Welcome to a very special edition of A RAW Opinion, why so special, you ask? Because just like WWE Raw, in the famous words of UFC Octagon announcer Bruce Buffer… Weeeeeeee Aaaaaaaaare Liiiiiiiiive! Thats right, we are doing something unprecedented, A RAW Opinion is LIVE this week, so thank you for reading this, hopefully you enjoy the show and the column, check back often as I will be updating after each match/segment and we’ll see how it goes, if It’s successful maybe I’ll do it this way each week.
Earlier today WWE sent out a few text message alerts to their mobile subscribers, John Laurinaitis gives his “farewell speech” Also, Brock Lesnars camp will respond to the challenge Triple H laid out to Lesnar last night at No Way Out, what else happened last night? Check back here at 9PM, in just over an hour, because as WWE Raw goes live, as does, A RAW Opinion.
And we are live, WWE Raw starts things off with highlighting what happened last night at No Way Out with Vince telling John Laurinaitis he’s fired. They also advertise Cindy Lauper is in the building tonight.
Mick Foley comes out from the back, he says that he receieved a call from the WWE Board of Directors and was told that while they look for a permanent GM for Raw and SmackDown! they are reaching out to former GM’s to take over on an interim basis, he announces tonight Kane will team up with Daniel Bryan to take on Sheamus and his partner CM Punk. HUGE “YES” chants throughout. (Quick note: Didn’t we see this same tag match last week?) Foley says even though John Laurinaitis was fired last night he has been invited out to give his farewell address. He introduces Laurinaitis to a ton of boos. HUGE “You are fired” chants directed at Laurinaitis. Foley starts putting words in his mouth and says Laurinaitis said Long Island sucks, the fans boo loud, Laurinaitis snaps and tells everyone to shut up, he calls the fans rude, and says he’s going to wait until later to give his address. He says before he was fired, he made a match for tonights main event, John Cena in a 3 on 1 handicap match against Big Show, David Otunga and HIMSELF. Pretty funny considering Laurinaitis has added a neck brace and a sling to his arsenal of injury problems. Sheamus comes out and stands on the apron smiling. Looks like our tag team match is up first tonight.
BIG “YES” chant to start the match off, they announced that after last nights win moves CM Punk into 4th place in longest title reigns in the last 15 years, passing Triple H. I’m almost sure the fans started a slight “We Want AJ” chant. Very good tag team match here, Punk and Bryan are on the mat and AJ’s music plays, she skips out from the back wearing a Kane mask and a red and black outfit, she goes around the ring and then skips backstage, Kane leaves and follows her, Sheamus and Punk get the win on Daniel Bryan.
We come back from commercial and Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger are arguing backstage talking about which one of them is better, Vickie interrupts them and says It’s time she chooses which one of them deserves he respect and admiration, up next, Jack Swagger goes one on one with Dolph Ziggler.
John Laurinaitis is laughing with David Otunga backstage, Big Show comes into the picture and asks whats so funny, Laurinaitis says that Cena can’t beat Big Show one on one, and Cena has no chance in a handicap match, and that we don’t deserve him. He says tonight he’s going to leave a lasting impression we’ll never forget, Show says he doesn’t find anything funny at all. Pretty stupid that Laurinaitis is laughing a day after being fired.
Dolph Ziggler VS Jack Swagger is up now, BIG “Lets Go Ziggler” chants from the Long Island crowd. Swagger going after Zigglers knee early on, Ziggler gets the win on Swagger with a Zig Zag out of absolutely nowhere, Swagger was dominating 99.9% of the match, I wonder where this is going next.
Triple H video from last night where he challenges Brock Lesnar to a fight at SummerSlam in August. We see a limo in the parking lot, apparently the response from Lesnars camp is coming up next.
Brock Lesnars music plays, Paul Heyman comes out from the back. “ECW” chant breaks out. He says he’s out there as the advocate to Brock Lesnar, Heyman says Brock Lesnar is not one of those people who will cater to Triple H’s demands like the people in Titan Towers, he says no, Brock Lesnar will not drop his lawsuit, no he will not drop HIS lawsuit, and no Brock Lesnar will not fight Triple H at SummerSlam, Heyman is about to leave when Triple H’s music hits, he walks out from the back. Triple H says that they’re not in a bingo hall in the 90’s drinking his kool-aid, he calls Heyman a habitual liar, and he says Brock Lesnar is going to fight him at SummerSlam, he says he wants Brock Lesnar to tell him to his face that he’s going to man up and fight him at SummerSlam. Triple H says he can give Lesnar everything he wants, h shows a picture of Lesnar on the SummerSlam poster and all he has to do is step up and fight him, Heyman says Lesnar has no ego, he gets cut off and says Heyman usually lies better then this and brings up Lesnar wanting the show to be called “Monday Night Raw, starring Brock Lesnar” He says Lesnar is all about ego and Brock Lesnar will fight him or else Lesnar will go down as the guy who is scared of Triple H. Heyman tells HHH to stop pretending to be the ass kicker he USED to be and go back to his corporate job, Heyman tells HHH to hit him. Heyman says they have nothing for HHH but they have “something for Stephanie” HHH grabs Heyman by the throat and clenches his fist, HHH eventually lets him go. Heyman talks about how he knows everything HHH is going to do before he does it, HHH lays Heyman out with a punch and asks Heyman if he saw that coming, the fans chanted “Yes” HHH tells Heyman to tell Lesnar he’ll see him at SummerSlam, unless Brock is scared of the same thing happening to him.
Alberto Del Rio back in action, his opponent is Santino Marella. Quick match with Del Rio getting the win after a cross arm breaker.
They hype up Cindy Lauper coming up next with a video package.
Layla is in the ring and brings out WWE Hall of Famer and former womens champion Wendi Richter and Cindy Lauper. They come out and talk, Heath Slater comes out from the back and says whats going on in the ring is a train wreck, Lauper asks Slater who he is. HUGE “We Want Ryder” chants from the fans. Slater starts singing, terribly at that, Roddy Pipers music hits, he comes out from the back dressed to fight. He sends Heath to the back but he stays in the ring, Piper talks about how much he loves Lauper, he presents Lauper with a framed gold record. I think Pipers drunk tonight. Piper pokes Slater in the eyes after he interrupts again, and Lauper bashes Slater over the head with the gold framed album. I for once have to agree with Michael Cole, this was god awful.
Epico and Primo are in the ring with the SEXY Rosa Mendes, they look pissed off, Abraham Washington comes out, he introduces Darren Young and Titus O’Neil. We have a tag match up now, Epico & Primo get the better of Titus and Young, AW pulls them away and Epico and Primo got counted out. Up next is the handicap match. Before commercial, WWE promotes Chris Jericho returning next week.
John Laurinaitis is in the ring now, he talks about how Cena had to cheat to beat Big Show last night, he says that he or Show aren’t the losers, the fans are because now they don’t have People Power, he goes on to say that the fans won’t see him again until he’s inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. After commercial Big Show is on the microphone and thanks Laurinaitis for his iron clad contract and fat bonus. Big Show says nobody can tell him what to do now, and he doesn’t feel he needs to compete in this match, he tells Laurinaitis and Otunga that they’re on their own.
2 on 1 handicap match is on now, Otunga gets beaten down early on, he goes for a tag but Laurinaitis backs away, leaving Otunga to compete on his own pretty much, Laurinaitis standing on the apron with his crutch, sling and neck brace. Another BIG “We Want Ryder” chant breaks out. Laurinaitis finally wants in the match after Otunga does all the work, Laurinaitis goes to work on Cena, revealing himself to not be injured at all. Laurinaitis goes for the tag but Otunga leaves him high and dry, Cena goes to work on Laurinaitis, Cena gives Otunga two Attitude Adjustments, Cena picks him up and hits a third, he locks in the STF and Laurinaitis taps out. The show ends with Cena celebrating in the ring.
As for the overall opinion, I enjoyed the show for the most part, however, I’m giving it a 1.5/5 because I’m absolutely LIVID that Zack Ryder was not part of Raw in his own hometown, AGAIN.
Cool.
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No no…”Smooth.”
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And creamy?(sorry)
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Harley Quinn….that’s all I have to say.
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I love AJ lol. But that is pretty cool Harley Quinn trended.
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Zack Ryder for The Creeper?
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I apologize for making you review horrid segments such as that.
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Lol I’ve enjoyed the show for the most part so far, aside from a couple of segments.
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GD it, I hate when they don’t show/tell us who was in the limo. Leaves speculating for a week!
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They did say it was someone from Lesnars camp, didn’t say WHO it was though, supposed to assume it was Heyman.
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Slater’s hardcore!
I have to admit, it was pretty cool to see Otunga getting a face pop for leaving Ace.
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I’m really not enjoying Raw at the minute. It just feels really stale to me. Bryan’s been entertaining recently, along with AJ. But I really am not bowled away by what the WWE are doing whatsoever. They’re making impact look like a quality wrestling show by comparison right now.
I mean does anyone actually care about Sheamus and Punk? Honestly, since Punk re-won the title it seems like his balls have chopped off to some degree. He’s lost the edginess that made him so great when he caught fire last summer, and Sheamus…urgh. I mean I like him, but he’s not exactly “star material.” To me he just comes across as a Farooq-like character. Good, likeable in the right scenario….but nowhere near being a main event bona fide star. Alberto Del Rio is possibly the most vanilla world champion that I have ever seen….ever. And then there’s Cena. I don’t think my feelings about John Cena can actually articulated in, y’know, words. So again, least said the better. Even the midcard scene is pretty dire.
Here’s hoping that Jericho’s doing something interesting when he returns next week to bring a semblance of entertainment back to Raw.
Rant over.
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I think Del Rio’s big issue is he says what heels say, but talks like an earnest face.
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If he can’t do that then there’s 2 questions. A) Why is he a heel, and B) if they wanted him to be heel and be good on the mic, then why didn’t they leave him in development or wait until he had developed in the midcard before pushing him to the main event?
It’s guys like Del Rio that make that make the bygone days look so much better than what’s on our screens at the minute. For all his terribleness, Ricardo is more entertaining than Del Rio in my opinion. At least I’ve laughed when he’s been on my screen.
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I don’t know why they made him heel. He “plays” the character well and acts like a champion. He was a HUGE face in Mexico, so maybe he should have a turn. The sad part is he really can go in the ring.
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Personally, I find it really hard to buy into his ring work because I don’t buy into his character. I can’t really seperate my boredom with his persona from his actual wrestling ability. If that makes any sort of sense!
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Pretend it’s Punk. It helps me.
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Wasn’t a great Raw. Crowd was screaming for Ryder.
How many humiliation matches can WWE put on?
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The Piper/Lauper section was a car crash too
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Slater is growing on me. He has a goofy charisma and it may keep him around for a bit.
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I’m back on my home turf and have my laptop back! So here’s an official hello 😛
Raw wasn’t great, wasn’t bad either. Love how they’re hyping a legend or two each week. I’d love if they had a legend every week or second week, love seeing the likes of Vader, Piper, Foley etc..
They should have put Ryder in a match, he was probably in a dark match but the crowd would have been so into it. Which BTW I agree the crowd was electric.
Cena is moving back to his normal-self SuperCena persona.
Don’t like how Lauranitis has been booked last couple of weeks, lost my interest completely.
Just about done reading Jericho’s undisputed book and was awesome to see WWE promote Fozzy with his return next week. I say that because in the book he discussed about how Vince wasn’t in to promoting Fozzy (with the gimmick they had, hard to understand if you have not read it) on Raw.
CM Punk and Bryan are just two best in WWE right now.
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Ace is such a good heel that just by leaving him, Otunga got a face pop.
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I thought that exact same thing when I saw the WWE promoting Fozzy!
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They showed him with Fozzy to try and make his return a good thing. He is supposed to come back as a face.
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A Jericho face turn(so to speak)? Wow. Been a while to say the very least. Wonder if he’ll be reverting to Y2J/Ayatollah of Rock N Rolla persona? Probably means he’ll be out of the title picture though, but he could probably work a pretty good programme with one of the young-ish heels and put them over before leaving after Summerslam. Just a guess.
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I’d LOVE another Jericho run as face, that would be epic. Wow, Jericho’s music hits, comes out, announces his return as the Ayatollah of Rock N Rolla!! Awesome.
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So many faces out right now. They probably needed him to turn.
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I will be grateful if you continue this in future. A lot of people will be benefited from your writing.
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