Raw Reaction: Grading the Three-Hour Special

Tonight's Raw was a three-hour special, which was advertised heavily on the return of Vince McMahon.

The show had heavy anticipation—but did the show deliver?

We found out who will be replacing Alberto Del Rio at No Way Out due to the concussion he sustained on SmackDown last week.

We also got a number of unnecessary promos, commercials and shameless sponsorship plugs.

Let's break the show down, then grade the show as a whole.

Opening Promo

The opening promo was actually worthwhile. It gave us the return of Mr. McMahon, gave us a rundown of the reign of John Laurinaitis and gave Sheamus a nice spot on the mic. 

All in all, it was a solid promo. The best part was when Mr. McMahon threw Laurinaitis' electric scooter off the stage. That made me smile a bit.

Grade: A-

Sheamus vs. Tensai and Aftermath

For as much heat that Tensai draws for not putting on good matches since his return to the WWE, he put on a pretty good match with Sheamus in the opener.

It was physical, entertaining and put Sheamus over heading into this weekend.

The Brogue Kick that Sheamus hit came out of left field, which was a cool ending to the match. I predict that Tensai will probably be written off TV soon.

Grade: A-

After the match, we got a skit with Mr. McMahon, Big Johnny and Teddy Long. Vickie Guerrero made an appearance, crusading for Jack Swagger and Dolph Ziggler to face Sheamus at No Way Out.

Teddy Long suggested a fatal four-way, which Laruinaitis took credit for, and things basically ended there.

We then saw Tensai assault Sakamoto back in the ring, a random Raw 1000 vignette with Seth Green, and R Truth getting written off TV with a WMD from Big Show. Pretty uneventful stuff.

Grade: D- 

Santino Marella and Layla vs. Ricardo Rodriguez and Beth Phoenix

When Santino's music hit, I just knew this was going to be a comedy match.

Well, at least they had the two best in-ring female performers go at it for a majority of the match. That had some entertainment value to it.

The Justin Bieber t-shirt that Santino caught Ricardo wearing was stupid, but at least we saw Beth get a clean win. That will probably set up a match at No Way Out.

Grade: D

Afterwards, we saw David Otunga sucking up to Vince McMahon and Kofi Kingston demanding a death sentence versus Big Show. Yawns followed.

Grade: D-

Daniel Bryan, CM Punk, Kane and AJ Promo

This promo did nothing for me but reiterate what we have already known for some time now.

All it did was set up a tag team match between CM Punk and AJ versus Kane and Daniel Bryan.

What a waste of 15 minutes. In that time, we could have had Zack Ryder, Brodus Clay or any of the WWE talent put on a decent match. Nope, let's waste more of this three hour show talking about stuff nobody cares about.

Grade: F

Christian vs. Jack Swagger vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. Great Khali

Thank God Great Khali did not last long, because watching him dominate the beginning of the match was brutal. All he can do is chop and clothesline people. That's real exciting!

Anyway, Christian, Swagger and Ziggler put on a great match when it was just the three of them. Swagger oversold a couple of things, but overall it was a solid performance.

Plus, it's good to see Ziggler get the title shot. I doubt he will beat Sheamus at No Way Out, but maybe it's a start at getting him back in the main event.

Grade: B

In the aftermath of that match, we saw Vince talking to Natalya. Then, we saw him dance with Cameron and Naomi. Yet another instance of wasting time on this three hour special.

See a pattern here?

Grade: F

Ryback vs. Presidential Jobbers

Say what you want about Ryback's squash matches, but they entertain me a little bit. He is literally beating the hell out of two random jobbers, who I assume are getting a pretty good payday to get beat up.

It was a typical squash match, but hopefully we can get him into feud soon. Ryback is a monster with the potential to be big in the WWE.

Grade: C+

Useless Filler Promo

So let me get this straight—Ed Farrara (who I have no respect for, by the way) makes fun of Jim Ross's Bell's palsy and everybody goes up in arms. Vince McMahon does the same thing, and that's cool? Not in my book and definitely not in my idol Jim Cornette's book, I can tell you that much.

Oh, it was great to see William Regal though.

Grade: F (would have been an F- if Regal didn't appear)

Big Show vs. Kofi Kingston

This was a glorified squash match with a cage for a special effect.

Big Show dominated, like he should have heading into the main event this weekend. But, it again makes the tag team champions look weak, as R Truth was knocked out and Kingston was manhandled.

The match served its purpose, but this could have been a regular singles match. The cage match should have been reserved for an actual competitive match.

Grade: C-

Sin Cara vs. Curt Hawkins

Sin Cara's match definitely got my full attention, as it was the first match other than Sheamus/Tensai that I was excited to see. It did not disappoint, as both Hawkins and Sin Cara put on a respectable match.

It was short, but it served its purpose. Sin Cara did not botch, Hawkins sold nicely and the right man was put over. Sin Cara has looked a step slow since his return, but at least he isn't botching every other move. 

Grade: B+

Heath Slater vs. Vader

What a surprise this was. When they said a former main eventer would be coming up next, the last person I expected to see was Vader.

When his entrance music went off, I literally jumped out of my seat. For a man his age, Vader put on a solid match. Hell, he is better than Great Khali and Ezekiel Jackson at this point.

Vader beat Slater, like we assumed he would, and it was a fun moment on a show that was lacking positives.

Grade: A (for both surprise factor and Vader's performance) 

CM Punk and AJ vs. Kane and Daniel Bryan

This booking was questionable from the get-go, but I expect to see this kind of stuff these days. It was, as CM Punk and Jerry Lawler put it, a glorified handicap match.

My dad put it best after watching that match, saying, "Well, that was piss poor." Couldn't agree more, old man.

I guess I should have expected that. A little bit of action, some awkward AJ-Kane moment and CM Punk getting put over after all that. 

Grade: D-

Ending Promo

Going into this segment, I figured they'd keep Laurinaitis around as the general manager. It would be too good to be true if they fired him.

Then McMahon walked out with security guards, which halted my thoughts on that. Maybe they are about to get rid of him!

And then the Big Show walked out. Great, another dragged out promo. This segment quickly went from intriguing to uninteresting.

Big Show babbled and then John Cena came out. Unfortunately for whatever the show is that is scheduled to be on USA after Raw, Raw went way over the allotted time.

In the end, a brawl broke out and Big Show clocked Mr. McMahon. Didn't see that coming, but I definitely saw Laurinaitis's job being put on the line at No Way Out. Sub-par way to end Raw.

Grade: B- 

Overall Grade

For a three-hour special, the WWE wasted a ton of time on worthless promos and too many commercials.

They even went over by about ten minutes, which could have been prevented if they cut out a couple of the stupid promos. 

There were a couple of good matches and a nice surprise in Vader's appearance. That could not save it from a sub-par grade though.

Grade: C-