered from exhaustion or maybe even was on the verge of a concussion after his match with Lesnar & wound up suffering one while wrestling last night. As a result, Heyman & Axel can lay claim that Trips fell victim to Axel and can brag about the match having to be stopped on account of Triple H's health. As a result, WWE builds up this feud and have a match at the next ppv between Triple H & Axel, a match in which I'm willing to bet that Triple H loses, thereby giving Curtis Axel, aka Michael McGuillicutty & Joe Hennig, the biggest moment of his career and then they take it from there.

People have complained that they want "new stars" from WWE for a while now. The Shield have come along and are dominating, Ryback is being built as the next major heel in WWE & a probable future WWE Champion and Curtis Axel has been paired up with Paul Heyman as a manager & will probably engage in a full blown feud against Triple H.

 

[Sid Schmid]

It sounds like you obviously have no clue when wrestlers are telling a story, and a good one at that.

Ryback literally just turned heel within the course of the past 5 or 6 weeks. He's finally finding his voice as he delivered a strong promo overall last night. He's not to the point just yet where putting the WWE Championship on him is truly going to enhance him to the degree WWE wants. At the same time, John Cena needed to retain the title at Extreme Rules in order to look strong while, simultaneously, keeping Ryback strong. Ryback came out of Extreme Rules looking like a beast that took it to John Cena in a way that's never been done before. For instance, WWE kept Cena completely off Raw last night to further sell the devastation of his match with Ryback, whereas Ryback came out looking right as rain. Whereas Cena was in seclusion nursing his wounds, Ryback was walking about bragging about what he did to Cena and taking out wrestlers on the roster as if what happened at ER was a typical walk in the park. Now, over the course of the next month or so, WWE can continue to build Ryback as even more of a beast against Cena.

As for how Raw ended last night, again, it doesn't seem as though you grasp the concept of telling a story. Triple H ignored the advice of doctors and competed in a match. Over the course of this match, the story is that the effects of his match with Lesnar came about while he was going against this young upstart who got in his face. It'll possibly be revealed that Trips suffered from exhaustion or maybe even was on the verge of a concussion after his match with Lesnar & wound up suffering one while wrestling last night. As a result, Heyman & Axel can lay claim that Trips fell victim to Axel and can brag about the match having to be stopped on account of Triple H's health. As a result, WWE builds up this feud and have a match at the next ppv between Triple H & Axel, a match in which I'm willing to bet that Triple H loses, thereby giving Curtis Axel, aka Michael McGuillicutty & Joe Hennig, the biggest moment of his career and then they take it from there.

People have complained that they want "new stars" from WWE for a while now. The Shield have come along and are dominating, Ryback is being built as the next major heel in WWE & a probable future WWE Champion and Curtis Axel has been paired up with Paul Heyman as a manager & will probably engage in a full blown feud against Triple H.

I agree with all of this. Also don't forget that Big E Langston went over Alberto Del Rio, which was a surprise.
I love episodes of Raw where questions are left unanswered, it makes me want to tune in the week after. What was up with Triple H? What is going on with Mark Henry, saying he's 'going home'? How was Cena affected by that crazy spot a EC? Who will the Shield battle next?

 

[steven87gill]

The WWE is fucking lost.... that main even sucked and the only way it could have sucked more is the way it ended. Two nights in a row you are going to pull some shit like that? What a bunch of lazy fucks, everyone in creative should be fired. They knew last year they were gonna have Rock drop the title to Cena probably, and this is what u came up with for Extreme Rules? That cop out shit?

And tonight, I don't even know what that was. Maybe it wasn't the worst ending, I almost half expected HHH to come out and kill the dude and his career before it began once that match was announced. But for real, that was a stupid ass ending.

I can't really disagree with your points on Cena, though I might not use quite as many expletives as you!

The problem is there really are no other monsters for Cena to fight. Deep down, even the most ardent anti-cena fans knew that Cena was probably beating the Rock for the title at WM, that isn't the problem. Nor is the fact that Ryback was going against him after WM, there was speculation in the dirtsheets back in Febuary/March time that WWE was considering this.
The fact that they've chose to do nothing with his Cena's character is the real problem.

I know that technically as a good guy, John Cena can still put over the next generation, but deep down that's an easy way out, WWE's way of trying to have their cake and eat it, they wan't Cena to put over ''XYZ'' superstar, but they don't want Cena to turn heel, fine, I get that, we all get that.

But if they really want this feud to the making of Ryback, they need to pull the trigger on some sort of double switch at some point in this feud. Cena's at the stage in his career where he's bigger than the title, and if they're intent on him being champion, his only role should be as the heel putting over the next face. Sure, you can have a face v face feud where Cena puts over the next guy, but it's never going to be as effective as having the heel incumbent put over the upstart face. It's why JBL was a heel going into WM21. It's why HHH was a heel going into WM22. It's a tried and true formula.

 

[strongbad]

As for how Raw ended last night, again, it doesn't seem as though you grasp the concept of telling a story. Triple H ignored the advice of doctors and competed in a match. Over the course of this match, the story is that the effects of his match with Lesnar came about while he was going against this young upstart who got in his face. It'll possibly be revealed that Trips suffered from exhaustion or maybe even was on the verge of a concussion after his match with Lesnar & wound up suffering one while wrestling last night. As a result, Heyman & Axel can lay claim that Trips fell victim to Axel and can brag about the match having to be stopped on account of Triple H's health. As a result, WWE builds up this feud and have a match at the next ppv between Triple H & Axel, a match in which I'm willing to bet that Triple H loses, thereby giving Curtis Axel, aka Michael McGuillicutty & Joe Hennig, the biggest moment of his career and then they take it from there.

I thought this was pretty evident, however, I think that the match will presumably take place at SummerSlam. In the meantime, they'll build up Hennig's character and have him beat out guys like Kingston, Miz, and probably one big namer like Rey Mysterio, Sheamus or Del Rio to setup the Triple H rub.

 

[The Eighties]

Triple H wont work the next PPV in my view, it will be Summerslam at the earliest and I think the story is about his concussion and will be about doctors and Steph telling him not to wrestle again, only for him to ignore them and go into battle once more, coming out victorious.