WWE RAW August 22, 2011: Grading the Results Segment by Segment... LIVE!

To help shake things up a little bit, this week's article is going to be a little different. I will grade each segment and match in terms of its effectiveness in building up things that wrestling fans might be interested. I'll still be giving my snarky comments as we go, and from time to time, I'll reference something that the announcers have to say, but mainly I'll be focusing on the net-sum of each segment as it goes.

I might also be throwing some random comments here and there on Twitter (@GuysNation), so follow me there and look for it from time to time. If you think you're too cool for Twitter...

1 - You're not.

2 - You're missing a lot.

Things we're looking forward to tonight?

What's next between Kevin Nash and CM Punk? Seems likely that the duo will be facing off at a pay per view in the near future, but will Night Of Champions be the time and place?

Is Stephanie McMahon going to be revealed to be the text-sender tonight, or are they going to wait?

Will CM Punk at least admit that John Cena shouldn't be the one to get the first championship "rematch" against Alberto Del Rio?

Will they stop fooling around already and make it official that Alex Riley will be challenging for the United States championship at the upcoming pay per view?

How about the tag titles? Will they get any love, or is it going to be relinquished to Smackdown? Evan Bourne and Kofi Kingston might step up...

I'll be happy if we get answers to 1/2 of those questions.

Let the grading... begin!

The show starts with the World Champion, which is a good thing, but we already know that he is the World Champion and that it was his destiny, so if he doesn't say anything more than that, it's a waste of time. And if John Cena shows up and doesn't cut a better promo than last week, the segment will be a failure.

You're better than that, John.

So John gets things started early, not even letting Alberto Del Rio introduce himself, and I'm liking this already. maybe they're trying to save time early in the show so Triple H can be long-winded later.

When John Cena said he's tired of making average seem awesome, did anyone else immediately think of The Miz?

Getting CM Punk involved in the opening segment? Good idea. Having him wear shorts instead of his ring attire tights? Great idea.

CM Punk saying he should be the one to get the title shot rematch ahead of John Cena? Good thing. Punk mentioning Jack Tunney? Great.

Anyone else notice how huge 'berto Del Rio's nostrils are? He could snort one of his cars through those things.

CM Punk wants to cash in a rematch clause for the pay per view, and John Cena wants to cash in tonight. Where's the problem?

Alberto Del Rio wants to ignore the requests of both Punk and Cena, and apparently COO-HHH has something to say about that.

Jim Ross says the mood has changed in the ring with COO-HHH on the way to the ring, but ADR was grinning ear to ear anyway, and neither Punk nor Cena were happy about the situation at that point anyway.

Anyone else think it'd be awesome to see a mini-tournament at Night Of Champions a la Wrestlemania X? CM Punk could start the night by facing Kevin Nash, John Cena could wrestle Alberto Del Rio, and then CM Punk could face the winner of Cena / ADR.

That might be a bit too much, but it would make for an interesting evening.

COO-HHH settles it: CM Punk vs John Cena in the main event tonight, with the winner getting the first title shot at Alberto Del Rio, taking place at Night Of Champions.

Grading: Giving away a huge match like Punk vs Cena? I don't love the idea, but at least Punk is involved in the World Title scene. I'll give it a B

Non-Title Match: Alberto Del Rio vs John Morrison

I like the choice of opponents. Morrison's a guy who doesn't typically get brought up into the main event to play with the high profile guys despite the fact that he'd be a viable contender to the World Title over on Smackdown.

Comparing Alberto Del Rio to Wayne Gretzky because RAW is in Edmonton tonight gives Michael Cole the "Terribly Untimely Reference" achievement as another reason why I don't think he's a good announcer.

Since they're basically turning CM Punk face, why not turn John Morrison heel? He can't win this match because then you'd have a third guy thinking he should get a title shot at the pay per view, but you can make him look good and then cheat him out of a win and have him flip out at people backstage. Morrison vs Punk and Morrison vs Cena and Morrison vs Mysterio could all be interesting matches, and that doesn't even mention the possibility of having The Miz turn face and having Miz vs Morrison!

Outcome - Alberto Del Rio gets a clean victory after quite a few near-falls by Morrison

Grading: The right outcome, a good opponent, and they continue to build him up as a credible heel champion while pulling other guys into a potential role as a future main eventer. Verdict: A-

Match: Eve Torres vs Nikki Bella

Having Kelly Kelly at ringside, leaning over for a mostly-cleavage camera shot? Decent.

Eve Torres doing the booty shots before the backflip? Decent.

Having Beth Phoenix and Nattie Neidhart do an "earlier today" interview to show in the picture-in-picture during the pre-match? I'm a big fan of that.

Outcome - Eve Torres gets the win by pinfall

Grading: The Bella Twins seem to be getting buried, as has become the weekly trend. Beth Phoenix and Nattie Neidhart show up to get a closer look AFTER the match is over? At least they're pushing things along, however slowly. Verdict: B- (just slightly above average)

Match - Jack Swagger vs Alex Riley

Great match booking, as they're continuing the Dolph Ziggler angle from weeks past. Letting Vickie Guerrero manage Jack Swagger is a great thing.

Having the match end this quickly, with Swagger getting distracted two minutes into the match and then Alex Riley getting a quick pinfall roll-up when Swagger gets back into the ring? Meh.

Grading: Lots of potential, fails to fully deliver, but it continues things on a decent path. Above average, but nowhere near a hit. Verdict: B

Discussing The Text Message

COO-HHH shows up and says that he and Kevin Nash spoke over the past week and got to the bottom of the text message situation, and The Game wants to clear up the fact that there's no controversy brewing...

Nash doesn't want to apologize to CM Punk, he'd rather call him out. Security showing up last week wasn't something that Nash wanted... but because Nash isn't on the roster, COO-HHH can't let the confrontation happen on RAW.

Punk doesn't want to let this Scooby-Doo Mystery rest, so he shows up and tells Nash not to go anywhere until they figure things out... and Punk suggests it was Stephanie who sent the text, getting right at brass tacks.

COO-HHH gets in the way when Punk tries to go after Nash, and before The Game's suit gets ruffled, Punk says he won't cause trouble... but as Stephanie McMahon Helmsly gets besmirched, Nash has heard enough and he hauls off and hits Punk

Grading: The fact that CM Punk offered up Stephanie as his guess for the text-sender was good, but the fact that no one else responded to that idea was unfortunate. It furthers the angle, Nash gets physical, Punk doesn't get buried... but there was nothing SPECIAL going on. Verdict: B

WWE Tag Team Championship - McGillicutty & Otunga (c) vs Kofi Kingston & Evan Bourne

Hearing the announcers mention that Kofi & Bourne vow to come up with a name for their team if they win the belts? Ironic, considering the current champs are "McGillicutty & Otunga".

Or is it "Otunga & McGillicutty"?

Outcome - Kofi Kingston & Evan Bourne get the pinfall and become the new tag team champs, using a double-team combo nevertheless!

Grading: The fact that they have somewhat matching attire, know how to put together some double-team moves and actually WANT a tag team name? Works for me. The fact that this wasn't an "out of the blue" match? Works for me, although a two-week feud with no promos involved? Underwhelming. Verdict: B-

Definitely want to take suggestions for the names for Kofi / Bourne. I've got suggestions:

United Air (it makes sense if you read last week's article... and if you know what the United Nations flag looks like).

Santino Gets Got

During his way to the ring, Santino Marella gets beaten down by R-Truth and The Miz... and the guys who think there's a conspiracy going on have decided to team up to fight the conspiracy against the people holding them back.

Anyone else smell another tag title reign for The Miz?

Funny how one of the best dressed guys in WWE (The Miz) is now aligning himself with a guy who has had the same spray-painted jeans since he showed up in WWE.

The Miz referencing last week's God awful Subway segment just got this potential abomination of a segment a few extra credit points.

Grading: R-Truth was off his game, this pairing seems kinda random, and you could've easily had these guys start something with Kofi and Evan Bourne backstage (even if it was an off-camera beatdown). I like the fact that WWE is adding another tag team to the division, but their sing-along after all the talking got an eye-roll, as did their choice of Santino to beat down, because he hasn't been on RAW in weeks. Verdict: I'll give it a C-

Winner Gets His PPV Title Shot First: CM Punk vs John Cena

The match was good, but that was expected. Was it too good for a RAW main event? Were they giving away something that they could've saved for yet another pay per view? Maybe, but having the match here kept them from having it on a third straight pay per view, which would've been a bad thing. They get credit for that.

It all comes down to the ending for this match.

Despite COO-HHH being directed to the hospital to check up on Kevin Nash, the man formerly known as Diesel shows up, apparently having not been in a car accident, and it leads to Punk being distracted just long enough for John Cena to get the win in very similar fashion to Punk's win at Money In The Bank back in Chicago.

After the match, John Laurinitis gets involved and the storyline gets thicker, giving us a strong idea for who sent the text message.

Grading: It's the right outcome. Punk vs ADR at Night Of Champions wouldn't have been the right direction to go, and up until now CM Punk has owned John Cena, so I can't complain about that aspect of it. Verdict: A

So looking back on the show as a whole, let's see what the grade averages out to be:

Main Event: A

R-Truth & The Miz Teaming Up: C-

Tag Title Match: B-

Punk / Nash / COO-HHH Segment: B

Swagger vs Alex Riley: B

Bella vs Eve Torres: B-

Alberto del Rio vs John Morrison: A-

Opening Segment: B

Overall Grade for the August 8th RAW: B

Keep checking back throughout the night for updates as they come! By the end of the night, the infamous polls will be available over at GuysNation (because I can't add them all here)!