Monday Night RAW Review!!! (4/16/12)

Alright, so it's time to get down to business as usual and it means it's time to review Monday Night RAW!

So, RAW is coming from London, England and these crowds are always entertaining, and it was a great night.

CM Punk vs Mark Henry


It's been a while since we had a WWE Championship Match open up Monday Night RAW. This match was solid. It wasn't as good as the match they had the night after WrestleMania, but good nonetheless. This felt like a throwaway match to me and the No DQ, No Countout thing was meh. Because they spent most of the time in the ring, and barely used any weapons. But nonetheless, Punk retains.

And then Jericho comes on and keeps on making this feud interesting. There's a tape of Punk walking into a pub and now we know it'll be Jericho and Punk in a Chicago Street Fight at Extreme Rules for the WWE Championship. This feud keeps on getting more and more interesting by the week. It's something new every week and it keeps me interested. If you're not hooked into this feud, then I can't help you.

United States Championship
Santino (c) vs David Otunga


This was nothing more than filler, which really says what the United States Championship means to the WWE nowadays. But the match was a bit sloppy at times and almost forgettable. Santino retains, but I would like to see this actually turn into a feud where Otunga ends up winning the US Title in the near future. He got a good push leading into WrestleMania and the US Title could be the thing he needs to really get over.

Brock Lesnar Interview


Well, this was rather interesting. Lesnar's interview was ok. I agreed with some things and disagreed with some things as well.

He went a bit overboard saying things like he was the most dominant collegiate athlete or something along those lines, because both Kurt Angle and Bobby Lashley were better mat wrestlers than Lesnar in my opinion.

Then he said Cena wouldn't be the man if Lesnar hadn't left. This isn't entirely true.

Cena would've eventually taken over as the face of the company, but it probably wouldn't have happened as fast as it did. Lesnar leaving opened up the door for Cena in a HUGE way to emerge and become the company's top man.

Sounds like a bit of jealousy on Lesnar's part. Maybe if Lesnar had actually stayed in WWE, he wouldn't be so bitter and upset that John Cena is "The Man" right now. Because Lesnar was still a Big star before he left in 2004 and there's no telling where his career would've gone from there, but he chose to leave and try out for the NFL and eventually end up going to UFC.

But already off the bat, this feud is personal and I Love it. This promo not only made their feud so interesting already, but it really got the point across that Brock Lesnar really doesn't like Cena.

Kane vs Zack Ryder


Remember when Zack Ryder was the United States Champion and looked like a legit star? Me neither.

Ever since his involvement in the Cena/Kane feud, he's been forgettable and now he's pretty much a jobber and getting buried. I mean, first it was Miz last week and now Kane. Just remember that he didn't get any offense in this match. Let's move on.

Kane's little promo afterwards was ok. It helped to push along the feud rather nicely.



Daniel Bryan/Kofi/AJ Segment


YES! YES! YES!

I remember when people didn't like Daniel Bryan and his character was annoying. I defended him and said he got better each week and is over. But now it looks like his loss at Mania was a blessing in disguise. He's more over with the fans than he was when he was Champion, got a new shirt, and has fans all around the world saying YES! YES! YES! Not only is Daniel Bryan the best wrestler in the WWE right now, but his character is getting over like never before.

Take this segment for example. He appeared and the fans erupted in YES! Chants. And now he changed the name of his finisher to the YES! Lock. I don't know how long the YES! Chants are gonna be around for, but this segment was a perfect way to milk it a little bit.

Say what you want about Bryan, but the man is over and I love this.

John Cena Promo


*Sigh*

What happened to the John Cena that had personal barbs to throw at The Rock? What happened to the John Cena who slapped Brock Lesnar in the face last week?

Tonight, he came out and went back to cutting a cheesy promo. Pretty much what he said was: "Brock Lesnar is a Monster and even though I may get my ass kicked, I'm showing up to fight!"

Once again: *Sigh*

Just when I was starting to like Cena again, he goes back to cutting cheesy promos and showing off the good guy attitude. Now look, there's nothing wrong with that, but for god sakes at least come at your opponent. I was expecting Cena to come at Lesnar like he did with The Rock: Making it personal. Lesnar pretty much said: "You wouldn't have been shit if I didn't leave." And that is your best comeback? When Rock went in on Cena, he had comebacks. Where is that?

Well, they have a Contract Signing next week on RAW, so let's see if he acts any different.

Daniel Bryan vs Kofi Kingston


This was the best match of the night by far. The flow of this match was good, and that pace was average. It wasn't too fast, nor was it too slow to the point where you got bored. It was a very good TV match. Kofi continues to look like a Million Bucks even though he loses, and in the meanwhile Bryan gets the win and looks good heading into his rematch with Sheamus for the World Heavyweight Championship.

But he is showing more of a violent side when he went back to attack Kofi again. His YES! thing combined with his character is working for him. He looks better than Sheamus and he's the World Heavyweight Champion!

Brodus Clay vs Dolph Ziggler


This match barely got underway as Swagger got involved. Long story short, Clay squashed both Ziggler and Swagger and Brodus' dancers got into it with Vickie Guerrero. Forgettable segment really even though I really like Brodus Clay's character.


R-Truth as Sherlock Holmes


Maybe I'd care a little more about this if they had given Truth more than one segment. But whatever, Truth is funny, so it works.

Big Show and Great Khali vs Primo & Epico


First of all, Big Show and Khali as a tag team? o_O

Anyway, nice way of squashing the WWE Tag Team Champions....again, making them even more irrelevant than they already were.

No Cody Rhodes sighting? Hmm...

Extreme Rules Match
John Cena vs Lord Tensai


This match upset me in so many different ways, but I'll get to that in a second.


As far as the match goes, it wasn't anything special. Lord Tensai's first RAW Main Event against John Cena and he was ok I guess. I feel like it was a bit too soon because the man had what....2 matches? I would've much rather had Kane face Cena. But getting back to the match, I knew the pace was going to be slow, but sheesh! Tensai pretty much dominated the whole match. Face superstars don't get too much offense in these days do they?

Also, I don't see the point of an "Extreme Rules" match if there's nothing "Extreme" about it. There was nothing Extreme about this match at all. I mean they didn't even use a Chair for God sakes!

Now here's what got me upset. Why in the hell did John Cena lose? This has to be the most ridiculous thing I think I've ever seen. Lord Tensai has two wins under his belt and beat John Cena? Not only did he beat Cena, but he beat him clean pretty much.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think John Cena has a Pay-Per-View match coming up against Brock Lesnar. Right? I thought so. So, to get him ready for the match, he loses to Lord Tensai? I expected John Cena to go apeshit and beat down Tensai, Otunga, and Laurinatis sending a message to Lesnar. The show goes off the air with Cena standing tall giving him momentum against Lesnar.

But instead, the lasting image of RAW tonight is a guy that most people don't know, or care about. The lasting image of RAW was Prince Albert.

The only explanation I have for this is that they're going somewhere with Cena's character. Why in God's name would the top superstar in the WWE right now lose to guy who's only had two matches since re-debuting? I hope Vince knows what he's doing with this. A win over John Cena shows that you're going to get pushed sooner or later.


Overall, this RAW was pretty bland. The only good parts about to me was the Punk/Jericho segment and Bryan vs Kofi. Last week's RAW was better and it's not even close. But next week is a 3-Hour RAW show before Extreme Rules next Sunday. So, it should be a HUGE show. See you guys then!


Feel free to Comment.


By: Gerald "Showstopper" Prophete

Monday Night RAW Review!!! (4/9/12)

Back by popular demand, this is a special review for Monday Night RAW!

I guess we can call this an every week thing now. This was supposed to last until WrestleMania, but I guess a review for RAW every Monday couldn't hurt. The fans that left need to realize what they're missing and this is my way of bringing it to them.

Let's get right down to the heart of the matter. RAW starts with a HUGE Brawl between John Cena and Brock Lesnar. Lesnar was in the ring, Cena walked down and bitch slapped him, and one Lesnar punch later, Cena was busted open and the whole Locker Room cleared out to separate them. That was quite a mouthful. What a way begin the show!

And we now know that Cena and Lesnar will Main Event Extreme Rules on April 29th in Chicago.

Here's what's good and bad with this: First off, I loved the Brawl between Cena and Lesnar. It portrayed some sort of a real hatred between these two. If I'm not mistaken, I don't think Lesnar really likes Cena in real life, but that's besides the point. Great brawl and it's even better that the whole Locker Room had to tear them apart. Need more of that.

What I don't like is that this match is at Extreme Rules. Huh? Why have a match like Cena and Lesnar at Extreme Rules? My guess is they didn't want to keep the fans waiting to see when these two were going to collide and they're giving it to us sooner than later. That and I highly doubt these two are gonna be done after one match. It's John Cena and Brock Lesnar. No way these two are done after Extreme Rules. But I feel like it lessens the hype for a Marquee match doing it at a lesser ppv.

Then again, The Rock vs Goldberg was the Main Event at Backlash.


I didn't care too much for Laurinatis' and Eve's interaction. I was too distracted by how sexy Eve was looking.


Santino & Brodus Clay vs Dolph Ziggler & Jack Swagger


This was a pretty solid match. I'm confused as to what they're going to do with Brodus and Santino. Tag Team Champions maybe? I think this win is also just another driving force to separate Ziggler and Swagger. Also, Naomi is sexy.


Cena's backstage segment with John Laurinatis was ok because Cena looked legit pissed off after getting busted open by Brock Lesnar. Wouldn't be surprised if he was to be honest.


Cody Rhodes vs R-Truth


The Cody Rhodes/Big Show feud is still going on which is good and it's not disappointing. I like the whole Big Show giving Cody a taste of his own medicine thing. I wonder how long it'll be before Cody snaps and goes off on Show.


Lord Tensai vs Yoshi Tatsu


I'm not too interested in Lord Tensai so far. I mean, I like the whole character and everything, but this is not Japan. He's going to need to a lot more than spraying mist into his hands to get over. Then again, it worked for Tajiri. To the fans who actually know him, he's still Prince Albert. But he needs to upgrade his Squash matches. He's gotten better and more mobile in the ring, but he's not proving me anything by beating down guys 1/3 his size.


CM Punk/Chris Jericho/Mark Henry

CM Punk's promo was good. People are going to complain about how they miss the old CM Punk, but this is an interesting turn his character is making. He's getting more personal and being forced to revert to getting more emotional. You could tell he was getting more emotional when he mentioned his Father hitting him and so on. I'm loving this Punk/Jericho feud more and more each week.

Speaking of Jericho, the young guys need to take notes. THIS is how you make a feud personal and interesting. You tap into your best skills and tell a story. Jericho is hell bent on making Punk drink. First it was Whiskey, then it was Beer, what's next? Jericho's Heel work is even better than his last run in WWE. He's really tapped into some serious potential in his character. You can see it in the inflection in his voice when he cuts promos and how he acts when he's beating on CM Punk. This is how you get fans to pay attention to you.

Back on to Mark Henry, he's got a rematch with Punk next week for the WWE Title in a No DQ, No Countout match. I predict this is where Punk finally slays the Giant. I've enjoyed the air time Henry has gotten the past few weeks though. I'm more interested in seeing if Jericho interferes.


Alberto Del Rio vs Zack Ryder


Nothing really worth mentioning. Short match. Del Rio wins and moves up more as Ryder continues to fall more and more into obscurity.


The Three Stooges:


*Sigh* I really didn't like this segment. The Hulk Hogan impersonator made it watchable at least. Thank GOD Kane came out and ended this. I have no interest in seeing their movie.


Brock Lesnar Promo:


I liked Lesnar's promo. He could cut a decent promo when he has to sometimes. He mentioned the fact that Cena can't hold his jockstrap. That kind of made me laugh, but when you think about it, Lesnar leaving left the door WIDE open for Cena to be "The Man." Lesnar was "The Man" before he left without a doubt and he's back to claim the top spot. I'm interested in seeing if this feud gets more personal. All in all, very good.


End of an Era Recap:


I didn't get this, but it was good to relive that match one more time. One of the best moments in WrestleMania History and probably the best match at WrestleMania. It was really one of those matches and one of those moments, that you're never going to forget as a wrestling fan.


John Cena vs David Otunga


Usual John Cena match: Gets dominated, comes back and wins the match. The bright spot for Otunga is that he's getting a Main Event match on RAW against the company's top guy. That's gotta mean something, right?

Lesnar coming out and giving Cena the F-5 one more time was awesome. This feud already has me hooked. The brawl in the beginning of the show to the F-5 at the end of show; this feud is looking like it's going to be good. Can't wait for Extreme Rules already!


Overall, this RAW wasn't as good as last week, but still solid. Take away that horrid Three Stooges segment, and you have a great RAW. But disregarding that part, RAW wasn't too bad. A lot of major angles getting more build to it and hyping the next ppv. I'll say this much, this is a great time to be a wrestling fan again. It's things like this that made wrestling what it was. That excitement factor and the suspense that you can't wait to see what happens next week. Nothing will ever come close to the Attitude Era, but 2012 is already turning into a great year for the WWE.


Feel free to Comment.

By: Gerald "Showstopper" Prophete