Raw Reax - 11/11/13

Read on for my thoughts on last night's Raw.

I'm not really crazy about there being so many authority figures in WWE. It made sense for that segment, but overall I don't like too many non-wrestling characters taking up time.

I can't be the only one who finds it off that a heel is in a position where he has to fight the odds. That's pretty much Babyface Booking 101. Fine match, though, and the ending made sense for the heel.

Did we really have someone go through an announce table in the first hour of the show? That's going to be hard to top for the rest of the night. That used to be a pretty big spot, but now it's become somewhat commonplace.

Not crazy about Show's little segment of leaving. It makes sense, I'm just not a fan of Big Show most of the time.

Oh, boy. Cobras and little bulls. It made sense to bring the audience down some from the Show attack on Orton and there's an audience for that kind of thing. I wonder if/when we'll see El Torito in actual matches.

I really wonder where they're going with Kane. I understand that they wanted him maskless in order to promote See No Evil 2 (where he appears without the mask). I don't see why they couldn't have had the Wyatts take his mask off and give him a new look that way.

Not a bad match between Damien and Kofi. It continues to feel like WWE likes a performer one week (and subsequently gets behind them) before pulling a 180 the next week. Sandow was challenging for the World Title after Cena won it and now he's just kind of... there. Where's his character going?

Both Axel and Ziggler are quite impressive as athletes, and this match was a good show of that, but it feels like they're each missing something to take them to the next level. I can't quite put my finger on what that is, though.

I see what they're going for with the handicap match theme. It makes sense for them to stack the deck in favor of the heels.

I liked Tamina vs. Nikki. Nikki was better than I expected. One problem, though: Tamina doesn't really feel like a monster enforcer given how easily she's taken down (rollups) and thrown around (back body drop).

Fine post-match. I'm pretty much ready for the AJ/Tamina vs. Bellas feud to wrap up. I love AJ and all, but I wouldn't mind seeing a new champion to tie into Total Divas.

Interesting that they did a Taker poll. I wonder if we'll see him face BBBBRRRROOOOOOCCCCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK
LLLLLLLLLLLEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSNNNNNNNNNNNNNNAAAAAARRRRRR.

Hmmm... Shield face turn? I think the gimmick works better for them as heels, but I'm willing to give it a shot.

Reality shows are such a work...

Fine little match between Kidd and Fandango. I wish undercard performers got more character development. If they were more over, maybe WWE wouldn't need to rely on the same faces as much?

I love Zeb Colter. I'd love to have him over for Thanksgiving to talk about what makes America great.

That was a really good match. I'm glad Cena let Swagger and Cesaro show what they can do, while showing off his own in-ring acumen.

Interesting post-match. I wonder how high up Big E can make it in WWE.

AJ vs. Natalya should be pretty good. I'd be a little surprised if they did a title change on Main Event, but that would definitely get people talking about the show again.

I'm glad Booker and Teddy Long aren't adding to the authority figure madness tonight, though Teddy's always fun to parody.

Ryback vs. Truth didn't really seem to accomplish anything. Where is either man going from here? This is why WWE has to keep relying on the names they've already gotten over: a lot of people are just kind of floating around not doing much of anything.

Big E vs. Del Rio wasn't bad at all. I don't think anyone thinks Del Rio can get the title back from Cena, though.

Oh, joy. An arm wrestling contest. I guess I've just seen so many that I don't care much anymore.

So we've established that Punk can beat up Axel and an injured Paul Heyman. Didn't we kind of already know that?

Man, Punk, Bryan and the Shield sure are getting buried by headlining Raw tonight. The focus is clearly on Cena and Big Show.

BAH GAWD WHAT THE HELL ARE THE WYATTS DOIN' HERE? Good match; curious ending.

That was pretty crazy. Obviously setting up a big match for Survivor Series where the Wyatts team with The Shield. That will be quite the alliance.

More wrestling coming up.