Tuesday, November 6, 2012

11/5/12 RAW

Ratings:
Rey Mysterio, Sin Cara, & R-Truth vs. Antonio Cesaro, Titus O'Neil, & Darren Young: **1/4

Cody Rhodes vs. Daniel Bryan: *

Kane vs. Damien Sandow: *1/4

Sheamus vs. Miz: **1/2

Layla & Kaitlyn vs. Eve Torres & Aksana: 1/2*

Kofi Kingston vs. Alberto Del Rio: **1/4

Santino Marella & Zack Ryder vs. Primo & Epico: *1/2

Wade Barrett vs. Brodus Clay: *1/2

Heath Slater vs. Jey Uso: *

John Cena & Ryback vs. CM Punk & Dolph Ziggler: **
_________________

Reviews/Thoughts:
Birmingham, England, is the site for RAW this week. Always can expect a great crowd in the UK.

Miz not on the same page with Heyman and Punk. Miz quits Team Punk. Welp, sucks to be Paul.

Six-man tag starts the show. Cesaro continues to impress me. Great all-around game. Awesome finish. Sin Cara with the dizzying head scissors takedown into the 619, into Little Jimmy for the win. Pretty standard stuff, but the chemistry was there.

WWE hypes Jerry Lawler's return to RAW next week. Glad that he's still with us after his near-fatal heart attack.

Vickie Guerrero comes out to boos and ready to give this evidence. Cena's back in his green shirt this month because Breast Cancer Awareness month is over. Cena with the self-deprecating humor about his lack of wrestling moves...nice to see he's taken all this in stride. He brings up Vickie's past storyline with Edge and current run with Ziggler. What?! Continuity?! More hotel footage. AJ in a bathrobe, coming from one hotel room, knocking on another hotel door, and going in. We never see who actually opens the door. Video #2, purportedly of the same room, then shows Cena in a bath towel, put up that "Do Not Disturb" sign on the doorknob. Fans go nuts. Vickie wants AJ to come on out. AJ says she's not going out there because otherwise, Vickie's gonna get her ass kicked. Ziggler on camera to rub salt in the wound. Cena takes off and Vickie laughs like a wicked witch. Good segment here to further the storyline. Can we have more shows in the UK?

Heyman tries to recruit Wade Barrett again. Yup, Barrett's getting a huge pop in the UK! Barrett's on the team, but Paul owes him. And put that in writing. Smart man.

The crowd goes bonkers with the "YES" chants as Daniel Bryan comes down with Kane. Cody's already in the ring. Sandow in Cody's corner. Damien's also back in the pink tights. Real short match here. Sandow takes Kane out. DB takes out Sandow. Disaster Kick to DB, then Cross Rhodes in the ring for three.

Cody then runs his mouth that Sandow can beat Kane just as easily as he did with Daniel Bryan. Kane pulls Sandow in the ring and here we go! Nope, not as easy as beating Daniel Bryan, sorry. Ref ejects DB and Cody to the back. Sandow's screwed now. Kane chokeslam eventually ends things.

Cole asks Brad Maddox to explain his actions at the HIAC PPV and if he's working with Paul Heyman and CM Punk. Maddox says it was all him. "Feed me more!" chants. All Brad wanted to be was a WWE superstar. He once paid $2,000 for a tryout match, ouch. Brad then got a developmental contract but was told he wasn't good enough. He doesn't have the freak physique, lucha skills, etc. He still wanted to make an impact and be somebody. Brad wants a contract and a match with Ryback. Well, he'll be famous for sure now. HI VINCE! Vince will give Maddox a million-dollar contract if Brad defeats Ryback next week. I guess this means a countout or DQ win, right?

Vince brings out Vickie Guerrero for the vintage awkward segment. Vickie wants Ziggler in the WWE Title match, but Vince won't make that happen. Punk now defends the WWE Title at Survivor Series in a triple threat against Ryback and Cena. Double ouch. Sounds like Punk will be pinning Cena after Ryback does the dirty work. They wouldn't have Ryback pinned here, I don't think. Unless they have Maddox interfere again, I suppose.

Sheamus comes out for his match against Miz. Nice sign that spoofs off of one of Austin's shirts: "Arrive. Kick Arse. Leave." Big Show comes out for commentary and to watch the festivities. Show vows to KO Sheamus again at Survivor Series. Miz takes advantage of Show distracting Sheamus to gain the upper hand. Show intimidates Cole with the KO punch. More of that, please! Show basically being the guy who takes things the wrong way. Sheamus with the eventual comeback in this competitive match. White Noise and Brogue Kick for three. Show still holds the title aloft at Sheamus.

Team Punk now becomes Team Ziggler. Dolph captains a team for the first time, and frankly, I'm happy for the guy. Punk calls Vince a cranky old bastard...awesome. Vickie says the main event tonight is Punk and Ziggler vs. Ryback and Cena. Crowd loves it. Fifth guy for Team Foley to replace Ryback still TBD.

Fandangoo! WTF. I lost brain cells on that.

Time for divas tag action. Aksana doing all the sultry stuff but not many wrestling moves. Slow match with too many restholds or awkward-looking spots. Bombshell kick to Aksana, snap neckbreaker to Layla, then reverse DDT from Kaitlyn to Eve gets three. At least the finish looked good.

Kofi and Del Rio next. Pretty good here, although the crowd didn't seem as much into it as other matches. Counters on each guy's finishing moves. Kofi goes for the springboard crossbody but misses. ADR gives a signal for the cross armbreaker. Orton's music hits, but no one comes out. Kofi rolls ADR up for three. Sounds about right.

Oh, there's Orton. RKO to Del Rio and a no-remorse stare. Cole and Ross hype the Super Smackdown that goes live later today in Birmingham! Orton and Del Rio in a falls count anywhere match!

Team CoBro back in action against the Puerto Rican cousins. Vintage power walk from Santino. Ryder's very over with the crowd. Typical tag match. Santino with the cobra to Epico and the three-count. Double trombone!

Brodus faces Barrett. Anywhere else, Brodus gets the bigger pop, but we're in the UK. HUGE response for Wade. Huge Bossman slam from WB, plus strikes. Funkadactyls with hands on ears, tuning out the Barrett cheers. That's a good pose for them. Brodus tries on avalanche too many. Kick to the gut, then a Souvenir for three. Crowd should be going home happy there.

A reminder that Barrett faces Sheamus on Main Event (to air Wednesday), also taking place in the UK.

More of 3MB! Frankly, the best thing to happen to each guy lately. Slater's in action, and Jinder accompanies him to ringside. No McIntyre probably because he's from the UK and they don't want the faction cheered. Superkick from Uso, and JR makes the HBK reference. Sweet Island Music? Could be catchy. Uso misses the superfly splash, and Slater hits yet another new finisher (Smash Hit -- impaler DDT) for three.

Punk promo. Punk says he's being screwed at Survivor Series. He's gonna have to survive the PPV to become champ for a full year.

Time for the main event tag match. Cena and Punk with the chain wrestling at the start, then Cena and Ziggler pretty much do the same thing. Cena with a desperation AA to get Ryback in the match. Heels still manage to isolate Cena for a couple more minutes before Ryback gets in. Ryback cleans house and hits Shellshocked on Punk for three. Nice clean win there over the champ. A weakened Cena looks on as Ryback demands to be fed more.

Ten matches again, by my count. Bunch of people get airtime, and there are a few good matches, but not a ton of quality overall. Great fans in the UK made it a better show than it probably woulda been elsewhere.

No comments: