Raw Report (27/09/10): How To Not Promote Your PPV This Weekend

The Miz & Alex Riley vs. Daniel Bryan & John Morrison
I loved how before the intro to RAW we got a promo pack on The Miz and Daniel Bryan, it's usually held for the main event feud so it was nice to see it open the show. Then after the intro we got The Miz & Alex Riley come to the ring and talk about how every Monday Daniel Bryan gets a beat down from The Miz until Bryan interrupted, they were smart to not have Bryan talk. He can't promo with The Miz so I liked that. I don't like that they seem to be pushing Morrison now with good showings against Sheamus and Jericho in previous weeks and now adding him to the HITC PPV, because he was far more over when he was on Smackdown and they didn't push him now they are when he seems a bit flat.

The match was short and quick, with Hell In A Cell this Sunday they don't want to give to much away in this match as you can expect Alex Riley to get involved this Sunday so to keep this match short was the correct decision. Putting Morrison in a program with both Bryan and Miz looks like it could lead to a heel turn which I think would be the best idea with his current character kind of stale despite the push.

Diva's Battle Royal
This wasn't a match, when they are asked to wrestle they barely try so as it was a battle royal not much more happened. The focus was more on LayCool on commentary and the finish was just horrible but at least Natalya won, she hasn't wrestled properly since before The Hart Dynasty debuted so it was nice to see her win and get a future shot at the Unified Diva's Championship. Whether that's this Sunday, I don't know.

Sheamus Promo / Match vs. Great Khali
The crowd didn't care about Sheamus' promo but keep in mind this was at a double taping so with Superstars tapings and the previous RAW the crowd were there for at least 5 hours at this stage so a story promo wasn't going to get them on their feet. Sheamus referred to himself on the Indy Scene and FCW as the Fiery Red Hand so it was a nice way to introduce that to the WWE. Hopefully the nickname will stick.

The match with the Great Khali got Sheamus over as a bad guy who is breakable. He hasn't backed down from too many challengers and in previous open challenges they've been answered by the likes of Evan Bourne so to see someone he couldn't squash was good but didn't give Sheamus much momentum heading into the title match this Sunday which means we'll see him later in the show.

Cutting Edge with RAW GM / Edge vs. John Cena
The interview segment with the computer answering in Microsoft Sam voice was just horrible. Edge's anger with the GM were void by the jokes he made and the GM's campy answers certainly didn't make him seem like a credible authority figure.

The surprise announcement of Edge vs. John Cena got a nice pop and it's a match that shouldn't of happened, neither man will benefit from a loss and if Edge needed another loss to make him go crazy and smash the computer then have the GM play with Edge causing him to loose to someone beneath him. It just made Cena looking weak needing the help from the GM to beat Edge.

I say I hope we're getting to the end of this Anonymous GM business but the reveal will be such a let down that I wish the whole storyline will just go away.

Evan Bourne & Mark Henry vs. Heath Slater & Justin Gabriel
So are Bourne & Henry a team now? It's the second time in as many weeks they've been together. Bourne deserves better and his Cena inspired push seems to be well and truly over. But I feel it's only going to lead to a Henry heel turn, a man of Henry's size and look needs to be heel and this face turn has made him truly over for the first time in his career so use the momentum and turn heel.

Looking at Gabriel and Bourne in the ring, although they didn't do much it would be a great match/series that I hope they do.

In what was billed as possibly Nexus's last appearance in the WWE this was a poor showing. It makes me believe Cena will lose and join the Nexus. Maybe that will push sales of the "N" shirt as Vince is said to be horrified at how bad it's sold.

But in an angle that started so well and with such an impact, being hidden in the middle of the show beating up Evan Bourne seems like nothing compared to the attacks on John Cena, Vince McMahon and The Undertaker.

But they promised an attack for Smackdown so they must deliver, not only to push the first episode of Smackdown on SyFy but to also make the Nexus look strong going into Hell In The Cell.

The Hart Dynasty vs. Cody Rhodes & Drew McIntyre
I just will never be able to take the Hart Dynasty seriously after their commentary effort last week. It was cringe worthy bad. Don't go look it up if you miss it.

I don't get the rule that the Unified Tag Team Champions and Unified Women's Champion can appear on both brands, especially when The Hart's appeared on Smackdown for a match last week. Does that mean challengers can go to any brand too? Either have a brand split or don't.

This match was nothing special, merely getting The Hart's rematch clause out of the way. I know Rhodes and McIntyre were just thrown together but I like them. McIntyre's singles push kind of bombed and Cody was getting momentum since switching to the blue brand but had no where to go so putting them together was good. But now that the only legit tag team are gone who is there for them to face. It's going to be Evan Bourne and Mark Henry and it's going to be awful.

They then teased a DH Smith heel turn after the match, like Henry and Morrison a heel turn would suit DH Smith but having The Hart Dynasty split up without ever accomplishing much would be a shame.

Randy Orton vs. Chris Jericho
Chris Jericho's pre match promo where he named every opponent he beat in his career was great, if anybody has seen Jericho's new DVD it was a throw back to his "1004 holds" promo where he listed every hold he could perform and it cut to the break midway to come back to Jericho still listing opponents/holds.

Orton came out to a deflated pop, don't know if it was because it was the end of 6/7 hours of tapings for the crowd or because now that he has the title they don't know what to cheer for anymore. The face should always chase. Especially with Orton vs. Sheamus happening at Hell In The Cell, why couldn't they have Sheamus cheat to retain against Orton at Night Of Champions to add feud to their Hell In The Cell match.

Having Sheamus, who is supposed to be a credible challenger for Orton this Sunday interfere and for Orton to dispose of Sheamus and despite the distraction which allowed Jericho to hit the Codebreaker, Orton still managed to come out on top. So is he the new Superman? Will he be the one who will over come each and every one of the odds against him all the time?

Sheamus's reaction to Orton punting Jericho was great but just imagine if that was the moment Sheamus realized he could be in trouble, but the fact that he lost the belt to Orton he already knew that so it didn't pay off as well.

Orton threatens to punt people every week but hasn't hit one in months so it made sense and it a good excuse to get Jericho off TV now that his contract is up, but hopefully his break doesn't last too long and the writers have Jericho in mind for WrestleMania so it won't be a 2+ year absence like the one he took in 2005 but it's still a shame to see him go.

Overall show
It wasn't a great epsiode of RAW and did little to make me excited to watch the season premiere of Smackdown on SyFy and Hell In The Cell this week. The promotion for Cena/Barrett was poor but as I said earlier hopefully they'll do more on Smackdown. The Orton/Sheamus hype just has all signs pointing to Orton loosing but the way they've been booking Orton lately they wouldn't dream take the belt off him two weeks into his reign.