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411’s Instant Analysis 08.13.12: WWE Monday Night Raw
Welcome to this week’s Instant Analysis of Monday Night Raw. I’m your humble reviewer, Chad Nevett and a big thank you to Ryan Byers for filling in last week. It was a civic holiday here in Ontario and I was working the 4pm-midnight shift. Since Raw is three hours long, I didn’t bother watching the replay on Tuesday afternoon. Looking at the schedule, this is the go-home episode of Raw before SummerSlam, so we should all expect Brock Lesnar to do something to Shawn Michaels and maybe something will happen with the cancelled Sheamus/Alberto Del Rio World Heavyweight Championship match. Let’s get to it…
SEGMENT ONE: CM Punk vs. the Big Show
Match Result: CM Punk won via DQ
Match Length: About six minutes
This was the match version of one of those promo openings where two guys talk trash and, then, another guy comes out to shoot his mouth off before a fourth guy comes out to say his piece and it devolves into chaos until the authority figure walks out and makes a match or two involving all of the men in the ring. But, this does improve upon that formula by doing one simple thing: giving us some wrestling. It may not be amazing or anything, but I appreciate doing something a little different with the ‘parade of people’ opening segment. Though, could we somehow build to a PPV match without throwing everyone involved into a match together? Maybe? But, hey, we got a little burst of creativity, so I guess it isn’t all bad…
Rating: 6.5 out of 10
SEGMENT TWO: JTG vs. Ryback
Match Result: Ryback pinned JTG
Match Length: A little under two minutes
The match that JTG would get booked in after complaining about not being on the show was pretty obvious, but lasted longer than I expected. Ryback going out and killing JTG with a few moves that took up less time than the entrances. I did like the first time Ryback yelled “My turn!” and countered JTG’s offense. That’s a nice little catchphrase for Ryback to have when he stops his opponent dead and begins destroying them. The second time he yelled it, not so much.
Rating: 5.5 out of 10
SEGMENT THREE: Heath Slater vs. R-Truth
Match Result: R-Truth pinned Heath Slater
Match Length: One minute, 30 seconds
Wow, Heath Slater lasted less time against R-Truth than JTG lasted against Ryback. Do you think they ever consider things like that? Because, logically, should Ryback squash people faster than R-Truth? Anyway, this was really just a set up for the Prime Time Players to beat up R-Truth and that’s a decent way to sell their match on Sunday.
Rating: 5.5 out of 10
SEGMENT FOUR: Sin Cara vs. Tensai
Match Result: Sin Cara pinned Tensai
Match Length: One minute, five seconds
And the matches keep getting shorter somehow? I liked what we got of this match. Strangely enough, Sin Cara and Tensai seemed to have an innate chemistry in the ring and I would like to see it explored more. This whole match was very smooth and well-executed. There wasn’t a lot to screw up, but, hey, one minute of great execution is still one minute of great execution.
Rating: 6.0 out of 10
SEGMENT FIVE: Piper’s Pit
The slow turn back to Chris Jericho being a face hasn’t finished yet and it’s been interesting. Going back, I’d say, to when he made fun of Daniel Bryan’s “Yes yes yes!” catchphrase by busting out some classics, Jericho has slowly been leaning towards his old Y2J mannerisms and this segment played that up even more. I liked the idea of Jericho possibly facing his future in-story in Roddy Piper and they played into that idea well. Jericho railed against vets who don’t know when their time is up and, now, that’s where he is, theoretically, after not having the most successful return run if you go by wins/losses. And, yet, the guy who impressed me most was the Miz. He didn’t do a lot except have complete command over what was happening. No one else quite seemed as confidant as the Miz, which, given the other guys in the ring, was surprising. Until the show came back from commercial, there didn’t seem to be any payoff, but…
Rating: 7.0 out of 10
SEGMENT SIX: Chris Jericho vs. the Miz vs. Dolph Ziggler
Match Result: Dolph Ziggler pinned Chris Jericho
Match Length: A little over 13 minutes
Piper’s Pit led into this Triple Threat match that was rather good. After a certain point, every finish seemed like it could legitimately end the match and these three guys played off each well, going through counters and tradeoffs smoothly and organically. They built well to the final stretch of this match after a slower opening. I’m not entirely sure that we got the best finish possible as typical wrestling booking logic would suggest that, now, Ziggler will lose to Jericho on Sunday. Then again, typical wrestling booking logic suggested that Jericho would have lost to CM Punk at some point during their feud, so… This match actually made good use of the freedom that three-hour Raws have: you can give a promo segment and then make a match that has enough time to hook you in without eating up a quarter of the show.
Rating: 8.0 out of 10
SEGMENT SEVEN: Layla & Kaitlyn vs. Beth Phoenix & Eve
Match Result: Kaitlyn pinned Beth Phoenix
Match Length: Around four minutes, 20 seconds
That was surprising. A Divas match that went almost four and a half minutes? When was the last time that happened on Raw? I’ve seen Divas Battle Royals barely go half that time. The problem is that the longer time showed early on with some poor, slow pacing. It was unexciting, but managed to turn around for the second half of the match. The heels started actually working like a team and picked Kaitlyn apart a bit. The roll-up finish was clichéd Divas finish, unfortunately. It’s hard to blame the ladies. When you’re not used to actually having to wrestle a full match, putting on a great one isn’t likely.
Rating: 6.0 out of 10
SEGMENT EIGHT: CM Punk & John Cena vs. The Big Show & Daniel Bryan
Match Result: John Cena pinned Daniel Bryan
Match Length: Around 13 minutes
This match had excellent storytelling. All four men wanted to be in the match and prove something and that led to some interesting team dynamics from CM Punk and John Cena tagging themselves in to Daniel Bryan refusing to tag the Big Show initially and, then, always yelling at the Big Show to get out of the ring when Bryan got tagged in. Bryan in particular wanted to prove that he deserves to be in Sunday’s WWE Championship match, while the Cena/Punk dynamic seemed a little more petty, and the Big Show was his standard ‘I want to dominate and hurt people’ self. Those subtle differences played out here nonstop and it made for an entertaining, unique match. The work rate wasn’t the best, but I’ll take great storytelling in lieu of amazing in-ring action any day of the week.
Rating: 8.5 out of 10
SEGMENT NINE: Damien Sandow vs. Christian
Match Result: Damien Sandow pinned Christian
Match Length: A bit over two minutes
A brief match where Sandow got to look impressive by not just dominating and beating Christian, but did so despite Brodus Clay’s attempt to distract him. The combination of Sandow’s arrogance and viciousness is a good one and I like him a little more every time I see him wrestle.
Rating: 6.0 out of 10
SEGMENT TEN: Triple H/Brock Lesnar Contract Signing
That was underwhelming. Conceptually, this was a smart way to go: Michaels is tense all night, Triple H is late, Lesnar and Heyman are smug bastards… it all blows up with Lesnar beating the crap out of Michaels, Triple H interfering makes it worse, and Lesnar and Heyman walk away with shit-eating grins. Yet, the execution was off. Part of it was the logistics of this final half-hour where the contract signing led to a meandering promo bit for SummerSlam until they could do the parking garage confrontation before they had to wait to do the in-ring stuff. It was too drawn out and not inherently compelling enough to be worth that amount of time. It was forced and didn’t flow smoothly or organically. They needed that to happen during the contract signing, because, once Lesnar and Heyman walked away, it became too strained. The basic idea here is good, it’s just that the execution was sorely lacking, mostly in the construction and structure of that final half-hour.
Rating: 6.5 out of 10
Segment of the Night: CM Punk & John Cena vs. The Big Show & Daniel Bryan Trash Segment of the Night: Heath Slater vs. R-Truth Final Analysis: A night mostly filled with wrestling. Not every match was a good one, most servicing a larger story, but, hey, it’s still a show where wrestling was the main method of telling/advancing a story. The Triple Threat and Cena/Punk/Big Show/Bryan tag match were both very good in that respect, especially the latter. It made for a decent balance. I even liked how the opening segment used a match when, usually, they’d just use promos. The same thing was accomplished, but the emphasis was on wrestling. They still haven’t figured out how to completely pace a three-hour show every week. That last half-hour was just poorly constructed no matter how much I liked the idea behind it or the work of the four men involved. But, the three-hour experiment hasn’t been a complete waste so far and that’s more than any of us were expecting. Verdict: 6.5 411 RATINGS SCALE: |
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