BRM Reviews the 4/18/2011 Raw

[Big Red Machine]

OPENING SEGMENT- good. I don’t see anything wrong with what R-Truth did. Morrison did a great job of coming off as a vaguely heelish jackass, though.

#1 CONTENDERSHIP MATCH: John Morrison vs. R-Truth- 5.5/10 I find the water here slightly more problematic because it is in the middle of a match, rather than between falls. Great aftermath, though, but it dragged on a bit too long.
Props to the fans for chanting “THAT’S ILLEGAL at R-Truth for smoking indoors. I would have loved to see an usher try to tell him this, then get his ass kicked.

EVAN BOURNE vs. DOLPH ZIGGLER? (or maybe The Prodigy, Mike Bennett) (w/Vickie Guerrero)- 5/10 ridiculously good for such a short match.

MIZ PROMO- boring

SIN CARA & JOHN CENA vs. ALEX RILEY & THE MIZ- 5.5/10.
the set up for this was terrible. Cena coming out when he did made very little sense and felt awkward. Cena felt like an afterthought, which your top babyface shouldn’t be.

EVE TORRES vs. NIKKI BELLA (w/Brie Bella)-3/10. Boring and short.
“You return match might never happen because you might get drafted to Smackdown next week”- Excellent point, Brie. Logic dictates that this rematch SHOULD BE TONIGHT!

MICHAEL COLE GETS KNIGHTED- colossal waste of time. It is scary to think that they actually thought people would respond well to this segment. The sad part is that they came up with the whole knighting thing just so Cole could say the peasants line and make them kiss his feet. If they wanted to do this, just have Swagger beat JR and Lawler up (like he did in this segment) and have them do it. Don’t waste all of this time with a stupid “knighting ceremony” with a clearly fake Queen of England.

SANTINO MARELLA vs. SHEAMUS- Extended Squash. Good and satisfying.

CM PUNK vs. RANDY ORTON- 7/10. Really only a 6.75 or so wrestling-wise, but the awesome crowd put it over the top for me.
AFTERMATH- TERRIBLE! Nexus looks bad for in-fighting, and Orton comes out on top again. He won the damn match. He doesn’t need to come out on top after it, too.

Overall, a pretty bad episode of Raw with an acceptable main event. I feel bad for the crowd. They deserved better.

[kiel297]

MICHAEL COLE GETS KNIGHTED- colossal waste of time. It is scary to think that they actually thought people would respond well to this segment. The sad part is that they came up with the whole knighting thing just so Cole could say the peasants line and make them kiss his feet. If they wanted to do this, just have Swagger beat JR and Lawler up (like he did in this segment) and have them do it. Don’t waste all of this time with a stupid “knighting ceremony” with a clearly fake Queen of England.

This segment pissed me off. It annoys me intensely that WWE feel that every time they come to England, they need to mock our traditions, exaggerate our completely false stereotypes and completely patronise us. We want to see a WWE show. Not a WWE show with a few "British" things thrown in. It's patronising, and kinda disrespectful. The other thing, I'm not the worlds biggest supporter of the monarchs, but Jesus Christ, do not go to a country and insult their Queen! It's stupid. It didn't gain anymore heat for Michael Cole in my eyes, because he's got enough heat (and not the good kind). Instead, it just put heat on WWE for quite clearly mocking us, and I know several other Brits who feel exactly the same way.

[Earth Child]

Cole's feet were really gross too.

[Verdun]

Cole's feet were really gross too.

I think that was a worse than Truth smoking in the arena.

[badnewzxl]

Cole's feet were really gross too.

I think that was a worse than Truth smoking in the arena.

far, worse...

[Codebreaker]

MICHAEL COLE GETS KNIGHTED- colossal waste of time. It is scary to think that they actually thought people would respond well to this segment. The sad part is that they came up with the whole knighting thing just so Cole could say the peasants line and make them kiss his feet. If they wanted to do this, just have Swagger beat JR and Lawler up (like he did in this segment) and have them do it. Don’t waste all of this time with a stupid “knighting ceremony” with a clearly fake Queen of England.

This segment pissed me off. It annoys me intensely that WWE feel that every time they come to England, they need to mock our traditions, exaggerate our completely false stereotypes and completely patronise us. We want to see a WWE show. Not a WWE show with a few "British" things thrown in. It's patronising, and kinda disrespectful. The other thing, I'm not the worlds biggest supporter of the monarchs, but Jesus Christ, do not go to a country and insult their Queen! It's stupid. It didn't gain anymore heat for Michael Cole in my eyes, because he's got enough heat (and not the good kind). Instead, it just put heat on WWE for quite clearly mocking us, and I know several other Brits who feel exactly the same way.

I wont have your post go ignored kiel297! I totally agree with you. I'm English and I posted on this very topic back at the old WrestlingAddicts and I came up with other stuff to add to this.

The main thing that gets me about the whole 'Embrace the British' idea is that they think it makes the show more special and ultimately better to the British audience. This may have worked on me the first 1 or 2 shows I watched but no more - the stereotyping, patronising etc. is too overwhelming and insulting.

I'm going to make one point about the changes they make to the titantron when they're over. They think with the cabs, buses and changes to the lighting around the titantron resembling the Union Jack (I assume) gets across that "Monday Night Raw - the very same Monday Night Raw you see every week - is here in London!". Not for me. The biggest problem with these changes is that it makes me feel that it's not the Monday NIght Raw I see each week. In a way it makes me feel that the product is phony or even fake. If they just brought over the same titantron, made no changes and pretended it wasn't in the UK then they'll get what they're after. The Raw we see in America is what we're after with everything the same - that's the buzz when it's in the UK.

[kiel297]

I wont have your post go ignored kiel297! I totally agree with you. I'm English and I posted on this very topic back at the old WrestlingAddicts and I came up with other stuff to add to this.

The main thing that gets me about the whole 'Embrace the British' idea is that they think it makes the show more special and ultimately better to the British audience. This may have worked on me the first 1 or 2 shows I watched but no more - the stereotyping, patronising etc. is too overwhelming and insulting.

I'm going to make one point about the changes they make to the titantron when they're over. They think with the cabs, buses and changes to the lighting around the titantron resembling the Union Jack (I assume) gets across that "Monday Night Raw - the very same Monday Night Raw you see every week - is here in London!". Not for me. The biggest problem with these changes is that it makes me feel that it's not the Monday NIght Raw I see each week. In a way it makes me feel that the product is phony or even fake. If they just brought over the same titantron, made no changes and pretended it wasn't in the UK then they'll get what they're after. The Raw we see in America is what we're after with everything the same - that's the buzz when it's in the UK.

See, I agree with you 100% here. Although, having the union jack on the stage, I don't mind. I do however hate the bus and phone box, both of which they use are out of date and both associated with the stereotype.