BRM Reviews the 2/28/2011 Raw

[Big Red Machine]

TRIPLE H PROMO- Great.

TRIPLE H-SHEAMUS BRAWL- I liked the kick in the nuts. It said “you don’t matter to me right now” while still promising a payoff in the future. Unfortunately they killed that whole impression by having Hunter beat Sheamus up. I get the that this was supposed to be a kind of “reintroduction” to Triple H’s move set, but this is not the kind of thing you use Sheamus for. This is the kind of thing you use Zack Ryder for. Not too good.

I probably should have popped more for Sydal’s return, but I didn’t. It just seemed so underwhelming. Also, it is hard to look strong in your return when you beat up a man who can’t walk under his own power. Bad booking. I fail to see who this helps.

COLE-LAWLER SEGMENT- GREAT! But why is Jack Swagger allowed to be on Raw?

ORTON & PUNK PROMOS- GREAT!
RANDY ORTON vs. MICHAEL McGILLICUTTY- 4/10. Aftemath… stupid (for now). The match was over, so why didn’t Punk and Nexus try to save McGillicutty. Also, Punk should be smart enough to realize that the last time this happened, Orton didn’t listen to him! Why would you try the same thing again… unless (and here is why this might not turn out to be stupid)… Punk is deliberately trying to incite Orton. To make him take out members of Nexus, in the hopes that it will do something that will lead to Orton’s downfall (maybe Punk will tell people that Orton constitutes an “unsafe working environment” and should be suspended due to his vicious post-match assaults- something like that).

Ooooohhh. Some hype for Mistico!

MIZ PROMO- GREAT! His motivation for attacking Cena made sense, and made me hate that booking a tiny bit less.
CENA PROMO- Uch. Not good at all. This was basically what people hate about Cena. Compare this to last week, which was what we loved about him.

ALEX RILEY STIP- Basically, Riley will be fired, and thus won’t be able help Miz at Mania. Hmmm… Didn’t we JUST see this angle in Orton-Punk. And in an unhyped BS cage match, to boot.

DIVAS BATTLE ROYALE- The match wasn’t too good, but I really liked the way they worked the angle.

ROCK PROMO- GREAT!
“You say you love these People… I’m here every week to show it”- John Cena
“FINALLY… THE ROCK… HAS COME BACK… TO BUFFALO”- No you haven’t. You’re in your house on the other side of the country. And you “opened the door” for Superstars to do what? Leave the business? Hogan managed to make movies without leaving.
Sorry, Rocky, but I am solidly on Cena’s side, here. This feud is being done perfectly, except for the part where it won’t end in the two of them wrestling each other.

HBK STUFF- PERFECT!

MIZ JUMPING DRAGON- Seemed unnecessary, but I guess it worked.

Boy. It’s really convenient that they just happened to have a cage set up there just in case someone might make an impromptu cage match. What a stroke of luck!

STEEL CAGE MATCH with dumb stips: John Cena vs. Alex Riley- 6/10. Nowhere near good enough to be a main event. The storytelling was good (aside from hitting Cena with the phone. Really? A phone? Riley’s fist would have hurt more), but the wrestling was not.

Overall, this was a pretty bad Raw, especially in the ring. You would think that WWE would want to put on GOOD shows leading up to Mania, but what do I know?