The White Russian Review: WWE Raw 7/5/2010

Raw kicked off last night with the NXT rookies addressing why they have been running wild over WWE the past few weeks. Wade Barrett was back as the mouthpiece for the group last night.

They claimed they did what needed to be done to Mr. McMahon and that their actions would soon yield a reason.

He then handed the mic to Skip Shefield. Skip talked about putting Ricky Steamboat down. I hope they cleared this with Ricky before doing it due to Ricky's current condition.

The GM sent an email saying that not only could Nexus not challenge for any titles at the moment, but the no contact ban had been lifted. This brings out John Cena.

Cena talks about how they need a fair seven on seven fight and he brings out six other guys including Evan Bourne and R-Truth. They all head to the ring only to be attacked by seven other WWE stars, with Sheamus leading the pack.

Cena and Sheamus exchange words after the scuffle. Cena says they all need to unite to take down NXT and Sheamus says that the group with him likes what Nexus has been doing and that he would not join Cena.

The GM sends another email, this time stating he would like Cena and Barrett to shake hands and form a truce. The email ends with "And that's the bottom line," clearly trying to convince us that it is Stone Cold who is the new GM.

The first segment was strong because it featured so many different stars doing different things.

I like that some of the WWE guys are trying to align with Nexus because having heels and faces team up to take out a common enemy doesn't always work out well.

The first match of the night saw John Morrison face Ted Dibiase. Dibiase came to the ring with the beautiful Maryse. Maryse joined commentary and talked about how her and Ted fell in love very fast.

Dibiase and Morrison had a decent match which saw Dibiase get the win after hitting the Dreamstreet finisher. Maryse did a good job putting Ted over on commentary.

I'm really glad that they attempted to give some kind of reason for the Dibiase/Maryse alliance instead of just having her there with no explanation.

Santino and Kozlov vs Regal and Khali is next. Santino says having Italy and Russia back together will be like WWII but without Nazis. I have to admit I laughed a little.

The match between the two teams was lackluster at best. After Santino and Kozlov got the win Khali chopped Regal and danced with Santino and Kozlov to go to commercial.

I liked Kozlov when he first showed up on Smackdown and dominated everybody. Vince was said to be very high on him at the time, but now he is being used so poorly that it's just sad.

Arn Anderson was shown backstage talking to Josh Matthews about the beatdown from Nexus last week, and how Steamboat is not doing well. Sheamus shows up and he and AA have a great back and forth about the Nexus and Sheamus's responsibility as champion.

Arn Anderson is always nice to see and I am glad that they are finally utilizing the legends who have been under the employ of WWE for years as agents and writers.

The Enforcer needs more air time and that is all I've have to say about that. There is a decent Arn Anderson tribute site .

The Miz and R-Truth were supposed to have a match next, but Miz beat up Truth before the bell rang. This was a decent spot for Miz since he got to cut promos before and after the beatdown.

I get more and more impressed with Miz week after week. I think he is a future world champion for sure.

The Cutting Edge segment is next, and his guests are Evan Bourne and Chris Jericho. They fight before anything important is said. Jericho eventually gets the advantage and puts on the walls of Jericho.

Evan Bourne comes out and attacks both men. The whole situation ends with the GM sending an email making a match with Orton and Bourne vs Edge and Jericho.

Edge and Jericho were fighting throughout the match and the end saw Jericho tag himself in and yell at Edge, only to turn and get speared. This led to Evan hitting the SSP on Edge for the win.

It is amazing to see the crowd stand up every time Evan goes to the top rope. This kid is really gaining steam and popularity with the crowd. I hope they keep with his push and don't relegate him to jobber again.

After the match, Randy hits Evan with an RKO. I don't think it was done as a heel turn, but more as a point that the Viper can strike anyone at anytime.

Orton is confronted in back by Otunga, Slater, and Tarver. They say they have no problem with Randy and want him to form an alliance. Randy listens and then tells them to get out of his face.

This was great way to keep Orton a face after attacking Evan.

Eve and Alicia Fox have a short pointless match. Alicia wins with her axe kick that always looks really bad.

The final segment was Barrett and Cena. They both come to the ring and Barrett says that the attacks on Cena were not personal and that he is not in the future plans of Nexus.

Cena goes to shake hands but pulls back and says why stop when they are having so much fun.

The GM emails again. It must be annoying to here that noise when the emails come in when it's live. He says he wants Cena to be the bigger man.

Cena shakes but then tried for an Attitude Adjustment. He gets attacked by Nexus and the WWE stars come out to help. Nexus retreats to the ramp and has some words with Cena.

The GM says that due to Cena's actions he will be in a 7-on-1 handicap match next week against Nexus. This makes Cena snap and he destroys Darren Young. Young suffers an STF, punches, hitting the ring post and the steel steps being thrown at him.

This was a great way to put Cena over. He looked very brutal, and that is what I have been saying could turn Cena into a whole new character.

He did a good job of looking like he snapped and went crazy on Young. At one point his heavy breathing looked pretty fake but the beat down was great.

This weeks Raw was a huge improvement over last week, where we saw very little action and a ton of videos and interviews.

The absence of a guest host made the show better as well. Overall I would say this was the best Raw in weeks in terms of action and storyline progression.

On a final note, I would like to send my best wishes to Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat, who has been in the hospital since early last week. Ricky was one of the guys who made me want to watch wrestling when I was a kid.

My first memory of The Dragon was a US Title match he had with Steve Austin in WCW. These two guys had tons of great encounters over the years and both will go down in history as two of the best.

Get better soon Dragon.