WHAT I LIKED:
Punk vs Harper: Man, when was the last time we've had a match to start off RAW? And one that's very prevalent in the minds of all WWE fans? Everyone wants to know what's going on with Bray Wyatt and the 'devil' that's controlling him, if there is one. Surprising that WWE starts the show with something that may give us answers. Of course, it also may not give any answers and just be another gang beatdown of CM Punk, adding more fuel to the fire. Or it could be both. Who knows? Either way, this is a great way to open RAW. Just listen to how excited the crowd was not have to hear a ton of exposition to start off RAW, but to watch a pretty damn good match. And they really went crazy once Daniel Bryan came down to make the save. I have to admit that even though we've seen it before, I still get giddy when I see Bryan and Punk in the ring together. I expect this to lead to a Traditional Survivor Series match at the upcoming PPV.
Kingston vs Del Rio: This is how you re-build a superstar who recently suffered a setback. You book him in a competitive matchup against a quality opponent and allow him to earn a hard-fought victory. That was great. (See below to read what I'm talking about.) WWE doesn't get off that easy, though. Because they should have been booking Del Rio to win non-title matches like this all the time. Maybe then both he and the World Heavyweight Championship would have had more prestige. I'm certain they won't be booking John Cena to lose all of his non-title matches between PPV title defenses.
Orton vs Langston: Wow! That might have been the best promo that I've ever heard Randy Orton deliver. And that's saying something because usually Orton + microphone does not = success. I'm also surprised to see that the WWE Universe picked Big E Langston in a landslide over The Miz & Dolph Ziggler to face Randy Orton. I'm happy they did though. Whomever was picked to be Orton's opponent, was definitely in line for an 'L' on their record tonight. Miz doesn't need another loss anytime soon and Ziggler deserves better than to be tossed into the Lion's Den. Langston can benefit from having a match against a main-eventer and WWE Champion and not expend any status having suffered a loss. Of course, I strongly that much thought went into the choice from the WWE fans. I'm sure they're thinking was more along the lines of, "Big E Langston is BIG. The word BIG is even in his name. He can beat up Randy Orton. Let's choose him." Works both ways, though. Again, this was great for Langston. It was a decent match altogether, but this did wonders for the near future of Big E Langston in WWE. I hope they continue to push him. He's been showing strong in his matches as of late. Langston can be their BIG man of the future and it'd be good to see them push an African-American into the main-event picture.
Six-Man Tag: I could barely watch this match due to the Michael Cole's constant slobbering all over John Cena. I guess I should say I could barely listen to this match, but I really wanted to listen because of the guests at ringside. Even with both Zeb Colter and Alberto Del Rio on commentary, this still managed to be a Cena-lovefest. I did LIKE the exchanges between Colter & Del Rio, where through their mutual heelness and hatred of Cena they found common ground but still resigned to dislike each other. I LIKED the same match on Smackdown this past Friday a lot better, but this one was also a lot of fun. I LIKE how many mixed rivalries are intertwined in this match. There's Cena vs Del Rio, Cena vs Sandow, Rhodes/Goldust vs Real Americans, Rhodes vs Sandow and even Colter vs Del Rio.
Usos vs 3MB: Yes, a match involving 3MB is actually in the LIKE category for the first time. You know why? Because they were finally made to look like a competent team instead of blathering fools being chased by midgets and bulls. Drew McIntyre, in particular, looked great in the ring. It reminded me of when he was 'The Chosen One' and had a bright future. He's fallen pretty far from then, but he still has the ability. And it's also good to see The Usos continue to get television time. I don't want them to be forgotten now that their tag team title shot has been lost.
Big Show/The Authority: I don't if it's better or worse to save the in-ring promos for the end of the show. It really takes all of the fire and excitement out of the show having to listen to people talk. They had to really drag out the point about Big Show getting his job back. And Big Show showed how in bad shape he is by losing breath and sweating after only walking down to the ring and back twice. I wasn't expecting this to turn into a match this close to the end of the show, but I commend them for the switch. Speaking of unexpected switches, it's Kane. It's Kane without his mask. It's Kane in a suit and tie! That might be the weirdest thing I've ever seen. Seeing The Shield, Triple H, Stephanie McMahon, Randy Orton and Kane standing over Big Show to end the show was a great demonstration of how outnumbered he is. That's how you make a BIG man seem like an underdog.
WHAT I HATED:
Ryback vs Khali: The worst part about Ryback is that I really LIKE him. I LIKE his size and his cocky, bully attitude. I LIKE his gimmick. But he's booked so horribly that WWE is ruining what could be a great commodity. They did the same thing with Sheamus when he was a heel. WWE doesn't want to book any strong heels not named Randy Orton and they end up throwing all their good heels under the bus in an effort to build up their babyfaces and SUPERFACES. As soon as Ryback's music hit I thought to myself, "It's time for them to start building him back up." I figured they'd have him in a match against someone like Kofi Kingston that he could dominate, but could still be a bit challeneged. Instead, his opponent ends up being Khali - just so he can show off his strength. That's all WWE cares about with Ryback. That he has strength. I'd rather they showoff his in-ring prowess (limited as it is) and actually book him to win matches against upper tier WWE talent instead of matches like this which don't prove anything to anyone.
Mixed Tag Match: I'm all for anything that gets Tyson Kidd back on the television and in the ring, but how do they explain Natalya's wedding to Kidd while dating The Great Khali on television? Just last week, Natalya was still on Khali's arm and now they are showing the highlights from her wedding that happened months ago? They are breaking the fourth wall and doing it horribly. I'm sure this is all to do with Total Divas, which comes back this Sunday. One of my pros of Total Divas was the fact that Tyson Kidd should get a push since he's associated with it and that stands true, but I don't like that show and I'm going to HATE anything connected to it.
Ziggler vs Axel: Weird seeing Curtis Axel without Paul Heyman by his side. Not bad, just weird. I want to see what he can do on his own and I think he's on the right track by facing Dolph Ziggler in his first match w/o his manager. If anyone can make you look good, it's Ziggler. Or if anyone can make you look bad, it's Ziggler. That came out of nowhere. I was not expecting Ziggler to win, and definitely not so quickly and poignantly. I mean, I'm all for the win by Ziggler. I did say earlier that Dolph deserves not to be tossed into the Lion's Den. I also think he deserves better than just to be handed matches. I never thought I HATE a Ziggler match and win, but this one has me scratching my head. I do think the Intercontinental Championship would be better around Ziggler's waist than Axel's, and one has to assume that that's where this is headed, but I'd rather he earn it in true Dolph Ziggler fashion.
Six-Diva Tag: First of all, Eva Marie is damn sexy. I think that's the real reason why the other divas were hazing her few weeks back. It's not like her lack of in-ring prowess is isolated only to her. Of the six divas in this match, only one of them can wrestle. Her name is AJ Lee and she's still the apple of my eye. But Eva Marie is making me look sideways.
QUOTES OF THE NIGHT:
"Was this a Knee-Jerk Reaction from Triple H?" - Michael Cole
Thanks for the shout-out Michael Cole, but this is the real Knee-Jerk Reaction.
"I'll accept the fact that I'm gonna be outnumbered, as long as they accept the fact they're gonna be outgunned." - CM Punk
Excellent Punk-ism. And so true.
"He beat him fair and square with the title on the line. - Micheal Cole (about Damien Sandow & John Cena)
Yeah, let's see if Michael Cole is that adamant the next time someone brings up the fact that Cena also lost his Money in the Bank cash-in attempt. He's usually the first to point out that Cena only lost because he gave CM Punk a week's notice. Never once has he admitted that Punk 'beat him fair and square with the title on the line.'
MATCH OF THE NIGHT:
It's a tie between Kingston vs Del Rio and Orton vs Langston. Both matches were pretty good. Kingston and Del Rio have had many matches with each other and know each other well enough to perfectly execute moves and counters and it showed tonight. Orton and Langston, however, hasn't had much exposure to each other's styles which is why their match was full of rest holds and power moves, but it was still fun to see Langston face the WWE Champion and look formidable against him.
BEST IN SHOW:
This has to go to CM Punk. He got the loudest pop of the night at the start of the show and had a decent enough match to get us excited for the rest of the show. His match didn't make MOTN because his opponent wasn't very good, but he still deserves some credit for getting a sufficient match from a BIG man.
REACTION:
All this talk about the 'face of WWE' with Randy Orton, Daniel Bryan and Big Show, I wonder if WWE really thinks they are fooling us? We all know who the face of WWE really is. It's the guy who gets to give lip service to the sponsors. It's the guy who gets to congratulate the World Series Champs on Twitter (even though they're not even wearing the Championship belt that he's currently holding). The face of WWE hasn't changed in 8 years and it's not going to anytime soon.
I'm very much interested in the ongoing saga of Daniel Bryan, CM Punk and The Wyatt Family. What interests me most is the quote by both of them saying, "I'm not the only one who has a grudge against the Wyatt Family," or something to that nature. It seems at first glance that they were speaking of each other, but perhaps they're speaking of someone else. Could it be The Miz, who has been attacked by Bray Wyatt and his goons in recent weeks? Who knows? At Survivor Series, it'd be interesting to see the two of them or the three of them teaming up to stop a common foe.
And of course, the biggest revelation of the night is that Big Show got his job back and got taken out by the combined forces of The Shield, Randy Orton, Kane (in a suit!) and The Authority. That was an odd way to end the program, but it worked. I think most people were - myself included - were mostly shocked by the new rendition of Kane. Personally, I LIKE it. I know of Kane outside the mask being the very well-educated and well-spoken political columnist Glen Jacobs. It's a role that he should shine in because it's more of his real persona than Kane is. It's reminiscent of JBL shedding the hard-drinking Bradshaw gimmick and becoming more of who he really is onscreen. It's a shame to lose such a dominating force in Kane, but he can just as good or better in this new role. I wouldn't be surprised if he ends up becoming a General Manager or something.
Based on what I've seen tonight, I'm not yet looking forward to seeing Randy Orton vs Big Show at Survivor Series. I mentioned how winded Big Show looked tonight just walking around. It won't be much better at the PPV in a WWE Championship match. If anything, it'll be a match kind of like what we saw tonight in Randy Orton vs Big E Langston, which is fine for a RAW episode, but not for a PPV. WWE will have to throw some interferences and other tricks to make that match palpable. And as we've learned in the past four PPVs, that doesn't necessarily make it better.
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