What up wrestling fans, I'm the WrestlingNerd bringing you another written review. Today, we take a look at WWE Raw Super Show on 9/5/11. I guess that's the official name of the show based on last week events, but no matter. Hard to believe that on September 6th 2011, it will be my one year anniversary of writing wrestling reviews and articles. I guess hooray for me, but still a little shocked I'm still around doing this. Anyway, would get get any more light shed on the who sent the text message? Well, let's find out and start the review.
We open up the show with Mr. Cult of Personality himself, CM Punk. He talks about how he's different compared to other people and realizes he pisses off a lot of people with his words. Punk also mentions he has a match against R-Truth later tonight. Punk also talks about Kevin Nash and still believes Nash and Triple H are working on this angle together. He calls out Nash, but he doesn't arrive for a while. Eventually, Nash arrives on the entrance ramp and says he does whatever the hell he wants while Punk says Nash's best days are behind him and hasn't been relevant since 1994. Both guys are ready to throw down until Hunter arrives. Nash keeps telling Trips that Punk is a cancer and they need to get rid of him. Trips said he would be willing to believe Nash until he found out the truth to the text message. That's right, for weeks, we've been wondering who sent the text. Well, time for the unveiling. The master behind the text message is....
YOU GOT A SUPER SHREDDER......really? Anyway, Nash admits he did it, but only to make the WWE cool again and to get rid of Punk. He tells Hunter it's either Punk or Nash, because this business isn't big enough for both of them. Trips admits he has issues with Punk, but he isn't a liar and he just can't trust Nash. Kevin thinks Trips doesn't have the balls to fire him and starts poking his buttons. Trips punches Nash and says they USED to be friends and he's fired. Trips leaves and the scene ends with Punk laughing his ass off. A pretty interesting opening. It does seem a little odd that Nash would be "fired" since he was officially named an employee last week, but is anyone really buying that? I'm sure there's plenty of methods to bring back Nash's characters. I know a lot of people want Nash to walk away, but seeing him in this role has been pretty good. He has gotten better on the mic from week to week and his words tonight made me realize I want to see more Kevin Nash. I don't want to see Nash be a full time performer, but I'm ok with him doing a match once in a while. I would rather see these legends used once in a while as opposed to making them full time performers because of their bodies. Again, this is something TNA can learn from considering how often Sting and Scott Steiner perform. It was a little disappointing that after weeks of build up the mysterious text message, it was brushed off in a matter of seconds. I felt the grand unveiling should have been bigger, but it was announced so quickly that you could easily forget. This opens up new possibilities to this entire storyline. You almost have to think Trips is the good guy in all of this and it's really people like Nash, John Laurinaitis, and Stephanie who are trying to screw over Punk. Another disappointing thing is there wasn't much of an emphasis between Punk and Trips since that's the match coming up in a few weeks. Still, there's multiple people involved in this storyline, so I think it did its job. Not a bad way to kick off the show since we had good mic work between all three guys. The crowd was really big on Punk tonight. After a commercial break, we see Nash and Johnny Ace leave in a limo. Yeah, I'm almost positive Nash will be back sooner than you think.
Match #1: Air Boom vs Great Khali and Jinder Mahal
Very short match. Nothing out of the ordinary, but nothing amazing. Mahal continues to look greener than Piccolo. The finish comes when Khali screws up and does his Big Chop on Mahal. Kofi kicks Khali, Evan hits Air Bourne and they win the match. The tag champs winning of course makes sense since they just won the titles. Is anyone really interested in this whole Khali/Mahal storyline? It just seems silly since Khali is someone nobody cares about and Mahal makes watching grass grow seem interesting. Kinda wish they will just end the storyline because it's just wasting air time.
Winner via pinfall: Air Boom
Match #2: Eve vs Beth Phoenix; winner is the #1 Contender to Divas Championship
Kelly Kelly and Natalya were on commentary for this match. Kelly sounded like an idiot on the headset. I swear that I'm not being one of those people who trashes Kelly just to the sake of it, but she sounded terrible. She even did the cliche high school preppy girl thing in saying "That's TOTALLY not cool". Natalya on the other hand really showed up on the headset and really made her argument stand out. Nice to see SOMEONE is paying attention with the script or else Kelly wouldn't have looked this shaky. The match was nothing special as Beth hits Glam Slam to get another title match. After the match, Kelly acts like a total idiot and takes her eyes off of Natalya. This of course leads to Natalya landing a cheap shot. The Divas of Doom stand tall. I personally hope we see a title change at NoC because Kelly hasn't made a convincing champion. I don't bash all of these model trained wrestlers. In fact, I was one of the few people who actually stood up for Candice Michelle when she was performing in the WWE. She drastically showed improvement overtime and was taking her work seriously. Yeah, the IWC may have bitched when Candice got the title, but I felt she earned it since she put out an honest effort. Especially when you compare her with most of the model trained divas. With Kelly, I see someone who isn't going the extra mile and just comes off as a glorified Barbie doll. Just my two cents on this whole thing.
Winner via pinfall and the NEW #1 Contender to Divas Title: Beth Phoenix
Backstage where Drew McIntyre (Hello, Drew) and Christian are talking until Alberto Del Rio arrives and wants to talk to Christian alone (Goodbye, Drew). Del Rio claims it's John Cena's fault Christian isn't the WHC and he should take out Cena. Christian doesn't buy it at first, but Del Rio uses persuasive bulls*** to make Christian think otherwise. I should note that throughout the night, Del Rio would be talking to Wade Barrett and Dolph Ziggler about taking out Cena. Del Rio actually comes off as a Mafia Boss since he's telling his henchman to do his dirty work....I kinda like it. It gives Del Rio more of an identity, and he needs any sort of character development to show he's worth this current push. Still, what's up with Drew showing up for ten seconds? Almost seems pointless. Then again, that's one way to earn a paycheck, right?
Match #3: CM Punk vs R-Truth
Truth comes out and talks about how Punk isn't different. The Miz shows up and they proceed to make fun of Truth's lack of vocabulary (because making fun of word choice is always funny?) while challenging Air Boom to the Tag Team Title Match at NoC. Truth then talks about....farting? What is this, Family G.....no, I'm not even going to say it. Bizarre promo to say the least. Not sure how I feel about the tag team match. While it can be a good match, they might be going somewhere with Air Boom and they should let them roll with the belts for a while. If they put the titles on Miz and Truth, it will show the WWE doing the exact same thing they usually do with the tag titles. When in doubt, give it to two main eventers/mid carders that have nothing going on. Well, to be fair, most tag teams are just thrown together/two singles competitors these days, so it's not like this hasn't been done before. Hopefully, that isn't the case since Truth and Miz are plenty interesting without the tag titles, so they don't really need them. Plus, we just got introduced to Air Boom (yeah, still don't like the name) and I want to see what they can do with the titles. The match finally begins and we FINALLY see something that's interesting. So far, only the opening was interesting as everything else is kinda boring. Then again, I almost expected a filler episode because of the holiday. Not a great match, but I will take it. Miz would interfere from time to time, but he would eventually get sent to the back. The finish comes when Punk hits the GTS and wins the match cleanly. After the match, Trips comes out and says he made a change to their match at NoC. It will now be a No DQ Match. Punk says he's fine with that, but has a stipulation of his own. If Punk wins, Trips is no longer the COO of the WWE. I have mixed feelings on this announcement. While it's an interesting idea that will make people pay more attention to the storyline and the PPV, I feel they are rushing it a bit. It wasn't long ago that Trips was named the COO and now his job is already on the line? I would have played out things a little longer, but as I've said in the past, let's wait and see where they are going with all of this. There's still a chance this will be plenty interesting afterwords. There is a cop out with it being a NO DQ Match, so you almost have to bet someone is going to get involved....probably a certain giant figure. We will just wait to see where they are going with all of this. I'm not angry about this announcement, but I would have done things a little differently. So, I guess I'm a little disappointed, but too early to throw the book at the WWE for this one.
Winner via pinfall: CM Punk
Match #4: David Otunga and Michael McGillicutty vs Jerry "King" Lawler and Zack Ryder
Time for the IWC's favorite star to wrestle. WWE showed a video package of Ryder's Youtube show. I'm not jumping on the Ryder fanboy bus, but I will admit the guy is entertaining. This was a very short match. King hits the Top Rope Fist, tags in Zack, hits Rough Ryder, and wins the match. I guess this segment does more for Ryder than anything else....if they plan on using him more. This does make Otunga and Michael look weak since they were thrown under the bus this week. It didn't really serve much purpose for the storyline, but I also expected this to be one of those "one match storylines". Otunga and Michael need to be repackaged since this tag team isn't working.
Winner via pinfall: Jerry "King" Lawler and Zack Ryder
Match #5: Randy Orton vs Heath Slater
As soon as I saw Slater arrive, I knew this would be a throwaway match. Sure enough....it was. Heath did get some moves in, but it wasn't much. Orton hits all of this signature moves and wins with an RKO. Very pointless match if you think about it. This doesn't do anything for Orton's storyline since Mark Henry didn't show up tonight and Orton gains nothing for squashing Heath. Very skippable match.
Winner via pinfall: Randy Orton
Back in the ring where Cena has arrived. He once again wants Del Rio to show up. Ricardo Rodriguez shows up to introduce Mexican JBL and he arrives in yet another rental car. Do you ever wonder how much money WWE has invested on Del Rio? I don't think I've seen a character get so much in such a short amount of time. Almost makes you think if Del Rio has a close personal connection within WWE management, but I digress. Del Rio says he's giving Cena a chance to avoid conflict because of what he has the ability to do. He talks about taking out Rey Mysterio in how the same thing can happen to Cena. Del Rio orders an attack, which brings out Wade, Jack Swagger, Ziggler, and Christian (whom Del Rio recruited throughout the night) to attack Cena. I was almost surprised Cena just didn't kill all of them by just staring at them, but Alex Riley, Sheamus, and John Morrison would arrive for the save. The faces clear house, which brings out Teddy Long (the f***?). Teddy says Trips gave him the power to make matches on Raw (ie: Trips is busy with the main storyline, so send somebody else to fill out the rest of the show). He makes it a 8 Man Elimination Tag Match, set to begin right now. The promo between Cena and Del Rio was nothing special. I realize Del Rio was gone for a week, but they've lost a lot of steam for the past few weeks with this storyline. Tonight did progress things, but not in the best way possible. They have another Raw before NoC, so hopefully they can do better in the Go Home edition.
Match #6: John Cena, Sheamus, Alex Riley, and John Morrison vs Wade Barrett, Christian, Dolph Ziggler, and Jack Swagger; Elimination Match
It didn't take long for Morrison to tap out of this contest. Morrison's stock is almost completely gone at this point. Then again, I mentioned in a previous post that Morrison got injured and guys stepped out when he was out of action. So, if Morrison wants his spot back, he's going to have to work for it all over again. Morrison taps out to Swagger's Ankle Lock. After a commercial break, Riley was the next to go with Swagger's Ankle Lock. Vickie Guerrero showed up in the middle of this match, which started a "Who's dick is bigger" contest between Swagger and Ziggler. I gotta be honest and say Swagger looked really good in the ring tonight. I've always said the guy can wrestle, but his personality and mic skills is what's killing him. Sheamus eliminated Wade with the Brogue Kick to make things a little more manageable between the faces. Sheamus and Christian fight for a while until Christian slaps Sheamus. SHEAMUS SMASH!!!
Wish I found it with better quality, but you get my point. Sheamus and Christian run around for a while until they are both counted out. Possible new rivalry? Anyway, it's down to Cena vs Ziggler and Swagger. Gee, I wonder who's gonna win? The finish comes when Swagger and Ziggler argue once again, which allows Cena to hit AA and pins Dolph. Swagger gets the Ankle Lock, but Cena reverses it into the STF and wins the match. After the match, Del Rio tries to cheap shot Cena, but since Cena has every Superhero power imaginable, he uses his.....Spider Senses to see the attack and hit AA on Del Rio. I like how Del Rio is up in a matter of seconds after the attack. Feel free to think wrestling logic with this scene. The show ends with Cena standing tall. Now, I know a lot of people are getting sick of THIS scene. You know which one I mean. The one were Cena ALWAYS is at a disadvantage but ALWAYS gets out of it. I get tired of seeing it as well since it's overdone. I understand why they did it, but there are times were WWE makes Cena look too invincible. I would have preferred Del Rio to be the one who stood tall at the end of the show. The guy was looking like a Mafia boss by having guys do his dirty work while he was waiting for his spot, but he missed it. This ending doesn't do much for either Cena or Del Rio since Cena's stock will never go down while Del Rio is the one who's trying to get over, and this doesn't help. Again, they need to come up with something a lot better on next week's show to make people care about the WWE title match. Still, I look at this match and see a couple of new storylines in the works. There was a lot more tension between Ziggler and Swagger. At first, it just seemed for the managerial services, but I can see one of them turning face and starting something. I also like the possibility of a Christian/Sheamus rivalry. I'm pretty sure I've talked about this one in the past, but I would still like to see it. They two work pretty well together and I think can put forth an interesting rivalry. Those were the parts I found interesting while watching this match. I felt the match was pretty good. Nothing amazing, but solid in-ring action from the parties involved.
Winner via pinfall: John Cena's Team
Overall Impression:
This was a mixed bag sort of show. I didn't expect much of the WWE considering this was a holiday. The opening was pretty good, but we didn't get any interesting stuff until Punk vs Truth. After that, it went back to being mediocre and boring until the main event. Not a show I can advise checking out this episode since it really felt like a filler show at times. There was also moments where I felt bored while watching the show, but there was some interesting developments. We saw more buildup for Punk vs Trips with an added stipulation. Again, I feel this is rushed, but I can't deny being curious as to where they go with it. The part I liked was the main event, since we might have seen a few new storylines in the works. I kinda hope a Sheamus/Christian rivalry happens since I think it will be pretty interesting. Sheamus has been doing wonders since his recent face turn, and an opponent like Christian can help him grow. I would say this is a Raw worth watching if you're a hardcore wrestling fan, but you can afford to skip this one. If you feel you're missing something important, just watch the opening, the Punk/Truth match, and the main event, and you will get caught up with what's going on. That's going to do it for the review and I hope you enjoyed it. As always, tell me what you thought of my review or tonight's show. Late last week, I posted an article in which I talked about Matt Hardy. I never made an announcement since the article just sort of came out. It's amazing what you come up with when you just sit down and start typing on a computer. Even more amazing since I didn't plan on doing anything with it. Anyway, check out my article talking about Matt Hardy if you're interested. I will post a link to make it easier to find. I will see you guys and girls on the next WrestlingNerd show, see you next time and thanks for making this a good year and the continuing support. Hope the second year goes better....
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