Live Report From Last Night’s WWE Monday Night Raw

Credit: JR Judy and pwtorch.com

– The arena was almost completely full with just a few empty seats here and there on the hard camera side. Tons of Jerry Lawler signs, Cena signs, and Ryback signs. The majority of the younger children in families were in Cena gear, while the majority of the 18-30-year-old men were in Ryback, Punk, Ziggler, etc. gear.

Live Notes In Chronological Order
– Very nice opening Veterans’s Day package. The multiple scenes, tributes, and appreciations they did tonight were great. The crowd showed great respect and appreciation for our great troops.

– Randy Orton def. Dolph Ziggler via pinfall. This match was way too quick. The action was good, but Ziggler losing in three minutes is not good for him, even if the loss set up the tag match. It was great to see Teddy Long back on Raw.

– Dolph Ziggler & Alberto Del Rio def. Randy Orton and Kofi Kingston via pinfall. Nothing extraordinary, a basic lead-in to the Survivor Series match on Sunday. The crowd was super behind Orton and Ziggler, but it seemed like they didn’t care much for Del Rio.

– Vickie/A.J./Cena Segment: As Vickie appeared in ring during the commercial, the crowd erupted in boos and didn’t stop until the end of the segment. Until A.J. appeared at ringside, the boos were so loud in the arena. I don’t know how it came across on TV, but in the arena Vickie could not be heard. Although, I think the angle is silly and makes Cena look dumb, the voice-mails and Dolph’s follow-up comment about what is more dissappointing got a good reaction from the male fanbase. I don’t see why Dolph and Cena are not facing each other Sunday on PPV.

– Big Show def. WIlliam Regal via pinfall. William Regal is one of those veterans who the crowd still enjoys seeing. The match did its job to get the Big Show over as a dominant heel continuing the story from Smackdown. Sheamus making the save increased the personal feud for Sunday.

– Kaitlyn def. Layla to become #1 contender to the Divas Title. Well…yeah…this is why no one takes the division seriously anymore. How am I supposed to believe Layla is one of the top contenders when she gets beat in a minute? The crowd didn’t know how to react to such a short match.

– Jerry The King Lawler Returns + Punk-Foley Segment: This is what the arena was waiting for. The promo they showed with the EMTs doing work on Jerry was scary stuff, and seeing him return was a great moment in Raw history. He received a much-deserved standing ovation. C.M. Punk coming out was a good way to draw him some heat. However, Heyman faking a heartache was a very distasteful act in my book. I understand they are supposed to draw a reaction from the crowd, but Punk’s verbal promo was good enough and the crowd booed just as much. It was great to see Foley deliver one of his better promos in recent memory. His emotion and passion showed through, which gave the situation a very important feel and showed how much of a jerk Punk really is.

– Rey Mysterio, Sin Cara, Justin Gabriel, and Tyson Kidd def. PrimeTime Players, Primo, and Epico via pinfall. This match helped put the crowd in a more positive mood with six of the eight men talented high-flyers. Rey carried most of the load for his team and it was great to see him work. Towards the end, the match broke down as wrestlers began flying every which direction, which brought the crowd to their feet. Great win for Gabriel, as it brings Kidd and Gabriel in to the Tag Title picture. Showcasing these teams more often helps WWE rebuild the Tag division, which they’ve been doing well as of late.

– R-Truth def. Tensai via pinfall. According to official match times, this one was only on TV for about two minutes, but it DRAGGED on in person. This was the real stinker of the night. Tensai just isn’t exciting in the ring and I think it hurts his opponents. It was good for R-Truth to get a win heading in to Sunday, but it was a bad match.

– Ryback def. Brad Maddox via pinfall. Ryback is SO over. The crowd was behind him 100 percent and the match was great to showcase Ryback’s power. Yes, he only wrestled a referee, but it still helped re-iterate that Ryback is a monster. The bit with the ambulance being backed in to the arena before the match was a cool addition. When Ryback slammed Brad in to the ambulance, he literally shook it. Scary power and a good segment.

– Sheamus def. David Otunga via pinfall. Another basic build-up match for Survivor Series to make Sheamus and his Brogue Kick look powerful. The segment afterward with Big Show attacking Regal helped move their feud to a personal level. However, in the arena, Sheamus looked awkward just standing and watching, rather than immediately running back for his “friend.”

– The Miz & Kane def. Team Rhodes Scholars via pinfall. My buddy Wade made a prediction early in the night that Miz would turn face and join Team Foley, which is a refreshing change. It was strange to cheer for Miz at first but his home state crowd supported him, especially after an “O-H” chant. Daniel Bryan was incredible as always. Even in the role of observer, he was hysterical just by his mannerisms and actions. He may be the most complete character that WWE has. The match itself was a decent match to again build towards Survivor Series.

– John Cena def. CM Punk via pinfall. This was the match of the night hands down. Punk and Cena have a natural chemistry and can deliver tremendous matches at any time. And, the crowd was so hot for both Punk and Cena adding a big match feel to the main event. Even as a non-title match, the atmosphere and action combined had me jumping out of my seat like it was a PPV main event. Foley as the special enforcer didn’t do as much as we hoped, but it was still great to see him. The Ryback-Cena dynamic at the end of the show provided interesting build towards Survivor Series. You have to wonder if these two powerhouses may beat each other down and allow Punk to slide in and pick up the pieces.

– Overall Reaction: One of the better shows I’ve ever been to, and one of the best three-hour Raws in terms of in-ring action and story-building. Although, I think Raw is still too long at three hours, tonight seemed to be a more acceptable episode than most. The crowd was hot all night making the show 10x better.

Biggest Pops:
(1) Jerry Lawler
(2) John Cena
(3) Ryback
(4) Daniel Bryan

Most Heat:
(1) Vickie Guerrero
(2) C.M. Punk
(3) John Cena

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