The Scoop Slam: RAW! The Good, Bad and Ugly by Philip McKane
So last night we had yet another 3 hour RAW which had the theme of Power to The People. Basically the show was Taboo Tuesday or Cyber Sunday, but free on Monday night. Despite feeling that having another 3 hour RAW was completely unnecessary this week, it was a huge improvement over last week’s “All Star” RAW which had the lamest theme I have ever seen for a 3 hour RAW special. This weeks show actually seemed a lot more focused on creating and furthering storylines as apposed to last week which was basically 50% filler. Don’t get me wrong, this week still had it’s fair share of crap but it was far far better than last week. I actually kind of enjoyed the show.
The Good
The opening segment
RAW kicked off with a promo on CM Punk basically stating the facts of his wins as of late and basically telling the fans that he is the number one contender. I can’t even say how much I loved this segment because Punk is the best talker in the WWE by far. Not only that, but it was hard to disagree with anything he was saying. After his two huge wins, he should be the #1 contender. His interaction with the RAW GM was hilarious, especially with his “I suggest you sit there and watch me do snow angels” comment which made me laugh a lot. What makes CM Punk funny is his natural wit, and the fact that WWE has nothing to do with his humor. I had no problem with the triple threat match set and was actually looking forward to seeing it.
United States Championship Match
Despite the cheap finish, I did think this match was a good bit better than their Capitol Punishment match. At CP, i thought their match was quite botchy especially the ending which was obviously supposed to be a Zig Zag, which instead Kofi just awkwardly fell back and had to pass out to a sleeper hold. I was surprised that Vickie being banned from ringside didn’t win the vote because that seemed to be what they were pushing for. Either way, it wouldn’t have mattered because there was no way Ziggler was going to lose the championship here tonight. I’m really glad Ziggler is US champion and hopefully he’ll do a lot more with it than Kofi did, who by the way needs something refresh his stale character.
#1 Contenders Triple Threat Match
I was looking forward to this one since it was made, and it did not disappoint. I really enjoyed this one. Definitely my match of the night. I actually thought Rey did a great job here, who I’m normally not such a big fan of. I also thought the falls count anywhere stipulation was probably the best one to pick, despite the fall not taking place outside the ring.
Of course CM Punk won the match, and announced the horrible news that he’s leaving. I am so disappointed about this. CM Punk is by far their best heel, and he really has been underutilized in the last few years. At least he gets to go out in a championship match in his hometown, should be a good moment for him. I think WWE need to push the fact that if Punk wins, he’s taking the championship with him. Ie. no more WWE Championship. Because if he just leaves with the title, and then it becomes vacant much like the Women’s Championship did after Trish retired then it will be a huge letdown.
The Bad
The WWE Diva’s Championship match
First of all, I was really disappointed that Beth Phoenix didn’t win the vote. However I noticed subtle wee things they did to try and influence you to vote for Kelly. First of all, King and Booker both stated they were voting for Kelly. Secondly, did you notice that both Eve and Beth looked quite serious (Beth actually looked evil) in their pictures? Yet Kelly was smiling ear to ear looking great. I do think WWE tried to influence the vote quite a bit here but whatever. I guess Kelly won so fair enough.
Look, I wasn’t naive to the fact that Kelly was going to end up champion sooner rather than later. It was always going to happen and I do think they desperately needed to take the championship off Brie. What I had a problem with was that her win basically meant nothing. Kelly had never won the title before (despite the crap Michael Cole was talking), so they really should have made this special perhaps on PPV with a few weeks buildup. Instead, we just got a match right off the bat and it really ruined her big win. WWE did this with Eve’s first title win too. Why not give her a Natalya moment? Would have made it mean so much more.
The Arm Wrestling Match
I probably would have put this in the good pile had the over the top rope match have won or something. But the fans picking the arm wrestling match was just ridiculous. These contests are just so boring and predictable. I did enjoy Mark Henry putting Kane through the table though. At least they have some kind of direction for the Big Show/Henry feud and they did it justice last night. Am I looking forward to seeing the match though? No, it’s gonna suck.
The Main Event
This match should not have been on last over the triple threat match. Did not care for this at all. The elimination stipulation was stupid because instead of having 1 loser looking bad, you had several which really didn’t do anyone any favors. Also, why did Punk not appear after this? Complete waste if you ask me. Typical Cena main event.
The Ugly
The Commentary
Holy good God, the commentary hit a whole new low last night! Not only did they say some really cringeworthy stuff, but some of it was just plain wrong. There were so many mistakes. Cole told us this fascinating sotry about Kelly is looking to regain her championship! Er, WHAT? In what lifetime did this happen? And then there’s Jerry The King Lawler. He could not be anymore overly face if you put him in a John Cena t shirt and shoved his head up Cena’s ass. It’s ridiculous. He even said “I think Rey should have won that one”. Er, No! Punk got the pin! Get your head out of Mysterio’s ass. Oh and here’s the killer. King said the worst line I think I have heard in recent history. When talking about Punk, “He’s snow angel” OH MY GOD! I was literally so embarrassed for him at this point. Just abysmal. You know what, guys like Scott Stanford on Superstars may not be the best, but at least they don’t talk crap like this. Also, they care about getting the talent over, and not themselves. That’s kind of what a commentator is there for.
The Miz/Christian/R Truth segment
This was just awful. One of those moments where I was glad no one was in the room with me at the time, because I would have been so embarrassed to be wrestling fan. The “really?” saying was way overdone and it just got cringey when they started saying “Riley”, “Randy”! Eugh, just terrible. Christian really isn’t doing as great a job as a heel as I expected. I even laughed at the fact that the RAW audience didn’t even know he was heel.
The Dance Off
This was just complete filler. I can think of 101 other things to fill this time with other than this. Okay, I maybe half smirked at Cole’s dancing but Vickie didn’t even dance really. Also, why even have a dance off? Who thought of this? And why have Vickie slap the guy who praises her every week? This was just 5 minutes of my life I will never get back. Why not use this time to have a few interview segments? Have a segment with Kelly after her championship win. Help make it seem more of a big deal. Anything but this.
So, there were three segments that I really enjoyed, three that I hated and 3 that I thought were okay, but still kinda bad. This wasn’t an overly great edition of RAW, but it wasn’t terrible either and was a lot better than last weeks. I really hope we don’t see anymore three hour RAWs in a long time. Also, the fact that we have RAW roulette next week is stupid. ANOTHER theme? Why not just have a show were the content speaks for itself. Just because you attach some goofy theme to it doesn’t mean it’s going to be a good show. I’m intrigued to see why Shawn Michaels will be on RAW next week for as well. Hopefully it will be for something useful. Perhaps planting the seeds for a HHH/Taker rematch at Summerslam? Who knows?
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