Read on for my thoughts on the 7/2 Raw!
I hated Cena's opening promo. Last week, Show and Jericho left him for dead. This week, he thanks them and acts like it's no big deal. If the hero doesn't sell the danger, why should we care about his predicament? After all, it's just a joke.
Bryan's promo was fine. I can't believe I used to think this guy was terrible (Pretty much pre-MITB win)
I liked Punk's promo. I hope he'll stay a top guy for some time to come.
Jericho was his usual good self until the bizarre repeating of his old catch phrases. It seemed out of character.
Aaaaand chaos! It made sense to set things up like that.
The action was fine in the 8-man tag. The story? Not so much. The Prime Time Players weren't involved in the finish of the match, so they didn't do much to add to their story of chasing the tag team titles. It was something of an afterthought. As for destroying Otunga, it was too soon. Otunga JUST got over on Clay and Clay's already gotten revenge? Where do you go from there with Otunga vs. Clay? THey pretty much have to build heat for Otunga all over again.
Del Rio gets put in a match with Sheamus by the Board. There's no real feud there and all that did was put heat on the Board for granting a heel a match. The heat needs to be on the guy who's in the ring on PPVs and live events.
It's depressing that we've gone from Austin vs. McMahon to Cena calling Big Show a swamp baby.
Remember when Sin Cara was pushed as a really big deal? Now he's tapping out in unadvertised matches. Followup will be key, but it looks like it will be a while before we get the "next Rey Mysterio" people were hoping for.
I smell Bryan winning by some kind of shenanigans at MITB, or at least attempting to. It depends on how high they are on Punk. AJ was Oscar-worthy as always.
Heyman's one of my all-time favorite promos. He can sell a match or talent like few others.
The mixed tag was nice. Sheamus can brawl, Dolph can do just about anything, and AJ's nice for a spot here and there. The right person lost (and the right person won) to continue the WWE Title craziness. Sheaus didn't need a win, Dolph should be protected as a future star, and Vickie's a non-wrestler.
AJ's just psycho at this point. I hope they have plans for her in the future.
Slater's role has been great lately. It's so terrible it's funny/good.
If you like car wrecks, Slater vs. Doink was for you (though the match wasn't rally bad) I can't believe Ooink was a thing for so long.
I marked for DDP. It's just kind of odd that they used a guy mostly known for WCW in a WWF nostalgia segment. And, of course, what does this do for the company and Slater long-term?
Show vs. Kane was alright for a big man match. Show's getting sluggish.
That backstage segment was kind of "meh" until AJ got crazy.
I guess Tyson needed a win to give him some credibility after being such a punching bag for so long.
I wonder what, if anything, they have planned for Sakamoto. He's a trained wrestler. If he's good, I think he should have a feud with Tensai. Maybe he knows more than Tensai does?
Goofy backstage segment with Bryan and Jericho. Not something I cared for.
I didn't expect Cena to just follow Punk's orders. Doesn't do much to build anticipation for the tag match.
Tensai's segment was fine to give him back some heat. Followup on Tyson will be important so he's not just a fluke the fans can't invest in.
Pretty solid main event. Punk, Bryan, and Jericho can really bring the technical stuff and Jericho is just an amazing heat-getter. Involving the crowd seems like a lost art at times. The AJ stuff was pretty fun. She might be the best character on WWE TV right now. Props for her performances lately.
I'll have Smackdown up tomorrow. A news post is up next.
No comments:
Post a Comment