GOALS AND ACCOMPLISMENTS – LOOKING AT RAW 11/28/11
By Revin Samuel on 11/29/2011 9:15 AM
RAW – 28/11/11
What needs to be accomplished on this week’s Raw?
• Hype for TLC. It’s time to put the so called marketing machine to work
•Hype for Tuesday’s Live Smackdown. Synergy between the brands especially for an upcoming special show for Smackdown
•Piper’s Pit. WWE must resist using Piper in the same way they’ve used other Legends such as Foley and Bret to try and get Cena cheered
•Move forward with Kevin Nash-Triple H, Dolph Ziggler-Zack Ryder and set the course for John Cena, The Miz, CM Punk and Alberto Del Rio’s future
•Resist the need to beat another Champion something that has become a regular thing with Raw
•Begin to spotlight Daniel Bryan. This isn’t a necessity, but if the man is going to be a major player going forward he should get some time on Raw as other top Smackdown names have gotten
Show Breakdown
1. I like that Lawler started out by noting that Punk beat Del Rio with the Anaconda vice to establish that move further and also told us the last time we had a championship match on Raw, which was back in August according to Lawler
2. I see alot of children in the crowd chanting for Roddy, that’s always interesting
3. Piper saying WWE Universe feels icky and scripted. The only person who makes the WWE Universe line sound natural is Cena. Also should Piper be using ‘WWE Universe’ not one week after Punk ripped into the line
4. Ah Cena and his goofy smile again. I guess were in small town USA tonight, because Cena gets cheers in small town USA
5. Piper making some sense in his promo after stumbling through the beginning
6. I didn’t realize the HOF in 2006 was dedicated to Eddie Guerrero
7. ‘I know who I am, I know what I stand for’, even if this is a scripted line, you know Cena buys into it and that’s fine, but it’s not making money, it’s not what the people want to see or hear. This is the same as Vince saying “I know what you want better than you know what you want”.
8. I thought Piper was going into Mick Foley mode on Cena there in another lame attempt to try and control the audience, but he brought it back around to whatever the goal of this segment is.
9. I’ve made nine points on this segment alone and it was a fine segemnt, but I am sceptical about where it was going. Was it the first step in Cena finally turning on the fans? I suppose it’s possible, but the way the Bubble writes television, this segment could be forgotten by next week that being said I am intrigued to say the least
10. A random falls count anywhere match, this is the type of stuff WWE need to promote in advance and it looks like this is Morrison’s write out. Fine match to begin the rebuild of Miz and the farewell for Morrison. It is good storytelling to have the Morrison character be written out by his former tag partner, The Miz, kind of like Marty and Shawn.
11. Miz just doesn’t look tough. Even with the serious and slow spoken promos, he’s just not intimidating. I don’t know why WWE doesn’t give guys like Miz and Barrett stables. Miz doesn’t play to the strengths of a heel who can be a top guy on his own; his character is perfectly suited to have backup and maybe a valet. This would also give WWE a chance to take advantage of more people on their roster. BTW way too long of a close up on Miz’s face in HD
12. Was the ‘run in’ joke a homage to Vince Russo? Let’s resist turning Beth and Natalya into Laycool, but I guess that’s probably all The Bubble knows how to do
13. Another cog in the machine divas match, at least it was quick. Hopefully with the new WWE network, the women can get their own show, because they all need massive character development
14. Good promo package for Sheamus. I’d like to see more of these and I’d like to see them done to known songs that tug on the audiences emotions like the old WWE Desire videos. Check youtube for further reference
15. One could say that WWE needs to tread carefully with the whole John Laurinaitis doesn’t want CM Punk to be Champion stuff, because it is going to begin to look a tad familiar to Austin-McMahon and if you’re going to even consider doing that story, it should probably be with McMahon and Punk since McMahon is the boss, but in storyline Laurinaitis is in control so I have no issue with the current developments so far
16. Funny line about Otunga and Jennifer Hudson. I am liking the build they are giving to Brodus even if it wasn’t originally done on purpose, these segments delaying his debut could end up being a great thing for him once he finally arrives
17. Even if WWE is unhappy with Alberto, it does him no favours to be called boring. Stop burying your own talent, because your upset they didn’t get over in the storylines you created for them and Alberto isn’t boring so it makes even less sense
18. Orton and Ziggler looking forward to this! But again a match that should have been promoted in advance. You know this company booked this show today, because I don’t believe they are this stupid as to not promote matches like Orton-Ziggler and Miz-Morrison falls count anywhere in advance if it was booked well ahead of time. Booking matches in advance not only is intriguing for the audience, but shows that the company is taking their product seriously and also that the talent are important! It’s pretty simple stuff
19. Ziggler has to be the current MVP in WWE when it comes to in ring work and Randy might be the MVP for the year
20. Knowing the WWE Bubble the fact that Kelly Kelly isn’t trending with those other divas probably means she’s going to end up in the dog house
21. I was prepared to be really upset if Dolph lost another match on Raw, but I am pleased to see that they had him get the win. Randy is really losing alot these days and is doing wonders to help elevate other talent. Great match that helped Dolph and further along the Barrett-Orton storyline
22. There still promoting The Reunion?
23. As I noted in my goals it’s about time WWE put Daniel Bryan on Raw.
24. If everybody knows Michael Cole is the worst announcer in the history of the WWE then why is he the announcer? Answer, because it’s all about entertaining The Bubble
25. “Plans Change” – The Bubble’s credo
26. Great promo from Bryan putting over the importance of the World Title even more important to him than being in the main event at Wrestlemania
27. Fine angle to promote Smackdown tomorrow night, but it was a definite role reversal of babyface and heel that the crowd didn’t know how to react to. Another segment looking like they are already trying to turn Henry face. The promo on last week’s Smackdown from Henry had a similar feel to it
28. I like the show long build they’ve given to Alberto and Punk for the title noting the rarity of how often we see a title match on Raw and the different clips from their past to build to the match
29. Well WWE seems to have their logical booking shoes on the last two weeks. If you asked me pre Survivor Series, I would have assumed Swagger would have beaten Ryder clean and Orton would have beaten Ziggler clean, but the right people went over tonight. Of course that being said they should have put Drew McIntyre in this slot, Swagger shouldn’t be jobbing week in and week out unless it means something, this is a former World Champion in WWE’s world
30. “Kane Resurrected” doesn’t excite me.
31. Way too early to break out a Santa Clause, but I suppose it’s a way for The Bubble to get their laughs on Foley
32. Cute poem from Foley to promote tomorrow’s Smackdown. No mention of TLC so far, again WWE the so called marketing machine proving they’ve lost the ability, if they ever had it to multi promote. The same issue they had prior to Survivor Series with building Miz and Truth, while also promoting The Rock’s return. It’s either that or WWE feels their audience is so stupid that they can only focus on one thing at a time
33. I’m glad to see this week WWE trusted CM Punk in the main event segment of the show
34. Creative finishing sequence to the Punk-Del Rio match. I guess we might be seeing the demotion of Del Ro from the title picture
35. Interesting finish to the show. No cliff-hanger, no attack, nothing setup, just an outright babyface victory.
What was accomplished on this week’s Raw?
The Good
• Great booking in all of the matches this week. Two straight weeks of fairly consistent and logical booking for WWE
• Fantastic promotion for tomorrow’s live show with the Daniel Bryan-Mark Henry segment and the surprise cameo by Foley Clause. Also big bonus points for putting Bryan on Raw and telling the audience that this is an important player
•John Cena in the opening segment of the show and never seen again. I liked this, we don’t need to see Cena in three different segments from week to week, this was a nice change a place. Also an interesting note is that Cena doesn’t have a program for two weeks going. This must be the first time since Cena moved to Raw in 2005 that he hasn’t been involved in a program with anyone. I question whether were going to Miz-Punk and Del Rio-Cena or some type of four way. It would be weird to do Punk-Miz straight up in a TLC matches, just because it’s a TLC pay per view, but then again that is the way modern day WWE works
•On another note with Cena, I like that they are finally questioning in the storyline whether Cena is being real when he says the fans don’t get to him, but I question even more if they will stay the course with the story especially after Cena had alot of supporters in the crowd this week
•Brodus Clay. I don’t think they purposely set out to do this, but it is now intriguing and could end up being a good thing for Brodus when he finally debuts
•The show long build to Del Rio-Punk was great from noting the rarity of a title match on Raw to the different video clips of Survivor Series
The Bad
•Cog in the machine divas matches. Every segment on the show should mean something and these matches don’t mean anything. All the girls are interchangeable and they all need major character development
•The Daniel Bryan-Mark Henry segment, while great for promoting Smackdown seemed a bit counterproductive and I am not on board if they are planting seeds for a Mark Henry face turn prior to Wrestlemania. I don’t even think he should be going face after Wrestlemania. A Henry face turn to me is maybe this time next year
•Jack Swagger. I know someone has to take the loss, but he’s been taking it far too often
•Matches aren’t promoted in advance. Okay Punk and Del Rio we were told in advance and I’m glad they let us know Piper would be on the show at least a day in advance via twitter, but they give us a falls count anywhere match and a Ziggler-Orton match and both just happen on the show without any build up
•Where’s Kevin Nash? Not that I’m complaining, but you’ve been telling a story with him for weeks and the last few weeks it’s really been back burnered.
•Where is the TLC hype? How does WWE expect to draw numbers on pay per view with the stance they’ve taken on them? Do they have a defeatist attitude about them before the show has even happened?
What the goals for next week’s show should be?
• TLC HYPE
