WrestlingNerd Presents: WWE Raw 3/11/13 Review

What up wrestling fans, I'm the WrestlingNerd bringing you another written review. Today, we take a look at WWE Raw 3/11/13. We have a lot to get through, so let's begin. 

We open up the show with Undertaker paying tribute to Paul Bearer. In fact, WWE would be doing this throughout the night. I think it was a classy move. Just as Taker is paying tribute to Bearer, CM Punk interrupts the segment for the sake of being a dick. Punk doesn't acknowledge Bearer and mostly talks about ending Taker's streak. So, a couple of things I need to bring up since I was gone for a week. I already mentioned in the TNA reviews, but I extend my thoughts and prayers to the friends and family of Paul Bearer. He was a legend in his own ranks and he will be missed. Next, my thoughts on the Punk/Taker idea for WM. I like the idea, but I'm not 'in love' with it either. Punk needed something big to do for the WM season and facing Taker was the best way to go. I know we've seen Punk/Taker matches in the past, but there's something about it that makes it seem new. I think it's because a lot has changed since the last time these two went up against each other. Taker has become a seasonal performer, while Punk has made himself a big deal in the WWE with his historic title reign and bad attitude. Punk vs Taker sounds like a cool idea, but part of me wishes they would've done the build for this sooner. There's still four weeks until the match, so I think they will get more than enough time to make this match mean something. As of right now, I'm more interested in this match than Twice in a Lifetime. Because of Punk's actions, Kane would be super pissed about this and will challenge Punk later tonight. I think you done goofed. 

Big Show vs Seth Rollins

This is the first time a member of the Shield is competing in a singles match and it lasts for about three-seconds. The Shield attacks Show and takes him out with the triple Powerbomb. So, either Show's heel turn is over and is gonna go back to being the gentle giant or they are only turning him for WrestleMania season. I guess there's worse things they could've done. At least it gives Shield another target. It also gives Show something to do, so I don't have many hang-ups with this. Still, I find it funny that Show might be the person who has turned face/heel the most during his tenure. Why not just turn him neutral? 

Daniel Bryan vs Dolph Ziggler

Oh, I'm sorry. Sudden Bryan/Ziggler feud that emerges out of nowhere. Huh? Thanks to AJ and Big E, Dolph picks up the victory on Bryan with the Zig Zag. After the match, Big E continues to punish Bryan. I'm not really sure what the point of this segment is. I guess Bryan/Dolph is something that could happen at WM? F*** if I know. And what's up with Team Hell No? They were starting to build tension between them, but this has since been thrown out the window for the last few weeks. Just what is going on over there in creative? WHAT'S GOING ON?

Michael Cole bought tickets for the new GI Joe film in advance? Well, that was a waste of money. We miss out on the debut of Faaaandaaaaaaangoooooo. Yeah, cuz people are holding their breaths for the debut of this guy. Seriously, do you think this character will go anywhere? It's being played by the guy who's biggest accomplishment in pro wrestling is eating a cake. Team Rhodes Scholars continue to prove that WWE isn't reading the scripts from previous weeks since they seem to be a tag team yet again. They barely start their match with the New Age Outlaws until Brock Lesnar takes out Billy Gunn and Road Dogg with the F5. New Age Outlaws? More like the Bronze Age Cavemen if you ask me. Hey, that gives me a really stupid idea for a future tag team! Anyway, Brock agrees to a match against Triple H, but only if he gets to make the rules AFTER Trips has signed the contract. So, either sign a death wish or sit at home doing nothing? Wow, such a tough choice. I guess we have to wait another week to find out what Trips will decide. Brock vs Trips in a Duct Tape match. Book it!!!

Mark Henry pretty much kills Kofi Kingston in a match, followed by another squash match where Ryback takes out Heath Slater. Two squash matches in a row? Oh, that never happens in pro wrestling…

After the match, Henry returns to flex his muscles at Ryback. The two have a…..power-off until Henry decides to retreat. So, it appears Ryback/Henry is a match set for WM. I honestly don't have a problem with this. I know people will complain that this will suck due to match quality, but something inside me doesn't really care for that and really wants to see these big guys fight each other. Something about it just appeals to me. In fact, I find it better than the Ryback/Show match the IWC was projecting for months. 

Alberto Del Rio vs Antonio Cesaro

Del Rio and Cesaro had a decent match. It ended with the Cross Armbreaker. Del Rio would have one more appearance later tonight, but we'll talk about that when it happens. Afterwords, we get a John Cena/Rock video. Actually, that's about the closest you came to having Cena or the Rock on the show. While they should be showing up all the time to build up their rivalry, I'm kinda glad we got a week off from it. Do you really have to build this match? The match has been built for the last few years, so almost seems redundant at this point. Yeah, how does it make you feel that you got build-up upon build-up? Build-upception? 

Team Rhodes Scholars vs Randy Orton and Sheamus

Earlier in the night, Cody tries to get some Kaitlyn action. That's when Damien Sandow demonstrates something I like to call cockus blockitius. To be fair, Damien at least gives the team the Bellas to fall back on. Oh yeah, it appears that Bellas are back in WWE. I guess they couldn't live without that easy paycheck. I really don't have anything regarding their return. The diva division means nothing, so just enjoy the four reasons you enjoy the Bellas so we can move on. In a fair match, Sheamus and Randy win with their finishers. 

Chris Jericho vs Miz

After a dreadful Highlight Reel, we get a match between Jericho and Miz. Honestly, it looked like the script for this scene was written up in five minutes on a single piece of kleenex. Wade Barrett is so busy being Wade that he forgot to write himself into a program. Brad Maddox was really bad in this scene. It almost seemed like he wasn't paying attention to the dialogue and decided to 'wing it'. Hey hey hey hey hey hey hey….hey! His delivery was so bad that I didn't even know what the match was until we came back from commercial. The match didn't last long since Wade would interfere in the match. I think the goal of this scene was to get a rivalry going between Jericho and Wade. It just seems like Miz is here for the ride? Why is the Miz in the middle of this? He technically never ended his rivalry with Antonio. It just kinda stopped. Yeah, that's progress for you. Because of the interference, we get a triple threat match set for next week involving the IC title. 

Jack Swagger vs Sin Cara

Jack Swagger's 'Merica. A plot against 'Merica! How dare you do this to 'Merica! You know what I want to see happen on this show? Zeb Coulter caught eating a burrito. I don't know why, but I just want to see it so I can laugh. I thought the video was hilarious. We need more Ricardo Rodriguez comedy segments. Who's with me? We the pizza love to eat people….wa--

Sin Cara gets taken down by Swagger in a matter of minutes. After the match, Swagger continues the attack until Del Rio makes the save. I'm really liking the Del Rio/Swagger rivalry. Well, it's really the Del Rio/Coulter rivalry, but you get what I mean. It works very well, especially in today's time. 

I got a serious question here. If the stuff on the WWE App is 'exclusive', why do we find out about it three minutes later on television regardless if you have the App or not? That one will make you think. One thing I've noticed about tonight's show is all the damn movie trailers. WWE really went overboard with this, but how can you turn down the free money? Come on, even you would do this too. 

CM Punk vs Kane

Time for the final match of the night, but not before Cole reminds you that WWE is going overtime tonight. Umm, doesn't that happen almost every week? How is that news? In a good match, the finish comes when Taker's gong distracts Punk long enough for Kane to hit the Chokeslam. It seems like the show's gonna end with Taker and Kane paying tribute to Bearer, but Punk gets back up and takes out Kane with the urn. Since Taker doesn't believe in running, he takes too long to make it towards Punk. Punk escapes with the urn to end the show. While I can see some people calling an injustice for WWE using Bearer's death for further their storyline, I don't think it is. It seems more like honoring the man than disrespecting him. That's at least how I see it. 

Overall Impression:

If you ignore the movie trailers, this show wasn't too bad. I thought it was fun to watch and I finally feel like I'm on the road to WM. I may not be big on some of the matches for the big event, but at least they're trying to add intrigue to the event. The show featured some fair matches and a couple of segments that were hilarious. At the same time, WWE paying tribute to Paul Bearer also made this show mean something. I thought it was well done and I can at least recommend a good chunk of the show. It wasn't perfect, but since when is an entire wrestling episode perfect? I think some of you noticed that I tried something a little different with the presentation tonight. It's something I'm trying out to see how it works. I find it takes out some of the filler that shows up on these shows. After all, it's a review. We don't need to talk about every, little, thing that happened. Tell me what you think of this format? You can also tell me what you thought of my review and tonight's show. I will see you guys and girls in the next one.