Welp. Here comes the pain. Brock Lesnar's back in front of the WWE Universe and he's targeted John Cena. What will the former WWE and UFC Champion have in store for the top guy tonight on Raw? The road to Extreme Rules continues to heat up, and the (2012 version of the) Three Stooges are in attendance. Read on for my thoughts on the show as it happens.
John Laurinaitis introducing Brock Lesnar. That's interesting.
Cena's not wasting any time!
I LOVE a big pull-apart brawl.
That was pretty awesome.
I love how we go from such a hot brawl to Brodus Clay dancing. Sometimes comic relief's good to go between serious events.
Clay, Santino, Ziggler, and Swagger are hopefully talents who have strong years in 2012.
Hopefully following that hot open, a lot of fans are sticking around for this tag match. These guys need to pay off for WWE.
Brodus is no ring general, but all in all that was fine.
I'm feeling this version of John Cena.
No Way Out's headlined by cage matches. That would be a perfect environment to end Brock/Cena. If there was ever a performer that was "made" for a cage match, it's the post-UFC Brock Lesnar.
The start of the show has the top star in WWE vs. a legit UFC badass. From there, we've gotten dancing and now a search for the Three Stooges.
My body is ready for The Avengers.
Who else wanted Kane to destroy Santino for bringing up the Three Stooges? WWE's way too "variety show" lately.
This match should be interesting to see where both men's careers are going now.
If Brock Lesnar F5s Big Show again so Rhodes wins back the IC Title, this might actually have a longer purpose.
This backstage segment... it's really happening.
Tensai vs. Tatsu makes sense. They probably COULD make that mean something more than just Tensai's 2nd squash, but that's not WWE's forte lately.
Tensai taking out King, Cole, and the Stooges would make him my new favorite wrestler I think (if none of them are seen for a while).
We get it. You remember Tensai as Albert. Sometimes crowds get too "smarky" and it takes away from things. I'm with them on the "Yes!" thing, but sometimes they can really take away from the show.
I was expecting Jericho to come out to Punk's music to announce that Punk was home recovering (or, even better, that doctors barred him from attending) to build heat towards their match at Extreme Rules.
Part of me doesn't like that Punk dropped the WWE Title to do his promo.
Punk's hopefully on his way to being one of THE stars of this generation. He's got intangibles that few performers today can touch.
Money promo-off between Punk and Jericho. They've really got something here.
Punk should beat Henry to send a message to Jericho, then he should retain the title at the PPV. Build this guy up while you still have the 40-year-old vets.
A DQ works, too. Whatever sends the message that Punk isn't playing around. Matches are just story devices.
If they go right from here, fans will be salivating for Punk to kick Jericho's face in after weeks of being cheap-shotted and taken through a personal hell. Hard-fighting babyface vs. despicable heel. Why can't we get more angles this good?
This won't end well for Ryder.
Seriously? Del Rio's having trouble beating Ryder?
Ugh. Cole and Lawler.
THERE we go. That's a little more like it.
Ricardo gets an A+ in his role. At least he's supposed to be over-the-top.
I don't dislike the Stooges, but there have got to be better ways to use TV time to make money with the actual wrestlers.
Smart to put the Dream Machines premiere after Smackdown. Though I wonder why they didn't do the Cena episode then.
At least they look and sound the part.
You idiots. Hulk's in TNA! Why promote your competition?
Whoa. He does sound like Hulk.
How is Kane the heel for interrupting this segment?
If the Three Stooges go over Kane, I'll start begging for a hostile takeover of the company.
A celebrity appearance involving a WWE talent that doesn't end with the WWE guy being the punchline. That's a breath of fresh air.
Lesnar sounds different from how I remember him.
I wonder if Dana White's behind all the UFC plugs?
I like unapologetic douchebag Lesnar as a character.
And here we see the top stars of today put over two semi-retired guys. We're supposed to be paying to see Punk, Cena, Orton, etc. in 3 weeks, not HHH/Taker!
That said, awesome video package on what was a really solid match.
Otunga headlining Raw. Wow. WWE's found their next guy to push to the moon, then cool back off to the midcard. Ziggler, Swagger, Kofi, and McIntyre need company I guess.
The Legends get more press than the current guys... again.
Should Lesnar cost Cena the match? I'm kind of split. I say keep him kind of fresh and make this about Cena trying to build momentum. I think WWE MIGHT be able to get to No Way Out with Cena/Brock if they play their cards right. That said, if he's only here for a year, maybe they shouldn't spend too much time on him vs. Cena?
This is a big opportunity for Otunga.
Not bad so far.
Very Masters-esque from Otunga.
So-so showing from Otunga in a big match setting. Cena's the top guy, so I don't think it hurts him too much to tap out to the STF.
Lesnar's pretty natural in his role. Probably because it's probably pretty close to his actual personality.
We'll see how hot they can keep the feud in the weeks and months (?) to come. They're starting off pretty heavy.
That's it for Raw. I'll be back for Smackdown tomorrow. A news post will be up later tonight. Thanks for reading!
No comments:
Post a Comment