ThunderStruck: RAW Analysis 11/28/11

We open RAW with Piper’s Pit! I’m sure the words boring and unnecessary will be used to describe this segment by many. However, anybody that says that can’t possibly have a true appreciation for Roddy Piper’s gimmick and ability that put him into the Hall of Fame. The man is a legend. His exchange of words with John Cena was fantastic. Piper wanted to push Cena into telling the fans what’s what, and Cena stuck to his gimmick and stayed true to what he does best. Nice pop when Piper slapped Cena. Keeping the focus on Cena without The Rock around doesn’t look like it’s going to be all that difficult. That said, I think it would be completely idiotic to have The Rock win their match WrestleMania. Call me John Madden for stating the obvious, but The Rock is a FORMER WWE Superstar and current movie star. He’s not available to dedicate his time to the business and while I don’t blame him for that, I don’t expect WWE to put him over every time he sets foot in the ring for them.

 


 

John Morrison has wrestled his last match in WWE for the time being. I find it fitting that Morrison took on the Miz in a falls count anywhere match in his final showing. These guys moved up on the roster together and are both great performers. They could easily tear down the house in a pay per view main event. Miz beat Morrison down with a pipe before the match even started. Morrison insisted on wrestling the match with a banged up leg and he paid for it in the long run. Morrison was able to hold his own in this one and mount some offense but ultimately he got his head thrown into the WWE stage sign and was hit with the Skull Crushing Finale on the stage by Miz. The ref decided to stop the match and declare Miz the winner. Bye Bye Johnny Nitro. I have a lot more to say on Morrison(column perhaps?). The Miz cut a promo after the match saying last week it was R-Truth and this week it’s John Morrison. Who knows about next week? Great promo with the Miz reinventing himself some by toning his voice down low. It still seems like a Jericho gimmick copy to me. It’s good to see that nobody is holding the Miz back. I mean he had a horrendous look when he teamed with Morrison and was treated like a joke. His climb up the singles ladder has really been nothing less than a dream come true story and it’s been quite impressive indeed.

The Bellas took on Alicia Fox and Kelly Kelly. Beth and Natalya came down and jogged around the ring during the match and left. Kelly and Alicia picked up the quick victory on the Bellas with Alicia getting the pin. You know creative is already running out of ideas for the Divas when they’ve got them jogging around ringside during matches. Really?

John Laurinaitis continues to make us wait for Brodus Clay’s debut as Otunga questiosn him on it. And Laurinaitis botches his words again with this entire promo. He talks with Del Rio and wants him to be prepared for tonight. CM Punk comes in and interrupts them all. He makes fun of them all in a different way. This was funny stuff. He tells Del Rio the title isn’t going anywhere. Otunga suggests that Punk might get himself disqualified. Laurinaitis decides that Punk will lose the title if he gets himself disqualified tonight.

Randy Orton and Dolph Ziggler gave us perhaps the most sound match of the night. Ziggler continues to boost his stock with these fantastic matches with top guys. I love it! Orton continues to impress me with his in ring ability and willingness to put on great matches with the upper mid card guys. Wade Barrett did commentary during the match and distracted Orton so that Ziggler could hit Zig Zag for the victory. Win or lose, this match was stock boosting for Ziggler and it was also a good push for this Orton/Barrett rivalry that continues to grow more and more.

Michael Cole and Daniel Bryan had an interview in the ring. Bryan has changed his mind and decided that becoming World Champion is more important than being in the main event of WrestleMania(Creative rushing the storylines yet again? Let the bitching begin!) Bryan says his plans changed because of Mark Henry trying to end his career. I’m excited for their cage match on Smackdown. Henry came out and said his words about how unfair it was for him to be in a match tomorrow night. Bryan walks past Henry and kicks him in the leg. Daniel Bryan showed just how good he is on the mic during this whole segment with Cole. I can’t wait for this World Title cage match! I wonder how fast Daniel Bryan will turn heel and just how fast Michael Cole will start to support him once he does.

Zack Ryder took on Jack Swagger in a short match. Ryder was able to showcase some of his skills while still maintaining the goon gimmick that they don’t seem to be very willing to shy away from. Ryder is going to be a star. Swagger will be a consistent mid card guy for the rest of his career. I say that because despite what some may think of Swagger’s lack of personality, the guy carries a fairly decent match. Some of the best workers in the history of the business were guys that could consistently work a match night in and night out and make others look good. Swagger could fit the mid card lifer role quite well at this point. Ryder picked up the victory with that jumping leg lariat. It looked a bit harder to do to Swagger than others based on his height. I want to see him try it on Khali! I’m not sure if Zack Ryder’s US Title shot will happen at TLC or if they are going to push this thing all the way to WrestleMania. People want to complain about storylines being rushed, but I’m wondering how large the complaints are going to become if Ryder goes five more months without his title shot!

Punk cuts a promo before his match with Del Rio and tells John Laurinaitis to kiss his ass. Good stuff here. The main event featured Punk defending his title against Alberto Del Rio. This one wasn’t as wrestling oriented as their SS match; the focus of the match for Del Rio was attempting to get Punk disqualified so that he could become champion. Punk played the game better than Del Rio and even made the ref think Del Rio had smacked him with a steel chair at one point. Punk was able to pick up the win after he hit the GTS on Del Rio onto a turnbuckle that Del Rio himself had exposed. Good win for Punk and it was nice to see him defend his title. It’s weird to think of CM Punk as a two time champ since MITB as he has only defended the WWE Championship twice since then and both times have been against Alberto Del Rio. I’m wondering if he will have had ANY other challengers for the title by the new year.

For me, this wasn’t a bad RAW in any way. There were far less things attempted to be crowded into two hours than usual. The divas are getting a little old, but I do respect WWE for sticking with them and continuing the storyline. I just read a rumor that Nash and Triple H has either been pushed back to the Rumble or scrapped altogether. I’m praying for the latter of the two. I liked the Orton/Ziggler contest as match of the night despite the WWE Title match. Wade Barrett really helped add to his character with his commentary during their match as well. That’s all for this one. We’ve got the live Smackdown tonight and I’ll have my column out sometime after. Also look for some sort of tribute tidbit/possible column on my facebook page for John Morrison. Until next time, you’ve been ThunderStruck!

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