WWE Raw - January 21, 2012
Opening Segment - The opener for last night was different but entertaining. Heyman & Vickie both delivered great heat. After they did their thing of berating Rock for a few minutes, they showed a camera backstage with The Rock trying to get into the arena with three "cops" standing in his way. Vickie had banned him from the arena and Rock went on a catchphrase bit on Vickie, Heyman and Punk. The Rock was his usual charismatic self and had the San Jose crowd eating out of the palm of his hand. I'm not that wild about the angle of "banning" wrestlers from the arena, but I'm glad WWE didn't do something ultra stupid here by having The Rock beat up the "cops", which is where I thought they were going when Rock kept saying that he promised he'd be in the "people's ring". It was a good build for later in the night and smart planning on WWE's part with viewers uncertain exactly when Rock was going to come into the arena, meaning more might stay tuned in throughout the show. Thumbs Up
1. Antonio Cesaro vs. Randy Orton in a Beat the Clock Challenge match - I'm usually not crazy about these matches, mostly because WWE tends to have about 6 of them whenever they've done them, resulting in a lot of short matches. This was a good match between the two of them, I think the overall best they've had thus far. The wrestle who wins his match in the fastest time is able to pick his spot in the Royal Rumble, so these matches have a purpose and are putting emphasis on the Rumble match itself. There was a sense of urgency in the match with both Orton & Cesaro going for pin attempts on a very regular basis. At the same time, I like the fact that they didn't put this particular match on a frantic pace as it just doesn't work with guys like Orton & Cesaro. Cesaro earned a couple of very good near falls later in the match with a surprise roll up and the big spot with the Very European Uppercut. Orton did a great job of selling the effects of the move afterward. Cesaro looked strong here and it was nice to hear Lawler do something on commentary besides giggle & tell lousy jokes. Cesaro rams Orton into the post at one point, causing Orton to fall outside. Cesaro pushes him back in and, as he's about to climb into the ring, he looks back at the clock to check the time. Orton takes advantage of the distraction and pops up with an RKO for the win at the 11 minute 36 second mark. I would've liked to have seen Cesaro pick up the win, given that Barrett beat Orton clean last week, as another step towards Orton's heel turn, but Cesaro looked strong here and I liked that Lawler cushioned things by mentioning the distraction of the clock. ***
Shield Vignette - This was sort of a video compilation of The Shield's greatest hits thus far. There was also some new footage in the hand held camcorder promos they've done. All in all, a nice bit of footage that keeps The Shield fresh in people's minds. Thumbs Up
2. Zack Ryder vs. Big Show - No real point to this. He beat him down for a few seconds, hit the KO punch and got the win. He then leaves in a huff after the crowd starts to what him all over the place. I'm not that about WWE making Big Show into some big, huffing crybaby. At the same time, it was good use of Brad Maddox out there being his annoying self on commentary. I'm seeing what WWE saw in this guy as he has a lot of personality. NA
Paul Heyman & Brad Maddox - Heyman is backstage talking to someone on the phone when he's interrupted by Brad Maddox. Maddox does his thing for a bit before Heyman adopts this subtle, shrewd expression before stating that he respects his initiating and admires his ambition. He also tells Maddox that he's big enough to admit when he was wrong. He shakes Maddox's hand and tells him to stick with him and he'll make him famous. This was an interesting bit that might play out later. It's intriguing to think of what Heyman might be talking about or what he has in store. Thumbs Up
3. Ryback vs. Heath Slater - Typical "old school" Ryback squash. Nothing much to say about it. NA
The Rock & Vickie Guerrero - About the top of the 9 pm hour, The Rock is still out there talking with the "cops" and continues his bit and still has everyone eating out of his hand, including the "cops". Vickie comes out and confronts The Rock, saying she wanted him arrested. One of the "cops" tells Vickie that he isn't breaking any law or her order so long as he remains right where he is. Vickie gets upset at him and threatens to go to his superior officer before The Rock interrupts her. He tells her that he will be in the "people's ring" before Vickie told her she might have a change of heart if he apologizes. The Rock says he'll go out there on his own terms, not hers before saying "bitch, you still look horrible tonight", causing Vickie to storm off. Thumbs Up
CM Punk - Punk comes out for a promo segment and got a pretty strong face response from the San Jose crowd. Punk delivered a great, intense all out heel promo. He was strictly business here and went for pure heat. Punk did an awesome job of putting over the importance of the WWE Championship throughout his promo and it leaves me hoping for another big promo standoff between him & The Rock. Thumbs Up
4. The Miz vs. Dolph Ziggler in a Beat the Clock Challenge match - I thought this was a very fun, really high paced match between these two. They worked a faster pace than Orton & Cesaro but it never felt like it was frantic. Miz showed more polish in this match than I was expecting and it was nice to see him & Ziggler trading near falls at various points throughout the match. As usual, Ziggler looked like a champ selling Miz's offense. At one point late in the match, just as Miz slaps on the Figure Four, AJ leaps up onto the apron distracting the ref while Big E. reaches in, grabs Ziggler by the hand and pulls him over to the ropes. The ref turns around and forces Miz to relinquish the hold. Big E. provides a slight distraction to Miz, allowing Ziggler to recover. He pops up and hits the Zig Zag on Miz for the win and sets a new time of 10 minutes 56 seconds. ***1/4
Anger Management Graduation - I thought this segment was hilarious. Unlike last week when Shelby showed up, this in-ring segment was very much in the same league as the classic Anger Management segments from last year. Shelby explained that he was proud of both of them and that they were the first graduates of his class. He tells them that the Valedictorian would "share their feelings" and as a final test, he'd let them decide to the Valedictorian was out of the two of them. Bryan & Kane both insisted the other was and they did a good job of selling their awkwardness at sharing their feelings before getting into an argument. Shelby goes off on them and the fans start to deliver a pretty strong "Dr. Shelby" chant. Shelby then asks them if a hug would make them feel better. He goes onto suggest that everyone should hug. Kane & Bryan come to life here and ask if Lawler & King would hug each other. After a few moments, they do so and the crowd pops. They then ask of the time keeper & Justin Roberts would do it and they shrug before doing it. Kane & Bryan energetically ask if everyone in the crowd will hug each other. A fair number of fans do it but not all. The rest that were shown, who weren't hugging, were just laughing and enjoying the segment. The segment ends with Shelby, Kane & Bryan having a group hug with Bryan's music playing. Some will probably hate this but I enjoyed the crap out of it. It's just a perfect example of how unusual this whole storyline has been, yet has worked extremely well. Thumbs Up
5. Kaitlyn vs. Alicia Fox - An okay Diva match while it lasted, though Eve's departure has really hurt the Divas as a whole. Now, who does Kaitlyn feud with? I'm guessing Tamina or possibly a heel turn from Layla as she was shown coveting the Divas Championship this past Friday. Kaitlyn gets the win via the spear. *
The Paul Bomb - The first part of this was Heyman in the center of the ring using small words to explain what Punk was talking about. Basically, the first half was designed purely to generate heat on Heyman. Suddenly, The Rock's music hits and he comes out on stage to a big pop. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a ticket stub, indicating that he'd bought a ticket and was allowed into the arena. It doesn't make a lick of sense, I know, and I'm sure some smarks or dirtsheet writers will bitch & moan about this one little thing as justification to pan the entire show or some other bullshit. The Rock hits the ring and does his thing for a bit before insulting Heyman, calling him "Twinkie Tits" and tells him to get his fat ass out of the ring. Heyman leaves before The Rock addresses CM Punk, who is sitting up in the Skybox watching things. The Rock gave a serious, intense promo here and I think it's what was needed. He didn't focus on pulling catchphrases out of his ass, he wasn't trying so much to endear himself to the fans, he kept his focus on Punk & hyping their match at the Rumble this Sunday. I thought it was a nice touch for The Rock to mention MLK, which drew a good pop, and reference a few lines from his "I Have a Dream" speech. As The Rock is about to do his "If you smell..." bit, the lights go out for a few seconds. They come back on and The Shield is in the ring beating down The Rock. The Rock gets in a brief flurry of offense before they ultimately take him down. They beat him down for a little more before putting him in the Triple Powerbomb and leave him lying. In the Skybox, Punk has a mic and stands up. He tells The Rock that there's only room at the top of the mountain for one man. As The Rock referenced freedom from Punk's reign, Punk states that The Rock will have to pay a price for his freedom. He tells The Rock that it's cute that he has a dream but, eventually, he has to wake up. He goes on to state that The Rock will realize that even though he calls himself The Great One, he isn't great enough to beat the best in the world. The Rock did a great job of selling the effects of the attack and The Rock definitely had some bleeding going on inside his mouth as he was spitting out blood on the mat. A strong overall segment in my eyes and great hype for the title match. Thumbs Up
6. Sheamus vs. Wade Barrett in a Beat the Clock Challenge match - Again, another match that I thought was a lot of fun. It's fun seeing Barrett & Sheamus go at it. They both have a very similar, physical looking style in the ring and they just mesh really well together. The pace wasn't as fast as Miz & Ziggler, nor should it have been expected to be so with two guys of their size & styles. The pace really picked up in the last couple of minutes and the crowd really came alive as the tension built as to whether or not Sheamus or Barrett would beat the time. Sheamus soon hits White Noise and is setting up for the Brogue Kick when AJ suddenly runs into the ring, for maybe 3 seconds, providing a distraction. As Sheamus runs back towards Barrett, as the ref was ejecting AJ, Barrett catches Sheamus in the Winds of Change slam for a good near fall. As both are recovering, they're in opposite corners with Barrett moving his elbow pad down to go for the elbow. Sheamus is in the other corner and as they charge toward each other, Sheamus lands the Brogue Kick. However, as he's going for the pin, the clock runs out without the ref even making a 1 count. The match is a draw as Sheamus & Barrett fail to beat the time of 10 minutes 56 seconds. Ziggler & his posse celebrate outside while Sheamus sells his anger & disappointment in the ring. ***
Dolph & Vickie Backstage - Shortly after this match, Ziggler & his gang are backstage in Vickie's office. Ziggler & AJ share a passionate kiss, much to Vickie's chagrin. Ziggler even makes something of a joke by sort of singing to AJ that she looks wonderful tonight, referencing The Rock's parody of the Clapton song last week on Raw to Vickie. Ziggler excitedly talks about his choices, mentioning that he could come in at #30 or that he might pick #27 as it's produced more winners than any other Rumble number. Vickie smiles and says that he's mistaken. She never said that the stipulation of the Beat the Clock Challenge was that he could pick his spot, it's that he could pick a number. She says that he has the choice of picking either #1 or #2. I enjoyed the little twist as it's a good opportunity for Ziggler to deliver a huge performance at the Rumble, plus Vickie being vindictive towards Ziggler for rubbing her face into things with his relationship with AJ and for his little joke. Some will hate it but, as usual, a lot of haters don't see the big picture. Thumbs Up
Vince McMahon - As Punk & Heyman are walking backstage, they run into Vince McMahon. Vince goes on about how Punk & The Shield are involved. Before things spin out of control with Punk & Vince, Heyman steps in to be the voice of reason, and explains to Vince that there's not one shred of evidence to suggest that they're working together. He even tells Vince that The Shield have attack the likes of Orton, Sheamus, Ryback, Cena and others. Vince considers the possibility that they're right, but tells them that if The Shield interferes in the title match Sunday, he'll strip Punk of the WWE Championship. It was an effective segment that sold viewers on the notion of the match having a clean finish. It also makes me wonder if Brad Maddox will interfere in the match instead, as Vince never mentioned him and it seems that Maddox is now a "Paul Heyman guy". Thumbs Up
7. Alberto Del Rio vs. Tensai - I don't think much happened here but I couldn't be sure, my satellte went on the fritz for a few minutes. NA
John Cena - I wish my satellite had gone on the fritz for this. Cena was beyond awful here in my opinion. Cena can be damn good on the mic but he's pretty insufferable when he's out there in this mode. About 90% of his promo was pure nonsense and was the low point of the show in my opinion. After he declares he'll win the Rumble, the entrance music of several other stars hits with each of them coming out one at a time to say that they're going to win the Rumble. Eventually, the ring fills up and we have a big Royal Rumble style brawl with guys going over the top rope and all that. It was a decent final pitch for the Rumble match but Cena's cornball promo killed the whole segment for me. Thumbs Down
Final Thoughts - I thought last night's go home Raw was an entertaining show overall. The low points of the show were Cena's promo, by far in my opinion, and the extraordinary lack of build for the World Heavyweight Championship match. I guess they're just going to wait until SmackDown! for that. I enjoyed the rest of the show as the focus of it was squarely on Punk vs. The Rock and the Royal Rumble match itself. The BTCC matches were all three strong, entertaining matches that were better than I'd expected. Ziggler got the best time but Vickie screws him over by saying that he only gets to choose between #1 and #2. As I said, it's a good chance for Ziggler to deliver a memorable Rumble performance. I thought the Anger Management graduation was a lot of fun and it showed the unique chemistry that's ultimately made Bryan & Kane the best tag team of 2012. The Rock's various promos were well done but I enjoyed the last one of the night the most. The Rock can deliver fantastic promos no matter what, but I was so glad to hear him give the catchphrases a rest for this. He's made a lot of jokes about Vickie & Heyman but they've booked him as being very serious about his match with Punk. The Shield beatdown was a nice touch as was Vince later saying that he'd strip the title from Punk if they interfered this Sunday. It leads you to wonder if Brad Maddox will attempt to interfere and, if he does, whether or not he'll be successful. There were some flaws in the show. As I said, they didn't do much to hype the WHC match aside from announcing that it'd be a Last Man Standing match, which should be great as their last one was. There were logic holes in Vickie banning The Rock from the arena, yet him being able to come into the ring after "buying" a ticket. That one's extremely minor though. WWE knows that the selling points of this year's Rumble are the Royal Rumble match itself and the WWE Championship match.
Grade: B+
