WWE Raw: Results and Thoughts as Survivor Series Draws Near

Last night’s episode of Monday Night Raw was a decent one. It wasn’t bad, but it certainly wasn’t on par with summer episodes.

The past couple of weeks have been very lackluster and disappointing, but last night wasn’t too bad. It was certainly better than the past couple of weeks.

So what happened?

John Cena opened the show to a huge reaction. No, he wasn’t being cheered; he was booed big time. Liverpool, England was not in favor of WWE’s Superman.

He hyped WrestleMania 28, Survivor Series, and next week’s Raw featuring The Rock. He then revealed that the main event will be a tag-team match between The Awesome Truth and himself with a “future Hall of Famer.”

The heels come out like clockwork and Miz gives us the tired old line of “I beat you at WrestleMania,” and R-Truth says that Cena and his partner are “gonna get got.”

They attacked and that brought out Zack Ryder to a great reaction from the fans. The heels ran and he’s revealed as Cena’s partner.

Other than the fact that the Long Island Iced Z was going to be in the main event, this segment bored me.

Miz and Truth work great together and their mic work is something to look forward to every week, but it’s always the same basic thing that comes out of their mouths.

Cena’s been a broken record for years so there’s no point getting into that.

Hopefully with The Rock coming next week we’ll get something different added to this feud.

Dolph Ziggler vs. John Morrison

The first match of the night saw John Morrison defeat the United States champion with a cradle.

Wait a minute, did I really write that? Yes, I did! Morrison won a match! This is his first victory since August.

The match itself was a good one with some nice back-and-forth action to start out. After the commercial Ziggler was in control up until Morrison got some bursts of offense and cradled up the champion for the win.

I think it’s time to take the US title off of Ziggler. He’s doing nothing for it. It doesn’t matter if they give the title to Morrison, Zack Ryder or someone else—the belt needs somebody new.

He’s had it since June; it’s time for a change.

As for Morrison, it’s about time he won a match! Maybe it’s a sign that he’s staying with WWE.

Match Rating: 3.5/5

Mason Ryan vs. JTG

Two matches in a row? Awesome! Squash match? Not so awesome.

Mason Ryan defeated the former member of Cryme Tyme in a match that saw JTG have about five seconds of offense. Actually saying it was five seconds might be giving him too much credit here.

This was a waste of time.

I get wanting to show Ryan as an unstoppable machine, but against a jobber on WWE’s flagship show? Come on, WWE—you’re better than that.

Match Rating: 1/5

Backstage Zack Ryder runs into the Bella Twins and he flirts a bit while bragging about being Cena’s partner. The Bellas woo him and it ends.

So are the Bellas good now? It’s hard to tell. Either way, giving Ryder more television time is never a bad thing! The only problem is that this didn’t really serve much of a purpose.

Alberto Del Rio vs. Kofi Kingston

Alberto Del Rio seemed to get no reaction whatsoever from the Liverpool crowd. That’s a bad sign when you’re WWE champion.

Del Rio won with his cross armbreaker, though. I was expecting this to be a great match, but it was very one-sided.

Del Rio controlled most of it because he was so “angry” about what happened last week and was taking his frustrations out on Kingston.

Kofi got in some offense here and there, but it didn’t really matter.

Seems like WWE won’t be pushing Kingston without his partner Evan Bourne, who’s suspended for 30 days due to a Wellness Program violation.

Post-match Del Rio locks the armbreaker back on, but CM Punk’s music hits and we go to commercial.

Match Rating: 2.5/5

Back in the ring, Del Rio complains about what happened last week. He belittles England and Punk and wants him to cancel the match.

Punk, who’s super-over, talks of Del Rio’s cheating ways and his shortcuts to win the title. Del Rio wants respect, but then Punk says what we’ve all been thinking since Del Rio debuted.

He said that Del Rio is one-dimensional on the mic and that it’s “destiny this” and “destiny that.” He has nothing interesting to say and people fast-forward their DVRs when they see him with a mic in hand.

At Survivor Series he’ll win the title and make it interesting again.

That leads to a very short brawl where Del Rio continued his cowardly persona and let Ricardo Rodriguez get a GTS.

Punk’s mic work was great, of course, but I was almost put to sleep by Del Rio every time he started talking. Punk’s right—he really is one-dimensional and has nothing interesting to say.

That makes for an extremely boring champion and I hope Punk gets the belt at Survivor Series.

Jack Swagger vs. Santino Marella

Before the match, we got a close-up of Swagger’s face as he said how angry he was that he was beat by a Muppet. Someone should really give that man some acting lessons.

This was pretty much a squash as Swagger won with the ankle lock. There’s really not much else to say here.

Match Rating: 1/5

In the ring, Jerry Lawler creeped us all out as he introduced Kelly Kelly. She was there to unveil her Maxim cover, which mostly everyone has already seen thanks to the Internet.

Kelly grabs the mic, and I almost fall asleep.

Am I the only won that noticed the fact that she was wearing so much makeup that it looked like her eyes were closed the entire time?

The Divas of Doom come out and they mock her. That brings out “Boring” Eve Torres and Alicia Fox. The heels leave and the faces unveil the cover.

Nothing special.

It was Kelly up against a car in a bikini; nothing we haven’t seen before.

John Laurinaitis came out and introduced Kevin Nash. He wobbled out to nWo music and I realized I couldn't care less about what he had to say.

I took this opportunity to take out the trash.

I arrived back in time to hear Nash say “I still got it!”

Man, I got a good laugh out of that.

If still having “it” was knees to the guts, punches to the head, a big boot, a powerbomb and tearing your quad after taking two steps, then sure, Nash has still got it.

Still having “it” is The Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania 25 and 26. Sorry Nash, you couldn’t have a match like those even if your life depended on it.

We got another Brodus Clay video package. Wasn’t he supposed to debut last night?

Backstage John Laurinaitis is with Carlton Banks and Laurinaitis revealed that he didn’t want to waste Brodus Clay’s debut in England.

So I guess he’ll be debuting on next week’s “Rocked” show.

CM Punk walked up and he and Carlton have some words that led to the bow-tie-wearing superstar getting beat down by Punk.

Alberto Del Rio ran in and attacked Punk. Laurinaitis then said “Don’t make me take off my jacket!”

Wait, what? What’s that supposed to do?

Very threatening Laurinaitis. I bet Del Rio was shaking in his boots.

The Awesome Truth vs. John Cena and Zack Ryder

Did I ever mention I hate Justin Roberts? Well, not him as a person; he’s probably a really nice guy. I hate the way he announces. I don’t know why, but it just annoys the hell out of me.

This was a good tag-team match. We got some nice back-and-forth action throughout the whole thing. We also got the stereotypical “face in peril” multiple times throughout the match.

There were also plenty of “We want Ryder” chants. When he got the hot tag, there was a huge ovation. Liverpool loved the Long Island Iced Z!

The ending saw Miz kick Cena in the face for the win as R-Truth held his foot down.

You know, I never understood how holding one’s foot prevented them from kicking out. A pinfall is when a wrestler's shoulders are on the mat. How does holding the foot prevent someone from lifting their shoulder off the ground?

Despite the ending, the match was a good one. I was glad to see Ryder in the main event and it seems like WWE is finally seeing the potential in him.

Match Rating: 4/5

Overall, last night’s Raw wasn’t a bad one. It wasn’t really a good one either, though.

Like I said earlier, it was better than the past couple of weeks, but that really doesn’t say much.

I hope the go-home episode of Raw next week will save Raw from this major streak of disappointing shows.  

Show Rating: C-