WWE Raw 10/24/11: The Good, the Bad and The Meh

Raw came live from Austin, Texas.  As usual, hit up Kaleb Kelchner's excellent blog for a run down.

They needed to deal with the aftermath of Vengeance and build toward the Survivor Series PPV.  New feuds needed to be established and some new stories needed foundational work to go forward.  Should we see how they did?

The Good

+ Sheamus & Orton/Christian & Rhodes.  Good match between the four men.  I'm amazed Christian hit a second-rope move without eating an RKO!  Crowd was good and hot for portions of the match, which always helps. Some nice storytelling in the match and nice botch recovery by Sheamus.

+ Del Rio/Punk/Lauri segment.  Del Rio was all right here, but this was all about Punk.  Nice "Back To The Future" reference.  Punk was in good form tonight and recovered some of his edge.  When he makes Lauri watchable, you know he's on his game.  Best segment of the night.  With my unadulterated hatred of Lauri, this is saying something.

+ Morrison/Barrett.  Morrison had a perfectly pissed-off look tonight.  Then again, if I were jobbing as much as he were, I'd likely be pretty angry as well.  That said, this was an all-right match with some good back and forth action.  Good TV match.

+ Awesome Truth promo.  Good work by the duo tonight, with some nice intensity and crowd interaction.  Good intensity and a nice, darker twist to their characters.

+ Ziggler/Santino.  Quick segment to re-assert the Ziggler/Ryan feud after Mason made the save.  The match itself wasn't actually too bad, but not much to tell otherwise.

+ PPV sell.  Well, they didn't beat around the bush, did they?  Got right to tonight without any filler.  Cena & Rock/Awesome Truth has a nice novelty aspect to it, Punk/ADR should be match of the night. 

The Meh 

~ Fox/Natalya.  Quick match with a bit of story, but what's with Natalya being pinned all the time now?  Is she turning face?  That said, not really sure what the point of that segment was.

~ Awesome Truth/Cena.  As soon as this went to a handicap match, the outcome was going to academic with either a DQ ending or Cena winning.  That said, I'm happy they decided to not completely neuter Punk and Trips by having Cena win.  I wonder what the WWE has against Ryder?

The Bad

- Opening Segment.  This actually didn't start too bad, but went on longer than it needed to, then went nowhere.  Trips, more or less, rambled where he didn't need to, and completely oversold the sledgehammer shots.  Great botch by the production crew with the "Reset!' line. 

Overall, a flat segment that got worse after the break with Nash jumping Trips before the latter was put into the ambulance.  Is Russo writing for the WWE again?  Completely over the top with more logic holes than a Microsoft operating system.  

This was a 20-minute segment that could have been accomplished in five minutes without being over the top and with much better results. 

- Michael Cole segment.  My DVR is such a wonderful thing because I can fast forward through segments.   The minute Cole stood up, my remote clicked.  I've said this before, and I'll say it again, when Cole snorts crack, I tune out.

- Twitter references.  Seriously too much with referencing the another website outside of WWE.com.  I wonder if I pay the 'E if they will pimp my articles on B/R?

Miscellaneous Thoughts

"I know this is going sound corny..." You're right.

I hope Hornswoggle is okay after last night.

"Shut up. Shut up. Shut up."  Good idea. 

"Reset! Reset! Reset!"

You know, Trips has no one to blame but himself for his broken heart after he tried to break Nash's skull at Night of Champions.

David Otunga would look better in a pink tie.

"As long he's not carrying a skateboard, I should be fine." Funkhauser reference?

What is with Cole's love obsession with Twitter?  Seriously, I respect the WWE trying hard to use Social Media as an outlet for story lines, but this was nuts.

I wonder if I can get Ricardo to do an entrance at my day job.  Dude makes anything tolerable.

Was Del Rio's belt missing a nameplate?

"I respect you, Funkman."  Line of the night.

I hope TNA pays enough for Morrison to get a nice studio in the Orlando area. 

The groan you heard was me while Cena was doing his bit after the main event.

Overall Grade: C

Average show, more or less.  Punk carried it tonight and it was nice to see him back in form.  That said, a majority of the show was simply a setup for the next few weeks until Survivor Series.  Next week will be a wash with the Muppets, so they needed to make the most of it tonight.

That said, the main event left much to be desired as did some of the other matches.  Overall, nothing really to blow you away, but not overly awful either.  Pretty much a "by the book" episode.