I’m back! I’m here to do the 10 Thoughts on tonight’s Monday Night Raw and I’ve got to say I do miss writing some of these recaps. Anyway, we are just a few days away from Night of Champions and the buildup has been average at best. It certainly does not look like it will be an epic pay-per-view but who knows? We’ll find out this Sunday. Here are the 10 Thoughts for this week’s Raw.
1. I don’t know about all of you but I’m personally not enjoying Alberto Del Rio’s title run at all. The opening segment on Raw did nothing to make him look like a good WWE Champion, although I do understand that he’s playing a cowardly heel. It was nice to see Bret Hart return but he really did not add much to all of this. As for John Cena, he was just, well you know, being John Cena.
2. The Tag Team match between Jack Swagger/Dolph Ziggler and John Morrison and Alex Riley wasn’t decent. I wouldn’t have seen Alex Riley being the one to get the clean pin but it probably did absolutely nothing for him anyway. The poor guy was popular for a week. Vickie Guerrero freaked out on Ziggler after the match as she usually does when a loss occurs.
3. R-Truth has been very entertaining as a heel and I hope it stays that way. I just don’t understand why it’s been so inconsistent. One week it’s poop jokes, the next he’s talking smack about Triple H with The Miz (C’mon, the Coo Coo thing did make sense!).
4. Was The Miz vs. Kofi Kingston match of the night? I certainly think so but that’s just me. It was great back and forth action until Miz finally hit the Skull Crushing Finale and got the clean pin. I would assume with Miz winning tonight, Air-Boom is getting the win this Sunday.
5. Jerry Lawler and Sheamus vs. Otunga and McGillicutty was just a Tag Team squash match. Once Lawler tagged in Sheamus, the fat lady was singing. Otunga and McGillicutty need to go down to FCW for a while, especially Otunga, or they could just change Michael McGillicutty’s name. I could just imagine WWE creative sitting there and saying, “McGillicutty, that’s good!â€.
6. Next we had yet another Tag Team match, this time with John Cena and Bret Hart taking on Alberto Del Rio and Ricardo Rodriguez. Cena dominated for the majority of the match until he tagged in Bret. The Hitman applied the Sharpshooter to Rodriguez who tapped out instantly. I’m surprised this match didn’t close the show. It came across as one of those matches that will send the kid’s home happy.
7. Kelly Kelly vs. Vickie Guerrero. Who cares?
8. Randy Orton vs. Cody Rhodes for the 687th time was a little tiring. I only say that just cause it’s been done so many times, not because it was a bad match. Mark Henry distracted Orton early in the match and then again after a commercial break which led to Rhodes getting the win. Different? Yes. Did it really help Cody Rhodes? Nope. It did help the Henry/Orton match for Sunday, which was the whole purpose obviously, but I feel like Cody Rhodes character hasn’t progressed at all. Going back to Mark Henry and Randy Orton, Henry hit Orton with a chair shot after the match. Mark Henry seems to be the first person in a while to get the best of Randy Orton week after week and it’s been quite enjoyable.
9. Edge is returning on Smackdown to host “The Cutting Edge� Very nice, that should really add at least a little something to the Henry/Orton match at NOC.
10. The highlight of the night was CM Punk and Triple H’s final face-off. A lot of it was the same stuff they’ve been saying for weeks but this feud does feel very personal. I know all of the hype regarding CM Punk has gone down drastically since he came back to Raw with the WWE Championship, but he’s still the highlight of Monday Night Raw. Triple H does have plenty of haters, but c’mon you got to give it to him tonight. When he got in Punk’s face and went on about how it wasn’t the businessman he was fighting this Sunday, it felt legitimate. The rest of the card for Sunday’s PPV doesn’t look too special but this could be a good one, and will Kevin Nash get involved or was he really released from the WWE? The Questions will be answered Sunday.
That’s all for me, stay classy.
