I don't think they should stop the shooting at all in fact I think that's a horrible idea. This is the most interesting storyline in years and people already want to cut it short? Anything the creative writes right now will be dismal in comparison to this and yes I agree that it can't go on forever but it's making Raw worth watching at the moment so there is no need to kill it just a fast as it's come about.
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Ok Im gonna do my 1st raw rating
R-truth Jo Mo was a good match but for a falls count anywhere it was really a bummer.
The Miz just wanted to make me go to subway so that was a great promo 5/5.
I thought Jack Swagger and Riley was predictable to no end and the commentating made me really tune out for most of the match.
Kofi and Bourne was a good good match most kofi matches are hi flying what I like in wrestling.
Adr vs Rey was ok but for a title match I mean really not that entertaining yet I knew Adr was winning before raw started.
And Punk and Nash Promo was really just epic, Cena in rage is just great all around other than the fact that he spits lol.
Over all I give this raw over the past few months of raw ive watched Id give it an 8/10.
I dont give it a 10 because of predictability and lack of HHH
Forgot to throw in the divas match But Beth looked stunning afterwards. and thats all that matters but KK im so so with Id rather beth be champion but if KK keeps it its not like im gonna flip.
R-truth Jo Mo was a good match but for a falls count anywhere it was really a bummer.
The Miz just wanted to make me go to subway so that was a great promo 5/5.
I thought Jack Swagger and Riley was predictable to no end and the commentating made me really tune out for most of the match.
Kofi and Bourne was a good good match most kofi matches are hi flying what I like in wrestling.
Adr vs Rey was ok but for a title match I mean really not that entertaining yet I knew Adr was winning before raw started.
And Punk and Nash Promo was really just epic, Cena in rage is just great all around other than the fact that he spits lol.
Over all I give this raw over the past few months of raw ive watched Id give it an 8/10.
I dont give it a 10 because of predictability and lack of HHH
Forgot to throw in the divas match But Beth looked stunning afterwards. and thats all that matters but KK im so so with Id rather beth be champion but if KK keeps it its not like im gonna flip.
TWJC: The Beginning
Royal Rumble Winner
The falls count anywhere was a Raw match, an opener, and this feud is still in the slow burn phase. A knock down-drag out fight wouldn't have made any sense. The falls count anywhere plays to Morrisons parkour gimmick of using the elements.
I thought Raw was very good.
The opener was fun and exciting, which is what an opener is supposed to be.
My stream cut out for the divas stuff and most of Swagger's match, but you shouldn't judge Raw matches like you judge PPV matches, that's not the purpose, the purpose is typically to further angles. So if the match is solid and it furthers the angle, which it seems both of those did from what I saw, they are a success.
I like that there was no HHH. Also, it wasn't really predictable. They didn't show us anything. The only "predictable" thing was Punk going after Nash and Cena going after the title. Those are smart things though, not really predictable.
I think Bourne and Kofi will become a full time tag team. They both wore a baby blue color. As silly as it sounds, guys in similar colors in a tag match is an indication they're at least thinking about it. Bourne and Kofi is a good pairing because they're both babyfaces and fliers, but they fit each other. Kofi is a good hot tag, Bourne is a great beatdown guy, Kofi has a ton of personality to keep people caring (as opposed to the awful "double flips" team of Bourne/Gabriel everyone was suggesting).
The Miz is awesome. I really hope they give him something to do. Although maybe starving him of a high profile feud is the exact thing his character needs to kayfabe take charge.
ADR vs Rey, nobody actually thought Rey would win. However, the live audience bought all the falsies and it was a good match, so it did it's job.
Punk/Nash promo was real fun. See, if Punk would have won the title, we wouldn't have more of this becasue Punk wouldn't have anything to talk about would he? Punk putting the title on the back burner to fight "the man" makes perfect sense because his character is more of an idealist than materialistic.
Cena coming back for the title is the smart thing. He's your top draw, he should be defending the honor of the title. Plus Cena's promo was short and sweet. Really believed Cena was upset that the title was "tarnished". Cena also is one of the few guy who can get pissed about someone using MITB since it's happened to him a bunch, he's never done it, and he's the quintessential good guy.
Overall I thought it was another really good Raw. It makes sense to step away from Cena vs Punk for a while. You have these two really over characters, may as well spread them out and get other feuds over and make the whole show more interesting. Now if they ever come back, there's still legitimate reason to care about Punk vs Cena III.
I was talking about predictability in the matches, and I will really have to try and not think on every match like a ppv. But I guessed each match with ease other than the divas match where I had eve turning on KK after/ during the match to team up with Beth. HHH Could go both ways I guess its nice for him to not hog a show(not saying he does) but giving him little time was fine for this weeks show. I completely agree about Cenas promo getting pissed I truly believed he wanted to fight del rio, what im wondering now is how long the del rio cena feud will last and if we will be seeing a Punk Cena III, I cant see Cena v Adr Lasting more then a few weeks but I can see Nash v Punk lasting for like 6-8 weeks depending on Nash's wrestling ability as of now
TWJC: The Beginning
Royal Rumble Winner
Like I said though, you can't watch everything the same way. It's not uniform. The predictability of Raw match outcomes isn't as important as the angle they're futhering. Morrison vs Truth was fairly unpredictable, I figured given Morrison's lack of overness despite being given a gift (face returning from injury against a hot heel) that they'd job him out of the feud.
I don't get why you would ever consider judging Raw matches like PPV matches. In fact, if a random ass Raw undercard match is performed like it's some sort of PPV epic match, that's actually a bad thing because you basically waste all your ammo when the crowd doesn't care the most. You should hold back some stuff on your Raw matches. It's a teaser and a story facillitator.
I think Cena and ADR can last a long time. ADR is really good on the mic. He delievers as good as anyone with the script he's given. People bitch about how he's not doing chihuahua in a mask type promos anymore, but is that realy his fault? He's doing the best he can with the script he's given and his character is completely fleshed out. Cena and ADR is a classic type of matchup. Sleazy heel vs all american babyface. People on here will shit on it because they're stupid and don't understand pro wrestling, but it'll be good shit.
I don't see Punk vs Nash as Punk vs Nash but rather, Punk vs the establishment, which could and should last forever.
The awesome thing I see happening is that even though Punk and Cena differ on a lot of things, they both have some of the same ideals. So I can see Punk and Cena reluctantly teaming to defeat common enemies. They wouldn' be buddy buddy obviously, but it'd be an interesting dynamic.
ÐаÑбоÑа
doesn't know REAL wrestling...
A mixed bag from RAW this week. Some good stuff, some awkward stuff and some that verged on the horrendous.
I have no problem with the overall outline of the show in that it only served to further muddy the waters of who is behind the Nash attack and adding in the suggestion that Nash himself might not even know. It certainly suggests that we might be getting a long build. However, Jon Laryngitis definitely needs to work on his acting if he is going to remain an on screen personality.
However, it is apt that there are rumours of chaos behind the scenes as I think that Vince and co. are not sure how to proceed with this conspiracy and have not decided as to who will be the orchestrater yet. Personally, I think that they might try to pin it on Stephanie but, much like the Rikishi running over Austin reveal, if it falls flat then there is always the get out of having either Vince or HHH as the puppetmaster.
The uncertainty shone through into the show. The Punk/Nash showdown also suffered badly from seemingly not having any solid outline and on a couple of occasions almost descended into childish name calling. Could have said everything they needed to in about half the time while as entertaining as he can be on the mic, the Miz/Subway segment made absolutely no sense other than forcing a product down the viewers throat and reeked of "we have nothing else for him to do but we want to keep Miz on TV."
As much as I enjoyed seeing Angry Cena, his walking straight back into the title picture just because he does not like that Del Rio cashed in his briefcase was groan-inducing... He might have had a point about Del Rio not earning his title if the Mexican Aristocrat had not won the biggest Royal Rumble ever, had a title match at WM and won MitB...
And don't get me started on the debacle that was Riley/Swagger. Dolph and Vickie on commentary with Cole and Lawler was horrendous and might be one of the worst segments I have seen in a good while. I could almost hear JR's exasperation even though he kpt quiet for the most part. It did not help that the only thing memorable about the match itself was that between them Riley and Swagger just barely pulled off the Gutwrench Powerbomb. Even the suggestion of Vickie managing Swagger does nothing for me for while she is a heat magnet, it is non-transferable heat. She has done very little for Ziggler's character.
David Otunga's tan makes him look like Al Jolson - a strange shade of charcoal and the tag champions, just when they show glimpses in the ring of actually looking like a decent team, get beaten by another thrown together team.
Apart from all of that, most of the wrestling on the show was of a good quality. Truth/Morrison was fun as was the main event with Del Rio getting a much needed clean win. I am still not sold on Del Rio at all but he did take a few forward steps. A couple of defences against Cena should help. It also seems that a slower build is in order for the Kelly Kelly/Beth/Natalya feud and that is a good thing. Kelly can get a win over each of the Divas of Doom (awful name) and in a tag match before eventually losing the title.
I have no problem with the overall outline of the show in that it only served to further muddy the waters of who is behind the Nash attack and adding in the suggestion that Nash himself might not even know. It certainly suggests that we might be getting a long build. However, Jon Laryngitis definitely needs to work on his acting if he is going to remain an on screen personality.
However, it is apt that there are rumours of chaos behind the scenes as I think that Vince and co. are not sure how to proceed with this conspiracy and have not decided as to who will be the orchestrater yet. Personally, I think that they might try to pin it on Stephanie but, much like the Rikishi running over Austin reveal, if it falls flat then there is always the get out of having either Vince or HHH as the puppetmaster.
The uncertainty shone through into the show. The Punk/Nash showdown also suffered badly from seemingly not having any solid outline and on a couple of occasions almost descended into childish name calling. Could have said everything they needed to in about half the time while as entertaining as he can be on the mic, the Miz/Subway segment made absolutely no sense other than forcing a product down the viewers throat and reeked of "we have nothing else for him to do but we want to keep Miz on TV."
As much as I enjoyed seeing Angry Cena, his walking straight back into the title picture just because he does not like that Del Rio cashed in his briefcase was groan-inducing... He might have had a point about Del Rio not earning his title if the Mexican Aristocrat had not won the biggest Royal Rumble ever, had a title match at WM and won MitB...
And don't get me started on the debacle that was Riley/Swagger. Dolph and Vickie on commentary with Cole and Lawler was horrendous and might be one of the worst segments I have seen in a good while. I could almost hear JR's exasperation even though he kpt quiet for the most part. It did not help that the only thing memorable about the match itself was that between them Riley and Swagger just barely pulled off the Gutwrench Powerbomb. Even the suggestion of Vickie managing Swagger does nothing for me for while she is a heat magnet, it is non-transferable heat. She has done very little for Ziggler's character.
David Otunga's tan makes him look like Al Jolson - a strange shade of charcoal and the tag champions, just when they show glimpses in the ring of actually looking like a decent team, get beaten by another thrown together team.
Apart from all of that, most of the wrestling on the show was of a good quality. Truth/Morrison was fun as was the main event with Del Rio getting a much needed clean win. I am still not sold on Del Rio at all but he did take a few forward steps. A couple of defences against Cena should help. It also seems that a slower build is in order for the Kelly Kelly/Beth/Natalya feud and that is a good thing. Kelly can get a win over each of the Divas of Doom (awful name) and in a tag match before eventually losing the title.
Jack-Hammer
YOU WILL RESPECT MY AUTHORITAH!!!!
WWE Monday Night Raw - August 15, 2011
Opening Segment - I thought Triple H's opening promo was a good stage setting promo that didn't drag itself out just for the point of taking up some air time. He didn't seem as smarmy and confident as we've seen him the past few weeks, which is good as he did make a mistake despite his arrogant proclamation that he wouldn't. I thought he did a good job of hooking people in when it comes to Kevin Nash's involvement in the match and it's just going to be interesting to see where this goes. Triple H then introduced Alberto Del Rio, who came out to a mixed repsonse. Good work from Del Rio on the mic, his smarmy & arrogant "sincerity" makes him the kind of guy that people just like to boo. One thing I kept noticing was that he didn't have a name plate on his WWE Championship, which has me wondering if maybe he'll unveil a new championship at some point during the night. Thumbs Up
John Morrison vs. R-Truth in a Falls Count Anywhere match - Good solid opening match for Raw, though this match wasn't quite as good as I'd hoped. Good storytelling throughout the match and I liked that they turned up the intensity for the FCA stipulation. JoMo didn't do a lot of his parkour tricks and high flying stuff here but, at the same time, it was a nice novelty to see more of a brawler come out of him in this sort of setting. I thought the ending made clever use of the chair. JoMo looked like he was going for a suplex but flipped Truth over so he'd be sitting in the chair. Morrison then lands the running knee out on the floor and gets the win a little before the 11 minute mark. This match could've been better if they'd had a little more time and JoMo employed a few high spots, but it was still an entertaining opener. **1/2
The Miz - I like Miz, I've been a fan of the guy for a long time but this promo segment here was little more than retched product placement/endorsement. Nobody gives a damn about the Subway guy and this promo just resulted in Miz coming out there and taking up air time. I'm sure they could have found something better for Miz to do than to come out and basically just hype and promote Subway. Thumbs Down
Kelly Kelly & Eve Torres vs. The Bella Twins - Better than I was expecting. While far from a classic, they actually used this match to tell something of a story and I liked that they had the Bellas showing some actual tag team continuity. Not a whole helluva lot, but at least a little. I thought Kelly did a good job of selling the leg lock she was put in, though she needed to continue to sell the "injury" for the rest of the match and afterward, and the way her leg was bent really did look painful. Kelly makes the hot tag eventually and Eve comes in to an actually decent reaction. Usually, the fans are deathly quiet when she comes in. Kelly takes out the other Bella twin while Eve hits a nice looking moonsault from the top for the win a little past the 3 minute mark. As they celebrate, Beth Phoenix & Natalya come out on stage dressed up nicely and do a litlte mock clap. The match was short, but surprisingly decent all things considered and it looks as though there's an actual cohesive storyline going on here. *1/4
Kevin Nash & CM Punk - Overall, a promo segment that I enjoyed a lot. I thought that the promo did a good job of ultimately keeping us wondering exactly what REALLY is going on. Is Nash a hired gun by Triple H? Was he brought in by Stephanie? Maybe even Vince had a little something to do with it? Nash seemed a little flustered at first and he wasn't quite on his A game. I can understand that, however, as he was on a live show in front of 10,000 people and that's something he hasn't experienced in over a decade. Punk came across as an angry, rebellious guy and it works well. Nash started to get into his groove quickly after Punk came out and gave him something to play off of. Nash saying Punk looked like a fry cook from a Pikeville Waffle House was great and Punk's comment about him liking Waffle House was a nice little comeback. The security guards keeping Punk from getting into the ring with Nash coupled with Nash standing in the ring looking smarmy did a good job of building a little more tension. I'm not all that interested in a match between these two. Right now though, we don't ultimately know what Nash's role is in the whole situation so the lingering mystery of what's gonna happen was more than fine with me. It's something that was further brought about when Nash talks with JL backstage for a few minutes when Nash went looking for Triple H afterward. Thumbs Up
Alex Riley vs. Jack Swagger - I'm pretty mixed on this. On one hand, the match between Riley & Swagger looked quite solid for the most part. At the same time, however, all the stuff going on at the commentator's table took away from the match. But, it did give Ziggler time on the mic and he continues to improve on the mic. I wish that Cole & Lawler would've just shut up with the stupid jokes. I felt bad for Jim Ross being stuck out there in the middle of that. The match was good but, as I said, all the stuff on commentary took away from it. Swagger & Riley botched Swagger's gutwrench powerbomb attempt, though it did show some real strength on Swagger's part. Swagger finally lands the gutwrench powerbomb for the win at the 4.5 minute mark after Vickie provided some interference for him. *1/4
Vickie & Swagger Backstage - As Vickie is walking backstage, Swagger comes up to her and compliments her and suggests that she might want to expand herself as a manager. I like this idea as it would give Swagger something meaningful to do and it would help put some real heat on him. Thumbs Up
David Otunga & Michael McGuillicutty vs. Kofi Kingston & Evan Bourne - Pretty good tag team match actually, better than I was expecting. Otunga & McGuillicutty do seem to work well together and Kofi & Bourne also seem to have an easy chemistry with each other. Some decent action with Kofi hitting a lot of his signature moves. Bourne ultimately winds up picking up the win after hitting Air Bourne on McGuillicutty after he caught Trouble in Paradise from Kofi. **
Alberto Del Rio vs. Rey Mysterio for the WWE Championship - I thought these two delivered an excellent main event. They have great chemistry together and I think I honestly may have enjoyed this match more than any other they've had. You could tell that Mysterio's knee was bothering in at certain points but he gutted it out. The match did stall a little here and there, I think to maybe give Rey a little time to get a handle on his knee, but they told a great story and both of them scored some excellent and believable near falls, especially in the second half of the match. When Mysterio hit 619, I actually thought that he was gonna pull it off for a second. However, Del Rio pulls up his knees as Rey goes for the splash off the top, then rolls Rey over in a modified cradle. Del Rio gets the clean pin at the 13 minute mark to retain the WWE Championship. Great effort from both guys here and Del Rio's championship run is off to a good start. ***1/2
John Cena - After the match, Del Rio starts to beat on Mysterio and begins to work on his arm. Cena suddenly runs out to a pretty good pop and runs Del Rio out of the ring. Cena got on the mic and cut a really good, passionate promo. Cena is at his best when he's not trying to be cute with his one liners and little jokes. Cena seemed angry about being screwed out of the WWE Championship, he continued to put over the importance of the title itself, put over CM Punk as a worthy opponent and helped put more heat on Del Rio by portraying him as someone undeserving of the title. It would have been very nice if Cena had been completely off the program but he was used very well here. Thumbs Up
Overall Show - I really enjoyed most of Raw last night. Triple H was in business mode last night and I'd prefer him in that role most of the time. I like how they've split the two main storylines right now. Cena & Punk can always pick things up at a later date. We could be looking at Punk vs. Nash or maybe Nash is just a part of a much bigger thing. We might be seeing something of a powers that be angle in which all the suits are against CM Punk. Over in the WWE Championship picture, I'm not crazy about Cena just automatically wind up there again but he can help make Del Rio a huge star. Wrestling action was generally solid overall with a few matches being better than I expected. The opener between John Morrison & R-Truth was entertaining, could've been better, but it was still a good match. The Divas had a surprisingly decent match, considering it was a Diva match. The match with Riley & Swagger was just overshadowed by a lot of stuff going on with the commentators. The stuff between Vickie & Dolph was just fine, but Lawler & Cole should've just stayed quiet. The tag team match between Kofi & Evan Bourne and Otunga & McGuillicutty was a solid 5 minute match. The main event was great in my view and got Del Rio off to a good start as WWE Champion. We know he's a lowlife who'll cheat his ass off to win if he has to, but it's good to see him score a clean victory over a game challenger. They used John Cena well last night. He wasn't the focus of the show by any means and that was a good thing in my view. I find myself wondering just what was said between himself & Triple H when Trips went back into his dressing room near the beginning of the night. Maybe nothing, maybe something, maybe an alliance against Punk? Who knows. There were several intriguing questions left unanswered on Raw last night, which just makes me want to see what the answers are even more.
Grade: B+
Opening Segment - I thought Triple H's opening promo was a good stage setting promo that didn't drag itself out just for the point of taking up some air time. He didn't seem as smarmy and confident as we've seen him the past few weeks, which is good as he did make a mistake despite his arrogant proclamation that he wouldn't. I thought he did a good job of hooking people in when it comes to Kevin Nash's involvement in the match and it's just going to be interesting to see where this goes. Triple H then introduced Alberto Del Rio, who came out to a mixed repsonse. Good work from Del Rio on the mic, his smarmy & arrogant "sincerity" makes him the kind of guy that people just like to boo. One thing I kept noticing was that he didn't have a name plate on his WWE Championship, which has me wondering if maybe he'll unveil a new championship at some point during the night. Thumbs Up
John Morrison vs. R-Truth in a Falls Count Anywhere match - Good solid opening match for Raw, though this match wasn't quite as good as I'd hoped. Good storytelling throughout the match and I liked that they turned up the intensity for the FCA stipulation. JoMo didn't do a lot of his parkour tricks and high flying stuff here but, at the same time, it was a nice novelty to see more of a brawler come out of him in this sort of setting. I thought the ending made clever use of the chair. JoMo looked like he was going for a suplex but flipped Truth over so he'd be sitting in the chair. Morrison then lands the running knee out on the floor and gets the win a little before the 11 minute mark. This match could've been better if they'd had a little more time and JoMo employed a few high spots, but it was still an entertaining opener. **1/2
The Miz - I like Miz, I've been a fan of the guy for a long time but this promo segment here was little more than retched product placement/endorsement. Nobody gives a damn about the Subway guy and this promo just resulted in Miz coming out there and taking up air time. I'm sure they could have found something better for Miz to do than to come out and basically just hype and promote Subway. Thumbs Down
Kelly Kelly & Eve Torres vs. The Bella Twins - Better than I was expecting. While far from a classic, they actually used this match to tell something of a story and I liked that they had the Bellas showing some actual tag team continuity. Not a whole helluva lot, but at least a little. I thought Kelly did a good job of selling the leg lock she was put in, though she needed to continue to sell the "injury" for the rest of the match and afterward, and the way her leg was bent really did look painful. Kelly makes the hot tag eventually and Eve comes in to an actually decent reaction. Usually, the fans are deathly quiet when she comes in. Kelly takes out the other Bella twin while Eve hits a nice looking moonsault from the top for the win a little past the 3 minute mark. As they celebrate, Beth Phoenix & Natalya come out on stage dressed up nicely and do a litlte mock clap. The match was short, but surprisingly decent all things considered and it looks as though there's an actual cohesive storyline going on here. *1/4
Kevin Nash & CM Punk - Overall, a promo segment that I enjoyed a lot. I thought that the promo did a good job of ultimately keeping us wondering exactly what REALLY is going on. Is Nash a hired gun by Triple H? Was he brought in by Stephanie? Maybe even Vince had a little something to do with it? Nash seemed a little flustered at first and he wasn't quite on his A game. I can understand that, however, as he was on a live show in front of 10,000 people and that's something he hasn't experienced in over a decade. Punk came across as an angry, rebellious guy and it works well. Nash started to get into his groove quickly after Punk came out and gave him something to play off of. Nash saying Punk looked like a fry cook from a Pikeville Waffle House was great and Punk's comment about him liking Waffle House was a nice little comeback. The security guards keeping Punk from getting into the ring with Nash coupled with Nash standing in the ring looking smarmy did a good job of building a little more tension. I'm not all that interested in a match between these two. Right now though, we don't ultimately know what Nash's role is in the whole situation so the lingering mystery of what's gonna happen was more than fine with me. It's something that was further brought about when Nash talks with JL backstage for a few minutes when Nash went looking for Triple H afterward. Thumbs Up
Alex Riley vs. Jack Swagger - I'm pretty mixed on this. On one hand, the match between Riley & Swagger looked quite solid for the most part. At the same time, however, all the stuff going on at the commentator's table took away from the match. But, it did give Ziggler time on the mic and he continues to improve on the mic. I wish that Cole & Lawler would've just shut up with the stupid jokes. I felt bad for Jim Ross being stuck out there in the middle of that. The match was good but, as I said, all the stuff on commentary took away from it. Swagger & Riley botched Swagger's gutwrench powerbomb attempt, though it did show some real strength on Swagger's part. Swagger finally lands the gutwrench powerbomb for the win at the 4.5 minute mark after Vickie provided some interference for him. *1/4
Vickie & Swagger Backstage - As Vickie is walking backstage, Swagger comes up to her and compliments her and suggests that she might want to expand herself as a manager. I like this idea as it would give Swagger something meaningful to do and it would help put some real heat on him. Thumbs Up
David Otunga & Michael McGuillicutty vs. Kofi Kingston & Evan Bourne - Pretty good tag team match actually, better than I was expecting. Otunga & McGuillicutty do seem to work well together and Kofi & Bourne also seem to have an easy chemistry with each other. Some decent action with Kofi hitting a lot of his signature moves. Bourne ultimately winds up picking up the win after hitting Air Bourne on McGuillicutty after he caught Trouble in Paradise from Kofi. **
Alberto Del Rio vs. Rey Mysterio for the WWE Championship - I thought these two delivered an excellent main event. They have great chemistry together and I think I honestly may have enjoyed this match more than any other they've had. You could tell that Mysterio's knee was bothering in at certain points but he gutted it out. The match did stall a little here and there, I think to maybe give Rey a little time to get a handle on his knee, but they told a great story and both of them scored some excellent and believable near falls, especially in the second half of the match. When Mysterio hit 619, I actually thought that he was gonna pull it off for a second. However, Del Rio pulls up his knees as Rey goes for the splash off the top, then rolls Rey over in a modified cradle. Del Rio gets the clean pin at the 13 minute mark to retain the WWE Championship. Great effort from both guys here and Del Rio's championship run is off to a good start. ***1/2
John Cena - After the match, Del Rio starts to beat on Mysterio and begins to work on his arm. Cena suddenly runs out to a pretty good pop and runs Del Rio out of the ring. Cena got on the mic and cut a really good, passionate promo. Cena is at his best when he's not trying to be cute with his one liners and little jokes. Cena seemed angry about being screwed out of the WWE Championship, he continued to put over the importance of the title itself, put over CM Punk as a worthy opponent and helped put more heat on Del Rio by portraying him as someone undeserving of the title. It would have been very nice if Cena had been completely off the program but he was used very well here. Thumbs Up
Overall Show - I really enjoyed most of Raw last night. Triple H was in business mode last night and I'd prefer him in that role most of the time. I like how they've split the two main storylines right now. Cena & Punk can always pick things up at a later date. We could be looking at Punk vs. Nash or maybe Nash is just a part of a much bigger thing. We might be seeing something of a powers that be angle in which all the suits are against CM Punk. Over in the WWE Championship picture, I'm not crazy about Cena just automatically wind up there again but he can help make Del Rio a huge star. Wrestling action was generally solid overall with a few matches being better than I expected. The opener between John Morrison & R-Truth was entertaining, could've been better, but it was still a good match. The Divas had a surprisingly decent match, considering it was a Diva match. The match with Riley & Swagger was just overshadowed by a lot of stuff going on with the commentators. The stuff between Vickie & Dolph was just fine, but Lawler & Cole should've just stayed quiet. The tag team match between Kofi & Evan Bourne and Otunga & McGuillicutty was a solid 5 minute match. The main event was great in my view and got Del Rio off to a good start as WWE Champion. We know he's a lowlife who'll cheat his ass off to win if he has to, but it's good to see him score a clean victory over a game challenger. They used John Cena well last night. He wasn't the focus of the show by any means and that was a good thing in my view. I find myself wondering just what was said between himself & Triple H when Trips went back into his dressing room near the beginning of the night. Maybe nothing, maybe something, maybe an alliance against Punk? Who knows. There were several intriguing questions left unanswered on Raw last night, which just makes me want to see what the answers are even more.
Grade: B+
Good:
John Morrison and R-Truth had a very good match and I've been really impressed by R-Truth for a while now. R-Truth has gone from doing very little in the WWE, being a bland face, to taking the ball he was given and completely running with it. I love R-Truth's heel character, its working for him, and he delivers every single week. The match was solid and entertaining, with some fun high spots, and I'm glad to see Morrison pick up the win. That isn't because I'm a fan of Morrison, I still feel he's missing something and its really holding him back (and may always hold him back), but after a string of losses like he has had since coming back he REALLY needed to pick up this win.
In fact, every match tonight was solid or GOOD and this week's RAW really delivered in terms of in ring action. I enjoyed the tag team a match, and despite the champions being bland and not doing anything to develop their characters, they are still a solid team together and have good chemistry in the ring. I also really enjoyed the tag team of Kingston and Bourne, and they were really impressive as a team last night. Their styles are similar and exciting and I'm all for them continuing as a team right now, including having a run for (and with) the titles. I think it adds another needed dimension to the tag team division, and by the sounds of commentary they were even pushing the tag team division being built up. Here's hoping that's true! I think Kofi and Bourne could be a great face team, especially against a team like the Kings of Wrestling if they debut against them in a feud, as obvious heels. The matches themselves could be terrific.
I find Alberto Del Rio incredibly underrated by people, despite being theWWE champion and delivering every night. Whether its on the mic, in a storyline, or in the ring, Del Rio ALWAYS delivers. He showed that tonight, from his opening promo to the great match he had with Rey Mysterio to end the show. It was also great seeing him actually win clean and be shown as a credible, competent champion in the ring. The thing I really like about Del Rio is that he's one of the few (if not the only) CLASSIC heel who everyone hates.
Some might not like Cena being kept, as always, in the championship picture.. but its what makes sense and is what's needed right now. CM Punk has a storyline that doesn't NEED to revolve around the title, but that leaves Cena with nothing to do. Cena is the top draw in the company, the top face in the WWE, and the new champion needs a credible face to feud with to solidify his reign and there's really none better then Cena to do that. I'm more then fine with this direction... as long as Del Rio continues to be champion and doesn't have a short reign just to hand the title back over to Cena. If that happens I'll be pissed, and it'll have been a huge missed opportunity.
CM Punk and Kevin Nash really delivered tonight in their promo, I thought. Nash felt a bit awkward at times, but that can be played off as being out of the spotlight for so long, away from LIVE television in front of such a huge crowd. He hasn't been in that situation in a long time and I feel he started to gain steam as the promo went along. Punk shined, again, in that segment and is really building up momentum as the next Anti-hero of wrestling. I'm looking forward to seeing where this storyline goes and I'm really glad Punk's being given th ball.
Bad:
The only thing I didn't like about RAW last night was the Miz's segment. It was pointless, for one. Two, I really didn't feel he even did a good job cutting that promo. While he was doing it I kept thinking how that promo was an example of why the Miz is really overrated by the IWC. He's shoved down our throats as this "must see" champion (despite not being must see at all, the guys not even a draw), as someone whose great on the mic (when his promos are just repetitive and boring), and I really don't see his appeal. Certainly not as a main eventer. The entire segment was meaningless, poorly executed, and extremely forced.
John Morrison and R-Truth had a very good match and I've been really impressed by R-Truth for a while now. R-Truth has gone from doing very little in the WWE, being a bland face, to taking the ball he was given and completely running with it. I love R-Truth's heel character, its working for him, and he delivers every single week. The match was solid and entertaining, with some fun high spots, and I'm glad to see Morrison pick up the win. That isn't because I'm a fan of Morrison, I still feel he's missing something and its really holding him back (and may always hold him back), but after a string of losses like he has had since coming back he REALLY needed to pick up this win.
In fact, every match tonight was solid or GOOD and this week's RAW really delivered in terms of in ring action. I enjoyed the tag team a match, and despite the champions being bland and not doing anything to develop their characters, they are still a solid team together and have good chemistry in the ring. I also really enjoyed the tag team of Kingston and Bourne, and they were really impressive as a team last night. Their styles are similar and exciting and I'm all for them continuing as a team right now, including having a run for (and with) the titles. I think it adds another needed dimension to the tag team division, and by the sounds of commentary they were even pushing the tag team division being built up. Here's hoping that's true! I think Kofi and Bourne could be a great face team, especially against a team like the Kings of Wrestling if they debut against them in a feud, as obvious heels. The matches themselves could be terrific.
I find Alberto Del Rio incredibly underrated by people, despite being theWWE champion and delivering every night. Whether its on the mic, in a storyline, or in the ring, Del Rio ALWAYS delivers. He showed that tonight, from his opening promo to the great match he had with Rey Mysterio to end the show. It was also great seeing him actually win clean and be shown as a credible, competent champion in the ring. The thing I really like about Del Rio is that he's one of the few (if not the only) CLASSIC heel who everyone hates.
Some might not like Cena being kept, as always, in the championship picture.. but its what makes sense and is what's needed right now. CM Punk has a storyline that doesn't NEED to revolve around the title, but that leaves Cena with nothing to do. Cena is the top draw in the company, the top face in the WWE, and the new champion needs a credible face to feud with to solidify his reign and there's really none better then Cena to do that. I'm more then fine with this direction... as long as Del Rio continues to be champion and doesn't have a short reign just to hand the title back over to Cena. If that happens I'll be pissed, and it'll have been a huge missed opportunity.
CM Punk and Kevin Nash really delivered tonight in their promo, I thought. Nash felt a bit awkward at times, but that can be played off as being out of the spotlight for so long, away from LIVE television in front of such a huge crowd. He hasn't been in that situation in a long time and I feel he started to gain steam as the promo went along. Punk shined, again, in that segment and is really building up momentum as the next Anti-hero of wrestling. I'm looking forward to seeing where this storyline goes and I'm really glad Punk's being given th ball.
Bad:
The only thing I didn't like about RAW last night was the Miz's segment. It was pointless, for one. Two, I really didn't feel he even did a good job cutting that promo. While he was doing it I kept thinking how that promo was an example of why the Miz is really overrated by the IWC. He's shoved down our throats as this "must see" champion (despite not being must see at all, the guys not even a draw), as someone whose great on the mic (when his promos are just repetitive and boring), and I really don't see his appeal. Certainly not as a main eventer. The entire segment was meaningless, poorly executed, and extremely forced.
hollowpoint
The Greatest of the Universe!!
I enjoyed last nights RAW because of a simple equation - less = more. The entire show did everything it needed to for a show following a big PPV. A couple of highlights/lowlights for the show:
Triple H opening - did a good job of apologizing for missing the call and attempting to clear the air of any collusion between he and Nash. He sounded beliveable and dare I say...genuine.
Kofi/Bourne v Otunga/McGillicutty - Good match. Finally looks like they are going to do something with the tag titles. Both teams worked well together and Kofi/Bourne had some great high spots to include the Trouble in Paradise/Air Bourne finish. Im a big fan of tag team wrestling.
Punk/Nash - I liked that Nash came out and said what we all figured. He left it open to the fact that HHH might be in on it. Punk then came out and the interaction between these two was a bit awkward at first and then it came around. You could tell that Nash hasn't been apart of a live show in a while.
Don't really know what it's going to lead to just yet, but it was a great segment.
ADR/Mysterio - Decent match, nothing great, but it did what it needed to do. Mysterio got his rematch and almost pulled it off and he sold(or tried to sell) ADR as a main event heel.
Cena -with Cena coming in for the save, it sets up a Cena/ADR program for a least a couple of weeks. Cena gave a passionate program about the importance of the WWE Title and how ADR is not a champion because he didn't earn it. What confused me a little was the fact that he put Punk over as a credible champion when he has cashed in not 1, but 2 MITB briefcases. It was good to see Cena pissed for a change. Seeing him be ok with getting screwed over was eating at even me. This is actually GREAT for ADR because one thing Cena has been great at doing for the past 3-4 years is elevating talent. ADR wants to be looked at as a Main Event guy and what better way to do that than to work with Cena.
LOWLIGHTS
Two parts of Raw that I could've done without:
1. The Miz - Subway?!?..REALLY?!...REALLY?!
2. Ziggler/Vickie/Swagger/Riley - I should've put the Raw commentary desk on here as well because the interaction between all of them was just awkward and it got worse. I was cringing and looking for a way to fast forward this part of the show. They took away from what could've been a decent match. I'm glad they are allowing Swagger to do something besides be a jobber to the Stars. He's legit and pairing him and Vickie could work out better than Ziggler.
Overall I enjoyed the show and I was impressed that the WWE didn't try to force everything in order to start something new. They seem to be moving at a good pace with the Punk/HHH/Nash angle. Definitely good for business to have two of the biggest stars in the company (Punk/Cena) in different feuds for a while. I will be tuning in to see how it all shakes down next week.
Triple H opening - did a good job of apologizing for missing the call and attempting to clear the air of any collusion between he and Nash. He sounded beliveable and dare I say...genuine.
Kofi/Bourne v Otunga/McGillicutty - Good match. Finally looks like they are going to do something with the tag titles. Both teams worked well together and Kofi/Bourne had some great high spots to include the Trouble in Paradise/Air Bourne finish. Im a big fan of tag team wrestling.
Punk/Nash - I liked that Nash came out and said what we all figured. He left it open to the fact that HHH might be in on it. Punk then came out and the interaction between these two was a bit awkward at first and then it came around. You could tell that Nash hasn't been apart of a live show in a while.
Don't really know what it's going to lead to just yet, but it was a great segment.
ADR/Mysterio - Decent match, nothing great, but it did what it needed to do. Mysterio got his rematch and almost pulled it off and he sold(or tried to sell) ADR as a main event heel.
Cena -with Cena coming in for the save, it sets up a Cena/ADR program for a least a couple of weeks. Cena gave a passionate program about the importance of the WWE Title and how ADR is not a champion because he didn't earn it. What confused me a little was the fact that he put Punk over as a credible champion when he has cashed in not 1, but 2 MITB briefcases. It was good to see Cena pissed for a change. Seeing him be ok with getting screwed over was eating at even me. This is actually GREAT for ADR because one thing Cena has been great at doing for the past 3-4 years is elevating talent. ADR wants to be looked at as a Main Event guy and what better way to do that than to work with Cena.
LOWLIGHTS
Two parts of Raw that I could've done without:
1. The Miz - Subway?!?..REALLY?!...REALLY?!
2. Ziggler/Vickie/Swagger/Riley - I should've put the Raw commentary desk on here as well because the interaction between all of them was just awkward and it got worse. I was cringing and looking for a way to fast forward this part of the show. They took away from what could've been a decent match. I'm glad they are allowing Swagger to do something besides be a jobber to the Stars. He's legit and pairing him and Vickie could work out better than Ziggler.
Overall I enjoyed the show and I was impressed that the WWE didn't try to force everything in order to start something new. They seem to be moving at a good pace with the Punk/HHH/Nash angle. Definitely good for business to have two of the biggest stars in the company (Punk/Cena) in different feuds for a while. I will be tuning in to see how it all shakes down next week.
Jack-Hammer
YOU WILL RESPECT MY AUTHORITAH!!!!
The ratings for last night's Raw are in and, overall, I'd say WWE is pretty happy. Raw pulled a 3.3 Nielsen Rating last night with an average audience of 5,054,500 viewers.
The number isn't "through the roof" good or anything, but Raw did go up against the usual competition last night. Both episodes of Pawn Stars did 5,037,000 and 5,472,000 viewers respectively. TNT's Rizzoli & Isles & The Closer pulled almost identical viewers with 6,742,000 and 6,725,000. Raw also went up against pre-season NFL football on ESPN last night, which drew 4,966,000 viewers.
The first hour of the show was the stronger of the two and pulled in 5,248,000 viewers. The second hour, however, dipped quite a bit down to 4,861,000 viewers. Once people found out that Rey Mysterio vs. Alberto Del Rio was the main event, it probably didn't interest some of them.
It's not the best post SummerSlam numbers they've had, but it's the first show they've had in a while to pull in 5 million viewers or more overall in a while.
The number isn't "through the roof" good or anything, but Raw did go up against the usual competition last night. Both episodes of Pawn Stars did 5,037,000 and 5,472,000 viewers respectively. TNT's Rizzoli & Isles & The Closer pulled almost identical viewers with 6,742,000 and 6,725,000. Raw also went up against pre-season NFL football on ESPN last night, which drew 4,966,000 viewers.
The first hour of the show was the stronger of the two and pulled in 5,248,000 viewers. The second hour, however, dipped quite a bit down to 4,861,000 viewers. Once people found out that Rey Mysterio vs. Alberto Del Rio was the main event, it probably didn't interest some of them.
It's not the best post SummerSlam numbers they've had, but it's the first show they've had in a while to pull in 5 million viewers or more overall in a while.
stephenjpunk317
Pre-Show Stalwart
I did some live RAW report just as a different way to present it. I did put some thoughts I had about the show as it went on as well. I think that the way CM Punk, HHH, Nash and Steph angle is so open ended is great. I think the WWE isn't totally set on a direction, which has been said before, could be a bad thing. The way I see it it has to be Triple H, if Punk and him are set to feud anyways. And I don't think people want to wait around a few weeks before it is revealed as to who sent the text. I know the WWE likes to story tell and wait it out, but not sure if the momentum would keep going if they waited it out.
http://stephenjpunk.blogspot.com/2011/08/live-raw-report-for-august-15th-2011.html
http://stephenjpunk.blogspot.com/2011/08/live-raw-report-for-august-15th-2011.html
Jack-Hammer
YOU WILL RESPECT MY AUTHORITAH!!!!
WWE Friday Night SmackDown! - August 19, 2011
Opening Segment - Basic and mostly decent segment with Randy Orton coming out and getting the crowd livened up. Orton confirmed that Christian wouldn't be at the show and that his feud with Christian was done. It was a great feud despite how some constantly complained about Christian. Teddy Long announced that a 20 man battle royal would be held to determine the new #1 contender. I'm not a huge fan of battle royals but they can be fun with a lot depending upon the outcome. Cody Rhodes & Ted DiBiase come out and I thought that the segment did a good job of showing that Cody Rhodes has come pretty far. The idea of him challenging Randy Orton for the WHC is something that's not laughable anymore, whereas it would have been about this time last year. Orton winds up hitting an RKO on DiBiase, who was brought out to look like a chump, and Teddy Long announced that Cody would defend the IC title against Ezekiel Jackson. Nothing spectacular about the segment, but it was solid in doing what it was supposed to do. Thumbs Up
Cody Rhodes vs. Ezekiel Jackson for the WWE Intercontinental Championship - Not that great of a match generally speak. Consdering that it only lasted about 4 minutes, it was alright and it did have the proper outcome. Big Zeke didn't really have a huge amount of offense here. Most of the match revolved around Cody working him over or countering most of Zeke's power moves. Cody does wind up getting the clean pin after hitting Beautiful Disaster followed up by Cross Rhodes. It was a good win, a decisive win and I'm hoping this means Cody is moving onto someone else. Good start off for Cody as Intercontinental Champion. *1/2
Justin Gabriel vs. Tyson Kidd - Pretty solid 4 minute match here with some nice spots and a good display of athleticism. Tyson Kidd has got it inside the ring, he consistently has good matches and I hope that WWE can put something together with him someday. Gabriel winds up getting the pinfall after hitting a long 450 Splash. **
Alberto Del Rio - Alberto Del Rio comes out to do a promo segment. It's solid but it's generally more of the same. Daniel Bryan's music hits and he comes out to a nice pop. He delivers well on the mic and his promo matches up with his character and he showed some good intensity. He accepts Del Rio's challenge. Again, solid stuff without anything particularly remarkable. Thumbs Up
Alberto Del Rio vs. Daniel Bryan - Excellent match and FAR better than the 3.5 minute effort we got from them last week. Both of them looked very strong and have great chemistry together. Bryan looked resilient and consistently sold the left arm that Del Rio had been working on. This was a ppv quality match that made Bryan really shine and look like a star in my view as he took the reigning WWE Champion and gave him all he wanted. The crowd was heavily into the match and really popped for Bryan especially when he went into his stiff kicks. Del Rio did get the win at the 15.5 minute mark with the armbar, which is what should have happened, but Bryan came out of this match looking great. The post match stuff with Del Rio & Sin Cara didn't really serve a point so much as to give Sin Cara a little bit of air time. ***1/2
Kelly Kelly & AJ vs. Natalya & Alicia Fox - Surprisingly decent match here that did a good job of telling a story. Natalya came off looking like a dominant female presence inside the ring while Kelly & AJ did seem like the cute, perky divas that Natalya is rallying against with Beth Phoenix. Kelly & AJ get the win at the 4.5 minute mark after Kelly pins Alicia Fox. Natalya beats down Alicia after the match is over and does a good job of selling her frustration over not having put the Divas in their place just yet. [/B]*1/4[/B]
Battle Royal - Pretty good battle royal overall. I thought that what made it stand out was all the stuff that was happening outside. Mark Henry looked like a beast the entire way through and having him just beating the piss out of people outside the ring is not only nice heel tactic, but it also gives him something to do that makes him stand out. The final four was made up of Sin Cara, Sheamus, Wade Barrett & Mark Henry. Sheamus looked good through the battle royal as well, his face turn seems to be running as smooth as silk at the moment. Mark Henry ultimately winds up winning the battle royal and is the new #1 contender for the WHC. Overall, I thought it was an enjoyable match that produced the right result. **3/4
Overall Show - For me, it was another solid show. As is the case with most episodes of SmackDown!, everything that took place happened for a good reason. Cody Rhodes is off to a good start as IC champ with a clean win over Big Zeke. Justin Gabriel & Tyson Kidd had a decent 4 minute match. The Divas had a decent tag match that told a good story and wasn't just something to take up air time, something I've noticed that's been changing in the Divas as of late. The highlights of the show were the battle royal and Del Rio vs. Daniel Bryan. Del Rio vs. Bryan was a ppv quality match that made both guys look like stars. Even though Bryan lost, which should happen as Del Rio just won the WWE Championship less than a week ago, he gave Del Rio all he wanted. Del Rio looked like a tough, determined champion and his two matches thus far as champion have been nothing to complain about whatsoever. The battle royal was a fun match made so mostly by Mark Henry, believe it or not. Mark Henry is the new #1 contender for the WHC and I'd have laughed at WWE for doing this 6 months ago. However, Henry has really come into his own over the course of the past few months. I'm not saying that Orton vs. Henry will be a huge draw or that the matches will be anywhere near the caliber of Orton vs. Christian, but Henry does deserve to be #1 contender. He's done an excellent job with his character and is genuinely intimidating.
Grade: B
Opening Segment - Basic and mostly decent segment with Randy Orton coming out and getting the crowd livened up. Orton confirmed that Christian wouldn't be at the show and that his feud with Christian was done. It was a great feud despite how some constantly complained about Christian. Teddy Long announced that a 20 man battle royal would be held to determine the new #1 contender. I'm not a huge fan of battle royals but they can be fun with a lot depending upon the outcome. Cody Rhodes & Ted DiBiase come out and I thought that the segment did a good job of showing that Cody Rhodes has come pretty far. The idea of him challenging Randy Orton for the WHC is something that's not laughable anymore, whereas it would have been about this time last year. Orton winds up hitting an RKO on DiBiase, who was brought out to look like a chump, and Teddy Long announced that Cody would defend the IC title against Ezekiel Jackson. Nothing spectacular about the segment, but it was solid in doing what it was supposed to do. Thumbs Up
Cody Rhodes vs. Ezekiel Jackson for the WWE Intercontinental Championship - Not that great of a match generally speak. Consdering that it only lasted about 4 minutes, it was alright and it did have the proper outcome. Big Zeke didn't really have a huge amount of offense here. Most of the match revolved around Cody working him over or countering most of Zeke's power moves. Cody does wind up getting the clean pin after hitting Beautiful Disaster followed up by Cross Rhodes. It was a good win, a decisive win and I'm hoping this means Cody is moving onto someone else. Good start off for Cody as Intercontinental Champion. *1/2
Justin Gabriel vs. Tyson Kidd - Pretty solid 4 minute match here with some nice spots and a good display of athleticism. Tyson Kidd has got it inside the ring, he consistently has good matches and I hope that WWE can put something together with him someday. Gabriel winds up getting the pinfall after hitting a long 450 Splash. **
Alberto Del Rio - Alberto Del Rio comes out to do a promo segment. It's solid but it's generally more of the same. Daniel Bryan's music hits and he comes out to a nice pop. He delivers well on the mic and his promo matches up with his character and he showed some good intensity. He accepts Del Rio's challenge. Again, solid stuff without anything particularly remarkable. Thumbs Up
Alberto Del Rio vs. Daniel Bryan - Excellent match and FAR better than the 3.5 minute effort we got from them last week. Both of them looked very strong and have great chemistry together. Bryan looked resilient and consistently sold the left arm that Del Rio had been working on. This was a ppv quality match that made Bryan really shine and look like a star in my view as he took the reigning WWE Champion and gave him all he wanted. The crowd was heavily into the match and really popped for Bryan especially when he went into his stiff kicks. Del Rio did get the win at the 15.5 minute mark with the armbar, which is what should have happened, but Bryan came out of this match looking great. The post match stuff with Del Rio & Sin Cara didn't really serve a point so much as to give Sin Cara a little bit of air time. ***1/2
Kelly Kelly & AJ vs. Natalya & Alicia Fox - Surprisingly decent match here that did a good job of telling a story. Natalya came off looking like a dominant female presence inside the ring while Kelly & AJ did seem like the cute, perky divas that Natalya is rallying against with Beth Phoenix. Kelly & AJ get the win at the 4.5 minute mark after Kelly pins Alicia Fox. Natalya beats down Alicia after the match is over and does a good job of selling her frustration over not having put the Divas in their place just yet. [/B]*1/4[/B]
Battle Royal - Pretty good battle royal overall. I thought that what made it stand out was all the stuff that was happening outside. Mark Henry looked like a beast the entire way through and having him just beating the piss out of people outside the ring is not only nice heel tactic, but it also gives him something to do that makes him stand out. The final four was made up of Sin Cara, Sheamus, Wade Barrett & Mark Henry. Sheamus looked good through the battle royal as well, his face turn seems to be running as smooth as silk at the moment. Mark Henry ultimately winds up winning the battle royal and is the new #1 contender for the WHC. Overall, I thought it was an enjoyable match that produced the right result. **3/4
Overall Show - For me, it was another solid show. As is the case with most episodes of SmackDown!, everything that took place happened for a good reason. Cody Rhodes is off to a good start as IC champ with a clean win over Big Zeke. Justin Gabriel & Tyson Kidd had a decent 4 minute match. The Divas had a decent tag match that told a good story and wasn't just something to take up air time, something I've noticed that's been changing in the Divas as of late. The highlights of the show were the battle royal and Del Rio vs. Daniel Bryan. Del Rio vs. Bryan was a ppv quality match that made both guys look like stars. Even though Bryan lost, which should happen as Del Rio just won the WWE Championship less than a week ago, he gave Del Rio all he wanted. Del Rio looked like a tough, determined champion and his two matches thus far as champion have been nothing to complain about whatsoever. The battle royal was a fun match made so mostly by Mark Henry, believe it or not. Mark Henry is the new #1 contender for the WHC and I'd have laughed at WWE for doing this 6 months ago. However, Henry has really come into his own over the course of the past few months. I'm not saying that Orton vs. Henry will be a huge draw or that the matches will be anywhere near the caliber of Orton vs. Christian, but Henry does deserve to be #1 contender. He's done an excellent job with his character and is genuinely intimidating.
Grade: B
RAW was pretty good tonight, there were some really funny parts during the Cena/Punk match I liked the crowd throwing Cena's shirt back at him.
And during the match when Punk did that slingboard clotheline off the rope and yelled "Im Flying!" (Did anyone else catch that?)
That one thing this show could do without was the Miz/Truth angle i dont like that they are teaming up. Truth is just gonna drag the Miz down.
And during the match when Punk did that slingboard clotheline off the rope and yelled "Im Flying!" (Did anyone else catch that?)
That one thing this show could do without was the Miz/Truth angle i dont like that they are teaming up. Truth is just gonna drag the Miz down.
Shotlycrue
No excuses, play like a champion
Cena getting his shirt thrown back at him was pretty funny, and I was (literally) gut laughing my ass off w/ Punk's "I'm Flying!" spot.
I disagree w/ you on the Miz/Truth angle. They worked GREAT w/ each other and the crowd on the promo...that is until the rap. Just awkward...
Did anyone hear HHH's slip up when he said "the person who will face ADR at NOC will be Joh..the winner of tonights match" not a direct quote, but it was something along those lines. Cena looked surprised at the slip and Punk looked PISSED.
Jack-Hammer
YOU WILL RESPECT MY AUTHORITAH!!!!
WWE Monday Night Raw - August 22, 2011
Opening Segment - I thought the opening of the show was good. Just a solid, all around opener that showed who the top guys are on Raw at this particular moment. I like Alberto Del Rio, I honestly do, but I think they need to expand his stuff on the mic. His promos are getting kind of repetitive and that's why I'm glad he didn't really get a chance to say much of anything today due to being interrupted. I was worried that Cena was gonna be his cutesy self out there but he kept some of the intensity he showed last week and his hostility towards Del Rio is refreshing. Punk came out to a great pop from the live crowd and did his thing, quite well as usual. Punk really is a great instigator and seeing him & Cena jockeying for position as who should face Del Rio at NOC worked for me because it just put over how important being champion is to them. Triple H came out and did his thing. It was short & sweet, he didn't try to hog the segment. At this time, I definitely prefer the idea of Cena vs. Punk to see who'll face Del Rio. I thought they were gonna go the triple threat route. While that'd be entertaining, I'm just really digging the one on one dynamic that they've got going on right now in the WWE Championship picture. Thumbs Up
Alberto Del Rio vs. John Morrison - Another very good, back and forth, competitive match in which both parties look strong throughout. I thought the match had a good pace to it and things really picked up nicely in the closing 4 or 5 minutes. There was one spot in particular in which JoMo rolled up Del Rio for a very believable near fall that really got the live crowd going. Both of them got some good near falls and the match just worked all the way around. It wasn't quite as good as Del Rio vs. Mysterio last week on Raw or Del Rio vs. Daniel Bryan this past Friday on SD!, but it was still a really good match. Del Rio gets the win via the armbar submission at the 12.5 minute mark. I do like the fact that they're building Del Rio as a strong heel champion rather than going the route of the vulnerable champ. The WWE's done that a lot, some would say too much, so Del Rio scores another big win in a competitive match that has his opponent looking like a star even though he lost. ***
Eve Torres vs. Nikki Bella - Somewhat above average Diva match here that wasn't the complete waste of time I figured it'd be. At the same time, it's kind of hard to care about this match. The only reason Eve got any reaction at all is because Kelly Kelly was in her corner. At any rate, a short match but some decent action while it lasted. The commentators continued to put over the storyline with Beth Phoenix & Natalya and they also featured a little in-screen promo from them. It's just nice to have an actual storyline in the Divas scene for a change. Eve gets the win at the 3 minute mark. 1/2*
Alex Riley vs. Jack Swagger - Too short to really mean anything and it looks as though WWE is going to use the development from last week to further drive a wedge between Vickie & Dolph. Some decent offense in the ring from Riley, who picks up a win via roll up on Swagger, but the stuff with Dolph & Vickie distracted from the match. They've gone a different route with the United States Championship picture and I'm interested to see how it plays out. *
Triple H, Kevin Nash & CM Punk - Strong segment that continued to hype the mystery of just who is ultimately responsible for Kevin Nash's involvement at SummerSlam. I like that Triple H was out there actually playing the business guy, someone out there that was trying to do right by his friend but, at the same time, telling his friend that he's wrong for what he's been up to. Nash seemed to be more comfortable this week and is getting back into the groove of things I think. Punk comes out, which Triple H sells his frustration over, and does a good job of keeping the tension built up in this situation. Punk getting in Triple H's face and continuing to insult Stephanie, as well as reminding everyone that she might be the one ultimately responsible for the whole thing, did it's job of putting Trips in an awkward position. After all, he's a "business" guy but the man also loves his wife. Kevin Nash getting in a cheap shot before quickly ducking out with Triple H chastizing him up the ramp was the best way to end it. The questions weren't answered, which is good, and we're still left wondering what's ultimately gonna happen here. Thumbs Up
David Otunga & Michael McGuillicutty vs. Kofi Kingston & Evan Bourne for the WWE Tag Team Championship - The match was alright, nothing overly special, but what stood out here is the for the first time in a while, a team is carrying the tag titles that fans actually give two shits about. Kofi & Bourne pick up the win at the 5 minute mark to become the new WWE Tag Team Champions. The crowd popped big for their offense as well as their title win. Kofi & Bourne sold their excitement at being the new champs well and it's also nice to see Evan Bourne finally get a title in WWE. The WWE has a lot of work to do if they want to revive the tag team picture, but this is another good step in the right direction. **
The Miz & R-Truth - Some might not like this segment but I got a real kick out of it. They come out and beat the piss out of Santino before Truth starts on his "Lil Jimmy" stuff, which I like, and hearing him just argue with the crowd is just plan fun in my view. The Miz goes off a little and I like the fact that he addressed the crap they did with him last week with the Subway guy. I'm guessing this means that Miz & Truth are now gonna be teaming together? Could be interesting and it does add a team to the tag team picture that's going to have people talking. This could wind up being a huge mistake but, for now, it's got me intrigued. Thumbs Up
John Cena vs. CM Punk - This was an excellent main event that did what it needed to do. I was worried that we might wind up getting a 3 minute main event or something with all kinds of run ins and just tons of overbooking. Then I remembered that it was Monday night instead of Thursday.
However, while this match can't compete with what Cena & Punk have done at the last two ppvs, it did give people a good idea as to what they might have missed by not ordering MITB or SummerSlam on ppv. It was a great back and forth match with a super hot crowd hanging on every move these two made. A lot of people try to say that Cena can't wrestle but CM Punk is another in a long line of guys that Cena just has a very smooth, great sense of chemistry with. Everything they did in the ring with each other just looks as if it takes virtually no effort from the other at all. Both wrestlers get several great near falls throughout the match and I'm soooooooo very glad that Alberto Del Rio or JL didn't try to interfere in the match. They were both down at ringside watching. The ending comes when Punk is in control and seems to have Cena where he wants him. He loads him up onto his shoulders for another GTS before Kevin Nash calls out Punk's name. Punk drops Cena and moves close to the ropes while beckoning Nash to come down. Cena recovers, spins Punk around and hits the AA at the 14.5 minute mark for the win. The post match beatdown at the hands of Alberto Del Rio was a good way to close the show and Nash interfering without laying a hand on Punk gives Punk a good excuse for losing, yet doesn't make Cena look weak in how he won. ***1/2
Overall Show - I thought Raw was very strong and entertaining. The Divas were really the closest thing to filler on the show but I can't call them that here as there's still an actual, ongoing storyline. Both the promo segments were strong I thought. The first one set the stage for the main event at NOC and for Raw itself while the second one keeps the mystery going of who is responsible for Kevin Nash's presence. The opening match of Del Rio vs. John Morrison was another competitive match that made both guys look like stars. This is the third such match in a week that Del Rio has had and he looks like the strongest heel WWE Champion in quite a while. The stuff with Swagger, Vickie & Dolph continues to interest me and it's a nice change to see the WWE drawing out a long storyline in a mid-card title scene. They haven't done that in a while. Kofi Kingston & Evan Bourne becoming the new WWE Tag Team Champions was fun and it gives fans someone to finally rally behind in the tag team scene. I'm intrigued to see where The Miz & R-Truth go, could be a lot of fun or it could be a disaster waiting to happen. The main event was great with Punk & Cena giving fans who might not have seen MITB or SS a good idea of what they've missed. Great, competitive match that kept both men looking very strong and providing an out. Punk lost but he lost in a way that didn't hurt him and he still ultimately comes across as someone that looks like he's got Cena's number. It sets up Cena vs. Del Rio at NOC, Punk & Cena can always resume their feud at a later time and it puts Punk's focus squarely on the Kevin Nash/Triple H situation.
Grade: B+
Opening Segment - I thought the opening of the show was good. Just a solid, all around opener that showed who the top guys are on Raw at this particular moment. I like Alberto Del Rio, I honestly do, but I think they need to expand his stuff on the mic. His promos are getting kind of repetitive and that's why I'm glad he didn't really get a chance to say much of anything today due to being interrupted. I was worried that Cena was gonna be his cutesy self out there but he kept some of the intensity he showed last week and his hostility towards Del Rio is refreshing. Punk came out to a great pop from the live crowd and did his thing, quite well as usual. Punk really is a great instigator and seeing him & Cena jockeying for position as who should face Del Rio at NOC worked for me because it just put over how important being champion is to them. Triple H came out and did his thing. It was short & sweet, he didn't try to hog the segment. At this time, I definitely prefer the idea of Cena vs. Punk to see who'll face Del Rio. I thought they were gonna go the triple threat route. While that'd be entertaining, I'm just really digging the one on one dynamic that they've got going on right now in the WWE Championship picture. Thumbs Up
Alberto Del Rio vs. John Morrison - Another very good, back and forth, competitive match in which both parties look strong throughout. I thought the match had a good pace to it and things really picked up nicely in the closing 4 or 5 minutes. There was one spot in particular in which JoMo rolled up Del Rio for a very believable near fall that really got the live crowd going. Both of them got some good near falls and the match just worked all the way around. It wasn't quite as good as Del Rio vs. Mysterio last week on Raw or Del Rio vs. Daniel Bryan this past Friday on SD!, but it was still a really good match. Del Rio gets the win via the armbar submission at the 12.5 minute mark. I do like the fact that they're building Del Rio as a strong heel champion rather than going the route of the vulnerable champ. The WWE's done that a lot, some would say too much, so Del Rio scores another big win in a competitive match that has his opponent looking like a star even though he lost. ***
Eve Torres vs. Nikki Bella - Somewhat above average Diva match here that wasn't the complete waste of time I figured it'd be. At the same time, it's kind of hard to care about this match. The only reason Eve got any reaction at all is because Kelly Kelly was in her corner. At any rate, a short match but some decent action while it lasted. The commentators continued to put over the storyline with Beth Phoenix & Natalya and they also featured a little in-screen promo from them. It's just nice to have an actual storyline in the Divas scene for a change. Eve gets the win at the 3 minute mark. 1/2*
Alex Riley vs. Jack Swagger - Too short to really mean anything and it looks as though WWE is going to use the development from last week to further drive a wedge between Vickie & Dolph. Some decent offense in the ring from Riley, who picks up a win via roll up on Swagger, but the stuff with Dolph & Vickie distracted from the match. They've gone a different route with the United States Championship picture and I'm interested to see how it plays out. *
Triple H, Kevin Nash & CM Punk - Strong segment that continued to hype the mystery of just who is ultimately responsible for Kevin Nash's involvement at SummerSlam. I like that Triple H was out there actually playing the business guy, someone out there that was trying to do right by his friend but, at the same time, telling his friend that he's wrong for what he's been up to. Nash seemed to be more comfortable this week and is getting back into the groove of things I think. Punk comes out, which Triple H sells his frustration over, and does a good job of keeping the tension built up in this situation. Punk getting in Triple H's face and continuing to insult Stephanie, as well as reminding everyone that she might be the one ultimately responsible for the whole thing, did it's job of putting Trips in an awkward position. After all, he's a "business" guy but the man also loves his wife. Kevin Nash getting in a cheap shot before quickly ducking out with Triple H chastizing him up the ramp was the best way to end it. The questions weren't answered, which is good, and we're still left wondering what's ultimately gonna happen here. Thumbs Up
David Otunga & Michael McGuillicutty vs. Kofi Kingston & Evan Bourne for the WWE Tag Team Championship - The match was alright, nothing overly special, but what stood out here is the for the first time in a while, a team is carrying the tag titles that fans actually give two shits about. Kofi & Bourne pick up the win at the 5 minute mark to become the new WWE Tag Team Champions. The crowd popped big for their offense as well as their title win. Kofi & Bourne sold their excitement at being the new champs well and it's also nice to see Evan Bourne finally get a title in WWE. The WWE has a lot of work to do if they want to revive the tag team picture, but this is another good step in the right direction. **
The Miz & R-Truth - Some might not like this segment but I got a real kick out of it. They come out and beat the piss out of Santino before Truth starts on his "Lil Jimmy" stuff, which I like, and hearing him just argue with the crowd is just plan fun in my view. The Miz goes off a little and I like the fact that he addressed the crap they did with him last week with the Subway guy. I'm guessing this means that Miz & Truth are now gonna be teaming together? Could be interesting and it does add a team to the tag team picture that's going to have people talking. This could wind up being a huge mistake but, for now, it's got me intrigued. Thumbs Up
John Cena vs. CM Punk - This was an excellent main event that did what it needed to do. I was worried that we might wind up getting a 3 minute main event or something with all kinds of run ins and just tons of overbooking. Then I remembered that it was Monday night instead of Thursday.
However, while this match can't compete with what Cena & Punk have done at the last two ppvs, it did give people a good idea as to what they might have missed by not ordering MITB or SummerSlam on ppv. It was a great back and forth match with a super hot crowd hanging on every move these two made. A lot of people try to say that Cena can't wrestle but CM Punk is another in a long line of guys that Cena just has a very smooth, great sense of chemistry with. Everything they did in the ring with each other just looks as if it takes virtually no effort from the other at all. Both wrestlers get several great near falls throughout the match and I'm soooooooo very glad that Alberto Del Rio or JL didn't try to interfere in the match. They were both down at ringside watching. The ending comes when Punk is in control and seems to have Cena where he wants him. He loads him up onto his shoulders for another GTS before Kevin Nash calls out Punk's name. Punk drops Cena and moves close to the ropes while beckoning Nash to come down. Cena recovers, spins Punk around and hits the AA at the 14.5 minute mark for the win. The post match beatdown at the hands of Alberto Del Rio was a good way to close the show and Nash interfering without laying a hand on Punk gives Punk a good excuse for losing, yet doesn't make Cena look weak in how he won. ***1/2Overall Show - I thought Raw was very strong and entertaining. The Divas were really the closest thing to filler on the show but I can't call them that here as there's still an actual, ongoing storyline. Both the promo segments were strong I thought. The first one set the stage for the main event at NOC and for Raw itself while the second one keeps the mystery going of who is responsible for Kevin Nash's presence. The opening match of Del Rio vs. John Morrison was another competitive match that made both guys look like stars. This is the third such match in a week that Del Rio has had and he looks like the strongest heel WWE Champion in quite a while. The stuff with Swagger, Vickie & Dolph continues to interest me and it's a nice change to see the WWE drawing out a long storyline in a mid-card title scene. They haven't done that in a while. Kofi Kingston & Evan Bourne becoming the new WWE Tag Team Champions was fun and it gives fans someone to finally rally behind in the tag team scene. I'm intrigued to see where The Miz & R-Truth go, could be a lot of fun or it could be a disaster waiting to happen. The main event was great with Punk & Cena giving fans who might not have seen MITB or SS a good idea of what they've missed. Great, competitive match that kept both men looking very strong and providing an out. Punk lost but he lost in a way that didn't hurt him and he still ultimately comes across as someone that looks like he's got Cena's number. It sets up Cena vs. Del Rio at NOC, Punk & Cena can always resume their feud at a later time and it puts Punk's focus squarely on the Kevin Nash/Triple H situation.
Grade: B+
Anyone else think CM Punk was overused last night? he was in the opening segment, came out to confront HHH and Nash, and was in the main event. Trust me, any time Punk is on my TV I am entertained, but I really think he was overused last night.
I enjoyed Raw a lot last night. I was beat/tired for my own reasons by the time Santino was attacked so I missed the awesome promo and ME until this morning via Youtube. I just posted in another thread about my feelings on the "Awesome Truth" as I shall call them so I won't do it here. I am pretty upset about Kofi and Evan a) being thrown together b) beating the tag team champions back to back weeks and the second week winning the titles. Trust me, I am ecstatic that Bourne finally's got a championship, but I wish there was some back story to the team.
A-Ry/Swagger/Ziggler/Vickie is actually a nice mid card storyline to me. I wish A-Ry had at least hit his finisher and gotten a real pin on Swagger instead of a roll-up seeing that Riley, Swagger and Ziggler can all wrestle. I see a Swagger face turn coming out of this, as well as Ziggler and Guerrero's breakup. (Finally!) It's a lot like The Angles and AJ Styles in TNA a few years back. And like HHH/Stephanie and Kurt Angle in the early 2000's. Hopefully Ziggler is ready to be alone and we can see his mic skills. He is so arrogant and cocky that he is easily hate-a-ble.
This HHH/Nash/Punk storyline is incredible. I just love how free Punk is, able to speak his mind. I really wish everyone was like that. Nash not being in a car accident was a twist. Nash giving Punk a heck of a haymaker was a twist, too. Laurinitus being used is interesting, like the Briscoes/Patterson in the late 90's and early 2000's.
Cena and Del Rio could be bad. In another thread, someone pointed out that there is no way Del Rio can walk out of this on top. I bet the Brass of WWE won't want Cena to lose this feud, but I hope it helps both men. Like someone else said, I wish Del Rio chimed in more in the opening segment but I liked Punk just talking freely.
I enjoyed Raw a lot last night. I was beat/tired for my own reasons by the time Santino was attacked so I missed the awesome promo and ME until this morning via Youtube. I just posted in another thread about my feelings on the "Awesome Truth" as I shall call them so I won't do it here. I am pretty upset about Kofi and Evan a) being thrown together b) beating the tag team champions back to back weeks and the second week winning the titles. Trust me, I am ecstatic that Bourne finally's got a championship, but I wish there was some back story to the team.
A-Ry/Swagger/Ziggler/Vickie is actually a nice mid card storyline to me. I wish A-Ry had at least hit his finisher and gotten a real pin on Swagger instead of a roll-up seeing that Riley, Swagger and Ziggler can all wrestle. I see a Swagger face turn coming out of this, as well as Ziggler and Guerrero's breakup. (Finally!) It's a lot like The Angles and AJ Styles in TNA a few years back. And like HHH/Stephanie and Kurt Angle in the early 2000's. Hopefully Ziggler is ready to be alone and we can see his mic skills. He is so arrogant and cocky that he is easily hate-a-ble.
This HHH/Nash/Punk storyline is incredible. I just love how free Punk is, able to speak his mind. I really wish everyone was like that. Nash not being in a car accident was a twist. Nash giving Punk a heck of a haymaker was a twist, too. Laurinitus being used is interesting, like the Briscoes/Patterson in the late 90's and early 2000's.
Cena and Del Rio could be bad. In another thread, someone pointed out that there is no way Del Rio can walk out of this on top. I bet the Brass of WWE won't want Cena to lose this feud, but I hope it helps both men. Like someone else said, I wish Del Rio chimed in more in the opening segment but I liked Punk just talking freely.
Wade's Public Transit Bomb
Championship Contender
I thought Raw was rather uninspiring for the most part.
- I only saw half of the opening segment, but I don't think I need to see the whole thing. I do like the hypocrisy among Punk fans that Punk is allowed to bury anyone but the second he looks like he is about to get what is coming to him it's like they are "killing" him.
- The Del Rio vs Morrison match was boring and all over the place; literally. I don't think either guy is interesting to watch in the ring.
- That Divas match was the tell of two sidess for me. On one hand, I felt like shouting "QUIT BEING SO DAMN ADORABLE BRIE!" Ugh, her smiling before the match melted my heart. She's such a bad heel. lol On the flip side, Eve is fucking awful. She shows no fire or passion. She just does shitty shit to no reaction. #FuckOffEve
- On the bright side, Swaggie vs Riley was a lot shorter this week.
- The CM Punk/Nash/HHH really highlighted why I think this whole Punk character is totally forced down the viewers throats. It is like he is "outspoken" just to be "outspoken." That boyz in da back shit doesn't have a long shelf life and that started to show weeks ago. Now, it just feels like you ordered a steak, it came out extra burnt and they put a lot of sauce on it to try to make you think it isn't burnt to hell. No one cares who HHH really fucking or that Nash has a kid. But since this is the Almighty Punk doing this stupid shit, it becomes Da Shit.
- I am not sure whole did a better job at burying the tag title match. King was really nailing the tag champs for being worthless while the whole match was bad. idk idk
- Didn't care for the Miz/Truth segment. I've never liked promos in which the person(s) have to go out of their way to insult the fans to get cheap heat. I think it just shows a lack of creativity.
- The AA being treated like a throwaway move was terrible.
- I only saw half of the opening segment, but I don't think I need to see the whole thing. I do like the hypocrisy among Punk fans that Punk is allowed to bury anyone but the second he looks like he is about to get what is coming to him it's like they are "killing" him.
- The Del Rio vs Morrison match was boring and all over the place; literally. I don't think either guy is interesting to watch in the ring.
- That Divas match was the tell of two sidess for me. On one hand, I felt like shouting "QUIT BEING SO DAMN ADORABLE BRIE!" Ugh, her smiling before the match melted my heart. She's such a bad heel. lol On the flip side, Eve is fucking awful. She shows no fire or passion. She just does shitty shit to no reaction. #FuckOffEve
- On the bright side, Swaggie vs Riley was a lot shorter this week.
- The CM Punk/Nash/HHH really highlighted why I think this whole Punk character is totally forced down the viewers throats. It is like he is "outspoken" just to be "outspoken." That boyz in da back shit doesn't have a long shelf life and that started to show weeks ago. Now, it just feels like you ordered a steak, it came out extra burnt and they put a lot of sauce on it to try to make you think it isn't burnt to hell. No one cares who HHH really fucking or that Nash has a kid. But since this is the Almighty Punk doing this stupid shit, it becomes Da Shit.
- I am not sure whole did a better job at burying the tag title match. King was really nailing the tag champs for being worthless while the whole match was bad. idk idk
- Didn't care for the Miz/Truth segment. I've never liked promos in which the person(s) have to go out of their way to insult the fans to get cheap heat. I think it just shows a lack of creativity.
- The AA being treated like a throwaway move was terrible.
Raw Hits and Misses: August 22nd, 2011
Raw Hits:
John Morrison vs Alberto Del Rio: It's so refreshing to see a heel champion who can win matches without outside interference. Im sure he'll do so at one point, but his submission victories over Bryan and Morrison, as well as beating Mysterio, gives him the credibility he needs to be taken serious as the WWE Champion. As for Morrison, he took Del Rio to the limit in losing, which is fine as Del Rio is the WWE Chaampion. This was an entertaining, back and forth match, and Raw seems to be starting a trend of front and backening of solid matches. Both men's stock were raised as a result, and this was quite entertaining for this viewer, and it continues the story of Del Rio not being a fluke champ who only won because of Nash. **1/2
HHH, Punk, and Nash: Nash' mic work has been incredibly disapointing, but HHH and Punk more then made up for it. HHH and Punk were both intense when they needed to be, and Punk especially shined when tearing into HHH. HHH telling his good friend Nash to leave was a good touch, as he was obviously deceived by Lauranitis later. It raises the question of whether Lauranitis is playing the stooge, or if he's pulling the strings. Either way, this segment and the aftermath of it left me quite intrigued.
Evan Bourne and Kofi Kingston vs David Otunga and Michael McGillicutty: The crowd and the aftermath is to be thanked for this hit, as they made Bourne and Kofi winning the tag titles feel special. How long has it been since we could say that? Otunga and McGillicutty were never over as champions, and as much as I hate dart board tag teams, this was the right call. Both Kofi and Bourne are over to most, and I hope this will lead to "bigger and better things" for the tag team division, as Ross aluded to. Evan Bourne winning his first title in WWE was long overdue as well, and this was a solid 5 minute match. *.5
Commentary: This was so refreshing to me. The three didnt bicker amongst themselves, and Cole toned his heel persona way down. Ross took over much of the play by play duties, which made the show feel special. All three of them worked well together tonight and this was by far the best the commentary has been since the three man booth since Ross has been brought back. Last night was a perfect example of why Ross is the best in the business, perhaps of all time.
CM Punk vs John Cena: Amazing match. The two men are now 3 for 3 in terms of excellent match quality since Punk has been elevated. As much as Im not a fan of kicking out of finishers on TV as it makes them look weak, this was a sample of what viewers who didnt watch Summerslam and Money in the Bank were missing. Further, it had the perfect ending, as this match needed a dirty finish in some way. Punk doesn't look weak for losing, and Cena essentially took the same advantage that Punk did at MITB. Just a great match again between these two. Further, having Del Rio or Lauranitis at ringside let us know that we were getting a distraction or run-in of some kind, Im just glad it was a misdirect on WWE's part. Nash' s distraction made more sense then Del Rio or Lauranitis, so Im glad they went this route. ***1/4
The Miz and R-Truth: More excellent mic work on this show, both from Truth and Miz. Im intrigued as to where these two go from here, especialy Miz. He got a little bit into the TNA worked shoot mode of being "held down", which really doesn't belong on a wrestling show. But this was the best of the
promos of the night, and they both made themselves extremely relevant, which they both were anything but last week. Miz did raise a great point over why Santino is on Raw, because he truly hasn't won a match on Raw for the longest time. It almost made it seem like they were settling in as mid-carders, as they came across as a tag team. Im optimistic we'll see more from them in the coming weeks, possibly even a showdown with HHH themselves. My favorite promo segment on the show.
Overall Show: After Raw in some ways was a disapointment last week, they rebounded nicely this week. We had a tag title match change that felt important, a hot crowd throughout, some excellent mic work from HHH, Punk, and Cena, and two excellent TV matches that bookended Raw. Both matches felt incredibly important, and had the correct finishes. Del Rio continues to be elevated as a credible champion who can win clean, which is refreshing to see with a heel. And the commentary was 90% fantastic. A very good show that I enjoyed immensely.
Raw Misses:
Alex Riley vs Jack Swagger: What happened to Alex Riley's push? His stock continues to be lowered even despite his win last night as it took Riley a distraction just to beat Swagger. It looks like they're setting up a triple threat match at NOC as both Swagger and Riley have beefs with Ziggler. But the match itself and Rileys win felt like it was far less important then the dynamics of the "duel" manager with Vickie, Swagger's beef with Vickie, and the Ziggler/Vickie drama. Winning the match should be presented as the most important thing, and it felt inconsequential. 1/2*
Eve vs Nikki Bella: Even in Eve's match, Kelly came across as more important by raising the title before the match. Kelly is the champion, so she be focused on, but not during Eve's match. The match itself was bad in itself, even though Eve worked incredibly hard to show otherwise. The Bellas hae become afterthoughts and Eve, Kelly, or a combination of both have been defeating them for months now. The post-match segment with Natalya and Beth was intriguing, but not enough to save this match/segment. 1/4*
John Cena, CM Punk, HHH, and Alberto Del Rio: Don't get me wrong, there were parts of this I really like. Cena's interruption before Del Rio could announce himself was a nice touch, as was Punk's interaction with Cena. But John Cena's comment rang true, Del Rio was positioned as the "third wheel" here. HHH was logical as he stopped the bickering between Punk and Cena and set both straight regarding their rematch clauses and how the WWE Title match atNOC was going to be settled. This segment for the most part was boring and a waste of 16-17 minutes just to get to how the title match would be determined, which is terribly long.
TWJC: The Beginning
Royal Rumble Winner
I thought the opening segment was really good. Crowd ate up everything. Each entrance got a pop and everyone stayed completely in character and played their part. ADR did a LOT of character work for not saying much.
ADR is a vet who is used to lucha guys, Morrison is sloppy unless in their with a vet, so this works. The match is coherant with the arm work and Morrison sells it well and they use Morrison's athleticism for excitement. I personally wasn't that into it, but by the end of the match, the crowd was into Morrison so good job ADR on that one. Crowd really liked it, I only liked it, but the live audience is right.
Didn't watch the divas match. Guessing it was to get the girls some ring time and use the "slow burn" to further beth/natalya.
Riley vs Swagger. People hating on this match don't understand televisions hows. Not every match should be looked at like a PPV match. This was simply to further an angle. It did that and the angle was over. I don't think Riley is being put on the back burner since he could still be in this whole angle, if he is, well it's because he's not very over and still does some very green babyface things. I like him a lot though. Good angle match here.
HHH/Nash/Punk, another really good segment. Kinda weird that we see this much of 2 people, but the stories are all intermingled so it makes sense. I like that HHH and Nash left together, made it look like HHH is more on Nash's side and creates more doubt. Punk does a good job, Nash does a good job, HHH does a good job.
Tag match: I really liked it. You can tell Bourne is a marketing major (or whoever came up with the idea), him and Kofi match with the baby blue but it's not overly obnoxious. Otunga and Hennig look fucking stupid. A shitty ass jacket and glasses on one guy and a backwards hat on the other? What did they do? Raid the lost and found? You have one guy who is Mr. Jennifer Hudson and the other is a 3rd gen wrestler who didn't make it as a baseball player so he's in wrestling. Use that, it writes itself. I liked the match. Otunga still looks like he's thinking about his spots and not thinking in kayfabe "how am I going to hurt him". Hennig is better, talking shit and coming across more as a character in the ring rather than a guy playing a character like Otunga. Bourne and Kofi are a great babyface tag team as predicted. Although I was surprised they used Bourne as the hot tag. The crowd was REALLY into the finish and they sold the title wins as a big deal. THIS is how you build title credibility. You don't have a bunch of PPV matches, you don't have a bunch of long title reigns. You simply have guys who act like it's a big deal to win them.
Miz and Truth: anyone who says they relied on cheap heat to get over is deaf. The crowd was REALLY into them from the beginning, they just stirred the pot even more. When you see 90% of the audience laughing and smiling and booing from the get go, obviously having a good time, it's an over segment and not cheap. I thought it was a really fun/funny segment. They look like 2 guys having fun and it's infectious. Doesn't matter if you think you're above this kind of segment, it was a good segment.
Johnny Laringitus says that Nash was in a car accident, HHH has to leave.
Cena vs Punk: Another really good match with little things like Punk still going for the headlock to weardown Cena. Cena still not being able to hit the you can't see me on the first try. Punk countering Cena's GTS-STF counter. Fun stuff. Of course it was a shorter "diet" version of their PPV stuff but it has to be. Good finish. You still don't really know who the better man is. I know that pisses off a lot of the IWC but get over yourself it's how pro wrestling works. You still aren't sure with HHH. All you know is that at this point, you hate Nash and think Johnny Laringitus is probably in on it.
Post match ADR beats down Cena, logically, he wants to wound his future opponent as much as possible.
Really really good show. This is exactly what your TV show is supposed to look like. Mostly futhering angles with some action thrown in there and a solid main event.
As for the ratings of the show, I don't have cable. Kinda shows you just how dumb it is to only use ratings as a gauge. It'd be like only looking at stolen bases to judge a baseball player.
ADR is a vet who is used to lucha guys, Morrison is sloppy unless in their with a vet, so this works. The match is coherant with the arm work and Morrison sells it well and they use Morrison's athleticism for excitement. I personally wasn't that into it, but by the end of the match, the crowd was into Morrison so good job ADR on that one. Crowd really liked it, I only liked it, but the live audience is right.
Didn't watch the divas match. Guessing it was to get the girls some ring time and use the "slow burn" to further beth/natalya.
Riley vs Swagger. People hating on this match don't understand televisions hows. Not every match should be looked at like a PPV match. This was simply to further an angle. It did that and the angle was over. I don't think Riley is being put on the back burner since he could still be in this whole angle, if he is, well it's because he's not very over and still does some very green babyface things. I like him a lot though. Good angle match here.
HHH/Nash/Punk, another really good segment. Kinda weird that we see this much of 2 people, but the stories are all intermingled so it makes sense. I like that HHH and Nash left together, made it look like HHH is more on Nash's side and creates more doubt. Punk does a good job, Nash does a good job, HHH does a good job.
Tag match: I really liked it. You can tell Bourne is a marketing major (or whoever came up with the idea), him and Kofi match with the baby blue but it's not overly obnoxious. Otunga and Hennig look fucking stupid. A shitty ass jacket and glasses on one guy and a backwards hat on the other? What did they do? Raid the lost and found? You have one guy who is Mr. Jennifer Hudson and the other is a 3rd gen wrestler who didn't make it as a baseball player so he's in wrestling. Use that, it writes itself. I liked the match. Otunga still looks like he's thinking about his spots and not thinking in kayfabe "how am I going to hurt him". Hennig is better, talking shit and coming across more as a character in the ring rather than a guy playing a character like Otunga. Bourne and Kofi are a great babyface tag team as predicted. Although I was surprised they used Bourne as the hot tag. The crowd was REALLY into the finish and they sold the title wins as a big deal. THIS is how you build title credibility. You don't have a bunch of PPV matches, you don't have a bunch of long title reigns. You simply have guys who act like it's a big deal to win them.
Miz and Truth: anyone who says they relied on cheap heat to get over is deaf. The crowd was REALLY into them from the beginning, they just stirred the pot even more. When you see 90% of the audience laughing and smiling and booing from the get go, obviously having a good time, it's an over segment and not cheap. I thought it was a really fun/funny segment. They look like 2 guys having fun and it's infectious. Doesn't matter if you think you're above this kind of segment, it was a good segment.
Johnny Laringitus says that Nash was in a car accident, HHH has to leave.
Cena vs Punk: Another really good match with little things like Punk still going for the headlock to weardown Cena. Cena still not being able to hit the you can't see me on the first try. Punk countering Cena's GTS-STF counter. Fun stuff. Of course it was a shorter "diet" version of their PPV stuff but it has to be. Good finish. You still don't really know who the better man is. I know that pisses off a lot of the IWC but get over yourself it's how pro wrestling works. You still aren't sure with HHH. All you know is that at this point, you hate Nash and think Johnny Laringitus is probably in on it.
Post match ADR beats down Cena, logically, he wants to wound his future opponent as much as possible.
Really really good show. This is exactly what your TV show is supposed to look like. Mostly futhering angles with some action thrown in there and a solid main event.
As for the ratings of the show, I don't have cable. Kinda shows you just how dumb it is to only use ratings as a gauge. It'd be like only looking at stolen bases to judge a baseball player.
Cenation716
5-time XBPW Heavyweight Champion
Wow, I'm still shocked from all of what went down tonight. First, you had Triple H opening up the show (that wasn''t a shocker, lol) & on his nameplate, it said RAW Supershow. At first, I was confused until HHH made his announcement on the Supershows being weekly. Now, yes, we have seen SmackDown & RAW stars on each other's brands in the past, but tonight we saw 5 SmackDown stars in action in 3 out of 5 matches. We got the top guys from SmackDown too with the dominating Mark Henry, the coniving Christian, the World Champion Randy Orton, Sheamus & the high flying Sin Cara. Let me just say that I enjoyed this RAW so much, best RAW (in my opinion so don't bash me because I have one) in months, maybe 2 years even. With all of the booked matches at NOC & the matches to yet be announced, it seems as if WWE is apologizing for the bomb of a RAW we had back in February here in Buffalo by giving us an awesome pay-per-view.
Booker T: Tell me he did not just say that!
Yeah, I did Booker.
Anyways, on to the rest of the show.
- The Nash-Punk-HHH angle was played out well, I expected more, but it was okay in my book. I wasn't surprised when Nash announced he had been signed to a WWE contract by John Laurinaitis & was announced to face Punk at Night of Champions, but they played it out well. Good angle. 4/5 stars though, as they could've done maybe a little more, but it gets 4 because of Punk's "epic-ness" (<-- is that a word? no, probably not...).
- We had John Cena call out Del Rio, only to bring out Mark Henry & Christian. As soon as Christian came out, I predicted Mark Henry & Christian vs. John Cena & Sheamus, I mean, come on, who didn't see that coming? Segment gets a 2.5/5
- The CM Punk vs. Miz match would've gotten more excitement out of me if Punk would've done more, we pretty much saw Miz dominate most of the match. Not much worth talking about here. 2/5
- Sin Cara vs Swagger wasn't a bad match. Lots of good moves & spots from Sin Cara & some good moves from Swagger too. I'd say 4/5 because the match was good & the way they continued the Swagger-Vickie-Ziggler storyline was good, glad to see them continuing it. Who didn't see that coming & Sin Cara winning either? Come on.
- K2 vs. wait... which Bella was it again? Anyways, K2 (accompanied by Eve) lost to one of the Bellas after twin magic. 2/5 stars.
- Air Boom (really, thats what theyre calling themselves now) beat OtungaHennig. Eh. 3/5
- Cena & Sheamus defeated Christian & Mark Henry after Cena hit the AA on Christian after a Brogue Kick from Sheamus. 4/5
- HHH announces in the last minute of the show that it'll be him vs. Punk at NOC. Wow! I heard all of the internet rumors of HHH vs Punk, but after Nash got involved in the angle & when he was announced just tonight that he was facing Punk, I didn't see this coming. 5/5 for the shocker & great time to put it in the show, right at the end. Cliffhanger!
Anyways, my questions are:
- How did you think RAW did tonight?
- Where do you think Alberto Del Rio was & what do you think they will do to further this Del Rio-Cena feud with him not being there tonight?
- The Triple H heel turn, it doesn't seem like it will happen with HHH clearly wanting to please the fans & announcing that he will be giving us great matches every week & the fans clearly behind face HHH, I don't think HHH will turn heel. Sorry, but this angle is different. Punk is the anti-hero (face) in a match against HHH (face). HHH is the CEO & doesn't like the way Punk handles business because it's not good for business. But maybe this thing is all a set-up between Nash & HHH. What's your opinion on it?
- Overall, what's your opinion on the night, storylines & matches? Was there anything that you would've done different?
Share your thoughts below, I'm going to be reading your replies & getting in on the conversation myself as I have some more theories & predictions, but it's always so hard to keep one theory for long in the WWE.
Booker T: Tell me he did not just say that!
Yeah, I did Booker.
Anyways, on to the rest of the show.
- The Nash-Punk-HHH angle was played out well, I expected more, but it was okay in my book. I wasn't surprised when Nash announced he had been signed to a WWE contract by John Laurinaitis & was announced to face Punk at Night of Champions, but they played it out well. Good angle. 4/5 stars though, as they could've done maybe a little more, but it gets 4 because of Punk's "epic-ness" (<-- is that a word? no, probably not...).
- We had John Cena call out Del Rio, only to bring out Mark Henry & Christian. As soon as Christian came out, I predicted Mark Henry & Christian vs. John Cena & Sheamus, I mean, come on, who didn't see that coming? Segment gets a 2.5/5
- The CM Punk vs. Miz match would've gotten more excitement out of me if Punk would've done more, we pretty much saw Miz dominate most of the match. Not much worth talking about here. 2/5
- Sin Cara vs Swagger wasn't a bad match. Lots of good moves & spots from Sin Cara & some good moves from Swagger too. I'd say 4/5 because the match was good & the way they continued the Swagger-Vickie-Ziggler storyline was good, glad to see them continuing it. Who didn't see that coming & Sin Cara winning either? Come on.
- K2 vs. wait... which Bella was it again? Anyways, K2 (accompanied by Eve) lost to one of the Bellas after twin magic. 2/5 stars.
- Air Boom (really, thats what theyre calling themselves now) beat OtungaHennig. Eh. 3/5
- Cena & Sheamus defeated Christian & Mark Henry after Cena hit the AA on Christian after a Brogue Kick from Sheamus. 4/5
- HHH announces in the last minute of the show that it'll be him vs. Punk at NOC. Wow! I heard all of the internet rumors of HHH vs Punk, but after Nash got involved in the angle & when he was announced just tonight that he was facing Punk, I didn't see this coming. 5/5 for the shocker & great time to put it in the show, right at the end. Cliffhanger!
Anyways, my questions are:
- How did you think RAW did tonight?
- Where do you think Alberto Del Rio was & what do you think they will do to further this Del Rio-Cena feud with him not being there tonight?
- The Triple H heel turn, it doesn't seem like it will happen with HHH clearly wanting to please the fans & announcing that he will be giving us great matches every week & the fans clearly behind face HHH, I don't think HHH will turn heel. Sorry, but this angle is different. Punk is the anti-hero (face) in a match against HHH (face). HHH is the CEO & doesn't like the way Punk handles business because it's not good for business. But maybe this thing is all a set-up between Nash & HHH. What's your opinion on it?
- Overall, what's your opinion on the night, storylines & matches? Was there anything that you would've done different?
Share your thoughts below, I'm going to be reading your replies & getting in on the conversation myself as I have some more theories & predictions, but it's always so hard to keep one theory for long in the WWE.
Jack-Hammer
YOU WILL RESPECT MY AUTHORITAH!!!!
WWE Monday Night Raw - August 29, 2011
Opening Segment - While a tad over the top at times, I was entertained by the show's opening. I like that Punk came out and interrupted Triple H while Trips was expecting and wanting Nash to come out first. Punk did his thing and he continues to look so comfortable in his role. Punk seems to have this great ability to be confident in whatever angle or role he's part of. Kevin Nash coming out to the old nWo theme was a nice little nostalgic touch and I like the fact that Nash came out and said that he'd been signed by JL to a contract. It's just a nice little touch to explain why Nash came out to theme music whereas he hasn't in previous weeks. I thought they did a good job of selling some tension between Nash & Triple H but they didn't go so far that you'd think that the possibility of them being in cahoots no longer exists. Punk "puking" was a little over the top but it worked well and Punk going after Stephanie again keeps that true onscreen tension between Punk & Triple H at the forefront. Trips made the match between Punk & Nash at NOC official. Like a lot of others, I'm not really looking forward to seeing Nash wrestle again but I do have faith in Punk's abilities to carry Nash though what could be a solid match with some good storytelling. Thumbs Up
Randy Orton vs. Dolph Ziggler - This was an excellent match that I thought really did a good job of showcasing Ziggler. Ziggler looked like a star in there against Orton and gave as good as he got throughout the match. I also really dig seeing Ziggler sell moves during a match, he's just really friggin' good at it. After Ziggler's run with the US title is over, I honestly can't see why they wouldn't elevate him to a main event picture on Raw. Orton looked like a strong, confident champion and it was a competitive, entertaining match. I knew that Orton wasn't going to win here so I suppose that did take just a little off the match. Orton also pulled out a few new high impact moves that we haven't seen from him that added a fresh little feel to it. Orton wins at the 12.5 minute match after hitting an RKO that Ziggler sold the piss out of. ***1/4
John Cena, Christian & Mark Henry - Solid segment that actually worked most due to the presence of Mark Henry. Henry did a good job on the mic and, again I ask, why didn't WWE do this with him 10 years ago? Cena did a good job of conveying a sense of being intimidated by Henry with both body language and facial expressions. Christian didn't necessarily add a whole lot to the segment but having him there did add a certain flow to everything. After all, Mark Henry has the winner of Christian vs. Orton tomorrow night and they touched on that during the segment. Sheamus coming out to stand by Cena's side worked as it set up a tag team main event between the two teams. Three of these four guys being on SD! doesn't really give Cena any interaction but they're using the fact he's the top face on Raw to draw attention to the others. Thumbs Up
CM Punk vs. The Miz - I thought this was another extremely enjoyable match up with both guys looking great throughout. I like the more aggressive aspects of Miz that've been coming out in recent weeks and Punk's presence only helped to make Miz look better inside the ring. Even though there's been little interaction between the two, Miz & Punk managed to tell a great story while using a combination of some of their signature moves and some basic mat wrestling submission holds. The ending comes at the 14 minute mark with Miz in position for the GTS. R-Truth comes out and both start to attack Punk. Punk gets the upper hand, hitting Truth with the GTS eventually, when Kevin Nash comes down to the ring. Punk and Nash face off long enough for Miz to sneak in from behind and jump Punk. Truth & Miz beat him down for a bit before Nash picks the bones and delivers a sweet looking jack knife powerbomb. Very fun match and a good, basic way to put some heat on Nash and keep the tension in their angle built up. ***1/4
Sin Cara vs. Jack Swagger - An alright match while it lasted, though nothing overly special. Cara received a nice pop from the crowd, it's obvious that most fans either don't know it's a different guy under the mask or they just don't give a crap. Cara hit some good offense as did Swagger but the main thing here was Vickie Guerrero coming out to observe Swagger only for Ziggler to come out a little later. Ziggler gets up on the apron and distracts Swagger long enough for Sin Cara to gain the advantage. He hits a springboard DDT followed up by his combo finisher for the win at the 3 minute mark. It gave Sin Cara a win but kind of a flukey win and even though this match didn't mean much of anything, it made use of Cara to keep the story with Ziggler, Vickie & Swagger going. *1/4
Air Boom vs. David Otunga & Michael McGuillicutty - Much too short to ultimately mean much, which isn't good considering this was a rematch for the WWE Tag Team Championship. At the same time though, it got things out of the way so the parties involved could move on. Basic 3 minute formula tag match that ended with Kofi hitting McGuillicutty with Trouble in Paradise for the win. *
Kelly Kelly vs. Brie Bella - Eh, this was kind of a train wreck. Overall, the worst Diva match I've seen in a while. I know I know but, for the most part, they've actually been somewhat decent in recent weeks and months. Brie Bella and Nikki pull some twin magic and wind up getting the pinfall over Kelly. 1/2*
John Cena & Sheamus vs. Mark Henry & Christian - Solid, high energy tag team main event that ultimately sent the crowd home happy. The crowd really responded to Sheamus & Mark Henry, especially Sheamus' high impact offense, and also came alive for Cena's hot tag. The match wasn't quite as good as I'd hoped it would be, but it was definitely a servicable television main event. The ending comes when Christian takes a Brogue Kick from Sheamus followed by an AA from Cena at the 7 minute mark. As I said, a solid main event tag match that gave the babyfaces a win and sent the crowd home happy. **1/2
Closing Moments - The camera cuts away and goes back into Triple H's office where he's watching things. CM Punk comes in and banters a bit more with Triple H. Trips tells him he got off the phone with the board of directors and his match with Nash is cancelled. He then tells Punk that his match at NOC will be against him before they silently stare at each other. Personally, I like this idea. I think it'll be a superior match to Punk vs. Nash, though it could still come out looking bad when it's all said and done. Thumbs Up
Overall Show - I thought Raw was extremely entertaining tonight with a combination of, overall, very good wrestling action coupled with purpose. Pretty much everything that happened on Raw tonight served a good purpose in the long run. The opening promo segment did a good job of keeping the storyline with Punk, Nash & Triple H fresh. We still don't know who is ultimately behind the "text" and Nash's appearance. I like that they built a little more tension between Nash & Trips but not so much as to not make you think that there could still be an alliance between the two. The second promo segment with Cena, Henry & Christian was solid with Cena doing a good job of selling Henry's intimidation factor. The opening match with Randy Orton & Dolph Ziggler was extremely good, great work from both guys with Orton ultimately getting a hard fought win. CM Punk vs. The Miz was another great match that also had both guys looking strong. I didn't mind the DQ finish as Miz didn't need to be pinned as he's just started this alliance/team with R-Truth. Sin Cara vs. Swagger wasn't all that much but it did keep the Swagger/Vickie/Ziggler storyline in the picture and it continues to simmer. The tag title rematch also wasn't that much but at least they got it out of the way and the fact that Kofi & Bourne now have a team name, Air Boom, is a subtle suggestion of more of the promised reinvestment in the tag team scene. The Divas match was pretty standard and the main event was a good solid match that made the fans happy and made use of Raw's live air time to further the potential Henry/Orton/Christian situation. The closing of the show in which Triple H announced that he'd take on CM Punk at NOC instead of Nash worked for me because, quite honestly, it'll be a better match. As long as Punk doesn't come out of this whole thing looking like...well..a Punk, then no problems here. Also, the show did a great job of hyping the live SmackDown! tomorrow night. With Triple H announcing that, basically, the brand extention is all but finished, let the "it's time to unify the championships" threads begin.
Grade: B+
Opening Segment - While a tad over the top at times, I was entertained by the show's opening. I like that Punk came out and interrupted Triple H while Trips was expecting and wanting Nash to come out first. Punk did his thing and he continues to look so comfortable in his role. Punk seems to have this great ability to be confident in whatever angle or role he's part of. Kevin Nash coming out to the old nWo theme was a nice little nostalgic touch and I like the fact that Nash came out and said that he'd been signed by JL to a contract. It's just a nice little touch to explain why Nash came out to theme music whereas he hasn't in previous weeks. I thought they did a good job of selling some tension between Nash & Triple H but they didn't go so far that you'd think that the possibility of them being in cahoots no longer exists. Punk "puking" was a little over the top but it worked well and Punk going after Stephanie again keeps that true onscreen tension between Punk & Triple H at the forefront. Trips made the match between Punk & Nash at NOC official. Like a lot of others, I'm not really looking forward to seeing Nash wrestle again but I do have faith in Punk's abilities to carry Nash though what could be a solid match with some good storytelling. Thumbs Up
Randy Orton vs. Dolph Ziggler - This was an excellent match that I thought really did a good job of showcasing Ziggler. Ziggler looked like a star in there against Orton and gave as good as he got throughout the match. I also really dig seeing Ziggler sell moves during a match, he's just really friggin' good at it. After Ziggler's run with the US title is over, I honestly can't see why they wouldn't elevate him to a main event picture on Raw. Orton looked like a strong, confident champion and it was a competitive, entertaining match. I knew that Orton wasn't going to win here so I suppose that did take just a little off the match. Orton also pulled out a few new high impact moves that we haven't seen from him that added a fresh little feel to it. Orton wins at the 12.5 minute match after hitting an RKO that Ziggler sold the piss out of. ***1/4
John Cena, Christian & Mark Henry - Solid segment that actually worked most due to the presence of Mark Henry. Henry did a good job on the mic and, again I ask, why didn't WWE do this with him 10 years ago? Cena did a good job of conveying a sense of being intimidated by Henry with both body language and facial expressions. Christian didn't necessarily add a whole lot to the segment but having him there did add a certain flow to everything. After all, Mark Henry has the winner of Christian vs. Orton tomorrow night and they touched on that during the segment. Sheamus coming out to stand by Cena's side worked as it set up a tag team main event between the two teams. Three of these four guys being on SD! doesn't really give Cena any interaction but they're using the fact he's the top face on Raw to draw attention to the others. Thumbs Up
CM Punk vs. The Miz - I thought this was another extremely enjoyable match up with both guys looking great throughout. I like the more aggressive aspects of Miz that've been coming out in recent weeks and Punk's presence only helped to make Miz look better inside the ring. Even though there's been little interaction between the two, Miz & Punk managed to tell a great story while using a combination of some of their signature moves and some basic mat wrestling submission holds. The ending comes at the 14 minute mark with Miz in position for the GTS. R-Truth comes out and both start to attack Punk. Punk gets the upper hand, hitting Truth with the GTS eventually, when Kevin Nash comes down to the ring. Punk and Nash face off long enough for Miz to sneak in from behind and jump Punk. Truth & Miz beat him down for a bit before Nash picks the bones and delivers a sweet looking jack knife powerbomb. Very fun match and a good, basic way to put some heat on Nash and keep the tension in their angle built up. ***1/4
Sin Cara vs. Jack Swagger - An alright match while it lasted, though nothing overly special. Cara received a nice pop from the crowd, it's obvious that most fans either don't know it's a different guy under the mask or they just don't give a crap. Cara hit some good offense as did Swagger but the main thing here was Vickie Guerrero coming out to observe Swagger only for Ziggler to come out a little later. Ziggler gets up on the apron and distracts Swagger long enough for Sin Cara to gain the advantage. He hits a springboard DDT followed up by his combo finisher for the win at the 3 minute mark. It gave Sin Cara a win but kind of a flukey win and even though this match didn't mean much of anything, it made use of Cara to keep the story with Ziggler, Vickie & Swagger going. *1/4
Air Boom vs. David Otunga & Michael McGuillicutty - Much too short to ultimately mean much, which isn't good considering this was a rematch for the WWE Tag Team Championship. At the same time though, it got things out of the way so the parties involved could move on. Basic 3 minute formula tag match that ended with Kofi hitting McGuillicutty with Trouble in Paradise for the win. *
Kelly Kelly vs. Brie Bella - Eh, this was kind of a train wreck. Overall, the worst Diva match I've seen in a while. I know I know but, for the most part, they've actually been somewhat decent in recent weeks and months. Brie Bella and Nikki pull some twin magic and wind up getting the pinfall over Kelly. 1/2*
John Cena & Sheamus vs. Mark Henry & Christian - Solid, high energy tag team main event that ultimately sent the crowd home happy. The crowd really responded to Sheamus & Mark Henry, especially Sheamus' high impact offense, and also came alive for Cena's hot tag. The match wasn't quite as good as I'd hoped it would be, but it was definitely a servicable television main event. The ending comes when Christian takes a Brogue Kick from Sheamus followed by an AA from Cena at the 7 minute mark. As I said, a solid main event tag match that gave the babyfaces a win and sent the crowd home happy. **1/2
Closing Moments - The camera cuts away and goes back into Triple H's office where he's watching things. CM Punk comes in and banters a bit more with Triple H. Trips tells him he got off the phone with the board of directors and his match with Nash is cancelled. He then tells Punk that his match at NOC will be against him before they silently stare at each other. Personally, I like this idea. I think it'll be a superior match to Punk vs. Nash, though it could still come out looking bad when it's all said and done. Thumbs Up
Overall Show - I thought Raw was extremely entertaining tonight with a combination of, overall, very good wrestling action coupled with purpose. Pretty much everything that happened on Raw tonight served a good purpose in the long run. The opening promo segment did a good job of keeping the storyline with Punk, Nash & Triple H fresh. We still don't know who is ultimately behind the "text" and Nash's appearance. I like that they built a little more tension between Nash & Trips but not so much as to not make you think that there could still be an alliance between the two. The second promo segment with Cena, Henry & Christian was solid with Cena doing a good job of selling Henry's intimidation factor. The opening match with Randy Orton & Dolph Ziggler was extremely good, great work from both guys with Orton ultimately getting a hard fought win. CM Punk vs. The Miz was another great match that also had both guys looking strong. I didn't mind the DQ finish as Miz didn't need to be pinned as he's just started this alliance/team with R-Truth. Sin Cara vs. Swagger wasn't all that much but it did keep the Swagger/Vickie/Ziggler storyline in the picture and it continues to simmer. The tag title rematch also wasn't that much but at least they got it out of the way and the fact that Kofi & Bourne now have a team name, Air Boom, is a subtle suggestion of more of the promised reinvestment in the tag team scene. The Divas match was pretty standard and the main event was a good solid match that made the fans happy and made use of Raw's live air time to further the potential Henry/Orton/Christian situation. The closing of the show in which Triple H announced that he'd take on CM Punk at NOC instead of Nash worked for me because, quite honestly, it'll be a better match. As long as Punk doesn't come out of this whole thing looking like...well..a Punk, then no problems here. Also, the show did a great job of hyping the live SmackDown! tomorrow night. With Triple H announcing that, basically, the brand extention is all but finished, let the "it's time to unify the championships" threads begin.
Grade: B+
Darkshot77
Pre-Show Stalwart
Darkshot77's review of RAW 8/29/11
With Super Smackdown tomorrow RAW felt like part 1 of a 2 part episode, not that that's is a bad thing.
HHH, CM Punk, Kevin Nash Segment:HHH starts the show off proclaiming that tonight will be a super show with superstars fro RAW and Smackdown. All well and good. He calls out Nash for lying to him and wants him to come out. He gets Punk instead who says that HHH and Nash are working together and this is all a charade. Nash come out to the NWO music (good stuff) And explains himself. He says that HHH isn't being a man, and that he has been signed to a contract. Punk continues promoting the charade, and makes fun of Steph some more (obviously taking tips from Y2J, without the Apes) HHH stes up a match between Punk and Nash at Night of Champions. The segment was good. But I feel ran a little long, but this is general of all opening segments. Orton's music hits and we have our first match.
Randy Orton vs Dolph Ziggler-Having looked at some older Ziggler matches in 2010, I have derived that this kid can put on a clinic in the ring, This Jack Swagger/Vicky story is dragging him down, because it is too out of the ring. What happened to his challenge to top what he was doing, what happened to his proclaiming he is the best. He has been dragged down into a soap opera that is really only helping Jack Swagger.
The Match its self was good, but provide 2 major gripes about Randy Orton, and many other wrestlers. #1. The Rope Hung DDT every match. That move has such a long set up that it really only fits in a big match setting. #2. What is the difference between Orton setting up the RKO to have it blocked, to hit it 5 seconds later "out of no where" and him hitting it after the theatrics. I can not remember the last time Orton Hit the RKO after the mat pounding. Its gotten to the point that if Orton dose the pounding, he most certainly wont hit the RKO, that is a problem.
John Cena, Mark Henry, Christian, Sheamus Segment:Not as good at the first promo. Cena talks, Henry interrupts, Christan Interrupts, Shemus interrupts and we have a 4 man tag set up. Typical WWE segment. But the fact the match wasn't right afterwords was very awkward.
CM Punk vs The Miz-Good match between the two, with a logical ending. Truth comes out and gets the DQ. Punk fights them both off till Nash comes out giving Miz the upper hand. Prone Nash takes the advantage and hits the Jackknife. This is Nash getting further up on Punk furthering the feud.
Sin Cara vs. Jack Swagger-Good match, with the same ending as last week, Vicky and Dolph distract and Swagger looses. This is probably the only mid card story we have going right now, but in my opinion it is being poorly handled, and just isn't interesting. Who is the WWE Universe supposed to get behind. All three of these people are very hated. I really have a hard time caring.
Air BOOM vs Otunga and McGillicutty: Rematch for the WWE Tag team Championship-Another good match with Kofi and Bourn performing very well, and Kofi hitting some beautiful Trouble in Paradise for the win. If only his pryo worked as well as he did. Otunga and McGillicutty confront Lawler about calling them boring and uneventful. But he is right. I cite Wikipedia, in the Michael McGillicutty artical about him teaming with Otunga (the Otunga article is the same with the names switched)
A third of that talks solely about the Nexus dissolving. But that was their title reign. They defended the title once in three months, Kofi and Bourn have already tied that. This could be interesting with maybe Otunga and Mcgillicutty trying to prove themselves, but will most likely result in Lawler + legend verses the former tag champs.
Kelly Kelly vs the...why do I even bother. How many times have we seen this match, Lather rinse repeat. Moving on.
John Cena and Sheamus vs Mark Henry and Christian-Good tag match from all parties. Nothing really more to say. It was a good solid short match, bout as good as everything else on the card.
After wards we learn that it will not be Nash and Punk but rather HHH and Punk at Night of champions. I am a fan of this move. HHH is doing what Nash told him to do and is manning up and taking care of his own business. but we willl see how this playes out tomorrow.
What was the biggest suprise was not who was on raw but who wasn't Namely Alberto Del Rio. Now from what WZ has reported:
This makes sense but it was still weird to watch the flagship show without the flagship champion.
Overall rating 6.5/10
With Super Smackdown tomorrow RAW felt like part 1 of a 2 part episode, not that that's is a bad thing.
HHH, CM Punk, Kevin Nash Segment:HHH starts the show off proclaiming that tonight will be a super show with superstars fro RAW and Smackdown. All well and good. He calls out Nash for lying to him and wants him to come out. He gets Punk instead who says that HHH and Nash are working together and this is all a charade. Nash come out to the NWO music (good stuff) And explains himself. He says that HHH isn't being a man, and that he has been signed to a contract. Punk continues promoting the charade, and makes fun of Steph some more (obviously taking tips from Y2J, without the Apes) HHH stes up a match between Punk and Nash at Night of Champions. The segment was good. But I feel ran a little long, but this is general of all opening segments. Orton's music hits and we have our first match.
Randy Orton vs Dolph Ziggler-Having looked at some older Ziggler matches in 2010, I have derived that this kid can put on a clinic in the ring, This Jack Swagger/Vicky story is dragging him down, because it is too out of the ring. What happened to his challenge to top what he was doing, what happened to his proclaiming he is the best. He has been dragged down into a soap opera that is really only helping Jack Swagger.
The Match its self was good, but provide 2 major gripes about Randy Orton, and many other wrestlers. #1. The Rope Hung DDT every match. That move has such a long set up that it really only fits in a big match setting. #2. What is the difference between Orton setting up the RKO to have it blocked, to hit it 5 seconds later "out of no where" and him hitting it after the theatrics. I can not remember the last time Orton Hit the RKO after the mat pounding. Its gotten to the point that if Orton dose the pounding, he most certainly wont hit the RKO, that is a problem.
John Cena, Mark Henry, Christian, Sheamus Segment:Not as good at the first promo. Cena talks, Henry interrupts, Christan Interrupts, Shemus interrupts and we have a 4 man tag set up. Typical WWE segment. But the fact the match wasn't right afterwords was very awkward.
CM Punk vs The Miz-Good match between the two, with a logical ending. Truth comes out and gets the DQ. Punk fights them both off till Nash comes out giving Miz the upper hand. Prone Nash takes the advantage and hits the Jackknife. This is Nash getting further up on Punk furthering the feud.
Sin Cara vs. Jack Swagger-Good match, with the same ending as last week, Vicky and Dolph distract and Swagger looses. This is probably the only mid card story we have going right now, but in my opinion it is being poorly handled, and just isn't interesting. Who is the WWE Universe supposed to get behind. All three of these people are very hated. I really have a hard time caring.
Air BOOM vs Otunga and McGillicutty: Rematch for the WWE Tag team Championship-Another good match with Kofi and Bourn performing very well, and Kofi hitting some beautiful Trouble in Paradise for the win. If only his pryo worked as well as he did. Otunga and McGillicutty confront Lawler about calling them boring and uneventful. But he is right. I cite Wikipedia, in the Michael McGillicutty artical about him teaming with Otunga (the Otunga article is the same with the names switched)
A third of that talks solely about the Nexus dissolving. But that was their title reign. They defended the title once in three months, Kofi and Bourn have already tied that. This could be interesting with maybe Otunga and Mcgillicutty trying to prove themselves, but will most likely result in Lawler + legend verses the former tag champs.
Kelly Kelly vs the...why do I even bother. How many times have we seen this match, Lather rinse repeat. Moving on.
John Cena and Sheamus vs Mark Henry and Christian-Good tag match from all parties. Nothing really more to say. It was a good solid short match, bout as good as everything else on the card.
After wards we learn that it will not be Nash and Punk but rather HHH and Punk at Night of champions. I am a fan of this move. HHH is doing what Nash told him to do and is manning up and taking care of his own business. but we willl see how this playes out tomorrow.
What was the biggest suprise was not who was on raw but who wasn't Namely Alberto Del Rio. Now from what WZ has reported:
This makes sense but it was still weird to watch the flagship show without the flagship champion.
Overall rating 6.5/10
SecondCitySaint
Occasional Pre-Show
If you read the news pieces on the site, you'll find out that ADR had to return to Mexico to renew his work visa. Sorry if that counts as spamming for being short. I am just answering the above poster's question about ADR's whereabouts.