This was written live on Monday night.
Live from Hartford, CT (Go Whalers?) this is the Raw Deal…
The show begins with the Nickelback intro song to kick off this three hour edition of Monday Night Raw. Ring announcer Justin Roberts introduces us to the GM of Raw & Smackdown, John Laurinaitis. He comes out in his motorized cart. He’s really selling those Over The Limit injuries huh? Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler are announcing the show as usual. They’re arguing about the job that Laurinaitis has been doing. “My name is John Laurinaitis…” and then Vince McMahon’s music hit. Huge pop for Vince McMahon.
McMahon says it’s all about business. Vince asks him why he shouldn’t fire him right now. Laurinaitis has two words: “People Power.” At one point he messed up mentioning 100 episodes of Raw not 1,000. Laurinaitis sucked up to him by saying the people used to boo him and now they respect him. Laurinaitis said they’re visionaries and astute businessman. A “fire Johnny” chant started up. McMahon blamed him for Lesnar’s contract causing them two lawsuits. He even brought up the one legged signing years ago and getting the wrong guy, which was true. Originally they didn’t sign Zach Gowen. Laurinaitis mentioned the Lesnar thing is HHH’s fault. McMahon also questioned the Big Show thing, saying Show hasn’t been effective since 1999. That’s really going to sell PPV buys, Vince. Laurinaitis continued to brag about things. He said the wrestlers look up to him as their friend. All of a sudden the music of Sheamus started up. He walked down to the ring.
Sheamus said it was great to see McMahon. Sheamus said he was a friend to Laurinaitis, but it was in a mocking manner. McMahon pointed out that “fire Johnny” was trending on Twitter. McMahon loves Twitter. Sheamus said he wanted McMahon to fire Johnny. Laurinaitis said he was going to get an opponent for Sheamus later. McMahon told him he had to pick a good opponent and we needed good matches because otherwise he may hear two words: “You’re fired!” Laurinaitis left. McMahon went up the ramp in the motorized cart. Then he threw it off the ramp.
The Sheamus match is after the break.
Analysis: The segment was okay. It went about 13 minutes. They did a good job of making sure Vince got cheered right off the bat. He was smiling a lot. The crowd was supportive of everything he said. The question they’ll be asking all show is about whether or not Laurinaitis keeps his job. It sounds like they are totally ignoring the angle from last summer when Triple H had to fire Vince on behalf of the board of directors. Remember “I love you pop?” I do. I guess Vince forget. Hopefully Vince asking Laurinaitis to put on good matches leads to some high quality wrestling. I would like that a lot.
(Commercial)
Back from break, they replayed the footage of McMahon throwing the cart off the ramp.
They aired footage of Alberto Del Rio’s match against The Great Khali on Smackdown. They said the two chops Del Rio received from Khali are why he has a serious concussion. That’s a storyline reason. From what I was told, it happened when Del Rio took a bump on his head by the entrance ramp.
Laurinaitis introduced Sheamus’ opponent for the night: Tensai.
Sheamus vs. Tensai
Tensai used some power moves early on to get control, but Sheamus came back with a clothesline that sent both guys over the top to the floor. Two minutes into the match we got our first vintage floor to commercial spot.
(Commercial)
As we return from break, Tensai was in control again as he threw Sheamus into the turnbuckle. He hit a running splash on Sheamus. Tensai hit a splash off the second rope. Sheamus came back with a shoulder block followed by a knee smash and forearm to the face. Tensai dumped him over the top, but Sheamus stopped himself on the apron. Sheamus hit the ten clubbing forearms to Tensai much to the delight of the crowd. Tensai hit a two handed chokeslam for two. That was a really good nearfall. Tensai hit Sheamus with a short kick, but Sheamus shook it off and hit the Brogue Kick out of nowhere for the win after 8 minutes.
Winner: Sheamus
Analysis: ** I enjoyed that. It was a physical brawl where the World Champion took a lot of punishment and came back to get the win. Tensai put up a good effort.
Backstage, McMahon was in the locker room. He told Laurinaitis that Tensai’s loss was strike one. McMahon asked Laurinaitis what he was going to do about Sheamus’ opponent at No Way Out. Vickie Guerrero showed up to suggest Dolph Ziggler & Jack Swagger. Vince said that was good, but asked JL. Then JL asked Teddy. Teddy suggested that since there are four former World Champs on the roster that they should put them in a Fatal Fourway elimination match with the winner of that getting the title shot. Those men are Ziggler, Swagger, Christian & Great Khali. Vince said that’s great, so it’s a go apparently. Laurinaitis said he thought of it and sent Long to get coffee. Laurinaitis offered a fist bump to McMahon. McMahon: “A fist bump? You’ve got small hands.” Laurinaitis then looked at his hand after Vince left. That was funny at the end. Four way sounds good. Ziggler has to be the pick.
(Commercial)
The “did you know” was about how Smackdown was Syfy’s most watched show for the 88th week in a row.
Back to the show, Tensai was in the ring beating up his buddy Sakamoto. He was yelling at him in Japanese. After some punches, he threw him out of the ring. He rammed Sakamoto’s head into the announce table and then his back into ring post. He followed that up by throwing him into the security wall. I think Tensai thinks we’re still in the “ruthless aggression” era. Finally some refs came out to stop the carnage. I guess that’s the end of Sakamoto huh?
Cole & Lawler talked about how this was the 994th edition of Raw. That led to a memorable Raw moment.
We’re back to July 13, 2009 for the guest host Seth Green. He teamed with Triple H & Cena against Orton, Dibiase & Rhodes. I wrote about it, but I don’t remember it that well. Green talked about how much he enjoyed it and that he wanted to come back again.
Backstage, Matt Striker talked to R-Truth. He asked him how he was feeling after his attack from Big Show two weeks ago. Truth talked to Little Jimmy during the promo. Truth said Show was going to lose to John Cena. All of a sudden a fist knocked out Truth. Big Show stood over him. They went to break with Truth knocked out.
Analysis: What’s interesting about that is Truth has a broken foot, so I guess that’s the way they’re going to write him out of the storylines while he recovers from that. It will be interesting to see what they do about the tag titles since he’s a tag champion along with Kofi Kingston. Meanwhile, Show’s path of destruction continues.
(Commercial)
Back from break, they showed a replay of Big Show knocking out R-Truth backstage.
After Santino made his entrance for a mixed tag match, they showed clips of Santino’s match against Ricardo Rodriguez from three weeks ago when he defeated him and humiliated him.
Santino & Layla vs. Ricardo Rodriguez & Beth Phoenix
Ricardo is hesitant to wrestle. He’s scared of Santino apparently. Phoenix hit a suplex on Layla. Rodriguez tagged in thinking he could wrestle Layla, but he had to face Santino. He tagged Phoenix back in. Layla hit a nice springboard crossbody for two. That was really good. Layla hit a facebuster and then a headscissors on Rodriguez, who was interfering. On the floor, Santino went for the Cobra. Rodriguez ran into the ring post in a comedy spot. Back in the ring, Phoenix kicked Layla in the back of her knee and then gave her a Glam Slam for the victory after 3 minutes of action.
Winners: Beth Phoenix & Ricardo Rodriguez
After the match, Rodriguez celebrated the win. He didn’t actually do anything in the match, which makes the celebration funnier. Santino ripped off Rodriguez’ dress shirt to reveal a purple Justin Bieber shirt. Ricardo ran away embarrassed.
Analysis: * Even though Phoenix won, they didn’t even focus on the fact that she pinned the Divas Champion. It was all about the Santino/Ricardo comedy angle. I like Ricardo as a comedy guy. I just wish they paid more attention to the divas division.
In the dressing room, David Otunga was sucking up to Vince McMahon. He said that if Laurinaitis got fired he thought he would make a good replacement and that he had a body similar to McMahon’s. Vince said he didn’t like lawyers. Kofi Kingston came in to complain about the attack on R-Truth. Kingston wanted Big Show, so Laurinaitis walked in and made the Kingston vs. Show match inside a steel cage. McMahon liked that idea.
Daniel Bryan was shown walking backstage. He’s up next as we get to the top of hour two.
(Commercial)
The top of hour two begins with Daniel Bryan delivering a speech. He said the WWE Title match at No Way Out between CM Punk, Kane and him is about AJ. He said Punk is trying to get with Bryan’s ex-girlfriend while Kane thinks he’s gotten to second base when a woman looks at him and doesn’t vomit. Bryan: “As AJ can attest once you go Bryan there’s no point in tryin’.” It almost rhymed. “Will I emerge as the new WWE Champion at No Way Out?” Cue the “yes” yelling by Bryan.
The music of CM Punk started up. He remarked that Bryan talks about AJ a lot for somebody that’s supposed to have gotten over her. Punk says AJ’s pretty cool and gets around to saying his “I dig crazy chicks” line. Punk said it was a triple threat match for the WWE Title with everything on the line. Bryan told Punk that he’s changed and that he used to be the voice of the voiceless. Bryan said that people yell at Big Show about selling out, but that Punk is the biggest sell out in the company. Punk talked about his promo last year on the stage and how he hasn’t changed one single bit. He said he achieved success at the highest level on his own terms. Punk said he hasn’t compromised himself like Bryan has. Punk called him obnoxious ever since he changed, which is in reference to Bryan turning heel. He called him “goat faced” even because of the beard. The crowd chanted “goat face” at Bryan. Punk called him “goat face” again. Punk said he was giving Bryan a wakeup call, ironically enough, when he puts him to sleep.
The fireworks went off as Kane made his way down to the ring. Kane talked about things he’s done in the past like light JR on fire and electrocute Shane McMahon’s testicles. He said his pipe bombs are actual pipe bombs. He said that’s why he’ll be WWE Champion.
All of a sudden AJ ran out there with a microphone. AJ said she looked into Kane’s eyes last week and saw that deep down in that tortured sould he actually has a heart. Punk: “You gotta love crazy chicks!” Loud “crazy chicks” chant. Apparently #GoatFace is trending. AJ said you don’t get over your first and she told Daniel that he knows that she hasn’t. AJ called Punk the coolest guy she’s ever known in her entire life. She said that her point is she knows that the best man will win on Sunday.
John Laurinaitis appeared on the big screen. He announced a tag match: Kane & Daniel Bryan vs. CM Punk & AJ. That match isn’t next, but it’s coming up later.
Analysis: I liked the Punk/Bryan face to face promo, but not every line they said really clicked with the crowd. The AJ promo makes it seem like she will be the deciding factor in the WWE Title match on Sunday by picking who she wants to win the match. It’s an intriguing story heading into the match because as a crazy chick we have no idea what might happen.
We got another replay of the McMahon promo early in the show and when he threw Laurinaitis’ cart off the ramp.
Up next is a fatal four way match to determine the number one contender to the World Title: Christian vs. Great Khali vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. Jack Swagger.
(Commercial)
Fatal Four Way Elimination Match for Number One Contender to the World Title: Christian vs. The Great Khali vs. Jack Swagger vs. Dolph Ziggler
That’s a wordy match title huh? All four guys are in the match at the same time and if you get pinned you are eliminated. Khali started out by hitting chops to the chest of each guy. Cole wondered how you stop Khali. Doesn’t he lose most weeks? He always gets stopped. Swagger hit Khali in the back of the left leg and then Christian hit a Frog Splash. All three guys covered Khali at the same time. That eliminated Khali after about 90 seconds.
Great Khali is the first person eliminated.
Analysis: Good booking decision. Thank you. The remaining three wrestlers should put on a quality matchup.
They went to break after Khali’s elimination.
(Commercial)
Back from break, Ziggler and Swagger worked together to hurt Christian. Swagger held Christian, who ducked and Ziggler ended up receiving a back drop over the top to the floor. That was a big Ziggler bump right there. Christian hit a back elbow off the middle. Ziggler rolled back in for a rollup on Christian for two. Christian whipped Swagger into Ziggler to knock Dolph to the ground. Swagger ended up tripping Christian on the second rope and he missed a Swager Bomb. Christian got a rollup for two. Swagger kicked out and put Christian in the Ankle Lock as Cole smartly referenced Christian’s ankle injury. Christian rolled through to drive Swagger to the post. Christian hit the Killswitch on Swagger. Ziggler slid in the ring to get the pin on Swagger after 9 minutes.
Jack Swagger is the second person eliminated.
Vickie was mad at Dolph for pinning Jack, but he said he wanted to win for himself. Ziggler focused the attack on Christian’s injured left ankle. Ziggler hit a sleeper, but Christian countered and decked Ziggler with a punch. Christian went for a spear. He stopped short because his ankle was hurting him too bad. Christian hit a slingshot into the ring post and then a Spear connected for a count of two. That was a tremendous nearfall. Ziggler came back by kicking Christian in the ankle and then hitting the Fameasser for two. Ziggler missed the Zig Zag, which led to Christian hitting a reverse DDT. Christian went to the top. He jumped off, Ziggler moved, Christian hurt his ankle and Ziggler hit the Zig Zag for the win at the 12 minute mark.
Winner: Dolph Ziggler
Post match, Ziggler said it was “about damn time.” He was in major title matches against CM Punk in January, but it has been a while since then.
Analysis: ***1/4 That’s your match of the night so far. Ziggler was the right pick. I thought Christian was fantastic in his role as the babyface fighting off the two heels trying to work together. The three of them did had excellent chemistry. The final three minutes were excellent with all of the nearfalls that Christian and Ziggler had. It could have ended a few different times. Exciting finishes are always a good thing.
Backstage, Natalya was talking to Vince McMahon. She was talking about how great it was when her family was all together at WrestleMania a few years ago. Vince sold it as if she was annoying him. At least he didn’t book her to fart. The Funkasaurus dancers went up to Vince McMahon asking if they could have the Funkasaurus on Raw again. The story is that Laurinaitis got him moved to Smackdown. They wanted Vince to dance, so of course they did. The lights went red and Vince yelled “somebody call my momma.” Then the Brodus Clay music started up. Vince danced. That was funny a bit, but mostly awkward. When the dance ended, Zack Ryder showed up. He was shocked. Vince did the “woo woo woo” and left as Zack said nothing.
Analysis: None of that was as funny as Vince probably thought it was, but who is going to tell him different? It’s certainly odd to see a man in his 60s dance like that. He’s not a normal man of course.
(Commercial)
Ryback made his entrance. His two opponents are Willard Fillmore & Rutherford PS Hayes. Nice job with the PS Hayes name there.
Ryback vs. Willard Fillmore & Rutherford PS Hayes
Ryback hit the double powerbomb on Hayes. Ryback hit a hard clothesline on Fillmore on the floor and then threw him back in the ring. Ryback picked up both guys above his shoulder for his finishing move, which is like a Muscle Buster but still doesn’t have an official name. That was the end of the match after about one minute.
Winner: Ryback
Analysis: No point in rating a squash match. We’ve seen this act for the past couple of months. I’m ready for him to have a bigger name opponent to see how they book him.
The Show/Kingston cage match is next as we saw the steel cage lower from the top of the building.
(Commercial)
Backstage, Vince McMahon was watching clips from Smackdown with Hornswoggle. Vince put on a JR cowboy hat, mocked his face and yelled “Stone Cold” a few times in a JR parody. Way to be a star, Vince. John Cena showed up. McMahon brought up that Cena lost to Rock at WrestleMania. Cena brought up Vince’s many WrestleMania losses. McMahon told Cena not to interfere in the Kingston’s match. Cena said he talked to Kingston, who said he would handle his business. Cena referenced Donald Trump saying “you’re fired” and told Vince that he is more famous for those words. Everybody is sucking up to Vince. Otunga showed up again, then Vince made a reference to ass kissing when the camera panned over to reveal William Regal sitting on the couch. Of course he kissed Vince’s ass in the past.
Analysis: They sure got a lot of people in that segment huh? Vince is all over this show.
Kofi Kingston made his entrance. They replayed Big Show knocking out R-Truth from earlier. Show was walking backstage as Cole told us that the match was next at the top of hour three.
(Commercial)
The No Way Out pre-show match is Brodus Clay versus David Otunga. I predict Brodus wins. That was easy.
Steel Cage Match: Big Show vs. Kofi Kingston
Kingston tried to attack early, but that didn’t really work. Show dominated the action. He picked up Kingston in his arms and threw him hard into the cage two times in a row. Show kicked him hard in the ribs a few times. Kingston was able to climb away. Show stopped that and Kingston hit Trouble in Paradise. He covered for a count of two. Show powered out. Kingston tried to escape out of the cage door. Show stopped that. Show caught Kingston’s foot and punched Kingston hard in the face for the KNOCK THE F OUT~! punch. Ref Scott Armstrong said that Kingston was knocked out. Show walked out of cage for the win after 7 minutes.
Winner: Big Show
Analysis: 3/4* It was a short match designed to make Show look like a dominant monster. That goal was accomplished. The tag champs look like a bunch of losers again, but that’s not really new.
Backstage, Laurinaitis looked at the TV showing Kingston in the ring while doctors checked on him. Laurinaitis was smiling about it.
Punk & AJ vs. Kane & Bryan later.
(Commercial)
Sin Cara vs. Curt Hawkins
The Sin Cara lighting remains. Sin Cara dominated the action early and hit a corkscrew plancha over the top to the floor. Hawkins dragged him back out to the floor as Cara took a bump on his stomach. Hawkins put Cara on his shoulder, but Cara rolled through and then hit some kicks followed by a cartwheel into a back elbow. Cara hit a couple of nice dropkicks and then an arm drag off the top rope. Hawkins went for a slam, Cara countered into his headscissors into a faceplant move that I think is called La Mistica although they don’t mention that when it actually hits it. The match went about 4 minutes.
Winner: Sin Cara
Analysis: *1/2 We’ve seen the same formulaic Sin Cara match for a few weeks now. Much like Ryback he needs a feud.
There was a plug for the Backstage Fallout show on WWE’s Youtube channel.
There’s a countdown clock on when Mr. McMahon will make his decision. It’s just over 37 minutes as of now, which would mean it will be around 10:55pmET.
(Commercial)
We return from the break with a rundown of the matches at No Way Out on Sunday. Big Show vs. John Cena in a steel cage, Sheamus defends the World Title against Dolph Ziggler, Triple H talks about his future as well as Brock Lesnar (pay to see a guy do a promo?) and Punk vs. Bryan vs. Kane for the WWE Title.
Backstage, Vince McMahon wished Daniel Bryan good luck in his match. Bryan was surprised that Vince liked him. Bryan said he got fired once and he proved Vince wrong. Bryan said they were both self made success stories. Vince said that unlike Bryan at WrestleMania, he has never finished anything in 18 seconds. He left as he let Bryan think about it. There’s your vintage McMahon sex joke. Vote Linda!
After the break, a mystery former main eventer is going to compete. This is in honor of the 1,000th edition of Raw.
(Commercial)
The next memorable Raw moment is January 11, 1993, which was the first episode. Dolph Ziggler was the one to talk about the show with Bobby Heenan trying to get into the event. That led to a plug of the 1,000th episode of Raw on July 23rd.
Waiting in the ring was Heath Slater. He grabbed the microphone as he wondered why we were celebrating Raw’s past. He said it was his time. Cue up “it’s time, it’s Vader time!” It’s Vader.
Vader vs. Heath Slater
There were reports earlier in the day that Vader was in town, so those reports ended up being true. His son works as Jake Carter in FCW. There was a loud “Let’s Go Vader” chant early on. Vader destroyed Slater with some clotheslines as the crowd chanted “you still got it” towards Vader. He hit a suplex on Slater. The announcers tried to say Vader looked better than ever. That’s not true, but he did look okay for a guy in his 50s. Slater went for a body slam. That didn’t work as Vader fell on top of him. Vader dropped Slater with a belly to belly suplex. Vader went to the middle rope and hit his splash to win the match after 4 minutes.
Winner: Vader
Analysis: * That was fun. Vader was a favorite of mine in the 90s especially during his WCW run and in his early run in WWE even though they never pushed him to the World Title level. This was a good use of five minutes for the sake of nostalgia. If they do this every week on Raw leading up to Raw 1,000 I’d be okay with that. I think Vader’s somebody that should be in the Hall of Fame next year. You can question if people deserve it, but he is somebody that definitely does in my eyes.
They aired clips of David Otunga and Stephanie McMahon talking to kids earlier on Monday as part of the Be A Star initiative.
Backstage, CM Punk talked to AJ backstage. He told her to stand on the apron and don’t do anything crazy. She kissed him on the cheek. Their tag match is next.
(Commercial)
Kane & Daniel Bryan vs. CM Punk & AJ
Punk hit his high knee on Kane early, but Kane countered the bulldog with a big boot. Bryan tagged in. Punk was able to put him down and Punk went for the top rope elbow. Bryan moved out of the way and tagged in Kane. Kane punched Punk in the chest. Punk went flying into the turnbuckle. AJ’s hand hit Punk in the back, so she was the legal participant in the match. AJ smiled at Kane. She started skipping around Kane. She jumped in his arms and forced a kiss on Kane. There were people in the crowd chanting “yes” at that sight. It was a long kiss too. Kane didn’t show much emotion. He just tagged in Bryan. Kane walked away. Bryan went after AJ, but she tagged in Punk. Punk decked Bryan with a kick to the face. Punk went to the top and hit the Flying Elbow for the win. That’s it? The match went about 7 minutes.
Winners: CM Punk & AJ
After the match, AJ was smiling in the ring while Bryan was on the floor, Punk was in the ring and Kane was standing at the top of the ramp.
Analysis: *1/4 I didn’t like the finish at all. Bryan lost to a Punk forearm, kick and top rope elbow. That was it. We’re supposed to buy this guy as a WWE Title contender, yet he’s getting pinned after moves that aren’t even the finishing move of his opponent? Weak finish. They did that because the story is all about AJ right now. Does she really like Kane or is she playing mind games? They did a very good job of building up the story around the WWE Title match, but it would have been nice if there was a better finish to the match.
They went to break plugging the angle with McMahon & Laurinaitis to end the show.
(Commercial)
Vince McMahon walked out for the main event angle along with a bunch of security guards who are obviously indy wrestlers. Michael Cole called it an impressive edition of Raw. Jerry Lawler agreed. It’s like they are getting paid to say things like that. (That’s sarcasm.)
Vince talked about how he lived in the state of Connecticut and that his daughter Stephanie was born in Hartford. McMahon told Laurinaitis to make his way down to the ring. Laurinaitis limped down to the ring with the assistance of his crutch. Laurinaitis looked at his scooter that was still beside the ramp. Nobody moved his ride for over 2.5 hours.
Laurinaitis said Vince isn’t going to need security. Vince said that the security wasn’t for him, but to escort somebody out of the building. Laurinaitis said that Vince needed him and so did the fans. He wanted to stay in charge running the era of “people power.” Vince said that those words were synonymous with Laurinaitis while Vince had words that were synonymous with him (he means “you’re fired” of course). Vince was about to fire Laurinaitis when all of a sudden Big Show’s music started up.
Big Show said that Laurinaitis gave him an iron clad contract that means he could say or do anything he wants. He said Vince could fire him, but if he did that he would have to pay him millions of dollars to stay at home and do nothing. Show said every stupid costume, TV commercial, movie, appearance, Sportscenter moment (Shaq, Roethlisberger, Mayweather) was because of McMahon. Show said McMahon was the one that made him do that because he claimed nobody wants to boo a giant. Show said now he can be what he wants to be because of his iron clad contract. Show told McMahon not to worry about Laurinaitis, but the other John…Cena. Show said that at No Way Out the golden goose is going to get his feathers plucked. Somebody wrote that thinking it was a great line. It wasn’t. Finally John Cena’s music hit. It took him over three hours to show up in the arena.
Cena got a big reaction from a crowd that sounded like it was burnt out. Cena asked Show who’s going to blame next? McDonald’s for putting chicken nuggets on sale? That was good. Cena referred to Laurinaitis as a “chain smoking cripple” that also was a solid line. Cena talked about Show’s line about how he could finally be a giant. Cena went on and on going over this entire storyline. He said Show was the favorite in the match. No he’s not. Cena says if Show doesn’t destroy him at No Way Out then Show will be the World’s Largest Disappointment. If he loses then he’ll have to look at the people that call him a sellout. Cena wondered what would happen then.
McMahon said that he’ll be sitting beside Laurinaitis at No Way Out. If Show loses the match then McMahon will fire Laurinaitis. Then Show went after Cena. McMahon shoved Laurinaitis down. The security dudes tried to break it up, but they got knocked out of the ring. Show threw a punch, Cena moved and the punch hit McMahon to KNOCK HIM THE F OUT~! The thing is the punch clearly missed Vince, but he still sold it well. The replay camera was okay although you could see there was space between the punch. The show ended with Big Show leaving while Cena had a concerned look on his face while McMahon was down.
Analysis: If Show loses then Vince fires Laurinaitis. I think that’s what we got out of that whole thing. That was the stipulation at the last PPV if Johnny lost. They need better & more creative stipulations. I thought Show and Cena were fine in their promos although they didn’t say anything that was really fresh or new. It was the same thing they’ve covered plenty of times in the last month of building to this match.
————–
Three Stars of the Show
1. Dolph Ziggler – Keep showing off.
2. AJ – She’s performing at a very high level right now.
3. Vader – An excellent use of nostalgia.
Sorry Vince. You didn’t make it even though you were on the show more than anybody else.
The Scoreboard
6 out of 10
Last week: 4.5
2012 Average: 5.81
2012 High: 9 (January 30)
2012 Low: 3.5 (May 14)
Last 5 Weeks: 4.5, 5.5, 3.5, 6, 5.5
Final Thoughts
The rating of 6 out of 10 is the highest rating I’ve given Raw in the last four weeks. It was better than the last few weeks, but it’s still a level below where it needs to be.
It wasn’t a bad ending. It also wasn’t something that I will remember by this time tomorrow. It was a hard sell for Sunday’s PPV though, so that’s how you want to end a Raw before a PPV. I just don’t know if they roped in any fans that were on the fence about buying No Way Out.
The ongoing story of the show with McMahon teasing as if he’d fire Laurinaitis led to a lot of bad comedy segments. Vince was all over the show. You can tell he misses being a weekly character because he interacted with a handful of talents as he fired off one liners, danced and was in the opening segment as well as the closing one. He sure loves himself doesn’t he?
I liked the development in the WWE Title story. Who will AJ help? It’s an intriguing story. I’m thinking Daniel Bryan walks out WWE Champion, but I’ll delve into that more when I write the preview later in the week.
The Ziggler/Christian/Swagger/Khali match was a highlight of the show for sure. It was nice to see them book Ziggler in such a strong way. He’ll have a terrific match with Sheamus on Sunday. I have no doubt about that.
It was a slightly above average edition of Raw. At least it was better than the last few weeks. Let’s hope they get on the right track post No Way Out.
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I’ll be back on the weekend with a preview of No Way Out. I won’t be watching the PPV live, so we’ll get somebody else to cover it for TJRWrestling.com. I’ll watch it on Monday and get a write-up posted before Raw, though. I’m missing it because I’ll be watching game three of the NBA Finals. I’m picking the Thunder in 6 for that although it’s a tough call. It should be a great finals.
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