WrestlingNerd Presents: WWE Raw Review 2/20/12

What up wrestling fans, I'm the WrestlingNerd bringing you another written review. Today, we take a look at WWE Raw 2/20/12. With Elimination Chamber out of the way, it's time for the real road to WrestleMania to begin. How did the show go down? Let's find out and start the review. 

We open up the show with Eve and the Bella Twins in a backstage scene. The Bellas talk about how Zack Ryder is a good guy and Eve must feel terrible for what happened last week, but Eve doesn't seem to care. She's actually laughing and claims she never cared about Ryder and used him and John Cena to get attention. What a bitch. She claims she will continue to use Cena and continue to get the fame she doesn't deserve. Since Cena has every super power imaginable, he shows up at the appropriate time and realizes Eve's intentions. Cena laughs and finally leaves. We are now in the ring and Cena comes out to talk. He gets interrupted by Eve. She says that conservation was taken out of context. Cena doesn't buy any of it and can't believe he lost a broski for a hoeski. There is actually a "hoeski" chant in the arena. Eve starts to cry since she's pretty much in desperation mode. She tries to latch herself onto Cena, but it doesn't work. Officials arrive to take Eve off of Cena. The cub scout leaves the ring while Eve is crying. In fact….Several minutes later and she's still crying. What, did the production staff fall asleep here? Go to a commercial already. Seriously, who's idea was it to show like 3-4 minutes of Eve crying? It was almost unsettling to watch. This was not a good way to open up the show. Think about it? We are six weeks away from WM and you open up with a hoeski? Reckon, they needed to tie up the loose ends of the Cena/Kane storyline, but it seems kinda stupid to open up Raw like this. I do have good news. While the show didn't start off well, it would eventually get better.  At least this scene produced the #1 topic on twitter. That's what really matters in his work-a-day world. 

According to Undertaker's video, he wants vengeance……and ice cream, cookies, and cakes. I'm having fun, so sue me. 

Match #1: Sheamus vs Mark Henry

This was a short match. Not sure how physically ready Henry is, but I'd imagine he's stronger now than a few weeks ago. The finish comes when Sheamus counters World Strongest Slam and hits the Brogue Kick for the clean victory. I have no problems with this since Sheamus needs to keep his momentum for this world title match at WM. After all, he's going up against the YES man. Henry's stock continues to plummet. Does anyone even remember the Hall of Pain? Almost seems like an urban legend. The legend of old. The legend that talked about the man who went fourth on his voyage for salvation. It was a legend that would be spoken for eons. The legend that…..Okay, I got nothing. 

Winner via pinfall: Sheamus

Backstage scene with John Laurinaitis, David Otunga, and Teddy Long. Teddy actually thinks Laurinaitis' idea of having one GM controlling both shows is a good idea, but is really against robot labor. Teddy says he should be the GM of both shows. Laurinaitis says he can do better and makes a 10 Man Battle Royal, where the winner will be the #1 Contender to the WWE Championship. Teddy makes it interesting and wants to have five Smackdown talents representing the Battle Royal. Otunga seems to think that Teddy is saying the SD talents are superior to Raw. Teddy says that isn't the case, but believes the SD talents are superior to Otunga. Of course the SD talents are superior to Carlton Banks…..Well, maybe not. Regardless, the challenge seems to be on as Otunga will go against a SD talent tonight. The war is also on between the ladies man and Roboinaitis. Who will win this battle of mediocrity? 

Match #2: R-Truth and Kofi Kingston vs Primo and Epico

This was a short, but decent match. The finish comes when Kofi hits the Trouble in Paradise. Not sure why this was put on the show. This might be WWE giving Primo and Epico a rival, but I'm not sure about Truth and Kofi as a team. Mainly because they just got Kofi out of tag team and he seemed to be going somewhere, but I guess plans have changed. So many talents in the WWE, just not enough slots for everyone. I guess we'll see what they do with this. I'll give it a chance. It also could've been a throwaway match that does nothing for future events, but it didn't seem to be the case. 

Winner via pinfall: Kofi Kingston and R-Truth

Ron Simmons will be inducted in the 2012 Hall of Fame….

Match #3: David Otunga vs Ezekiel Jackson

Teddy and Laurinaitis were representing their guys. You'd think Teddy would pick a better person to represent SD. What can Bill Cosby on steroids accomplish? Well, Teddy's plan would backfire as Otunga hits The Verdict and scores the victory. Round one goes to Roboinaitis. 

Winner via pinfall: David Otunga

The Undertaker comes out to cut a promo. Taker wore a hood on his head for the whole segment. He looked like the guy from Assassin's Creed. I have to say this before I get started, but what was the audience thinking? It's one thing to do the "what" chant to the bad guy, but to Taker? I really don't know what they were thinking here. For the most part, I dislike the "what" chant. I like Stone Cold, but if there's something about him that pissed me off, it was when he created this stupid chant. It's really annoying and shows no imagination from the audience. Its like, "Hey, you're doing what everyone else did before you….Thank you for showing no originality". This audience can ruin the moment for you. Anyway, Taker wants Triple H in the ring and tell him to his face that he doesn't want to challenge him. Hunter comes out and the lights immediately go back into that blue lighting……Mr. Purple. Anyway, Taker immediately cuts off Trips and says Hunter is coming up with cheap excuses. Trips continues to say he doesn't want to see the last two stars from their era die off and he needs to do what's good for business. Taker immediately says is it bad for business for Trips to finish off Taker, or is it bad for business that Taker will finish off Trips? Trips responds by saying that it's just plain bad for business. Trips is about to leave until Taker calls him a coward. Trips gets back in the ring and is sick of this coward stuff. Just as soon as Trips said that, he realizes what Taker was trying to do here. He immediately calls his bluff and starts to walk away again. Taker finally says Shawn Michaels was always better than Trips and HBK would actually do what Trips doesn't want to do. Trips takes off the jacket and gets back in the ring. He says this has nothing to do with HBK and he can do what HBK failed to do. The audience actually redeemed themselves…..A little. They were chanting "Prove it". Still, the "what" chants? Trips finally accepts the match. It appears it's finally a go, but Trips has a request. He wants to make this special…….Hell in a Cell. Taker is pleased with the idea and leaves to "The Memory Remains" by Metallica. 

I guess Taker's schtick is to have a new entrance theme every year. Wade Barrett should talk to Taker's guy. Anyway, it appears Taker vs Trips will indeed happen at WM. I kinda like the idea that it's a HIAC match. I know these matches have lost their flavor over the last few years, but Taker and Trips made their careers in this match. I'm sure the two can pull out the stops to make this a worthwhile match. I know there are people out there that don't want to see this match, but the interesting storytelling is making me very invested in this match. I think it should be interesting. Taker is one hell of a negotiator in order to get Trips to completely go along with this idea. Screw Otunga, Taker is the law on this show. 

Match #4: Daniel Bryan vs Santino

This match lasted less than two minutes. Bryan locked in the Le Bell Lock and gets the submission victory. I can see some people being disappointed with the quick victory for Bryan. He is the champ and the champ has to look somewhat credible as WM approaches. At the same time, you don't get too much of a rub for defeating the comedian. Santino would get a chance to redeem himself in the Battle Royal. I probably should've mentioned that the losers of the chamber matches are competing in the rumble. It's the Loser Royal. 

Match #5: Kelly Kelly and Aksana vs Bella Twins

Very short match. Bellas do the switch out and pin Aksana. Not sure why Aksana is wearing something that you probably wear on a honeymoon, but whatever works. There's your fan service for the night. 

Winner via pinfall: Bella Twins

Cena comes out for more attention. Unlike the opening, this one was actually good. Cena comes out to talk about the Rock. He calls the Rock a fake since he left this business for Hollywood. He said he used to like the Rock, but says he would never leave this business. Cena even said that his movies were pretty bad, but he's happy being himself. Well, at least he's self-aware. Cena says Rocky only came back for publicity and Cena fights for the people who want to remain a pro wrestler. Cena informs the fans they should enjoy this as much as they can, because he will defeat the Rock and he will stay with this company.

This was an amazing promo by Cena. He seemed to get away from the typical Cena and showed something real and powerful. Cena always has the ability to cut these type of promos, but they just don't come around as often as they should. The promo felt so real and passionate. I definitely recommend checking it out. I just gained a lot more respect for Mr. Breakfast Cereal. 

Match #6: Battle Royal; #1 Contender for WWE Championship 

CM Punk came out in his John Madden jacket to do some commentary. BOOM!!! Punk's commentary was pretty fun. This was an okay match, but it did seem a little sloppy. There are a few things to report. Khali lasted about 2-3 minutes in this match. This seems to be Khali's identity. There was a rather serious moment during Dolph's elimination. Show had Dolph over his head and tossed him out of the ring. Wade and Truth caught Dolph, but it appeared that Wade was in lots of pain after the catch. The medics would arrive and take Wade out of the arena. I've heard several reports that Wade has a dislocated elbow, but I also haven't heard anything as of yet on WWE.com. It looked pretty painful since Wade was screaming in pain. A lot of internet reports are talking about how Show made a botch here. I don't really consider this a botch. I think of it as more of a freak accident. Show tossed Dolph over the ropes, while Truth and Wade were supposed to catch him. It just looked like any other spot, but something just went wrong. If there's anything Show really screwed up on, he probably threw Dolph too hard. I thought that Dolph was hurt, but that didn't appear to be the case. That's a positive. The only thing I can say is I wish Wade a speedy recovery and I hope he gets good news. The SD roster is already pretty thin, so this doesn't help at all. We will see what happens. The finish comes when it's down to Jericho and Show. Jericho starts to get him over, but Rhodes (who has already been eliminated) comes over to screw over Show. Jericho wins the match and will face off against Punk. This doesn't come as a surprise since this has been teased for the last month. After the match, Punk wants a handshake from Jericho, but he declines. Now that the match is official, it will be interesting to see what the two have to saw towards one another. Here's the order of elimination. 

Khali by everyone

Miz by Kofi and Truth

Wade by Santino

Truth by Santino

Dolph by Show

Kofi by Jericho

Santino by Rhodes

Rhodes by Show

Show by Jericho and Rhodes

Winner and NEW #1 Contender to WWE Title: Chris Jericho

Overall Impression:

I would say this was a passable episode of Raw. The show got off to a rocky start. The intro was……Just disturbing. Eve has completely lost her mind. Maybe it's the C O N…..Uh, spiracy. The first hour was pretty rough, but the second hour was pretty good. The Taker/Trips scene was good, despite the fact the audience was a little disrespectful. Cena delivered a damn good promo and things are getting lined up for WM. I don't think this was a great as last week, but it was decent. The show was not put on for wrestling action. The in-ring quality was lacking tonight, but they do need to start the build up with the rest of the WM card. In the next few weeks, expect other rivalries to begin. This might not be a night for wrestling action, but the storytelling was pretty good while the promos were interesting. Sometimes, that's more important than the actual wrestling match. That's going to do it for the review and I hope you enjoyed it. Smackdown will be live tomorrow night. That could be interesting. As always, tell me what you thought of my review or tonight's show. I will see you guys and girls on the next WrestlingNerd show. See you next time.