Monday Night RAW Review!!! (5/14/12)

Before I start this blog post, I want to make a couple of announcements:

1) Sometime next week, after the Over the Limit pay-per-view, I'm going to address the current State of the WWE and why I think people have been so turned off by it. I'm going to talk about everything from the current superstars, championships, storylines, and everything in between.

2) Also next week, I'm going to weigh in on a very HOT topic: Who is the biggest star the WWE has ever had? I'm going to choose from the 3 potential candidates: Stone Cold, John Cena, and Hulk Hogan. I'm gonna give my thoughts on who I think is really the biggest star the WWE has ever produced. I don't mean right now, but of all-time. My answer may just surprise some people.


And now, onto Monday Night RAW!

WWE Monday Night RAW is live tonight and this is the go-home show for Over the Limit this Sunday on pay-per-view. It's going to be interesting to see how they build up the angles heading into this Sunday. Maybe, just maybe it'll make up for the lackluster RAW we got last week.

RAW starts off with "The Game" Triple H! After some small talk with John Laurinatis, HHH came to the ring and cut a promo on Brock Lesnar. He talked about Lesnar and how he quit WWE, how he left UFC to come back to the WWE when he got beat, and now that he got beat by Cena, he left again. Very well said and only Triple H could deliver a promo that good.

Before he could finish, Lesnar's music hits and out comes Paul Heyman. Basically, he comes to say that Brock Lesnar is suing Triple H for breach of contract. This gets Triple H pissed and he puts his hands on Heyman. But the Corporate Triple H doesn't really go through with his attack. Instead he says, "You tell Brock he's going to get EVERYTHING he deserves" and leaves the ring. Heyman then comes back and says that HE is now suing Triple H for assault and battery.

Nice promo between Heyman and Triple H. I kind of expected more, but it's good enough and got across the Lesnar storyline without actually having Lesnar on RAW.

CM Punk & Santino vs Daniel Bryan & Cody Rhodes

Not a bad match here between these four. It seemed to lag at times, but overall it was a nice little match. There was nothing really special about it, or any spots to comment on. I will say this, Cody Rhodes gets better and better in the ring each and every week. He was always good, but he seems to be getting even better.

But CM Punk pins Cody Rhodes with the GTS with Bryan cowardly walking up the ramp, not helping his partner.

In case you forgot, because they've barely been talking about it, CM Punk defends the WWE Championship against Daniel Bryan this Sunday. Despite the poor build, I'm still looking forward to the wrestling match they're going to have.

Beth Phoenix vs Alicia Fox


Despite Alicia looking sexy as usual, Beth squashed her for a quick win. Beth wanted to inflict some more pain on Alicia after the win, but Layla came down to stop it. And afterwards, we had a staredown between both females.

On a side-note, the crowd was absolutely dead for all of this.




John Cena Make-A-Wish Segment:


They aired a John Cena vignette where he visits the Make-A-Wish foundation to further prove to us how much of a good guy John Cena actually is. We get it. This is not me being a hater. I'm just saying, we know he's a nice guy, we don't need to be reminded of that.

Big Show vs Kane


Before this match happens, there's a recap of last week's RAW when Show mocked Laurinatis and Eve forced him to apologize. But then Friday on SmackDown, Laurinatis said he wanted an apology on RAW and it better be a damn good one. With that said, let's get to this match.

I enjoyed this match better than the tag match. The pace was slow, but Kane and Big Show have wrestled each other so many times, everytime they get in the ring, they can put on a decent match. This was a good match, but John Laurinatis got on the mic and demanded an apology during the match. Big Show got distracted, Kane took advantage and chokeslammed Show for the win.

After the match, John Laurinatis got on the mic and demanded an apology from Show or else he was fired. After giving a tearful speech about how much he loved the fans and the business, Show says, "I'm sorry." But that wasn't good enough, Johnny wanted Show to get on his knees and beg for his job.

After a few minutes, Show decided not to beg and after all the crying, Johnny says he'd "re-consider" it. He leaves, waits until he gets to the top of the ramp, and decides to fire Big Show altogether. He leaves and Big Show is left in the ring, on his knees, crying his eyes out. Wow.

Despite Big Show's great acting, that promo was painful. And by painful, I mean awful, like it was bad. It took too long and it made Big Show look like.....y'know, I'm just gonna move on.

On a brighter note, this segment made John Laurinatis look like an awesome Asshole Boss. I hated the promo, but it did its job to perfection.

Brodus Clay, Kofi Kingston, & R-Truth vs The Miz, Jack Swagger, & Dolph Ziggler


This was actually a very entertaining little tag team match. It wasn't very long, but it was short enough so that people didn't get tired of it. Everybody got in some decent action with Miz and Kofi wrestling most of the time.

Kofi's hits Miz with his Trouble in Paradise kick which Miz selled so perfectly, and Brodus Clay comes in for the splash and the win for all the faces.

And afterwards, they bring in the little kiddies to dance with them. How nice.

Randy Orton vs Chris Jericho


No surprise here as these guys put on a good one-on-one match. It was short for my liking but because of the time constraints, they put on some solid action.

As for the ending, I liked how they booked this. Jericho throws Orton into Sheamus, which causes Sheamus to go into this rage and attack Jericho and get him disqualified, giving the win to Jericho. Once Jericho retreats to the back, Orton and Sheamus get into a disagreement and are about to go at it until the referees break them up. Very good. Nothing like two fan favorites ready to rip each other apart.

Best part of the show in my opinion, but the show isn't over yet.

By the way, where was Del Rio? Unless plans changed, I'm sure he's involved in the Fatal 4 Way Match this Sunday too. But after seeing this, there was no place for him in this segment. Guess I answered my own question.

It's time for the final confrontation between John Cena and John Laurinatis before their match this Sunday.

This promo started out strong with John Laurinatis coming out and poking fun at John Cena and all of his fans in the arena.

Cue John Cena. He comes out and makes fun of John Laurinatis like a good guy would make fun of a bully. He started making fun of his voice again, calling him names, interrupting him with the word "loser" and calling upon the crowd to join in on the fun. The crowd was really into it. As for me, not so much. His insults were unfunny and he did that ridiculous "loser" thing twice. Once is enough. Not to mention, his back and forth with Laurinatis was boring and dragged on too long.

When Sexy Eve came out, things got interesting. She handed him a piece of paper from the Board of Directors, which John Cena took and read.

In the John Cena/John Laurinatis match this Sunday it will be one-on-one, the only way to win is by pinfall, or submission, and if any superstar gets involved in the match, they will be fired. But here's where things get interesting because if John Laurinatis loses to John Cena on Sunday, then he's fired!

This prompts Laurinatis to slap Cena in the face! Johnny walks off and Cena gives his serious face.

That promo went on WAY too long, but this does make things interesting. John Laurinatis has been a GREAT heel general manager and it's a little too early for him to lose his position of power. It's going to be intriguing to see how this match goes. I already have a feeling, but I'm going to keep that one to myself.



Overall, this RAW......was very bland. Nothing very spectacular. Another poor RAW with little to no wrestling and two promos that went on WAY too long for the message it was trying to get across. Poor show going into Over the Limit. Then again, the RAW before Extreme Rules was poor and that pay-per-view turned out to be pretty good, so I guess we'll see how the pay-per-view goes. I give this RAW a C, and once again, I'm being very generous.



Feel free to Comment.


By: Gerald "Showstopper" Prophete

Monday Night RAW Review!!! (4/30/12)

Monday Night RAW is live in Dayton, Ohio coming off the heels of WWE Extreme Rules. I'm here to give my reaction to one of the more.....unusual Monday Night RAW shows.

This was quite the interesting opening segment. Triple H and Brock Lesnar face to face. I've been waiting to see these two go at it for a long time and we may just get out match.......well maybe.

Triple H went on a long speech basically saying all the stuff Lesnar asked for is null and void. Brock attacked Triple H and "broke" his arm. Let's be real, Triple H's arm isn't broken, but for the sake of argument, let's just say it is.

I liked this segment, it still showed that Brock Lesnar is an unstable monster even after losing to Cena to last night. He "broke" the arm of the COO and put him on the shelf. I expect a match between these two somewhere down the road.  If you think Triple H will just let this go, you haven't been watching Triple H for very long.

But where does Lesnar go from here? First Cena, then Triple H. Who does he go after next?

And now, we begin the Beat the Clock matches. It's been a while (I think) since we had a beat the clock series of matches on WWE Television. The prize is to face CM Punk for the WWE Championship at Over the Limit.

The Miz beat Santino in this first match which was wayyy better than their pre-show match last night. Given a little more time, they had a good match. Miz holds the record so far at 4:18.

The Divas Championship. I guess I have no choice but to review this. I have this rant about the Divas Division and how far it's fallen, but that can be saved for another day.

Layla squashes The Bella Twins and retains the Divas Championship. Meh, the Bellas contract was expiring anyway.

The Jericho/Big Show match wasn't bad. When you've been around as long as Jericho and Show have, you know how to get a solid match out of one another. The pace was slow, and methodical and good for the little time they were given. But what confused me was the ending. I think it was a little bit botched. Either the referee didn't count fast enough so that he reached 10 as soon as the clocked hit 0, or what. I don't think they even put Jericho's time up. They pretty much forgot about it and Miz still held the top time. Oh well. Moving on....

Brodus Clay squash. Nothin much else to say here. Oh, they brought kids in the ring to dance with them. How nice. I wish they would do something with this man. I'm slowly starting to get tired of him. Not yet.

Randy Orton took on Jack Swagger in the third beat the clock match. This match wasn't anything special. I personally don't like Jack Swagger's in-ring ability. He comes off too sloppy at times and rather boring to me. Nothing jumps out about him to me. Makes me wonder why he was World Champion that one time.

Nonetheless, Randy Orton wins after hitting the RKO narrowly beating The Miz's time and The Viper controlled the top spot.

I must say, I was thoroughly enjoying the Beat the Clock matches.

A WWE Tag Team Championship Match? On RAW? Whoa....

Anyway, I was never really sold on Primo and Epico as tag team champions, even though they're great in the ring. They were only relevant because Rosa is so sexy. But I saw this coming a mile away. Truth and Kofi are over with the crowd and this was a good tag team title match in my opinion. But, I wonder if Kofi and Truth are actually going to do anything with the tag titles. There really aren't that many tag teams in the WWE.

But where do Rosa, Epico and Primo go from here? After the match, they were seen talking to A.W. Apparently, this guy is putting together a stable of superstars. I'm interested in seeing where this goes and if it's going to get these guys over.

Kane and Khali was just your normal big man match. I didn't find anything particularly special about it except for the fact that time ran out. I was expecting something a little better than that. Kane gets pissed and chokeslams Khali afterwards.

Orton is safe for yet another round.

I assume there was nobody left for Bryan to fight, so they just gave him Jerry "The King" Lawler to beat up on. Lawler moved pretty well in the ring and showed that he still got for a man of his age. But, it was inevitable. We knew who was winning this one. Daniel Bryan makes King tap out to the YES! lock and beats Orton's time.

CM Punk will defend the WWE Championship against Daniel Bryan at Over the Limit.

Let that sink in for a minute. We're in store for what could be one of the best technical wrestling matches to date. We know how extremely skilled in the ring these two are and had a few matches on TV here and there. But now, they're on a pay-per-view stage where they truly show off their abilities and fight for the WWE Championship. I will certainly be glued to this match every second. If you're a fan of good wrestling, then you're going to enjoy this match.

But, I'm interested to see what they do in terms of a feud. Do they go back to their roots in ROH, or do they just make up a whole fantastical storyline?

Hey, it's John Cena! Wasn't he was going on vacation or something?

Anyway, Cena comes and cuts the usual good guy promo and cue Big Johnny. If there's one thing I'll give Cena is that he does a damn good impression of Big Johnny. That's for damn sure.

Now, this segment was pure genius. He goads Cena into thinking he'd be facing Lord Tensai at Over the Limit, but he's really going to be facing Big Johnny! Big Johnny took some lessons from Mr. McMahon with the way he attacked Cena and barked out orders to Lord Tensai.

I am actually excited for this match. We all know this won't be a straight up one-on-one match. There's gonna be a stipulation where the odds will be stacked against Cena. This has the potential to be very good, but that all depends on what they do with Cena. They can't have him get his ass whipped all the way up to Over the Limit. He needs at least one week where he gets the upper hand on Big Johnny.

But overall, I'm actually glad it's Cena vs Big Johnny and not Cena vs Lord Tensai.


I give this RAW a B. Some good matches here and there and a nice surprise at the end and we already have two matches heading into Over the Limit and I can't wait! Cena vs Big Johnny and Punk vs Bryan for the WWE Championship. WWE is slowly, but surely getting their edge back. We're looking at perhaps 5 great pay-per-views in a row!

WrestleMania 28 Reaction!!!

Another WrestleMania in the books! This was hyped as the Greatest WrestleMania of all-time and they sure delivered. This will most likely go down as one of the best WrestleManias ever, but with every positive, there is a negative. Let's go down the line of what I liked and didn't like about the show.

All the hype and all the fanfare brought us to this moment. The Rock vs John Cena. Well, let me say this match delivered on all levels: Excitement, atmosphere, and even a damn good match.

The concerts beforehand I thought were pretty good. It set the tone before each superstar's entrance. Although I find MGK to be dreadful, that's a point for another time. But as expected, the fans booed Cena and cheered for The Rock heavily.

Once the bell rang, the pop that the fans let out said it all. It was a match that was booked a year in adavance we were finally ready to witness it. That being said, the match started out slow and methodical, and the pace was picked up. The Rock showed that he still got it in the ring, but what was better is that Cena was looking better every step of the way. Rock made Cena look pretty damn good in this one and vice versa.

People are gonna say that Rock winning makes no sense, but when you really look at the big picture, it does make sense. Cena's suffered bigger loses than this. He's lost at WrestleMania twice before as a matter of fact. His career is so HUGE, that losses like this don't affect his career because he's still going to be wrestling until he can't do it anymore. Cena doesn't lose a thing from this loss, despite what people may believe. So, please take that noise somewhere else. WWE was set on making The Rock the biggest superstar ever and they gave him the win. It's confusing, but it's business. If anything, it makes Cena look better and he gained a hell of a lot of respect from me because he showed he can compete with The Rock on the big stage.

This match gets 5 Stars from me. All the hype and all the buildup was worth it. This match delivered in every way, shape, and form. Hats off to both men.

The last Hell in a Cell match was at WrestleMania 15 and it was horrible. THIS Hell in a Cell Match was the best match of the night. The story that was told, the passion, the fire, the energy in this match, all of this made it match of the night, maybe the year so far.

Let's start with entrances. Triple H was rockin, but Undertaker's was better. It may be the same old Undertaker entrance, but what made it was Taker's costume. We're already off to a great start. And I was expecting a disaster with Taker's hair, but it was actually pretty cool. I actually prefer it to his long hair a tad. Also, having JR call this match was a plus. If only we could have him back full time. *sigh*

Onto the match. These two are obviously past their prime so the match started a bit fast, and then slowed down. It picked up later and that's when we got to the meat of the matter. The storytelling in this was fantastic. HBK's constant taking of the chair away from HHH telling him to cool it. The match REALLY got turned up to a whole other level when HBK kicked Taker in the face and he turned around right into a Pedigree! After that chain of events, I thought it was over. But it wasn't. Freaking Amazing way to build suspense. Then towards the end, Undertaker started gaining new life. It started when he stepped on Triple H's hand preventing him from using the sledgehammer. And then Taker started dominating the ending of the match. When Triple H realized he couldn't go anymore, Undertaker ended it and went to 20-0.

And then, a great deal of respect was shown after the match and then all three of them standing at the top of the ramp truly was the End of an Era. Maybe we'll never see Taker and HHH wrestle again. If they truly are done, this was a superb way to go out. Great match, great ending, great aftermath. 5 Stars and more and best match of the night. Nothing even came remotely close.

Best in the World vs Best in the World. Loved the match, HATED the placement.

Let's be honest, this match was put in the wrong place. It went on right BEFORE Rock vs Cena. Which means nobody gave a damn about it because they were anticipating Rock vs Cena because it was the next match. Not only that but it came right after Hell in a Cell pretty much. The pace was slow, methodical, and a great technical wrestling match. I enjoyed the match, I just hated the fact that they had to put it right before Rock and Cena. I can tell throughout the match the fans weren't interested because they knew Rock and Cena were next. It should've been on much earlier. Sticking it between Hell in a Cell and Rock vs Cena did this match no justice.

How I would've done it was: IC Title, Orton/Kane, Punk/Jericho, Divas Match, Hell in a Cell, Team Long vs Team Johnny, Bryan/Sheamus, Rock/Cena. 

Punk and Jericho had a great match, and nobody will probably even remember it. Shameful.

Anyway, I don't think the feud between Punk and Jericho is over. Jericho is definitely going to want to some retribution. There were points in the match where I thought Jericho was going to win. More specifically that amazing spot where he reveresed Punk's  Hurricanrana into the Walls of Jericho. Punk and Jericho was a great match. I enjoyed it. Can't say the same for other people though.

I don't even know where, or how to begin with this match. I don't even think you can call it a match. It was 18 SECONDS LONG! Please excuse me while I rant.

So, all the time invested in Daniel Bryan really meant nothing? The man was the top heel on SmackDown and got over with the crowd so well. His character got great reactions and he improved on his promos. Sheamus was built as the strong face heading into Mania and the Royal Rumble Winner, but holy hell! Daniel Bryan turned around, got kicked in the face and that was it. I have no idea why that was the opener and why they disrespected the World Heavyweight Championship and Daniel Bryan in that manner. Last year at WrestleMania, Bryan and Sheamus don't even make the card, and this year not only are they the opener, but they get an 18 second match. Ridiculous.

I wonder where Daniel Bryan goes from here. The man lost in 18 seconds. I'm interested in Sheamus' reign as World Champion, but more interested in seeing where Bryan does after this.

At first I didn't get this decision, but I now I understand.

They made it too obvious that Show was going to win that it came to a point where you actually thought there was a chance that he might lose. But looking at the bigger picture here, I understand the story and why they gave Show the title.

First of all, what happens to a guy that runs his mouth and angers a Giant? Eventually, he gets what's coming to him. And that's what they did. Also, this win not only gives Show his first one-on-one win at WrestleMania, but with this win, he's now officially held EVERY single title there is to hold in the WWE. Proud of Show.

The match was pretty much how I expected. Rhodes stalled, Show dominated, Rhodes got in a little bit of offense, and Show put him away. Start to finish, it was what I expected. Well, except for the outcome of course. But what happens to Rhodes now? Does he move on to Main Event status now, or does he go back to Big Show?

The 12 Man Tag Team Match went on as planned. It was good, entertaining filler.

The match was nothing spectacular, but everybody got in some action and it seemed to flow very well. Nothing much to say after that.

The way it ended caught me by surprise. I didn't know Eve was gonna get involved and cost Team Teddy the match. And good for The Miz to get the pin. This was something he needed to get some momentum back. He got the pin for Team Johnny and Teddy is gone.

I'm sure this feud isn't over by a long shot, but for tonight, Johnny controls RAW and SmackDown, and Eve turned on Ryder......again.

Orton and Kane had a good match, and Kane won. o_O

This match played out looking like it was supposed to be a technical match, but that's not  a vibe that went well with this match. It was supposed to be a brawl type of match. Nonetheless, I actually enjoyed the match a lot. I just didn't think they were gonna go in that direction with it.

Kane getting the win is surprising. I would think that Orton would get the win here, but I guess they're taking this angle into a different direction. Or maybe this is the end of the angle. Who knows?

Kane's top rope chokeslam was pretty cool though.

The Divas match was actually.....pretty good.

It's sad that this match got more time than the World Title and IC Title matches combined, but I digress.

Maria looked pretty good in there for a woman with two broken ribs, but you could tell at the end they were bothering her. This was a good match with Kelly Kelly carrying most of it. A win for the face Divas team isn't all that surprising.


Overall, WrestleMania 28 surpassed last year's WrestleMania by leaps and bounds. This will definitely go down as one of the greatest of all-time. Simply put. Great show, I'd love to watch it again as a matter of fact. I can't wait for RAW! Well done, Mr. McMahon. Amazing show.

Feel free to Comment.


By: Gerald "Showstopper" Prophete