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The Raw Review 5/28/2012

WWE Monday Night RAW 5/28/2012
 The New Orleans Arena  New Orleans, LA

1. The Big Show's rant to open Raw.

I am not digging the Cena/Show feud at all. Don't get me wrong, I'm a Big Show fan, but I don't want to see him in the main feud on Raw. And as far as John Cena goes, why should I even care about his programs anymore? In two months time he has finished his one off feud with The Rock, Beaten Brock Lesnar, and now he is boring the piss out of me along with The Big Show. Just give the guy some damn direction already. Now that I have said that, we will get a six month Cena/Show program. FML.

Back to tonight's opener, It just went on, and on, and on. At the 15 minute mark I was starting to wonder when he would get to the point...and then it ended. I think Show is great on the mic, but  in small doses. The monologue started off alright. I felt his anger when he spoke of how after he was left a 7 foot tall puddle of tears in the ring once getting fired, and the very next segment was Brodus Clay in the ring dancing, he was made to seem like an after thought.  But as the minutes ticked by, he began to lose me. But I will say that it seems that they have been able to use Show's turn to rally the Cenation, which is good I guess.

2. Non-title:  Alberto Del Rio vs Santino

This wasn't even really a match, so I don't have an opinion about it one way or the other. But if this is leading to a Santino vs Ricardo match, I am so down.

Finish: Santino goes for the Cobra early, but he gets stopped. Del Rio slaps on the Cross Armbreaker and Santino taps out.

Winner: Alberto Del Rio

3. Alex Riley gets some TV time...and gets splattered against a brick wall by the Big Show.

I like Alex Riley, last year he had an entertaining feud with The Miz, which I thought was one of the better things going at the time. Riley seemed like he was on the cusp of a big break out when he suddenly disappeared. I know getting destroyed by The Big Show in a backstage segment wont get him a renewed push. But the kid should use every opportunity given him to get himself over, since WWE obviously could care less about him.

4. Tag Team Titles: R-Truth & Kofi Kingston© vs Dolph Ziggler & Jack Swagger

Speaking of taking every chance to get over, enter Dolph Ziggler. I know that he wont get a push as long as he is stuck with Swagger, so I hope this will be their last shot at the Tag Titles. If he is put back on his own, Ziggler can go places...Once WWE sees what most people have, and that is Ziggler equals money.

This small feud for the Tag Titles has done it's job of getting Kofi & Truth over as a legit tag team, and this match capped it off.

Finish: R-Truth hits Pay Dirt to get the three count and retain the titles.

Winners: Kofi Kingston & R-Truth©

Post Match: Dolph Ziggler is pissed at losing yet another tag match, and takes it out on Swagger and Vicky Guerrero. "I'm better than this, I'm Dolph Ziggler" He screams before walking to the locker room alone. YES! YES! YES!

5. Big Show attempts to take out Santino in the back, but he is stopped by Brodus Clay.

Tonight we get The Big Show vs The Funkasaurus. At least Clay wont be squashing anyone tonight. It's progress, I guess. But I have a feeling that he will be the one getting squashed this time around.

6. Big Johnny takes up TV time that would've been better used with, you know, matches.

He says that the Big Show/Cena match at No Way Out 2012 is now a Steel Cage match (Shocker). He then unveils that HE will be on the cover of WWE '13 and shows off a mock-up portrait of what the cover will be...This brings out the legit cover boy, CM Punk.

Punk then lets the cat out of the bag, and has a huge banner of the true WWE '13 cover dropped from the cieling. This leads to the line of the night.

CM Punk: "I never got to say this to your face, but mine is bigger than yours"  Ha!

Punk then tells Laurinaitis to hit the bricks, then destroys Big Johnny's fake cover portrait.

7. Non-Title: CM Punk© vs Daniel Bryan

Match of the night without a doubt (DUH!). I do question why they are giving the rematch to WWE's top bout of the last month for free. But I am not going to complain. I would watch these two face off every week if I could. THIS is what I want to see out of a WWE Title feud.

This was the back and forth WRESTLING match that one would expect. Their styles mesh so beautifully that it's hard to tell which guy is "The Best".

Before we go to a break, that crazy bitch AJ makes her way to ringside. I am usually not for story lines that inject a Diva into a perfectly good feud, but AJ has an insane version of Miss Elizabeth thing going that I am liking. Back from the break Punk is taking a beating from Bryan.

Finish: We get several more minutes of back and forth action before Daniel Bryan pulls the pad off of the turnbuckle. AJ gets on the ring apron to voice her displeasure about Bryan's antics. Punk tells her to get down before running at Bryan looking for his high knee in the corner, but Bryan catches him with a Stun Gun into the exposed steel. 1-2-3 and it's over.

Winner: Daniel Bryan

Post Match: Kane is in to get revenge on Bryan for taking a beating on Smackdown. The Big Red Monster destroys Bryan with a chair, then turns to Punk who is handed a chair of his own by AJ. Punk is able to attack Kane before he gets some of what was given to Daniel Bryan. Punk beats the hell out of Kane with the chair, which sends "The Devil's favorite demon" running.

I don't like Kane being added to this feud, but so far I am entertained by what they are doing with it.

8. Non-Title: Christian©  vs The Miz

Lawler and Cole plug the fact that Jericho has been suspended without letting anyone know what went down. Instead they send us to WWE.com for the details. Nice way to get hits on the homepage, guys.

Cody Rhodes is at ringside for this one, but leaves commentary before the end to try to cause a distraction to Christian.

Nice little match from these two. Why not add Miz to the IC Title feud? Like we saw in the last segment, WWE does like to stick random stars into programs. I kid, I kid.

Finish: Christian hits the Killswitch to set up the Frog Splash for the Three count.

Winner: Christian©

9. The Miz bitches about losing to Christian in the ring. Randy Orton then lays him out with an RKO for no reason.

I guess they had to come up with something for Orton to do since Jericho has been suspended. But why waste TV time like this? Isn't Orton a Smackdown star? Couldn't they do this on their own show? Blah.

Backstage: After watching what Orton did to The Miz, Dolph Ziggler tells Vicky that he is done with being in a random tag team with Jack Swagger. Preach on brother, Ziggler. Vicky tells him to let her see what she can do.

Are they plugging Ziggler into a program with Orton in Jericho's absence? If so, this could be bad. Remember when CM Punk feuded with Orton last year? Punk lost EVERY match of their feud that lasted several months. That being said, If they wanted someone who could put over The Viper and sell for him like none other, Ziggler is their man. That being said, Ziggler NEEDS to be put over for a change. He is one major win from being seen as a legit star. Dont be short sighted here WWE. You want to be a star? Then MAKE a star for a change. /rant.

10. It's announced that the WWE Title will be defended on Smackdown for the first time in 8 years as Punk will defend against Kane this week.

I will have to check into that one, I'm calling shenanigans though. The WWE Title was once the property of the blue brand, so how is that possible?

11. Non-title: Sheamus© vs David Otunga

Are you serious, bro? Poor Sheamus, good luck making Otunga look like anything other than a jobber.

Well, he tried but Otunga really is that bad. And what is with all of the Non-title matches tonight anyway?

Finish: Sheamus hits White Noise, followed by a Brogue Kick for the win.

Winner: Sheamus©

12. The Big Show vs Brodus Clay

The Big Show comes out and takes to the mic saying that Clay is an embarrassment and is lesser than even Doink the Clown, before spearing and laying into an all out assault on The Funkasaurus. Kofi and Truth try to stop Show from taking apart Clay, to no avail. Show then crushes the announce table and uses the side of it to pummel Brodus.

This gets the crowd rooting for John Cena in a huge way. I thought that this was impossible, but WWE has managed to make Cena into a force again. Too bad for Clay and The Tag Champs that Cena was a no show tonight, as Big Show continues to pick them apart as the show ends, but not before showing the carnage over again in a replay.

Winner: No Contest as the match never happened.

Final Verdict: This show wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. Coming into tonight's episode all we knew was The Big Show would be prominently featured, and we wouldn't be getting the follow up to Orton/Jericho.

The show started out kind of shitty with Big Show talking...and talking. But it picked up in the middle as we got a great TV match between Punk and Bryan and found out that Ziggler will be going solo once again after a decent tag team match that featured "The Show Off". Plus the Christian/Rhodes story continued which is good business no matter how you look at it.

It did dip again with Sheamus vs Otunga, But the final segment, while it ruined the aura of Brodus Clay (bad), it did help to give Cena more vigor (good) at least as far as the New Orleans crowd is concerned. I will have to call the last segment a wash for that reason alone though. Sacrificing a new star in Clay, for an established one in Cena is a good/bad situation. But I guess they feel Cena needs all the help he can get after losing to The Rock. Why else have him beat Lesnar, followed by being made to look like a member of the Avengers against The Big Show as I'm sure where this will all lead.

WWE Raw Unmoderated Liveblog

Chris Jericho Incident and Apology In Brazil

Here is a video of Chris Jericho stepping on Brazil's flag and then apologizing to the crowd before he almost got arrested. Jericho has since been suspended indefinitely.
(h/t @nwoidaho)

WWE Raw Unmoderated Liveblog

Marking Out From My Couch: Dusting off the keyboard...

I'm writing to you after a lengthy hiatus, I don't have a valid excuse for my absence but I'm back to give my opinion on several things going on right now in WWE specifically. Jump right into it shall we.

In what is probably the best on paper feud WWE has right now, CM Punk is wrestling Daniel Bryan tonight for the title, in what should be an instant classic if it is given the time it needs. Punk and Bryan have known each other for around a decade and I think the two will give it everything they have just to prove that they're deserving of the spots they have. Seriously, Bryan said in an interview that he plans to pull out some new moves tonight and Punk is guaranteed to deliver. Thes rest of the card tonight to me is lacking, but, it does bring me to my next point.

Who the fuck cares about Big Johnny v. John Cena? The ending was telegraphed on RAW when Big Show was "fired" and then the WWE board said that no current WWE star could interefere in the match. Even if it isn't Big Show there will be a run-in and Cena will lose. If Cena is taking time off, they need to do it sooner than later, pull the guy off TV now and let him handle his injuries *ahem* and personal issues. If Cena wins tonight without any run-ins I will eat a shoe, promise.

Interview: Tommaso Ciampa

The Sicilian Psychopath. Also known as Tommaso Ciampa, is a up and coming, nay, an established indy wrestling superstar for Ring of Honor wrestling. I first noticed him when Ring of Honor was still on HDNet and his brutal move-set and distinct look, think Stone Cold Steve Austin mixed with Woody Harrelson in Natural Born Killers, instantly made me think that he was destined for greatness in the wrestling business. And that was before I even heard him cut a promo. You see, he is part of the stable "The Embassy", where Prince Nana and Barrister R.D. Evans do most of the talking. It wasn't until earlier this year that Tommaso began to release promos on Youtube that it became clear that not only could Ciampa wrestle, but he was also getting comfortable cutting promos. He is becoming next level great. Here's an example of one of his latest promo.

Ciampa, being the cool cat that he is, accepted an interview request on Twitter. The biggest interview for the site yet. I am extremely happy to bring you an interview with someone who I really do think will be one of the biggest stars in the history of the business. Enjoy.

The Raw Review 5/14/2012

WWE Monday Night RAW 5/14/2012
The CONSOL Energy Center  Pittsburgh, PA

Tonight's edition of the Raw Review is brought to you by Vodka. Making wrestling more watchable since the year 1114.

1. Triple H's big announcement and Confrontation with Paul Heyman.

The Raw Review 5/7/2012

WWE Monday Night RAW 5/7/2012
Greensboro Coliseum Greensboro, North Carolina

1. Big Johnny puts the entire locker room on notice.

I Interview My Dad

I had to interview my Dad about the Kennedy assassination for U.S. History class. It starts off slow but it picks up speed as I realized I was gonna have to wing it after I ran out of questions. The Man, The Myth, The Legend, My Dad.

dadmov by mrejr8234

The Raw Review 4/30/2012

WWE Monday Night RAW
April 30th, 2012
The Nutter Center Dayton, OH

1. Triple H confronts Lesnar.

Hunter denies all of Lesnar's demands from last week, causing Lesnar to attack HHH, and brake the COO's arm. The Locker room empties to save the boss.