1. I wasn’t a fan of the entire first quarter of Raw being devoted to WWE Smackdown wrestlers, while all the Raw guys were shoved into one main event. Orton and Henry were both fed guys who are just jobbed out regularly, so their wins mean nothing, even if they are strong wins. I do, however, like Henry being done with Orton and ready for Big Show. I wish it were Sheamus, but I’m done with Henry-Orton for now, so nearly anything is a step up. I’ll have a Mark Henry article up on Wednesday, so be sure to check back.
2. And we go straight from Smackdown to trying to sue Triple H. I know a lot of you like this angle, but I can only ask, where do you expect it to go? In wrestling, all we can really do to settle this is some kind of match for control of the company, which CM Punk already had with Triple H. And, clearly, all of this conspiracy is Ace manipulating both the Miz/Truth group and the Lawsuit group as Vince’s lackey. The generic promos really didn’t change any of that, although Cody Rhodes delivery is stellar. What exactly, I ask again, can come of this?
3. So, Johnny Ace wants Triple H to confront everyone’s complaints face-to-face, which he just did, last segment. Glad I get to see this again. This really couldn’t have all been made into one segment right before the main event? What a poor use of television time.
4. Is it just me or is Kelly smiling coming out then freaking out and going insane on Beth Phoenix with warning really creepy? I know it was meant to put over how much the title means to her, but it was so over the top, I mean wow. I know the answer to this, but would it kill them to get a female writer who’s also a fan to write the Divas segments? Women watch, in great enough number to matter apparently, so how about a little respect?
5. They actually put Santino and Jinder Mahal on television against each other. I think I just shed a tear. Remember a few months ago when CM Punk was setting the world afire and Daniel Bryan seemed like he’d get a world title push? I mean, these guys make Warlord and Warrior look like the Road Warriors and Von Erichs.
6. Not that we had a ton of momentum, but going from a NXT video to a replay of the end of last night, to a Miz and Truth Youtube video… this show is dead in its tracks. It was a terrible idea to do all of this back-to-back-to-back. Then Punk comes out to a lukewarm reaction. I wonder if he’ll be blamed for that, despite it fully being the timing’s fault. Even Cena’s reaction was way less than usual. Great, now we get three different segments of all the heels standing around and either being berated or beat up.
7. It’s the giant tag with basically all the Raw faces against all the Raw heels (Air Boom, John Cena, CM Punk, Sheamus, Mason Ryan vs. Dolph Ziggler, Jack Swagger, Cody Rhodes, Alberto DelRio, and David Otunga). The faces dominate, a heat segment on Kofi, we go back and forth for awhile until everyone hits finishers, and then the heels get smashed by the faces. Match over. It was a good, hectic match, if utterly predictable at all times.
8. Much more notable than the fairly generic match is that we get no mention of Punk’s history with Ryan or Otunga. We get no mention of Punk as anything but a smiling, generic babyface, in fact, as he appears on the apron hanging out casually with Air Boom. It’s now fair to say his moment is officially gone. Sheamus is, at worst, every bit as over.
9. So, we aren’t supposed to notice, but Mason Ryan totally took Alex Riley’s spot. Riley was over and showing real potential. What happened? He’d usually be the guy rounding out the face team.
10. Jerry Lawler? Oh my god! That’s the King’s music! I haven’t seen him in a whole week! Look, I love the King. I don’t mind him on commentary (which is about as nice as you get nowadays) and I love him wrestling. He’s not worthy of a special entrance reveal for a big talk.
11. Triple H talks for awhile, and, apparently, he thinks this is the very best Raw could possibly be. Wade Barrett, the former head of Nexus, gets to talk and say it’s an unsafe environment. This entire angle would have worked way better during Nexus, actually. Triple H calls out Barrett on this, at least. A nameless referee is next to speak and wants to be kept safe. Oh, hey! He gets to be Mike! He’s a real person. Holy crap, they all get names! Impressive. And refs, who are constantly bumped, are scared to come to work. Beth uses the “we’re girls†defense even though nothing has happened to them.
Finally, after a whole lot of nothing and a waste of time, Jerry Lawler is going to speak. He’s apparently the voice of the people now. He’s worried that it’s unsafe, but thinks CM Punk is right and someone is sabotaging H. Somehow, Johnny Ace isn’t just fired, but this is Triple H’s fault. Everyone votes no confidence… but this isn’t what a vote of confidence is. It isn’t actually a vote. This is so goddamn stupid. Everyone resigns. The heels, the referees, the divas, Michael Cole, Booker T and, eventually, the faces, all walk away. On a wrestling show, full of wrestlers, everyone is scared of being beat up by two to three guys.
12. Last of all, Jim Ross, whose job was returned by Triple H, leaves. That is so out of character that it’s perfectly, painfully representative of this whole mess. Oh and Cena and Punk never show up for this. Of course. We aren’t even going to address the top two faces on the show. Triple H gets an ovation to end the show, and I think I’m done with Raw for awhile. This was terrible.
Just to be perfectly clear. They have a vote of confidence, which isn’t at all how a vote of confidence works. We have no one mentioning or talking about how the main draws of the show John Cena, CM Punk and Randy Orton aren’t out. We have a bunch of bad straw men set up and mention the Nexus angle, which is better done and could have reasonably caused all this. We get everyone leaving, even though all of two people have been attacked and Raw is exactly like it’s always been. And in the worst characterization ever, we get Jim Ross walking out on WWE, which is portrayed as his life, and Triple H, the man who brought him back. Terrible plotting, acting, characterization and a ridiculous scenario. I’m pretty accepting of wrestling logic. I mean, we even get the “we’re only girls” offensive sexism. This is the worst angle I’ve ever seen on every single level.
