I haven't done this in a few weeks, so I'm eager to jump back into it!
Raw Hits and Misses:
Raw Hits:
Chris Jericho and CM Punk: How many people who hated the Jericho promos where he said nothing loved Punk doing the same? I'm betting there are a few of you out there. Anyways, Jericho did a great job of explaining the meaning of his mysterious vignettes, noting that he was coming back to claim what was his, which is being the best in the world. His main target here was Punk, but he also took his shots at the crowd for him "trolling" them Before he could finish on Punk, Punk came out, but instead of talking, dropped the mic. This was a great play on Jericho doing the same for weeks, except Punk let the WWE Title and his shirt do the talking. Excellent segment.
HHH and The Undertaker: I believed HHH would explain his reasoning as being one of two things: Either he didn't want to let personal feelings get in the way of business, or he didn't think Undertaker had it anymore. Turns out the latter is the direction they went, and the video packages by HHH spoke volumes of this. HHH did this in a somewhat heelish manner, which was good work on his part. Undertaker's response felt real, as if it truly came from someone with something to prove. They've started this build much earlier than last year, and with HBK appearing next week, this should really kick into high gear.
Big Show vs Daniel Bryan: I was back and forth on this one, and the between the ring work was nothing to write home about. Part of it is me tiring of Bryan being thrown in there with men over twice his size. But Bryan comes across as so disingenuous and the spot where Show stopped just short of flattening AJ was a nice throwback to when he did flatten her. Bryan's mic work sealed this for me, as he noted Show could have stopped because he did tonight, which is great heel logic. His stating of the importance of protecting AJ over winning then in the next breath talking about walking in and out of EC as champion was more solid, disingenuous mic work. The match?
*1/2.
6 pack challenge match: While this match was slow to start, it reallu picked up aftern the commercial break. While I'm not as fan of the "two men in the ring while the others sell", it's hard for me to argue against that here when you involve six men. It looked like Truth's injury was legitimate with the way he landed and his inability to walk in any way on his won, so this should be an interesting development. Fun second half of the match while it lasted, and I really enjoyed the spots with Kofi and Jericho, Punk and Ziggler, and the finish. Jericho taunting Punk with the belt and in his signature siting pose was a nice move to end the show, and Jericho winning was the right move. Fun main event.
**3/4.
John Laurinitis and HHH: Johnny Ace's character is really growing on me, and I can't believe Im saying this, but I dont want to see him written off TV. Another night where he came off as his smarmiest, corporate stooge best, with HHH not buying a bit of it. The announcement of the Ambulance match was a bit of a letdown, as I preferred the No-DQ, No Countout Stipualtion. But this was a good segment overall, and I'm guessing Laurinitis isn't finished just yet. Or maybe that's just wishful thinking.
Raw Misses:
8 Diva Tag Match: What's the point? I suppose they're teasing something with the Natalya/Beth dissension from Friday and tonight, but the matches aren't long enough to mean anything. Tamina is being pushed, I guess, but I just don't care. When Kharma returned at the Rumble, I had hopes for the division, but she's been missing ever since. Even if the plan is to go Beth/Natalya at EC, and Beth/Kharma at WM, it's never too soon to bring her back into the division with how dead it is. Beth didn't care that her team lost the match, so why should I?
1/2*
No John Cena: I don't know if I missed the announcement that he'ld perhaps be otherwise engaged, but having your top star off the show with 8 weeks to go before your biggest show of the year, and a big match with Kane in two weeks, is inexcusable. If they want to truly push this feud, Cena needs to be there to hype it. He's the biggest star in the company, act like it. They tried to do something in the end with Kane and Eve, but this just reminded me somewhat of when Kane kidnapped Kelly Kelly 4 years ago.
Sheamus vs David Otunga: The match was fine for what it was, but the problem was with Sheamus' opponent. Sheamus is your Royal Rumble winner, and he's still squashing guys that don't matter or who pose no threat to him. It takes the fun out of the match when the outcome isn't in doubt, which has been the theme of the last 4 months for Sheamus. I really thought Jericho would have been the better choice to win the Rumble with his ready-made rivalry with Punk there, but they went with a man stuck in traction who has no momentum. Unless he starts beating credible opponents, he won't get them any time soon.
*
Cody Rhodes and Wade Barrett vs khali and Randy Orton: Another match where the outcome was never truly in doubt. Orton has just returned from injury, and Khali from retirement for the 43rd time. I guess this was supposed to round out the SD EC preview on Raw combined with the Show/Bryan match, but this was simply too short to mean anything. I like them re-enforcing Orton as a loner after he dropped Khali with the RKO after the match, but this simply wasn't very good. 3/4*
Overall Thoughts:
This was a good show, but a drop-off from last week. It didn't have the stand-out matches that last week had, nor did it have the must-see segment that last week did with the decision on Laurinitis. I enjoyed the Jericho/Punk and HHH/Undertaker segments, and Bryan and Show continue to be a compelling story with the involvement of AJ. The siix-pack challenge was an enjoyable main event with Jericho being the right man to go over. But the DIvas division just continues to be stagnant, and the Royal Rumble winner has no momentum whatsoever. Don't get me wrong: I enjoyed this show. But there are some glaring holes that need to be addressed sooner then later as the build towards Wrestlemania.
B- overall.
