Live from Hershey, Pennsylvania this is the Raw Deal. This show was 3 hours and 15 minutes long. It's a lot to write about, so I'm going to be brief on a lot of it. I should add here that I won't be here next week. I'll be in Mexico for my best friend's wedding all of next week. I'll be back for the King of the Ring Raw in two weeks.
The show started with the old WWF logo (the silver one) and the old voiceover for it. The theme was Old School Raw, so they made it look like 80s stuff and also early Raw stuff from the early 90s. They scratched out "federation" and put "entertainment" on it. Pretty cool. Then they had the old Raw intro except with the current group of stars in it. They had the sirens going too as Michael Cole, wearing a yellow blazer, introduced himself as Vince McMahon and The King, wearing his red robe, as Jesse Ventura. Then he corrected himself. They really did a good job of making it feel like an older edition of Raw. A lot of nice touches throughout. I marked out a bit.
It was promo time to start the show. Justin Roberts, who was dressed like an announcer from the 80s, threw it to Mean Gene Okerlund on the stage. He introduced Bob Orton Jr. (Randy's dad) with cast, who said Randy was an hour late because he didn't know Raw was starting early. Way to tell your fans that the WWE Champion is an idiot. Wade Barrett came out to say he's going to beat Orton on Sunday. The Miz came out and said he could cash in Money in the Bank to ruin Barrett's plans. Cena came on screen to challenge Miz to a match, which Miz accepted. This was alright. Nothing special, though.
Dolph Ziggler d. Mark Henry (*)
Before the match they had Ziggler do a pre-tape interview like in the old days. Nice touch. Mark dumped the KOOL-AID~! and returned to his Sexual Chocolate song. I marked out a little. Of course he was still dressed in the red because that's how he rolls. Ziggler hit him with the Zig Zag, but Mark kicked out. Then Dolph slapped on the sleeper leading to the old school "arm drops three times" for the win. Two months away from Mark Henry being a threat to win the Royal Rumble, though! By the way, Ziggler's a Smackdown superstar appearing on Raw. It happened a lot. The brand extension doesn't really matter especially on the three hour shows.
Backstage, Tyson & DH said they'd work out their problem as Tony Atlas showed up talking about his history with Rocky Johnson. He was talking really fast, so Tyson & DH bailed.
After the break, Tony was still talking. Yoshi Tatsu showed up and sold the craziness of Tony by doing a mock suicide by stabbing himself in the gut. That's nice.
Justin Gabriel & Heath Slater d. The Hart Dynasty (*1/4)
They got about four minutes. The heels worked over DH, he went to tag Tyson and Tyson turned on him with a kick to the face, which I'm assuming leads to the official split of the team that has been teased for a couple of months now. That means Tyson's the heel going forward. I think his offense is better suited in a babyface role, but he's a good enough performer to make it work in either role. I really hope there's some kind of plan or angle for both guys. I'm a fan of each and would be disappointed if they broke up just to be a couple of random guys in the WWE midcard.
Backstage, Orton showed up in the interview set and R-Truth showed up to say Orton needs to do something about Cena before Survivor Series. Orton says that there's a way to prevent Cena from screwing him: A punt to the head. I think Truth turning heel could happen at Survivor Series. This seems to be foreshadowing that.
They had Gene Okerlund backstage shilling old school WWF merchandise. I'm not buying any, but it's nice that they are giving fans that option. Gene rules.
They brought out Howard Finkel to do the introductions for the next match. I'm a huge fan of The Fink's intros. He's a good man. He introduced the Brooklyn Brawler aka Steve Lombardi with Harvey Whippleman. Both guys still work for WWE in backstage roles. They cut promos. Crowd didn't react much. He issued an open challenge to anybody in the back.
Ezekiel Jackson d. Brooklyn Brawler (SQUASH)
It ended in about a minute. Jackson still has no gimmick or heat. He's just a big dude that destroys people. Does that count as a gimmick? Not really.
Backstage, the Nexus boys talked. The GM buzzed in to say Otunga would have a special match later while Barrett would wrestle R-Truth. Cena showed up, mocked the names of Husky & McGillicutty and got ready for his match, coming up next.
They mentioned Smackdown. Edge has kidnapped Paul Bearer. So he kidnapped him in Manchester, England and flew him all the way to the US for this week's Smackdown too? Nicest kidnapper ever.
Time for a special plug for my boys at the Oratory Forums. I've been associated with the Oratory for over a decade and still post my work there. I used to spend a lot of time in the forums. I don't have as much time to spend there, but it's a great group of people there and I've made a lot of friends over the years. My buddy Dave (aka Spinner) is bringing back the Raw Review Crew at rawreviewcrew.com for the King of the Ring Raw in two weeks. Sign up for the forums, join the fun and check out when the crew is back.
Cena came out first. Then The Miz came out with Riley. Miz said the GM didn't sanction the match, so he's changing it to Cena vs. Riley. Miz said if Cena wants to face him he'll have to wait until WrestleMania when The Miz is WWE Champion. Is that foreshadowing? Could be.
John Cena d. Alex Riley (*)
It went about four minutes. Riley got some offense in, but not that much. I love how Kaval won NXT 2, yet he's never come close to working with top guys like Riley, Harris & McGillicutty have. Cena won with the STF, showing a lot of energy.
Post match, Orton came out to fight Miz. Harris & McGillicutty came out, but Orton disposed of them and then had a staredown with Cena. They brawled a bit before it was broken up. What was great about the breaking up was everybody looked normal except ref Mike Chioda with his blonde wig. That made me laugh my ass off. The GM buzzed in to announce Orton & Cena would work out their differences as guests on Piper's Pit with Roddy Piper later in the show.
They did the intro again and set up the rest of the show. Cole was pretty good on this show, I have to say. He even mocked Vince's announcing, which was funny to me because Vince probably told him to do it.
The Fink introduced Nikolai Volkoff and Iron Shiek to sing the Soviet National Anthem. Haha classic. Volkoff was singing it, but he got interrupted by Santino & Kozlov. Santino said Kozlov wanted to sing the Russian anthem with him, so they did. Santino sold it with a painful expression on his face. He introduced former manager Slick, who came out singing Jive Soul Bro. That was great. Then Shiek spoke. Yes! He didn't swear sadly, but he went on his typical rant and told the fans to shut up. I love that guy.
Santino & Kozlov d. The Usos (*1/4)
Jimmy Snuka was with the Usos, who have his daughter Tamina at ringside. This was a very average tag match that got 8 minutes, which is surprising to me. There was no interaction between Santino & Tamina even though they teased it in the past. Or if there was, I missed it. Kozlov was getting beat up for five minutes and I had to FF through it a bit. Santino got the hot tag, did his surprising offense and finished them off with this Cobra Chop for the win. The Cobra garnered a huge pop, by the way. It's awesome.
Post match, Sheamus came out and beat everybody up leaving him alone with Santino. Tea Time! Morrison came out for the save. He said the reason he keeps saving Santino is because Sheamus is a bully and if he wants to fight somebody he can fight him. He said bullies back away when they get challenged. That's what Sheamus did. Decent promo by Morrison.
Kofi Kingston d. David Otunga (*)
A pretty average 5 minute match that had a random interruption by George The Animal Steele walking out right in the middle of it. He ate the turnbuckle stuffing like he used to do, Otunga looked on wondering what was going on and Kofi finished him with the Trouble in Paradise for the win. Kofi loses all the time on Smackdown these days. A year ago he was getting the push. Not anymore. As for Otunga, he's below average in the ring. I haven't seen much improvement from him.
Backstage, Morrison received kudos from Arn Anderson & Jerry Brisco (both of whom work for WWE) for standing up to Sheamus. Then Sheamus showed up, booted him in the face and said they'd have their match at Survivor Series.
HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! "What did you call me?" asked Aksana. That was a clever way of using Jim Duggan, who said she was stealing his gimmick with the USA chants. I guess he's one of the 3 people that watches NXT. She had the Million Dollar Belt and said "mom you've lost weight." It was Dusty Rhodes in a wig. Then Kelly dropped a net on Aksana. Then Goldust showed up to take the belt from her. He gave the belt to Ted Dibiase, who had IRS with him. Ted wanted to give it to his son Ted Jr., but he didn't want it anymore. Cody showed up so his brother Goldust said he wanted some grooming tips. Cody didn't give him any and told him not to breathe on him. Dashing! Dusty while wearing a wig: "I raised some weird kids!" Yep. Dusty danced to his theme song, then Tatanka randomly showed up to dance and in came Duggan too. Ron Simmons showed up, looked around: DAMN! That was a long segment to basically point out that Ted Jr's not carrying that $10 belt anymore. I laughed at the end with Simmons. It wasn't great, but it was fun.
Cole asked Lawler if that's what they used to do backstage. Lawler said "on occasion." I have to say Lawler wasn't as bad on this show as he usually is, so that was nice.
In a nice touch they had Lord Alfred Hays voice say "Promotional consideration paid for by…" and then had a mock British accent to finish it off. He has passed away in case you didn't know.
Wade Barrett d. R-Truth (*3/4)
I hate Truth's new song and I didn't like the other one either. Eve came out dancing with Truth because they realize she can't wrestle, I guess. Barrett won in about six minutes. The deal was this was Wade's way of proving that he can beat anybody by himself since Nexus is banned at Survivor Series. I'm pretty sure they were banned at Hell in a Cell when they had Harris & McGillicutty interfere to cost Cena. That could be a sign of things to come. Maybe Truth costs Orton? I dunno. I can see somebody hurting their shoulder on the Wasteland finisher, by the way. If somebody turns while they are getting thrown down it could really be a painful bump.
Another Raw intro video and sirens. They are in love with it. Cole talked like Vince now, Lawler said it was a terrible impression and he did the mock choking that Ventura used to do to Vince. Oh my, lots of flashbacks.
They had Ricardo Rodriguez, the announcer for Alberto Del Rio, in the ring. Then Tito Santana showed up randomly to introduce Alberto. He came out in the car, which was driven by Chavo Classic aka the father of Chavo Guerrero and the brother of Eddie Guerrero. Cole talked up ADR saying Syfy wanted Smackdown because of him. I can see Del Rio being a World Champion between now and WrestleMania. It might happen sooner than you think. Sargeant Slaughter came out calling him "scum, puke and maggot" to a nice pop. Big "USA! USA!" chant as the announcers joked that they were stealing Duggan's gimmick.
Alberto Del Rio d. Sgt. Slaughter (1/2*)
Del Rio won in about three minutes with a kick to the head. Post match, he put on his armbar finish that badly needs a name. MVP ran out for the save. Nice pop for him. Del Rio bailed. I'd guess there's a match with those two this week.
They plugged WrestleMania 27 in Atlanta. They should have begged UFC to not have a PPV the night before like they did this year.
Mae Young! She came out with my idols, the Bella Twins. Gene talked to her saying she was the first diva and she mentioned wrestling her first match at 17. She is now 87. They threw to a video package, which included the infamous "I'm Pregnant" line. Where's Mark Henry? Where's the hand? Come on! Continuity! Laycool interrupted with their annoying voices and bad jokes. I seriously don't like Michelle. Mae with the line of the night: "I want a match with these sluts!" She even threw a bitch in their too. She is anti-PG. Cue the Mattel sponsors calling in to complain. You can't control Mae, assholes. It ended up being a no DQ match.
The other divas came out, they all went after Laycool and Mae slapped Layla. She took a lovely dive. The Bellas put Mae's foot on her for the cover. That's WWE's way of saying Mae has wrestled in another decade. It's Natalya vs. Laycool in a 1 on 2 Handicap Match at Survivor Series for the Divas Title.
In case you missed it on Saturday, I wrote about Eddie Guerrero, five years after his death. It's a pretty emotional piece, but I'd like to think of it as a celebration of his life rather than something that would make the reader sad. He's one of my favorite performers ever.
Did you know time: "WWE was just named one of America's Hottest Brands of 2010 along with Droid, iPad, Silly Bandz, Buick, and Gillette." It was named by Advertising Age. Buick? Old people drive Buick's. I understand the others, I guess.
Jim Ross! Yes! He came out to announce the next match. Michael Cole was pissed, wondering who invited him and went into his heel routine of saying he was the voice of WWE. "This is electric" he said, just like in WWE's open.
Daniel Bryan d. Jack Swagger (***)
A great match for Jim Ross to call. Cole was the story, though, as he went into his heel routine throughout and kept wondering why JR was there. Lawler kept telling Cole to shut up while Ross didn't really acknowledge him. The match was really good with Bryan & Swagger exchanging a lot of wrestling holds and working at a good pace. Obviously Bryan's an elite worker while Swagger has improved a lot this year. Cole went into JR mode trying to talk about Swagger's Oklahoma past, which led to JR doing a better job of it himself. He really sounded good. Didn't miss a step. I hate that he's not announcing on TV anymore. The match ended at about the 11 minute mark with Bryan winning with a kick in the head. Just like Del Rio, who also has a submission finisher, he used a kick to the head. This is apparently kick to the head night.
Post match, Ted Jr. showed up and attacked Bryan. No more belt. He's even growing facial hair. He must be serious now! Maryse, looking amazing, came out smiling. I'm glad Ted doesn't have that stupid belt anymore. It hurt his career more than helped. Obviously this should lead to a Bryan vs. Ted feud.
After the match, JR left and smacked Cole in the head with his cowboy hat. That earns him a star of the night automatically. So good to see him back. I wish it was permanent. "I run this place! He can't do that to me!" That’s how Cole ended it. I honestly don't mind Cole like that in some instances.
They brought out all the legends at the top of the stage for all of them to wave to the crowd. It was cool of Chavo Sr. to mention Eddie.
Piper's Pit with Piper, Cena & Orton
I thought Piper was amazing here. He brought out Cena and he mentioned how he's been in the business for over 30 years, but he was never the World Champion. A lot of people forget that. He told him if he gives Barrett the belt when he doesn't deserve it he'd be spitting in the face of every legend that he says he respects. He told him to forget about the consequences and to do the right thing. Cena shot back with a lot of passion. I thought he did really well talking about how legends like Piper, Lawler & the others meant so much to him growing up. He talked about how hard he worked to be like guys like that. As if on cue some kid said "Never give up" and Cena went "Damn right!" That was unintentionally funny. Wade Barrett showed up. Piper told him if he wins the belt in a cheap way he'll just be a joke. I loved Piper in this segment.
Barrett told Cena to put on the Nexus shirt since this is the last Raw where he can control him since Cena will be either free or fired. Cena put the shirt on as the crowd reacted to it. He told Barrett that he's his boss until Sunday, but after that he's going to beat him up. Orton came out to say ever since Cena counted him out last week all he could think about was kicking him in the skull to take him out. Orton went after Barrett, but Cena stood in front before he could RKO him. Orton gave Cena the RKO. Cena sold it for about two seconds, then ended up hitting the AA on Orton. Way to put over the champ's finisher! Granted this was about 15 minutes past the top of the hour, but it's disappointing to see the no-selling of a top finisher.
To close the show, Orton demanded that Cena raise his hand. Instead, Cena gave the AA to Barrett and threw off his shirt to a thunderous ovation.
The final question is: What will Cena do? Well played. Excellent closing segment.
Three Stars of the Show
1. Mae Young - For saying sluts and bitches that's an easy first star. Mae rules!
2. Jim Ross - Holy shit did I miss him! Best play by play guy ever.
3. John Cena - People hate on the guy, but he was great on this show.
Bonus star for Roddy Piper. He really did an amazing job.
Worst Moment of the Week
The outfit that Justin Roberts had on.
7.5 out of 10
Last week: 6
I had fun with this show, but that took forever to get through. And two more three hour shows to end the year? Damn. At least this was fun. Anybody got a count of how many people were on screen during this broadcast? It might be a Raw record. There were so many guest spots and surprises.
I think from a storyline standpoint they did a great job in the Cena-Orton-Barrett angle. Roddy Piper really added to it and put over how important John Cena's decision was to a legend like him. I liked it a lot. I honestly have no idea where they are going with the match at Survivor Series. My prediction is Barrett wins because Cena's reluctant to get fired, then Cena beats the crap out of Barrett and The Miz comes out to cash in Money in the Bank and win the belt.
It was nice to see they added Morrison versus Sheamus to Survivor Series too. It would be nice to see Morrison win the feud, but I'd guess Sheamus goes over to make him look strong for when HHH comes back…whenever that may be.
Good show. I'll be away and won't see Survivor Series, but if you're watching I hope you enjoy it. I'll let you know how things will go at thejohnreport.net while I'm gone. I will make a post about it later in the week on thejohnreport.net.
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