Welcome to your 10 Thoughts on WWE Monday Night Raw! I am your host, Rhett Davis, and after a monumental TLC PPV. Let’s get started…
1. The very beginning of Raw was a very nice tie to Beniot/Eddie from WrestleMania 20. Two men who have spent years in the business are getting their due with becoming World Heavyweight Champions. Oh and Zack Ryder who the Internet also loves. These three men are more of what the WWE needs for top faces. They need more characters. In the WWE’s big days in the 90’s, all of the top stars were characters! One asks if they smell what he’s cooking, and another did so many unpredictable actions to defy his boss that it was impossible to not support him. How are they any more farfetched than Ryder and Punk?
1a. Zack Ryder is a character and for anyone to say otherwise hasn’t seen his show or heard his ridiculous WooWooWoo. Punk is a character and for anyone to say otherwise has not seen his first ‘shoot’ segment or his contract negotiation. Bryan, although not the character that the previous two are, is a rough, tough, fighter who has great skills in the ring and has earned his dues for the last 10-15 years. He is very closely resembled to Beniot.
2. It’s terrible for WWE to replay their PPV matches just the night after. The only way that that is acceptable is if there is some sort of controversial case. Orton beat Wade fairly at the PPV so the next night we have a rematch in which Wade pokes Orton in the eye and then puts him through the table? They could’ve had Orton defeat someone and then Wade attack him, but throwing the same matchup from the PPV for free the next night is poor booking. Why would I buy TLC if I know I’ll see the rematch for free the next week?
3. I don’t understand the WWE with their whole Tag Title situation. They really get behind rebuilding the tag team division with AirBoom, Awesome Truth, The Usos, and… then they drop it. And that was before Evan got caught. Now they are building it again with Primo/Epico and the Usos? I don’t understand the motive for it. I like it, but don’t understand the reasoning.
4. So what has Jinder Mahal done to get all of this TV time? Sure he’s jobbing a lot, but the TV has actually had him trending on Twitter. What is so special about him? He’s not a great wrestler, his character is bland, and really the only positive I see about him is that he looks vicious. Too bad that doesn’t transition into his wrestling.
5. I know I’m probably alone in this, but I really have enjoyed Kane’s new return. It’s made Kane relevant in the heavyweight scene and the mask really makes Kane stand out from the others. It really would be an interesting way to bring in another heavyweight superstar.
6. Alberto del Rio is the superstar I’ve always wanted to like. I’m like most of the writers who love a compelling heel, but Del Rio just does nothing to be different from any other cowardly heel. What has del Rio done to really separate himself and make himself different than the rest of the pack? The only interesting thing I can remember from del Rio was his feud with Rey just because he started off thumping a top superstar.
7. So we have two weeks until the revelation of ‘The Second of 2012’ and really we still have no clue who it is and the videos aren’t helping any. It could be anyone from Taker, to Jericho, to the newly returning Skip Sheffield.
8. The entrance for the faces in the main event was cool and showed how accepting this former ECW crowd is for these three. It really hammers across how popular these three superstars are with the people. They weren’t forced down our throats like Cena, Orton, etc.
9. This main event really displays the new wave of talent taking over. We have Miz who just started at the main event scene a little over a year ago. Del Rio started off in the top scene, but that was only a year and a half ago. Dolph has been struggling in the midcard for awhile, but since Ryder has come up, they have built each other up to be the next top stars. Bryan has only been in the company for almost two years and spent a summer ‘fired’. Ryder has been around for a little while, but he’s spent most of the time as a jobber. Until he started an YouTube show and now he’s the most over face in the company and United States Champion after a well-booked transition from Dolph to him. Punk has been around for awhile but he’s still young and IS the next Jericho or Shawn Michaels with his unpredictability and ability to make his opponent look like a million bucks.
10. Overall it was a really fun show and the future looks interesting with Bryan and Punk on top with Ryder as US Champ down the card. Now Ryder just needs to defend on a regular basis.
Thanks for reading and be sure to check out the rest of the columns here on Inside Pulse!
And quite frankly my dear… that’s a wrap!
