Official Raw/Smackdown Aftermath, Ratings and Review Thread

[klunderbunker]

Monday Night Raw
Date: June 28, 2010
Location: Wachovia Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Commentators: Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler
Guest Host: Rob Zombie

Well after last week’s well highly watched show it makes me wonder what they’re going to follow it up with. There’s a host again tonight, but I’m not sure why they’re going with Zombie as I’m not sure what he’s going to do here. Oh and we get Vince fallout. Let’s get to it.

Speaking of Vince we open with the at least third reshowing of the beatdown from last week. As someone said in the LD last week, I can’t imagine how nervous Gabriel was when he went up for that 450.

And now to the arena where we all need to be somber. Barrett is at WWE Headquarters and is being yelled at for what he did.

Here’s Sheamus. He’s disgusted by all of the times he’s seen the beating on Vince. So he’s been watching the TV shows. As champion he needs to make a statement. The statement is that THE CHAMP IS HERE! The best thing to come out of this is that Cena isn’t the number one contender anymore because he used his rematch clause. This is cracking me up as he tells us all the things he won’t have to put up with anymore.

Cena won’t get another shot so here he is. I smell an e-mail coming very soon. Cena points out that they came after him when he was world champion so their next target is likely Sheamus. Cena asks Sheamus for help in fighting Nexus. Oh this is interesting. Cena calls out Nexus and there’s the e-mail. It gets great heat. Cole: Gentlemen, gentlemen, I BELIEVE I HAVE RECEIVED AN E-MAIL! That was the best overly dramatic announcement in years.

Oh damn it he has a podium now. He’ll take action next week and will listen to Barrett. If anyone in Nexus jumps anyone in WWE tonight, they’re terminated. This is the longest e-mail ever. If anyone from WWE touches Nexus they’re suspended. Cena suggests a title match and there’s another e-mail MAYBE 4 seconds after he finishes talking. The GM says it’s Sheamus vs. Henry tonight.

Cena FREAKS and says his life is being ruined by the internet. He gives Cole his e-mail address which is something like candypants or something like that. This is hysterical. There’s ANOTHER e-mail and we’re told we get the 8 Raw MITB guys tonight. And now a cage is being lowered in a “sign of the GM’s power”. There’s e-mail #4. At MITB, Sheamus vs. Cena in a cage. Where’s the Kool-Aid Man for an OH YEAH???

Hart Dynasty vs. Tamina/Usos

The non champions jump the Harts and beat the hell out of them on the floor and just leave them there. Ok no they don’t as Tamina comes after Natalya. She hits a splash off the top and just leaves Natalya there. So I guess the match didn’t happen?

Josh is with R-Truth who is asked about the Nexus. Truth says they’re acting like animals. It looks like he’s reading off a script. He says he’s a zookeeper and that’s the TRUTH. Uh….sure.

We recap the Dance Off from a few weeks ago. Ok then.

Vladimir Kozlov vs. Santino Marella

If Santino wins then he and Kozlov are tag champions. Santino can’t do shit here and tries to have a striking contest. Kozlov hits the big slam after about a minute. This was what you expected it to be. Kozlov tries to pick him up and he just falls back down. Then he does that again. And this man main evented Survivor Series people. And for no apparent reason here’s William Regal to beat the hell out of Santino. Kozlov makes the save.

Rating: N/A. Well at least they’re doing something with him at least.

Josh is now with Khali and is asked about Nexus. His translator runs down Khali and says he’s an idiot.

And hey the Guest Host is here only 37 minutes into the show. Cole says he likes one of Zombie’s theme songs. That’s very amusing. He says he’s here because he loves sick and twisted things which you often see in wrestling. He’s going to announce the 8 participants. In it will be Orton, Miz, R-Truth, Jericho, Bourne, DiBiase, Morrison and Edge. Edge and Zombie know each other which is kind of cool.

And here’s Edge on the monitor to be a dick. Edge talks about how he won the first MITB and Zombie just leaves. Even Cole says “that’s it?” We get clips of the first MITB match, including seeing Benoit. We then see him winning the belt at New Year’s Revolution. After he talks, we get another e-mail. The main event will have all 8 guys as Edge, Miz, DiBiase and Jericho vs. Bourne, Morrison, Truth and Orton. That could be decent.

Sheamus vs. Mark Henry

The champ doesn’t get an intro? What the hell? This is completely one sided with Henry even getting a splash for two. Then the Pump Kick ends it. Match MIGHT have been two minutes.

Rating: N/A. I love these kinds of matches. The champion gets a win on TV and doesn’t touch Cena. Simple and effective. Well done.

The Nexus guys are talking kind of and Sheffield punches a crew member. Ok then.

Lawler is in the ring to talk about Ricky Steamboat’s DVD. Oh hell yes. Even I might buy that. Here he is in the flesh too. This is one of the best in ring technicians of all time and he deserves any and all credit he gets. There are some guys that want to say hi. ARN ANDERSON, MICHAEL HAYES, MIKE ROTUNDO AND DEAN MALENKO!!!!! Sweet damnation. Dean says he wants to go home and watch the DVD.

He gets a nice jab in by saying most of the matches he wasn’t even born for yet. Rotundo says to make sure to pay the taxes on it. Hayes says he came out here since he hasn’t been on TV in a few years and wanted to dance. That was funny. And now, Arn Anderson. This guy needs to be on TV more, period. He says he’s never been in the ring with anyone better. That might very well be true but if not it’s a great compliment. Steamboat thanks the fans and it’s Nexus time. The old guys IMMEDIATELY take off their jackets and roll up their sleeves.

They beat the hell out of Slater to a huge pop, then Tarver, and then it all falls apart as they get Arn. Ok maybe they just get Arn. They got got Dean too. WWE security freaking sucks. It truly does. Tarver gets Rotundo as there’s no commentary again which is a nice touch. It’s Lawler, Hayes and Steamboat left and here they come. Steamboat gets the two smallest guys and Lawler is knocked to the floor. Slater is beating up Steamboat and Tarver punches Hayes. They gang up on Steamboat and Gabriel hits the 450. This was GREAT and they got booed out of the building for it.

Back from break and the old guys are being carried out. The GM still isn’t going to take action because these guys aren’t superstars.

Eve Torres/Gail Kim vs. Maryse/Alicia Fox

Matthews is on commentary now. How many times can these four fight? This is of course freaking boring other than looking at the girls. Fox hits an axe kick on Gail for the pin. At least it’s over.

Rating: N/A. At least the girls looked good.

Next week we get the action taken against Nexus.

Edge/Ted DiBiase/Miz/Chris Jericho vs. Randy Orton/Evan Bourne/John Morrison/R-Truth

The ladder is in the ring with a briefcase hanging over it. Edge is out first and climbs up to look all dramatic and stuff. The entrances of course take forever. Morrison pulls out a ladder during the intros and Orton gets a DAMN great pop. I think Bourne’s was bigger though. Morrison and DiBiase start. Don’t expect anything close to me saying who is in and out as it’ll be far too much to say.

The match is a total mess of course as it’s just random fights that have no particular rhyme or reason. It even gets a mid-match commercial so you know it’s a big match. Morrison is the face in peril for a little bit until we get more of Bourne vs. Jericho. Air Bourne misses and Jericho hits a one kneed Codebreaker.

In one of the weakest endings I can ever remember, DiBiase and Orton both get hot tags, DiBiase comes at him and the RKO ends it. That was all Orton was in the match for. Post match it’s a big clusterfuck involving the ladder. Miz almost gets up the ladder at the end but Orton shoves him off and gets the case to end the show.

Rating: C-. This was a major mess to say the least and it didn’t really work all that well. Like I said it was just a big mess but to be fair it did work to an extent. This was nothing special at all though, but it did feel like a big match. It also makes sense and I’d expect singles matches for the next few weeks. Not terrible though.

Overall Rating: B-. Not as great as previous weeks but still solid I thought. This was good from the perspective of setting up MITB which is good but DAMN the rest of the card is going to be weak with 16 guys in 2 matches. This show was well done, but the lack of wrestling really hurt it I think. There was some there, but I want to see these Nexus guys WRESTLE once or twice. Anyway though, this wasn’t great, but it was solid.

 

[The Doctor]

RAW was a good show tonight. I was thoroughly entertained the whole night through. I didn't even notice that there were few matches, and the time really just flew by.

Rob Zombie was a very good guest host. He showed lots of charisma on the mic and his interaction with Edge that we all hoped for occurred and it helped set up the MITB PPV.

The Nexus storyline advanced even further with some great segments involving WWE staff and legends. It's great to see Steamboat getting a DVD, and I'm sure to all the old school fans (and some of us newer ones!) it was a real mark-out moment to see all those legends up there, talking to Steamboat and singing his praises. I certainly enjoyed it, and the Nexus invasion made it even sweeter since it was pulled off with perfection.

The ending was great, and it really helped sell the PPV.

What really stood out tonight was the simple yet VERY effective booking. Instead of wasting a tag team match that we want to see on TV, they made it a nonmatch with the Uso's attacking the Dynasty. They're making us WANT to see the Uso's get their comeuppance and WANT to pay for what is sure to be a good match. Very smart booking. Sometimes simple is best.

Even the opening segment of this show was great. VERY funny, and very entertaining.

Tonight pushed stories, the PPV, and stars. I loved every minute of it.

A.

 

[Ferbian]

Last nights RAW was pretty good.

We started off with Sheamus, coming to the ring to make an announcement, The Champ Is Here, brilliant, he's one of my favorites, and this shows why, I legitimately laughed when he talked about Cena calling him a "human jar of mayonnaise".

John Cena coming out, talking about him needing help against The Nexus, that could be a pretty decent alliance. I don't think insulting him is gonna help your case Cena, calling out The Nexus.

2 pings from the mail program, oh god Cole looks awful, he could very well look like the actual General Manager, covering up over Wade Barrett not being there due to his Visa expiring, I think it's a shame that The Nexus and John / Sheamus won't get to fight them, could've been a good one.

The General Manager setting up a match between Sheamus and Mark Henry, HAHA John Cena ranting, I absolutely love that line "Baloney fudging mustard" John's rant was epic.

Finally some hype for the Money In The Bank, and Sheamus vs John Cena in a steel cage match at the Pay Per View, that's gonna be epic, as long as Sheamus comes out the winner, he could use that much more than John. the opening segment was great, a good 10-15 minutes.

The Hart Dynasty coming to the ring, soon followed by The Uso's who beats them up, they're looking strong, this feud has really gotten me interested in both teams.

R-Truth backstage talking about being a zoo keeper, that was odd.

Santino vs Vladimir Kozlov in a brief, rather boring match, Vladimir taking the victory, making a bit of fun at the beaten Santino by letting him fall around the ring.

Khali backstage with Ranjin Singh, making fun of him, turning heel it seems, that was odd as well, WWE is odd tonight it seems.

Rob Zombie coming to the ring, he really looks like a thin Mick Foley with that hair, another uninteresting guest host, Rob has never interested me, cutting a mediocre promo really, but at least he hypes the Money In The Bank contestants, uh that card is stacked with potential winners, Chris probably being the least possible, but I could be surprised.

Edge coming on the screen, making fun of Rob Zombie, I never knew he had Rob's songs as theme music, somehow I'm grateful I didn't, I prefer his Alter Bridge song, uh he's hyping the Pay Per View himself, great promo video for Edge, great music for it as well, anybody know that song? Edge in that match is gonna be so epic, so epic I said.

Sheamus vs Mark Henry in an half decent match, Sheamus of course coming out the winner, it wasn't any out of the ordinary really.

The Nexus backstage, cutting a promo, Skip beating up a camera man, doing evil laughs.

Ricky Steamboat coming to the ring, that's nice, and getting a DVD as well, he's still pretty energetic it seems, talking about his in-ring career, and now come people coming out to honor Ricky, Ric Flair number 2? it's nice to see for Ricky, I'm happy for that, but no need to recreate Ric Flair's goodbye, and not try to top it off, yep that segment is pretty awful.

Well that lived up the segment, The Nexus coming to the ring, god I love that theme music, Run Steamboat!, okay that's looking awful, they look very very unorganized without Wade, this is making them look pretty weak, so I'm happy Wade isn't there for that, still they look like a pack of wolves, going for one at the time. This has to get them some massive heat.

Alicia Fox and Maryse vs Eve and Gail Kim in a half long match, boring as usual, gotta love streaming, means I can skip through it.

Time for the main event, a ladder with a briefcase in the ring, great, Edge climbing the ladder, I love it when there's a guy climbing a ladder for the briefcase before the pay per view.

The match was very back and forth, some great moves here and there, ultimately ending in Randy Orton RKO'ing Ted DiBiase for the victory, and Edge clearing the ring, bringing in a ladder to hype the match even more, that's pretty epic with Randy ending the show on top of the ladder.

That was a pretty good show, hyped the Pay Per View greatly. it served a purpose, even if the matches weren't anything memorable with the exception of the main event which was pretty good, B

 

[Jack-Hammer]

WWE Raw - June 28, 2010

Thumbs Up

Sheamus Promo - To start off last night's show, I thought that Sheamus gave a good, solid promo and generated a tremendous amount of heat for himself. Sheamus has shown himself time and time again to be pretty capable on the mic, though I do wish he'd quit using "Fella" so many times.

The Usos & Tamina Beat Down The Hart Dynasty - I was a little disappointed that we didn't see a six person tag match between the two teams last night. However, I'm giving it a thumbs up because I thought it built tension up nicely between the two teams. I've little doubt that they'll spend the next few weeks building up a match between the two at the ppv for the tag titles. I think the feud lost some steam over the past few weeks, but last night got the ball rolling again.

Nexus Beats Down WWE Legends - I loved this segment for a number of reasons. First of all, it's always wonderful for me to see wrestling legends get time in the spotlight when they're treated in a dignified manner. When the WWE treats its heritage seriously, it's a damn sweet sight. Seeing Arn Anderson, Michael Hayes, Mike Rotundo and Dean Malenko was a great and rare treat. Steamboat getting his own DVD release from the WWE and devoting an entire segment to these legends paying homage to one of the greatest in-ring competitors of the past 40 years delighted me. Nexus coming out and beating down these legends in the same segment was also just great. It was great because it keeps Nexus the center of Raw right now and they were able to get a great rub from a handful of beloved wrestling legends. The anonymous GM sent an email saying that Nexus would be fired if they touched a WWE Superstar and any WWE Superstar that touched Nexus would be suspended, so coming out there and exploiting a loophole by beating up legends that aren't active wrestlers was a great way to make a statement. Nexus was booed out of the building after leaving Steamboat laying in the center of the ring. Fantastic segment.

Sheamus vs. Mark Henry - The match really wasn't all that good, but I don't think it was really intended to be. We all knew that Sheamus was going to win and the whole match was main just to Sheamus could look strong and it was accomplished.

Randy Orton, Evan Bourne, John Morrison & R-Truth vs. Edge, Chris Jericho, Ted DiBiase & The Miz - This was a fun and entertaining match to close Raw with. Truthfully, it was really the only good match on the card last night. It was a hot match, the crowd was heavily into it and I love the fact that Raw seems to be devoting the last 20 minutes or so of the show to the main event. They've been doing that for a while and I think it's a nice touch. If you want the main event to feel it has some significance, then it needs a good amount of time to take place. I was a little disappointed in the end with Orton getting the win. He's in the ring for 10 seconds, hits a single move the entire match, namely the RKO, on Ted DiBiase to get the win. I think it kinda made DiBiase look weak, but it was still a fun match I thought.

MITB Hype - I know that this isn't a match or a segment, but I really liked how Raw hyped the MITB ppv last night and it's overall importance. I think just having the Raw Guest Host, Rob Zombie, name the 8 guys that'd be in the Raw match instead of having qualifying matches over the next few weeks was the way to go. Now we know who's going to be in the match, so the match and those participants can be built up. Edge's promo on his history with the MITB worked well and the entire night made me feel as though that MITB could be a memorable ppv event.

Thumbs Down

John Cena - John Cena just annoyed the crap outta me last night. I found his attempts at humor, being cute and pandering to the fans to be eye rollingly bad and corny at best. When Cena's in the mode he was in last night, I just can't stand the guy. I thought his presence did drag the overall opening segment down some.

Santino Marella vs. Vladimir Koslov - I wish the WWE would just stop this, I really do. Nobody cares about Marella and Koslov. I certainly have no wish to watch these two from some sort of comedy tag team. The match was crap, as one would figure, and they should just save this crap for Superstars.

Eve Torres & Gail Kim vs. Alicial Fox & Maryse - This was a pretty standard Divas match. Gail Kim and Alicia Fox are actually pretty good in the ring whereas Eve and Maryse not so much. I don't think it would take much effort for the WWE to have a legitimately serious women's division. The match wasn't bad, nor was it really good. It was just kinda there.

Overall Show - Thumbs Up - Overall, I thought Raw was a solid, decent show last night. What I was really disappointed in was the wrestling content of the show last night as it was significantly substandard overall compared with what we've been seeing on Raw for a while now. However, the good did outweigh the bad. Sheamus looks strong as champ, Nexus was the highlight of the night, MITB is shaping up to be a very interesting ppv and the main event was a good, solid match to close the show. Raw wasn't as good last night as it has been the past few weeks for me, but it was still pretty decent. I give it a 7 out of 10.

 

[Theo Mays]

I thought Raw last night was great. The crowd was much louder than shown on TV. The lack of wrestling was a bit disappointed, but the main event was solid and the Nexus attack was a great way for them to find a loophole in the mystery GM's ruling. The opening segment with Cena and Sheamus was great and hilarious. Both men gelled and worked the stick rather well. They did a great job of setting up the MITB PPV as well. Zombie was awesome, would have liked to see some more of him.

In the end I'd have to give the raw a solid B. Wasn't the best show, but still a good show that accomplished getting some things done and continues to set up the following Raw perfectly. In person the show was definitely an A, but on TV it was a solid B. Nothing wrong with that though.

 

[Ferbian]

Last nights Smackdown was great.

We start off with Kane vs Luke Gallows being announced, talking about Kane's continuing conquest to revenge his brother.

We see Jack Swagger coming out, not as tan looking as last week, making it to the ring to cut a promo, talking about how he wants other to feel his own pain after loosing his championship, his lisp is acting up a bit tonight.
He's hyping the Pay Per View, talking about how he won the Money in the Bank, he looks saddened about the loss, he sells the sadness damn well.

Big Show comes out to interrupt his promo, limping slightly on his leg, making fun of Swagger, that's pretty funny, he's a great face.
He talks about how he should have finished the job and how he hurt him, but not enough, wanting him to put another Ankle Lock on him.

Big Show coming towards the ring, Cody Rhodes coming from behind starting to attack Big Show, him and Swagger pounding away at Big Show, focusing on his left ankle, only to have Rey Mysterio come in and help Big Show.

This starting segment was pretty good, a good promo from both guys, and a decent beat-down afterwards.

We see the Money in the Bank competitors being announced, it seems Dashing Cody Rhodes has even stuck around on the name sign for Cody.

We hear Cody Rhodes and Jack Swagger teaming against Rey Mysterio and Big Show for the main event.

Kofi Kingston making his way to the ring for his match against Dolph Ziggler, this could be a damn good match, both great wrestlers, apparently if Dolph wins tonight he'll get an Intercontinental championship match, curtesy of Vickie Guerrero.

The match was pretty good, started off with a lot of grabbling, a bit of chain wrestling, rather back and forth, ultimately ending in Kofi pinning Dolph Ziggler with a Trouble in Paradise, no championship match for Ziggler it seems.

The Straight Edge Society backstage, talking about Kane and stopping him, explaining CM Punk's arm injury through it being Kane's fault, talking about how it's all gonna end tonight.

The Peep Show is on, a lot of ladders in the ring, Christian talking about Money in the Bank, Matt Hardy sitting in one of the other chairs, he's the guest of tonight, it's fun to watch the two of them face to face considering they used to feud in the ladder matches.

Christian making fun of Matt Hardy of his feud with Drew McIntyre, also talking about how he's gonna win the Smackdown Money in the Bank ladder match.

They're climbing the ladders both of them, comparing themselves to each other, I'm certain they could make that ladder match magical, the two veterans, this promo is fucking great, hyping the match so damn well.

We get another Alberto Del Rio vignette, talking about honesty being an attribute he has.

We see Dashing Cody Rhodes (have to call him that now it seems) backstage taking care of his looks, cutting a promo to the mirror, I'm liking this, he's entertaining with this thing, let's hope WWE carries it on.

Kane making it to the ring, time for Kane vs Luke Gallows, I love Luke Gallow's theme music, he's looking hyped to beat Kane for what "he did to CM Punk" who's still walking with his arm in a sling.

Kane dominating Luke a lot, getting ready for a chokeslam after a lot of dominating, ultimately having the masked member interfere and cause a disqualification ending, both Luke and the masked member suffers a chokeslam, CM Punk nearly suffering one as Serena comes running to the ring begging Kane not to, talking about how she can prove his innocence, couldn't have possibly been the one attacking Undertaker, because he was with Serena saving her.

we watch a video of her sitting in a bar drinking with some guy, as he walks in with Luke and the masked member wearing a cap, I can't help but have thought of other things right there.

Kane leaves, furious to realize it wasn't CM Punk, Serena apologizing to CM Punk, as he leaves after screaming at her, this could lead to an interesting storyline.

MVP making it to the ring, his opponent being Chavo Guerrero, how come I'm not gonna be surprised about the winner of this, Chavo talking about how he can get the job done, unlike her boy toy, talking about how he wants an Intercontinental championship match, short yet decent match actually, MVP coming out the winner with a "the play of the day".

Time for some divas action, Kelly Kelly and Tiffany making it to the ring, both looking damn hot tonight, but then again, when don't they look damn hot?

Michelle McCool is her opponent, making her way to the ring with Layla of course, looking good in a black outfit, hot as always as well, taking out Tiffany before the match, in another half messy match, ending with a roll-up from Kelly Kelly.

We get yet another vignette from Alberto Del Rio, they seem to be rather high on making people connect with him before he debuts, that's a good thing.

Rey Mysterio making it to the ring, to talk about winning the world heavyweight championship.

The opponents and partner to Rey Mysterio is making it to the ring, they're all calling him Dashing Cody Rhodes now, he even had his entrance video changed.

Rey Mysterio & Big Show vs Jack Swagger & Cody.. I mean.. Dashing Cody Rhodes. The match was pretty good, Jack tried to go for the Ankle Lock again, Big Show blocking it, only to have Jack apply it later on to Rey Mysterio for another disqualification match because he didn't break the hold, this is great, he's building the move, and it's looking like he could win agains Rey if applying it at Money in the Bank.

The show hyped the Pay Per View incredibly well, had some great promos as well as some pretty good matches, I'll give it: A

 

[Jack-Hammer]

WWE Smackdown - July 2, 2010

Thumbs Up

Opening Segment - The opening of Smackdown last night was a pretty good one I thought. Both Swagger and The Big Show gave very solid promos. Swagger got really good heat during the segment. I was surprised to see Cody Rhodes come out and chopblock Show, I was surprised to see him out there at all. He and Swagger delivered a pretty decent beatdown on Show with Rey Mysterio making the save. It went a little long, but a fun opener.

Kofi Kingston vs. Dolph Ziggler - I thought this was a pretty good 7 minute match. I think they could have a great match against each other if they get enough time. There's tension between Ziggler and Vickie already, as he blamed her for costing him the match, so this thing with them might be ending soon. Solid opening match overall.

Christian & Matt Hardy - The Peep Show segment featured Matt Hardy as the guest and Christian gave a hell of a promo. Even Hardy was pretty decent on the mic. There was some good tension between the two and, while I might be wrong, I'm hoping that this is the beginning of a heel turn for Christian. Both wrestlers kind of hyped each other while injecting a little competition with each other and hyped the importance of the MITB ppv. Really good segment in my view.

Straight Edge Society - I like that the WWE has injected some tension into the SES, shaking things up with the faction by having things not go their way lately. I don't want to see the SES win because I think they've barely scratched the surface of the potential the group has.

Rey Mysterion & The Big Show vs. Jack Swagger & Cody Rhodes - This was a solid main event tag team match. Swagger & Rhodes looked strong in the match and I'm glad to see Cody Rhodes finally starting down the road towards something. The match ends with Swagger locking the ankle lock onto Rey and refusing to break it once Rey gets to the ropes. I'm assuming Swagger was disqualified. I like the new aggressive streak in Swagger and I'm hoping he and Rey have a fun match at the ppv.

Thumbs Down

MVP vs. Chavo Guerrero - This was a lame 2 minute throwaway match that, of course, MVP won. There's nothing really to say about this match. It had two guys in it, they had a match, I guess. Piss break.

Kelly Kelly vs. Michelle McCool - I often wonder why both Raw and Smackdown often book the Divas into such shitty matches. On Superstars, the Divas often have pretty damn good matches. They don't set the world in fire, but they're still good. Still, the feud with LayCool and Kelly & Tiffany continued, I guess. Another lame 2 minute throwaway match with Kelly scoring a win.

Kane vs. Luke Gallows - These two have had good matches against each other in the past, but this match lasted only 90 seconds with Gallows getting disqualified. However, this match wasn't really intended to be much and was only the trigger for a continuation of the SES tension. Still, I would have actually liked a match first.

Overall Show - Thumbs Up - Smackdown was pretty good last night, though not as good as last week. There were two pretty good matches with three short throwaways, so the wrestling content of the show was definitely mixed. Still, the MITB ppv got some good hype, good promo segments, an interesting little turn in the SES and a few good matches. Overall, I give last night's Smackdown a 7.5 out of 10.

 

[klunderbunker]

Smackdown
Date: July 2, 2010
Location: Wilkes-Berry, Pennsylvania
Commentators: Matt Striker, Todd Grisham

Odds are tonight we find out the MITB contestants. Also tonight we get more on the Kane vs. Punk thing. That has potential, but at the same time I can’t imagine the SES are the ones behind all this. I really hope it doesn’t wind up being Kane. That would just flat out suck, but whatever. Let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of Kane vs. Punk from last week. This was likely just a way to get Punk off TV for awhile since his arm is hurt. At least we got a real reason. Grisham saying the SES has ceased to exist is a scary line.

Theme song. Awesome. Drew is still in the video, which means it’s likely he’ll be back soon.

Kane vs. Gallows tonight.

Swagger is here. Striker calls the title the World Championship instead of World Heavyweight Championship. Rey can alter history now. That’s either awesome or bad. He talks about how awesome he is and we see the ankle lock from last week where he hurt Show’s leg/ankle/knee somehow all at once. He talks about how MITB is coming and how that’s where his journey started. He’s sad that he lost the belt and I’m not sure if this is supposed to be intense or sad.

Here’s Show anyway so it doesn’t really matter. He’s still selling the knee which is a plus. Show really can talk pretty well when it comes to comedy. He calls him Jackie Boy which sounds like some bad indy movie. This segment is kind of dragging but it’s not bad. It might help a bit if we actually you know, saw the champion? Show talks about fantasy and reality. In Swagger’s fantasy he can break Show’s ankle, but in reality Show will break Swagger’s jaw.

Show comes towards the ring but Cody Rhodes chop blocks him. Both guys work on the ankle and the leg to hurt him as Show is continuously called the Giant. He fights back and Rey makes the save. Hey the champion is on TV! I don’t believe it either! I smell a tag match.

We get some MITB guys: Kane, Cody Rhodes, Matt Hardy, Christian, Kofi Kingston and Big Show. They only say six names and that there will be two more named.

I was right about that tag match. Show/Rey vs. Swagger/Rhodes.

Kofi Kingston vs. Dolph Ziggler

Kofi comes out first and then Ziggler comes down the hall. Vickie stops him and makes sure that he doesn’t look at Rosa doing jumping jacks. Ziggler could be ok but I see Vickie as a step down for him. She’s far more annoying than anything else and makes Ziggler seem hard to take seriously. Nothing of note happens and we take a break because this much lack of anything is tiring let me tell you.

The blonde guy is in control when we come back which isn’t that surprising. A top rope crossbody by Kofi gets two. The man can jump if nothing else. Here let me run two laps around Dolph, touch his chest, shout three times and then jump into the air. I’m sure Dolph won’t have a clue what’s coming. Fameasser gets two for Dolph. What is with so many people using that lately? Ziggler looks at Vickie and walks into Trouble in Paradise to end it.

Rating: D+. This was too short to really get anything going but it could work better if given more time. As for Vickie though, hopefully it ends her thing with Dolph. Of course it won’t but whatever. It’s character development for Dolph who needs it more than almost anyone so I can’t complain there.

We go to the SES in the back and Serena tells Punk (with his arm in a sling) that they should give up and tell Kane the truth. Punk and Gallows say no. Serena says she felt helpless when Punk was taken to the operating room for his ten hour arm surgery. She says if they don’t take care of Kane then she will. Ok then.

Peep Show

The guest is Matt Hardy and there are about 5 or 6 ladders in the ring with them as you would expect. Christian asks about McIntyre and says it was nice to see them in the ring together last week and not see Matt get dropped on his head for a change. Matt talks about how much his time in WWE has sucked but he keeps coming back. He says his WILL NOT DIE thing but Christian cuts him off and says Will Not Win MITB. Preach it brother.

They talk about how great their careers have been and so on. According to Matt, the ECW Title was NOT a real world title. They both climb the ladder and go for the case which they would have had to be standing on top of the ladder to get and have had to move the ladder back about three feet to reach but whatever. They say at the same time that it’s going to be them that wins at MITB. This was a different kind of interview segment but it worked.

Christian starts to leave but comes back and Matt pops him. The Canadian is thrown into a ladder and Matt leaves to his music. That’s good as he needs the momentum more than Christian does.

Alberto Del Rio is still coming to Smackdown. I think this might be the same promo from last week, but I really don’t care enough to think back that far. This guy is going to be pretty bad in my eyes, but I guess he could be decent. He talks about honesty again and this goes nowhere.

Cody Rhodes is in front of a mirror making sure he looks perfect. He interviews himself in a funny moment. I keep wanting Dusty to pop up behind him and shout BOY ARE YOU CRAZY?

Kane vs. Luke Gallows

Punk is with Gallows. Kane of course dominates early as we’re somehow halfway done with this show. That doesn’t seem possible. The masked man runs in maybe two minutes in for the DQ. He goes down and Kane goes after Punk. Serena bounces down to ringside and says she has proof that Punk didn’t do it.

Serena says that Punk was saving her on Memorial Day which was when Taker was hurt. A video is played with the date on it of Serena walking into a bar. She hesitates for a LONG time and has a drink. Then she has a second and guy buys her more. The crowd reacts to her doing shots. And then Punk walks in with Gallows and the masked man, obviously pissed off. There’s no sound here which is a very nice touch like it has been on Raw.

Kane shoves Punk off and leaves. Serena apologizes to Punk but he’s too pissed off to accept it. He asks if she knows what she just did and leaves her there.

MVP vs. Chavo Guerrero

We see MVP and Kofi signing autographs at a Toys R Us where the new WWE action figures are being released. See, THIS is what Chavo should be doing. It’s better than JTG at least. Chavo says he’ll prove to Vickie how it’s done unlike what Drew failed at. He wants an IC Title shot too. At least there are guys talking about wanting the title. That’s a big step in the right direction at least.

Chavo hits the Three Amigos on MVP and the Frog Splash misses, most likely because he rolled through it. Less than thirty seconds later MVP hits the 305 to end it. This was nothing for the most part and just kind of came and went.

Rating: N/A. Just not enough here to warrant a real rating. Chavo losing is no surprise at all but at the same time why was he on TV at all? MVP is a guy they're sticking with for some reason so at least there's a point to him being there. This was a lot of nothing though as there just wasn't time for it to go anywhere.

This week in WWE history: this time it’s Luger doing the bodyslam on Yoko on the USS Intrepid. That was indeed awesome. We do have to hear that incredibly obnoxious I’ll Be Your Hero song. Alfred Hayes gets a cameo and we see Luger win by count out at Summerslam in one of the strangest moments in WWF history.

Kelly Kelly vs. Michelle McCool

Does Tiffany actually serve any kind of purpose? Grisham says both of them are knockouts. That’s kind of a funny line for some reason. I could watch Laycool’s entrance all day. Michelle stalls a lot before we actually get going as the heels spray air freshener. Tiffany gets jumped and might have hurt her shoulder. Tiffany gets up long enough to distract Michelle and Kelly rolls her up for the pin. This again was too short to mean anything. I guess that might be the point though.

Rating: A+. Seriously when the worst looking girl in a match is Tiffany, something is working.

We see the legends beatdown on Raw.

Rey addresses us next.

Alberto Del Rio talks about accomplishing the impossible or something. And something about inspiration. Get this guy off my TV.

Rey gets the full on huge introduction and shows off the belt and all that jazz. This would have been a lot better, oh I don’t know, LAST WEEK? He says nothing at all of note other than Swagger won’t beat him. This of course gets like 4 minutes.

Jack Swagger/Cody Rhodes vs. Rey Mysterio/Big Show

The Dashing name works well as while it sounds like an indy name, he’s talented enough to make it work I think. Rey and Rhodes start us off which is an interesting pairing. Striker points out that it sucks that there are 7 months between Twilight movies and 11 years between Toy Story sequels. He’s absolutely right. Show throws Cody over the top onto Swagger and we take a break.

Back and it’s the starters in there again. Rey hits a seated senton for two. Swagger kicks his head off and goes higher up on my list of favorites because of it. Again with the big boots! Striker points out why Cody is dashing. Ok then. Cody hits more or less the Morrison spinkick off the ropes as Striker says he needs a name for that. He suggests the Dashiell Hammett but realizes no one will get that (guy that wrote Maltese Falcon).

Show comes in off the hot tag and cleans house but his leg gives out. Rey drops the dime on Swagger for two. 619 is countered into the ankle lock but Rey is in the rope. Same thing as last week as he won’t let go for the DQ. Rey taps of course, thereby making him look weak again. Is there something against Smackdown champions? The heels leave as the faces’ ankles hurt to end the show.

Rating: C+. Not bad for a main event tag I guess. It’s nothing special but it worked fine. The push of Swagger continues which is a shame as there’s no way he gets it back off Rey at the PPV. Show being limited out there was nice as he’s still hurt. This worked fine for what it was though, which wasn’t much.

Overall Rating: C-. This was a step down for Smackdown with the main reason being the lack of wrestling. Other than the main event nothing broke 9 minutes or so. Smackdown has made itself big on the idea of being more focused on in ring stuff. We had five matches tonight. One was king of long, one wasn’t quite long and the others were less than 3 minutes each. That’s not a good sign for me as it’s more like Raw. Hopefully that changes next week. It’s still a good show but it’s a step down from previous weeks.

 

[RKOx7]

Date: RAW, July 5, 2010

Alright, I wanted to start an early review, and edit it to add the end of RAW simply because I think today was one of the best RAW's in a long time. I feel as if it had everything. Whether we have felt that certain superstars were important or a waste of time, everyone had a part to play tonight and everyone, in my opinion did a great job.

We started off RAW with Nexus 7 in the ring and their promo, as always, has been intriguing. Glad to see Wade Barret is back, and I liked how he said Mr. McMon xD. Skip Sheffield annoys me a bit on the mic, but Nexus has consistently shown that they are deadly and amazing. It's sad because if they are this awesome now... I have to wonder how awesome they would be with Daniel Bryan. However, even without Daniel Bryan, and a lack of Wade Barrett last week, Nexus has lost no momentum... in fact it's almost as if they have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

What is going on with the lights flickering every time the GM e-mails... Did the RAW GM knock out the Undertaker and put him in a vegetated state, and take his light flicker gimmick? Anyway... I liked the ruling, because we know Nexus can sweep the titles soon enough, but there are so many intertwining feuds and this gives it a chance to end.

Superstars and Nexus can fight again which brings out John Cena, and his army of babyfaces for a fair 7 on 7 fight. As they head to the ring, 7 heels from the opposite side of the feuding spectrum come to fight their respected rival. Heels get thrown over the top rope for the most part battle royal style and John Cena/Sheamus/Randy Orton cut a pretty good promo that shows conflict within.

The beginning segment itself was pretty A+. It made use of many superstars and made the angle even more interesting from week 1 where WWE superstars unite to now where the faces and heel are split...

Mr. Anonymous GM promises all MitB participants in action tonight and he wants Cena and Barrett to shake hands or there will be consequences because "and I quote, [insert quotations inside quotations] 'and that's the bottom line because' the GM said so."

First match is DiBiase w/Maryse vs John Morrison. Maryse does a great job on the mic, and I love that she is always aware of what the announcers say about her. Let it be known that Maryse is NOT a gold-digger, she is creating jobs in the economy What a wonderful person she is xD Maryse puts on John Morrison's coat and distracts him (she looks hot in his coat and he totally is deserving of her sexiness :c if only she was with him instead) long enough for Ted to poke John in the eye and get the win with Dream Street. Maryse then walked around in Morrison's coat and threw it on him .The match wasn't that great but Maryse's role made me happy.

Santino/Kozlov v. Regal/Khali w/R. Singh
Mmm... I kinda missed most of this but I liked that funny cobra thing Santino was doing. Since the intro to RAW put me in a good mood, this match didn't bother me much.

Jerry Lawler had some screen time talking about Ricky Steamboat and the attack. I think it was good little speech he made, kind of personal since he was attacked and all.

Miz vs R-Truth

Miz did R-Truth's remix rap intro again like he did at Fatal 4Way and he solidified himself further as a great heel by beating R-Truth so bad that it actually looked like it legit hurt enough to knock R-Truth out of the Fatal 4Way... and we find out later that it indeed did. So great segment and we now have an opening in the RAW ladder match. I personally think a Nexus star will be placed in their but I'm not sure.

Cutting Edge happened and Edge talked about the comments thrown at him regarding Nexus and how he was also attacked. He says he wants to lead Nexus. Chris Jericho comes out and the two reignite their feud, at least for tonight. Chris Jericho talks about how Edge just wanted to be Chris Jericho his entire career. Chris had long blonde hair so Edge came with long blonde hair, Chris won a title, so Edge won a title, Chris had a talk show so Edge got a talk show... lol. They throw insults at each other. Chris Jericho as always is great on the mic, and even better at one upping himself over Edge. Brawl ensues, Evan makes his presence known and the anonymous GM turns this situation into a tag team match, with another Stone Cold tagline "Gimme a Hell Yeah."

Randy Orton and Evan Bourne vs. Jericho and Edge
Great back and forth match. Great tag team chemistry between both teams. St. Louis vs. Canada takes awhile with a lot of hesitation between tags on the Canadian side. In the end, Edge speared Jericho, left him victim to the Air Bourne. After the win, Randy RKO'd Bourne, showing that even though he is on the mic with John Cena, he's not your babyface. He's the same damn Randy Orton as he's been with people just cheering for him this time.

Randy is approached by Slater, Otunga, and Tarver backstage. They apologize and try to make Randy a "frenemy." Randy stays bad ass and tells them to get the hell out of his face. Great segment.

We find out that the Tag Titles will be defended at MitB and the Uso's are being interviewed by Josh Matthews. Funny little segment as they are completely aware of the fact and recognize that they have been a blur the past three weeks, running in, attacking, and running out that we didn't even get a good enough look to tell the two brothers apart. Tamina speaks eloquently and says they will be known.

Alicia Fox comes in and makes her presence known right then and there. I'm not a huge fan of Alicia [lol I almost just typed in Felicia] but I respect what she just did because she definitely gained character points in my eyes. No one has given her time since she won the title so she made time and she's going to show exactly why her victory isn't a fluke in a rematch against Eve.

Alicia Fox [c] vs Eve for the Divas Championship
Match gets started and Alicia is quick to feign injury only to get the Scissors Kick for the win. It was a waste of a match but they utilized 5 mins in giving the Diva's Champion a much needed character boost as a heel.

Finally, my favorite finish to RAW since Nexus destroyed everything.John Cena made me laugh tons of times on the mic. We knew he clearly wasn't going to do any handshaking. Barrett threatened Cena with even more brutality and Cena feigned a handshake and tried to turn it into an Attitude Adjustment. Nexus 7 came out to take on Cena. Babyfaces of the RAW locker room came out to help Cena and the fight broke out with the Nexus running back... except they left Black Cena... I mean Darren Young in the ring. So John Cena rips apart his inner Blackness [sorry I don't I'm not being racist just trying to be funny xD Even Darren said he's Black Cena]. Super Cena turns into Hulk Cena and destroys Darren Young with the STFU, clotheslines, slams, launching him into the ringpost and then THROWING steel steps at him and then throwing him over the table and then throwing the table on him. I liked Cena a lot here. It was a great end to RAW with retribution that made me laugh and smile.

Oh yeah and Mr. GM made a 7 on 1 [probably 6 on 1 after Young got raped by Cena] handicap match for next week. John Cena v Nexus 7. Should be epic.

High Points:

Miz/Barret/Usos+Tamina/Fox/Cena/Orton/Jericho/Edge ... which is everyone I think were allllllll great on the mic in my opinion.

I like the usage of possible red herrings as to Stone Cold being the GM.

Great tag team action from MitB contestants.



Rating: A

 

[klunderbunker]

Monday Night Raw
Date: July 5, 2010
Location: Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, Tennessee
Commentators: Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler
Guest Host: N/A

We open with the Nexus in the ring. Barrett is back and says this is all part of a bigger picture and that he can’t say yet why they did what they did to Vince. Sheffield says that what they did to the Legends last week was fun. They need to actually wrestle soon though.

He says that more people want to see the DVD now and it’s time for an e-mail. The punishment for the Nexus for the Vince attack is that none of them can compete for a title until further notice. Also the ruling on no contact with Raw vs. Nexus is gone. Thank goodness. Now can we get them in an actual match?

Cue Cena of course. He says he wants a fair fight and here comes Morrison, Orton, Truth, Bourne and the Harts. They come to the ring but the heels jump them from behind. The Usos, Sheamus, Edge, Miz, Jericho and DiBiase jump the faces coming to fight Nexus. Nexus runs I think. Triple stable feud? Sheamus says maybe they don’t want to take out Nexus since the only guys Nexus goes after is Cena for the most part. Orton gets a pop for just picking up a mic. He suggests 7 on 7 now and we get an e-mail.

No match now according to him because it’s the MITB guys in a series of matches tonight. Also it’s Cena vs. Barrett later. FINALLY. Scratch that it’s not a match. Instead it’s going to be a handshake and a truce. Is there some reason we’re never seeing them wrestle? Cena says no. There’s another e-mail and the GM says do it or else. Actually he says and that’s the bottom line because the GM says so. Yeah it’s not Austin. No way.

John Morrison vs. Ted DiBiase

Maryse looks great in a white dress if nothing else. She’s also no longer French Canadian apparently. The commentary is all about Maryse and Ted. And then she gets a phone call and talks to whoever that is. I hope this doesn’t turn into Paris Hilton or something. She steals the fur coat of Morrison and the distraction lets Dream Street end it. Match was nothing.

Rating: D+. Nothing special at all here but nothing terrible. Morrison losing mainly clean is a good thing as DiBiase now looks more credible than he did before, at least by a bit. They’re both overrated but still this wasn’t bad or anything I guess. Just kind of bleh.

Santino and Kozlov have a weird moment in the back that means nothing.

Santino Marella/Vladimir Kozlov vs. William Regal/Great Khali

This is uh….different. Regal vs. Kozlov to start. That lasts about two seconds and Santino gets beaten up. The Cobra…whatever that’s supposed to do, doesn’t work. And then Kozlov gets tagged back in and beats Regal in like 10 seconds. They help Regal up so Khali can chop him. Sure why not.

Rating: N/A. I have no idea where this is going, but I guess it’s better than no direction. Khali and Santino dance with Singh afterwards.

The Cutting Edge is back tonight with Jericho and Bourne.

We recap the Legends segment last week which is still fairly cool. Arn Anderson is in the back and says that Ricky is a good guy and 57 but here’s Sheamus. Arn says that Sheamus needs to wake up and realize what’s going on and stop the bleeding before it gets too bad thanks to Nexus. Sheamus says he’s fine and Arn says you just don’t get it and leaves. Sheamus looks like it got to him a bit.

This week in WWE history is the same as it was on Smackdown: Luger with the slam on Yoko.

The Miz vs. R-Truth

Miz does another “rap” on the way. Not terrible actually for what it was supposed to be. Miz pops him with the mic to start us off and we might not have an actual match. He goes after Truth’s arm and has apparently hurt it badly. No match.

Cutting Edge

The guests are Jericho and Bourne. Before they get there though Edge says he’s interested in having 7 allies in Nexus to help him at MITB. Sure because 15 guys in one match is just fine. Bourne is introduced but Jericho comes out. He and Edge argue over being the Nexus advisor. They take shots at each other which are funny. Jericho says Edge has always wanted to be Jericho, even though Edge was in both WCW and WWF before Jericho.

Here they go and Jericho gets the Walls but here’s Bourne for the attack. Bourne gets away and we have an e-mail. Apparently if you want to see some action give me a hell yeah. Up next is Edge and Jericho vs. Bourne and Orton. Ok then.

Randy Orton/Evan Bourne vs. Edge/Chris Jericho

This is your standard semi-main event tag. Naturally Bourne is in trouble for the majority of time here to set up the hot tag to Orton. They’re going with basic booking for it which is smart. It even gets a commercial so you can tell this is an important match. After the break surprisingly enough Orton comes in and doesn’t dominate. Actually the opposite is true as Orton is in trouble. This is getting a good deal of time which is surprising too.

Ah there’s the hot tag and all is restored to the universe. Bourne kicks Edge’s head off in a sweet shot. It sounded great too. Edge spears Jericho for no apparent reason and Air Bourne gets ANOTHER fall on Jericho for Bourne. He gets an RKO for his troubles which SILENCES the crowd.

Rating: C+. Not bad here and for what it was supposed to do it did its job. This was supposed to set up the every man for himself thing and it did that very well. Bourne gets even more credibility which is always a good thing. The crowd pops for that move too so it’s great on both sides.

We see a short clip of Cena getting beaten down by Nexus more than once. I’m glad they let them go straight after the top guy.

Orton is in the back and runs into Ortunga, Slater and Tarver. Orton doesn’t like them but they say they won’t interfere in the MITB match. They might in the cage match though. Orton says for them to leave.

Truth is out of MITB. Barrett anyone?

Harts vs. Usos for the titles at the PPV. The Usos talk about not being able to be told apart and how everyone is ignorant.

Alicia comes up as they leave and is pissed off that she hasn’t been interviewed since winning the title. Moving on.

The Summerslam Recall is from 92 with the loudest pop in the history of that show.

Raw Women’s Title: Eve Torres vs. Alicia Fox

Damn no blue for Eve tonight. Pink isn’t bad though. Alicia fakes a knee injury and the axe kick ends this in like a minute. Whatever. No rating obviously.

And here’s Barrett for the showdown thing. He says to Cena that the Nexus can make Cena’s life easy or hard and the choice is up to John. Cena asks if he shakes Barrett’s hand does this end now? Cena says if we’re having so much fun why stop now? No handshake and Cena says he’s taking Nexus down. Barrett offers the handshake again and gets pulled into the FU.

AND HERE THEY COME! Morrison and Bourne comes out to help but get beaten down as well. It looks bad but MARK HENRY COMES A CHARGING! Him and an army of jobbers come out and make the save but Darren Young gets left behind. We get an e-mail where the GM says stop or there WILL be consequences. The jobbers leave and Young gets put in the STFU. And he stays in it.

Another e-mail says next week: Cena vs. all 7 of Nexus. Oh and I’ll be there for it. Oh yeah. He goes INSANE on Young and beats the living hell out of him. He rips the steps up and blasts Young with them as Young is DEAD. He goes back in the ring to a HUGE pop to end the show.

Overall Rating: B. If there was a grade between B and B- that’s what this would get. The wrestling was an upgrade this week as we had matches actually go longer than a minute. The angle at the end was good and hopefully next week we finally get to see them in the ring. They did a good job of setting up next week’s show which is good as that translates to the PPV. I’m not sure why but there was something about this show that I liked. Solid show but not a masterpiece.

 

[Ferbian]

Last nights RAW was awesome.

We start off with The Nexus in the ring. Nothing new there - Wade's back, at least that's a good thing. Talking about the attack, and being a part of a bigger picture. Sheffield gets the microphone to talk about Steamboat.

And here comes the GM. God I hate that sound. The message says Wade can't fight for any title for now. And now The Nexus and the RAW superstars can attack each other again.

John comes to the ring. Talking about how they haven't fought fair yet. Here comes help. Only for the heels to come out and attack the RAW superstars. The heels talking about how they don't want to take The Nexus out, because they keep attacking Cena. This segment makes it seem like some kind of war going on.

The General Manager stating that there's gonna be a series of matches between the 8 of the Money in the Bank competitors. And John has to shake Wade Barrett's hand. God I hate that sound, just reveal him already. Uh, a Stone Cold reference, that could be great.

Great way to start the show.

John Morrison vs Ted DiBiase, followed by Maryse who looks really hot. Pretty decent match. Ending as Maryse causes an distraction that allows DiBiase to cheat and pick up the victory.

Santino Marella and Kozlov backstage. Talking about the tag team again. Someone needs to teach WWE some history - Italians and Russians back together? The Italians supported the German.

Santino and Kozlov coming to the ring. Apparently it does look like it's a tag team match. Regal coming to the ring, talking about how he used his powers to convince Khali to get on his side. Short below average match. Nothing out of the ordinary.

We see Arn Anderson talking backstage about Ricky Steamboat. Sheamus interrupts him. They have a back and forth argument about The Nexus.

R-Truth vs The Miz - The Miz coming to the ring rapping again. That's awesome, quite a talent. This match doesn't even start, we see a beat down instead. The Miz talking about how he's gonna hurt everyone that steps in the ring with him.

Time for the Cutting Edge - Special guests: Evan Bourne & Chris Jericho. Another ladder scenario as last weeks Peep Show. Again talking about The Nexus and wanting to make them allies instead of enemies, wanting to be the leader.

Chris Jericho coming to the ring. Talking about how he's secure agains The Nexus because he was the pro of Wade Barrett, and their destruction was due to Jericho's influence.

Chris Jericho comparing Edge's career to wanting to be Chris Jericho. And how he's gonna become champion after winning Money in the Bank. This is hyping the match pretty damn well.

Evan Bourne coming to the ring. Making Jericho and Edge look ridiculous chasing him around. The General Manager giving references to Stone Cold again. Evan Bourne & Randy Orton vs Edge & Chris Jericho is announced as Randy makes his way to the ring.

Evan Bourne & Randy Orton vs Chris Jericho & Edge. This match is pretty good. Shows what we missed out on with Jericho & Edge as Rated Y2J. This match might be worth match of the week thus far. Ends with Evan Bourne pinning Chris Jericho after a Spear and an Air-Bourne.

Randy putting Evan Bourne down afterwards. reminding us about the tweener alignment. I'm surprised nobody cheered that.

We see Randy Orton and The Nexus backstage. Or at least 3 of them. Wanting to apologize for interfering at Fatal 4 Way. Talking about how Randy Orton being against The Nexus could cost his possibilities of winning the WWE championship if he wins Money in the Bank. I like how they seem to come off as the power faction of RAW. Like they're pulling the strings.

The Uso's backstage. I really like their microphone skills. They're entertaining. And apparently they're getting a championship match at Money in the Bank.

Alicia Fox vs Eve in a divas championship match. rather brief, boring match where Alicia retains.

Wade Barrett coming to the ring. I love the theme music. They need to make some entrance video for them sooner or later.

John Cena coming to the ring after request of Wade Barrett to shake hands like men. Wade looks good next to John Cena. He looks credible and legitimate next to him. Like if he's already a main event wrestler. Am I the only one that sees that?

John going for the handshake, but pulling away. Making fun of the future and The Nexus. I wanna see this feud one on one happening. Hoping it happens after Sheamus vs John Cena at Money in the Bank.

Wade Barrett talking about what they have accomplished. And that Cena should shake his hand for his own good. They shake hand. Cena goes for Attitude Adjustment only for Wade to avoid it and The Nexus attacks. Slowly taking out everybody as the rest of the roster attacks. Poor Darren Young left in the ring.

The General Manager says he wanted to peace. And if it doesn't stop now there's gonna be consequences. Cena puts Darren Young in a STFU.

Cena vs The Nexus in a handicap match next week. That's gonna be good.

John starting to punish Darren Young slowly with everything he has. Ending with him being put in the same position more or less that John was put in last week.

Awesome episode. Hyped the Pay Per View great as well as furthered The Nexus vs RAW storyline. Definitely worth a B+ score.

 

[Dave]

I thought it was a great episode of Raw this week. All of the angles were progressed and the wrestling was a little better. We all got what we wanted and even got a teaser of who the new Raw GM could be. So let’s dive in to my review and see where it goes.

So, we start of with The Nexus and truth be told, Wade Barrett is looking very good these days. Not in a gay way but more of a “I can win the WWE Championship way”. He is starting to look like a real standout candidate to be in the main event and his mic work improves week after week. He talks about how he has done the best thing for Ricky Steamboat and Skip Sheffield joins the fun. He talks about how the sales of Ricky’s DVD are shy-high because of the attack of the legends last week. Yeah Skip, you really done him a favour. His brain may have been turned to mulch but at least his DVD is selling, eh? I don’t know why but I was expecting them to reference his condition in hospital after what they did to him. Of course, they can’t shoulder all of the blame but I would have liked to see them mention it, if briefly and show that they cared about him. That would have been a nice touch but it didn’t happen. Anyway, cue John Cena and a message from the NEW Raw GM. He says that the ban on fighting has been lifted and John Cena says that he has brought some help. Cue some mid-carders and Orton as they go down to the ring. They are jumped by their respective feud opponents though and the Nexus makes a daring escape. The new GM tells us that they will all be competing later on.

To kick us off on Raw in terms of wrestling, we have John Morrison vs. Ted DiBiase. The match is back and forth but the distraction from Maryse in a white dress is enough to make the match wirth watching. She talks about her and Ted are an item and has apparently dropped her accent due to having money. Who knew that could happen? Oh well, she distracts Morrison enough for a second for Ted to both his finisher and pick up the win. Nothing special but not the worst match in the world.

Then we come to the Santino and Kozlov relationship. I have literally no clue where this is headed but at least Kozlov looks good against Regal, who is no slouch. Of course, the WWE have forgotten about Runjin Singh, who was appearently pissed off with Kahli last week. However, that is all explained away by Runjin apparently wanting Khali to be more aggressive inside the ring… Riiiight.

The Miz then sucker punches R-Truth during their match, well before it even began and then proceeds to beat the shit out of him for five minutes. Not before an awesome rap though, which made me laugh. Apparently, the injuries that were sustained to R-Truth are so bad that he is going to be out for two weeks or more as he is definitely missing the Money In The Bank ladder match, which means that another spot is open but who could it be that takes the spot? I don’t know but I have my ideas. I doubt it will be Barrett really because he already has a guaranteed title shot to his credit, having another one wouldn’t do anything for anyone.

We move onto the return of the Cutting Edge where Jericho and Evan Bourne are the guests. Jericho cuts off Bourne’s entrance and comes out first. He talks to Edge about being the best as what he does and calls the fans hypocrites in an oddly familiar sort of way. He talks about how no one goes before him and how Edge has basically followed every step he has taken in his career but it’s all bullshit really. Soon enough, Bourne runs into beat the shit out of both of them and then makes a break for it. Edge and Jericho are seething but a match is created for later. It will be Bourne and Orton vs. Edge and Jericho… Nice! We then get our match and Evan Bourne is n trouble for most of the time. He tags in Orton and then the crowd go wild. It is also quite good to note that Bourne is starting to get some good pops from the crowd. Perhaps they are buying into his recent push? Either way, tensions start to flair between Edge and Jericho and their hesitation to tag each other causes them the match as Edge spears Jericho and allows Bourne to hit the Shooting Star Press FTW! Bourne is then RKO’d for his efforts.

The truce is underway and Barrett looks awesome on the mic again. Standing across the ring from Cena, you can’t help but feel that he belongs there, don’t you? Either way, he explains that he was never after Cena and doesn’t care what is in the past. He extends his hand and Cena doesn’t shake it. Cena exclaims that he is having too much fun getting his ass kicked every week and that he wont be shaking anything. Barrett talks some more and then ends up extending his hand again. Cane tries for an Attitude Adjustment but doesn’t hit it as the Nexus break out to the ring. An army of jobbers come down to the ring to help Cena, not including Orton who received a stern talking to from the Nexus guys. They leave Cena in the ring with Young who applies a STFU and the new GM tells him that he should stop. Needless to say, he doesn’t and next week, it will be Cena vs. the remaining six of the Nexus.

Overall, it was a pretty damn good show. B+

 

[Bobby B]

My highs and lows from Raw:

Highs

Wade Barrett - he's been on TV for what, 6 months? He looked every bit a main eventer in the ring with Cena at the end of the show. Great promo with Cena.

The Cutting Edge - this was another worthwhile segment to watch much like The Peep Show from Friday's Smackdown. Two greats in the ring, show can really carry a segment like this.

The Uso's - Plenty to like about this tag team right now. They're building their personas, and I get the feeling they could be around for a very long time - atleast I hope so. I think they will win at Money In The Bank, so this fued can rightly culminate at Summerslam with some sort of stipulation based match.

Alicia Fox's promo - not that it wasn't a decent speech - because it was actually, but it outlined totally why nobody gives a damn about Diva's wrestling.

The Raw General Manager - well it's not Stone Cold, that's obvious. But dropping the SCSA hints are a decent way of drawing this angle out. Particularly as I'm still not sure they have a clue where this is going.

Not revealing the Nexus' plan - there's something bigger, which makes people want to tune in.

The Nexus storyline - Nice to see Cena get an upper hand, makes a change from total Nexus' dominance.

Lows

Not revealing the Nexus' plan - All these attacks post getting their contracts need to be explained. Barrett was kayfabe at Conneticut last week - (albeit we know why they did it) - there was no storyline pay off to this. Just because they've taken Vince out, doesn't mean they don't have to answer to anyone.

Edge wanting to attack the Nexus - did he forget what happened at Fatal 4 Way? I know it helped advance the MITB match with the 7 on 7 heels vs face attacks - but this part really annoyed me.

Divas Match - 'nuff said

The announcement re: The Nexus - what a poor announcement. No member of the Nexus is allowed to challenge for any WWE title - well other than Barrett we weren't expecting that either, and even with Barrett, I wasn't expecting his challenge to come so soon.

Evan Bourne - no mic time - regardless of what Cena says or does, Bourne will never be a star unless he can talk, it would've been nice to see him get a spell on The Cutting Edge.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

WWE Raw - July 5, 2010

Thumbs Up

Opening Segment - I'm enjoying The Nexus more each week. It continues to be a strong angle despite the fact that they haven't wrestled yet. I don't mind that they haven't wrestled yet because I LOVE good, long build ups. Wade Barrett impresses me a lot as he's so poised and confident on the mic. He already seems like a veteran. I was also impressed some by Skip Sheffield. With his size, build and overall appearance, he's a very intimidating guy and he's definitely more suited to the role he has now rather than the "Cornfed Meathead" portrayal on NXT. I wasn't all that wild about Cena out there, doing his goofy pandering, but it didn't take anything away from the segment. I also love the fact that the Raw locker room isn't going to be a united front against Nexus as the Raw heels jumped the Raw faces before they could jump into the ring with Cena and square off against Nexus. Hot way to start the show.

John Morrison vs. Ted DiBiase - The match wasn't all that great. It was only about 4 minutes but it was fairly decent. I'm giving it a thumbs up due to the interaction with DiBiase and Maryse. Maryse is gorgeous and her character is portrayed as extremely vain, so I think having her play the golddigger girlfriend/valet to DiBiase is a perfect fit. She's not all that great in the ring and she's really gone as far as a woman can in the WWE as a wrestler, so I like this direction. I just hope they keep it going. Morrison did sort of look like a bit of a tool at the end, but it was nice to see DiBiase build up some steam for MITB.

Anonymous Raw GM Identity Teases - I thought this was a nice touch added to keep interest going with the GM. I don't believe it'll turn out to be Stone Cold Steve Austin, but I wouldn't have a problem if it were. It still might turn out to be someone completely unexpected so this is a nice little fork to throw in the road to keep people guessing and talking.

Arn Anderson & Sheamus - It's always nice to see Arn Anderson whenever the chance pops up and he can still give a damn good promo. I thought his interaction with Sheamus was very nicely done. Sheamus held his own during the promo and came off as the very confident, irreverant young champion that feels invulnerable with Anderson as the grizzled veteran trying to talk sense into him. Both were great in their roles.

The Miz Takes Our R-Truth - I was hoping for a match between these two, they've always been good in the ring together, but it was also a nice change of pace to see The Miz come out aggressively. It's a side we don't really see of him all that much. It's a nice little continuation of his character evolution that really started with Randy Orton. His work on the mic prior to the beat down was very solid and reminded me a lot of Jericho. If you're gonna copy someone's promo style, Jericho's among the best to copy. Because of the attack, R-Truth is no longer in the MITB match so they'll be a replacement announced next week probably. Pretty good segment overall as it was unexpected to see The Miz become so aggressive.

Edge & Chris Jericho - The Cutting Edge segment with Jericho and Edge was very strong last night. Both of them were great on the mic and did a great job of hyping themselves, each other and the Raw MITB match. There was really good tension between them through the segment, both played their enormous egos well. Having Evan Bourne come out and wind up getting a few shots in before getting out was a nice way to close the segment. The Anonymous Raw GM chimed in and announces a match with Bourne and Randy Orton against Edge and Jericho.

Randy Orton & Evan Bourne vs. Edge & Chris Jericho - Really good tag team main event in which all four guys worked hard. Orton & Bourne were extremely over with the crowd in Nashville last night. All four of them looked strong and it looked as though it could have been anyone's match before, predictably, the egos of Edge and Jericho got in the way. Edge spears Jericho after tagging him in and takes off, leaving Evan Bourne to hit Air Bourne and claim a victory about the 16 minute mark. The ending of the match segment was really well done with Randy Orton hitting the RKO on Bourne. Cole and Lawler did a good job of emphasizing Orton's behavior and mannerisms by injecting a lot of viper/serpent symbolism into it.

The Uso & Tamina Promo - The promo overall was solid. Nothing particularly special about it, but all three of them showed compotent mic work. It was announced that The Usos would take on The Hart Dynasty at MITB for the tag titles. I hope some real build up continues for this match over the next few weeks.
John Cena & Wade Barrett Confrontation - The Raw GM at the beginning of the show wanted Cena and Barrett to meet and shake hands and call a truce. Barrett holds his own with Cena and I was worried at first when Cena did his little happy go lucky refusal to shake Barrett's hand. Cena is about to put Barrett in the Attitude Adjustment and is jumped by Nexus. They work Cena over with punches and kicks for maybe 10 seconds before the Raw locker room empties and the faces come out. Nexus is outgunned and forced to run for it but Darren Young is stuck in the ring with Cena while the Raw locker room stands guard at ringside. Having the Raw GM punish Cena for his actions by putting him in a match against all 7 of the Nexus next week was a great touch and Cena goes apeshit. He beats on Young for a while and just decimates him. When Cena gets all intense like he was during the second half of the closing segment, he's really fun to watch.

Thumbs Down

Santino Marella & Vladimir Koslov vs. William Regal & The Great Khali - This is just bad on so many levels. A shitty 90 second match in which Marella does his thing and Koslov scores a win over Regal. The Great Khali didn't even wrestle during the match, not that I'm complaining about that. Basically, this was just a piss break.

Alicia Fox vs. Eve Torres - This was actually the last match of the night and I wondered why. They hyped this match at various points throughout the night and I thought that we were actually going to have an actual women's match on Raw. I should've known better, I know. I will admit that Alicia Fox is on the verge of actually becoming interesting, but this match was a big waste of time. Alicia Fox feigns an ankle injury early in the match and uses it to her advantage. She hits her finisher and gets a clean pin over Eve in about 90 seconds.

Overall Show - Thumbs Up Overall, Raw was a great show last night. Every angle got moved along nicely, a couple of good matches and really good hype for the MITB. I'm not all that thrilled with the overall wrestling content this week, but it was a little better than last week. Next week's show was also hyped well with two big matches announced: Nexus vs. John Cena & Randy Orton vs. Edge. Really good promo work overall last night, a few nice teases of the Raw GM's identiy and Nexus rolls along nicely. I give last night's show an 8.5 out of 10.

 

[Lexy]

WWE Raw - July 5, 2010

Thumbs Up

Opening Segment - I'm enjoying The Nexus more each week. It continues to be a strong angle despite the fact that they haven't wrestled yet. I don't mind that they haven't wrestled yet because I LOVE good, long build ups. Wade Barrett impresses me a lot as he's so poised and confident on the mic. He already seems like a veteran. I was also impressed some by Skip Sheffield. With his size, build and overall appearance, he's a very intimidating guy and he's definitely more suited to the role he has now rather than the "Cornfed Meathead" portrayal on NXT. I wasn't all that wild about Cena out there, doing his goofy pandering, but it didn't take anything away from the segment. I also love the fact that the Raw locker room isn't going to be a united front against Nexus as the Raw heels jumped the Raw faces before they could jump into the ring with Cena and square off against Nexus. Hot way to start the show.

John Morrison vs. Ted DiBiase - The match wasn't all that great. It was only about 4 minutes but it was fairly decent. I'm giving it a thumbs up due to the interaction with DiBiase and Maryse. Maryse is gorgeous and her character is portrayed as extremely vain, so I think having her play the golddigger girlfriend/valet to DiBiase is a perfect fit. She's not all that great in the ring and she's really gone as far as a woman can in the WWE as a wrestler, so I like this direction. I just hope they keep it going. Morrison did sort of look like a bit of a tool at the end, but it was nice to see DiBiase build up some steam for MITB.

Anonymous Raw GM Identity Teases - I thought this was a nice touch added to keep interest going with the GM. I don't believe it'll turn out to be Stone Cold Steve Austin, but I wouldn't have a problem if it were. It still might turn out to be someone completely unexpected so this is a nice little fork to throw in the road to keep people guessing and talking.

Arn Anderson & Sheamus - It's always nice to see Arn Anderson whenever the chance pops up and he can still give a damn good promo. I thought his interaction with Sheamus was very nicely done. Sheamus held his own during the promo and came off as the very confident, irreverant young champion that feels invulnerable with Anderson as the grizzled veteran trying to talk sense into him. Both were great in their roles.

The Miz Takes Our R-Truth - I was hoping for a match between these two, they've always been good in the ring together, but it was also a nice change of pace to see The Miz come out aggressively. It's a side we don't really see of him all that much. It's a nice little continuation of his character evolution that really started with Randy Orton. His work on the mic prior to the beat down was very solid and reminded me a lot of Jericho. If you're gonna copy someone's promo style, Jericho's among the best to copy. Because of the attack, R-Truth is no longer in the MITB match so they'll be a replacement announced next week probably. Pretty good segment overall as it was unexpected to see The Miz become so aggressive.

Edge & Chris Jericho - The Cutting Edge segment with Jericho and Edge was very strong last night. Both of them were great on the mic and did a great job of hyping themselves, each other and the Raw MITB match. There was really good tension between them through the segment, both played their enormous egos well. Having Evan Bourne come out and wind up getting a few shots in before getting out was a nice way to close the segment. The Anonymous Raw GM chimed in and announces a match with Bourne and Randy Orton against Edge and Jericho.

Randy Orton & Evan Bourne vs. Edge & Chris Jericho - Really good tag team main event in which all four guys worked hard. Orton & Bourne were extremely over with the crowd in Nashville last night. All four of them looked strong and it looked as though it could have been anyone's match before, predictably, the egos of Edge and Jericho got in the way. Edge spears Jericho after tagging him in and takes off, leaving Evan Bourne to hit Air Bourne and claim a victory about the 16 minute mark. The ending of the match segment was really well done with Randy Orton hitting the RKO on Bourne. Cole and Lawler did a good job of emphasizing Orton's behavior and mannerisms by injecting a lot of viper/serpent symbolism into it.

The Uso & Tamina Promo - The promo overall was solid. Nothing particularly special about it, but all three of them showed compotent mic work. It was announced that The Usos would take on The Hart Dynasty at MITB for the tag titles. I hope some real build up continues for this match over the next few weeks.
John Cena & Wade Barrett Confrontation - The Raw GM at the beginning of the show wanted Cena and Barrett to meet and shake hands and call a truce. Barrett holds his own with Cena and I was worried at first when Cena did his little happy go lucky refusal to shake Barrett's hand. Cena is about to put Barrett in the Attitude Adjustment and is jumped by Nexus. They work Cena over with punches and kicks for maybe 10 seconds before the Raw locker room empties and the faces come out. Nexus is outgunned and forced to run for it but Darren Young is stuck in the ring with Cena while the Raw locker room stands guard at ringside. Having the Raw GM punish Cena for his actions by putting him in a match against all 7 of the Nexus next week was a great touch and Cena goes apeshit. He beats on Young for a while and just decimates him. When Cena gets all intense like he was during the second half of the closing segment, he's really fun to watch.

Thumbs Down

Santino Marella & Vladimir Koslov vs. William Regal & The Great Khali - This is just bad on so many levels. A shitty 90 second match in which Marella does his thing and Koslov scores a win over Regal. The Great Khali didn't even wrestle during the match, not that I'm complaining about that. Basically, this was just a piss break.

Alicia Fox vs. Eve Torres - This was actually the last match of the night and I wondered why. They hyped this match at various points throughout the night and I thought that we were actually going to have an actual women's match on Raw. I should've known better, I know. I will admit that Alicia Fox is on the verge of actually becoming interesting, but this match was a big waste of time. Alicia Fox feigns an ankle injury early in the match and uses it to her advantage. She hits her finisher and gets a clean pin over Eve in about 90 seconds.

Overall Show - Thumbs Up Overall, Raw was a great show last night. Every angle got moved along nicely, a couple of good matches and really good hype for the MITB. I'm not all that thrilled with the overall wrestling content this week, but it was a little better than last week. Next week's show was also hyped well with two big matches announced: Nexus vs. John Cena & Randy Orton vs. Edge. Really good promo work overall last night, a few nice teases of the Raw GM's identiy and Nexus rolls along nicely. I give last night's show an 8.5 out of 10.

Great review and I'm just going to say, it was better in person than on TV. I live here in Nashville and my wife and I are season ticket holders of the NHL team here. They have mikes that are suspended from the rafters that can help elevate the crowd noise on TV just a little bit, but I don't think the WWE ever use them when they are here. I DVR'd it at home and we watched it once we made it back and it was never as loud on TV as it was in person. The WWE's production crew really do put a clamp on the crowds loudness in the production end of the show it seems. That, or they just don't have the ability to tap into the arena's FULL sound system (which I know for a fact is bogus). I've always wondered why that is sometimes, because it didn't really seem to start until after 2000. Perhaps I'm wrong though.


BTW, got to meet Chris Jericho at a local Nashville FYE Record Store earlier in the afternoon yesterday. He was running about two hours behind schedule due to some flight cancellations on his end and once he got to the store, he only had about 30 minutes to sign autographs of his new record from his group "Fozzy" (which is quite nice!). Chris was awesome and told everyone that he only had 30 minutes but wants to make sure everyone in line (about 120 or so people) got a chance to get an autograph and picture so we had to move fast he said. But he was adamant about making sure everyone went home happy and completely adorned with his signature. He's a really great guy and my hat goes off to him for his thoughtfulness yesterday. He honestly could've blown it all off and just went on to the arena to get ready for RAW, but he still made the showing at FYE Records and that was totally legit in my book. I've got a great deal of respect for him because of that. Stand up guy that is a great ambassador for the WWE and Fozzy!

 

[Ferbian]

Smackdown last night was pretty good.

We start off with announcing Jack Swagger vs The Big Show tonight.

Drew McIntyre is back. Getting decent heat. Odd that he's in the ring and afterwards his theme music start. Teddy Long gets to the ring as well. They're talking about the visa problem.

Drew wants to resolve the problems between him and Teddy. Interesting. He apologizes for it. Teddy Long says he has no advantage anymore. Apparently Drew is nominating Teddy Long for The Hall of Fame. Early hype but I could see him going in. Seems as if Drew is trying to get the advantages from Teddy Long.

Teddy has Drew begging for him to get into the Money in the Bank ladder match. Seems as if he's doing it. This is a pretty good starting segment. I could imagine that Teddy really enjoyed that segment from a non kayfabe perspective. Drew has to earn his spot. So he has to beat Kofi Kingston to qualify.

Also there's a triple thread match - MVP, Dolph ziggler and Chavo Guerrero for a spot in the SmackDown Money in the Bank ladder match.

The trple threat is next. Dolph making his way to the ring with Vickie Guerrero. I guess the relationship didn't end. HAHA Matt Striker sounds hilarious talking to Vickie Guerrero.

The match was pretty good. Todd Grisham questioning whether it's an actual handicap match. Seems kind of obvious. Chavo going for a pin with Vickie Guerrero screaming "We talked about this". Dolph starting to beat up Chavo Guerrero. We see the Three Amigos. I love that move.

Loved the part where MVP goes for the Balling elbow drop only to throw Dolph out of the way. Match ended with a sleeper hold when Vickie Guerrero distracted the referee. Dolph qualifying to Money in the Bank.

We get another Alberto Del Rio promo. I don't exactly believe I understood a single thing he talked about.

We see Rey Mysterio backstage in the trainers room. Getting looked at the ankle that Jack Swagger injured. Jack Swagger comes in. Starting to attack the ankle with an akle lock. That segment was great. Big Show coming to the help and the crowd starts chanting his name.

Christian making his way to the ring. I seriously love his theme music. Matt Hardy is his tag team partner. That's a kind of bummer. I had hoped for a one on one match.

Their opponents are Curt Hawkins and Vance Archer. I thought they only had how many days to make an impact? They still bore me. No matter how boring Matt gets in singles competition. I've always liked him in tag team wrestling. This match shows it. Christian attacking Matt Hardy as he leaves ring side. Letting Vance and Curt take the victory.

Time for Drew McIntyre vs Kofi Kingston. This match could be pretty good. They've done it before. Starts with some pretty decent grabbling. Match ends with Drew McIntyre getting the pin after his pin (I forgot the name of the finisher).

We see Rosa doing gymnastics backstage. That's her new role isn't it? CM Punk and Gallows comes by and watches her.

We get another Alberto Del Rio promo.

CM Punk and Gallows is in the ring. Gallows telling Serena to get out to the ring. And she does. Talking about making a mistake. She wants forgiveness. Gallows said Punk would never forgive her. Punk says he forgives Serena. Seems like he's playing favorites here. Pretty good segment. I wonder where this will bring the Straight Edge Society storyline.

Cody Rhodes getting to the ring. New theme music. New titantron with an implemented mirror. That's great. I don't like the music. But the entrance is perfect. WWE seems serious about him.

Cody Rhodes vs JTG. The match was pretty decent. It ends with a crossrhodes for the pin. I've grown to like Cody a lot with this gimmick.

Kelly Kelly backstage looking hot as ever. Great choice of outfit to say the least. Layla interrupting. Seems Kelly Kelly got a title match. Michelle McCool attacks from behind. They both look great as well.

Big Show backstage as well to be interviewed. Talking about Jack Swagger. They're hyping the ankle lock very well.

Jack Swagger making his way to the ring. Big Show making his way to the ring afterwards for the match. The match was pretty good. I feel like I've said this before tonight. But it truly is. Jack looked decent against Big Show.

Ends in a double count-out. Jack attacks the ankle as he leaves. Kane coming forth taking a choke hold on Swagger as he tells him they need to talk. Apparently he's the next potential target. Jack saying he has an alibi that he will reveal next week.

Pretty good show if you ask me. B+

 

[Jack-Hammer]

WWE Smackdown - July 9, 2010

Thumbs Up

Opening Segment - I enjoyed this segment and thought it was pretty solid. Watching McIntyre being forced to beg as he'd made Long beg weeks back and compliment him had a nice touch. I'm glad to see that the Chosen One thing seems to be done as they'd gone about as far as they could with it. Refusing McIntyre entry into the Smackdown MITB match at the ppv even after begging worked well, showed a little different side of Teddy. Setting up a qualifying match in which McIntyre has to beat Kofi Kingston polished it off well as the two have always worked good matches against each other.

Dolph Ziggler vs. MVP vs. Chavo Guerrero - This was a pretty decent triple threat qualifying match, though nothing overly special. It ran for about 7 minutes but would have been better if it made it to at least around 10. I'm glad to see Ziggler get the win, though I didn't have very many doubts that he'd win the match. Overall, nothing memorable but a decent match with the right guy getting the win.

Matt Hardy & Christian vs. Curt Hawkins & Vance Archer - The match in and of itself was lame and lasted only about 3 minutes. However, I'm giving it a thumbs up as it looks like Christian is about to turn heel as he ultimately caused Matt Hardy to get pinned last night. Christian is one of the best overall workers on the WWE roster and he's even better as a heel. I'm not overly thrilled with the possibility of a feud with him and Matt Hardy, but I believe Christian can carry Hardy through some pretty good matches.

Kofi Kingston vs. Drew McIntyre - This was a fantastic match. I really like how these two work together and it was definitely a ppv quality match. Both of them worked hard and it was easily the best match of the night, possibly the best match of this week. It's nice to see McIntyre pull out of the slump he's been in recently as he picks up a win over Kofi to qualify for the MITB match next Sunday. He also handed Kofi his first lost since coming to Smackdown. Great effort by both guys here.

Jack Swagger vs. The Big Show - The match in and of itself was ok, nothing special but I do like that Swagger continues to be aggressive towards The Big Show. Going after the ankle again as he's done previous works and makes logical sense of course. Show is a huge man and taking out his leg takes away a lot of his strength. I like the double countout ending here as neither guy loses any steam. However, I do have to admit that the aftermath with Kane accusing Swagger did make Swagger look like something of a pussy. Anyhow, the match was pretty decent. Having a decent match against The Big Show is something of an accomplishment in and of itself.

Thumbs Down

"Dashing" Cody Rhodes vs. JTG - There's not really much you can say about this. I mean the two had a match, it lasted about 3 minutes with Rhodes picking up a win. Complete filler here. I'm starting to like Cody Rhodes, but it looks like the WWE is really making him start off at the bottom with this waste of time with JTG.

Overall Show - Thumbs Up - Smackdown was pretty good this week, though nothing particularly great except for one match. We saw the first solid hint of a Christian heel turn, Dolph Ziggler is in the MITB after a pretty decent triple threat win, Kofi Kinston & McIntyre had a terrific match and Swagger continues to impress me. I think that things need to be cranked up for the go home Smackdown next week. Overall I give last night's show a 7.5 out of 10, but the score probably would have been lower had it not been for the Kinston/McIntyre match.

 

[Mustang Sally]

Kofi Kingston vs. Drew McIntyre - This was a fantastic match. I really like how these two work together and it was definitely a ppv quality match. Both of them worked hard and it was easily the best match of the night, possibly the best match of this week. It's nice to see McIntyre pull out of the slump he's been in recently as he picks up a win over Kofi to qualify for the MITB match next Sunday. He also handed Kofi his first lost since coming to Smackdown. Great effort by both guys here.

And the festivities are topped off by getting to see Drew on his knees?

I mean, are you kidding me? Sure, the match with Kofi was terrific, with both guys selling like mad for the other and the ebb and flow of the match going in so many directions that I honestly had no idea who would win. A great effort.

But you don't know how much I wanted to superimpose my own picture over Teddy Longs'.....so Drew would be bowing down to me!!!


Drew!

 

[klunderbunker]

Smackdown
Date: July 9, 2010
Location: Phillips Arena, Atlanta, Georgia
Commentators: Matt Striker, Todd Grisham

We open with the clips of Swagger and his ankle locks a go-go the past two weeks. Is there a reason this isn’t how he was when he was world champion?

Show vs. Swagger tonight.

Here’s the no longer deported Drew McIntyre. At least they got those issues settled quickly. Before he can talk it’s the dancing GM looking like he got caught in the fire of a paint ball fight. Teddy says starting tonight Drew has no special treatment and he’s on equal footing with everyone else. Drew says he’s going to nominate Teddy for the Hall of Fame. Is this a mutual nominations society all of a sudden?

Drew says he wants to be in MITB so he can be in the main event at Mania 27 here in Atlanta. Teddy says if you want it, you can beg for it. We see the clip from a few weeks ago where Drew humiliated him in their “match”. The fans chant ON YOUR KNEES. Where’s Swagger when you need him? He has to tell Teddy that he’s handsome, debonair, high class, sharp dressed and intelligent. Teddy finishes it off by making Drew say he’s glad Teddy is his boss. Long is great in this role. Drew vs. Kofi tonight….again.

MVP vs. Chavo vs. Dolph to get into the MITB match next.

MVP vs. Chavo Guerrero vs. Dolph Ziggler

Vickie is on commentary and manages to put the headset on backwards. MVP gets beaten down as it’s pretty clear he’s going to win. Matt tries to explain why the heels aren’t fighting at all which is funny for some reason. He’s decent as a heel commentator. After a break both guys are down and Chavo looks at Vickie for a LONG time before covering MVP. She freaks as this is of course all about Vickie.

The heels go at it now with Dolph freaking out on him in a cool moment. MVP gets Ballin and the Play of the Day or 305 or whatever it’s called but Vickie pulls the referee out. Ziggler hooks the sleeper on him so that Dolph is going to the MITB match.

Rating: D+. Too short here and a lack of credible talent hurts this a lot. That and the whole Vickie storyline is one I just can’t get into and it was like an anchor on this whole thing. They spent weeks making Dolph out to be this guy that can stop anybody with his choke hold and throw Vickie with him which is making him look weaker. Anyway, the match just wasn’t very good.

Alberto Del Rio doesn’t lie. Get on with it.

Rey’s leg/ankle is hurt. Apparently he won’t be wrestling again. At least he’s on the show for two straight weeks. Swagger comes in and puts the ankle lock on him and drags him down the hall with it. He lets go and then does it again, picking Rey up by the leg and throwing him into a wall like Jason did to the girl at camp with the tree. He brings him into the arena, all the while dragging him by the ankle, until Show makes the save.

Christian/Matt Hardy vs. Vance Archer/Curt Hawkins

Hawkins and Matt start us off. After about a minute and a half of nothing at all, Christian pulls Matt over the top rope and leaves. The heels’ double finisher ends it in maybe 3 minutes total. No rating obviously.

Drew vs. Kofi up next.

Drew McIntyre vs. Kofi Kingston

If Drew wins he’s in MITB. If Kofi wins he gets a hearty handshake. A rollup by Kofi gets two very fast. Damn Kofi can freaking move. This starts off like the matches they’ve had which means it’s solid thus far. After a break it’s more of the same as they’re both trying to get momentum but neither really can. Drew blocks the SOS which is what he lost to at least twice.

Kofi hits Shadows Over Hell (for you Delirious fans out there) and doesn’t cover. He does the hand slap thing and the fans chant boom. I wonder how Drew knew something was coming? Kofi hits the second one for two. We crank it up and things start getting good. Both guys go to the floor as Kofi hits a suicide dive that looked good. On the apron Kofi goes for the Boom Drop and gets launched into the post for being an idiot. Future Shock ends it clean. The match just kind of ended.

Rating: B. Solid stuff here. They started slowly but then cranked it up very nicely. I’m not huge on the ending but Drew winning mostly clean is definitely a good thing. He needs to get some wins like that to give him some credibility and he got that here. Also he belongs in MITB so that’s a good thing.

We recap the Serena/SES thing which is an angle I like, although I hope they don’t pull the plug on the group this early.

Rosa is exercising again. Punk and Gallows walk past her.

Another Del Rio promo about honesty.

The SES is in the ring and Gallows is talking. They call out Serena and here’s the bald bombshell. She asks for forgiveness and Gallows says she’s pathetic. Punk hasn’t said anything yet. Gallows tries to throw her out and Punk says it’s not Luke’s decision. He forgives her, prompting Gallows to leave. They hug and Gallows isn’t happy.

Cody Rhodes vs. JTG

Dashing Cody Rhodes has new music which sounds just a bit like the chorus of Living on a Prayer to start. Just let this be quick. I wonder what’s going to happen here. This is nothing of course as Rhodes is dominant and Cross Roads ends it as I’m typing the word dominant.

Rating: N/A. Old school squash here which is what they’ve been leaning more towards recently which is a good thing. JTG is of course a joke so there was no drama or anything. Rhodes looked good though so the match served its purpose.

Kelly says nothing of note. Layla comes up and insults her. Michelle jumps Kelly and Tiffany shows up after they leave.

After a recap of the Swagger/Rey thing earlier, Show looks like a sad panda. He says he’s never felt pain like the ankle lock before and nearly cries over Rey. He’s healthy tonight and he’s going to make Swagger suffer tonight. This is a different side of Show and it’s working. They’ve been very good lately about making their characters more fleshed out and well rounded and it’s been a success.

Jack Swagger vs. Big Show

Swagger goes straight for the ankle which gets him nowhere. For a match where Show said he was going to make Swagger suffer, he’s not doing much outside of his normal stuff. Show hits a shoulder block that looked great and knocked Swaggie to the floor. Ankle lock doesn’t work and Show kicks Swagger all the way to the floor which looked insane. Jack is put on the floor for the third time in 90 seconds. They “fight” up the ramp and there’s the double count out for the cheap ending.

Post match Swagger takes over on Show and heads to the back but Kane jumps him and carries him into a room with a red light. Kane literally interrogates him under the lights. There’s nothing actually holding Swagger in the chair but he sits there anyway. He says he has an alibi and he’ll prove it next week.

Rating: C-. Despite being short this wasn’t as bad as you would think. Swagger took some great looking bumps here although I really do question the whole idea of having Show be all mad and then do nothing about it. This wasn’t anything special but it could have been far worse. For what it was though, this was fine.

Overall Rating: C. Not really a great show, but they were more focused on in ring stuff than last week so that’s definitely a step in the right direction. This set up more for MITB which is a good sign. This wasn’t awful but it’s certainly not great. Still though, another week and another show that is becoming par for the course: solid but not great.

 

[Miss Flawless]

WWE RAW! was pretty good tonight, minus the stupid thing with spunk the clown and santino and regal, ect.

What stood out to me is that WWE followed through with what we were thinking. Michael Cole said there was an old saying -

Just when you think you've got all the answers, I change the questions.

which is is a Roddy Piper quote.

Another thing is during one of the WWE MIB things, they showed CM Punk cashing his contract in against Jeff Hardy. He's in TNA now...and I know WWE has done it before, but they never really showed a TNA wrestler for more than 2 seconds.

Overall the show was good. I would give it a B

 

[dionlyone18]

RAw tonight was awsome..okay who else saw that fucking sick ass rko off the air bourne. ive never seen the crowd mark out that hard in a long time it was crazy good..the whole night was good..minus the brady bunch shit but good night even the main event was pretty good overall i give it a b plus

 

[The New Generation]

Wow. A very odd show tonight. The highlight of the night was definantly the RKO on Evan Bourne during the SSP.

The Main Event was good as it made the Nexus look legitimate and didn't make Cena look like "Super" Cena.

The Worst part of the night was the Brady Bunch match, which was about 30 seconds long with only 4 our of the 8 people actually getting into the match.

Overall rating: B. This was a good raw and kept me entertained, but nothing as good as we have seen on recents Raw's. It set up MITB PPV well as i can't wait to see what happend with nexus and the MITB matches.

 

[Unsold Bacon]

Wow. A very odd show tonight. The highlight of the night was definantly the RKO on Evan Bourne during the SSP.

I didn't see that part until I saw it in your sig. I thought Orton faced Edge and he won after Chris Jericho interfered then gave Edge the Codebreaker BTW you might want to get rid of it. Video sigs arent allowed

I give Last night's edition of RAW a:B-

 

[Jack-Hammer]

WWE Raw - July 12, 2010

Thumbs Up

Opening Segment - I thought the opening segment of the show was pretty decent, nothing spectacular but it was alright. It didn't really do much to excite me about the Cena/Sheamus match at the ppv, but it should be a pretty good match anyhow. The Nexus made their presence known and felt halfway through Cena's promo and got some great heat. I continue to be impressed by Wade Barrett as he's extremely comfortable in his role and has been very compotent on the mic. Due to Cena's assault on Darren Young last week, he's out of the match and it'll be a 6 on 1 handicap match. I think that Young is potentially the weakest link overall in The Nexus as he just doesn't stand out all that much. While the segment didn't hype the Cena/Sheamus match very much, it did make me look forward to the handicap match.

The Hart Dynasty & Natalya vs. The Uso Brothers & Tamina - I can understand if someone thought this was a waste of time but I kind of enjoyed it. It was decent while it lasted, although I'm usually not a fan of 3 minute matches. Tamina & Natalya were pointless as they barely got involved. I'm really hoping for a great tag team match from these teams at the ppv. The Usos got the win cleanly, so don't expect them to walk out with the titles. It's a minor thumbs up.

Ted DiBiase, Maryse & John Morrison - I thought this was a pretty decent confrontational segment. DiBiase was decent on the mic and hyped his presence in the MITB match well. Maryse was gorgeous and she plays the role of the golddigging girlfriend/valet/eyecandy well. Morrison came out and made a few lame jokes, though they weren't as awful as they could have been. Overall, Morrison was somewhat better on the mic than he has been lately. Still, I don't look for Morrison to rise any higher until his character becomes more serious. Overall, a decent segment.

The Nexus - The Nexus made their presence felt backstage last night by jumping several Raw wrestlers. Yoshi Tatsu, John Morrison and, eventually, Evan Bourne were all laid out by the group. During the Bourne beating, Sheamus was there taunting Bourne and made a cowardly retreat when it looked like Nexus was about to jump him as well. I like that The Nexus has pretty much made just about everyone a target. While Cena has been their primary objective, it only makes Nexus look better by being up against nearly the whole Raw locker room.

Edge vs. Randy Orton - I thought this was a pretty damn good match overall. It was a little slow in some spots, but a very good match for me overall. The crowd was really hot for this and both Edge and Orton worked well together. Around the eleven and a half minute mark, Jericho comes down and tosses his jacket into the ring, distracting Orton long enough for Edge to get the win. Afterward, Jericho comes into the ring and nails Edge with the Codebreaker before getting caught in the RKO. Then, Evan Bourne comes in and assaults Randy Orton because of last week. Bourne hits a kick and goes for Air Bourne, even though Orton is about in the center of the ring. Bourne leaps and flips only for Orton to leap up a bit and catch Bourne with the RKO. It was a fantastic spot. If Orton had done a kip up and caught Bourne in the RKO, the friggin' roof would've come off Rupp Arena. Overall, a very entertaining match and segment that did a lot to hype Raw's MITB ladder match.

The Miz - The Miz came out and gave a pretty good promo carrying the United States Championship. I like the new ruthless and aggressive direction The Miz has been taking lately and I think it suits him well. His promo was interrupted due to an email from the anonymous Raw GM, who named R-Truth's replacement in the MITB as Mark Henry and that The Miz would face Henry in a match. I was somewhat disappointed in Henry being the choice, but there are plenty of great workers in the match so it should work out. The match was too short to comment on, though Henry slamming head first into the Raw GM podium was a nice spot and Henry sold it well. I think they should have had The Miz go apeshit with a chair on Henry while he was down, but the menacing glare he gave Henry while he was down was ok. A pretty good segment overall.

Edge Promo - Before the main event, Edge cuts a backstage promo with Josh Matthews that was really good. I like the menacing, quiet intensity that's going on with Edge lately. Edge's facial expressions really helped here as the camera was trained on his face most of the time and it sold Edge as this calculating, ruthless guy that gets off on ruining other people's lives.

The Nexus vs. John Cena - The match was pretty enjoyable overall, but what I enjoyed most was the fact that they didn't pull out SuperCena and have him go over these guys here. Not only did The Nexus beat Cena, but they did it cleanly and by the rules the anonymous Raw GM set down for the match. I admit that I was a little worried that the WWE was gonna screw up this thing by having Cena win. Everyone in The Nexus gotta chance to stand out to some degree and hit some big moves on Cena. The end comes when Cena has Wade Barrett up for the Attitude Adjustment and Sheffield makes a tag to Barrett unseen. After hitting the AA, Sheffield nails Cena with a clothesline. Otunga is tagged in next and hits Cena with his slam finisher before making the tag to Justin Gabriel. Gabirel drags Cena to the corner, hits the 450 Splash and scores the pinfall. Cena managing to escape the beatdown was a nice touch and assaulting Heath Slater with a steel chair was a nice bit. Barrett rounded the boys up and they surrounded Cena and were about to take him on despite having a chair but, surprisingly, here comes Sheamus out to the ring with his own chair. He and Cena stand in the ring together to end the show. It was an unusual way to hype their match at MITB, but I liked how they did it. Somehow, Cena got busted open and I'm wondering if maybe the chair ricocheted off the top rope and smacked him in the face. Hot closing to the show.

Thumbs Down

Alicia Fox vs. Gail Kim - Basically, this was your standard 2 minute Divas match that you'll see on Raw or Smackdown. Kind of a shame really as both these women are good inside the ring. If they're going to have Diva matches, I wish they'd just do it on Superstars. There, Divas are actually given relevant tv time and usually have good matches. Alicia Fox scores the win with the scissor kick and it's announced that she has a match with Eve Torres at MITB for the Divas title. Whoopee.

Brady Bunch Segment - I hate the Brady Bunch, always did and probably always will. I don't know what it is, but I truly believe that Vince McMahon loves cornball comedy. It's the only explanation I can think of for the occassional injection of corn into an episode of Raw. All the "Brady Kids" of the segment were basically Raw rejects that have an 8 man tag match later on.

Eight Man Tag Team Match - Easily the lamest aspect of the show. The entire match was about 2 minutes and was just an absolute waste of time. I understand that a certain amount of filler is needed, but why not try to make the filler at least somewhat decent? Santino Marella's charm has long since faded for me. Either overhaul his character or send him the way of Hornswoggle. And Doink The Clown???!?!?!?! What the hell?!?!?!?! See, that's what I meant earlier by Vince and his love of cornball comedy. This entire match served no purpose at all and is a grim reminder that it's high time for the guest host concept to come to an end.

Overall Show - Thumbs Up - Raw was an overally decent show last night, though it's definitely not the best go home show I've seen by a long shot. The highlights of the show were Nexus, the Edge/Orton match, the Edge promo and the Nexus/John Cena match. There were a few just really awful things that happened and the overall show wasn't as strong as it could have been or has been in recent weeks. Overall, I give last night's episode of Raw a 7 out of 10.

 

[Kenny Powers]

With Carol Brady and Doink the Clown on the show I thought it was 1993 all over again. I'll have to wait and see how the other KY crew rated the show since they probably saw it live. I haven't see a Raw in Rupp Arena in years if even ever. The Nexus angle is loosing steam considering that even in defeat Cena got the upper hand on 6 men. Sheamus coming to Cena's aid when he is suppose to defend his title against him in 6 days was a letdown too. The last things you want to see before a PPV are two main event heel and face stars being in cahoots with each other.

I will give credit for Orton and Bourne pulling off the RKO in mid air. I haven't seen anything of that magnitude in a while. Edge cut a decent promo while John Morrison sucked the life out of the crowd. Who writes this stuff for Morrison? African duck billed platypus?

The crowd was receptive of Florence Henderson and she seemed to be having fun, but as William Regal said earlier on the show, Carol Brady is the guest host and who is the General Manager of Raw? Gilligan? Who ever wrote that joke should now that Bob Denver (Gilligan) died 5 years ago. Michael Cole reading every single email from the "Anonymous GM" is starting to get annoying too. Breaking News Alicia Fox will defend her title against Eve at Money in the Bank!

Who is the General Manager, Buzz Killington? The crowd at Rupp Arena seemed to have a good time, but if I paid 60 bucks for a ticket just to see Doink the Clown I would of probably walked out of the arena.