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GOALS AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS FOR THE 7/30 RAW

RAW - 30/07/2012 E: revinsamuel@rogers.com
What this show needs to accomplish?
•Summerslam Hype. It’s time for WWE to stop stroking themselves for Raw 1000 and put the pressure on for the 20th anniversary of Summerslam!
•Brock Lesnar-Triple H. WWE needs to find a way to keep Brock Lesnar special and that’s going to be tricky for them since the person he’s feuding with is one Triple H
•CM Punk’s promo. This is a tough one. Does Punk turn straight out? If so how do you do it without being transparent? WWE usually doesn’t have enough respect for their audience to do smart turns so I’d like to see how this one is pulled off to where you aren’t agreeing with what Punk is saying
•Big Show cost John Cena the title and made it so he is the first person to cash in MITB and not win the title. This can’t be lost in the shuffle, Cena should be upset about it and it should be acknowledged that he is the first person not to deliver on this
•AJ as GM. Just don’t overexpose the character
•Daniel Bryan. It seems like Daniel Bryan is going down the path of anger issues as we lead to a possible confrontation with Charlie Sheen. My concern is that Bryan will become too goofy and we need to be careful where that is concerned
•Chris Jericho-Dolph Ziggler.  I’ve really enjoyed the basic storytelling of this feud and I’m interested in seeing how it progresses this week
•Three Hour Raw. This is going to be a difficult show to pace and balance out. We don’t want the show or the first hour in particular to be filled with plugs for Touts, Twitter and in show advertising
•Finally Randy Orton returns. It will be interesting to see where they plug Orton in as they have a several different routes they can go with him
Show Breakdown

1. Could have been alot worse of a situation for WWE with that small fire. I am wondering if the way they started the show is what was planned or if they are improvising due to the fire.

2. I hope this plug for Raw 1000 is the last ego stroking we get from WWE, because I’m not sure this is the best way to start the show to keep people intrigued.

3. Pretty strong promo from Punk and I like the way they setup the promo with Punk sitting cross legged on the announce table talking directly to Jerry the King Lawler.

4. Yes! Finally it is acknowledged by someone that John Cena cashed in money in the bank and lost

5. WWE keeping things logical so far as the first John Cena appearance should be him chasing down the Big Show and I’m perplexed he didn’t chase him right to the back.

6. AJ as GM and of course she has to be wearing a suit, because that’s how we operate inside corporate WWE, yet she keeps that theme song, which doesn’t really go along with someone who is now a suit so to speak.

7. WWE now really wanting to let us know that AJ’s name is AJ Lee. Michael Cole stupidly just told us that “AJ Lee left Daniel Bryan at the altar”, because we didn’t know who AJ was so we needed to get her full name.

8. Alberto beats Santino with ease and WWE needs to get the US title off Santino as soon as possible.

9. I like the gimmick of Del Rio not wrestling unless it’s a world title match that will make his matches feel more special however I suspect the GM will intervene on that one eventually.

10. Damien Sandow continues to show the aggressive streak as he lays out Brodus Clay. I am not sure about the character, but he seems to have the support of management.

11. Chris Jericho and Christian reuniting as a tag team later, I like it!

12. AJ sets up Daniel Bryan-Sheamus for later and hopefully the story over the next several weeks isn’t AJ emasculating Bryan week in and week out, because that will really not do anything for either character.  I do like that AJ brought up that Bryan had white coats at Raw last week.

13. WWE with a video package recapping Brock-Hunter from last week and so far this three hour show has had a ton of video packages, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but they need to spaced out well.

14. WWE letting you vote on what type of match you want to see between Bryan and Sheamus, but my question is what is the frigin difference between a No Holds Barred match and a Street Fight match.

15. Daniel Bryan is just on fire with his mic work and playing this on the edge character.

16. I like that WWE is showing us a clip from four weeks ago when Del Rio smashed Sheamus’s head with the hood of a car over and over again.

17. Wow Street Fight overwhelming wins the poll and I would have figured falls count anywhere would have definitely won.

18. Pretty solid match with Sheamus and Bryan here.

19. No surprise at the finish as Sheamus might be the most protected guy in the company right now.

20. WWE is really stretching things out here with Bryan refusing to leave the ring and recapping the opening Punk promo.  Lots of recaps!

21. These three hour shows are going to become old really fast if they are going to give us stupid stuff like Truth and Kofi playing with Little Jimmy.
22. Good hook for Smackdown with Mr. McMahon appearing to name the GM for the show.

23. Didn’t the Primetime Players already lose to Kofi and Truth yet this tag title feud must continue.

24. Titus and Kofi match, I almost fell asleep. AW is right up there with Hornswoggle for worst character in WWE.

25. Clever backstage segment with Punk and Cena as the slow turn of Punk continues.

26. I thought I heard wrong when AW said something about Kobe Bryant and a hotel room in Colorado, but the fact that Cole just apologized for it tells me that my ears definitely did not deceive me.

27. I figured we’d get something better for Randy Orton then a return to dominate Heath Slater, but a great return none the less and the crowd totally loved Orton. Orton might want to be a heel, but I just don’t think the audience wants him as one.

28. Bryan becoming unstable is an interesting direction to take his character. One has to wonder if he’ll become too goofy, but for now it is getting him alot of television time.

29. As expected a good match with Jericho, Christian, Ziggler and Miz. Jericho finally gets himself in the win column as well!

30. Amusing stuff backstage with Bryan, he really pulls the unstable, insane character off well.

31. Tensai-Kidd shouldn’t be on Raw even if it is three hours.

32. Kane randomly attacks Bryan, very perplexing, but I guess it fits with the story WWE is trying to tell.

33. Lawler to CM Punk on commentary, “You ever heard an ovation like this that John Cena is getting Punk?” lol, give me a break King.

34. Predictable ending to Cena-Show and then the swerve, which wasn’t a swerve of AJ announcing the triple threat match, was also very formulaic.

What this show accomplished?
The Good
•Three Hours equals quality and extended wrestling matches
•Summerslam card begins to take shape with three matches announced
•Daniel Bryan is knocking it out of the park. I am not sure this is the best usage of him, but he’s doing a bang up job with it either way
•Handling of CM Punk. I thought the handling of CM Punk was fine and in no way did they try to insult our intelligence
•Randy Orton returns and he looked well rested and it will be interesting to see where they go with him
•Alberto Del Rio refusing to wrestle unless it’s a title match. I like this alot, but it’s a question of whether they will actually go through with it
•Hook for Smackdown. A solid hook for Smackdown with Mr. McMahon appearing to announce the general manager.
•Damien Sandow and Brodus Clay. I hope this turns into more than just an angle to show how intense Sandow is; because both guys have been squashing people so putting them together for a program could be interesting
•Jericho and Ziggler continue the back and forth antics. I’d like to see some mic work coming up to develop their program further
The Bad
•Video Packages. WWE ran way too many video packages and normally I am for video packages, but they went overboard tonight especially as it relates to Brock and Hunter. I don’t recall them announcing anything for next week as it relates to Brock and Hunter, but hopefully they have something lined up, because I don’t need to see these video packages ever again. Also what happened to the divas division? You can’t have a women’s match instead of repeating the same video packages over and over again?
•AW. AW continues to develop go away heat and it looks like following his Kobe Bryant comment he’ll be getting a ton more heat
•Kane randomly attacks Daniel Bryan backstage. This was just weird and unnecessary. The issue with having guys like Kane and Show on the roster is sticking out again this week as it’s two guys who have been around forever and deserve programs so they end up hindering other guys such as Cena, Punk and Bryan
•AJ. I did not like her in this role for week on
•Pick the match stipulation poll. WWE needs to give the “WWE Universe” better poll options then two matches that are the exact same in street fight and no holds barred
•Triple Threat match announced. This was so standard and predictable that WWE would have been better off just announcing the match at the beginning of the show
Overall Thoughts
•This was a solid show, but it was way too long. This was not the best start to the three hour era and WWE definitely needs to work on their formula and pacing going forward
What needs to be accomplished on next week’s Raw?
•Summerslam push. The push to Summerslam continues. I’d like to see Jericho-Ziggler announced and we definitely need some sort of segment with Brock and Hunter. It’s Shawn Michaels appreciation night and if Shawn is up for it, I’d have Brock obliterate him!
Feedback: revinsamuel@rogers.com
•Cut back on the video packages. WWE has sixteen writers and tons of talent that they can fill up time with matches or promos ahead of some of these video packages. The new three hour format is a perfect opportunity to make use of the divas division