What is up wrestling fans, I am the WrestlingNerd bringing you another written review. Today, we take a look at WWE Raw on 6/6/11. With two weeks until the PPV, how would the WWE build up the card? Well, let's find out and start the review.
We open up the show with the finalist of the Tough Enough class, Stone Cold Steve Austin, and Vince McMahon already in the ring. After a lot of buildup, it is determined that Andy is the winner of TE. Personally, I cannot give my thoughts on this matter since I never watched a full episode of TE, so have no idea if people believe they made the right choice or not. I will say based on the look, I think Andy was the best choice since he looks like a wrestler while Luke looked too much like a pretty boy and was trying to pull off the Tyson Kidd look. After the high fives for winning the contest, the WWE higher ups greet Andy by having Vince slap him in the face and Austin hitting a Stunner. It is funny how everyone booed when Vince slapped him, but when Austin attacks him, then it's ok. Congrats go out to Andy, but believe me, your journey hasn't even started yet. Once Andy leaves, R-Truth comes out in a confederate uniform and acting like a solider. Yeah...needless to say, but this was really over the top and kinda funny. He informs the audience he needs to apologize for harassing Wayne Brady's less talented brother in order to get his title match. After that, he says that he "secedes" from the WWE Universe while making fun of Virginia (Technically, don't all heels "secede" from the audience since they continue to mock them and seem to enjoy it?). Truth also calls out Vince for this conspiracy of keeping him down. Vince and Austin have a discussion about office hours and junk until the Miz interrupts. He says he should still be the WWE Champion, but it is Alex Riley's fault. A-Ri shows up and says the Miz deserves nothing. Since there are three current wrestlers in the ring, you should have figured who was going to come out next. That is right, John Cena shows up next. He goes to say the Miz screwed up, Riley finally grew a set, and Truth is still insane (I will admit that Cena's line towards Austin is running out of beers was pretty funny). He adds that Truth gets his title shot at CP until the Raw GM interrupts. Michael Cole is about to read the email until Vince tells him to shut up and he will make the matches. He says it will be Truth and Miz vs Cena and Riley, with SCSA as the special guest referee. This finally ends the segment, but I was curious if anyone caught the verbel conflict between Cena and Austin before they went to a commercial? It most likely is nothing, but I thought it was kinda cool. Overall, a long, but interesting opening to the show. There was a lot of stuff and interaction going on, but sometimes, that is ok if you are able to keep people interested. Heck, we even got to go down nostalgia route when Vince and Austin were exchanging words with each other. It is clear that Austin doesn't give a s*** about the PG rating because he is dropping bombs left and right. I think he managed to sneak a bulls*** in there as well. Truth's character is so insane and over the top right now, but it is making himself stand out. Which is why I think the heel turn was the best move for him. It isn't really clear if Truth/Cena is going to be a longterm deal or just a mini-feud, but it will be interesting to see how the match goes and what they decide to do.
Match #1: Santino vs Michael McGillicutty
Kozlov and David Otunga were at ringside for this match. The match was ok for what it was worth. The finish comes when Michael misses his attack...
This allows for Santino to sneak the Cobra in and wins the match. I would normally complain in how this makes the current champs look bad losing to a comedy character, but I suppose they need to have Nexus go over a tag team, and I guess this was the best choice over on Raw. I really wish WWE would put a little more energy into tag team wrestling. I know it really isn't a draw and casual fans don't really care for tag team wrestling, but you can at least make it a little competitive from time to time. I just feel that tag team wrestling has really been dead for over the last decade. Heck, even TNA is guilty of the same thing recently since the main feud for the tag division has to do with a group who isn't even on screen and seems to be more about Eric Bischoff than anything else. Anyway, I wouldn't be surprised to see a tag title match at the PPV between these two teams.
Winner via pinfall: Santino
Match #2: Kelly Kelly and Beth Phoenix vs Bella Twins
The match is about what you would expect. The finish comes when Phoenix hits the Glam Slam on a Bella and wins the match. They seem to be testing Phoenix going after the title. This was probably the best route they could have gone since Phoenix is doing nothing and the Bellas need to drop the title because they aren't very good heels. Still, this division is quickly on life support since Kharma isn't around.
Winner via pinfall: Kelly Kelly and Beth Phoenix
Backstage scene between Booker T and Trish Stratus. Book purposes a new move called the Trish-a-roonie, which sounds like something Quagmire from Family Guy thought of on a Saturday night. They are both about to attempt it (in a small room mind you, which would never work since you would probably end up kicking furniture. Another example of wrestling logic since you had to figure someone was going to interrupt the segment) until Jack Swagger comes in to cut them off. He tells Book he would be a better trainer since everybody would have been tough enough with Swagger as the coach. He challenges Booker to a match later tonight, to which Booker accepts. Yeah, so we have a Booker match later tonight, which is kinda cool.
Match #3: CM Punk vs Rey Mysterio
Prior to this match, Punk cut a promo saying how Rey is weak and how Punk is great because he keeps giving Rey second chances and how he has beat him 600 times, which isn't as epic as....OVER 9000!!! After the commercial, the match is underway. This matchup wasn't as good as last week's match between the two, but it was watchable. I noticed Cole made an error on commentary when he called a certain lock that Punk made the Anaconda Vice. I am absolutly sure that was NOT the Anaconda Vice and just a regular lock. Speaking of which, I really wish WWE would let Punk use that submission move more often. The finish comes when Rey is setting up for the 619, but Mason Ryan gets on the ring apron. Rey decides to pick Punk up and springboard off the opposite ropes and dropkick right into Ryan, and with the momentium of the kick, land a DDT on Punk (It was kinda crazy and me explaining it probably just confused the hell out of you. Go check it out for yourself and you will understand what happened). He then hits the Top Rope Splash for the clean win. This basically evens the odds between Punk and Mysterio and assures there will be another match between the two, probably at the PPV. I am thinking that this is mainly a mini-feud to keep Punk fresh since he can jump in the title bout at any second now, which goes back to the whole deal if Cena/Truth is a short term or long term feud. I really don't see Punk and Mysterio having a long feud and it will probably be over at the end of the month, and hopefully Punk can win the feud this time around since he needs it more than Rey.
Winner via pinfall: Rey Mysterio
More CP buildup, but this time they had Truth asking some "questions" to the President. Truth ends the segment by getting angry when Obama said something about boats. But I am on a boat bitch? Oh, and the WCW Monday Nitro DVD is on sale Tuesday. Say what you will about WCW, but the company did have some positive moments. There will also be a 3 hour Raw next week, and they seem to be going with an All Star theme for the event. All I will say that if the full three hours is the superstars playing the WWE All Star video game, I will be super pissed. Speaking of video games, I know this is completely off topic right now, but go Nintendo at E3.
We are back from commercial and Alberto Del Rio is there. He says once again the attack on Big Show was an accident ans says he would like to "apologize" to Show. He calls him out, but what shows up is Ricardo Rodriguez in a Show get up with crutches and eating food (I didn't even realize it was Rodriguez until he ripped off the bald cap at the end). He reminds Showcardo that he must pay for the damages to his car while he is making grunting noises to mock Show...
He also tells Show to NOT make enemies with him because bad things happen to bad people. Really, this was just more buildup to the future rivalry between Del Rio and Show, so there really isn't anything else to add.
Match #4: Kofi Kingston vs Zack Ryder
What? Ryder actually wrestles on this show? Dolph Ziggler and Vickie Guerrero were on commentary for this match. The match didn't last long, but it was ok for the time they were given. The match ended when Kofi hit the TIP for the clean win while Ziggler is claiming he will be the next US Champion. Kinda funny that Ziggler went from going after the WHC to now downgrading to the US title now, but I think midcard is where he belongs. I thought it was very interesting that Cole and Ziggler plugged Ryder's online show. Not sure if this was done intentially to get people to check out Ryder or if it was a mistake by Cole. I personally don't watch Ryder's show and I really don't have any intentions of watching it at this moment, but plans can always change. I am sure I am going to get speeches from the IWC saying how great Ryder. Lately, I have been noticing the IWC really getting behind Ryder for some reason. Personally, I am not really that interested in Ryder because of the stupid gimmick, but I have to give the guy credit for at least trying to roll with the gimmick to get himself a fanbase. He should at least be competing more throughout the week.
Match #5: Jack Swagger vs Booker T
Booker can definitely still go in the ring. I really don't want to see Booker have a big wrestling roll with the company, but it would be nice to see him put on a match every now and then. Anyway, he is pretty much taking Swagger to school until Swagger leaves the ring and decides to give Booker the match and claims he doesn't need this. In other words, Book wins the match via countout. I guess they didn't want to have Booker lose to Swagger cleanly and probably didn't want Booker to make current talent look bad, so I understand the booking in this situation. After the match, Evan Bourne shows up to attack Swagger from behind, which forces him back in the ring. Booker and Bourne double team Swagger. Once Bourne hits Air Bourne on Swagger, the segment ends with both Booker and Bourne doing a double spin-a-roonie. At the moment, the only way I see Bourne winning this feud with Swagger is if it leads towards Swagger going on a losing streak. If that were to happen, it could lead to Swagger changing his ways and thus ends up making a face turn. If that isn't the case, I mainly see Swagger winning this feud for the time being. The match itself was nothing special, but this whole scene was pretty entertaining and I liked it.
Winner via countout: Booker T
Match #6: R-Truth and Miz vs John Cena and Alex Riley
This was not a bad match. Is anyone else a little offput when King and Cole act like decent friends while on commentary but then exchange insults seconds after laughing together? It is just weird is all. The finish comes when everyone is laid out. Cena and Miz are down in the ring and Riley grabs the briefcase. He looks over to see which one to hit, but eventually hits Miz with the case. What was funny is SCSA clearly sees this and doesn't seem to care. Then again, with Austin's character, he would definitely let this slide since he and Miz had a disagreement during the match. The faces continue on the attack as Austin hits the Stunner on Miz, and Cena follows up with AA on Miz (Damn, Miz had a rough night....and possibly even a rougher night ahead based on various reports). Cena pins him and the match is over. Austin now wants to celebrate with some beer. I don't know why, but seeing Cena drink a beer just seems odd. Cena just looks like the guy who really wouldn't be much of a beer drinker. Then again, if he would have refused the beer, Austin would have probably stunned him. It is your choice Cena, beer or stunner? Yeah.....I would probably take the beer as well. During the celebration, the Raw GM interrupts. Cole says that since Austin got involved in the match, he is issuing a DQ to both Cena and Riley, and thus rewards Truth and Miz the victory. He also tells Austin he will be the special guest GM next week. Austin ask the audience if they want him to do so, and once the "Hell Yeahs" make there way out, Austin goes over to Cole. He pushes the laptop to the ground and proceeds to deck Cole in the face. He sends Cole in the ring. Austin then hits a Stunner on Cole, which makes Cole spring up right away and then Cena hits AA on him to end the show. Yeah, I know most people are going to complain towards Cole for doing a sh**** job of selling the Stunner, but it was scripted for Cole to take an attack from Cena as well, so it actually makes sense for Cole to stand back up. Still, I wouldn't be surprised if this gives the internet reason #145692 to hate Cole even more. Personally, I actually like the conclusion of this show.
Winner via laptop computer: R-Truth and Miz
Overall Impression:
I actually enjoyed this week's episode of Raw. Even though the show opened up with a lot of dialogue, there was definitely some decent action to watch tonight. I also felt the promo work for this week's Raw was pretty good as well. Overall, not a category for the best Raw ever, but definitely a watchable show and I recommend you check it out. There are some flaws like the first two matches, but you can't expect the show to be perfect now. I definitely enjoyed the opening and endings to this show. I also like the match between Punk and Mysterio and even enjoyed Booker's moments. Just an entertaining show to go around, at least in my opinion. They also did some buildup for the PPV by announcing that Miz vs Riley will happen and Truth vs Cena for the WWE Championship. Speaking of Miz, it has been reported that he may have gotten injured during the dark match after the show. It was possibly a leg injury and it seemed pretty serious. I have also heard that this report is also false as people are just trying to start a buzz or are just trying to f*** over the IWC. I guess we will find out later in the week if this is true or just some bs, but if it is true, the injury couldn't have come at a worse time. Again, it could be true or just bs, so I guess we will make more out of it once we get more information. I have been getting more updates that the rumor is false and the Miz did not compete in a dark match last night. I guess someone or somebody just wanted to be an asshole. That is going to do it for the review and I hope you enjoyed it. As always, tell me what you thought of my review and tonight's show. I will see you guys and girls on the next WrestlingNerd show, see you next time.
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