Big Show vs. Daniel Bryan: 1/2*
Sheamus vs. David Otunga: N/A (squash)
Randy Orton & Great Khali vs. Wade Barrett & Cody Rhodes: 3/4*
Kelly Kelly, Eve Torres, Alicia Fox, & Tamina vs. Beth Phoenix, Natalya, Nikki Bella, & Brie Bella: N/A (WTF?)
Chris Jericho vs. CM Punk vs. The Miz vs. R-Truth vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. Kofi Kingston: **1/2
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Reviews/Thoughts:
Liked the opening to this RAW with Taker's return. I seriously marked for that one, although a lot of people probably saw it coming. I've read thoughts of people on message boards: was Taker wearing a wig? After all, he was apparently spotted several weeks ago either bald or with considerably shorter hair. Doesn't matter to me. He'll probably have it naturally grown out pretty good by Mania anyway.
HHH with a great promo on Laurinaitis and Taker. Board of Directors making decision the following morning on Johnny. Whatever. Taker's a better topic to talk about. Short video package of Taker. Totally loved all of them. I'm not sure what to make of this buildup just yet. Whatever the case, the seeds are likely planted for Taker and HHH to go at it one more time, and HBK is likely getting involved as the weeks go by.
Update: WWE with "breaking news" on 2/7/12 that John Laurinaitis is still RAW interim GM. Well, that was obviously gonna happen....
DB and Show start the matches? Hey, I'm all for DB featured on both shows. AJ's still wearing her soft neck brace. Cole's blaming AJ for a bunch of this as well. I hate to admit it, but Cole does have a valid point. Oh man, she's all serious or scared now! I want her to go heel as well. She played a decent one in FCW, from what I read. Yes, that be the WWE's equivalent of the minor leagues. Just an average match here at best. Show nearly runs into AJ, so DB takes her and they both leave. Show with a countout win. Promo from DB again a solid heel effort.
Cena's honorary starter of the Daytona 500 on February 26. Cool stuff.
ROFL, Otunga is Tebowing! WTF. Oops. Otunga's competing now. Sheamus! Well, Otunga's getting nuked. It took a while, but only because Otunga scampered a couple times.
Jericho promo. He shows how he was the innovator and everyone else in the chamber (and others in the back) is a Jericho wannabe. Loved the promo. Punk's coming out! New shirt! Looks like a shirt I'd buy. "In Punk We Trust." He holds the title up, says nothing, smirks, and leaves. Pissed Jericho off. Brilliant.
Smackdown's gonna have Orton and DB on Friday. Damn, another great match waiting to happen. Give them 15 minutes and I'll be happy.
Tag match with Khali in it? Guess that's one way to make sure Khali's limits are not as badly exposed. Khali and Orton with hard tags on each other. Or should I say chops? Awkward stuff between Khali and Orton. Orton with a big RKO on Khali after the match. Didn't care for this one. Basic match.
Dammit, another video package with Cena in it. Skipping this as well.
Eight-diva tag match. Beth with the unfriendly tags here. What is it with unfriendly tags tonight? This match barely went a minute or so. Tamina does about two moves. If I ran the show, I'd actually sign some women who can wrestle and give them decent storyline material. None of this Natalya flatulence bullcrap.
Laurinaitis with HHH in the back. HBK next week? Hell yes. Ambulance match at the chamber with Cena and Kane? I'm cool with it, I guess. It's a way to keep Cena out of the title picture. HHH ribs on Laurinaitis? Priceless. Yet he tweets and makes phone calls like Laurinaitis. Fail.
Justin Roberts nearly flubbed the rules of the six pack challenge. Cole and King were on him for that. Ouch.
Main event time. Jericho stayed out of most of it early on (heck he kept getting taken out with minor stuff). Truth took a nasty bump on the outside. Miz failed to catch him so Truth landed hard on his back and also hit his head on the whiplash. Joey Styles said later that Truth was OK after that, but he was out for the rest of the match. Not sure if that was planned for Truth to exit like that, but chances are it didn't affect the outcome very much (if at all). Doubted Truth would have won this anyway.
Update: Miz got huge heat for failing to catch Truth, so it obviously wasn't planned. According to reports, HHH chewed Miz out in front of the others when Miz got backstage.
Punk and Jericho staredown. Miz and Ziggler break that up. Tower of Doom spot! Good stuff between Jericho and Kofi. I don't think Chris flew as high as Kingston back in the day, but Jericho does do some high-flying stuff. Walls on Kofi. Punk came in with the knee, and all I could think of was HHH tearing his quad in 2001. Yeah, I watched that match last night, and it's still awesome as hell.
Kickass spot with Punk countering Ziggler's rocker dropper into a GTS. Jericho saved the match there. Jericho picks the bones and wins. Oh, he even had his foot on the ropes at the end...like it mattered. Jericho was gonna be the obvious winner here. Great spot with Jericho mocking Punk's sit-down style and holding the WWE title. Good feud buildup. Jericho's win means he's last to enter the RAW chamber match.
Why the hell am I hearing a screaming girl? Too close to the damn announcing headsets! Argh!
Oh wait, that's actually Eve screaming when Kane confronted her. Eve did a great job playing scared. For the first time, Kane is afraid...of himself. I loved that ending. Again, good feud build.
Guess what? Cena really played zero part in the proceedings. See? He doesn't have to be cutting big promos or doing his five moves of doom! This could also help the other talent because they now get their moment to shine -- namely guys like Kofi and Truth. Sure, they're still stuck in the upper midcard, shielded by the glass ceiling, but at least they get chamber spots.
Lackluster show. Crapload of video packages and mostly poor matches. Main event was really the only watchable bout.
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I personally get excited for the Elimination Chamber matches. More often than not, they are each around the ***1/2 range or higher.
For the RAW chamber, Ziggler's practically guaranteed to start, likely against Punk. I'd have Kofi in there next, then Miz and Truth. Jericho is last because he won the six-pack challenge.
The replacement is all but guaranteed to be a face (I was right, because someone told me it's Khali. Wait, someone actually reads my stuff...?). DB, Barrett, and Cody are heels; Show and Orton are faces. Must have balance.
Edit @ 9:22 p.m: Yes, Khali is Henry's replacement. Forgive my error. Changes the whole predicted order. Khali's all but confirmed to enter last now.
People may want DB in there at the start, and that may still happen. In this case, DB would likely go against Orton to start things off.
Expect the chamber matches to get a good 20-25 minutes.
2 comments:
Uhhhh dude. They announced it during Smackdown that The Great Khali was taking Mark Henry's place. And actually said it several times during RAW, hence Khali being in the tag-match with Orton.
Forgive me. I watch all shows early in the morning when my brain is not fully operational. I hit fast forward so many times, I obviously missed it.
It explains why Khali was in the tag match, but that doesn't mean I'm cool with the decision. In fact, I'm pissed off even more that Khali's in the chamber. It makes zero sense to me. Right now, I could put on a better match than that guy.
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