RAW Perspective.

[Mac Attack]

Yesterday after Monday Night RAW I was 85% pleased with what I watched, and then there was the other 15% that was left to be desired. Usually when I watch RAW the divide is more 60-40 so last night was a really great night for my viewing experience and wanted to go a bit in depth of what I liked and what I didn't in last night's show.

The Wrestling Matches

This was one of the best RAWs in recent memory based solely around wrestling quality. Now I know that the major argument against this would be the main event however that's its own category of discussion and I feel like as a whole the show didn't have a bad match. Yes Fandango turned his match into a bit of a mockery but I LOVED it. It was one of the most entertaining ways to detract from the wrestling of the match. Fandango is a flamboyant self-centered character and that tag match was excellent for showcasing it. The only one who looked bad in the match was Barett and even he losted in a handicap match kind of style making him look slightly stronger than a normal loss. Also, Titus O'Neil actually put on a great match with Sheamus which was a nice suprise and all the other matches just from a wrestling perspective all were good for me.

World Heavyweight Championship Storyline

Okay, so here we have one huge postive with one huge negative. Big E Langston beating Alberto Del Rio got me excited. I truly thought thought that the following storyline would ensue. Del Rio would lose, and then Jack Swagger would win. This would then lead to a promo saying that had it not been for the ref Jack Swagger would have been the New Number One Contender and to prove it to everyone Ziggler's lackey beat Del Rio. That would have been creative and different and I truthfully think would have been very interesting. Now here's the problem this didn't happen.

Instead we had Swagger LOSE to Randy Orton in a solid match. The wrestling matches were indeed very good but it all fell flat in the fact that now the storylines don't make sense. I could have sworn that the direction they were going was to set-up a Triple Threat down the line but instead it left me more confused then happy.

The Builidng of NEW Superstars

If we look at RAW tonight I truly believe we had a lot of younger stars start to and continue to shine. From the opening Promo of Ryback to the final match with Axel we had new stars look good throughout the night. I'm going to break into subheadings here to look at specifics because a few of these deserve their own topics

The Shield

The Shield continues to look extremely strong and I really enjoyed their match last night. The gold on them looks absolutely excellent and I love the direction they are going. These three men appear to be the future and if that is so the future is bright. I appreciate how these guys have been handled and I want their success to continue. I'm curious on what is next for the Shield though. They have the titles and I think defending isn't just enough they need more and more motives.

Titus, AJ, Big E, Fandango

All of them entertained me last night. All of them don't usually get their chance to shine. I was extremely happy with all of this as I think the building of the new stars was an extremly important issue for the WWE and this is something that I think bolsters the overall product. WWE was in need of making people look good and now I feel they are starting to build up a strong roster.

Curtis Axel

Loved the debut. I think making him a Heyman guy is extrmely wise and I like how he will be imortant in the future. Now for the BIG problem which took my percentage down 10%,

TRIPLE H SCREWED OVER THE DEBUT

Triple H needs to learn how to put someone over and make the focus be on them. We are supposed to care that Axel in theory actually won the match but firstly where was the countout announcement. Where was the referee actually counting? Where was the announcement? No instead we see Triple H looking dazed at the end and we see an established start and NOT Axel. This match failed for me in the end result and not necessarily match quaility.


Side Point
Cena vs Ryback No Count taken/ Triple H-Axel No Count

What's With the refs?

 

[Fire Marshall Bill]

TRIPLE H SCREWED OVER THE DEBUT

Triple H needs to learn how to put someone over and make the focus be on them. We are supposed to care that Axel in theory actually won the match but firstly where was the countout announcement. Where was the referee actually counting? Where was the announcement? No instead we see Triple H looking dazed at the end and we see an established start and NOT Axel. This match failed for me in the end result and not necessarily match quaility.


Side Point
Cena vs Ryback No Count taken/ Triple H-Axel No Count

What's With the refs?

I understand what they were trying to do. Really what it boils down to is HHH picked the wrong person to do it against. Axel's debut was supposed to be a big deal (well the promo part was, but not the match). The part of the story that involved HHH alone made a lot of sense. He was putting Lesnar over more than anyone else. But it made it seem like Axel was just another wrestler. They needed to emphasize that while HHH was hurt going into the match, Axel was the straw that broke the camels back. Their plan was good, but it was the execution that was poor.

Call it ego if you will, but it seems like HHH thought just being in the same ring with Axel was enough to put him over. That doesn't work when the ending makes Axel seem almost invisible.

Good post.

As for the refs, my opinion is that, in both situations, they were trying to make the "injuries" looks so real that the matches were called. But with the HHH/Axel case I would think since only one man was "injured," the other would still be declared a winner...

 

[Mac Attack]

I understand what they were trying to do. Really what it boils down to is HHH picked the wrong person to do it against. Axel's debut was supposed to be a big deal (well the promo part was, but not the match). The part of the story that involved HHH alone made a lot of sense. He was putting Lesnar over more than anyone else. But it made it seem like Axel was just another wrestler. They needed to emphasize that while HHH was hurt going into the match, Axel was the straw that broke the camels back. Their plan was good, but it was the execution that was poor.

Call it ego if you will, but it seems like HHH thought just being in the same ring with Axel was enough to put him over. That doesn't work when the ending makes Axel seem almost invisible.

Good post.

As for the refs, my opinion is that, in both situations, they were trying to make the "injuries" looks so real that the matches were called. But with the HHH/Axel case I would think since only one man was "injured," the other would still be declared a winner...

Thanks for responding

I think just to add on to what you were saying I don't mind that Triple H went down with injury what I mind is that in the last 5 mins of the show we got no view of Axel or Heyman. If the commentators sold the situation better I think overall I'd be more okay with it but they failed to mention the opponent. And yah I wish that in a normal singles match the referee who was calling the match and wasn't helping Triple H at least started a count.

 

[Fire Marshall Bill]

Also, after they sold that Lesnar's beating on HHH was the reason he was so vulnerable and the match on Raw was over, I see no reason Axel couldn't have just started beating HHH down. The only problem with that is if they're trying to set up a HHH feud with someone else down the road, they would have to completely ignore the Axel beat down.

 

[Mac Attack]

Also, after they sold that Lesnar's beating on HHH was the reason he was so vulnerable and the match on Raw was over, I see no reason Axel couldn't have just started beating HHH down. The only problem with that is if they're trying to set up a HHH feud with someone else down the road, they would have to completely ignore the Axel beat down.

I've had the thought before but now might be the best time to restate it, I've always felt that the Shield were going to face Team Heyman and lose at Summerslam. So maybe they can start building this up as a team mentality. Lesnar destroys Axel finishes. It's just a random idea but one that I thought about recently.