This week’s three hour edition of Monday Night Raw brought forth much hype going into Survivor Series this Sunday. Unfortunately, by the end of this show, I was exhausted. There’s a lot happening in the WWE on a weekly basis as it is, but when these three hour shows get thrown into the mix, it can get very tedious. However, I was a bit more forgiving, because we got The Rock.
This show certainly didn’t start off on the right foot, because we opened with the Michael Cole Challenge. I’m sorry, but I’m tired of talking about Michael Cole. I’m becoming numb to these segments at this point. It’s never fun to see Jim Ross humiliated on television, but if it really bothered him, don’t you think he’d have stopped showing up by now?
Sin Cara and Kofi Kingston were defeated by Cody Rhodes and Hunico in a random tag match. Cody no longer has the mask, due to what happened on last Friday’s SmackDown. He also has a new theme, which I’m not a fan of. I thought his last theme was great, although his character is going through some developments now, so I understand the thought process behind a new theme. I’m going to miss the “Wooooaaaah!” though. Hunico’s new theme, however, is awesome. I can’t say that enough. Hunico’s new alignment with Epico and Primo on SmackDown is one of the thing that I’m most interested in this company right now. I would have liked to have seen the rest of the group on Raw.
Christian is out of Survivor Series due to an injury, and that means that Dolph Ziggler has been appointed as his replacement for Team Barrett. Does this mean Ryder doesn’t get a US title shot at the PPV? Hopefully Ziggler will have to pull double duty again, because missing out on the opportunity to have Ryder get a title match at MSG would be a crime. Ziggler cut a good promo on this show, but got DQ’ed in his match against Mason Ryan due to Vickie Guerrero slapping Mason.I’ve been very impressed Ziggler over the past few months and I think he’s on his way to moving up the card.
We were treated to a Mick Foley return, which was a fun surprise (although most of us knew he was scheduled for this show anyway). Mick was indeed a sight for sore eyes, although his involvement in this show was certainly questionable. His role as a peacemaker between The Rock and John Cena made sense, but the sequel to the “This Is Your Life” segment came off pretty badly. I have to wonder if it wasn’t purposely terrible, because it sure seemed like that was its intent at times. Cena was certainly not welcome in his home state of Boston, and Foley felt it was his job to fix that “problem”. Not even Mick Foley can get an entire crowd to cheer John Cena, as we found out on this show. The segment ending with The Rock coming out just to deliver a Rock Bottom to Foley and then leaving (Arrive. Rock Bottom. Leave.) was very enjoyable. In fact, every bad segment on this show should end with a random Rock Bottom. It could become like the new Ron Simmons “DAMN!”
The Rock would be back on the show later, but there was much more to occur before that final segment. Sheamus vs. Jack Swagger was a very good TV match, and I’m enjoying the work both of these guys are doing. A good change of pace here, and one of my favorite parts of the show. Sheamus picked up the win after hitting a Brogue Kick.
There would be no Brodus Clay yet again this week. We saw Johnny Ace on the phone with Brodus telling him that he would be overshadowed by The Rock’s return, and they’re going to wait until next week. I’m beginning to this this is becoming some sort of angle. The funny thing is, I’m actually interested to see where they’re going with Brodus. Video packages really are effective in this company.
The Alberto Del Rio/CM Punk title feud hasn’t been doing much for me, although I know that the match will most likely be very good. On this show, we had Del Rio teaming up with Mark Henry to take on their respective challengers at Survivor Series, CM Punk and the Big Show. I would have liked to have seen more emphasis put on the fact that both main champions were teaming together, but it almost seemed to be an afterthought. I thought this match was very good, with Del Rio pinning Punk to pick up the win. They’re heating up Del Rio going into the PPV, which one would hope that they’d be doing. He applied the cross armbreaker to Punk in the post-match, as they were really pushing that he doesn’t want Punk to make it to SS. I predict a title change at the PPV, but after this show, I could see Del Rio possibly keeping it longer. By the way, Mark Henry is awesome and should keep his title until WrestleMania.
The continuation of the Kevin Nash/Triple H angle saw Nash delivering a Jacknife Powerbomb to Santino in a brief segment. I like the fact that they’re getting over Nash’s anger towards Hunter about not being brought back after the reaction he got at the Royal Rumble this year, and these segments haven’t been taking up much time at all. That’s a refreshing change. We’ll see if there’s any Nash/Hunter build at the PPV.
I’m enjoying the Randy Orton/Wade Barrett feud, simply because it elevates Barrett to the spot where I think he should have been all along. For their match on this show, both guys came out with their respective Survivor Series teams. One could easily predict a schmoz finish, and both teams took the the ring causing a DQ. Orton’s team stood victorious at the end. This PPV could be a turning point in how Barrett is booked and perceived in the company.
The final segment saw The Rock delivering a promo as only he can. The Miz and R-Truth were way out of their league here, it’s almost embarrassing how much better The Rock is on the mic. Miz and Truth in general have lost so much steam since being “hired back,” I have very little interest in this tag match at the PPV beyond the fact that The Rock is going to be in it. The Rock/Cena interaction was of course establishing the tension between them. This is just such a sloppy angle on all fronts, I don’t know any other way to say it. The Rock makes up for it, but that’s a given.
Despite some massive problems, I’m very optimistic about Survivor Series, and I certainly look forward to being there live to see The Rock. However, I’d be very pleased if we didn’t get another three hour Raw for a long, long time.
Chris Maffei
Catch Chris Maffei and Nick Malone on Over The Ropes every Thursday night from 7-9PM, right here on WCWPSports.org.
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