What is up wrestling fans, I am the WrestlingNerd bringing you another written review. Today, we take a look at WWE Raw on 6/13/11. With CP around the corner and WWE going with an All Stars theme for tonight, how would the show measure up? Well, let's find out and start the review.
We open up the show with the Miz. He claims he is the true All Star and calls Alex Riley an idiot. He then proceeds to call out Stone Cold Steve Austin. Once the Rattlesnake arrives, he tells the Miz even though he has improved since arriving, he still has no guts. He would go further to say Riley has more guts than Miz since he actually stood up to him while Miz just stood there and watched (Austin was referring to their altercation on the episode of Raw that was after WM). Austin says Miz and Riley will be guests tonight on Piper's Pit, meaning that "Rowdy" Roddy Piper is in the house. Finally, Austin orders the Miz to leave since he has something else to address. The Miz has this look as if he is going to attack, but Austin quickly reminds him who he is, and the Miz retreats. SCSA starts to talk, until Alberto Del Rio interrupts. Del Rio is talking about destiny while Austin says his destiny can end up being an ass whooping. He announces Del Rio will go up against Kane, and that match starts immediately. Overall, an interesting way to open up the show. I actually enjoyed some of the verbal debate between Miz and Austin, but you can almost tell that Austin put the Miz in his place with his words. I have to agree with the statement that Austin said about the Miz. While I do agree the Miz has come a long way and has earned his spot, he still needs some areas of improvement. There is being an All Star, then there is being a Legend. Since I am on the subject of Del Rio, something about him isn't quite doing it with me recently. He was doing some good work over on SD when he was dealing with Edge and Christian, but it seems like ever since his move to Raw that Del Rio is more or less bringing in generic heat. He is still doing loads better than X-Pac heat, but isn't quite getting a big enough reaction from the audience. I have been noticing that the audience is booing him, but in a basic way and nothing on the level of a Miz or a CM Punk. I think for Del Rio to make himself a big time player, he needs to do something evil and sinister. Injuring Big Show was a start, but it needs to go further than that. I still think Del Rio has all the tools to make himself a big time player. He has the look, the ability, the mic skills and some charisma. Now, it's time to bring all of that together and really show what Del Rio is all about and why the audience should be paying attention to him. Personally, I think they should have kept Del Rio on SD because he was getting somewhere over there. Oh well, only time will tell to see what Del Rio can do.
Match #1: Alberto Del Rio vs Kane
This was a very short match. Seconds into the match, Del Rio locks in the CAB and the ref wants him to break the hold since Kane has the ropes, but he doesn't do so. This results in calling for the bell, so Kane wins via DQ. After the match, Del Rio still has the submission locked on Kane until Show comes out to the rescue. Show storms into the ring and is heading for Del Rio, but Ricardo Rodriguez gets in the middle of all of this and basically sacrifices himself for Del Rio to get away. Damn, I hope Rodriguez is getting paid big bucks by Del Rio to take a beating from Show. Anyway, Show basically punches Rodriguez to death until Kane tells him to stop or else he would kill him. After a commercial, we see the medics take Rodriguez on a stretcher and it was announced by Austin it will be Del Rio vs Show at CP. You had to figure a match between Del Rio and Show would be happening soon, so this is no surprise. I was kinda amazed in how Show can be running towards the ring when he got hit by a car a few weeks ago. Yes, more wrestling logic. The thing that bothered me the most was Show was wearing this yellow glove on his right hand during this whole time. At first, I thought it was a cast, but it just appeared to be a normal glove. Seriously, what gives? Oh, and how much murder can we have in the world of pro wrestling?
Winner via DQ: Kane
Match #2: Sin Cara, Daniel Bryan, and Ezekiel Jackson vs Cody Rhodes, Ted DiBiase, and Wade Barrett
Aw yes, the SD midcard match for the evening. Time once again for the blue and gold lighting since Sin is in the match. Is anyone else getting distracted by that lighting or is it just me? The matchup didn't last too long, but I suppose it was ok for what it was worth. I just wish this match was given some more time. Once Jackson cleans house, he tags in Sin to hit a crossbody on Barrett and pins him for the win. This type of matchup doesn't really benefit anyone if you think about it. I am sure we will get something a little better this week on SD, but the two storylines in play here really didn't gain or lose anything. Plus, I wonder how much longer Rhodes can continue the Emperor deal with the mask and hood before it feels forced?
Winner via pinfall: Sin Cara, Daniel Bryan, and Ezekiel Jackson
Back in the ring where Hornswoggle is shooting T-shirts towards the audience until no entrance music comes on, meaning it is time for R-Truth to say something. Truth talks about how the Jimmys are having fun and claims he wants to have fun as well. He gets in the ring and tells Hornswoggle he will beat John Cena at CP. Hornswoggle hits Truth with the shirt cannon, which makes Truth snap and he attacks him. He eventually stops his attack for a second, but then he kicks Hornswoggle's head off. Austin gets on the titantron and says he will be going up against John Morrison later tonight, who is "back". Someone has to attend to that bipolar problem that Truth has, since he is a menace to society. Regardless, this adds more to Truth's heel character. I still say that Truth is better off as a heel than a face. I always like it when Truth says "I'm a good R-Truth" and has that creepy smile. This look can give children nightmares.
Match #3: Sheamus vs Santino
Very short match. Santino hit the Cobra, but Sheamus kicks out at two. Sheamus follows up with the Brogue Kick, then locks in the Texas Cloverleaf and wins via submission. Didn't expect to see Sheamus pull off a submission move, but I kinda like it since it adds more to Sheamus' character. It isn't clear what they are doing with Sheamus since he is getting big time matches over on SD and is looking like a big time threat, but is not in the championship discussion since Christian is in the early stages of his heel turn. It was nice to see someone kick out of the Cobra since it's ridiculous how his spazz attack can knock people out. By the way, did anyone else notice a "We want Ryder" chant during this part? In fact, I think I heard it several times tonight. Well, they were in Zack Ryder's hometown, so clearly they are pulling for their hometown hero. Then again, maybe my ears are playing tricks on me, but I swear I heard this chant.
Winner via submission: Sheamus
Promo time with Randy Orton. He talks about how live tv is awesome and is still trying to act like a nice guy. I will say that even though Randy is trying to act more like a face, I can't seem to buy it since he is forcing it on people and it feels awkard at times. I think Orton is just one of those guys who is a natural heel, regardless if the audience wants to cheer for him or not. Anyway, he calls out Christian. Finally, Christian shows up on the titantron. He says that Orton is always angry and also says that Orton was just a guy who was fed a silver spoon because of his last name while he had to bust his ass his entire career to get to where he is at (Christian actually has an argument here, but I can at least be fair and say Orton has worked for his spot. Then again, I realize he was just trying to generate heat). Orton answers by claiming that Christian had to ride Edge's coattails his entire career. This was said to make Christian get in the ring, and it actually works.....well... kinda. Christian is making his way to the ring, but stops at the entrance ramp and retreats in heelish fashion. Orton wants to attack him, but the security staff separates the two. We then get the 14,356th email from the Raw GM. Michael Cole informs us that Orton has a concussion because of all the championship shots to the head he has been taking lately, and he will not have him compete. He also says if Randy fails to comply with this, he will strip him of the title. Randy STILL thinks about attacking Christian, but eventually decides to leave. SCSA is on the titantron and says Christian has a match against Rey Mysterio right now. Ok, I haven't had a chance to talk about Christian's heel turn since I have missed the last couple of SD reviews, but I can give my thoughts. I actually think it is a good idea because Christian is the best heel over on SD. Plus, Christian has normally been a better heel than a face throughout his career. Still, does anyone else feel more sympathy for the heel in Christian as opposed to Orton the face? Yeah, it does feel like that since Christian had all the right reasons to turn on the fans because it was their undoing that made him lose the title so quickly. With the way things are turning up with this storyline, I can actually see Christian get the title back and keep the feud with Orton rolling. This actually might be one of the better feuds going around in pro wrestling these days and it might go into SummerSlam, and I might not have a problem with that if the buildup is being done right. Seriously, Christian vs Orton has a strong argument for rivalry of the year.
Match #4: Christian vs Rey Mysterio
Booker T joins King and Cole on commentary. I guess he thought Tough Enough was still being filmed since he is an hour late? Something about this match seemed off, but first let me talk about it. The match didn't last too long and it ended when Christian didn't listen to the ref's count in the corner for fighting dirty and calls for the bell. The strange thing is once the ref called for the bell, Christian and Mysterio acted as if the bell didn't ring and continued with the match. It almost made me believe the ref was NOT suppose to do the full count and ended up calling for the bell. Sometimes, the WWE doesn't tell the refs about the outcome so it gets more of a natural feel. The only reason I bring this up is because both Christian and Mysterio acted as if the match was still in progress, and so did the run ins that would happen afterwords. Then again, maybe I am just nerding the hell out of all of this? Punk showed up and Rey hits a crossbody on him. This forces the rest of Nexus to help out their leader. Mason Ryan gets Rey and slams him in the ring post. He tosses him back in the ring for Christian to hit the Killswitch. See, it almost seemed like it was designed for this match to end in a DQ, but I think it was supposed to end at the point Punk and Nexus showed up. It is possible that Christian and Mysterio didn't hear the ref's count and thus there was miscommunication. I think this because they went to a commercial in the middle of this match, and seconds after coming back in the air, the DQ happens. Based on WWE's past work, the match would have gone on a little longer before doing the DQ because of the commercial. Plus, Christian took his knee off of Rey's head at the last second. In the past where the wrestler is trying to get a DQ, Christian would have kept up the knee choking like what Del Rio did earlier in the night with the CAB. Overall, it doesn't come off too bad on tv, but since I have been watching wrestling a long time, something about this part seemed as if somebody missed a cue or some miscommunication was going on. Then again, maybe I am over analyzing the entire thing? Oh, and it was announced at CP, it would be Punk vs Mysterio.
Winner via DQ: Rey Mysterio
Backstage where Austin is on the phone and gets interrupted by Miss Excuse Me (.....Princess) in Vickie Guerrero and Dolph Ziggler. Vickie requested for his client in Ziggler to get a US Championship match against Kofi Kingston at CP. Austin says he will make the match under one condition, Ziggler must dump Vickie as his manager. Austin proceeds to give him a pep talk and tells him he will benefit a lot more if Ziggler gets rid of Vickie. Ziggler thinks about it and finally agrees to get rid of Vickie. She is going apes*** while Austin is laughing and says he was just fu***** with them and says Vickie is still his manager. He leaves the scene, which starts an argument between Vickie and Dolph. I gotta admit, this scene was pretty funny. Austin is sure active tonight as the GM, and I kinda like it. I wish the GMs were more active and aware of what is going on with certain WWE storylines and it was something we hadn't see on Raw in a long time since the GM is a computer these days. In other words, an actual face for the GM role is a lot better than an imaginary one.
It appears we are getting ready for the Truth/Morrison match. The man who is bats*** insane in Truth is out there, but Morrison's entrance theme plays twice and there is no Morrison. Truth decides to look for Morrison because he doesn't want to disappoint the little Jimmys. He walks backstage and see what is going on. He finds Morrison being attended to by the medics and walks over to Morrison. He pushes a dresser box towards him to smash him against the corner and the segment ends with the refs telling Truth to leave. Yeah, so the early guess is to assume that Truth did the attack on Morrison. I guess this was written into the show to make Truth generate more heel heat. In fact, by the end of the show, Truth was definitely getting a response by the audience. I know I am going to piss off a lot of people with what I am about to say, but I think Truth is closer to a world title than Morrison and deserves it more. Truth is just a lot more interesting with his words than Morrison is. Morrison is a better in ring talent, but you need other qualifications to be a wrestler and Truth is just shining a lot more. The match never happened as you would have guessed.
Match #5: Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger vs Kofi Kingston and Evan Bourne
Pretty short match without much really standing out. The match ended when the ref is dealing with Ziggler. This allows Kofi to sneak a TIP on Swagger, only to be greeted by Air Bourne for the clean win. Maybe they are trying something with Bourne? I still think this is mainly a feud for Swagger, but it is possible Bourne goes somewhere after this mini-rivalry.
Winner via pinfall: Kofi Kingston and Evan Bourne
It's time for Piper's Pit. Piper talks about the old days of beating up Clubber Lang until Miz interrupts. Miz compared himself to Piper with his mic skills, but Piper says Miz is a wannabe and there is only ONE Piper (He is definitely correct about that statement). Miz tries to provoke him since he was a world champion, while the same can't be said for Piper. Piper finally invites Riley to the ring. Piper ask Riley why he turned on the Miz? Riley responds by saying he respected the Miz, but at somepoint the Miz became about himself and thus starting mistreating him. Piper also ask some questions towards the Miz, and Piper starts to change the questions to just piss him off and claims Riley will beat the Miz at CP. Miz starts talking about betting until Riley says Piper can beat the Miz tonight. It seems like Piper isn't up for the match when Miz purposes $1000, but says he will do the match for $5000 (damn, maybe the retired life isn't quite going well for Piper?). Austin jumps on the titantron (that titantron was really active tonight) and says the match is a go and it starts right now. He also appoints Riley as the special referee. I thought this was a fun edition of Piper's Pit, and it reminded me why Piper will be one of the best talkers in the business.
Match #6: "Rowdy" Roddy Piper vs Miz for $5000
Seconds into the match, Riley attacks Miz and Piper sneaks a backside rollup for the pinfall victory. After the match, Miz tries to attack, but it fails and it ends with Riley and Piper celebrating. I know most people would complain about how this makes Miz look weak, but the deck was stack against him and it was designed for him to lose. This little rivalry between Miz and Riley isn't too shabby for the most part.
Winner via pinfall: "Rowdy" Roddy Piper
Match #7: Bella Twins, Maryse, Alica Fox, Tamina, Rosa Mendes, and Melina vs Kelly Kelly, Beth Phoenix, Natalya, Eve, Gail Kim, Kaitlyn, and AJ
Good Lord, can you possibly put anymore people in one match? AJ seems to be going for the Link or Saria look with her color scheme. Then again, I think I recall on an episode of NXT where she says she likes video games. The match was a joke and it really only involved two people. It starts off with Kelly and Melina for a few seconds, then it breaks down with the face divas taking out the heel divas. Kelly and Melina are still in the ring and hits the Infamassour on Melina for the win. Hands down the worst match of the night. And I guess to celebrate their misfortune, Eve reminds the audience the Tony Awards were last night and wants to dance as if it were Broadway. Bad wrestling, bad acting, and bad dancing. Just what everyone wanted on a Monday night, right? It was dreadful to say the least.
Winner via pinfall: the face divas
Backstage with SCSA and Andy (winner of Tough Enough). They both crack open a beer and Austin wishes Andy good luck. Punk arrives to interrupt the party. Punk wishes Andy and his friends for winning TE (Some people wonder what this statement means. Most of these TE guys ended up getting a WWE developmental deal, which is why Punk states all of them win since they are at least still with the company...for now). Austin offers him a beer, which makes Punk say "what". This goes back and forth for a while which makes Punk say "its annoying, isn't it" (I really love this little reference by Punk since that "what" chant is really getting old). Punk takes another jab at Austin by asking him if he can say the alphabet backwords, which makes Austin say if he can whoop his ass backwords. Anyway, Punk thanks Austin for the match against Cena later tonight. Austin adds Nexus is banned from ringside, but Punk doesn't seem to care. I really loved this segment and I think it was one of the segments that helped the show. I realize these two have had a fun little war over Twitter since the WWE All Stars video game came out and it was nice to bring that to the show. It made me think outloud to myself.....Punk vs Austin.....WM 28? It really depends if Punk resigns a deal and if Austin can compete in a match, but if Austin can have one more match, I would totally be asking for his opponent to be Punk. The mic war can literally write itself since Austin loves beer and Punk is Straight Edge. If Austin can go, this match NEEDS to happen. Who's with me? On an off note, did anyone else think of that Chappelle Show skit with Rick James when Vince McMahon slapped Andy? I'm Vince McMahon, bitch!!!
Austin arrives in a four wheeler to the ring and thanks everyone for a fun night. The Raw GM interrupts, and I think it was during this scene where Cole just s*** himself. He says the Raw GM will be back next week and in charge. Austin says he is still in charge and says since there is a three hour Raw set for next week, it will be the Power to the People, where the fans will make the matches (based on how this normally works in WWE, fans aren't really making the tough decisions and WWE intentially makes the fans swerve the obvious route). For some reason, the Raw GM email sound starts going bats*** crazy. Austin gets pissed off and is making his way towards the labtop. Cole immediatley runs towards the audience while the email sound is still going off. Austin takes the computer and throws it on the ground. He then pours beer all over it and runs over the computer with the four wheeler. I am not sure if this was a shot at the Raw GM or Bill Gates.....eh, who cares. The segment ends with Austin enjoying some more beer. Pretty funny segment. Oh, and more CP buildup with various SD superstars. Not as funny as the one with Truth last week.
Match #8: CM Punk vs John Cena
This was hands down the best match of the night. This one actually went on longer while the other matches were really short. This match also featured some good back and forth action by Punk and Cena. The crowd seemed split between Punk and Cena. The crowd was giving Cena a lot of heat. In fact, I think I heard a "Let's go Cena/CM Punk" chant during the match. I think there was also some "Cena sucks" chants going around. I liked how in one spot of the match, Cena looked to be powering up with the positive Cena chants, but with the negative chants he was losing strength. The finish comes when Cena has just started his five moves of doom until we hear Truth is in the audience and is wanting to give a kid some water. Cena is distracted by this, which allows Punk to hit the GTS and Punk pins Cena for the win. This was the best way to book the match since you didn't want Punk going into his match at CP with a lose since they are trying something with Punk and Nexus. This also adds more tension between Truth and Cena. After the match, Truth gets in the ring and uses the ultimate weapon in a water bottle to KO Cena and the show ends with Truth posing with the WWE Championship. Yeah, you can use your barb-wire bats, tables, chairs, but a water bottle? Now THAT'S hardcore.
Winner via pinfall: CM Punk
Overall Impression:
I definitely have to agree that this week's Raw was lacking in the action department. Most of the matches were very short and nothing really stands out except for the main event. Still, there is still hope since promos/segments can make a show stand out as well. Well, this show definitely did deliver in that category. I really enjoyed this week's promos. If you don't mind a mic battle, then this is the show for you. Chances are if you are the IWC, you aren't going to dislike this showing because the action was indeed lacking. I really liked the Punk/Austin segment and I hope it actually goes somewhere down the road. Even if it was for one night, it was the moment that made this show shine. I also enjoyed Truth's segments this week. I am really liking his facial expressions to when he does good and bad things. I also enjoyed Piper's Pit and shows how Piper still has the voice even if he doesn't compete anymore. I will say there was some moments where Raw was dragging a bit and I understand completely how people might dislike this showing. Not great in ring action for this week, but promos can get the job done and make this week's Raw watchable. Casual fans will probably enjoy this show, and even old school wrestling fans might enjoy the Austin segments since this episode did feature a lot of SC. The goal for this show was to hype up CP, and I think they did that. With Truth's actions, it makes me curious to see what will happen with the Cena/Truth match. I also liked the development between Orton and Christian. Again, the action is lacking with this one, but it did have some of its moments. Well, that is going to do it for the review and I hope you enjoyed it. I apologize for the review being so long, but I did have another hour to cover. As always, tell me what you thought of my review and tonight's show. I am in a debate on if I should do a CP Rundown or a SD review, what do YOU folks think? I will see you guys and girls on the next WrestlingNerd show, see you next time and be cautious around water bottles.
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