WrestlingNerd Presents: WWE Raw 12/10/12 Review (This is uncomfortable....)

What up wrestling fans, I'm the WrestlingNerd bringing you another written review. Today, we take a look at WWE Raw 12/10/12. With TLC set for this week, how does the 'go home' episode fair? Let's find out and begin. 

We open up the show with Dolph Ziggler. You know, I just figured out something. If the MITB is on the line for TLC, why wouldn't Dolph just cash it in now? He could be a world champion and completely avoid John Cena. Yeah, you know we are in store for something when I open up the article by talking about wrestling logic. Dolph talks about defeating Cena, but Sheamus interrupts and claims that he will be the world champion at TLC and will NOT allow himself to lose to Dolph. Sheamus must've read the script if he sounded so confident. Big Show arrives since he wants to remind you what he's doing this Sunday. Sheamus decides to take his rage out on Dolph since the no contact rule is still active. It was a pretty basic opening. I really liked Dolph's promo. It's funny how he referred to Vince McMahon as Santa Claus. Hey, you would give Cena multiple title shots if he made you so much money just from merchandise sales. 

So, we once again have Vince McMahon show up to make another match. I once again have to bring up the argument; what is the point of having a GM/authority figure if Vince will go ahead and make the matches? Because Vince wanted some time off, that's why. Anyway, it turns out it will be Vickie vs AJ later tonight. AJ is so excited about this news that she goes back into her crazy habits. She walks in the men's locker room and tells Cena. Cena is now uncomfortable. Funny how relationships works. You have no problem getting a quickie or making out with her, but now it gets serious and you are no longer interested. I'm convinced that AJ is forever doomed to be that diva who kisses every guy on the roster and just simply moves on to the next. What a wonderful career……for a prostitute. By the way, didn't the BOD say Vince is no longer able to run the day-to-day operations and make the matches? That wrestling logic can be beautiful, sometimes. 

Match #1: R-Truth vs Wade Barrett

Antonio and Kofi argue, while Truth wins with a rollup. The match lasted about two minutes. Sigh….why? I really have to wonder why book it like this. Now, I guess you can argue that a quick rollup doesn't hurt your stock too much, I just don't find it necessary. That's all the build you get between Wade and Kofi. There's barely any rivalry between the two and has gotten build up for the last month. That's a bad sign right there. Maybe I'm being too negative about this? I did mention that I wasn't big on this potential rivalry and maybe I'm just adding more salt to the open wound. There's probably something I'm missing between the two, but the rivalry has felt very lackluster in my opinion. 

Winner via pinfall: R-Truth

Match #2: Rhodes Scholars vs Usos vs Prime Time Players vs Puerto Rican Express

So, the deal with this match is whoever wins the match will go up against Rey Mysterio and Sin Cara at TLC. The winner of THAT match will become the #1 Contender to the tag titles. What the hell is Cody wearing under his lip? Is that a mustache? That has to be the worst mustache ever. It's like a bug made a nest on his face. This was a fun tag team match. It worked like an elimination match. I was stunned to see the Usos as effective as they were. They took out the PTP and PRE with the Superfly Splash. I think it was great to see them get some exposure since they deserve it. The Usos almost win, but Cross Rhodes does them in. It really should go to RS since they still have some business with Team Hell No. Hopefully, this performance means good things on the way for the Usos. 

Winner via pinfall: Rhodes Scholars

Match #3: Eve vs Alicia Fox

Alicia dives into being bi-polar once again since she plays both face and heel. Eve wins with the swinging neckbreaker. Okay, so did the Eve/Kaitlyn storyline just blow up or something? Seriously, it kinda just stopped. Is Vince Russo somewhere in the back? Ohhhh noooooooo!!!

Winner via pinfall: Eve

CM Punk comes out to talk about his injury status. If you aren't aware, Punk won't be able to compete at TLC because of emergency knee surgery. During this promo, Punk poked fun of the Rock for having to get a stunt double. Yeah, some early build for the possible Punk/Rock match at the Royal Rumble. Yeah, cuz getting a world title match and working like ten shows a year sounds totally fair. Punk vows he will be present for the TLC PPV since he wants to see what the Shield can do to Ryback and Team Hell No. I imagine Punk will be doing commentary for this match. Well, it would create a loophole for Shield to win this match. This segment was put together to get people up to speed since nobody watches Smackdown these days. I think it does the job. 

Match #4: Dolph Ziggler vs Sheamus

This match was pretty good. It was given a fair amount of time and the counters towards the end were pretty creative. The finish comes when Dolph uses a chair on Sheamus, thus causing a DQ. I personally don't have a problem with this since both guys need to look strong going into TLC. After the match, Dolph is about to use the chair again, but Sheamus ends up hitting the Brogue Kick on the chair. Dolph saw his life pass before his eyes and gets the hell out of there. I would've run too if I was almost kicked in the face. 

Winner via DQ: Sheamus

Match #5: Alberto Del Rio vs Zack Ryder

Vickie, Khali, and Hornswoggle threesome? I think I just threw up inside my mouth. So, let me get this straight. Ryder can give Del Rio a fair match, but Wade loses in less than two minutes to Truth? That makes perfect sense….sigh. I was surprised and confused with Ryder giving Del Rio a fair contest. It isn't a bad idea if they're planning to use Ryder for something, but I just can't see them doing anything with the comedy act. Del Rio wins with the Cross Armbreaker. It's Del Rio's destiny to do nothing at TLC. 

Winner via submission: Alberto Del Rio

Match #6: AJ vs Vickie Guerrero

Brad Maddox makes his return as a crooked referee and ends up screwing over AJ by completely avoiding her. You can make the argument that Maddox is trying to butter up Vickie to earn himself a contract, but kinda hard to be nice to somebody who sent you to die against Randy Orton last week. The match was bad, but what did you expect? It's mostly there for storytelling and nothing more. Vickie gets a quick rollup victory on AJ. After the match, AJ looses her damn mind and starts to throw a temper tantrum. Justin Roberts hasn't seen so much physical abuse since Daniel Bryan saw him wearing a tie. I like AJ at certain moments, but even I have to agree that she's a bad actress. After a commercial break, AJ continues to break the sound barrier as Cena comforts her. Once again, Cena seems put off by all of this. Cena is such a great person, don't you think? He's teaching you the importance of hitting it and quitting it. What a role model!!!

Winner via unemployment: Vickie Guerrero

Match #7: Antonio Cesaro vs Kofi Kingston

Antonio speaks bulls*** in five different languages. In a solid match, Antonio wins with the Neutralizer. I don't take anything away from Antonio's in-ring skills. He's a good wrestler with a unique style, but I stand by what I've said about his character. It's the cliche, anti-American deal that I'm sick of seeing and Antonio almost has nothing interesting to say, despite being a good talker. I think Antonio has a lot to offer, but I feel he's very restricted with what he can do with this character.

Winner via pinfall: Antonio Cesaro

Yeah, I don't think I would be relying on Game Informer to determine what are the best video games to play. Seriously, half the games mentioned were sports games. Well, at least Assassin's Creed got some love. Time for Miz TV with Rhodes Scholars. While this adds intrigue to the #1 Contender match, why wasn't Rey and Sin Cara able to interact with their opponents tonight? That would've done a whole lot more than what they did here. I'm guessing Rey wasn't available since Sin needs a translator. I think somebody tried to convince me that Miz is playing more of a tweener. Now that I think about it, Miz really does come off as a tweener. This is probably the best role for him since he needs to keep some of his devious ways or else he just becomes another Cena wannabe. The segment was strange, but in a good way. I kinda liked it since I didn't take it seriously. 

Match #8: John Cena vs Big Show

Cena and Show as the rivalry of the year? LOL….ohhhhhh, these guys crack me up sometimes. AJ wanted to watch this match, but Cena wouldn't allow it unless AJ gave him a 'power boost'. The match was okay, but I've seen it more than enough times to know how these work. Cena is about to win until the Shield attacks. So, Cena's injustice was…..wearing those shorts for ten years? Actually wrestling a match? Teasing a girl? Anyway, Team Hell No arrive to even the odds. Dolph, Show, Sheamus, and Ryback arrive to join the party. I know people are gonna bitch about Ryback's ladder throw on the Shield, but that throw was awesome. It's like he said "F*** you, bitch!!!". I really enjoyed that, but I do hope everyone is okay after that. The show ends with a brawl. They might've gone a little overboard with that brawl, but it does set up the PPV. 

Winner via DQ: John Cena

Overall Impression:

This episode of Raw isn't as good as some of the previous weeks, but this show did a good enough job to hype up the PPV. They touched based on all the matches set to occur at the PPV and I think added some intrigue to the event. Was it perfect? No, because I felt they could've done better with some of the other matches. The two mid-card matches for TLC haven't had the best build going into the event, but they did hype up the replacement TLC match. I'm very interested to see how that match turns out. Cena and Dolph is another intriguing match because of the stipulation. They also wrote a scenario where AJ will accidentally cost Cena the MITB, thus allowing Dolph to keep his briefcase. Even the #1 Contender match to the tag titles looks interesting. Not the best card going into a PPV, but it looks interesting. Tonight's show featured some okay matches and lots of talking. This is about what you should expect for the 'go home' episode since they want to keep their guys healthy going into the PPV. That's gonna do it for the review and I hope you enjoyed it. Tell me what you thought of tonight's show or the review. I will see you guys and girls in the next one.