Official Raw/Smackdown Aftermath, Ratings and Review Thread

[Jack-Hammer]

WWE Monday Night Raw - September 6, 2010

Opening Segment - Raw opened pretty strong last night with all the members of The Nexus standing in the ring bragging about their beatdown of The Undertaker and their victory in the elimination tag main event last week. Barrett, Otunga & Tarver were all strong on the mic last night and while Gabriel & Slater aren't as strong, it's good that all of them got some mic time. Slater might've sounded like a hick that just climbed off the turnip truck, but he was energetic and did get the crowd to respond to him so that's a plus. I like that Randy Orton came out rather than John Cena and looked as though he was about to climb in the ring despite being outnumbered. That alone simply made the guy look strong, or dumb depending upon how you wanna look at it. The GM chimes in and assigns matches for Gabirel & Barrett with Gabriel taking on Cena and Barrett taking on Orton with the winner wrestling Cena in the main event next week. Good way to open things. Thumbs Up

Chris Jericho vs. John Morrison - I enjoyed this match a lot. It was a little choppy in a couple of spots but it was a good match for these two. The stipulation added by the Raw GM saying that if Jericho lost he'd be out of the 6 pack challenge at NOC had me convinced that Jericho would win. Morrison, however, pulls off the upset and pins Jericho with Starship Pain a little past the 10 minute mark. As a result, Jericho is out of the main event at NOC. I was quite surprised that happened and I'm wondering if there's going to be a replacement for Jericho in the match and, if so, who will it be? Maybe this means that Jericho has re-signed with the WWE? A nice and unexpected surprise with a big win for Morrison. Thumbs Up

Melina vs. Alicia Fox - This match was actually pretty good, though utterly predictable. Alicia, who is usually pretty solid on the mic, screwed up a couple of times during her promo prior to the match. The action between the two Divas was solid and the crowd actually responded and cared about the match. Melina gets the win around the 2.5 minute mark to retain the title. I'm not a fan of short title matches, even if it is for a women's title, with very few exceptions. This match made Melina look strong with NOC a few weeks away and a big go home show planned for next week. This wasn't great, but it wasn't bad and it could have been a helluva lot worse. Thumbs Up

Edge & Zack Ryder - Good exchange between these two backstage. Edge had great delivery and I do think Zack Ryder is someone that's underutilized. It was a fun little promo and, given what happened with Morrison & Jericho, it had me hoping that Ryder would ultimately be Edge's opponent and we might see another upset. Thumbs Up

Ted DiBiase & Maryse - I'm not really sure what the purpose of this segment was. It does add a little hint of mystery to what the purpose of the note Maryse found is, though this can hardly be called a cliffhanger. I know I've said it before but it bears repeating: Maryse is gorgeous, I mean really really gorgeous. The kinda gorgeous that makes a man forget his name for about half an hour. This didn't really add anything to the show but it didn't take away anything. If nothing else, it was an excuse to ogle Maryse for a few minutes. Thumbs Up

John Cena vs. Justin Gabriel - This was a pretty good match overall, nothing spectacular really, but a good match all the same in which Justin Gabriel looked pretty strong. In all honesty, nobody expected Gabriel to beat John Cena here even though we all probably had that little glimmer of hope that a major upset was on the horizon. At any rate, Gabirel gave Cena a good match and got himself a nice rub from the biggest star in the company. Cena got the win via an Attitude Adjustment off the ropes around the 7 minute mark. The match could've used another 3 or 4 minutes, but a solid performance. Thumbs Up

The Miz & Daniel Bryan - I thought this was a great segment with The Miz giving a killer promo. The Miz's promo consisted basically of just about everything I've read haters post about the guy and I found myself agreeing with just about everything he said. The Miz is a talented pro wrestler and I honestly think anybody that denies that is just plain hating on the guy for no reason. If you don't like him that's fine, but don't deny the man's ability. The Miz's promo touched on his beginnings in the WWE and his journey through the company as well as the hurdles he had to jump to basically even be accepted. The Miz revealing the upcoming cover of the WWE Magazine with him on the cover was hyped well as The Miz says it means he's made it. Daniel Bryan came to the ring and I thought he did a really good job with the whole "Anti-Superstar" bit that's going on. I don't know if he's quite found his groove yet, but he's done a very good job of making me give a shit about him. He challenges The Miz at NOC for the U.S. title and The Miz eventually accepts. Bryan made himself look strong by overcoming being jumped by Alex Riley as he had The Miz locked in a submission. The Miz & Bryan locking eyes while Riley was tapping to the submission hold was a nice finish to the whole thing. The crowd was into it and it was a damn good segment. It ran long but I don't mind because it was high quality in my view. Thumbs Up

Edge vs. The Great Khali - This was extremely bad, just outright horrible really. However, it was The Great Khali so I don't really think anyone could expect otherwise. Honestly, why not just bring out R-Truth so we could've had a decent match? Edge wins at the 90 second mark via countout before the Raw GM chimes in and demands the match restart as an over the top rope challenge. I was really hoping that Edge would get another opponent. Edge manages to pull off a win at the 2.5 minute mark. Edge is still in the match at NOC, though I wish the WWE would just ship Khali back to Punjab. Thumbs Down

John Morrison & Chris Jericho - As with Ryder & Edge earlier, this was a fun little segment with Jericho just kind of staring off into space when John Morrison sits beside him. It wasn't some electric promo or anything, but at least Morrison managed to make sense and stay coherant. I also like how we don't know yet what Jericho's fate is going to be or what's ultimately going to go down with the 6 pack challenge. Thumbs Up

Randy Orton vs. Wade Barrett - A solid match overall that saw both Barrett & Orton look strong. Barrett got in his share of offense and continues to look like a credible challenger. Darren Young coming out to the ring and distracting Barrett with his presence was a surprise and allowed Orton to hit the RKO for the win. I liked the ending as it wasn't exactly clean. It wasn't dirty but it wasn't clean either. Orton gets the win, but only gets the win while Barrett is preoccupied about guarding himself from an attack by Young. Post match, Young takes an RKO as does Edge & Sheamus who are at ringside with John Cena doing commentary during the match. Raw closes with Cena & Orton giving each other a hard stare down. Thumbs Up

Overall Show - Thumbs Up - Overall, I thought Raw was a really strong show this week. Most of the wrestling action was pretty good, nothing Earth shattering but good, and we didn't get a succession of 2 minute matches, which has been the general formula over the past few weeks. A lot of young talent was featured very prominently on Raw. A few surprises took place, including a pretty big upset that ultimately leaves us wondering what Jericho's fate is. The Miz & Daniel Bryan had a great segment and the hype for their match at NOC is strong. The show also finished strong and did a great job of hyping Raw next week. The Raw Roulette returns next week, which could be interesting, and a very strong main event of John Cena vs. Randy Orton is on for next week. With the exception of Edge vs. The Great Khali, I thought it was a really strong show. A-

 

[Wade's Public Transit Bomb]

A lot of stuff went down on Raw!

Nexus Promo
Even when he screws up a line, Wade Barrett is prolly the best promo guy on the show. I didn't care for the rest of the guys besides Gabriel. I really don't see how Otunga is "good" on the mic; His voice is weak and there is absolutely no power behind it. Traver sounds like Tony Atlas. The Ginger Ninjer is still horrible. Gabriel, while not flashy, did a great job I think. You can tell that his confidence has really grown and I loved how he would pause and give that look he does when he hits his 450 splash. I didn't care for Orton coming out since nothing really happened.. And it was the same Orton promo of "Blah blah Imma RKO you blah blah". Now if he was man enough to try on Wade right then and there..

Jericho vs Morrison
I didn't care for this match. Sorry.

Divas Title Match
Like their other encounters, it was sloppy and stiff and bad.

Edge and Ryder
I don't get the hub hub about either guy.

Maryse and Teddy Jr.
I don't know what it was, but it wasn't the worst thing about the show. Those acting classes really helped Maryse, though.

Gabriel vs Cena
That was a great match. I don't think anyone doubts that Gabriel is the number 2 guy in the ring for Nexus and Cena, despite the movez mentality of the IWC, is still the best wrestler on the show.

The Miz and Bryan
I thought it came off kinda off. I just can't get into Daniel Bryan.

Edge vs. The Great Khali
I thought this was the second worst part of the show. I think Khali gets too much slack while Edge gets too much praise.

Morrison and Jericho
When will people stop treating Morrison as the next big thing? He has been on the main roster for over five years and still sucks at everything but doing flips!

Wade Barrett vs Orton
I am still waiting for an answer to why Wade isn't ready for the main event. The guy got major heat when he came out and maintained it. I am also waiting for an answer to why Orton is booked as invincible, but he doesn't get dogged for it. Young coming back was unexpected, but what can you do? Wade looked like a champion in the match and Orton.. Eh. I still don't care how EVERY SEGMENT Orton is literally in the ring, someone has to get RKO'd.

Plus, I really wanted to see Wade Barrett vs John Cena.. But I totally understand putting that off for a PPV.

Overall, I thought Nexus stuff looked great and just couldn't get into the rest of the show.

 

[Daniel]

A really good Raw. Nexus opened the show with a solid in-ring promo. But, I still stand by my belief that Justin Gabriel shouldn't be allowed near any microphones.

Then Jericho vs. Morrison. A decent match with a stipulation and ending I didn't see coming. And Alicia Fox vs. Melina was good for a Raw divas match. I'm happy that the commentators picked up on Fox's "undefined" mistake. It adds a bit of realism instead of King and Cole acting as if nothing happened.

The next two segments were great. I sometimes forget how great Edge is at talking:

"Under his breath he said derogatory things about my mom. Nobody disrespects my mom. You wanna know why: because I love her."
"I love her too."
"What?"
"Forget it."

And Ted DiBiase needs to be pushed. He has great, believable chemistry with Maryse and that segment showed it.

John Cena vs. Justin Gabriel was very enjoyable. A good showing from Gabriel, I've never seen a springboard moonsault before. It looked great. I'm looking foward to seeing more from him in singles matches.

The Miz and Daniel Bryan put in a very good showing too. It's going to be very hard for WWE to drop the ball on this feud because of their natural chemistry. They look born to be rivals. Bryan is better on the mic than that but i'm not going to hold it against him.

Edge vs. Khali was hideous. I expected better from Edge (and Khali for that matter). The crowd seemed dead for both matches and Khali going over the top rope was an awful botch (I'm assuming it was a botch).

Darren Young costing Barrett the match was something I was not expecting, but it worked. My money was on a Jericho appearence. It was a nice performance from Orton and Barrett in the ring and Cena, Sheamus and Edge on commentary. When conversing with Sheamus, Edge showed why he should be face. He seems well suited to it.

Overall, a very nice Raw.

 

[Mitch Henessey]

Nexus Opens The Show:

The Nexus started off last night's show, and each member made sure to boast about how they won the Summerslam rematch(I'm sorry but that match had Summerslam's main event written all over it). They also went on to say how proud they were of The Undertaker's destruction. I seriously hope Wade Barrett does most of the talking from now on, because almost everyone else in Nexus is terrible on the mic, especially Heath Slater. Michael Tarver is really the only other member who can be decent on the mic.

Randy Orton came out and crashed Nexus' party. Orton was smiling a lot more than usual here. It was very weird. Anyway, Orton was about to make his way to the ring, but he was interrupted by the mystery GM. Barrett VS Orton and Justin Gabriel VS Cena are announced.

John Morrison VS Chris Jericho:

This was a pretty solid match. Morrison has been kind of irrelevant on Raw for a while, but a victory over Chris Jericho could give him a nice little boost. The mystery GM added a stipulation to this match. If Jericho were to lose this match, then he would be removed from the WWE championship match at NOC. This was punishment for Jericho getting himself intentionally disqualified in last week's main event. Well, Jericho did lose, and now he's out of the match. I don't where WWE is going with Jericho right now. We all know he plans to take time off soon, but I thought that would happen after NOC. Maybe he'll give a big speech, and be written off TV some how next week. We'll just have to wait and see. Also, Jericho did a great job showing his depression after the match. He seriously looked devastated after the match, as he sat on the steel steps.

Diva's Championship Match Melina VS Alicia Fox:

There wasn't really anything special here. Melina dominated the entire match, and I think was just a way for her to build some momentum before her unification match at NOC. Although, I did enjoy the promo Alicia Fox cut before the match.

John Cena VS Justin Gabriel:

Easily the best match of the night. John Cena hitting the Attitude Adjustment off of the top rope was a great way to end this match. I wouldn't mind seeing these two go at again, and maybe next time Gabriel can hit another 450 splash.

Daniel Byran Challenges The Miz

This was a good segment, and I think Miz cut one his best promos ever here. You could almost feel his anger, as he was going on about how he received no respect, and how nobody thought the MTV reality show guy could make it in the world of pro wrestling. I'm looking forward to the US title match at NOC. Ever since he returned, Daniel Byran has been getting a nice push, and I wouldn't be surprised if he walked away with the title at NOC. After the challenge was accepted, Alex Riley tried to hit a sneak attack on Byran, but The Dragon was able to thwart it. He caught Riley in a painful submission hold, and The Miz just stood by as his NXT season 2 rookie was decimated.

Edge VS The Great Khali:

This was kind of silly. Edge spent most of the match dodging and mocking Khali, and he even held Ranjin Singh hostage for a while. Edge was able to bait Khali to the outside, and he won by a count out. Edge had to win this, because he was facing the same stipulation as Jericho was in his match.

Randy Orton VS Wade Barrett:

This was kind of boring. In fact, things really didn't pick up until Darren Young came back. Barret of course became distracted by Young's return, and this allowed Orton to hit the RKO, and win the match. Young wasn't safe, because he was given an RKO also. Sheamus and Edge, who were sitting at ringside for commentary, tried to sneak attack Orton, but they were given RKOs. It looked like Cena and Orton might go at it, but they just had a nice stare down to help hype their match for next week. Although, I'm sure WWE will build up this match like there's no tomorrow next week.

This was a very good show. John Cena VS Justin Gabriel was the highlight of the night. I also think we might be coming closer to finding out who the new GM is. Jericho kept pressing the issue before and after his match, and Edge vented his frustrations before his match as well by mocking the GM, and threatening to break the laptop computer. I still think it might take some time, but I think we're getting closer every week.

 

[klunderbunker]

Monday Night Raw
Date: September 6, 2010
Location: Verizon Center, Washington D.C.
Commentators: Michael Cole, Matt Striker

I thought Night of Champions was this Sunday but apparently there’s another week beforehand. There’s nothing announced so far so I have no idea as to what to expect here. Anything should be an improvement over last week though, so let’s get to it.

We open with Nexus in the ring. They talk about all they accomplished last week, including beating up Taker, winning the elimination match, Slater pinning Sheamus and Gabriel being awesome. Barrett talks about how awesome he is and how he’s going to win the title. Cue Orton, who says he’ll hit an RKO on Barrett no matter what. Orton starts coming to the ring and there’s an e-mail.

Nexus is in action in singles tonight. Gabriel vs. Cena of course, so that should be early fantasy points for me. Orton vs. Barrett, which is your main event more than likely. Nexus is banned from ringside in both.

We get a quick flashback of Edge getting intentionally eliminated last week.

Jericho comes out for a match but we have an e-mail first. Jericho and Edge are in trouble. If they don’t win, they’re out of the 6 Pack Challenge.

Chris Jericho vs. John Morrison

Jericho goes nuts and kicks Morrison immediately. Morrison gets a rollup for two and then does it a second time. Three covers in less than a minute. Jericho wants to know who the GM is. Decent match so far as we go to a break. Back and Morrison is in trouble. Walls are blocked and a Flash Kick gets two for Morrison.

Codebreaker doesn’t work and we’re getting a ton of near falls here. Jericho says Morrison is a stupid man. He rams into the post and is in perfect position for Starship Pain. The knee is tweaked on the miss though and there are the Walls. Morrison makes the ropes to a nice pop. We go up top and Jericho gets shoved off, setting up Starship Pain (which hits!) for the CLEAN PIN! Jericho isn’t going to Night of Champions! Jericho is cheered loudly on his way to the back and pauses.

Rating: B-. Pretty decent TV match here with Jericho again putting someone over clean. This losing streak is either leading to a face turn or time off, and I hope it’s the former. Morrison looked decent here too which is a surprise. Good little match and a pretty solid opener as well. I like where this is going…I think.

Raw Women’s Title: Melina vs. Alicia Fox

This is pretty much a lock as to who wins. The question is how does she do it? Alicia and those awesome hips say Melina won’t be fighting at Night of Champions. Alicia messes up one of her two lines by not remembering the word undisputed. Melina hits a running boot and lands in a split. Fox says she’s leaving and gets caught. Melina’s finisher misses but she hits a scream and puts her foot on Alicia’s chest to driver her down for the pin. Moving on.

Rating: N/A. Boring match for the most part that went nowhere at all. Alicia looks kind of good and that’s the end of her appeal. Other than that this was just a filler. I get why Alicia doesn’t talk by the way.

Miz has a surprise which has to do with the road to awesome, whatever that means.

Edge is in the back and Ryder comes up. Edge wants to fight him in his match.

Maryse has a note saying the writer wants her. Ted thinks it’s for him. She speaks French, he leaves.

Justin Gabriel vs. John Cena

After Gabriel’s entrance we go to a break. Coming back from it we hear that next week is Raw Roulette as well as the Season Premiere. Ok then. BIG face pop for Cena. Cena wraps his legs around Gabriel’s head to take over and there are the dueling chants. Gabriel does better than you would expect, including getting a submission hold on the CHAMP. Ok not the champ but whatever.

A flip over the ropes connects for two. Cena does his power reversal but gets caught in a spinout powerbomb. A top rope moonsault (think Lionsault but no running and from the top) misses and here comes Cena. 5 Knuckle Shuffle sets up the FU which is blocked. STO and down goes Cena. He goes for the 450 but it’s blocked with an FU off the middle rope for the pin. Cena slipped a bit coming off there but looks fine.

Rating: C+. Nothing special here as this was kind of an old school TV match. No one thought Gabriel was going to win but he got to look good before losing, which is the right way to do this. We got to see more than just the 450 here, which is the right idea. He’s a very one move guy and that’s never a good thing. This helped to remedy that a bit and Gabriel looked good.

Preview of Legendary. Looks ok still. I think this is the same one they aired months ago. Ah never mind as we get some behind the scenes stuff.

Here’s Miz, saying his real name and that he has no right to be here. That’s what he was told apparently. He goes over the beginning of his career, including his time on Tough Enough. He’s been here 6 years, which is almost as long as Rock was around. Miz goes through his career, saying the only constant was everyone saying he wasn’t good enough. He’s absolutely right with that.

Miz pulls the veil off of his surprise, which is the cover of the new WWE Magazine. That’s a bit of an underwhelming surprise but ok. He talks about the issues he would read as a kid and the dreams he has. Everyone has to say he’s awesome now because he’s earned it. Cue Daniel Bryan who says he’s not a star, but he can beat Miz.

The match is made and here’s the brawl. Miz avoids the Crossface as Alex Riley runs in. He gets locked in and taps as Miz is on the floor. Bryan breaks the poster afterwards.

The week in history is the debut of Nitro, which gets like two minutes of explanation.

The winner of Barrett vs. Orton gets Cena next week.

Edge vs. Great Khali

Edge goes outside to break the computer but the referee stops him. He makes fun of Khali like Hall used to make fun of Show. Edge wins by count out in about a minute. Total waste of time, but we have an e-mail. The GM doesn’t care so the match continues as an over the top rope challenge.

Back from a break and Edge sells the overhand chop really well. Khali steps over the top rope to the floor and nothing happens. Lawler tries to cover by saying you have to be thrown over. I love rule changes for the sake of rule changes. He steps over again but Edge grabs his leg, so this one counts.

Rating: N/A. Total waste of time here as it was just to give Edge what seemed like a difficult match. This went nowhere at all and wasn’t interesting as everyone knew Edge would pull it off somehow.

Jericho says nothing to Matthews but here’s Morrison. This goes nowhere.

Sheamus does commentary on the main event, as do Cena and Edge.

Wade Barrett vs. Randy Orton

They hit the floor almost immediately and Barrett gets slammed into the table. Orton dominates to start and gets an RKO cahnt because of it. Cena gets on Edge just because he can and Edge has been his bitch for the majority of his career. We hit the chinlock to fill in some time.

Wasteland is blocked and we go back and forth a bit. Barrett hits a clothesline to send him to the floor, and here’s…..Darren “the Missing Link” Young. Barrett turns around into an RKO to end it. Edge and Sheamus come in and take one of those each. Cena and Orton stare it out to end the show.

Rating: C+. This was too angle heavy for me with Darren Young of all people being the focus of this? RKO was nice though and the Cena/Orton showdown next week should be solid as a double face showdown is rare most of the time. Not a great match but this was fine for what it was supposed to be.

Overall Rating: B. This was a very solid show I thought but the wrestling was kind of lacking which brings the rating down. It’s a HUGE upgrade from last week but that’s not saying much considering how bad that was. It hit on a lot of angles and stated the push towards revealing the GM with Jericho and Edge being mad about him. It was a good show and did it’s job, so I can’t complain. Solid show.

 

[RadioactiveMuffin]

I have mixed feelings about this past RAW. Here's the run-down:

Opening Segment- The Nexus

Nexus is in the ring and they're talking about last week. Beating down Undertaker, winning the main event, blah blah blah. Slater talks about how he pinned the WWE champion, Gabriel getting the 450 on 'Taker and Cena, just all of their accomplishments from last week. Eventually Orton comes out and says he'll hit the RKO on Wade Barrett at NoC. Wade challenges him to do it now, and as Orton walks to the ring, the GM chimes in. It will be Cena vs. Gabriel and Wade vs. Orton tonight. Orton walks back with VERY creepy smile on his face...

This was decent enough, I guess. I can't stand Slater's voice, though. 3/5.

Chris Jericho vs. John Morrison

As Jericho walks to the ring, we learn that if he and Edge lose their matches tonight, they'll be out of the Six-Pack Challenge. Jericho is furious. After 2 roll- ups, Jericho takes out Morrison so he can yell at Michael Cole.

When we come back from break, Jericho is in control. He goes for the Walls of Jericho, but Morrison escapes. Morrison is able to get a Flash Kick (apparently it's not a chuck kick anymore) for another nearfall. Jericho goes for the Codebreaker but Morrison holds onto the ropes. Plenty of nearfalls for both men, but no dice. Jericho puts Morrison into the corner and calls him a stupid man. Jericho goes for a running corner move, but hits the ring post and gets into perfect position for some Starship Pain. But when Morrison goes for it, Jericho gets out of the way. Apparently Morrison's knee or ankle is tweaked, so Jericho gets the Walls but Morrison gets a rope break. Morrison goes to the top rope, Jericho blocks it only to get beat down into position for Starship Pain. Morrison hits it for the pin, and Jericho is out of the Six-Pack Challenge. (Sad face) Before he leaves, Jericho pauses as if he can't believe it, and finally exits to chants of Y2J.

While I wish Jericho would've won, this was a really good, high-octane match. The stipulation of Jericho getting kicked out of the Challenge really got me into this match. There's no way they'll leave Jericho off the card for NoC, so they'll probobly write him back in somehow. 4/5.

Divas' Title Match- Melina vs. Alicia Fox

As if we don't know who's gonna win... Melina comes out first, then Alicia. I only point this out because Alicia says she's gonna take Melina's spot in the NoC match as the most dominant Diva there. Oh, and she's gonna become the 'Undefined' Women's Champion.

But of course, this short match ended with Melina getting the win with her Leg Drop move. Nothing special. Well, Alicia did threaten to leave. Either way, this was nothing special or good in any way, so...

1/5.

We go backstage and Miz is going to tell us about the Road to Awesome.

Edge is backstage with Zack Ryder. Apparently Ryder is no good and he's a tool. Wow. Edge wants to face Ryder in his match tonight. Oh, and Ryder's feelings are hurt.

Ted and Maryse (who looks fantastic) have a little segment. Ted actually got some laughs out of me. Regardless of what everyone thinks of him, I like Dibiase. Anyway, they start to argue, Maryse yells in French and Ted walks away.

John Cena vs. Justin Gabriel

Gabriel comes out first and then we go to break. We come back for Cena's entrance, and then the match is underway. Cena gets Gabriel on the ground and wraps his legs around Gabriel's head. Gabriel escapes and starts dominating. He even locks in a submission! When Cena escapes that, Gabriel does a flip over the top rope to hit Cena for a nearfall. The move didn't look like it would hurt at all until they replayed it.

Cena starts reversing stuff, but he gets caught in spin-out powerbomb by Gabriel. Gabriel then goes for a top rope springboard moonsault but misses. Cena gets the shoulder blocks, spin out powerbomb, then the 5-Knuckle Shuffle, just as you'd expect. Gabriel reverses the AA into an STO and Gabriel starts climbing for the 450. Cena gets up and hits an AA from the second rope. It isn't as cool as it sounds. Gabriel made some funny faces though.

Cena wins, but Gabriel was very impressive tonight. He's clearly got more than just the 450 Splash, and he didn't look stupid in there with Cena. Overall, I'd give this a 3/5.

Legendary preview. Not interested.

The Miz's Road to Awesome

Here we go with the Miz's segment. He talks about his career and how people said he didn't deserve to be there. He talks about everything, from him being host of SD to his Tough Enough days. He's been here six years, and the only thing that never changed was how people said he wasn't good enough. Well, look at him now.

His big surprise was the cover of the new WWE Magazine. He's on it. Not really a big deal to me, but it is for him. He says that as a kid he dreamed of being on the cover. Now we all have to call him awesome because he's earned it. Daniel Bryan comes out and I didn't know it was him due to his music.

Bryan starts comparing himself to Miz (he even talks about his unidentifyable music) and Miz says that Bryan's done nothing in WWE. Bryan responds with "You're probobly right." Really? He still isn't very good on the mic. He can't stop smirking half the time. Anyway, Miz says he never liked Bryan from the beginning of NXT to when he took his place on Smackdown (Not a typo, he really said Smackdown instead of Summerslam) and when he interrupted Miz just now. Bryan challenges Miz at NoC and Miz accepts. Miz goes for a cheap shot but it's reversed into the LaBell Lock. But Alex Riley breaks it up! Riley goes for the TKO only to get another LaBell Lock. Miz is angry and Bryan is still smirking.

While Bryan's mic skills leave something to desire, this segment was very enjoyable and set up their match for NoC well. 3.5/5.

Edge vs. The Great Khali

This is gonna be a train wreck. To make a long story short, Edge wins by count-out. The GM won't accept that though, so now it's a no DQ Over-the-Top Rope Challenge.

Khali beats on Edge and Edge rolls under the bottom rope to the floor. Khali then DELIBERATELY steps over the top rope, touches the bottom, and the match continues. Wow. Cole is just as confused as I am. Edge gets back in the ring, crotches Khali and sets up for the spear. Khali catches him and throws him THROUGH THE ROPES. WOW. This is ridiculous, worse than the Divas' match. Khali YET AGAIN tries to step over the top rope, but Edge pulls him down and wins. Unbelievable.

This was dreadful. Once Edge was thrown through the ropes, you knew he was gonna win. Khali should've lost the match when he stepped over the ropes the first time. The ref was probobly confused, too.

Ugh. .5/5. Only because I don't want to give it a zero.

Jericho is interviewed by Josh Matthews. He says nothing. Morrison arrives and mocks Jericho. The look on Chris's face turns from sadness to disgust and it's pretty funny. But things can only get better according to Morrison.

The winner of Orton vs. Barrett faces Cena next week. Awesome.

Sheamus, Edge, and Cena are commentating on this match.

Wade Barrett vs. Randy Orton

Orton comes out last to light the crowd up. They go to the floor quickly and Barrett goes into the announce table. Cole is the only one who gets up like he could get hurt.

Orton gets ready for an RKO but doesn't. Wastelands is blocked too. Orton goes to the floor and Darren Young comes out to the worst entrance music I've ever heard. He says he's not the weak link, he's the missing link. The distraction is enough for Orton to hit the RKO on Barrett and get the win.

Orton smiles creepily and invites Darren into the ring. RKO for him too! Edge comes in to get another. Sheamus goes in, misses the Bicycle Kick and gets the FOURTH RKO of the night! Cena goes in and they have a stare down to end the show. At least Orton didn't get the upper hand on EVERYBODY else like he does every night.

The match wasn't so hot, and the return of Darren Young is less than a big deal, but the ending was pretty entertaining, so...

3/5.

Overall Rating

This show had some REALLY bad stuff, and some good stuff. But the good stuff wasn't enough to overshadow the bad. With 2 noticable promo mistakes and Khali's TERRIBLE mess-up, I can't say this was a great show. Jericho's match was great, Miz/Daniel Bryan was good (and the return of Alex Riley), and the very end was pretty cool too. Still, I'd give this week's RAW a...

2.5/5

(Not an average. It never is.)

 

[grantser10]

couldn't help but notice that idiot michael cole calling supercena's finisher the 'AA'. come on michael cole we're not in alcoholics anonymous. dats never gonna catch on michael cole. also gettin really fed up with his attitude towards the real awesome one daniel bryan who should win at NOC against Miz. Michael cole irritates me. lets go back to wm 15 with an example of funny and bad commentating on his part. Hell in a cell. taker vs bossman. violence and brutality going on and what does michael cole say ' be careful with that cell. you can get a finger caught in there' even king was like wtf. what a joke michael cole was and still is.

also that hell in a cell in question was also the worst hell in a cell ever

 

[Mitch Henessey]

So this past Monday's Raw scored a 3.00 rating. That's the lowest rating of the year for an episode of Monday Night Raw. The show wasn't bad, but you have to remember, college football is back, and that isn't going to help Raw's chances of scoring a high rating at all. Plus, the NFL has returned, and Monday Night Football will surely hurt the Raw ratings, so all of this really doesn't surprise me too much.

 

[Maestro48239]

I was watching RAW this week and in the end, it looked like they took an ending from an Attitude Era RAW.

Orton was Austin, going around Stunning, i mean RKOing everyone, and in the end he had a staredown with another major face, Cena, playing the part of the Rock, even though he will NEVER be the rock.
nice direction I guess. beats a few of the RAW endings over the last few months.

But it's getting really obvious how they are turning orton into a modern day Austin! viper? rattlesnake? theres a lot of similarities.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

A 3.0 is a pretty low number in general for Raw. I can't say that I'm surprised, however, when you look at all the various stuff going on. The WWE is in the middle of putting a lot of young stars in the spotlight while a lot of recognized and established names are no longer being seen on Raw. Triple H is out, HBK and Batista are both gone from the company, etc. Football could definitely have had an impact on the show's numbers as could the Labor Day holiday.

 

[klunderbunker]

Smackdown
Date: September 10, 2010
Location: 1st Mariner Arena, Baltimore, Maryland
Commentators: Matt Striker, Todd Grisham

Another week and another show. This should be good as usual as we continue down the road to the Night of Champions. Why does everything always have to be a road? What if you make a wrong turn or something and wind up going the wrong way and we wind up back at Fatal Four Way or something? Let’s get to it.

We open with Kane talking about last week. Oh wait this is from last week so he’s talking about the previous week. Kane wants Taker’s powers, which are now gone. Is there a reward out for them? Do you get a hearty grin if you find Taker’s powers?

Cue theme song.

Taker vs. Punk later on. That could be good but no way Punk wins.

Speaking of Taker we open with him in the ring in what was either a very fast switch or an editing trick. He’s either selling the whole Taker is weakened thing or is drunk, although I lean towards the first one. Kane has no momentum and no power. Taker sounds far more human here than he usually does.

Taker can’t wait for Night of Champions and says it’ll be a fight, which needs to be no holds barred. Apparently that’s just a challenge and not official yet. Here’s Punk who does his usual stuff. He wants the fans to cheer for Taker but they won’t do it because he’s a heel.

According to the Straightedge one Taker is gone after the PPV. Taker doesn’t like Punk, who says the powers of the Dark Side can’t compare to the powers of Straightedge. I’d bet Darkseid could beat Straightedge though. Taker says as always, Punk will fail. His shirt isn’t tucked in so with Taker around that’s a guaranteed failure. Taker says Punk will Rest in Peace, which is a very weak comeback here. He came off as off base here if that makes sense. Just not a good promo for him.

Jack Swagger vs. MVP

New shirt for Swagger here as this feud continues. Swagger looks sleepy in the aisle here which seems to be going around tonight. We recap the VIP Lounge last week which was a segment I actually liked even though I can’t stand MVP. He gets a pretty positive reaction here though so maybe I’m in the minority. His theme music is rather catchy though which is a new development for me.

We run through how awesome Swagger is and get a Floyd Mayweather reference which is interesting considering his legal issues this week. MVP puts him on the floor which only lasts for a few seconds. We get the natural question of why didn’t Swagger help his dad last week, which we still don’t get an answer to.

Swagger locks on a double chicken wing as his rest hold of choice. We cut to a break and get a PSA from MVP on not trying this at home or at school, which is indeed an important message. It also occurs to me that the wrestlers’ personas are far more important than the guys themselves.

For instance here Swagger is constantly referred to as the two time All American and MVP as the Ballin Superstar. Rather than their names or something about them, it’s their personas fighting. Running boot in the corner and the Ballin Elbow both get two.

We hear about how great MVP was at street ball, which isn’t something I’ve heard before I don’t think. Rather solid back and forth match so far that’s come off very well. Swagger wraps the ankle around the post and MVP is in trouble with the ankle lock and it’s over almost immediately.

Rating: B. Solid match here with both guys working hard and it being almost a chess match out there. That’s yet another example of how Smackdown is great at putting on television matches. These two are a fairly uninteresting pair but I was very well pleased with this one.

Laycool talk about how they’re not sure who is fighting Melina at the PPV while Kaval is behind them. They actually get into a fight over it and Kaval tells them to knock it off because he’s debuting tonight. The girls make fun of Kaval during a Real Talk moment.

We get a recap of NXT, which got a decent rating somehow. This eats up about 2 minutes. No clips of the matches though but rather just the challenges.

We get a retrospective on the history of Kane vs. Taker which is always fun to see. I could see this being the recap video for the PPV. Kane needs to talk to DiBiase about how to do the evil laugh though.

Same PSA from Cena as from MVP earlier.

Matt Hardy vs. Alberto Del Rio

It’s a white Bentley this week for Alberto. We get a quick recap of the fiesta last week, including Christian coming out for the standoff. I’d bet on a Canadian sighting here, likely over the theft of Christian’s old pyro. BIG pop for Hardy. Striker mentions telling a story during a match and Grisham asks what in the world he’s talking about.

Del Rio misses a charge to start and we hit the floor. Running enziguri DRILLS Matt and puts him on the floor as we take a break. That sounded awesome. Matt is in a chinlock as we’re back. Del Rio has a degree in architecture of all things apparently.

Alberto is dominant for the most part here as it occurs to me that we’re only in our second match so far. A slam gets two. We show the enziguri from earlier for some reason. Just came off as odd. Matt begins his comeback with generic stuff but gets a stiff kick in his ribs.

Hardy mostly misses a moonsault and only gets two off of it. Twist of Fate is blocked Del Rio takes forever to get to the top and we fight it out up there. Alberto wins again and Matt’s arm goes over the top rope. It hits the post as well, so the armbreaker is academic at this point for the tap out.

Rating: B-. Not much to start out but it picked up a good bit once Matt made his comeback. Del Rio continues to impress and this was no exception. He looks like a very seasoned competitor which is a rare thing in a guy that new to the WWE product. See what happens when you have a guy with experience instead of some new rookie? Nice little match here and it furthers Christian vs. Del Rio as you’ll see in a second.

Post match Del Rio goes for the arm even more until Christian runs out for the save.

Video about Legendary, which hasn’t been well received.

Video on Drew McIntyre which seems to have no purpose at all.

Drew McIntyre vs. Kaval

Rather generic music for the bald man here. I’m not sure what they’re going to do with this one as Kaval needs to at least look good but Drew isn’t someone that can have a loss like this to a glorified rookie. Hope they make this work. Kaval has apparently requested to come out here sans ladies. Well there goes the main appeal of him.

He likes to kick and goes for a springboard but is countered in what I would consider kind of a dangerous bump as Drew shoves him off the top rope in mid spring. In a cool spot Drew gives Kaval a reverse suplex onto the ring apron back first. That’s a new one on me I think.

Kaval with a big top rope kick for two and sets for the Warrior’s Way but Drew hits the floor for safety. Drew takes over again and rams Kaval into the barricade. SICK bump and Kaval is more or less dead. Future Shock is more or less academic after Kaval is out from hitting the wall that hard.

Rating: C-. Not bad here but for his first match this worked fine. Kaval looked good enough for a guy that is supposed to be a rookie and he shouldn’t have won here. This came off fine as both guys were doing their thing and it worked pretty well. I’d like to see Kaval expand his offense a bit, but I’ve liked what I’ve seen from him lately, which surprises me.

Video on Ziggler, likely meaning he’s up next.

Cody Rhodes brings us one step closer to dashing by showing us how to do a facial. I’ll spare you the jokes.

Here’s Vickie with the very hot Kaitlyn to introduce her. Vickie gets mad at her for not doing it right before doing it herself. Here are Dolph and Chavo, who I thought was a face recently.

Dolph Ziggler/Chavo Guerrero vs. Kofi Kingston/Chris Masters

Before the match Dolph vs. Kofi is announced for NOC where Dolph can’t get counted out or disqualified or he loses the title. See? Simple and effective booking CAN work. That follows the story and makes sense given the angle. It’s perfect. Chris Masters is the best they can do? Really?

He goes for the full nelson almost immediately on Chavo who is in the shorts instead of tights. That’s an odd look on him after full tights for so long. Striker throws in a quick Ken Patera reference which is fine for the small handful of people that have a clue who that is, but for the vast majority of the audience that name means nothing at all. I don’t get why he does that as it’s kind of a waste of time.

Kofi comes in and cleans house, pounding away on Dolph. This has been a solid feud so far and proof of what a well done midcard can do. Once Dolph or Kofi comes out with the title, there are at least 5 guys that could challenge them next. Trouble in Paradise catches him out of nowhere and Kofi gets the pin on Dolph to add some more to the PPV match. Simple booking works AGAIN.

Rating: N/A. Just a quick match to get the heat on Kofi vs. Dolph which is fine. I get the adding of Masters and Chavo in there as it means Dolph didn’t lose to Kofi one on one which is something you need to save for the major show. Not much here but it did its job just fine.

Ad for Legendary again.

Show vs. Punk is added to the card as a special attraction. I haven’t heard that term in a long time. No word yet on whether or not the no holds barred aspect has been accepted, but I can’t imagine otherwise.

Show does a Josh Matthews imitation which is rather amusing. Show can do comedy for the most part and could do rather well in the comedy movie he’s in soon. Kelly Kelly shows up and laughs at his jokes before Josh himself shows up. Show hides his mic and I have no idea what the point of this was at all.

CM Punk vs. The Undertaker

This is going to have a LOT of time. Mercury and Gallows are with Punk, even though Mercury is still in the arm sling. Punk sends them away so if nothing else he’s a brave tyrant heel. There could be a DVD of just Taker’s return matches. Taker has the short sleeved robe here which is another new look for him. You have to give him this: he changes his look enough to stay fresh.

They start with a striking contest which makes sense for both of them. The big man dominates early on with a lot of work on the left arm, setting up Old School. He loses his balance though and crotches himself. Somewhere Michelle McCool just cringed. Third PSA of the night from Eve. It should be noted that I watch the show on Youtube which is from I believe a European broadcast, so some of this might announcements not be aired on your shows.

Back from a break and Punk is dominating Taker on the floor. Back in the ring and Punk hits a running enziguri to put him down again. They’re going with a basic formula here and it’s working pretty well for what it is. Big belly to back suplex takes Punk down and gets us back to even.

Running knee strike in the corner as Punk is getting to look great here. Snake Eyes from out of nowhere but Punk kicks his head off when he goes for the big boot. Punk goes up but jumps into a chokeslam for a LONG two. Tombstone is blocked and GTS hits, but Hell’s Gate is locked on as Punk goes for the pin, and the bearded one taps.

Rating: B-. I really liked this but the ending was pretty terrible. Punk dominated for the most part here and then Taker hits two moves, one of which is after Punk’s finisher. That being said, it was a dominant performance by Punk which is something that he needed at this stage. Taker was always going to win, but I wasn’t wild on how he did it.

Post match Kane’s pyro goes off and he laughs, but doesn’t appear, ending the show.

Overall Rating: B+. Does anyone else love Smackdown? Every week it’s the same greatness that has more or less become its trademark. They fit lots of different feuds and angles into one show while still giving us some very solid wrestling at the same time. This show is the highlight of my week every time and this was no exception. Another very solid show indeed.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

WWE Smackdown - September 10, 2010

Opening Segment - A strong opener for Smackdown with The Undertaker starting things out. Taker gave a very solid promo and still looks like he’s been ridden hard and put up wet. But, now it’s on purpose and it only adds to the storyline. Taker ups the ante and says he wants Kane at NOC in a no holds barred match. Punk coming out was a great touch and his comments about The Undertaker being a broken down old man who picked too many fights really drove was just excellent because it’s the overall underlying tone with what’s been going on with Taker and it hyped their match for later quite well. Thumbs Up

Jack Swagger vs. MVP - Pretty good match between these two. MVP has improved some in my opinion. He no longer seems as slow or choppy as he once did. A pretty good back and forth match that’s been loads above what they’ve been into with one another lately. Swagger gets the win via submission around the 8.5 minute mark. Thumbs Up

Matt Hardy vs. Alberto Del Rio - I thought this was a really good match from these two. Both guys looked strong and, even though Hardy seemed a little slow at times, he was able to give Del Rio a tough battle. Overall, a strong back and forth match with Del Rio getting the win via submission with his arm lock around 11.25 minute mark. Del Rio continues to impress me and he just seems to be more and more like a star each week. His post match reference to Christian has me looking forward to a feud between them as there should be some high quality matches to come out of it. Thumbs Up

Drew McIntyre vs. Kaval - I thought this was a strong first match for Kaval. It was only about 4 minutes long and could’ve been a little longer, but it was a strong 4 minutes overall. Kaval did look good, hit a lot of flashy moves and all but ultimately wound up losing to McIntyre via Future Shock DDT. Even though Kaval lost, I thought he still looked good and I do like that they don’t seem to be rushing a push for Kaval as losing to McIntyre here probably was the right call. Thumbs Up

Kofi Kingston & Chris Masters vs. Dolph Ziggler & Chavo Guerrero - This match was ultimately far too short to be anything of remote consequence. First time we’ve seen Chris Masters on Smackdown in a while. This had potential to be a good tag match but it just didn’t really work out. Kofi gets the win about the 2.5 minute mark with Trouble in Paradise. It was ok, but far too short to really mean anything for me. I just wasn’t into it. Thumbs Down

Big Show - The Big Show cut a promo backstage pretending to be Josh Matthews that didn’t make a shred of sense. It served no real purpose whatsoever that I can see, only maybe it was something done that Vince may have found funny. Thumbs Down

The Undertaker vs. CM Punk - Very strong match to close Smackdown with. The overall point of the match was to make it competitive enough for Taker to still look like a force but to also look overall weaker than he has been and they pulled it off very well. Both Taker and Punk played their parts in the match well and Taker was able to look as good and strong as he was supposed to. Taker gets the win around the 15 minute mark via Hell’s Gate. The post match stuff was a nice touch with Kane’s pryo going off and the laughter. I like that Kane didn’t make an appearance on the show this week, which adds a little bit of enthusiasm for next week’s go home show to Night of Champions. Thumbs Up

Overall Show - Thumbs Up - I thought tonight’s Smackdown was the strongest the show has been for the past several weeks. They seem to have gotten back to the right formula of putting on strong matches coupled with strong promo segments all while hyping the Smackdown portion of an upcoming ppv. It’s the formula that Smackdown has used for quite a while now and it works just fine. Leave it the fuck alone Vince. Just leave things as they are and Smackdown will continue to be a high quality 2 hour wrestling match. A

 

[The Calgary Kid]

In each of the past two weeks, I've heard Del Rio call Christian what sounds like "American (something)". Anyone know what he's saying? Given that Christian is Canadian, I'd like to think that "American" is not the word I'm hearing, as that would make Del Rio look pretty foolish.

 

[Mitch Henessey]

Undertaker Promo

We kick off this week's episode of Smackdown with The Undertaker cutting a promo on Kane. It's your typical Undertaker promo. He talks about being the dominant brother, hell, and he challenges Kane to a no DQ match at Night Of Champions. I'm sure Kane will accept this stipulation, and I don't mind seeing a no DQ match between these two. This is an intense feud, and I'm sure WWE fans want to see these two tear each other apart.

As Taker continued to boast about being the dominant brother, CM Punk interrupted. Punk was golden on the mic here as usual. This was a good way to build some hype for their main event match between these two tonight.

Jack Swagger VS MVP

Jack Swagger came out wearing a new t-shirt tonight, which looked horrible by the way, but this match really surprised me. I usually bash MVP to no end on these forums, but he wasn't bad tonight. Swagger put on the ankle lock for the win, and he continues to have a nice and steady run in the mid card. I highly doubt we'll see Swagger in the main event anytime soon again, but at least he's not fading away into obscurity.

Alberto Del Rio VS Matt Hardy

Pretty solid match. Del Rio continues to look strong on Smackdown, and I don't see his rise to the top slowing down anytime soon. Del Rio wanted to do more damage to Hardy with his painful submission hold, but Christian came to Hardy's rescue. It looks like we're headed for a Christian VS Del Rio feud. Del Rio will come out on top, because I just don't see his push slowing down anytime soon.

Drew McIntyre VS Kaval

I really enjoyed this match. McIntyre winning here didn't surprise me, because although Kaval did win NXT, he's still a "rookie". I'm wondering how long will WWE keep Kaval paired with LayCool. This trio can be funny and entertaining, but I wonder when the split will take place.

Kofi Kingston & Chris Masters VS Dolph Ziggler & Chavo Guerrero

Masters and Kofi picked up the win here, and this was a nice tag team match. Kofi hit Trouble In Paradise on Dolph to get the win. Masters was jumping around like he won a PPV match after this was over. Masters was on the winning team, but I just don't think he'll be pushed after this. Another IC title match between these two was announced tonight for Night Of Champions. I still think Dolph will retain, because he hasn't been the champ for too long. I don't think WWE will end his title reign just yet, and being paired with Vickie could help his chances.

Big Show Mocks Josh Matthews and Kelly Kelly Appears

So Big Show impersonates Josh Matthews, and it was kind of funny. Kelly Kelly makes her one appearance for tonight. She seems to be impressed with Show's impersonation. Matthews shows up of course, and Show plays the innocent role. Um, yeah, I really didn't get this, and I'm also not too excited about Punk VS Show at Night Of Champions. Show has dominated Punk and the SES for a while, so why would things change at NOC?

CM Punk VS The Undertaker

This was a good way to end the show. Punk was able to hold his own in this match, and Taker did an awesome job at selling being "weak". He seriously looked he couldn't go anymore after he hit the leg drop on the ring apron. I was so exctied after Punk hit the GTS, because I actually thought he might win this, but deep down inside, I knew it was too good to be true. Taker locks in a weak Hell's Gate, and Punk of course taps out. Taker is posing in the ring after the match, and then fire bursts from the ring posts. Taker looks kind worried, as Kane's creepy laughter ends the show.

This was a very good show. I really enjoyed the backstage segment between LayCool, and Kaval. This odd couple can be funny at times. I have no doubt that Undertaker VS Kane at NOC will become a ho holds barred match, and I think that's a good move on WWE's part. Everyone wants to see these two tear each other apart. A no holds barred match is a perfect way to make this happen.

 

[NWannabe]

If it's a mistake, run with it. Kind of like the classically stereotypical eurocentric view of 'black is black', Rio's twisting it to be 'white is white' or in this case, American.

 

[Mustang Sally]

Jack Swagger VS MVP

It seemed to me that they were missing spots all over the place. Their timing was off on several maneuvers and the resulting action looked really phony. Maybe it was an off-night because both these guys have done better work. Or maybe they just don't work well together.

Drew McIntyre vs. Kaval

Given the up-and-down push Drew's been receiving, I was glad to see him not lose to a NXT rookie. Still, it was a fine match with Drew truly selling that kick to the head off the top rope that Kaval brought.

Still, didn't it seem that Drew was taking a chance with some of the bumps he was giving the little guy? Looked rough out there.

 

[Mitch Henessey]

It seemed to me that they were missing spots all over the place. Their timing was off on several maneuvers and the resulting action looked really phony. Maybe it was an off-night because both these guys have done better work. Or maybe they just don't work well together.

I noticed Swagger didn't really connect on a clothesline he went for early on in the match, and MVP's selling wasn't too good when Swagger starting hitting him with forearms in the back, as he was pinned up against the turnbuckle. Still, I think this was a good match. MVP usually doesn't have too many(or any) memorable matches, so that's why this one kind of took me by surprise. Also, this match was a lot better than a majority of the other MVP matches I've seen this year.

Given the up-and-down push Drew's been receiving, I was glad to see him not lose to a NXT rookie. Still, it was a fine match with Drew truly selling that kick to the head off the top rope that Kaval brought.

Still, didn't it seem that Drew was taking a chance with some of the bumps he was giving the little guy? Looked rough out there.

This was a pretty physical match, and it was a nice way for Kaval to make his debut on Smackdown. As far as Drew goes, I don't know if he's going to be pushed hard like he was months ago. The Intercontinental title picture is being dominated by Kofi and Dolph right now, and I think Cody Rhodes or Alberto Del Rio could be next in line for a shot at the title. There's no way I can see him fitting into the World Heavyweight Championship picture anytime soon. Kane VS Undertaker is going to go more than 2 months at least, and I strongly believe Taker will win the title at some point. And even if Drew was to some how get into the WHC picture, he would never beat the Deadman for the title....never.

 

[MrHashasheen]

Chris Masters is quite possibly the most awkward face on the roster.

But yeah, I wouldn't mind seeing him in a tag-team or something. Best use out of him before letting him go. I haven't seen him on television for so long that I thought he was Michael McGuillicutty.

 

[Juntin]

It's only pro wrestling, but something seems off when CM Punk, three-time former world champion and the show's hottest villain this year, has won under 40 percent of his matches.

He's put out there for two months to feed the aura of the Big Show, who sucks, will retire in two years, and has already made you all the money he's going to make you. What is the point? Does anyone really cheer for the Big Show?

And now submission loss to the weakened Undertaker? Probably could've put someone else in there for that.

Jack Swagger, who held their top title this year, went into the MVP match winning 33 percent of time. A lot of those losses were probably intentional DQs, yeah, but I do remember that one pay-per-view match with Show, where the writing went above and beyond to make him look completely ineffectual.

And hey, does anyone care about Dolph Ziggler? If so, why?

Three-year heel run with a consistent midcard push the whole way, and he's not grown into the role at all. Standard cocky-bad-guy charisma with substandard speaking ability. As a wrestler, he's very competent, but the most boring guy on the show to watch. He has all the intangibles of stock footage.

The most he's shown is that awesome apron enziguiri he stopped doing after his first two matches. This guy should be losing on Superstars for the next 18 months and then succumb to the nearest roster cut.

 

[The Doctor]

Man, I loved RAW tonight!

Let's see, the comedy spots were actually very funny. I'm a huge sucker for stupid gimmick matches, so to see matches like the Song And Dance Match and the Trading Places Match was a treat for me. The Regal/Goldust match had me cracking up, and I love R-Truth's new theme.

The matches were pretty funtastic. Bryan made Riley tap like a bitch, I always love having a Mark Henry appearance, and having him defeat Edge made it even better, the Sheamus/Morrison match was just AWESOME, and Orton/Cena was damn enjoyable until the Nexus run-in. The Nexus run-in was pretty darn exciting too, with people going through tables every which way. Not a big Orton fan so I didn't like him being SuperOrton again, but oh well.

Overall, this was a very fun, very entertaining RAW. I loved it. And I could have gone to it live...Ugh!!

A

 

[Boondocks]

RAW tonight amazed me! I loved it. There were many highlights! I loved the Goldie/Regal match, big entertainment with Regal dressed like that. And having Golddust use his "power of the punch"! I really like Truths new song, may it be is theme or not. It's finally a change from "What's up", it still allows the crowd shouting, and it isn't bad. I personally marked out at the tables match, as I waited for the day somebody would reverse the Attitude Adjustment directly to a finish. I also loved how they made so many tables come into play, as I was legitly confused as to why there were so many. My favorite moment though, being a big Fozzy fan, was when Jericho reffered to the GM as "Hiding behind a Nameless Faceless computer." XD Amazing show.

 

[klunderbunker]

Monday Night Raw
Date: September 13, 2010
Location: US Bank Arena, Cincinnati, Ohio
Commentators: Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler
Guest Star: Chad Ochocinco

This is the go home show for Night of Champions which is also billed as the season premiere as well as having the return of Raw Roulette. Oh and Cena vs. Orton. I was thinking about taking in this show but didn’t for no specific reason. This is designed to try to sway some viewers away from the Jets/Ravens game which should be solid. Raw is lucky for the timing because the show is starting at halftime. Let’s get to it.

We open with a shot of the wheel and pan out to see Cena and Orton. Matthews comes up and says EVERY match is a spin the wheel match. Cena wants Lady Luck to spin for him, bringing in Eve. It’s a tables match, and Cena isn’t thrilled because he lost the title to Sheamus in his last one.

There’s a cage above the ring.

The guest star is Chad Ochocinco, a hometown football star. This makes sense at least. Great way to make people forget about Monday Night Football as the theme song of it plays Chad to the ring. Chad is kind of nervous on the mic it seems but he’s trying. His team got slaughtered yesterday but he’s doing his thing. Cue Miz to run his mouth.

Cheap anti-Bengals heat which once again is fine. Chad says he has two words for him: child please. He goes off about how great Cinci sports have been lately, which is actually true. Miz and he had a decent back and forth thing, but if you don’t like football they make no sense. E-Mail time says spin the wheel for Miz’s match tonight. It’s a submission match, so take a guess as to his opponent. E-Mail #2 says Chad gets to pick the opponent, who naturally is Daniel Bryan.

Miz vs. Daniel Bryan

This is non-title of course. The match is underway after we come back from a break. Alex Riley is out here to back up Bryan, which makes me think that Miz has a chance on Sunday. Bryan misses a running knee in the corner so Miz goes after it. Miz gets a totally wrong figure four but Bryan counters.

LaBelle Lock (Crossface) doesn’t go on so Miz hits the floor for some reason. He might have some kind of injury or is likely faking. Yeah he gets a mic and says he has a hernia, so he needs to stop the match so that he can defend on Sunday. Naturally he doesn’t forfeit so Riley substitues for him. Riley taps in about a minute and Miz runs in for the beatdown. Skull Crushing Finale is blocked and Miz taps.

Rating: C. Not bad but predictable as all hell. This was fine for what it was though as Miz gets to stand tall for once before the PPV. Riley saying it was two weeks until the PPV made it confusing when it didn’t need to be. This wasn’t bad but there was just nothing of note to it really.

Edge and Jillian spin the wheel and Edge dances while she sings. Should he just get a shirt saying “Yes, I am turning face”? They spin the wheel a bit hard and we go to a break before we see the answer. Simple but effective I guess.

Some Bengals are here.

Edge comes out for his match and we don’t know who he’s fighting or what the match is. Ah ok it’s Evan Bourne.

Edge vs. Evan Bourne

It’s a body slam challenge. Wait…what? Edge goes for a slam immediately but gets nowhere. Who in the hell picked this? Bourne gets a LOUD enziguri and takes over. This lasts like 90 seconds as Edge just slams him for the pin. Spear afterwards.

Rating: N/A. This would be better suited as a WTF grade but I digress as we have an e-mail.

In a move I predicted, the GM makes Edge have another body slam challenge, which is against Mark Henry.

Mark Henry vs. Edge

Henry gets a face pop, Edge can’t slam him, World’s Strongest Slam ends this in like 45 seconds. What the hell was the point of this segment?

R-Truth/Eve Torres vs. Ted DiBiase/Maryse

This is a Song and Dance match, whatever that means. One sings and the other dances. Truth doesn’t want to do his normal song because we heard it already. We get a different one this time which is something I can’t really understand nor do I want to. Eve dances in the ring while Truth walks around and slaps hands. Eve looks good but can’t really dance that well. She looks WAY too stiff.

DiBiase wants to forfeit but winds up singing My Way by Frank Sinatra while Maryse does a far better dance than Eve. Jerry: Pat Patterson is rolling over in his grave! Cole: He’s not dead! Lawler: Well that just killed him. A brawl breaks out and the faces win and Truth sings us out. I rate wrestling, not whatever this was. No winner is announced so no official match I guess.

Regal gets a trading places match, which means he has to dress like his opponent, which is Goldust. This could be either really bad or hilarious.

The Bellas hit on Chad and here comes Sheamus. Chad got an e-mail apparently and tells him that if Morrison beats Sheamus next he’s in the 6 Pack Challenge. The match is Falls Count Anywhere.

Ryder insists he’s not a tool to Edge. Edge says if he wins the title he’ll leave with the belt and go MIA. Sheamus pops up and says don’t hold your breath with Ryder shouting BURN and then leaving.

Morrison does a FREAKING AWESOME warm up as he jumps over boxes and crates in the back like he’s in a damn Jet Li moves. That was just cool as hell.

Sheamus vs. John Morrison

I’m not sure why but this sounds awesome as hell to me. It’s Falls Count Anywhere. Sheamus beats him down to start but Morrison does some gymnastics to get out of it. We head to the floor and into the crowd. Irish Curse on the floor and Morrison is in trouble. He gets dropped ribs first onto the railing near the production stuff for two. It was in the ribs of Morrison so of course it didn’t hurt.

Sheamus hits the Brogue Kick into a production box and it shoots sparks. Onto the stage and it’s all Sheamus. Morrison counters something but winds up getting thrown off the stage. He does a front flip though and lands on his feet. Flash Kick with Morrison getting a running jump up to the stage and using the edge like a top rope, somehow only getting two.

They fight more on the floor and Sheamus finds a chair. He hits the stage but Morrison somehow gets up on the NOC sign and hits a HUGE cross body off of it for TWO. Out of nowhere Jericho pops up and cracks Morrison over the back with a chair for Sheamus to get the pin. He sits in the ring as we go to break.

Rating: A-. That’s likely WAY too high but I had a fucking blast with this match. I like this pairing and Morrison’s stuff is literally the kind of stuff you see in action movies. The ending with Jericho is a bit annoying because I wanted to see more of this, but I guess Morrison vs. Jericho is your non-title match for Night of Champions. Find this match as some of the spots are just completely insane. Find the warmup too as it’s cool as hell too.

Jericho wants back into the match or he’ll quit. He wants to get back into the 6 Pack Challenge and if not he’ll go back home and watch Raw go up in flames. Jericho gets no response but says he’ll track down the GM and expose his identity. E-Mail time and Jericho cuts Cole off saying OF COURSE WE HAVE YOUR ATTENTION JUST READ THE E-MAIL.

The GM says there’s no chance that’ll work, no chance in hell. Jericho doesn’t buy it as McMahon isn’t a coward. He’s right too. Another e-mail and Jericho cuts him off again saying SHUT UP AND READ IT. Huge face pops for that. The 6 Pack is now elimination rules (SWEET) and Jericho is in it again. There’s another part but Jericho cuts him off.

Before he can leave it’s ANOTHER E-Mail. The GM says don’t EVER interrupt him again. Jericho is back in but has to win his match tonight, and it’s right now. Jericho is in a suit and wrestling boots, and it’s a handicap match vs. the Hart Dynasty IN A CAGE. No real reasons for the caps there but it looks good.

Hart Dynasty vs. Chris Jericho

Before we go to break Jericho is SCREAMING at Cole that he wants the e-mail address. Jericho was awesome in this segment as when he goes nuts he’s just great. This is under elimination rules and the Hart Attack hits like 30 seconds in. The Harts both start leaving but Jericho stops Kidd while Smith gets out.

This makes it Tyson vs. Jericho in a cage match. Kidd has a chance to leave but hits a cross body instead. Jericho tries to run but gets caught. He’s in dress pants here so this can’t be easy. Kidd goes for a top rope dropkick but gets caught in the Walls. Ok maybe not as a rollup gets two and there’s the Sharpshooter.

We fight on the top rope a bit and Tyson goes for a rana. Jericho dives into it and jumps off the top while hooking the Walls. Kidd’s head CRACKS into the mat and he has to tap. That was awesome looking but it could have been a broken neck. He looks like he’s ok though, but damn that was risky.

Rating: B-. Not a bad cage match here considering it was pretty much Jericho vs. Tyson Kidd of all people. This came off pretty well as Kidd looked legit out there. The ending spot was insanely creative but also fairly dangerous so I wouldn’t expect to see it again. Fun match though as this show has really taken off since the song and dance thing.

Pete Rose is here. I’d love a Kane sighting.

Goldust vs. William Regal

Goldie is in the Regal one piece swimsuit with the hair. Regal goes full bore complete with face paint. He looks frighteningly similar actually. Goldust (I’ll mean the real one when I say that in this match) is in good shape actually. Regal does the Goldust taunt PERFECTLY but Goldust pulls out brass knuckles and pops Regal to end this in like 15 seconds. The Regal imitation of Goldust was absolutely awesome.

Chad comes out again and has a special guest announcer for the main event: himself.

Randy Orton vs. John Cena

LONG feeling out process as we get an RKO chant. Nothing of note happens other than Orton trying a suplex over the ropes to put Cena through as we go to a break. We’re back and they’re slugging it out to the BOO/YAY chants. This is your usual main event war which isn’t as good as they make it out to be but they’re making it look important at least.

Cena goes for the FU but Orton counters into a DDT. Table set up in the corner by the bald one but Cena starts a comeback. Orton overpowers that comeback with a comeback of his own. CENA comes back and here comes Nexus to break up the STFU. Orton and Cena fight them off as well as they can and get rid of Tarver and Slater but get taken down. Wasteland to Cena.

Gabriel and Barrett set up a table and try to set up the 450 through it. Orton saves but Barrett kicks his head off. Barrett goes for Wasteland over the top but Orton counters and sends the British dude through it. Cena is still out as Orton sets up a table in the middle to go with the one in the corner.

Cue Edge and Jericho for the run in but Edge spears Jericho through the table by mistake. Cene is getting back up and here’s Sheamus to complete the run-in palooza. He goes after Cena on the floor and winds up taking an FU out there. Well of course he does since he’s the champion. Elevated DDT is blocked into an FU, but Orton flips forward and pulls him down into the RKO through the table! Lots of posing ends the show.

Rating: B-. It was a total mess for the most part but it was pretty entertaining I thought. This worked for what it was supposed to be as this was just supposed to be a way to get all six guys in the PPV main event in the ring at once at the end. You couple that with the biggest match they’ve got to offer and a pretty awesome ending and it’s definitely a good main event.

Overall Rating: B+. This show started slowly but after that it took off and was a VERY fun show. The Sheamus/Morrison match is an absolute spectacle and an awesome match from a perspective of jaw dropping stuff from Morrison. You couple that with a good main event and a decent cage match plus some solid comedy and it’s a good show overall. The guest stars thing is a better fit than guest host as the term host just means nothing. Solid show indeed here and makes me want to see NOC, which is the idea. Well done.

 

[JGlass]

I regretfully admit that I did not catch most of the first half of tonight's RAW, as my attention was mostly devoted to watching the Jets offense sleep through the equivalent of 1 hour of football... which actually took about 3 hours in real life time.

That said, I was extremely impressed with what I did see. Ochocinco is just as charming as I expected him to be, and did not overplay his role as wheel spinner and chocolate filling inside the uh-oh oreo the Bella twins helped him form. He was also a much better ring announcer than Tony Chimmel, and undoubtedly a better dancer. He also got me a TON of points in fantasy this week, but I digress.

A table match on RAW is obviously a rare treat, and the WWE got it right by announcing this one early, allowing for an evening of build up. And it's not like we got a crappy match with Primo to replace a star studded intro. No, instead we got a future PPV matchup in The Miz and Daniel Bryan. I did catch Miz faking a hernia, and then Daniel Bryan hitting the LaBelle lock on Riley and Miz attacking Bryan after the match. Good work by everyone (excluding the LaBelle lock slipping off) and good build up for the PPV. I'm really looking forward for their match.

The next thing I saw was Edge in a body slam contest with Evan Bourne. It was nice that they let Bourne get in some offense before he inevitably got body slammed. Nothing really to talk about here. Apparently Mark Henry came out afterwords, but I didn't see that part.

I watched the song and dance portion of the R-Truth and Eve vs. DiBiase and Maryse match. Neither were very impressive, but at least R-Truth wasn't bad, and Eve showed off her former NBA dancing skills. I was hoping Maryse would do some of that too, but unfortunately she opted to with the interpretive dance, and I'm pretty sure it was symbolic of her career. I went back to the Jets after about 5 seconds of DiBiase's singing.

I caught bits and pieces of the Sheamus/Morrison match. Wow. That was some great stuff for a match you get for free. Morrison really went balls to the wall with that dive off the top of the... thing. Is jumping from 15 feet in the air onto steel enough for Morrison to get a push? Well not yet, because Jericho whacked Morrison with a steel chair to give Sheamus the win.

You know, in my day, people got hit in the HEAD with steel chairs and still managed to win the match. But that's okay, The Rock John Morrison is not.

Jericho's segment with Cole was GREAT. Hearing Jericho tell Cole to shut up and read the damn e-mail brought warmth to my heart, which I desperately needed as the Jets' offense continued to look anemic. Jericho was put in a steel cage match against The Hart Dynasty. The Hart Dynasty looked fantastic, managing to hit Jericho with the Hart Attack. Both superstars attempted to escape at the same time, but Jericho managed to stop Tyson Kidd. Tyson did a great job against Jericho for about 5-8 minutes, but Jericho ultimately pinned him. I was impressed with the ending, as Jericho countered a hurricanrana from the top rope into the Walls of Jericho in what looked like a very risky counter from Tyson Kidd's position. Very impressive for both superstars. Jericho's win gave him his place in the title match at NOC back. Glad to see Jericho back in the 6 Pack, I have no idea who they'd put in there to replace him.



Somewhere around here Edge had a backstage conversation with Ryder about how he was going to have a hold out. I missed why, but I'm sure he has a good reason. Edge also had some comical bits with Ryder, which is good. It's getting harder and harder to look at Edge as a heel. To me, he's a face that's a little bit of a primadonna, kind of like Chad OchoCinco.

The Goldust-Regal trading places match MUST have been scripted. Shit was too good to happen out of chance. I loved Goldust's Regal wig, and I loved Regal acting like Goldust. Until he removed his wig, Regal looked uncannily Goldust like... Goldust pulling out the brass knucks for Power of the Punch was also some good stuff. Funny segment, I give it a thumbs up.

I won't go into too much detail regarding the main event, but it was good. Really good. Seeing Cena and Orton fend off every member of Nexus and the Six Pack challenge solidified them as the two top competitors on RAW, and the actual wrestling they did between themselves was very good. The ending was kind of forced in my opinion, as the AA countered to the RKO did not look very realistic, but in the WWE Universe, it got Orton a win, so I guess it worked.

Overall, a very good RAW. I'd give it an 8.5/10, and it made me very much look forward to NOC.

 

[FunKay the Inevitable]

Last Night’s Raw Was a Very Good Show. It's aim was to create interest for the Night of Champions PPV and it most definitely did that. The opening 20 minutes or so got me excited for the Miz/Bryan match. I truly hope that we see Bryan win but I'm not 100% sure that he'll do it. Miz was gold on the mic and his shirt looks great. Cole as a selective heel is very entertaining and it was good to see Bryan get the win here. The post match stuff was nice as well with the Miz looking dominant before having the tide turned against him.

I wasn't a fan of the Bodyslam stuff or the Dance Off (Seriously What was the Point of That?) but it lead up to a hugely enjoyable contest. Morrison vs. Sheamus was very, very good. It was definitely one of the best gimmick matches Raw has had in the past year or so and it was great to see Morrison looking strong against the champion. Sheamus getting the win was the right call but I wasn't totally sold on the Jericho interference, at least not until he next segment.

Jericho's protest was a great segment. He's always been a good pissed off heel and this segment showed us exactly why. The Michael Cole stuff was hilarious. Cole's facial expressions were great as well, helping to sell that further. Jericho's always been very vocal as a performer ('Ask Him!') so when he went over to Cole at the GM Podium and basically barked at him it was another funny moment. The Match itself was well booked and the finish was great (if not highly dangerous).

Goldust & Regal was...strangely entertaining. Both pulled off great impersonations of the other. Anyway we move onto the main event which was solid. I can tell there were a LOT of groans in the LD about it being a Table Match but it was pretty entertaining. This was back & forth and with the Nexus run-in, it got very exciting. Orton once again was the last man standing though, which I guess means that he won't be winning the WWE Championship, but I could be wrong.

Overall, a really fun go home show before the Night of Champions PPV: 8/10.

 

[adamisme]

I enjoyed Raw today, though I wish Michael Cole would go full heel commentator as this love he has for the Miz is starting to really.. REALLY annoy and the hate for Daniel Bryan also annoying, though if at night of champions he turned round and cost The Miz the championship that would be interesting