BRM's Thoughts on the 2/7/2011 Raw

[Big Red Machine]

VINCE IS BACK- The guy was in a coma for very long time, and they bring him back with no hype at all? At least Vince himself is hyping something for next week. Not something anyone actually cares about, but something nonetheless.

PUNK-ORTON SEGMENT- HOLY SH*T! SOMEONE REMEMBERS SOMETHING MORE THAN FOUR MONTHS OLD IN MAINSTREAM WRESTLING! HELL YEAH! This segment was great.

R-TRUTH vs. MASON RYAN- 4/10, but did its job perfectly. It got Ryan over as a legitimate threat. And a “victory” via STRETCH MUFFLER! I like it.
“MILWAUKEE! MILWAUKEE! MILWAUKEE!” R-Truth will never live this one down.

NEXUS BACKSTAGE SEGMENT- GREAT!

EVE TORRES, GAIL KIM, & TAMINA vs. THE BELLA TWINS & MELINA- 3/10. Too short. IMO, Dragon should have been at ringside for Gail (especially since he apparently didn’t have a match scheduled for tonight. Nattie was okay on commentary. Cole is a great heel!

JOHN MORRISON vs. MICHAEL MCGILLICUTTY- 4/10.
After the match, Punk sprays Morrison in the eyes with something. How will that help Punk thirteen days from now? Just hit him with a chop block, the throw him off the stage!

LAWLER-MIZ SEGMENT- LOVED IT!

JERRY LAWLER & DANIEL BRYAN vs. THE MIZ & TED DIBIASE- 5.75/10.
“Night of the Tongue Slips” continues as Riley calls Dragon “Bryan Daniel”

SHEAMUS vs. DAVID OTUNGA- No Rating. “PUNK’S A GENIUS! clap! clap! clap!clap!clap!

Wait… Sheamus is back to dressing like an idiot and being billed as “King Sheamus.” IT’S A F*CKING METAPHOR!!
GREAT Promo by Sheamus on Mark Henry, though.

ALBERTO DEL RIO vs. SANTINO MARELLA- 4.5/10. Having Del Rio on Raw makes Smackdown look second-rate (because their new big star has to be on Raw to get over enough for the “WWE Universe.”

2-21-11 COMMERICAL “There ain’t no grave can hold my body down”- REALLY? THAT is how you are going to give this away?

CM PUNK vs. JOHN CENA- 5.5/10. I am 100% fine with the way that this happened. What I am not fine with is that this was the main event, and that we got no other good wrestling on this show at all. I am fine with something like this in the main event if it is an important occurrence in a major angle (like the Doug Williams babyface turn on Impact), but this does not qualify.

Overall this episode of Raw was a perfect illustration of most of the criticisms about WWE: Good concept, good stories… but the actual wrestling does not deliver. These sorts of shows are okay every once in a while, but they happen entirely too often in WWE. Not good at all.

[ECWFlairfan]

WWE started this direction thanks to fueds like Ultimate Warrior/Hercules which delivered on the mic but the matches stunk...

[KILLdozer]

!


2-21-11 COMMERICAL “There ain’t no grave can hold my body down”- REALLY? THAT is how you are going to give this away?

yea i see the connection but it could just be coincedental like theyre just using the song but idk

[ECWFlairfan]

!


2-21-11 COMMERICAL “There ain’t no grave can hold my body down”- REALLY? THAT is how you are going to give this away?

yea i see the connection but it could just be coincedental like theyre just using the song but idk

Well, Sting may have contacted them & said "Make it clear its not me or I sue" or Vince may actually be paying attention to us & said "Holy Crap they think Sting is coming & if its not him this will backfire"

[KILLdozer]

!


2-21-11 COMMERICAL “There ain’t no grave can hold my body down”- REALLY? THAT is how you are going to give this away?

yea i see the connection but it could just be coincedental like theyre just using the song but idk

Well, Sting may have contacted them & said "Make it clear its not me or I sue" or Vince may actually be paying attention to us & said "Holy Crap they think Sting is coming & if its not him this will backfire"

yea Idk but remember theyve used the song for Undertaker before(Well not just him by himself) during the video packages of HBK/Deadman/Wrestlemania

[Verdun]

When I saw Mason Ryan lift R-Truth up with that Stretch Muffler, I thought to myself, "Could he possibly angle himself in a way to where he can wrap his hands around R-Truth's neck and turn that into a Standing Stretch Muffler STF?" I thought it'd look rather painful.

[KILLdozer]

When I saw Mason Ryan lift R-Truth up with that Stretch Muffler, I thought to myself, "Could he possibly angle himself in a way to where he can wrap his hands around R-Truth's neck and turn that into a Standing Stretch Muffler STF?" I thought it'd look rather painful.

i couldnt really understand the crowd saying Milwaukee,i thought it was "Your a beast!"

U can see how i could make that assumption

[Rabid619]

i couldnt really understand the crowd saying Milwaukee,i thought it was "Your a beast!"

U can see how i could make that assumption

I cant see how you could to be honest. The match had just started so calling Ryan a beast before the match got going is a bit strange. I'm saying this after i've rewatched a few times as well.

[Bob-O]

yea Idk but remember theyve used the song for Undertaker before(Well not just him by himself) during the video packages of HBK/Deadman/Wrestlemania

This! There's no more mystery, the videos are absolutely UT. Not to say that Sting isn't on his way, but not to these vignettes.

VINCE IS BACK- The guy was in a coma for very long time, and they bring him back with no hype at all? At least Vince himself is hyping something for next week. Not something anyone actually cares about, but something nonetheless.

I didn't like this at all, for the reasons you said. No explanation of the coma, no hype... what gives!? I've also never been a fan of hyping up a "huge announcement". I'll thank TNA for that. I'm already disappointed that THIS is what Vince came back to do, thus, unless Wrestlemania's Guest Host is Dixie Carter, I'm not going to be impressed.

CM PUNK vs. JOHN CENA- 5.5/10. I am 100% fine with the way that this happened. What I am not fine with is that this was the main event, and that we got no other good wrestling on this show at all. I am fine with something like this in the main event if it is an important occurrence in a major angle (like the Doug Williams babyface turn on Impact), but this does not qualify.

I disagree. While Punk's focus should be on Orton, the running theme of the show was Nexus "taking out" each Elimination Chamber participant. Punk/Cena is a credible main event and I thought they built to it smoothly. What I'm not on board with was Super Cena prevailing. Maybe taking down Cena will be the theme of next week's Raw, or spill over to Smackdown. I think the awkwardness of everything stems from WWE trying to build to two different Pay Per Views at the same time combined with too many undecided variables with Wrestlemania (they want to build it up, but can't specifically without giving away the results to Elimination Chamber).

[Big Red Machine]

CM PUNK vs. JOHN CENA- 5.5/10. I am 100% fine with the way that this happened. What I am not fine with is that this was the main event, and that we got no other good wrestling on this show at all. I am fine with something like this in the main event if it is an important occurrence in a major angle (like the Doug Williams babyface turn on Impact), but this does not qualify.

I disagree. While Punk's focus should be on Orton, the running theme of the show was Nexus "taking out" each Elimination Chamber participant. Punk/Cena is a credible main event and I thought they built to it smoothly. What I'm not on board with was Super Cena prevailing. Maybe taking down Cena will be the theme of next week's Raw, or spill over to Smackdown. I think the awkwardness of everything stems from WWE trying to build to two different Pay Per Views at the same time combined with too many undecided variables with Wrestlemania (they want to build it up, but can't specifically without giving away the results to Elimination Chamber).

I had no problem with Cena coming out on top because it shows someone on a wresting show actually PAYING ATTENTION to the rest of the show, which is an unfortunate rarity in WWE and TNA.

I completely understand where you are coming from, but I don't agree on the cause. I think the Elimination Chamber clusterduck allows them to "keep us guessing" if it will be Punk vs. Cena & Orton vs. Miz, or if it will be Cena vs. Miz & Punk vs. Orton. In reality, our smarkiness tells us that the latter is infinitely more likely, because otherwise Punk looks weak going into his feud with Cena and Cena vs. Miz has no blow-off.