WWE Raw 11/07/11: Critique, Thoughts and Minutiae

WWE Raw came from Liverpool, United Kingdom.  As always, hit up Kaleb Kelchner's blog for more a run down.

Raw had a lot on its plate tonight.  With Survivor Series about a two weeks away, they needed to sell the Pay-Per-View and further some existing story lines.  Should we see how they did?

The Good

+ Ziggler/Morrison.  A good match with plenty of time for TV.  I'm guessing Morrison is out of the doghouse given that he won.  Or else they're building a storyline for Ziggler.  Good action with Ziggler taking a majority of the offense, which was enough to keep him credible in defeat.

+ Opening Segment.  In ten minutes, the did a PPV sell, put over Ryder, established the main event, and did a good promo work between Awesome Truth and Cena.  Really hard to fault that.

+ Cena and Ryder/Awesome Truth.  Nice TV main event with some good storytelling.  Ryder is officially over at this point, and Cena did a nice job giving him a rub tonight.  The double Broski Boot and Five Knuckle Shuffle were nicely done.  Awesome Truth got a ton of offense on Cena and the victory by pinning the "Super One."

This was actually important to establish them as credible threats.  I know some folks will moan about Cena not being pinned cleanly,  Think about the tension they will establish between Cena and Rock next week on the three hour Raw, and this will make more sense in the long term.  In the end, Cena needs to be kept out of the title situation for a while, and if Awesome Truth picks up any sort of victory at the PPV, this gives an angle for the WWE to do just that.

+ Punk/Del Rio segments.  There is just something about this angle I'm loving.  The segment after Del Rio squashed Kofi featured some good promo work between the two men.  Punk was in solid form tonight.  Del Rio stepped up his game tonight as well. There was enough storytelling to further the angle without blowing everything for next week's show.  Punk being put through the table backstage during the second segment was nice.

+ PPV sell.  They got the five on five match out of the way, added a bit of intrigue to the main event and continued the surprisingly fun Del Rio/Punk angle. They teased the Ryder/Ziggler match as well while mentioning the online petition.  Nicely done here.  The main event won't pay off now.  Next week, when the hard sell really goes into effect, is when this will pay off.

+ Nash promo.  This was the Wrestler Formerly Known As Diesel's best effort since coming back at Summerslam. He didn't feel awkward or like he was searching for his next line.  I still don't care about the pending Nash/Triple H match, but I can acknowledge a good effort when I see it.

+ Crowd.  The crowd was hot for almost the entire episode.  Good job, Liverpool.  We are proud of ya!

The Meh

~ Cole ADHD.  Cole was tolerable tonight, but there were a few spots where it felt like he wanted to explode out of his seat.  The mute button was ready on my remote the minute he mentioned JR, but the fact he didn't crack out made him passable.

~ Diva Segment.  I understand wanting to pimp Kelly Kelly's Maxim cover and I'm always a fan of giving the gals more time.  This wasn't too bad actually.  Beth and Natalya were good hams tonight.  The rest I didn't overly care for. 

~ Swagger/Santino.   Simply a rematch from last week.  Nice to see Swagger pick up the victory to reclaim his dignity after jobbing due to Muppet interference.  That said, there was nothing really remarkable about the match. 

The Bad 

- Del Rio/Kofi.  Really too quick to care about or establish anything concrete about the men.  That said, I dislike when one champ absolutely destroys another in this fashion.

- Ryan/JTG.  Same as Del Rio/Kofi.  Just too quick to care about.  Ryan has absolutely no heat what so ever now.  That, and his ripping off of Mahal's finisher didn't do anything for me.

Miscellaneous Thoughts

"Such a warm welcome..." Get a new battery for your hearing aid, Champ.

I guess Morrison did dump Melina

"Let's go Ziggler!"

Kofi is paying for the sins of Evan.  I feel bad for him.

Damn it Cole, I hate you so much. Ricardo!!!!

"Boo this man!"

The humor of Punk tearing down Del Rio's "Destiny" schtick cannot be understated.

The CM Punk chants were the loudest since Chicago.

Vince. Stop. Raping. My. Childhood.

"Regular or unleaded?" *Grin...POW*

Ryder getting in the main event, finally, was something of a mark out moment.

"Let's go Ryder! Woo Woo WooWooWoo!"

Overall Grade  B/B+

I guess Raw did take a lesson from SmackDown and decided to make static shows have actual wrestling matches.  This was a solid outing for the Red crew with some good promo work, good match work, and an actual coherent sense of flow to the show.  Two strong matches and great mic work from Punk, Awesome Truth, Cena, and Nash help matters a lot.

The Divas segment and a couple of quick squash matches don't help matters much. The fact that Donkey Kong's brother Brodus Clay didn't debut as was promised was a slight hindrance. That said though, this was a good rebound show after the past few weeks of abysmal efforts.