WrestlingNerd Presents: WWE Raw Review 10/8/12 (CM "Skeletor" McMahon)

What up wrestling fans, I'm the WrestlingNerd bringing you another written review. Today, we take a look at WWE Raw 10/8/12. What measures does CM Punk take this week? Let's find out and start the review. 

We open up the show with John Cena. Yeah, even when he's injured, WWE realizes they need to milk as much as they can from an injured man. Cena talks about all the various things in the WWE, including wanting to get a little of the old "in/out/in/out" with AJ….

I'm sorry Cena, but that was bad. Finally, Cena buckles down and talks about CM Punk. He claims that Punk isn't a man if he declines the Hell in a Cell match against Cena. You know all those previous victories Punk has against Cena? Well, apparently the WWE roster is telling you that none of those even count. I guess it will only count when Cena actually wins. LOLZ…..I went there. This was a pretty short opening, but it was okay. It was short, simple, and to the point. 

Match #1: Ryback vs Puerto Rican Express

Ryback would destroy for some Puerto Rican cooking. Shell Shock for the squash. 

Winner via pinfall: Ryback

Dancing time with Brodus Clay and R-Truth? I haven't done this in a while, but I think it's time to utilize a little CHAOS CONTROL…

And, we're back. Vince McMahon is in the ring and wants to talk about the state of the WWE. Well, it amounted to Punk and Pauly interrupting the segment as everyone is talking about respect. Vince respects Punk as champion, but doesn't respect his alliance with Paul Heyman. Punk goes on a rant how Vince should be a CM Punk guy because Punk is the best wrestler on his roster and didn't get to his spot by fighting a millionaire all the time. Punk sure has taken a couple of swings at Stone Cold. Hmmm….what? Anyway, Punk decides to give Vince a bitch slap. Vince says he should fire Punk, but he will give him a choice. Either Punk faces Vince or he's fired. Geeze, it makes you think why Vince didn't jump to this conclusion faster when dealing with Stone Cold. Oh, there's that wrestling logic again. Punk is loving this idea, while Pauly looks very worried about this option. I really can't explain it or put it into words. I know I should hate this idea since it's Vince getting in the ring, but part of me wants to see this. You gotta admit that it's slightly intriguing. 

Match #2: Prime Time Players vs Hidden Identities: Tag Tournament

This match wasn't too bad, but it didn't last long. The finish comes when Mysterio hits the dime on Darren Young for the clean victory. Just throwing this out there, but since the PTP have a rivalry going with Mysterio and Sin Cara, I can see the PTP screwing them over in the finals. Don't be surprised if it happens. 

Winner via pinfall: Rey Mysterio and Sin Cara

Match #3: Sheamus vs Wade Barrett

I really hope JBL remains on commentary even when King returns. He was always one of my favorites to listen to while doing commentary. I'm really loving his one-liners and his portrayal as a heel commentator. After all, he's a WRESTLING GOD!!! There was a backstage scene where Pauly was explaining to Punk how fighting Vince is a terrible idea. Then again, if you had a chance to fight your boss, would you do it? Anyway, not even ten-seconds into this match and Big Show arrives ahead of schedule. Do you see where this is going? Yeah, Tensai decides to interfere, thus Sheamus wins via DQ….Bachbagechabachbachbaaa? After the match, Wade and Tensai continue to chop down Sheamus, but by the Power of Fruity Pebbles, Sheamus is able to get out of this predicament. Show arrives and Sheamus is about to hit the Brogue Kick on the big guy, but Show tosses Sheamus out of the ring. Oh no, it appears Super Irishman didn't take enough Cena vitamins to take out Show. Then again, I'm sure he will load up on those at the PPV. 

Winner via DQ: Sheamus

Match #4: Antonio Cesaro vs Tyson Kidd

I like how Punk is blaming AJ if Vince ends up getting hurt in the match. If you think about it, this doesn't make any sense. Vince has higher power than AJ, so how can the BOD punish her? Oh, that's right, it's wrestling logic. Antonio wins with the Neutralizer. They seem to be trying something with Antonio. That's great guys, but how about giving him a legit rival? I think that would make him more interesting since he would have somebody to go against. You can only get away with squash matches for so long. You just can't force squash after squash until people start loving you. Hmmm….I wonder if I'm sensing irony with that last statement?

Winner via pinfall: Antonio Cesaro

Match #5: Team Hell No vs Alberto Del Rio and Dolph Ziggler

This was a pretty good match. A lot of the matches up to this point have been boring or didn't last long, but this is where I felt we got that action Vince was talking about earlier. The finish comes when Kane hits the Chokeslam for the victory. Just like always, Kane and Daniel Bryan are still not on the same page. These two are so funny, but they really haven't done much since the diner scene. I want to see more skits like this. Hint hint?

Winner via pinfall: Team Hell No

A Larry King/Miz/Kofi Kingston segment? I think I'm going for two, but CHAOS CONTROL…

I want to add something. While I didn't like this scene, Miz's line of having more championships than Larry's lives was hilarious. What this all boiled down to was a possible Miz/Kofi rivalry. WWE has been trying to give Kofi more singles competition, so I'm not surprised Kofi is getting another opportunity. While it isn't the greatest idea, at least they are done something with Miz and Kofi. I can at least appreciate that. Who knows? This could be a fun rivalry. Oh, and Jim Ross was talking to Vince about not going through with this match. Well, that didn't go according to plan since the match is still on. If you couldn't tell, this was happening throughout the night. In fact, Pauly would also talk to Vince about this and claim that Punk will break him down worse than Brock Lesnar broke Triple H. Oh, them fighting words now. You can see the fire in that man's eyes…..I think. Then again, maybe that's the gleam in Vince's eyes when he senses money? After the show, Vince is gonna go back to counting his money. 

Match #6: Rhodes Scholars vs Comedy Jobbers; Tag Tournament

Cody wins this match with the Beautiful Disaster. After the match, Heath Slater, Drew McIntyre, and Jinder Mahal all run out there to take out Santino. This team is showing that all of the world's cultures can get a long. Team Unity……Nawwwww, that's stupid. It's the three-man band. 

Winner via pinfall: Rhodes Scholars

Match #7: Eve vs Kaitlyn; Divas Title

I fell asleep. What did I miss? Apparently, Eve won the match with a submission hold. You know what the funny thing is? When it comes time to reveal that Eve was the attacker, nothing will be done since this is a wrestling show. Just think about it? 

Winner via submission and still Divas Champion: Eve

It's Del Rio's destiny to not care about tweets. We get a backstage scene between Larry King, Daniel, and Kane. Line of the night goes to Kane. That's Larry King? I thought it was Skeletor. I'm gonna laugh that one all the way to Castle Grayskull. That was some of the funniest s*** out of the evening. Bravo, guys. The fruit roll-up line was pretty funny as well. 

Match #8: CM Punk vs Vince McMahon

While something inside me liked this idea, part of me was aware that this wasn't gonna be a good match. At this point. I was just seeing what the two can pull off. Well, I personally thought that it wasn't that bad. Vince walked around like the Vince of old. Still, you think a younger guy in his 30s wouldn't be this scared of a man in his 60s. Hmm, there's something very TNA-esque about that last line. The finish comes when Cena and Ryback arrive to interrupt the party, thus resulting in a no contest. After the match, Vince gives Punk an ultimatum. Punk will fight at Hell in the Cell against either Cena or Ryback. If Punk doesn't make a decision by next week, Vince will choose for him. Yeah, so I think WWE is waiting another week to see if Cena is gonna compete or not. Now, I want to get something out of the way. I'm not saying Punk/Ryback is a bad idea. In fact, part of me is interested in the match. What I'm saying is Ryback isn't ready for this much exposure since you either have to book Ryback to destroy Punk or have Punk beat Ryback. Either way, it makes one guy look bad. Of course, you always resort to shenanigans to protect guys, but that's not the point. This kind of thing can backfire if you don't take your time. Well, I guess we'll have to wait another week to see what they got planned. I will add that if they went with a Triple Threat match, I would be more open to that idea. It takes pressure off Cena because of his injury, and it gives Ryback some top level exposure against two of the WWE's biggest stars. I'm kinda leaning towards seeing a triple threat match. By the way, what ever happened to that statement of the WWE? That was just a lie, wasn't it Vince? You just wanted to fight somebody, didn't you?

No Contest

Overall Impression:

I thought Raw was a major improvement over last week's show. While the matches weren't amazing, they were fun to watch. And for some reason, the idea of Punk/Vince was good enough to keep me intrigued for most of the evening. The Punk/Pauly/Vince backstage scenes were interesting as well. One thing that I also liked about the show was the ending. Yes, I've expressed how I think moving Ryback to the main event is too soon, but one thing that I do like about this is the fact that they are adding intrigue to next week's show by ending it on a cliffhanger. Because of tonight, people will check in next week to see what Punk and/or Vince end up doing as we get closer and closer to the PPV. Yeah, so I wanted to get that out there before I got a couple of complaints. Raw's worth checking out this week, but I'll admit that it has some dull spots. That's gonna 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. I will see you guys and girls on the next WrestlingNerd show. See you next time. 

PS: Next week's Raw review might end up being delayed an extra day since I'm gonna be busy next Monday. So, don't be surprised if the Raw review shows up on Wednesday. I do enjoy creating these reviews, but I have some very important things to take care of on that day. I apologize in advance for it being late and hope you can bare with me. Thank you and have a good night.