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411’s Instant Analysis 08.20.12: WWE Monday Night Raw

August 21, 2012 | Posted by Sat

Welcome to this week’s Instant Analysis of Monday Night Raw. I’m your humble reviewer, Chad Nevett and it’s the post-SummerSlam edition of Raw. SummerSlam was a pretty good show, I thought. A hell of a main event and a card filled with solid-to-good matches with the only down point being the musical performance. Here’s hoping they can keep up the good work tonight. Let’s get to it…

SEGMENT ONE: “A torn quad couldn’t stop Triple H, but Brock Lesnar could.”

Paul Heyman sure can talk, can’t he? This was pure over-the-top heel work and it was masterful. The build to the end was a steady rise, beginning with simply addressing last night’s match in a basic way, reminding us that Triple H asked (practically begged!) for that match and even went so far as to demand that it only end via pin or submission. The stuff after Scott Armstrong can out flirted with going a little too big for my taste. It conflates the idea of Triple H as the ‘company man’ with being the main draw/heart of the company when he hasn’t been a regular competitor for the past couple of years. But, it’s overblown in that way where it should allow for someone to step up and take Lesnar on. If the finish to the WWE Championship match had been different and less geared towards Punk/Cena continuing, I would have expected either man to come out. Instead, Heyman’s words went unchallenged and that’s a very interesting decision to make. It’s a decision that gives his words more weight and leaves things open… Great way to start the show.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10

SEGMENT TWO: Kofi Kingston, R-Truth & Sin Cara vs. Cody Rhodes & the Prime Time Players
Match Result: Sin Cara pinned Cody Rhodes
Match Length: Around nine and a half minutes

A match we’ve seen a thousand times. It’s almost a cliché first match of the night: a crowd-pleasing faces win tag match that’s of average to fair quality and will be forgotten by everyone by the time we reach the top of the hour. Nothing about this match made much of an impression aside from Cody Rhodes again losing because he’s obsessed with taking off Sin Cara’s mask. Solid effort by all, but it is what it is.

Rating: 5.5 out of 10

SEGMENT THREE: Ryback vs. Two Jobbers
Match Result: FEED HIM MORE!
Match Length: A minute and a half

It’s the English geek in me that couldn’t help but laugh at Michael Cole talking up Ryback’s intelligence by saying that he reads one to two books a month. He couldn’t inflate that number a bit so it actually sounds impressive? I do like this little feud with Jinder Mahal, mostly because Mahal’s work on NXT recently has been very good. Ryback still came off as unstoppable and I’m curious how a match between the two would play out.

Rating: 5.5 out of 10

SEGMENT FOUR: Alberto Del Rio vs. Randy Orton
Match Result: Randy Orton pinned Alberto Del Rio
Match Length: Eight and a half minutes

There were some really great small things that Del Rio and Orton did in this match, like the counter of the Hangman DDT leading eventually to Orton hitting the move in the corner. Not an amazingly innovative thing, but it was a variation and I do like seeing variations on the standards. Or, Del Rio not just mocking the way that Orton pounds the match but doing so in the dumbest, funniest way possible. Sheamus was decent on commentary despite it becoming tedious to listen to the tug of war between Cole and Lawler as one took every opportunity to slam Sheamus and the other took every opportunity to kiss his ass. The finish was a fitting one and the way that Orton was wary of Sheamus, almost annoyed by the role that he played, was a nice touch. Some good storytelling all around and possibly the first step at inserting Orton into this feud.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10

SEGMENT FIVE: Brodus Clay vs. Damien Sandow
Match Result: Damien Sandow pinned Brodus Clay
Match Length: Two minutes, 40 seconds

“Squash him!” Lawler’s demand was close to reality in this match. It was pure Clay dominance with a couple of token bits of offense by Sandow and he really did not look impressive at all. What they were going for was a good idea. The heel shouldn’t win decisively in a match like this; he should look capable, I think, though. They skewed way too far towards a typical Funkasaurus squash match and it seems like the wrong story to tell here.

Rating: 4.5 out of 10

SEGMENT SIX: Shawn Michaels, Live via Satellite

This added to the idea that Triple H is done in the ring and did so in a really touching fashion. Michaels’s words were pure heart. There’s nothing here to critique really. Either you were pulled in by Michaels or you rolled your eyes… I dug it.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10

SEGMENT SEVEN: David Otunga vs. the Big Show
Match Result: The Big Show pinned David Otunga
Match Length: Around two minutes, 20 seconds

The third squash match (basically) of the night… As far as those go, this was fine. There’s not much else there.

Rating: 5.0 out of 10

SEGMENT EIGHT: Kane & Zack Ryder vs. the Miz & Daniel Bryan
Match Result: Kane destroyed Zack Ryder
Match Length: …did the bell ever ring to stop the match?

Man, Zack Ryder can’t even escape a beating from Kane when he teams with him. That ending was kind of awesome for how screwed up and ridiculous it was. I guess Kane is back to being the monster heel after a brief flirtation with playing the face? Up until the end, the dynamic of each team kept things interesting as each team wavered between working together and pissing each other off. I think they could have pushed it a bit further before everyone abandoned Ryder to the wrath of his partner. Weird match.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10

SEGMENT NINE: #1 Contender’s Divas Battle Royal
Match Result: Kaitlyn eliminated Eve to win
Match Length: Four minutes

For a Battle Royal where all you have to do to eliminate someone is to get them out of the ring, the eliminations in this match were downright ugly and hard to watch. Just sloppy, choppy crap. Like the finish where Kaitlyn couldn’t get Eve over the top rope with the first Clothesline. The whole match was shit like that.

Rating: 3.0 out of 10

SEGMENT TEN: WWE Contract vs. Money in the Bank Contract Match – Chris Jericho vs. Dolph Ziggler
Match Result: Dolph Ziggler pinned Chris Jericho
Match Length: Eight and a half minutes

That ending was unexpected. Not the result, when it happened. There was a similar spot/combo in last night’s match, so seeing it end things here was surprising. This was a decent match — very fluid and smooth throughout. Not quite as good as last night’s match, but it had some nice moments like Jericho again busting out the Hurricanrana again and nearly landing in a pin. Post-match, Jericho is ‘fired’ again and leaves in style, this time attacking Ziggler instead of whining and needing to be carried off. No one really thinks we won’t see Jericho again and this was the right way for him to leave for his next break from the WWE. Jericho walks away not a complete loser thanks to last night, but Ziggler gets the final win.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10

SEGMENT ELEVEN: “I want to hear you say that I’m the best in the world.”

No one can call the WWE Champion the best in the world? That’s a funny message to send out there. John Cena’s explanation makes sense: he has to believe that he’s the best to do what he does. Hell, every wrestler has to believe that they are the best, either in fact or in potential, and that makes a lot of sense. But, Jerry Lawler won’t call the WWE Champion the best in the world? A WWE Champion who has held the title for nine months? The distinction between the man and the title seems a little blurred here. What struck me as a little surprising was Cena’s throwaway comment about the mutant respect between the two and, yet, he won’t actually show Punk the respect that Punk wants. Obviously, there’s something distasteful and a little sad about Punk’s need to have someone acknowledge him, but, at the same time, if Cena respects him, why not show it? Why continually stand off against the man? I’m intrigued by what’s beneath this and rather like what they’re doing here. On the surface, we’re supposed to not like CM Punk and what he’s doing, yet, if you stop and think about it, he has a lot of valid points and none strike me as more valid than the idea that Cena respects Punk but refuses to say it outright. I’m definitely looking forward to where this is going.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10

FINAL THOUGHTS

Segment of the Night: Paul Heyman’s opening promo

Trash Segment of the Night: The Divas Battle Royal

Final Analysis: Tonight’s show was a strong follow-up to SummerSlam. There was some of the usual Raw crap like the meaningless, forgettable tag match, too many squash matches, and a godawful Divas match. But, there were also two great promo segments to begin and end the show, a solid use of AJ as General Manager, a good Orton/Del Rio match, a good Jericho/Ziggler match, and a decent pacing to the show where they did a better job than usual of mixing up fluffier segments and ones that ‘matter.’ If every three-hour Raw is like this, I won’t mind so much.

Verdict: 7.5

411 RATINGS SCALE:
0 – 0.9: Torture
1 – 1.9: Extremely Horrendous
2 – 2.9: Very Bad
3 – 3.9: Bad
4 – 4.9: Poor
5 – 5.9: Not So Good
6 – 6.9: Average
7 – 7.9: Good
8 – 8.9: Very Good
9 – 9.9: Amazing
10: Virtually Perfect