LOOKING AT THE GOALS AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS FOR THIS WEEK'S RAW
By Revin Samuel on 6/6/2012 11:08 AM
RAW - 05/06/2012 E: revinsamuel@rogers.com
What needs to be accomplished on this week’s Raw?
•John Cena’s response to Big Show. Show made some solid points last week and went on a rampage on Raw and Smackdown so by that logic Cena should be serious and intense this week. Will see if John can do that or if he once again has no understanding of the business he’s on top of and resorts to comedy he can’t pull off
•Dolph Ziggler wanted to stand on his own last week. He then went to Smackdown and lost to Sheamus, but was protected in the loss and the commentators were really trying to play him as well. What’s the next step in Ziggler’s latest push?
•No Way Out promotion. Can we get some more matches announced and can WWE treat these matches as important so we the viewers feel like they are worth paying for
Show Breakdown
- Michael Cole is great in his role as an antagonist, but I still think him playing a heel was the wrong move for the long term health of the company.
- John managed to keep it straight while talking about the Big Show, but when he got to choose Michael Cole as his opponent, he went right into comedy. I wish Cena could show some consistency, but WWE clearly has no issue with Cena being inconsistent with his moods and therefore showcasing how fake the product is.
- “There’s a rumor going around that everybody’s job is going to be evaluated” – John Laurinaitis. Wouldn’t Laurinaitis be the one doing those evaluations?
- I hadn’t noticed that Pizza Hut had become a sponsor of WWE.
- Ziggler as per usually is working really hard here.
- Fine match with Sheamus and Ziggler. I don’t like WWE’s handling of Ziggler since Ziggler said he wanted to stand on his own. I’ve heard it said that Dolph should be taken off television for a little while to freshen up and I think I now agree with that seeing the way he continues to get disrespected by The Bubble.
- Probably would have been easier for Ricardo to low blow Sheamus then grab his legs and wait for him to fall.
- Standard pro wrestling beat down angle to tell a story. I have no issue with it. I’m glad Michael Cole mentioned that Sheamus had ambushed Del Rio on Smackdown so this was tat for tat, although Del Rio definitely took it a step further, which makes sense since he’s the heel.
- Mr. McMahon returns to television next week...Interesting move; I assume this is in response to the rating.
- Fine match for Sin Cara and with the right opponent to make him look good. I’d get Cara into a program quickly as there is one too many guys just treading water these days.
- Ryback on Raw? Very cool, but I hope that means we don’t see him in another squash on Smackdown. Once a week is fine.
- I like when WWE does these flashback clips to help build anticipation for an upcoming special show. The moment they showed with Cena coming to Raw was memories of when the brand split actually meant something.
- Two jobbers speaking at the same time in the most scripted verbiage ever. Gotta let the world know we have writers...and sixteen of them to boot!
- CM Punk vs Kane, Sheamus vs Ziggler, Ryback in a squash, Sin Cara in a feeder match. I feel like I’m watching Smackdown from last week. Lots of treading water from a Creative team that is looking like they need to be future endeavored.
- Punk and Kane are really working here from what I can see.
- Is this two straight weeks Punk was pinned? I’m not sure I like the strategy even if it is to build to a future match.
- Why wouldn’t AJ have left the ring when Kane went after Bryan? It’s so difficult to sustain disbelief with WWE in 2012 sometimes.
- Interesting twist with AJ apparently using her womanly charms on Kane. I think it would be somewhat intriguing to have AJ end up with Kane, but I hate the way WWE writes the Kane character and that would likely mean more airtime for him and I’m not even sure AJ can make that work.
- AJ’s definitely a psycho! I like the interview with Josh to help further establish her freaky character.
- Big Show video package done in a very similar style to the Brock one pre Extreme Rules. It wasn’t as effective as the Brock one especially since they are using the same “I am not an entertainer” line, but still a positive to enhance the latest Big Show push.
- Reks and Hawkins on Raw this late in the show? I guess someone wants their quarter hours to get killed.
- “Tag Team division really heating up here in WWE” – Michael Cole. Even Cole couldn’t say that with any sincerity. I am glad he mentioned AW, Primo and Epico still not cashing in their rematch so that storyline is still in the air somewhere.
- Lots of squash matches on Raw tonight and I wonder if this is a new strategy WWE is implementing to save the big matches or if it’s just a lack of talent. I’m guessing lack of talent.
- Another great flashback moment, although to me that return in 2002 started the era of the burials for Hunter, but that’s a debate for another day.
- Tensai seems to be moving at a quicker pace tonight, but I assume this match is being done to give Cena his win back. Cena evolving more and more into Hogan if that’s the case!
- BTW I hear the “Let’s go Cena, Cena sucks” chant and the Cena sucks chant isn’t as audible as it once was. I don’t credit that to John being a better babyface, but WWE making those adult males just not care anymore. I guess that’s what they would prefer.
- This was exactly like a Hogan match from the 80’s. Tensai took the entire match and then Cena hulked up at the end.
- Surprisingly I didn’t mind that main event segment. The constant praise for JR makes me wonder if he’s coming back and if he is, it’s not a moment too soon!
What this show accomplished?
The Good
•In ring work was pretty solid. Ziggler-Sheamus, Punk-Kane, Sin Cara-Hunico, and Cena-Tensai all put in good efforts tonight. Good to see Tensai working at a much faster pace and the fact that he took out Cena post match tells me they haven’t fully given up on him
•Big Show video package. I wouldn’t use the “I’m not an entertainer” line, but other than that this was nice for character development
•Speaking of character development, AJ got some promo time and definitely delivered. I also like the latest twist with AJ and Kane, although as noted they would be very stupid to put them together
•Flashback segments. These were great and I hope they keep up in the coming weeks with different talents both past and present
•Hype for next week’s Raw. They hit it hard that next week is a three hour Raw and that it will open with the return of Vince
•Del Rio beat down of Sheamus. This seemed to be the only thing resembling pay per view promotion
The Bad
•Vince McMahon’s return to television. I’m not sure how I feel about this. I understand the move from a ratings perspective, but Laurinaitis recently had a job evaluation with Hunter so why one is suddenly needed with Vince, I’m not sure. I’d prefer if they had Vince come back to square off with Heyman over the Brock lawsuit, maybe that’s where they’ll take it since that storyline hasn’t been mentioned in the last few weeks
•Bipolar John Cena. Does this dude know how to stay consistent? There is only one guy that has been able to do the mood switches and pull it off and that’s’ Rock. I don’t know if it’s Brian Gewirtz, Vince, Stephanie or John himself, but he’s never been able to fill that role yet they continue to do it with him. Cena’s character makes wrestling feel so phoney especially when he’s on the mic
•Treading water. Too many people are treading water right now. I like that not every match is a marquee match given away for free on television, but other than about six or seven guys it feels like everyone is at a standstill and that falls on that wonderful creative team
•PPV hype. It seemed pretty nonexistent to me tonight
• The theme for next week’s three hour Raw appears to be job evaluations, which to me means tons of talking and overly scripted verbiage, I hate that. This show continues to become more and more about the writers than the talent
•Dolph Ziggler. Just sad, that’s all
Overall Thoughts
•What a funk they are in right now. This was on par with last week’s show and better than where they were a couple weeks back, but it’s not fresh. The company is on full cruise control right now
What needs to be accomplished on next week’s Raw?
•Vince’s return. I hope this transitions into an exchange with Paul Heyman, because unless Vince is firing Johnny, which would be stupid given how much steam, they’ve given Laurinaitis, I’m not all that interested in another Laurinaitis job evaluation. Vince hasn’t been the same on television in recent years either so I am interested to see if he can bring back the Mr. McMahon charisma
•PPV hype. I guess I can give them somewhat of a mulligan this week as they tried to blitz us with hype for next week’s three hour show. Next week I think they need to be in overdrive with pay per view promotion
Feedback: revinsamuel@rogers.com
