WrestlingNerd Presents: WWE Raw 12/3/12 Review (Liars, Shields, and Talk Shows)

What up wrestling fans, I'm the WrestlingNerd bringing you another written review. Today, we take a look at WWE Raw 12/3/12. How does Raw fair this week? Let's find out and start the review. 

Match #1: Team Hell No vs Prime Time Players

We open up the show with Daniel Bryan and Kane. The two immediately put The Shield on notice after their attack a week ago. The group of renegades are watching near the skybox. As the match is in progress, various members of S.H.I.E.L.D are walking down the ramp. They are definitely putting a sense of paranoia amongst people. Either that or they are pushing hard for the sales of police vest. I noticed that Cole made a minor slip up by calling him, "Daniel Ambrose". Not sure why I brought this up, but surely people wouldn't complain about that now, right…..right? The PTP almost steal this victory because of that paranoia, but Daniel is able to get a rollup victory. After the match, Shield is ready to rape that ass. They take out Kane's arm and hit that super powerbomb on Bryan. The Shield never explain why they attacked Hell No. I can understand why this didn't happen, but I was curious to know why they did this. It does make Shield more intriguing since they aren't completely on the CM Punk bandwagon since they are attacking others for reasons still unexplained. 

Winner via pinfall: Team Hell NO!!!

Match #2: AJ vs Tamina

Did Cole just say Tamina adopted the Superfly Splash? Is that how genetics works? I guess if you're the father of a sports star, you will be a bigger sports star? Yeah, try to wrap your head around that one. AJ escapes with a rollup victory. I'm fine with AJ getting this type of victory. It doesn't end things between the ladies and ensures a rematch will happen in the near future.

Winner via pinfall: AJ

CM Punk and Paul Heyman come out to talk about surpassing John Cena's WWE title reign. You know, I'm kinda surprised that Vince McMahon didn't immediately hit the panic button when he saw this, but it also goes to show that you CANNOT believe everything you read on the internet. I really enjoyed Punk's promo. I thought he really got edgy by telling the audience to change the channel and stop watching the show, but why do I feel Punk was calling out the smarks with that statement? Maybe that was just my thoughts, but whatever. Regardless, some very good promo work by Punk. Definitely one of the better promos he's cut as of late. Miz interrupts the segment and claims that even though he cheated throughout his title reign, he was at least upfront about it. After some banter, Miz proposes Punk to take a lie detector test in order to be honest. Umm, you realize that isn't gonna solve the problem, right. It isn't like those things are 100% accurate. Punk agrees to his charade and it will happen later tonight. I thought this was a rather good segment. The promo work really made this segment leap out. 

Match #3: John Cena and Sheamus vs Dolph Ziggler and Big Show

Somebody better pick up the phone cuz I called that s*** last week. I just knew it was gonna happen. In fact, you can call this match the Teddy Long special. This match was okay, but nothing special. The finish comes when Cena hits the AA on Dolph for the victory. I would further dive into how I feel about this, but we get a follow-up with Dolph/Cena later in the show. 

Winner via pinfall: John Cena and Sheamus

Match #4: Damien Sandow vs Santino

Damien tries once again to find an apprentice, but is unable to find one. I thought we all learned the answer to that last question in fifth grade. Am I right? Idiot of the day award is no longer going to Zack Ryder? Let's see how many people will take that one too seriously. Anyway, Santino interrupts the segment to crack a joke and deliver the most telegraphic sneak attack of all time. I don't know why, but I got so much amusement out of Santino trying to 'blindside' Sandow. After that minor scuffle, we start the match. Not much to really report here. Damien wins cleanly with the Terminus. I like that they are rebuilding the Sandow character as an individual once more. I liked Rhodes Scholars, but I felt Sandow works much better as a single star. Glad he taught that ignoramus a lesson. 

Winner via elegance: Damien Sandow

Dolph petitions for---take it away Christian….

….against Cena. Vickie Guerrero doesn't think he can defeat Cena, but Dolph claims he can. Thank you sir, may I have another? Brad Maddox is back and wants another shot to become a WWE superstar. Vickie will give him a contract if he can win his match tonight. Oh boy, a Maddox match. WWE is gonna break the bank with that announcement. In all seriousness, I kinda like the Maddox character to some degree. He looks and sounds like an asshole that's so full of himself. Believe it or not, that would be considered a compliment. Only on the WrestlingNerd page. 

Match #5: Alberto Del Rio vs Sin Cara

This match was pretty good, but it's kinda funny how people outside of the Mexico probably don't care for this match. Del Rio wins with the Cross Armbreaker. Wooo hooo….zzzzzzz. 

Winner via submission: Alberto Del Rio

Vince McMahon shows up to question Vickie's matches. Once again, Vince is basically making the matches. I ONCE AGAIN have to question the logics of having a GM if Vince or the BOD is gonna show up to make the matches regardless. What ends up happening is Cena vs Dolph in a MITB ladder match. Remember how I've been saying that the Cena/Dolph rivalry has lost its interest since last week? Well, it's like somebody within the WWE knew what I was thinking and immediately made me care about the match again. GET OUT OF MY HEAD!!! It will be interesting to see if they give Dolph the victory or if they decide to have Cena chase after the WHC. Then again, WWE would probably create some wrestling logic to allow Cena to go after the WWE title if he won at TLC. Hey, it's certainly possible. I think they will give Dolph the victory since he really needs to have this one under his belt. Regardless of what they do, I'm actually looking forward to the match. It was also apparent that if Punk failed the lie detector test, Pauly has to fight Ryback next week. Kinda ironic that Vince would put this stipulation considering his history with a lie detector. Freakin' Mr. America. 

Match #6: Brad Maddox vs Randy Orton

The match was a joke, but that was the idea. Randy wins with the RKO. After the match, Shield attacks Randy because…..they are sick of this motherf***ing snakes on this motherf***ing show? I know, boooooooo. 

Winner via raping: Randy Orton

Dolph complains to Vickie about having to defend his MITB. While she pleads her case, Dolph thinks that Vickie is becoming another AJ. Oh, so does that mean she will throw temper tantrums, french every guy, and continue bad act---are we really talking about the same person or two individuals at this point? To break the tension, Vickie and Pauly decide to have an eye staring contest. Can you defeat both in this matchup? What that amounted to was Pauly complaining about the stipulation for Punk failing the test. Hey, he managed to pass a sobriety test, so he should do fine, right? 

Match #7: Antonio Cesaro vs Kofi Kingston vs R-Truth vs Wade Barrett; US Championship match

Just as I thought Teddy was about to make a tag team match with another tag match, he gets out of his comfort zone and makes a fatal four-way match. I think my head just exploded. The fans voted for Cesaro's title be defended. I just thought of something. What do you do if there's a tie in the voting? Oh well, it isn't like the creative staff would even considering letting fans determine what happens on the show. This match was really good. I think it was safe to say that this was the wrestling match that stole the show. It had action, great counters, high spots, it was pretty much all there. I think this is definitely a match worth checking out. Antonio hits the Neutralizer on Kofi for the victory. The match does put tension between the two mid-card title feuds, so that helps as well. 

Winner via pinfall and still US Champ: Antonio Cesaro

It's time to end the show with Miz TV. I don't know if this is just me, but I feel Miz is trying way too hard to be a good guy. It still feels like something Miz would at least talk about, but I guess it's still strange to see Miz playing face. It's time for Punk to take the test. OMG, this was so boring!!! I understand this was done for the sake of storytelling, but they could've sped this up to make it more enjoyable. Instead, it dragged and I lost interest pretty quickly. Just as Miz ask if Punk's connected with Shield, the band of NXT boys arrive to take out Miz and the set. Finally, Ryback arrives to get some dinner. He's able to fair better against the Shield this go around. Ryback ends up chasing off the Shield and Punk kicks Miz out of the ring. Just as Punk is gonna pose with the title, Ryback comes back and takes out Punk with Shell Shock. The show ends with Ryback using tables, ladders, and chairs on Punk. After two straight weeks of Punk standing tall, it made sense for Ryback to get the last laugh tonight. I don't think Shield looks too badly since they really didn't plan their attack well on Ryback this go around. Not one of the best endings to the show, but I thought the evening faired out pretty well. I don't care what the haters say. I kinda like Ryback. He isn't the best thing since sliced bread, but the man plays his part well. Plus, the casual fans have grown to love him, so that has to be worth something. With that said, I still think Punk will walk out of TLC as WWE Champion since I can't see them using Ryback as a pawn to give the Rock the WWE title at the Royal Rumble. UGGGGGH….I'll save that rant for another day. 

Overall Impression:

Outside of the ending, I thought tonight's show was pretty fair. The ending wasn't bad, but I felt they could've done better if they had just quicken the pace of the lie detector test. The night featured some good matches and continued to build up TLC. In fact, I find myself more interested in TLC now than I did going into the night, so that's a plus. I wouldn't call this an amazing show, but I think it was a pretty tolerable evening that had something to offer. 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 in the next one.