Welcome to this edition of ThunderStruck! Coming off what was arguably one of the better pay per views of the last four shown, you had to expect the start of the Survivor Series hype on this edition of RAW. Sure enough, we saw multiple commercials throughout the evening advertising the great one himself, The Rock, for the annual November event!
We open RAW with a promo from Triple H. Hunter gives us a sob story about the clique and how he thought he was fortunate to have that group of friends forever. He then talks about what Kevin Nash did to him at Vengeance and calls him out. Instead of Nash, John Laurinaitis comes to the ring to tell Hunter to calm down. Hunter tells him over and over to shut up and then tells him to go get Kevin Nash from home and bring him to RAW so he can put him under contract and kick his ass. Triple H walks up the ramp and Laurinaitis continues to try to talk to him. Hunter is facing the stage when Kevin Nash attacks him from behind with a sledgehammer. Laurinaitis tells Nash to leave. Anyone else smell a setup here? As Hunter is being loaded into an ambulance, Nash attacks him yet again and hits him in the lower head/neck with the sledgehammer. The scene is greatly exaggerated by paramedics and Hunter is taken away. We get a replay of these events occurring at least three more times throughout the show. I understand that WWE is trying to focus RAW on Hunter more than anyone else, but this feud can only go so far when their work in the ring together has nothing but potential disaster written all over it.
Next we had Randy Orton and Sheamus taking on Christian and Cody Rhodes. Vengeance replay anybody? These guys go back and forth with some fairly entertaining action. The match ends with chaos between Orton and Christian as Sheamus and Rhodes botch an attempted big boot. Sheamus recovers fast and nails the Celtic Cross on Rhodes for the win. This match was definitely fast paced and gave us something new to watch with Cody and Sheamus facing off for the first time since the impromptu battle royal for the IC Title.Â
Next we had Cena crack some funny Fresh Prince of Bel Air jokes on Otunga and demand a match with Miz and Truth to Johnny L. Laurinaitis tells Cena that he will face Truth and Miz tonight in a tag team match tonight, with a partner of Laurinaitis’ choosing.Â
Santino took on Dolph Ziggler in our next match. I posted on fb that this match had the potential to be really good if it wasn’t just a squash victory for Ziggler. Well, at least it had some comedy from Santino before the squash itself occurred. Mason Ryan makes the save after the match when Santino is beaten down by Ziggler and Swagger. It’s really too bad for Santino; I understand that WWE treats him as a comic relief for the show, but he really does have a lot of popularity among the fans. Some of the biggest pops you hear on the show are for a guy that pretends to play a trumpet and pretends his hand is a snake! Why can’t WWE turn him into a shocking underdog story and have him achieve real success?Â
Zack Ryder tells the Bella twins that he’s been picked to be Cena’s partner tonight! Finally, a chance to see Ryder showcase some of his talents in more than a two minute match! Or not…
Alberto Del Rio comes down to brag about his victory over John Cena the night before. CM Punk comes down to challenge Del Rio to a match for his WWE Title. Del Rio tells Punk he is at the back of the line for challengers. Laurinaitis comes down. How much of this guy are we going to be forced to see tonight? JL tells Punk that he will make a match between he and Del Rio at the Survivor Series on the condition that Punk tells JL that he respects him. Punk mocks JL repeatedly until JL gives him one last chance to say it and Punk ends up attacking Del Rio. Punk goes for the GTS but is hit from behind by Ricardo Rodriguez. Punk grabs Ricardo and Del Rio and JL run out of the ring. Punk hits the GTS on RIcardo as the pair looks on. WWE.com has now confirmed the match between Punk and Del Rio for the WWE Title at the Survivor Series.
Alicia Fox took on Natalya in our next match. These two divas gave us a quick match that had Natalya dominating for the majority of the bout. Alicia was able to overcome the beatdown from Natalya and score the “upset” pinfall. Beth Phoenix was on commentary during the match and went after Fox after the match but Fox ran out of the ring. Finally, a fifth diva is being used on RAW. Maybe by the end of the month we might see a few more of the divas compete in the ring outside of this core group. I’m actually not disliking the divas matches as much these days, especially when WWE has decided to move away from straight up squash victories that we’re used to seeing.
John Morrison jobbed to Wade Barrett. I really wish the rumors proved to be false about Morrison’s impending departure from the company. Jo Mo is legitimately one of the most talented guys on the WWE roster and watching him job to Mark Henry repeatedly over the past few months has been pretty unbearable. Morrison put on a terrific match with Barrett that went back and forth to the point of having the fans believe that he might actually win the match. No such luck this time. Wade Barrett, on the other hand, is a guy that should have stayed in the main event picture in my opinion. Just one year ago, his main event with Randy Orton at the Survivor Series was a really good match. It’s almost as though Barrett and Sheamus, despite establishing themselves already in the main event scene, have had to work their way back up the ranks over the past few months.
Michael Cole gets on the microphone and challenges Jim Ross to the Michael Cole challenge on RAW next week. Cole says he will quit WWE if he loses. We couldn’t be that lucky as fans. Going off on a tangent for a few moments if I could, WWE Â to me has lost sight of what a heel is supposed to be. Heels are guys that you love to hate. Who are the ultimate heels in WWE right now? I’d go with Christian, RTruth, and the Miz. These guys are all super talented and extremely entertaining. Top heels that keep people entertained. I would even go as far as to call Vince McMahon one of those guys, despite the fact that I don’t ever want to see him on television again. I’m reserving my official decision on how I feel about John Laurinaitis. Michael Cole, however, is not a guy that I love to hate. I hate the fact that I hate Cole. He’s annoying, and I don’t want to listen to him. Michael Cole was a good, not great, face announcer. I liked the guy. He’s a horrible heel that honestly makes me want to watch RAW without commentary. I understand that Jim Ross can’t be around forever, but why oh why WWE are you forcing us to listen to this garbage? All joking aside, it’s completely sickening to listen to Michael Cole try to sound like a jerk. He comes across as offensive and insulting in an overly obnoxious manner. Alright, I’m done with that portion. People want to complain about the talent and the product, and my biggest gripe is the guy that’s calling the action. Enough is enough on this subject. I hope he quits. Did I say I was done with this? Because I could rip Cole apart for hours. Next…Wait, remember how often Cole was a victim of a Chyna/DX wedgy? Those were the days. For real, moving on now.
Zack Ryder gets attacked backstage by the Awesome Truth during his promo for the match. They hurt him pretty bad. Miz and Truth come to the ring and the match is declared a handicap match. This match went about how you would expect it with Cena actually holding his own and dominating right up until the dq finish. Truth used that “devastating” bottle of water to hit Cena and end the match. Cena is beatdown further until Truth and Miz both grab chairs. Laurinaitis comes down and makes the save by telling Truth and Miz to leave the ring. I suppose this is JL’s way of keeping with the storyline that he can keep RAW as a safe working environment. JL tells Cena he can have Truth and Miz at Survivor Series in a tag team match with a partner of his choosing. Cena says anyone? John Cena, with spit flying out of his mouth, asks The Rock to be his partner at the pay per view. Everybody acts shocked and this gets a massive pop from the crowd! Being that the internet wrestling community is a minority compared to all wrestling fans worldwide, I would guess that a majority of the audience and viewers at home probably weren’t aware that Cena and The Rock were confirmed to team together at the Survivor Series already. This was a really good way to end the show.
I know I always say I enjoy the show and people wonder if I’m crazy or just stupid, or possibly young and immature. The truth is, I wouldn’t write about any of this stuff if I didn’t enjoy what was being put in front of me. Obviously WWE has given us more entertaining storylines and characters in the past, but I honestly believe that WWE has never had a bigger pool of talent than they do right now. This, to me, is just a phase of time for WWE where all of these YOUNG superstars are developing into our standout top notch wrestlers of the future. Look at how far guys like the Miz and Dolph Ziggler have come! Even Zack Ryder, despite his lack of length in his matches has risen into a role where he is headed for ridiculous stardom. That being said, I enjoyed RAW. I like that we already have the two best matches of Survivor Series confirmed four weeks before the event. I hope this happens on Smackdown as well. I like the fact that WWE doesn’t skip on the divas and makes sure to continue that storyline for whatever small audience is out there that enjoys seeing them. I like seeing CM Punk head towards greatness that we can’t yet imagine, and I like seeing John Cena build towards a match that promises to blow the roof off at WrestleMania 28. I like watching Dolph Ziggler make a boring guy like Jack Swagger more relevant as he moves up in his quest for better gold, and I like watching Zack Ryder get time on tv. RAW was good, and I can’t wait to see what we get on Friday. Until next time, you’ve been ThunderStruck.
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