Official Raw/Smackdown Aftermath, Ratings and Review Thread

[stee]

Tonight's show rather disappointed me.

It had good parts though and them parts were very good parts.

Lots of wrestling! Though the wrestling was the let down for me tonight at least we had a lot of it for once, nice to see RAW taking a leaf out of SD!'s book.

Both Orton and Miz were class as usual and they both set up their feuds for NoC and i do except to see Miz and Daniel Bryan for the US title like many others.

The guest host segments were short which is always good lol, and the second one was actually quite funny. Maybe WWE are getting the message....

The GM got rid of Bret Hart, finally! I love the guy but its time to call it a day. One thing though: why would the GM let Bret give the titles to the Hart's the say he hates Bret. Confused me. Anyway, the titles im unsure about, but glad there is only one title now, we get to see more flesh of Natalya's lol.

The only positive of the Nexus for me tonight was see Barrett look like he belonged in the ring with Jericho, and scored a good CLEAN pin fall on him, with a nice way to end the match too.

The rest of the wrestling disappointed me, i was looking forward to them all competing tonight however as soon as each match started i knew what the out come would be. And for me that was the problem tonight, i found it boring because i knew what was going to happen, dont insult me WWE, i like most fans are not a screaming child and we find DQ's, count outs and Super Cena's just irritating and boring. Plus, it did nothing to help Nexus at all, after basing a whole show on them, for me they didn't do well with it. I hope this changes! I really do.

Oh and btw, the diva's dont even deserve to be reviewed!

 

[martymcfly]

Maybe there was too much going on with nexus and all, but riley won the silly punching contest and was supposed to be featured on raw. All he did was show up with the miz and hold down bryan. That's it? That was his big prize, that he got to tag along with the miz on a rampage? What a let down.

 

[xTSDLx]

Last night's Raw didn't completely bore me like Raw has been doing lately, I actually somewhat enjoyed it. The Cena promo wasn't horrible and was actually some what funny during parts of it.

The Barrett and Jericho match was pretty good. Jericho is always great in the ring and Barrett has a promising career in front of him. Looking forward to seeing what is to come from him in the months and years to come.

The divas match was the same old thing we get every week.

Glad the WWE decided to finally go to one set of belts for the Tag Team Championships, although they are flat out ugly belts. I doubt this will lead to the tag team division being revitalized as I stated in the official new tag team titles thread.

I enjoyed The Miz promo. I've really been enjoying his mic and in-ring work lately. The Miz and Bryan feud should be pretty good. It's really the only feud in WWE that I'm really excited about.

I was disappointed that not all of Nexus was able to win by pin falls or submissions, but since they are the heels, getting a win and staying a part of Nexus anyway possible made sense for a few of them.

I'm glad to see Darren Young out of Nexus. I can't stand that guy, probably because of his hair, but none the less I'm glad he is out.

Overall, I'd give this Raw a "B-" Was actually pretty entertaining at times, had quite a bit of wrestling, and besides the first in ring guest host promo, they weren't terrible.

 

[klunderbunker]

Monday Night Raw
Date: August 16, 2010
Location: Staples Center, Los Angeles, California
Commentators: Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler
Guest Hosts: Jason Sudekis, Charlie Day, Justin Long

Nexus is out first and they don’t look happy. Barrett says what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger. They defeated six of the best Raw had. BUT THEY DIDN’T BEAT SUPER CENA! THEY GOTZ BURIEDZ! So stupid last night it really was. Anyway Barrett says it’s not over yet and here comes Cena, now in purple. What an appropriate song.

Cena does the basic talk of we won and Bryan is awesome. Tonight they’re individuals though. We begin with Otunga, who is a male escort apparently. That’s rather amusing. Tarver is an MMA bank robber/male stripper. Slater is the Wendy’s chick. That’s very accurate actually. I’m going to Wendy’s tomorrow so that’s not fair. Black John Cena joke. Gabriel gets a tiny gay joke about him. Sheffield gets the Meow Mix song. This is a funny promo.

Cole gets an e-mail and a lot of booing. Tonight there’s a series of matches with Nexus vs. Team WWE. According to Barrett if anyone in Nexus loses tonight they’re out. A second e-mail says Nexus gets to pick the lineup other than the Barrett match, which is against Jericho and next.

Wade Barrett vs. Chris Jericho

Well this should be good. Pretty back and forth match to start as I really don’t know who is going to win here. I’d bet on Barrett though if I had to pick someone. Barrett controls for the most part but this is pretty clearly going to be a quick match. Jericho is wrestling like a face here which fits him very well. Walls get reversed as does Wasteland.

There are the Walls to a BIG face pop but he makes the ropes. There of course is a big boot for two. Jericho gets a nice counter into a running enziguri. Codebreaker is reversed into Wasteland for the totally clean pin. I wouldn’t have be on that one. Wait yes I did. I’m a genius!

Rating: B. Solid opening match actually. This is how you put someone like Barrett over as Jericho was in the main event of a PPV last night and is a 6 time world champion. He then put Barrett over as the expression goes clean as a sheet. This worked very well for what it was and I really liked it.

The guest hosts are here and they are freaking annoying as hell. They do cheap tactics like talking about the Miami Heat etc and bring out the Hart Dynasty. Cue e-mail. The Unified Tag Titles are gone and are now the WWE Tag Team Titles, complete with NEW BELTS. It’s about time. Bret brings out the new titles. Nexus pops up on screen and it’s Gabriel vs. Hart later.

We go through the Daniel Bryan return last night to set up this.

Daniel Bryan vs. Michael Tarver

Bryan gets a chant to start us off and Cole hates him even more. Tarver throws punches which is all he can seem to do. Bryan takes over and hits a missile dropkick. And here are Miz and Riley. Tarver gets a rollup to beat Daniel Bryan! Let the IWC explode. Danielson fights all three of them and it goes badly, ending with a Skull Crushing Finale on the MITB case. He actually DENTED THE CASE. FREAKING OW MAN!

Rating: C+. They went short again here to protect Bryan which is smart. He’s good but he needs more time to get used to the WWE style because it’s what the fans are expecting. He was entertaining here though and it worked pretty well. Tarver is finally throwing punches which is the point of his gimmick, making me wonder why he never has before but whatever. This was fine.

Legendary trailer again.

Miz and Riley talk about how much better they are than Bryan.

Nexus is in the back still and Young makes an overly dramatic announcement that he wants Cena. These guys CANNOT ACT.

Justin Gabriel vs. Bret Hart

After Gabriel’s entrance and a commercial, we get an e-mail saying no Bret in the match tonight. The GM doesn’t like Bret and doesn’t want him competing ever again. Wait what the hell? The new opponent is…

Justin Gabriel vs. Randy Orton

Uh…sure. Well cue Sheamus’ run in I’d bet. This is kind of a long standoff with Gabriel doing a lot of martial arts looking stuff. Orton uses clotheslines of course. I like that powerslam. This is one sided already. DDT drills Gabriel and it’s RKO time. Sheamus is here for the brawl but there’s no DQ called. They head into the crowd and it’s a count out. Cheap but effective. RKO to Gabriel just because he can. Orton KILLS Sheamus with a chair afterwards, hitting like 10 SICK shots to the back. Sheamus gets up of course and takes the RKO on the floor.

Rating: N/A. This was just a way to keep Gabriel on the team which is fine. Everyone in the LD predicted Sheamus’ involvement so it’s not like this was a big secret. The post match stuff was cool. This is an Orton I could get behind.

Skip Sheffield/David Otunga vs. John Morrison/R-Truth

So I guess that means Edge vs. Slater and Young vs. Cena. Those aren’t that appealing. There isn’t much here as Sheffield dominates for the most part as you would expect. Truth gets knocked off and Morrison takes the big clothesline from Sheffield to have 5 Nexus members staying around.

Rating: N/A. Nexus looked very good here. Totally clean win with solid heel tag team wrestling technique from the heels. Perfectly done.

Melina/Gail Kim/Eve Torres vs. Alicia Fox/Maryse/Jillian Hall

Jon Lovitz is in the crowd. Oh good night. Gail botches a cross body as we keep looking at Lovitz. Everything breaks down and it’s Jillian vs. Eve in the ring. A nice springboard kick by Eve is no sold and Jillian gets a rollup for the pin.

Rating: N/A. Another short match and you know it means nothing. Eve looked good at least.

Edge says he captained the team last night and Slater pops up. He wants to cut a deal and have Edge not show up. Edge says no because he doesn’t want to lose to a Wendy looking, ginger haired Edge wannabe. Slater hits him and Edge looks EVIL at him.

Heath Slater vs. Edge

I have a feeling Slater goes home here. Slater misses a splash and Edge takes over. This is a rather boring match as they’re just kind of going through the motions here. We hit the floor and Edge waits on the spear forever. Slater steps to the side and slides in for the WIN! Spear afterwards. Total face match for Edge here.

Rating: N/A. Once is fine, but this is getting a bit hard to believe. Edge or Jericho need to go face to give Sheamus another challenger though.

Khali is here in the back with Singh and one of the guest hosts. Khali has a girlfriend now but she lives in India. The guest host thinks she’s ugly and the others agree. Khali speaks English now, or at least he understands it. The Bellas show up and he leaves with them. Was there a point to this at all?

Summerslam Recall is the week in review they did last night.

Darren Young vs. John Cena

No intro for Young. That’s likely a bad sign. There’s a good amount of time left though so this might not be so bad. We hear that WWE’s Facebook has over 1 millions fans as of right now. That’s kind of cool I guess. Nexus stands on the stage for this. Young actually dominates here for the most part with some basic stuff. He dropkicks the steps into Cena’s head and they tease another count out. Cena is of course in 9.8 but it was a nice false finish.

Cena initiates the ending sequence but the FU is countered. STFU goes on and Young is out of Nexus. Nexus surrounds Cena after the match but cena gets away. Yep Young is about to get a beatdown. Lawler calls him Daniel Bryan for some reason as he gets destroyed.

Rating: C. This was fine. There were people actually freaking out about Cena beating Young. Are you kidding me? He beat up a guy that is most famous for looking like John Cena. Why is this supposed to be a shock or a surprise? This did what it was supposed to do and it came off fine as Nexus gets rid of its weakest guy. Fine.

Overall Rating: C+. This was a nice way to keep things going without really setting much up for Night of Champions. The good thing about that show is that you don’t have to do much as far as angles go. The title matches happen because there need to be title matches. This kept things going pretty well though as Nexus looks good and they trim off some fat which was hurting them pretty badly. This was a good show and it worked with a theme tying it together. Good show but repetitive, which is what brings it down so low.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

WWE Raw - August 16, 2010

Opening Segment - I thought the opening segment of Raw last night was really well done. Barrett gave a solid promo and retained the same confident and collected manner he's always had as leader of The Nexus. Nexus is still as over and has as much heat as they ever did, so there goes all the complaints about Nexus no longer being relevant after losing a single match. Cena comes out to a huge pop and usually Cena when he's all happy kinda gets me annoyed, but it worked last night because he did just come off a big win. The crowd was hot for the segment and there were some genuinely chuckle worthy moments during the promo. I thought the Heath Slater/Wendy bit was genuinely funny and now people have something to chant against him. The part about Cena's mother having a lusty affair with Buckweet with Darren Young being the result was funny as well, or at least I thought so, and was a little bit racier than we've heard from Cena in a while. Having the Raw GM place The Nexus in matches against members of Team WWE was very interesting because it gave all the matches something of a purpose. Strong segment to open things up. Thumbs Up

Chris Jericho vs. Wade Barrett - Very solid and entertaining match between Barrett & Jericho. Barrett looked like a strong and capable opponent against Jericho and fans are having fun cheering Jericho while they can. They know it's not going to last, so they're indulging a bit. Barrett gets a clean win over Jericho about the 5 and a half minute mark. Jericho puts another guy over well and still looks like a million bucks. Thumbs Up

Guest Hosts, Bret Hard & The Hart Dynasty - I'd completely forgotten about there being guest hosts on Raw last night. I remember Justin Long from Dodgeball and Charlie Day I love watching on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. They came out and did their thing, yadda yadda, introduced the Hart Dynasty. The GM announces that the unified tag titles are now simply the WWE Tag Team Championship and Bret Hart comes out and presents the straps. From what I saw of the belts, they look nice with a nice looking mix of red in with the gold. They have kind of an old school look to me. I liked this segment overall. I know it was filler, but it was good filler. I didn't expect to see new titles show up and I'm hoping this means changes coming soon for all the titles because most of them need new looks, especially the gawdy WWE Championship. Thumbs Up

Daniel Bryan vs. Michael Tarver - It was a very brief match, but it was still pretty decent. I'm not really a fan of 2 minute matches in general, but Daniel Bryan looked really crisp and smooth in the ring and Tarver is still pretty green. Bryan hit some good offense during the match and The Miz costing him the win against Tarver makes all the sense in the world. Nobody is going to legitimately buy into Michael Tarver winning against Daniel Bryan, not after SummerSlam. Michael Cole was still playing The Miz's chief fanboy and doing it well. I love how Cole is playing the heel announcer when it comes to The Miz and/or Daniel Bryan. It gets the internet fans worked up somethin' awful and it's so well done. The post match fight with Miz, Alex Riley & Bryan was well done and it sets the stage for what we've all been waiting to see happen since February: The Miz vs. Bryan. Thumbs Up

Randy Orton vs. Justin Gabriel - This was easily the weakest match of the night. I know Orton wasn't a member of Team WWE, but Bret Hart can't compete. We all know he can't and nobody is really trying to pretend otherwise. I think it wound up making Gabriel look weak for the most part and Orton looked as though he was just toying with him the entire time. Sheamus interfered and Orton wound up getting counted out. On one hand, I know the segment accomplished what it was meant to but the match didn't do Gabriel any favors. Also, with The Nexus being the focal point of last night's show, the WWE had to do something to keep the Sheamus/Orton feud in the picture and I understand that. Still, I just think there could've been a better way to go about it than having Gabriel look almost completely ineffective. Thumbs Down

Randy Orton - After the match with Gabriel, Orton went Captain Caveman on Sheamus and whipped the shit out of him with a steel chair. Orton's facial twitches, the way he moved and the sheer aggression he used against Sheamus made him look great. The crowd was absolutely eating it up. Thumbs Up

The Miz & John Morrison vs. Skip Sheffield & David Otunga - Pretty decent tag team match with these two teams with some pretty good action all around. Skip Sheffield really looked impressive during the match. The guy is genuinely intimidating looking and his facial expressions when he's about to hit a big move make him look downright scary. Sheffield gets a clean win over Morrison around the 3-3.5 minute mark. Otunga looked decent overall, but Sheffield shined more. He's a huge muscular guy but he's not some slow, uncoordinated clod running around. Good showing. Thumbs Up

Melina, Eve Torries & Gail Kim vs. Alicia Fox, Maryse & Jillian Hall - Honestly, I thought this was a pretty decent 6 Diva tag match. It only lasted about 3 minutes but it was a pretty decent quality 3 minute match. This is the second Raw in a row in which we've gotten a good Diva match. Nothing spectacular overall, just a decent showing and much better than the 60 second bullshit we usually see from the Divas on Raw. Good filler. Thumbs Up

Edge vs. Heath Slater - As with most of the other matches of the night, I thought the match was solid overall. Slater looked compotent in the ring against Edge and had a good showing for himself. The crowd started a pretty decently loud "Wendy sucks" chant aimed at Slater. However, I wasn't wild about the cheap finish with Edge getting counted out. I know the WWE is trying to preserve the stock of certain wrestlers while trying to put over The Nexus at the same time. Still, overall, a solid match between the two. Thumbs Up

John Cena vs. Darren Young - A good match overall with Darren Young giving a good showing of himself. Young got in a lot of offense on Cena, but I don't think the outcome of this match was in doubt. All members of The Nexus won their matches so you just knew that Darren Young was going to lose here. Cena gets the win via the STF at the 8 minute mark. The Nexus surrounds the ring and allows Cena to leave before they beat down on Darren Young. As he lost the match, he's out of The Nexus. Personally, I like the whole "survival of the fittest" mentality Nexus has. It sets them apart from other factions to some degree. They don't behave like friends, they behave like a pack of mercenary soldiers and that's something of the mentality you have. If you're a merc and can't pull your weight with other mercs, you get left behind. I just hope The Nexus doesn't do this on a regular basis. Overall, the 6 guys that they have left do manage to stand out and Young really was the weak link overall. Thumbs Up

Overall Show - Thumbs Up - Raw last night was a very solid show I thought. It wasn't spectacular, but it was a pretty enjoyable show. There were 7 matches on Raw last night, pretty heavy load. As a result, most of the matches were on the short side but most of what we saw was still pretty solid. Usually, Raw has about 4 matches with two generally lasting around 12-15 minute mark so they changed things a bit. A few of the cheap finishes of the matches pulled the show down some as we saw a couple of cheap finishes at SS and people are already tired of them. However, The Nexus is still very much relevant, they're just as over as they ever were and that's really what last night's Raw was all about showing. Overall, I give last night's episode of Raw a B-.

 

[MisterRob]

I actually sat down and watched an entire Monday Night RAW for the first time in a while. This show was nothing spectacular or super exiting, but I thought it was a very solid show and accomplished exactly what it set out to accomplish. The opening segment was good, Cena was fine on the mic and he did an effective job ridiculing the Nexus and setting up the theme for the whole show. I was quite happy to see that, finally, the Nexus members would get a chance to be in action as individuals and that the storyline was evolving beyond just a pack attacking people.

These are some young and inexperienced guys in the Nexus, but I really thought the matches tonight were all good overall and it was great to see the more established and top stars of RAW putting these guys over. That’s what you need and WWE did it well. Barrett vs. Jericho was a great opening match and Barrett looked strong coming out of it. A loss doesn’t effect Jericho, but the win cements Barrett as not only the rightful leader of Nexus but a guy who can compete and beat the top talent in the WWE.

I would’ve liked to have seen more out of Tarver, but the ending made sense and it did a good job of putting Tarver over and not making Danielson look weak at all. Miz shows up with Alex Riley and we have the furthering of a feud that I’m REALLY looking forward to.

When Bret Hart was taken out of the match with Gabriel I was relieved and I actually thought it was going to be Evan Bourne at first and I was looking forward to seeing a match between Gabriel and Bourne, which would’ve definitely been a good way of showcasing both guys and having Gabriel win cleanly. The Orton appearance surprised me, but the crowd exploded and I really did find the show picked up from that moment. I would’ve liked to have seen more out of Gabriel, although I did enjoy him standing up to Orton and the feeling out process that happened. Gabriel was going up against one of the top stars of the company, so it made sense that Orton took control. Sheamus’s interference was expected but it was good; the count out was good to continue the feud between these two and to give Gabriel a win to continue his time in Nexus. I found this whole match entertaining and the aftermath was great, Orton has got to be the most over guy in wrestling right now. The crowd was going crazy and those chair shots looked unbelievable!

I was surprised the tag team match wasn’t given more time, but it really did make Nexus look good and I am more and more impressed with Sheffield every time I see him. This guy could really be a monster in the future, and he can actually wrestle! It would’ve been nice to have seen a more competitive match for both sides, but this was very effective and I think made Sheffield for sure look like gold. I would’ve preferred to have seen Sheffield in a singles match because I think he could’ve been believable competing and beating one of the bigger names, while one of the others teamed with Otunga here. But good nonetheless! Sheffield certainly hid the weaknesses of Otunga rather well.

The Divas match was what it was, okay filler. I really wish the WWE would find some more effective way of getting people interested in the Divas though, as the division just doesn’t have any excitement or character to it. It is what it is, I guess.

I felt like the Edge vs. Slater match was the least interesting of them all for me. I’m not sure exactly why, either. It was a short but average match, I personally was hoping Slater would avoid Edge and he’d spear the steps and that was how it would end, with him hurting himself and allowing Slater to take advantage. The ending that did happen was effective, but it didn’t have the same impact as I’d have liked. I also wasn’t too fond of Edge then spearing Slater and leaving him laying as I felt it made Slater look quite weak, far more then any other of the Nexus members that night. What exactly are they doing with Edge anymore?

The last match of the night with Cena vs. Young was actually more interesting then I’d thought it would be. The fact that they actually ‘wrestled’ to start things off was surprising and not what people expected, I’m sure. Young held his own and looked pretty good, really, right up until Cena “hulking” up and making Young tap out to the STFU. I still thought Young looked good, and when the Nexus circled and went to pounce on Young I actually expected Cena to turn around and come to his save. Cena didn’t, Young was beaten down and eliminated from Nexus, and the show ended with Nexus standing tall.

I thought the show was very solid though, and I liked how it ended with Nexus stronger then they had been in the start of the show, compared to the beginning of RAW where Cena taunted them and their future was in question. This was well booked and did a good job evolving Nexus and moving the storyline forward the night after Summerslam.

The bad – I did not at all like the segments with the Guest hosts and I thought those were by far the weakest parts of the show and really were just meaningless additions that dragged down the quality of the show. I really wish they’d get rid of the Guest hosts, or do something different that uses them far better if they HAVE to be on the shows.

I felt like Otunga stood out to me as the next “weakest link” of Nexus. The guy was a horrible actor in both the opening segment and the backstage segments he was in, and there were glimpses of his flaws in the ring during his match. If it wasn’t for Sheffield I think Otunga would’ve stood out as weak in that match far, far worse.

Overall I enjoyed the show and I’d give it a B.

 

[The Calgary Kid]

Decent show. Not my favorite, by any means. I understand keeping Nexus relevant, but it would have been nice if they had something going on that didn't involve them, other than a throwaway Divas match.

My biggest gripe: Can anyone please explain to me why the Orton/Gabriel match was allowed to be a countout and not a DQ? As soon as Sheamus touches Orton, the ref is supposed to ring the bell. I knew there would be a Sheamus run-in, that was a given. I figured it would come about that he tried to hit Orton, missed and hit Gabriel or something, but the rationale behind this finish was pretty ridiculous.

Aside from that, Cena's promo at the beginning was actually quite good. I figured there would be more than one Nexus member gone, but at least they didn't let them win every match. Still, at least they found a way to continue the plot without doing anything too drastic or at the expense of the storyline. I'm glad they reserved the Nexus beatdown for Young, though. The whole Nexus-beats-the-crap-out-of-everyone thing is the most tired thing in wrestling right now.

 

[Dhays9]

My biggest gripe: Can anyone please explain to me why the Orton/Gabriel match was allowed to be a countout and not a DQ? As soon as Sheamus touches Orton, the ref is supposed to ring the bell. I knew there would be a Sheamus run-in, that was a given. I figured it would come about that he tried to hit Orton, missed and hit Gabriel or something, but the rationale behind this finish was pretty ridiculous.

I believe the reason that it was not considered a DQ was the fact that Randy Orton hit Sheamus before Sheamus hit Orton.

Its similiar to the situation when someone brings a chair in and before they get to use it the opponent hits them with a kick which knocks the chair into thier face. They are not DQ'ed because they didn't bring in the chair even though they kicked it into the opponents face. Its the same principal here.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

WWE Smackdown: August 20, 2010

Opening Segment - Smackdown opened up tonight with Rey Mysterio talking about his match at SummerSlam and that he’d been vindicated. Alberto Del Rio came out looking the sharp dressed man. He came across as the arrogant rich guy well and his put downs of Rey fit his character appropriately. I was surprised that Del Rio would come out and interrupt Mysterio’s interview time, so it looks as if WWE might be trying to establish him as a serious contender right off the bat. Mysterio eventually hit’s the 619 on Del Rio to give the crowd the feel good moment and set things up for later. Overall, a strong opener and I’m glad it got Rey out of the middle of the Kane/Undertaker feud. Thumbs Up

Dolph Ziggler vs. Kofi Kingston - While I admit that I’m getting kinda tired of seeing them go at it, Kofi and Ziggler put on another good match. They do work well together and I have to admit that I do like the idea of Dolph Ziggler being put into a solid feud with the likes of Kofi Kingston. I just think it’s getting time to consider putting them into some sort of gimmick match to break up the monotony. As with many of their matches, it looked as though it could’ve gone either way. Vickie interfered about the 9 minute mark and gets Ziggler DQ’d. Ziggler ultimately puts Kofi out with the sleeper after Vickie keeps Kofi’s attention on herself. Ziggler hit’s a really stiff looking stomp on Kofi before he and Vickie leave. Overall, another solid match from these two. Thumbs Up

Luke Gallows & Serena vs. The Big Show & Kelly Kelly - This is the first time we’ve seen Serena in the ring in the WWE. She didn’t blow me away or anything, but she’s not bad. The match did serve to progress the storyline along with the SES/Big Show feud. Serena gets the win a little past the 3 minute mark with a GTS style gut buster. In all honesty, this was actually pretty decent. Not nearly the train wreck I’d envisioned that it might be, so it was passable if nothing else. Thumbs Up

Kane Promo - I’ve said it several times over the past few months and others have as well. However, Kane has never been better and he delivered a great promo tonight. The presentation of the promo with the music and the various video clips of The Undertaker while Kane talked really helped lay the foundation for why Kane did it. Taker “showing mercy” to HKB at WrestleMania is what set the whole thing off with Kane getting his chance to take his brother out. Given Kane’s character, his explanation for ultimately why he did what he did is plausible and I’m genuinely interested in seeing this feud. Helluva performance by Kane. Thumbs Up

Christian vs. Drew McIntyre - Great match from these two. Christian has a Chris Jericho like ability to have a good match with anyone, but I think he and McIntyre work especially well together. Great back and forth action during the match with Christian ultimately getting the win over McIntyre around the 12.5 minute mark. Cody Rhodes comes into the ring and beats down Christian only for Matt Hardy to come to Christian’s aid. In the end, Rhodes & McIntyre get the better of the two. Great match and it sets up what could be a fun feud with these four guys that’ll do until Smackdown heads to Syfy. Thumbs Up

Rey Mysterio vs. Alberto Del Rio - I wasn’t really sure what to expect out of this match but I have to say that I thought it was great. I wasn’t expecting much out of Alberto Del Rio but he impressed me in the ring and the guy’s got charisma. If he can keep this up on an extended basis, I mean if this wasn’t just a one time fluke, then this guy might be a legitimate star. I didn’t expect him to walk out with a win over Mysterio in his first televised WWE match, but it happened. Not only did he win, but he got a clean win. Not only a clean win, but he got Rey to tap out to an armbar submission at the 10.5 minute mark. Honestly, a really good main event. Thumbs Up

Overall Show - Thumbs Up - Smackdown was extremely good tonight, much better I thought than it’s been the past few weeks. Kane kicked ass on the mic tonight and has me interested in seeing him feud with The Undertaker. A few months ago I didn’t want this, but Kane has been so good that I’m looking forward to it. Taker was advertised to appear next week on the show, so that’ll work. I’m actually glad Taker didn’t show up on Smackdown tonight as it built things up nicely. The overall wrestling was high quality, even the worst match on the show tonight was passable. As I mentioned about the Kofi/Dolph feud, I do think they should consider some sort of specialty match as this makes about the 6th or 7th standard match these two have had. Still, Smackdown was a great two hours tonight. A-

 

[Mitch Henessey]

So we kicked things off with Rey Myserio's promo being interrupted by the debuting Alberto Del Rio. Del Rio received a 619 for his troubles, but this was a good segment. Del Rio had a nice flow on the mic during this segment.

Kofi Kingston failed to regain the IC title in his rematch against Dolph Ziggler. This was an okay match, and I fully expected Ziggler to retain. After the match, Kofi contemplated attacking Vickie for interfering in the match, but he didn't pull the trigger, which allowed Dolph to get in a couple more cheap shots. I don't know what's next for Kofi, because he's most likely going to be out of the IC title picture now. Maybe he'll have a nice mid card feud for a while. We'll just have to wait and see.

We finally saw Serena wrestle tonight for the first time on Smackdown in a mixed tag match where Serena and Gallow's memberships to the Straight Edge Society were in jeopardy. The match wasn't that good. Big Show just beat the crap out of Gallows for the majority of it, but Serena looked pretty solid tonight, and I look forward to seeing how she will come along in the coming months. As far as Kelly Kelly goes, well, I don't know where she's going........

Kane's promo was great. His explanation as to why he attacked The Undertaker was delivered with such passion and intensity. I was bashing this Taker/Kane feud, because it's been so many times before, but Kane's promo struck me tonight. Also, WWE put together one hell of a video package during this promo.

LayCool was shown backstage with their broken Women's title. They continued trashing Melina, and this leads me to believe that WWE is going to go ahead with unifying both championships. Oh, and unfortunately, we see Hornswoggle here. He was hiding during this segment, and I seriously didn't see the point of him being here. Please WWE, no more Hornswoggle.

Christan VS Drew McIntyre was mediocre. Cody Rhodes(who did a nice job on commentary by the way) helped Drew beat down Christian after the match. Matt Hardy came to Christian's aid, while wearing a cast to help sell the beating Drew gave him. Rhodes and McIntyre were able to get the upper hand, and this tells me we're going to see a McIntyre & Rhodes VS Christian & Hardy tag team match very soon.

Teddy Long told Kane Taker is coming back next week. Nothing will probably happen next week. The two will probably have a stare off, and the lights will go on and off, and we might see a bunch of smoke and pyro, but I don't think these two will touch other until Night Of Champions or later, because Undertaker is still banged up, and the no contact thing will help add some suspense to this feud.

Alberto Del Rio has to have by far one of the most extravagant entrances I've ever seen. Seeing him have his own ring announcer was so cool. The match with Mysterio was solid, and the ending made Del Rio's debut look great. He made one of WWE's top guys tap out in the main event on Smackdown. Very impressive way to debut, and that submission hold looked so painful.

Tonight's episode was pretty decent. Del Rio's debut was handled well, and Kane's promo made me think twice about bashing this feud before it has a chance to take place AGAIN. Kane's really been on a role ever since Undertaker's vegetative state storyline began.

 

[GCB]

Alberto Del Rio = great debut and I can't wait to see more. Having his own ring announcer is a good idea.

Kane promo = fabulous, well done piece. You could feel Kane's passion.

Dolph Ziggler = the kick to Kofi's head was a cracker. It looked seriously damaging! I see KK out of action for a couple of weeks before a final match at NOC.

Serena = wasn't that impressed. She was better that K2 but thats about it. The ending to that match was obvious from the moment it was announced too IMO.

Matt Hardy and Drew McIntyre = I'm bored of this feud now. It's been going on for months. Sure, they added Christian and Cody into it a little but not sure how long it's going to stay interesting.

Good show for me, some excellent moments but some mediocre ones as well.

 

[klunderbunker]

Smackdown
Date: August 20, 2010
Location: Rabobank Arena, Bakersfield, California
Commentators: Todd Grisham, Matt Striker

It’s the follow up show to Summerslam, which featured the return of the Undertaker and the SHOCKING, yes SHOCKING I say revelation that it was Kane that attacked him. The twist this time is that Taker is weak from the vegetative state and it’s Kane that has the power.

I know a lot of people have called this a rehash of the old storylines, but answer this: what percentage of the current WWE audience was around for the initial Kane vs. Taker feud? It’s only repetitive for those of us that have been fans for over 12 years, which isn’t very many of the people. Let’s get to it.

Keep in mind that this is a live review, as in I watch the show and write my thoughts as I go. I tend to not write every move that everyone does as if you wanted to see that there are a bunch of other sites that can do that. What I do is watch the shows and just see what they cause to pop into my head.

Finally, as some of you may remember I use letter grades rather than stars. A C is about average and a D+ or above is pretty much the lowest you can go for a good match.

I like that this show tends to start with the theme song and nothing before it. It just feels right if that makes sense.

We recap the Kane/Rey/Taker angle from Sunday and Kane will explain himself tonight.

Here’s Rey to kick things off. Rey thanks the fans for Sunday, even though he lost which is a strange thing to thank people for. His name is cleared now as Kane attacked Taker. I still wonder how Kane knew that. And here’s Alberto Del Rio, FINALLY debuting after about a million promos that I had no interest in at all.

Alberto praises Rey and says both are national heroes. His voice sounds like Speedy Gonzalez. Rey is a little worm in the bottle of his tequila. That’s a funny line I think, but I don’t drink tequila so maybe it’s stupid. Alberto talks about his nice clothes and Rey says his nephew has the same kind of cufflinks that he bought at the swap meet.

Rey says Del Rio hasn’t earned anyone’s respect here at all. I know Rey speaks Spanish for the crowds and I can understand most of what he says, but for a lot of people it makes no sense at all. The obvious match is set up for later. 619 for Alberto.

Kofi vs. Dolph is next.

More Dashing grooming tips, this time about skin. I love these old school style vignettes which fit his old school style very well.

Intercontinental Title: Dolph Ziggler vs. Kofi Kingston

I’ve liked this feud as it’s brought out some much needed aggression in Kofi. Striker has another new name for the Nexus: the Seven Deadly Sinners. Can’t they just be Nexus? Do we need a new name for a group of guys already on their second name?

Kofi throws a nice right hand to send Dolph to the floor as this is rather aggressive to start. Striker doesn’t like the internet people apparently. It must be a thing for annoying commentators.

Dolph hooks a chinlock, which makes me wonder how that’s different than the sleeper. Is the arm over the forehead that much of a difference? Kofi gets knocked to the floor after some Vickie interference and we take a break.

Ziggler works on the neck for the most part due to the Nexus attack on Sunday. We get the usual thing about how the IC Title leads to the world title, even though most of the time lately that hasn’t been the case. A lot of people have been former world champions though so maybe that counts.

Kofi starts a comeback with lots of things that involve jumping very high but the Boom Drop is avoided. Pendulum kick in the corner and Kofi goes up top, but Vickie shoves him off for the DQ. Chimmel’s voice is kind of slurred as he makes the announcement for some reason.

Post match Kofi goes after Dolph but Vickie stops him, allowing Dolph to get a Zig Zag and sleeper on Kofi.

Rating: C-. Not bad here but the ending left a lot to be desired. This felt like a house show match, which isn’t a bad thing as it wasn’t supposed to be a major match. Still though, title matches on TV are always nice as they make the show seem more important. I wouldn’t be surprised to see another next week and have Dolph get counted out or something like that.

The same Summerslam package from the last three shows is on again.

Laycool with their broken title is in the back and they don’t want Teddy to hear what they have planned. Hornswoggle pops out of a plant after they leave and gets a loud pop.

Gallows and the SES talk are mad at Punk for leaving them Sunday. There’s a mixed tag tonight. Punk shows up and says if they lose they’re out of the Society.

Luke Gallows/Serena vs. Kelly Kelly/Big Show

That’s a weird face team if I’ve ever seen one. The men start which lasts about 6 seconds until we get to see Serena for the first time. The handspring elbow gets blocked by an elbow as it’s clear she’s a bit nervous. Kelly comes back with that incredibly scientific move called ram the other person’s head into the mat.

An X Factor gets two for Kelly and the men go at it on the floor. Back in the ring Serena hits a gutbuster on Kelly for the clean pin. Punk stands on the stage and applauds.

Rating: D. I get that it was Serena’s debut but this match shows how weak the women’s division on Smackdown and WWE in general is. Kelly is the best girl they can throw in there? This match was pretty weak as it was 95% Divas which is never a good idea.

Kane is in the ring and doesn’t even get an entrance. He talks about the seven deadly sins (not to be confused with the seven deadly sinners as Striker said earlier of course) and that his favorite is pride. That’s what allowed Kane to put Taker in a vegetative state. They can’t even say coma?

We see a flashback to the debut of Kane, which really was one of the best debuts of all time. Kane had a master plan that started back then. Taker became prideful in his older age since he rarely lost.

We REALLY alter history here as Kane talks about his mask being ripped off by Taker at Summerslam 2000. That’s true, but his hair covered his face up and we never saw what was behind the mask for over two more years.

Taker was growing soft in the recent years while still winning. The ultimate sign though was at Mania 26 when he offered Shawn mercy before tombstoning him into the ground. I guess the time he didn’t kill Hardy after the ladder match doesn’t count either.

For 15 years Kane has wanted to be the dominant brother and now he is. I guess he got tired of being the bitch in the relationship. He talks about taking down Undertaker with great anger and furious vengeance, which are the same words Taker used when he was setting up the first match with Kane in 1998. Very good promo here, total altering of history at times aside.

We recap Christian beating McIntyre despite his bad arm to set up this.

Christian vs. Drew McIntyre

I love the Smackdown midcard as there are multiple people there that all have great potential. Cody Rhodes comes out for no apparent reason other than midcard continuity I suppose. He joins on commentary which could result in some funny stuff.

Christian gets slammed face first into the apron in a painful looking spot. The crowd is very much into this match which is always a good sign. Drew threatens to snap Christian’s arm like he snapped Hardy’s ankle. Cody gives Todd some cotton swaps to clean his ears. He’s living the gimmick well if nothing else.

Cody and Drew are trying to tear down the older generation of superstars like Christian. That’s not something you often hear in the midcard but it’s a nice idea. After a break and more Scottish dominance, Christian hits a middle DDT which looked very cool. It wasn’t a tornado as he jumped at him and hit a regular DDT.

Christian goes for his usual array of stuff but Drew dodges a bit of it. Drew sets for a powerslam of some sorts but a crucifix by Christian ends it. The heels beat down the Canadian until Matt runs down for the save. He gets beaten down though and has his bad ankle attacked.

Rating: C+. Pretty decent match here as the midcard array of talent is starting to come together. The bad from a few weeks ago being a plot point is a nice touch and Drew did a good job working on it. Nothing really great here but perfectly acceptable.

Swagger is ranting about his Summer being ruined but Rose had headphones in. He turns around to see MVP who makes fun of him without actually being funny. They set up a match for next week. If MVP wins, Swagger pays for a huge party. If Swagger wins, he gets to host the VIP Lounge.

Raw Rewind shows Darren Young being thrown out of Nexus.

Kane is with Teddy Long. Taker is here next week, drawing the pop of the night I think.

Alberto Del Rio vs. Rey Mysterio

Del Rio has his own announcer and comes out in a Rolls Royce. The announcer speaks Spanish of course to really hammer in the whole he’s evil thing. There are clearly empty seats about 8 rows back from the ring. They couldn’t fill those in? It’s pretty even to start as Del Rio hits the floor and we take the last break of the show.

Del Rio works on the arm which is apparently a trait in the company as of late. He hits what I think was an enziguri but it was kind of hard to see. According to the replay it hit the arm, which is a very nice touch. Top rope back splash misses and we’re back to even.

619 is caught as Del Rio has looked very good so far. Out of nowhere Del Rio gets a cross armbreaker and Rey actually taps out. I don’t think a lot of people expected that. I certainly didn’t.

Rating: B. Del Rio looked FAR better than I expected him to here. A clean win is far more than you would expect him to. The looks he gives for the whole match are a nice touch as well. This was a good match and a GREAT debut for Del Rio. I’m fairly impressed.

Overall Rating: B+. I liked this show as it set up a lot of stuff for the next few weeks. Rather than having a night of one big angle like Raw did, this show advanced several angles either in matches or promos. I can think of at least six things advanced here, all capped off by a solid main event and a good debut. This was another good show, which is par for the course with Smackdown anymore.

 

[The Doctor]

RAW was...just OK this week. I think a lot of that could be attributed to the fact that it was a taped show. The wrestlers were tired after already being in matches, and the overall feel of a taped show is different from (and inferior to) a live show. The matches were pretty boring, with a few exceptions. Nothing horrendous, just not very interesting.

The best parts were the Cena/Miz match, and the Sheamus/Ryder match, as well as all the promos. The Cena/Miz match was excellent, with The Miz looking very strong against the face of the company, and Daniel Bryan running in and getting some measure of revenge on Miz. The ending was great, because it allowed Miz to stay looking strong, and continued the feud between Bryan and Miz that should hopefully culminate with Bryan winning the US Title at Night of Champions.

As for the Sheamus/Ryder match, that was just hilarious. I was legit laughing out loud when Sheamus built up his opponent and I guessed it was Ryder. To see Ryder get Bro Kick'd was also really, really funny. Don't get me wrong, I love Zack Ryder, but the humor in that whole thing was spot-on.

Another high point of the night was, surprisingly, Vladimir Kozlov. I find Kozlov to be very funny, and his chanting for Santino and incredulous look on his face as he examined the part of Santino's face where Tamina blowdart-kissed him had me really chuckling.

It wasn't a bad RAW at all. However, it wasn't particularly exciting, which I suppose is par for the course when it comes to a taped show.

C

 

[STL]

I really liked the Cena-Miz match. Cena mixed it up with some new moves like the Sidewalk Slam. I think that The Miz is on the cusp of having a star making match.

I was shocked when the Mystery GM told Sheamus to sit on a throne for the whole show. Does this mean that HHH is the mystery GM and he'll come back at Night of Champions to take his throne back??

 

[Jack-Hammer]

WWE Monday Night Raw - August 23, 2010

Opening Segment - I thought the opener of Raw last night was pretty good, nothing overly memorable but a solid opener. I like that they started the night off with Sheamus coming out and giving a promo rather than John Cena, which is what I expected. Sheamus’ work on the mic last night was solid and making fun of some of the kids at ringside was a nice touch. The Raw GM announcing that Sheamus could pick his own opponent for NOC at the end of the night is a good opportunity for Sheamus to draw some real heat. Thumbs Up

Edge vs. R-Truth - Overall, a solid opening match for the show. Again, nothing particularly memorable but a solid match overall. Edge got the win around the 4.5 minute mark, no surprises there. Truth had a pretty decent showing for himself against Edge and I would’ve personally liked to have seen him pull an upset. I knew it wasn’t likely, but it was still a decent match. I can understand if some weren’t into this match, but I liked it for what it was. Thumbs Up

Chris Jericho vs. The Great Khali - I honestly thought I’d hate this match but it turned out to be pretty entertaining overall. Jericho worked hard to carry Khali and actually managed to get an overall solid match out of the guy. Jericho getting the win via submission with the Walls of Jericho was a nice surprise and something of a shocker in its own right. I figured he’d beat Khali due to DQ or count out, but I was impressed that he got not only a clean and decisive win, but he made the giant tap out. Compared to what we usually get out of Khali, this was a 5 star classic. Jericho managed to make Khali look compotent and that’s an accomplishment in and of itself. Thumbs Up

Melina vs. Jillian Hall - I thought this match was ok. It wasn’t as good as the two Divas matches Raw has featured over the past few weeks, but it was still well above the shit that’s typically been featured on Raw from the women. Jillian & Melina are two women that can actually work pretty well in the ring, I do wish they’d give Jillian something of a different character. I don’t like the fact that this match was for the Divas title. I hate 3 minute championship matches, they don’t do anybody any favors even Divas. It just kinda killed the match for me really. Thumbs Down

The Miz - The Miz gave a backstage promo and it was high quality as usual. Whenever The Miz gets on the mic, he really does shine. The Miz puts a lot of emotion into his promos and you can really believe what he’s saying. Continuing to rag on Daniel Bryan and how he replaced him on Team WWE at SummerSlam serves as a reminder that the feud between them is coming. Overall, strong work I thought from The Miz. Thumbs Up

The Nexus & Sheamus - Shortly after The Miz’s promo, the members of The Nexus came out on stage where Sheamus was sitting. Barrett confronted him and informed him that the truce was over just after the Raw GM announced that the ban on Nexus competing for titles had been lifted. It was very short but it was also effective. Sheamus sold the situation well and looked legitimately concerned. I like how the WWE has Sheamus surrounded by his enemies all of a sudden. He has to worry about the likes of Orton and Cena, also has to worry about The Miz due to the MITB briefcase and now The Nexus. Thumbs Up

John Cena vs. The Miz - I thought this was a great match and I don’t think The Miz has looked stronger overall. The Miz got in lots of offense during the match and was giving Cena all he wanted. Cena played his part well by both looking strong and helping to make The Miz continue to look like a legitimate main event player. The ending came about the 13 minute mark, with the match looking quite even and as though it could go either way, when Daniel Bryan attacks The Miz on the outside. Bryan gets a really good pop and winds up locking a submission on in the ring with The Miz tapping out. A great match I thought and it adds a lot of fuel to the fire between The Miz & Bryan. From a kayfabe POV, The Miz can say that he had Cena right where he wanted him and Bryan’s interference kept him from getting a decisive win over Cena, even though he did win via DQ. Thumbs Up

The Usos vs. Vladimir Koslov & Santino Marella - I was extremely disappointed in the WWE here. The Usos should have won this match but Santino & Koslov go over a little past the 3 minute mark. Koslov & Santino are a comedy tag team and have destroyed the credibility of the Usos and haven’t done the tag team division in the WWE any favors. I particularly sense Vince McMahon’s hand in this situation as he loves corny comedy. Just awful and disappointing. Thumbs Down

Randy Orton vs. John Morrison vs. Ted DiBiase - I was disappointed here because the match should have gone on longer. I’m not really a fan of 5 minute triple threat matches. The match in and of itself was quite solid but Orton was booked to look like SuperOrton here. Morrison & DiBiase are a couple of good workers in the ring but I’m just not all that wild as to how they were served up here. The match needed to be at least another 5 minutes in order to keep Morrison & DiBiase from looking like fodder. Thumbs Down

Sheamus vs. Zack Ryder & Closing Segment - I don’t like when TNA treats titles like props and I don’t like it when WWE does the same thing. I hated the idea of Zack Ryder losing this match in 10 seconds. I know that the segment was designed overall to generate even more heat for Sheamus, but these sorts of “title matches” are really a pet peeve of mine. However, the closing of the show did make up for it as it was announced that Sheamus will defend his title at NOC in a six pack challenge against Orton, Cena, Edge, Jericho & Wade Barrett. All the guys hitting their finishers on each other was a nice way to close the segment out with Orton being the last man standing. The “title match” pissed me off a bit, but the overall segment it was tied to made the overall ending of the show solid. Thumbs Up

Overall Show - Thumbs Up - I give last night’s show an overall moderate thumbs up. It wasn’t a bad show but it certainly wasn’t a great show overall. The WWE has altered its formula for Raw a bit to where they put on 6 or 7 matches on the show as TNA does with iMPACT!. I prefer the other way in which we generally got 2 high quality 12-15 minute matches per episode of Raw. I like that Raw put the WWE Championship match at NOC at the forefront last night and put Nexus on the backburner. The match should be interesting. Cena vs. The Miz was easily the match of the night and a great match at that. The Miz and Sheamus were both great on the mic and most of the matches were generally at least solid. I was disappointed in the tag team match and the triple threat match, especially the tag team match. Overall, I give last night’s episode of Raw a C.

 

[tehblogger]

Just a point: Dashing Cody Rhodes was EXCELLENT on the commentary during the Christian/McIntyre match. I always thought he was the bland one out of Legacy, but clearly not. He looks and sounds smooth so perfect in the smug, cocky, good-looking git role. The whole thing with Grisham and his black nasal hair was brilliant. The whole alliance with McIntyre kind of makes sense as well - clearly bright things are in store for Cody. Being on Smackdown for a bit is normally an excellent opportunity for young talent to elevate themselves and he's clearly jumped at the chance.

 

[goodlay]

Sheamus comes out and cuts a promo talking about how American kids are just spoiled little brats. He goes around and berates all the kids in the front row. Good stuff here. Cole interrupts him with a robo GM email saying that he'll watch matches tonight and pick his opponent for NOC. Okay then.

Edge/R-Truth - This match was pretty damn lackluster. Neither of these guys are particularly good in the ring right now, and it showed. Edge ended the misery with a lazy Spear. Post match, Edge cuts a promo saying Sheamus has never beaten a 9 time world champion, the man who led Team WWE to victory (Cena?), and The Rated R Superstar.

Khali/Jericho - Jericho saved this from absolute failure, but Khali is just too large to put on anything close to a wrestling match. Wasn't he supposed to go back to India and never come back or something? I think we would have preferred that. Jericho hits the Walls on Khali and it's over. Another post match promo, Jericho says he's the first undisputed champ, the best in the world, blah blah. And for some stupid reason, Khali has to go over post match as he slaps Jericho and "knocks him out".

Jillian/Melina - Holy shit, this was painful. I think the bigger question here is, why the fuck is Jillian getting a title shot? How did she get over girls like Eve, Maryse, Alicia? This was god awful. Melina finishes it with a Last Call (aka Amazing Red's finisher)

Miz/Cena - Easily the match of the night here. That isn't saying much, but this one was pretty good. Why this wasn't the main event makes no fucking sense though. Really solid back and forth here, until Daniel Bryan comes down and attacks Miz. I like that, you continue Miz/Bryan and Miz "beats" Cena, albeit with a DQ.

Santino and Kozlov/Usos - So the Usos are officially not relevant. The fact that they lost to the biggest joke of a tag team in WWE pretty much seals it. And what the fuck is this "romance" angle with Tamina and Santino? Garbage.

DiBiase/Orton/Morrison - So this is the "main event" apparently. Not a terrible match, but nothing great. Orton finishes it when he counters Morrison's springboard into an RKO. Orton's Austin like push continues. He basically destroyed these two guys in under 5 minutes.

Sheamus comes out and says he's seen a lot of worthy competitors tonight, but he wants to give a man who has never had a title shot an opportunity right now. Cue Zack Ryder? What the fuck is this? Brogue kick and it's over before it even got started. What the hell was the point of that?

Sheamus then says he doesn't have to defend his title for another 30 days. Here comes Wade Barrett. He says he's going to use his guaranteed title shot he has from winning NXT at NOC. But WWE realizes heel/heel is pretty weak (Sheamus/Orton at RR anyone?), so Cole interrupts with another email saying he's going to give an opportunity to 4 other men as well. Edge, Jericho, Orton, and Cena. I don't know about this. The Fatal 4 Way was pretty weak with Orton/Cena/Edge/Sheamus and now you throw in Jericho and Barrett? Eh. Raw ends with all 6 men brawling, and of course Orton comes out on top, so once again he won't win at the PPV.

This show was really lackluster. People are using the fact that it was taped as a reason. That's a crock of shit. This would be a weak show, even if it was live. Im going to give Raw a D+ this week. This show was borderline failure for me, and the solid Miz/Cena encounter was the only thing saving this show from that.

 

[The Calgary Kid]

I'm going to agree with most of the above. I'd call the show decent at best, but not a great one. Miz/Cena was actually pretty entertaining and held my interest pretty well. Between this and the match Miz had with Orton a few weeks ago, he's been looking really strong in the ring lately. He's got nowhere to go but up, really. You knew he wasn't going to beat Cena, at least not cleanly, so the DQ was a good finish.

Aside from that, not much was great, but I have to say, Sheamus did some good mic work last night. I'm still not a fan, but when he debuted I found him completely bland and he has really stepped up his game. His mic work since winning the title at F4W has been some of the best anyone has done lately.

The ending segment was pretty good, aside from the ridiculous squash match, though it set up the following events nicely. The "six pack challenge" is probably going to be a perfect opportunity for Miz to cash in at NOC, which I will be completely excited for. I'd assume that would probably mean Cena winning the title, but as long as he held it for only two minutes, that would be okay. I don't see Miz cashing on a heel, and I doubt Orton would be the fall guy. If it's not Miz's turn yet, anyone could win this one.

Lastly, I was really pleased that, for one fucking week, there was no Nexus beatdown. Sheamus throwing Barrett to the lions was a nice touch, though.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

The numbers for last night's Raw are in and I'd say the WWE is pretty pleased overall. The show drew an overall 3.23 Nielsen Rating, which is down some from the 3.30 they drew last week. It's the lowest they've drawn since the Memorial Day show, which drew a 3.22. The first hour drew a 3.12 while the second one drew a 3.34. Given the fact that the show was taped, I figured the rating would drop more than what it did.

However, despite the drop, overall viewership is right where it has been for the last while. Raw drew 4.8 million viewers last night from 4.64 million from hour 1 and 4.94 million from hour 2. According to pwtorch.com, this is is average with what Raw has been doing for the past 10 weeks. The reason I said that WWE is probably pretty happy is that they've kept viewers interested in what's been happening on Raw. With stars from Raw & Smackdown on the show next week for Raw's 900th episode and being back to its usual live telecast, I'd say WWE is hoping for at least some sort of increase next week.

 

[Miss Flawless]

Nothing exciting, nothing horrible. It was OK. Miz/Cena was good. Cena got more than '5 MOVEZZ!11!!" in there. This is show wasn't all that exciting, probably cause it was taped, I like the live show feel a lot better. It wasn't bad either, it had good matches and the only bad match was the Divas match.

I give the show a = C+

Is the 900th episode next week? That's probably why this show was not so 'exciting'. The 900th will be.

 

[The Calgary Kid]

People keep talking about how this show felt different because it was taped vs. live. I didn't remember ahead of time that the show was taped, and couldn't tell the difference between this week and any other. Really, I think that you lot are over-analyzing things. Yeah, the show was mediocre. So have a lot of Raws been.

 

[NWannabe]

I don't know why the Usos are getting pushed down so much these days. They have a good look, work well in tandem, have a history, are young. What sets the harts apart from them other than...skin color. I'm not going down that rabbit hole, though.

Miz and Cena did it proper as we all knew they would. I really enjoy how little Miz cared about impressing Sheamus. The throne look familiar to anyone else? All I could think was KoR. Orton burial ritual is getting SO old. I know why it works, so I can't say it's bad. I am just tired of calm into twitch mode. It kinda reminds me of Edge's pre match headbang into metal horns into face slap ritual, but I like that one alot more.

Sheamus tossing Wade into the middle was ace. Could only have been made better if Sheamus bounced after doing so. But hey, gotta sell that guy, eh?

 

[klunderbunker]

Monday Night Raw
Date: August 23, 2010
Location: Staples Center, Los Angeles, California
Commentators: Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler

This is taped since the guys are on tour in Asia.

We open with a recap of last week’s show where Young got thrown out of Nexus thanks to Cena. I don’t think anyone would argue that he’s not the weakest member of the team so that’s a good thing in my eyes.

Sheamus starts us off and talks to the kids in the audience, saying they’re worthless. He even throws out some fat jokes which are always awesome. Sheamus gets on Orton for the attack last week and then says that Orton doesn’t deserve a title shot at the PPV. E-mail time. We bring out a throne and Sheamus gets to pick his opponent for the PPV. Tonight there’s going to be a series of matches and Sheamus gets to pick his opponents from the winners. The series starts NOW.

Edge vs. R-Truth

Cole gets on Truth for saying the same thing on the way to the ring. Insert your own Vintage joke here. We brawl on the floor to start with the RATED R dude dominating. There isn’t much at all here but somehow it goes like five minutes. There really is a bad dynamic here from the whole taped thing. It’s hurting the show a bit but what else can you really do? Truth goes for the axe kick but walks into a spear for the pin.

Rating: D+. Decent enough for what it was, which was just a little match to give Edge a win. It’s nothing that great but it’s ok. More or less the match just came and went, but it’s nothing too bad. Wow I’m rambling in this. Decent match, but not much otherwise. There that covers it I think. I’d go for a submission on it but I don’t want to kill the joke.

Post match Edge says Sheamus hasn’t proven anything until he beats Edge.

Cena vs. Miz later.

We look at Cody Rhodes being on Warehouse 13 (show on Sci-Fi) tomorrow night which is always kind of cool.

Great Khali vs. Chris Jericho

I’d assume Jericho wins here but I’m not entirely sure. Jericho, much like Edge, need to turn face. One of them does at least, preferably Edge as we haven’t seen him as a proper face in years. Jericho of course can’t do anything at the beginning due to the lack of smallness in Khali.

A missed legdrop and Jericho gets him down, working on the knee. He goes for the Walls but a Vice Grip stops that. Codebreaker is of course caught as it is by any power guy. More knee work sets up the Walls…..and the hold works??? Yeah he actually got a win with the Walls and a clean one at that!

Rating: D+. Again not as bad as I expected. This was decent for Khali as he just kind of stood there and let Jericho do his thing. That’s all he needs to do and when he slows things down he can really be bearable out there. Jericho needs wins like these to keep himself over, but Khali needs some wins too to keep himself credible. Finding that balance is the trick.

Jericho says the usual stuff and turns around into a chop to send him to the floor.

We recap the Miz/Bryan thing last week, leading to Cena talking about Miz. He says he’s going to shut his mouth and adjust his attitude tonight.

Back from a break Jillian is here and kind of raps. It’s bad if you didn’t get the idea.

Raw Women’s Title: Melina vs. Jillian Hall

We hear about how next week is the 900th episode which actually isn’t a 3 hour show. Imagine the thousandth show. Good night. Jillian walks on Melina’s back but gets rolled up into a face jam in a nice move. Matrix move is always cool. After a missed leg/ass drop from Jillian, Last Call ends it.

Rating: D. Of course it wasn’t that good, but the idea is here at least. It’s really just a way to set up this, which is coming afterwards.

Laycool pops up on the screen and says they’ll be on Raw next week with an offer for Melina.

Miz says he hit Bryan in the head but what about Cena, who put Team WWE at risk by picking Bryan. He talks about winning the title and might do it tonight.

After a break here are the now Nexus 6. Nexus can now challenge for titles. I forgot about that stipulation. Barrett stares down Sheamus and says the truce is over.

Cena vs. Miz is next.

John Cena vs. Miz

This should be ok, but once Miz loses the fans are going to gripe about Cena winning because they don’t get it. This is better than I expected with Miz seeming like someone that belongs on the same stage as Cena instead of just being in the same ring as him. A year ago that would have seemed completely impossible.

Miz beats up Cena for a bit here, hitting the catapult into the bottom rope with Cena’s throat which is an old style move that you rarely see anymore. Corner clothesline and Cena is getting rocked. Second attempt at the clothesline misses though and here comes Cena. Attitude Adjustment is reversed into a modified version of what used to be called the Reality Check for two.

Finale is blocked into the STFU but he makes the ropes. This has been pretty good so far actually. Big boot from Miz (grr) for two as both guys are getting close to being spent. Miz hits the floor but Bryan runs out to throw him back in, causing the DQ. Attitude Adjustment and Bryan comes in with his Crossface to make Miz tap.

Rating: B-. Solid match here as Cena couldn’t beat Miz, which is a big deal. It got a lot of time here which is the right idea. This worked well indeed though as Miz looked good and Cena got to be on TV. Miz has been a thorn to Cena and now that he’s growing up Cena has more issues with him, which is a good sign. More smart booking with this guy.

Orton vs. DiBiase vs. Morrison later.

Santino Marella/Vladimir Kozlov vs. The Uso Brothers

This is a quick match with the Usos dominating Santino for the most part before Vlad comes in and dominates. He gets the clean win on Jimmy which shows how far the Usos have fallen since debuting. Tamina continues to look at Santino.

Rating: N/A. Just a thing to set up the comedy bit at the end, which is going nowhere at all but it’s WWE so did you expect anything else?

Ad for Classics on Demand, which I want really badly. This week in WWE history is The Big Event, which was the biggest crowd in WWF history at the time of like 70,000 people to see Hogan vs. Orndorff. Not a great or even good show, but it was the spectacle more than anything else.

John Morrison vs. Randy Orton vs. Ted DiBiase

Sheamus leaves as the match starts and everyone kind of fights everyone. Nice Flash Kick from Morrison to DiBiase on the floor. We immediately hit the chinlock since this is an Orton match. Standard formula here as one guy hits the floor most of the time while the others fight it out in the ring. Cool spot as Orton sets for the elevated DDT but Morrison goes for the Flash Kick. Orton however, ducks. Morrison goes for some springboard move and gets caught in an RKO for the pin. Sweet ending but nothing like the one on Bourne. This was like 5 minutes long so it’s not like it ever got going.

Rating: C. Totally average triple threat here but there really wasn’t much at all going for it. It’s your standard two guys fight and one guy wins. There were some decent spots in it though with the ending being pretty cool looking. This wasn’t a classic or anything but it did its job pretty well I guess.

Sheamus is in the ring after a break and picks his opponent, who he’ll defend against RIGHT NOW. The opponent: Zach Ryder. Ok then.

Raw World Title: Sheamus vs. Zach Ryder

5 seconds long, Brogue Kick ends it.

Sheamus says he’s going to take a month off because he doesn’t have to defend for a month now. Cue Barrett, who is using his title shot at Night of Champions. E-mail time. It’s a 6 Pack challenge at NOC, including Sheamus, Barrett, Jericho, Orton, Edge and Cena. Everyone beats up Barrett then the finishers all hit, including an RKO to Cena to end the show.

Overall Rating: C-. Not bad here, but it’s really nothing all that special. By just throwing everyone in there at the end kind of defeated the purpose as they more or less had qualifying matches while Cena just gets in because he’s Cena, which is fine if you didn’t get that. Overall though the night felt flat. It just didn’t have any kind of pop to it and the whole thing just kind of came and went. The taped aspect hurt it a bit as the fans were clearly tired. It’s not a horrible show, but it’s rather weak.

 

[RadioactiveMuffin]

This past RAW was taped due to the superstars being on tour in Asia. Here we go.

Opener- Sheamus
Sheamus comes out and starts berating kids in the audience, calling them spoiled and the like. My favorite was when he told a fat kid "Who ate all the pies?" Then he compares the spoiled kids to Randy Orton. He says Orton should be in jail for what he did (The whole chair thing) and doesn't want the GM to give Orton a rematch. The GM chimes in and tells Sheamus that the GM won't pick his next opponent for Night of Champions; Sheamus will. He also gets to watch all the matches from a throne. This was a decent opening segment, and Sheamus gave a really good promo, I thought.

Edge vs. R-Truth
The first match is Edge vs. R-Truth. R-Truth's entrance is starting to bug me.
Edge dominates most of the match, slamming Truth into the barricade. Eventually Edge lines Truth up for a spear, but he leapfrogs it and goes for the scissor kick. Edge reverses it right into a spear for the win. He then tells Sheamus to face him cause he's a nine time world champ and stuff. The match was good enough, albeit a little short. 3/5.

Chris Jericho vs. The Great Khali
Chris enters the ring and doesn't seem intimidated. Chris slaps Khali only to get beat down until Khali misses a leg drop. Jericho works on his knee and gets the Walls on Khali. Khali reverses it into a Vise Grip, only for Jericho to escape. He locks the Walls in again and makes Khali tap. Another short match, and with Khali you can't be expecting much. But even with Khali the match was fine, most of Jericho's matches are. After the match Jericho tells Sheamus to face the Best In The World At What He Does, only to get chopped by Khali. 2.5/5.

Diva's Title Match: Melina(c) vs. Jillian
Who are you expecting to win? Melina wins with the 'Last Call' Sunset Flip Bomb. This was short, and nothing special, considering it was the Divas. It was just to set up for Laycool having an offer that Melina can't refuse. That might be interesting? That being said, 2/5.

Miz gets interviewed about Cena embarrasing him at SS. Pretty good mic work from Miz, as usual. Next is...

The Miz vs. John Cena
This was undoubtedly the match of the night. Miz fit right in with Cena, and Cena used a couple more moves than usual. It's kinda back and forth for a bit, but Miz inevitably takes complete control. He gets his AWESOME flying clothesline, but Cena reverses it later on only to get fired up. Miz reverses an AA into the back-neckbreaker. The Skull-Crushing Finale gets reversed into an STF in which MIZ GETS A ROPE BREAK!? Unbelievable. I thought he was gonna tap. But he didn't, and he gets a big boot, which is weird cause Miz isn't exactly a big guy. But it works for him, he gets a 2 count after it. Then Cena sets up for another AA, only for Miz to get the ropes and get out of the ring. Daniel Bryan attacks him for the DQ victory, but Miz gets an Additude Adjustment and gets put in the Crossface for good measure. This was a great match, really, but I find it weird how Miz can dominate and almost beat Cena, but Sheamus can't beat Orton... Nonetheless, I give this a 4/5!

Oh, and before this match, the ban on title matches for Wade Barrett and friends has been lifted, and the truce is over between them and Sheamus. Kinda important, but I forgot.

Santino and Koslov vs. The Usos
I don't like anything with Santino. And of course, he won, as he always does, even though Koslov always gets the pin with his not-so-great finisher. All this did was kill time and ruin the Usos credibility, which is a shame. Oh, it also furthered a little story with Tamina being infatuated with Santino. At this rate, we might actually see Koslov and Santino with the tag belts. Don't like, 1/5.

Ted Dibiase vs. Randy Orton vs. John Morrison
Orton's in this match, so you already know how it ends. This was nothing special, and Morrison got thrown out of the ring like 4 times. Dibiase was very good here I thought. I like his little trap clothesline move, and he got a cool neckbreaker on Morrison. Anyway, Orton gets the win after Morrison goes for a springboard right into an RKO. This looked really cool and sorta like it genuinely hurt. But Dibiase gets an RKO too. Cause it makes the crowd go INSANE. Overall I'd give it a 3/5.

Sheamus vs. An opponent of his choice
Sheamus comes out and talks about opportunity. He gives Zack Ryder an opportunity at the WWE Title, but he gets squashed with the Bicycle Kick in like 7 seconds. Then Sheamus declares that he doesn't have to defend his title at NoC. But Wade comes out and uses his title opportunity at NoC. The GM chimes in and makes it a Six-Pack Challenge with Sheamus defending against Wade, Jericho, Edge, Cena and Orton. They gang up on Wade and Sheamus throws him out. Then Sheamus gets a Codebreaker, Jericho gets a Spear, Edge gets an AA, and Orton stands tall with an RKO to Cena. Go figure. This ending segment was actually pretty good though, I actually kinda want to see that Six-Pack Challenge. Overall the ending gets a 4/5.

This show was really good to me, with 2 decent matches, 2 not-so-decent matches, and 1 really good match. Overall I'd give the show a 3.5/5.

Probobly not an average.

 

[RyanCallaway]

Tonight's Smackdown was pretty good all around. Opening it up with a main event worth No-DQ match between Kane and Rey Mysterio was a great idea. Good match. And I'm starting to really like Albert Del Rio. Although I generally changed the channel when his promos came on, I'm starting to regret that because since he's debuted, with his speaking and his matches, he's been very impressive. For the 6 or 7th time in a row it was Kofi vs Dolph for the IC title, and despite rolling my eyes at the concept, the quality of the match kept me interested. The show stealer for me though was the promo between Undertaker and Kane at the end. I didn't want Kane to be the attacker initially but with his promos, and especially what happened this week, I'm itching to see what comes of this. Especially since Taker obviously isn't 100 percent yet (kayfabe). His line that when he calls the devil, the devil still answers him with a "sir", was hilarious and bad a-- at the same time. Really enjoyed this show, especially the end.