Live from Roanoke, Virginia this is the Raw Deal for episode #1041. Follow me on Twitter @johnreport.
Guy Voiceover (not the real name) told us that Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman were at WWE Headquarters earlier in the day. We’ll find out what they were doing. Also, Ryback walked out on John Cena last week. What does it all mean? We have three hours to get some answers.
The WWE Champion John Cena made his entrance. He remarked to the camera that his injured foot was better than last week. The announcers for the show are Michael Cole, John Bradshaw Layfield & Jerry Lawler.
John Cena started off his promo by saying “yes” that competing in Raw’s main event was not a smart move. He was channeling Daniel Bryan, which is cute since they are each dating a Bella Twin. He kept on doing the “yes” and “no” act as he tried to be funny while the crowd wasn’t laughing at it very much. At one point he even referenced Fandango. Cena turned serious as he said that his job is to do his absolute best every week. Mild applause. He was about to end this painful promo when Vickie Guerrero came out.
Vickie’s the Managing Supervisor of Raw, in case you’ve forget. She said she was excited that Cena will be competing at Extreme Rules. Vickie claimed that it would be an extreme PPV – it’s like it’s in the title or something huh? Vickie mentioned other matches on the show. She brought out Ryback so they can announce the stipulation to the WWE Title match at Extreme Rules.
Ryback entered to little reaction. This feud really needs a boost somehow. Vickie asked John what stipulation he wanted. Cena said how about a stipulation where the winner walks away from the match – oh no Ryback would walk away with that. Or a whine off? Then Cena imitated Ryback. That was okay. Cena said he didn’t care about the match type – “you can have a Vickie Guerrero granny panties on a pole match.” Then he said nobody should ever have to see that. Cena didn’t care about a stipulation – he just wanted a chance to shut up Ryback. That’s a babyface promo where he said he didn’t care. Ryback said Cena was stupid for not picking the stipulation. Ryback claimed that Cena’s pride and ego was his Achilles heel. After Extreme Rules everybody will know Ryback Rules. Ryback chose a Last Man Standing match. Hopefully Cena doesn’t bring out the duct tape to tape him to the ropes. Ryback left.
Analysis: That was not a strong opening segment. Cena’s comedy failed for the most part. He didn’t really deliver a serious promo either. Ryback’s promos are still below average, but this wasn’t that bad. The idea behind Last Man Standing is that Cena has a foot injury, so it may be tough for him to avoid injuring it further in a physical matchup.
The announcers talked about how Paul Heyman & Brock Lesnar invaded WWE’s headquarters. They showed photos from WWE employees that took photos of Heyman & Lesnar there. The announcers spoke about it like it was a scary situation. This is a bit cheesy. But the footage could be fun.
Randy Orton was walking backstage.
(Commercial)
There’s the video graphic. The WWE Title match at Extreme Rules is John Cena vs. Ryback and it will be a Last Man Standing match. I’m not sure if that match will main event the pay-per-view or if it will be Triple H vs. Brock Lesnar instead.
Prior to the match, Damien Sandow did a song before the match. He rhymed “heinous” with “ignoramus” at the end. That was brilliant. The whole song was. This man is great.
Randy Orton vs. Damien Sandow
Orton was aggressive early on because he was mad that Sandow attacked him after their match last week. Sandow was able to drive Orton into the security wall. Back in the ring, backbreaker by Orton. Suplex by Orton. They went to break with Orton in control. Not a very exciting beginning to this matchup.
(Commercial)
Sandow was in control after the break with the Elbow of Disdain. Orton came back with a clothesline followed by his snap powerslam. Sandow jumped off the middle rope, so Orton hit a dropkick to knock him down. Orton with the vintage DDT off the middle ropes. Orton connected with the RKO to win the match after eight minutes.
Winner: Randy Orton
Analysis: *1/2 Sandow didn’t get that much offense. I would have liked to see more out of him. Obviously this was done to give Orton momentum heading into the Extreme Rules match against Big Show.
The announcers were talking about Orton while the camera was on them. Then they freaked out about something on the stage – it was big Show standing on the stage over Orton. On the replay, Show showed up to hit Orton with the KO Punch on the stage. Refs slowly helped Orton back to his feet.
Analysis: I actually liked how they filmed that as a surprise attack rather than having the camera on Orton while Show showed up out of nowhere. They intentionally shot it that way to make it more of a surprise, which is a good call.
Later on Raw it’s Dolph Ziggler vs. Alberto Del Rio. Could be really good if they get a lot of time. Fandango was shown dancing with a brunette dancer backstage. No more Summer Rae? For shame.
(Commercial)
Chris Jericho made his entrance. He wasn’t on Raw last week. Huge ovation for Jericho, who was in his jeans. I guess he doesn’t have a match. Jericho mentioned that “Fandumbo” is coming up next. He continued to mock the name of Fandango calling it various things like “Fan-Dodge Durango” among other names. Jericho brought out Sweet T and Brodus Clay to come out to ringside to judge the dancing of Fandango. The Funkadactyls were with them. So the judges were Jericho and Tons of Funk.
I’m not sure why Summer Rae is no longer the dancer of Fandango, but it’s a brunette woman this time. Are they piping in the crowd singing the Fandango song? Sounds like it. Clay & Sweet T held up a 2 while Jericho held up a 1. That’s a 5 for those that can’t count. Fandango wondered who Jericho was to judge him. He reference Jericho on Dancing with the Stars – so the feud is about dancing ability? I can’t say I care.
Fandango vs. R-Truth
R-Truth with a front suplex followed by a Scissors Kick one minute into the match. Fandango rolled out to the floor. R-Truth did a dance. The judges gave him a 10 except Brodus Clay gave him a 42 while I wonder what this show has turned into. Fandango walked up the ramp to get counted out. The match went about one minute.
Winner: R-Truth via countout
Analysis: More of an angle than a match. And not a great angle either. I’m so sick of the “heel walks out of the match” finish that they do far too often. This segment didn’t really help the Jericho/Fandango feud.
The announcers talked about the Heyman/Lesnar visit to WWE HQ. More on that story later.
(Commercial)
From Friday’s Smackdown, Ryback beat Daniel Bryan in a very good matchup. One of Ryback’s best matches. That’s because he was in there with Bryan. Later on Smackdown, Bryan was attacked in the backstage area.
Josh Mathews talked to Daniel Bryan backstage. Bryan talked about how The Shield talks about the injustices, yet they still attack people three on one. Bryan challenged Ryback to a match. Ryback walked up to him saying no – that Bryan wasn’t in any condition. Kane walked up to Ryback asking if he’d wrestle him. Ryback said Kane wasn’t the monster he used to be and that he (Ryback) was the only monster left in WWE. “Ryback rules” and then he left.
Analysis: Ryback’s gimmick seems to be that of the guy that walks away from a challenge. He’ll wrestle on his terms, not when somebody else asks.
Alberto Del Rio made his entrance along with Ricardo Rodriguez by his side. His match with Dolph Ziggler is at the top of hour two.
Analysis: It was not a good first hour of Raw.
(Commercial)
We’ll get Ryback vs. Kane later on. I’d rather see Daniel Bryan in the match.
Dolph Ziggler (w/Big E Langston & AJ Lee) vs. Alberto Del Rio (w/Ricardo Rodriguez)
This is a non-title match. Cole pointed out that Ziggler, Del Rio & Jack Swagger (the competitors in the World Title match at Extreme Rules in a ladder match) have all won Money in the Bank ladder matches in their career. They all won as heels for what it’s worth. Hard kick to the back by Del Rio. Dropkick by Ziggler. Del Rio hit Ziggler in the arm with some kicks to set up for his finisher. Ziggler came back with a suplex for two. Del Rio hit his ten forearms to the kidneys with Ziggler in the ropes and then the Backstabber. Ziggler rolled to the floor as Jack Swagger’s music started up. He entered the arena with Zeb Colter. Zeb had a blue vest. That’s newsworthy…kind of. Colter sat down at the announce table with a headset as they went to break five minutes into the match.
Analysis: They could have joined the announce team before the match. Maybe they were saying hi to Zack Ryder, JTG and Yoshi Tatsu in the catering area.
(Commercial)
Colter said that Swagger would leave Extreme Rules. I don’t agree. Ziggler hit another dropkick on Del Rio. It was a cool spot after Ziggler missed a dropkick initially, so it showed off how quick he can get off his feet. During the break, Ziggler hit a top rope facebuster to control the action. Colter said he’d slap Langston if he gets in his face. Colter rules! Del Rio regained the momentum Cole did a Vince McMahon-like “1..2…he got him – no he didn’t get him” routine. If you heard Vince McMahon on commentary over the years it would be familiar. Ziggler did a neckbreaker to take control. Ziggler went to the top, but Del Rio stunned him up there. Del Rio did a reverse superplex off the top! Wow. That was impressive. Painful looking bump by Ziggler although it’s essentially doing a moonsault. It still looked great. Del Rio hit a backbreaker. Kick to the face by Del Rio for his signature two spot. After a struggle, Del Rio applied the Cross Armbreaker. AJ Lee jumped on the apron, so the ref was distracted. Langston threw Del Rio into Swagger at ringside. That led to the DQ finish after 15 minutes.
Winner: Alberto Del Rio via DQ
Post match, Swagger took out Langston and Del Rio. Then he used a ladder to knock down Rodriguez outside the ring. Back in the ring, Swagger nailed Ziggler in the head with the ladder. Then he threw the ladder at Del Rio’s head.
Analysis: *** The match didn’t have a clean finish, but that’s okay. I thought it helped the story because of the post match attack. The best spot in the match was the reverse superplex because that’s a spot we rarely see on Raw. I’m glad Ziggler didn’t lose clean again like he did on Smackdown. My hope was for an outstanding matchup, but they didn’t have the time or the right booking to get that done. The end of the segment ended with Swagger looking like the most dominant of the three performers. I thought it was an effective segment overall.
Replay of the Ryback/Cena segment from earlier.
More hype for the Lesnar/Heyman trip to WWE HQ. Ryback vs. Kane in the main event.
(Commercial)
The announcers spoke about WWE’s new partnership with Yahoo. Clips were aired from the press conference last week when Stephanie McMahon & Big Show spoke about it. The big news was the 30 minute pre-show coming this summer. I’m strongly against the idea of a 30 minute pre-show before a three hours show.
Backstage, Kaitlyn was talking to Naomi & Cameron. I love how they still have their pom-poms on. Kaitlyn got a text from her mystery friend. She said that the person texted her some Simpsons related things, so they know a lot about Kaitlyn. She even mentioned the famous “Choo-Choo-Choose You” Valentine’s card from Ralph Wiggum of Simpsons fame many years ago. Natalya showed up to suggest that Great Khali go undercover in the men’s locker room to find out who it is. Kaitlyn left with the pom-pom girls. It turns out the Bellas were listening behind the curtain. They were laughing about something.
Analysis: Bad acting all over the place in this segment. The best scenario for this story would be if Natalya was the one playing mindgames with Kaitlyn, that there really is no guy and she ends up turning heel on Kaitlyn over it. I know it’s not realistic. I’m just trying to come up with a scenario that would be fun. I’ll give the creative team some credit for at least trying to come up with a story for the divas. Those are pretty rare. At least there was a Simpsons reference.
The Shield made their entrance. We got clips of Smackdown last week when The Shield destroyed Kane at the end of the show. The Shield are in tag team action after the break.
(Commercial)
The Shield (Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns & Dean Ambrose) vs. Kofi Kingston, Jimmy & Jey Uso
The babyface team didn’t get a televised entrance. Jey got some offense in on Rollins, but then he was driven back into his corner as Reigns was brought into the match. Reigns hit a leaping clothesline. He yelled a lot too. Yelling seems to be his thing. Dropkick by Ambrose followed by a running kick by Rollins. JBL was doing a great job of putting over how dominant The Shield has been. They continued to work over Jey in their corner. Rollins knocked Jimmy off the apron when Jey was close to tagging him in. Jey hit a Samoan Drop to set up the hot tag to Kingston. Kingston was on fire hitting kicks on everybody. Clothesline by Kingston on Ambrose. Boom Drop on Ambrose. Boots to the face on Ambrose and then Rollins. Cross body off the top on Ambrose got two for Kingston. Everybody started brawling. Reigns destroyed one of the Usos outside the ring with a clothesline. That was huge. Rollins knocked Kingston off the top rope while Reigns distracted the ref. Ambrose drove Kingston headfirst into the match with headlock/DDT type maneuver to win the match in eight minutes.
Winners: The Shield
Analysis: ** That was a fun tag match. Obviously the right team went over and I don’t think anybody thought that The Shield was going to lose. It was still an entertaining matchup. They found a way to outsmart their opponents and got the win. The Usos deserve more television time. They always have good matches if they are given the opportunity. They bump well and have credible looking offense too. I hope they get a tag team push soon. I’d expect The Shield to be tag champs at Extreme Rules. Pick two of them. Use the Freebird rule, which would allow any two members of the team to defend the gold.
More hype for this Heyman/Lesnar trip to WWE HQ. Kane vs. Ryback later does not seem exciting to me.
(Commercial)
This week on Main Event it’s Randy Orton vs. Antonio Cesaro. Cesaro has a lot of matches on that show doesn’t he? He barely wins those matches too.
Antonio Cesaro vs. Zack Ryder
Cesaro hit a double foot stomp on Ryder, who didn’t get an entrance. Cesaro got an entrance at least. Gutwrench suplex by Cesaro. Suplex into a cover by Cesaro. Ryder came back with a dropkick off the middle rope. Cesaro came back with his super uppercut move that I love. Neutralizer by Cesaro earns him the victory. It went about two minutes.
Winner: Antonio Cesaro
Analysis: Squash match win. Ryder barely got any offense in. I’m fine with that. I’m a huge fan of Cesaro, so it’s nice to see him get a win.
Cesaro grabbed the microphone after the match. “Is that all the competition you’ve got for me?” He said if that’s all the competition then that’s ridiculous. He said he puts the “W” in WWE – that means wrestling. He said there’s nobody in the company (he mentioned all the shows) that can hold a candle to what he can do in the ring.
Analysis: Good promo, but he lost way too many matches to begin this year when he was the US Champion. I guess this victory and promo was WWE’s way of telling us that he might get a push again. I hope so. I really do. As for Ryder, he gets no reaction anymore. Completely buried.
We’ll learn more about this Heyman/Lesnar trip to WWE HQ earlier in the day. Heyman will talk to us via satellite after the break.
Analysis: Hour two wasn’t great by any means, but it was better than hour one thanks to Ziggler vs. Del Rio.
(Commercial)
Paul Heyman spoke via satellite. He said he took a self guided tour of WWE HQ in Stamford, Connecticut. Heyman decided to give us exclusive footage of Brock Lesnar at WWE HQ.
Heyman filmed the trip with Lesnar at his side. There was a giant Extreme Rules poster with Sheamus on it. Heyman said they’re going to the 4th floor executive offices of Triple H. Is “Triple H” his professional name? Apparently. Lesnar scared a guy out of the elevator. We got elevator footage. It was nice of Lesnar to wear his official t-shirt with the Jimmy John’s logo on it. Heyman directed Lesnar to Triple H’s office. Lesnar stared at a Royal Rumble poster of The Rock. Is that WrestleMania foreshadowing? Maybe. Heyman complained how there was no picture of Lesnar on any wall. Lesnar opened the door that said “Paul Levesque.” Heyman said a woman there was prettier than Stephanie. A stooge talked to Lesnar saying he couldn’t go in, so Lesnar shoved him aside. Heyman: “How is your day going? Do you like working for Triple H?” That was funny. They went into the office of Triple H. There was a picture of Undertaker, Triple H & Shawn Michaels on the wall. Lesnar grabbed a World Title. Heyman said he’ll never get a shot at that as long as Triple H is in charge. Lesnar destroyed a laptop with his bare hands. He punched a computer screen too. Lesnar grabbed a sledgehammer that was on the wall. Lesnar used the sledgehammer to break the desk of Triple H. The handle broke. Lesnar threw chairs around. Lesnar destroyed the office. Heyman threw his business card down. It said “I’m a Paul Heyman Guy” on it.
Analysis: Holy crap that was a lot of fun to watch. Lesnar probably enjoyed doing that. Heyman was hilarious on commentary as well.
The video ended and Heyman was on camera via satellite again. Heyman said he was the voice of reason for Lesnar. He talks about how he usually pleads with Lesnar to stop attacking somebody. Then Triple H decided to hit Heyman with a Pedigree. Now Heyman says he’s no longer going to discourage Lesnar. He’s going to encourage Lesnar. He put the broken World Title replica on his shoulder that was dented from the sledgehammer. Heyman said he’d make sure that Lesnar maims Triple H at Extreme Rules in their steel cage match. Heyman said Lesnar is going to go further and further and further and further (with the assault), but before he could go on we heard the music of Triple H.
Triple H entered in his leather jacket as well as jeans. He’s not rocking the suit. The crowd was happy to see him. Triple H said Heyman’s hair was sticking up – funny joke since he’s bald. He wondered if Heyman could talk without crap coming out of his mouth. Triple H said he knew about extreme because he was a founding father of DX, he went through the Attitude Era with an iron fist and he knocked out Lesnar at WrestleMania. Triple H said he wasn’t at the office on a Monday – of course he’s at Raw. Hunter said he had two offices – the one that Heyman tore up and he’s standing in his office (the ring). Hunter talked about how “this office” (the ring) is like his home and where he became a man. He wanted Lesnar to be a man and to say something directly to his face. “Triple H” chant. Hunter said in this office they fight back.
Analysis: I was hoping for Lesnar to attack right there. It didn’t happen. Hunter’s promo was good because he catered to the fans by sucking up to them and not caring about what Lesnar did. If you don’t get angry about what somebody does it basically says they wasted their time. It would have been nice if Hunter sold it a bit more rather than acting as if it didn’t bother him. This feud is just okay. I was hoping for some physicality this week. I’m surprised they wasted a Lesnar appearance on going to WWE HQ. I was hoping for some destruction in the arena.
They aired a video of how the Kane/Ryback match was set up.
(Commercial)
There was a clip of the Total Divas show coming to E Network in July. It’s the same video that they’ve aired before. I’m strongly against crappy “reality” shows.
AJ Lee, Nikki & Brie Bella vs. Kaitlyn, Cameron & Naomi
The crowd was dead as AJ hit Cameron with a clothesline. Chinlock by AJ. There was a “#MEAT” sign in the crowd. Is that for the former awful wrestler or the food? I hope it’s for the food. Of course it doesn’t matter, but that’s where my interest is for this match. Cameron tagged in Kaitlyn, who took a slap to the face by AJ. The Bellas left AJ alone in the ring. Kaitlyn hit a Spear on AJ to win the match after about three minutes.
Winners: Kaitlyn, Cameron & Naomi
Analysis: DUD Not a good match. The best part about this match is that it was really short. The Bellas are evil women that don’t care about anybody but themselves, so AJ was all alone to get pinned. I’d expect AJ to win the Divas Title at Extreme Rules. She’s still the #1 Contender for it and I think it’s time for her to win that title. Does that title matter? Not really.
Mark Henry was shown walking backstage because that’s what he does! He really needs a t-shirt that says “THAT’S WHAT I DO” on it. I’d buy it. And I don’t buy wrestling shirts.
(Commercial)
Mark Henry came out to cut a promo talking trash about Sheamus. The crowd was doing the “WHAT?” routine so Henry repeated himself a few times and called the fans puppets. Henry’s awesome. Then Henry threw it to a video package showing his attacks on Sheamus in the past month. Henry said if Sheamus had any guts then he would face Henry at Extreme Rules. The crowd kept chanting “WHAT” at Henry. Henry said that he promises Sheamus that people will remember this match for the rest of existence. I doubt that’s true.
Sheamus’ music started up as he entered the ring. Sheamus said that video left some things out. So Sheamus threw it to a video package that showed him hitting a Brogue Kick on Henry last week on Raw as well as on Smackdown last week. Henry said that it won’t be about jokes at Extreme Rules. Sheamus said when the bell rings his business is Henry. Henry threw the microphone down. They dropped their microphones and looked ready to fight. Wade Barrett entered the arena because Michael Cole informed us that Sheamus had a match with him. Henry left the ring as they went to break.
Analysis: I don’t mind the Henry feud. It came out of nowhere with Henry randomly attacking him, but at least that’s a better reason than Jericho/Fandango having issues because of dancing ability. Plus I liked the Henry/Sheamus feud two years ago. I remember it ended before I wanted it to, so it will be fun to see them in a PPV setting again.
(Commercial)
Sheamus vs. Wade Barrett
This is not for Barrett’s IC Title. Yes he still holds that title. Henry joined the commentary team. Mark Henry was trending because that’s what he does. Henry told Cole to shut up, which is great. Sheamus hit his ten forearm shots to the chest of Sheamus. Henry threw down the headset. Sheamus teased throwing Barrett into Henry. That led to Sheamus hitting the Brogue Kick on Henry for the third show in a row. Back in the ring, Sheamus hit a shoulder block off the top to Barrett. Barrett hit the Winds of Change for two. Backbreaker by Sheamus got two. Henry was being checked on by doctors at ringside. They are really selling that Brogue Kick huh? Barrett got a nearfall. Sheamus countered the Bull Hammer attempt with White Noise. “Fella” yell by Sheamus. Brogue Kick connected. He covered Barrett to win the match after five minutes.
Winner: Sheamus
Analysis: *1/2 Cue my usual complaint about hurting a championship by having a title holder lose a non-title match in five minutes. Barrett has no feud, so of course he’s the loser in this situation. It’s another meaningless midcard title in WWE. For shame.
Post match, Henry went into the ring with a belt in his hand. He whipped Sheamus with it. He whipped him with some loud shots to the back. “Tell me a joke! I don’t hear you! Tell me a joke!” I love Henry’s trash talk. He dropped Sheamus with the World’s Strongest Slam outside the ring. JBL didn’t blame Henry for it because Sheamus attacked him three times in the last week. Henry left while Sheamus was getting looked at by the doctors.
Analysis: That was a fun post-match attack by Henry. He really took it to Sheamus in a physical way. I’m not sure why they used the belt except that it could mean a Strap Match between them at Extreme Rules since they like to have matches with stipulations at that show. That’s how you effectively build a feud. Use a match to set up a beating. It’s better than a tug of war or arm wrestling competition. Those are just wastes of time.
They showed a tale of the tape between Ryback and Kane. On Ryback’s it should have said “hasn’t won on PPV since Money in the Back last July,” but it didn’t.
(Commercial)
Next Monday on Raw, Fandango battles Chris Jericho in a dance off. Ugh. I love Jericho, but I don’t know if he can save us.
Replay of Lesnar destroying Triple H’s property.
Kane vs. Ryback
The announcers are talking about this match as if it’s some huge deal when it really is not. Ryback gave Kane a clothesline over the top rope. Ryback threw Kane into the security wall outside the ring. They went to break about two minutes into the match right near the top of the hour.
(Commercial)
Back from break, Ryback was control of the action in the ring. The crowd was quiet. Ryback hit a Thesz Press to take down Kane. After a Ryback charge, Kane knocked him down with a boot to the face. DDT by Kane for two. Ryback came back with a Spinebuster. Suplex by Kane. Kane went to the top rope, so Ryback stopped that by crotching him on the top rope. Ryback used the top rope as leverage and hit Shellshocked on Kane. The match went about eight minutes.
Winner: Ryback
Analysis: *1/2 The right man went over, but it was not an exciting match. I didn’t expect Kane to win. I don’t think anybody in the crowd did either. The finish was creative, though. By having Ryback put Kane in Shellshocked position by using the top rope it was a smart way to hit the move. Other than that it was a boring match not worthy of a main event slot..
The Shield’s music hit. Daniel Bryan entered the ring to help his partner Kane. Ryback left through the crowd. John Cena ran down to the ring. Kane was outside the ring. Ryback ran back in with a steel chair in his hands. Bryan took out two Shield guys outside the ring with a dive. Cena was going for the AA, but Ryback cut him off by hitting Cena in the ribs with the steel chair. Lawler: “What’s he doing?” He’s acting like a heel, Jerry. Ryback said “Ryback Rules” as the announcers went silent and Raw ended with Ryback standing over the fallen Cena.
Analysis: I think it’s dumb for the announcers to act shocked when Ryback acts that way. He’s done it for the last month. They should expect. Instead of asking what he’s doing they should be ripping him for taking a cheap shot on Cena when he was in a vulnerable position like that. Other than that I didn’t mind the segment. It was a good way to get heat on Ryback. His gimmick is simple – he takes advantage of opportunities and he only takes care of himself. It’s the same gimmick as most heels, but that’s fine. It works.
Three Stars of the Show:
1. Brock Lesnar
2. Paul Heyman
3. Mark Henry
The Scoreboard
4 out of 10
Last week: 6
2013 Average: 5.53
2013 High: 8 (April 8)
2013 Low: 3.5 (January 28)
Last 5 Weeks: 6, 7, 5.5, 8, 6
Final Thoughts
It was a boring Raw for the most part. Some storylines were furthered, but there weren’t any memorable matches or segments that will get people talking after the show is over. In other words, they did a poor job of creating buzz.
My favorite part of the show was when Lesnar and Heyman destroyed the office of Triple H. The problem is Triple H reacted as if it didn’t bother him. So if he doesn’t care then why should we care?
I have little interest in the Cena/Ryback feud. I think the ability to use weapons in a Last Man Standing match will definitely help them. However, that promo to start Raw was pretty bad and they didn’t do that much at the end of the show to really add heat to the feud. It was okay, but not great.
At least we have a dance contest to look forward to next week, right? Yawn.
I actually think the card for Extreme Rules is pretty solid. However, this week’s show did not increase my interest in that event very much.
Remember Damien Sandow’s promo earlier in the show? It was done to Randy Orton’s theme song. Here it is put to Orton’s music.
[youtube]http://youtu.be/kgWUlU6N7f0[/youtube]
That’s absolutely brilliant. Love it.
—————–
We’ll bring it home with some plugs.
I wrote a “20 Things I Really Like About WWE Right Now” column on the weekend. The title says it all. It was fun to write.
Please visit TJRWrestling.com every day for weekday Headlines and plenty of opinions shared by our talented team of columnists.
Until next time, thanks for reading.
John Canton – [email protected]
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