BRM Reviews the 6/18/2012 Raw

[Big Red Machine]

OPENING SEGMENT- eh. Foley was good, but the whole Johnny Ace thing wasn’t.

DANIEL BRYAN & KANE vs. CM PUNK & SHEAMUS- no rating, eh segment. I am still very confused about AJ’s motives here, and about how she hopes to acoomplish them. She has this insane, care-free skipping thing down perfectly, though. This week, she skipped down to the ring wearing some sort of Halloween Sexy-Kane outfit. In what I swear is totally unrelated news, BRM has a boner right now.

ZIGGLER & SWAGGER ARGUING BACKSTAGE- where did this come from?... Wait. Hold on. Swagger and Ziggler breaking up, Johnny Ace putting people in 3-on-1 handicap matches as punishments… I think WWE is hacking into my computer and using my notes for the my fantasy booking of the AJ angle... but is taking the other stuff that grows off of it, rather than the AJ Loves Dragon part!

BIG SHOW, JOHNNY ACE, & DAVID OTUNGA BACKSTAGE- okay

JACK SWAGGER vs. DOLPH ZIGGLER- 5/10
MAJOR booking fail right here. Ziggler has been getting babyface pops for a while, and Swagger would be a horrific babyface. Why did they do it this way? Just have Vickie screw Ziggler out of the match, then cut a promo saying she was so sick and tired of Ziggler that not only does she not want to manage him anymore, she wanted to humiliate him, that is why she did this.

TRIPLE H & PAUL HEYMAN SEGMENT- an awesome segment, but it just felt slightly weird, too. Like they were both purposely being caricatures of the way they are perceived by other wrestlers.

SANTINO MARELLA vs. ALBNERTO DEL RIO (w/Ricardo Rodriguez)- no rating. Good segment. Alberto looks strong in his return and Ricardo gets some heat back on Santino.

CYNDI LAUPER, LAYLA, WENDY RICHTER, RODDY PIPER, & HEATH SLATER SEGMENT- Heath hit the nail on the head when he said “Car Wreck.” Someone please explain to me how this was in any way a good use of fifteen minutes of TV. Does WWE really think that an appearance by Wendy Richter and especially by Cyndi Lauper will in any way boost ratings? And this was such a horrible misuse of Piper. People want to see Piper either A) be a heel, B) stir the pot (like he did with Cena back in the fall), or C) be a fiery babyface threatening people (like he did with Dragon back in April). No one wants to see Roddy Piper apologize for the actions of a fellow heel twenty years ago.

THE PRIME-TIME PLAYERS (w/A.W.) vs. PRIMO & EPICO) (w/Rosa Mendes)- no rating. Good segment. They had better be build to a Tag Team Title match between these two at Summer Slam.

BIG SHOW PROMO- finally, the obvious flaw in this “iron-clad contract” angle is brought up and used.

HANDICAP MATCH: John Cena vs. David Otunga and John Laurinnaitis- DUD!
Standard WWE unnecessary humiliation of the heel on the way out.

Overall, an okay show.

[cero2k]

really dude?? an "ok show" for a show with only one non-segment match?? you're being generous today

[Verdun]

really dude?? an "ok show" for a show with only one non-segment match?? you're being generous today

Probably unrelated to his response to AJ.

[cero2k]

really dude?? an "ok show" for a show with only one non-segment match?? you're being generous today

Probably unrelated to his response to AJ.

true, AJ...the difference maker

[Big Red Machine]

really dude?? an "ok show" for a show with only one non-segment match?? you're being generous today

It was very much a set-up show. They are planting a lot of seeds here and wrapping up some angles. Every gets one of these every once in a while.

[kiel297]

There is one thing that's stopping me from getting into the Triple H/Heyman thing they have going on.

Triple H is called the Cerebral Assassin. The very definition of cerebral is being intellectual as opposed to emotional. Triple H is calculating and deadly in his ability to make any situation a favourable one for him. And yet it seems that everything he's doing is digging him a much deeper hole.

Triple H doesn't lose control unless he is REALLY provoked, and a few unfriendly words and a lawsuit doesn't fit that description. So why did he lose it and put his hands on Paul Heyman? That's not something Triple H would do. Triple H would just say "Bring it on" and find a way to get the advantage. Instead, all he does is get himself another lawsuit.

Then Triple H does what Triple H WOULD do and challenges Lesnar to a match. Fair enough, that's what he always does. But then when he's told no by Paul Heyman, he more or less sticks his fingers in his ears and shouts "LALALALALALALALA!". It just makes him come across as deluded in that he thinks he can force Lesnar to be at Summerslam for a fight. Triple H as he should be would have just kept pushing Lesnar and Heyman's buttons until Lesnar had lost control, because LESNAR is the one with the anger issues, and yet LESNAR seems to be the smarter business man here.

Then to top it all off, Triple H clocks Heyman. Now if you're being sued by a guy because you put your hands on him, WHY IN THE NAME OF FUCK WOULD YOU PUNCH HIM IN THE FACE?!

THAT is why I can't get into this angle. Because mostly everything Triple H seems to do isn't something Triple H would do.

[Big Red Machine]

There is one thing that's stopping me from getting into the Triple H/Heyman thing they have going on.

Triple H is called the Cerebral Assassin. The very definition of cerebral is being intellectual as opposed to emotional. Triple H is calculating and deadly in his ability to make any situation a favourable one for him. And yet it seems that everything he's doing is digging him a much deeper hole.

Triple H doesn't lose control unless he is REALLY provoked, and a few unfriendly words and a lawsuit doesn't fit that description. So why did he lose it and put his hands on Paul Heyman? That's not something Triple H would do. Triple H would just say "Bring it on" and find a way to get the advantage. Instead, all he does is get himself another lawsuit.

Then Triple H does what Triple H WOULD do and challenges Lesnar to a match. Fair enough, that's what he always does. But then when he's told no by Paul Heyman, he more or less sticks his fingers in his ears and shouts "LALALALALALALALA!". It just makes him come across as deluded in that he thinks he can force Lesnar to be at Summerslam for a fight. Triple H as he should be would have just kept pushing Lesnar and Heyman's buttons until Lesnar had lost control, because LESNAR is the one with the anger issues, and yet LESNAR seems to be the smarter business man here.

Then to top it all off, Triple H clocks Heyman. Now if you're being sued by a guy because you put your hands on him, WHY IN THE NAME OF f**k WOULD YOU PUNCH HIM IN THE FACE?!

THAT is why I can't get into this angle. Because mostly everything Triple H seems to do isn't something Triple H would do.

I think that that Triple H is gone, and has been since about 2008. It was certainly a quiet transition, but I think that Triple H has just faded away. Look at the Nash feud.

They should probably stop calling him the cerebral assassin, though.