WWE Raw Review: April 11, 2011

Hey bleachers! I’m back with my weekly Raw review. I know it’s a day later than usual, but I thought I’d let everyone digest the inevitable influx of articles about Edge’s retirement before hitting you with a full blown review of the show. Yes, it was a sad day for the WWE Universe and the IWC, as Edge announced he would be retiring from wrestling due to back problems—but more on this later.

The show began with Michael Cole being introduced as the only undefeated superstar in the WWE. Why are they carrying on with this heel business for Cole? It has more than run its course. Maybe they’ll learn their lesson when an overzealous fan actually attacks him.

John Cena arrived straight after to cut a promo; not only about his match at WrestleMania 28, but his quest to capture the WWE title. He said that the news about his match was so big that it had to be announced last week because the WWE Universe needs a year to process the information...not really John. I’ve already processed it, it’s going to happen. Anyone who reads Bleacher Report is probably already sick of hearing about it.

He was issuing a challenge to the Miz when he was interrupted by Orton, who put forward his argument as to why he should be the number one contender.

John Morrison then interrupted Orton, who was subsequently interrupted by Dolph Ziggler, who was finally interrupted by R-Truth (that was the quickest way to get through those interruptions).

They all argued their case for the number one contendership when the dreaded anonymous Raw GM chimed in. My friend has unwittingly put the GM sound on her phone, making me think I’m going mad as I keep hearing the chilling chime.

R-Truth said he’s never had a shot at the WWE Championship, to which John responded “there’s a reason for that.” Harsh but true Truth. What’s Up?

A five-man gauntlet match was set up to find the number one contender, who will face Miz at Extreme Rules. This means he’s safe for another month. There is no threat placed on the Title nowadays. The Title used to be on the line on a regular basis, changing hands quite a few times on Raw.

Part of me wishes TNA would grow to be a big threat to WWE, so they can pull their finger out and do some unpredictable programming.

Eve faced Brie Bella next for the Divas Championship. She marked one of the Bellas with permanent marker to prevent “twin magic.” It was a fairly decent Divas match—at least they weren’t interrupted by Cole this week. Nothing really caught my eye though. The title changed hands after a distraction, so at least one title isn’t safe in the month between pay-per-views.

Eve then got into a strop backstage and said that all the Divas care about is their next title shot. To be fair, they don’t really have anything else to do in the company. The role of manager has all but disappeared, they aren’t allowed to “model” themselves anymore—what else are they going to talk about but competing for the title?

Sin Cara had his first wrestling match (against Primo) next, so I guess that puts my theory to bed of him being a fighter for justice for the next few weeks. It’s a shame because they could have kept the mystique surrounding Sin Cara until Extreme Rules.

The crowd came alive and chanted Sin Cara’s name. I haven’t heard this for a long time, with the exception of “Rocky.” By that I mean just a straight chant of someone’s name.

He did a backflip off Primo’s chest—it was absolutely spectacular. This and the finish were the two best parts of the match. The rest just consisted of fancy Huracanranas.

The finish was botched when Primo slipped off the top rope and Sin Cara toppled outside, but he recovered well and managed to pull the move off the tope rope, (don’t ask me what it’s called because I have NO idea), which gave him the victory.

Everything works about Sin Cara at the moment.

The Corre were in the ring when we returned from commercial. Maybe it’s the Mancunian in me but I love Wade Barrett—I can’t believe they removed him from the main event picture.

Anyway, they all started arguing and were on the verge of breaking up when an even more mismatched team than the one they faced at WrestleMania appeared as APPLE (see picture).

Santino, Daniel Bryan, Mark Henry and Evan Bourne challenged the Corre to a match. It was an OK bout but I missed half of it due to a mistimed commercial. Thanks WWE. The Corre won for once. Thank God. If they had lost to APPLE, that would have been the end of that group that hold two of the WWE’s prestigious titles!!!

Lawler versus Swagger was next for the right to fight Cole at Extreme Rules, with the stipulation of his choice. King won with a roll up after Swagger was distracted by J.R. King is good, don’t get me wrong—I am just so tired of this storyline. J.R was excellent. It was more than funny when he told the ref to shut up! He also gave pretty sound advice to Jerry while Cole squawked in the other corner.

Cole slapped Swagger after the match and the King took advantage of this dissention, making a tag match of the best commentary team ever versus Cole & Swagger

Josh Matthews was accompanied by J.R., which was a nice surprise. I thought he’d be joined by Booker T.

Edge’s retirement speech was the penultimate segment in the show. There is a lot of debate around the IWC as to whether this retirement is legitimate or not. I think for now we can assume that it is, as Edge has well documented back problems.

He explained that wrestling is a tough business—that it hurts and he has been suffering from loss of feeling in his arms. “Thank you Edge” chants from the crowd seemed to affect him. I never liked Edge as a character when he became a singles competitor, but if his retirement is real then I’ll never forget the entertainment he gave me when I first started watching wrestling—defining the tag-team gimmick matches such as TLC—along with the Hardy Boyz and the Dudley Boyz. Thank you Edge.

Despite this resounding sadness I can’t help but wonder what is going to happen to the World Heavyweight Championship now. I guess we’ll have to wait for SmackDown to find out.

Edge returned backstage and gave everyone a hug to a standing ovation.

The final treat of the night was the five-man gauntlet match—and King was back on commentary. I won’t be too detailed, as it was a pretty long match. It was good mainly because I wasn’t sure who was coming out in what order and who was going to win.

Randy and Dolph started the match. Dolph won when the New Nexus returned and distracted Orton, who was subsequently destroyed by New Nexus. R-Truth came out next and I expected him to lose. Not only did he beat Dolph but he beat Morrison aswell. He didn’t even lose to Cena! He’s in the main event of Extreme Rules!

He debuted a move I haven’t seen him use before (correct me if I’m wrong) so I’m naming it a "reverserko" until I know what it is. He pulled it from nowhere and got both pins from it! Miz and Riley interfered and the match ended in a double disqualification.

The long lost Triple Threat match will make its long awaited return at Extreme Rules!

Cena shoved R-Truth after the match and a segment where they slapped each other’s backs with increasing force. If Truth wins the title at extreme rules expect uproar from the IWC, WWE! I’m just warning you...

Please leave your thoughts and opinions in the comments section below! I do my best to reply to all comments that warrant it. Thanks for reading.

Also if you missed my SmackDown review last week, please take a moment to read it.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/659280-wwe-smackdown-review-april-8-2011