BRM reviews the 2/25/2013 Raw (PUNK vs. CENA!)

[Big Red Machine]

OPENING SEGMENT- good concept, poor execution. Vince’s selling of his leg was awful and Hunter taking his damn time getting down there while Brock was just standing there threatening his father-in-law (really not sure why he hasn’t hitting him) is the sort of crap that I have come to expect from TNA.
Once they started brawling it was very good, though, and I didn’t expect Brock to bleed at all, never mind to gush luck that.

RYBACK vs. DOLPH ZIGGLER (w/AJ Lee & Big E. Langston)- 5.5/10
I think that Ryback dominated WAY too much. Yeah. He is Ryback, but they really should have had Dolph look a lot more competitive here.

CM PUNK PROMO-eh.

DONALD TRUMP IS GOING INTO THE CELEBRITY WING OF THE HALL OF FAME- well-deserved.

MARK HENRY vs. THE GREAT KHALI- good squash

MIZ TV WITH ALBERTO DEL RIO, JACK SWAGGER. & ZEB COULTER- GREAT segment. You could really feel the tension in the air.

THEY ARE BRINING BACK THE OLD-SCHOOL GIMMICK FOR NEXT WEEK- here’s an idea: Why don’t you actually focus on the current roster so you can actually build up some interesting feuds for Wrestlemania.

SWAGGER JUMPS MIZ- good.

RANDY ORTON vs. ANTONIO CESARO- DUD!
The US Champ jobs in four minutes? WHAT THE F*CK?!

TEAM HELL NO BACKSTAGE- GREAT segment. They changed up the standard formula and all of a sudden this was entertaining again. Good stuff from the heels, too.

WRESTLEMANIA 21 TRAILER- is there any reason for this at all?

BARRETT & SHEAMUS SEGMENT- okay

CODY RHODES vs. T-TRUTH- 4.25/10
Good for the time it was given, but I am very disappointed at Cody getting jobbed out again and at Truth getting the best of Sandow yet again.

SWAGGER & COULTER VIDEO PROMO- GREAT!

A NEW TYPE OF “HANDICAP” MATCH: The Prime Time Players vs. Daniel Bryan (blindfolded) & Kane (w/one arm tied behind his back)- no rating. Good segment (although that might just be my bias showing through). This was fun. I am disappointed that PTP got jobbed out quite so quickly, but I don’t think this would have worked if it went too much longer

THE SHIELD SEGMENT- AWESOME promo by the Shield. I am fine with the babyfaces pulling a fast one on the Shield the way they did, but if Orton was going to be involved in this, did he really have to bury Cesaro earlier?

THE MIZ vs. JACK SWAGGER (w/Zeb Coulter)- 6.5/10

HUNTER’S TOUT- good

CENA PROMO- good

WINNER FACES THE ROCK FOR THE WWE TITLE AT WRESTLEMANIA: CM Punk vs. John Cena- 9.25/10
FAN-F*CKING-TASTIC! An crazy roller-coaster of a match that had be biting on every single nearfall. They pulled out things I never thought I’d ever see, including an old school piledriver. I am pretty sure that Cena’s hurricanrana is going to become a popular gif by tomorrow morning. This is my MOTY so far.

Most fo the rest of the show was just okay, but because of the main event, I can’t call this episode of Raw anything less than awesome.

STUPID ANNOUNCER QUOTES:
1. Lawler says that tonight’s main event “might be the most important match” that Punk and Cena “have ever had in their careers.”
Right. Because all of those title matches they have been in (especially the f*cking Wresltemania main events) are less important than this one match on Raw to determine who gets to be in the mania main event.

[cero2k]

OPENING SEGMENT- good concept, poor execution. Vince’s selling of his leg was awful and Hunter taking his damn time getting down there while Brock was just standing there threatening his father-in-law (really not sure why he hasn’t hitting him) is the sort of crap that I have come to expect from TNA.
Once they started brawling it was very good, though, and I didn’t expect Brock to bleed at all, never mind to gush luck that.

completely agree with you, I already knew the order of how things would happen, but the execution was all terrible. Starting from Heyman kicking Vince's ass, to Vince not wearing his usual black attire, to Triple H's freaking slow entrance. But that amount of blood on RAW, wow!

DONALD TRUMP IS GOING INTO THE CELEBRITY WING OF THE HALL OF FAME- well-deserved.

I will not accept any other celebrity until Mr. T makes it in!!!

MIZ TV WITH ALBERTO DEL RIO, JACK SWAGGER. & ZEB COULTER- GREAT segment. You could really feel the tension in the air.

I loved this segment, it was amazing how this was a feud between Zeb and Del Rio, my only problem is that i'm not a big fan of Del Rio's delivery of promos, the mexican accent kinda makes it seem less legit, like scripted.

A NEW TYPE OF “HANDICAP” MATCH: The Prime Time Players vs. Daniel Bryan (blindfolded) & Kane (w/one arm tied behind his back)- no rating. Good segment (although that might just be my bias showing through). This was fun. I am disappointed that PTP got jobbed out quite so quickly, but I don’t think this would have worked if it went too much longer

I have a big problem with this. After defeating Team Rhodes Scholars constantly, they just defeated PTP in a handicap match. There's really no competition for Team Hell No anymore, and at this point i'm not even sure how they would play out a feud against Clay and Tensai

[Big Red Machine]

A NEW TYPE OF “HANDICAP” MATCH: The Prime Time Players vs. Daniel Bryan (blindfolded) & Kane (w/one arm tied behind his back)- no rating. Good segment (although that might just be my bias showing through). This was fun. I am disappointed that PTP got jobbed out quite so quickly, but I don’t think this would have worked if it went too much longer

I have a big problem with this. After defeating Team Rhodes Scholars constantly, they just defeated PTP in a handicap match. There's really no competition for Team Hell No anymore, and at this point i'm not even sure how they would play out a feud against Clay and Tensai

I see what you're saying, but they've still got Rey & Cara, Truth & Kofi, Primo & Epico, and a number of other less-used teams or NXT teams.