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LOOKING AT A 'ROCK BROUGHT THE GUITAR, BUT CENA BROUGHT THE FIRE' EDITION OF RAW

By Mike Johnson on 2012-03-13 10:13:16
Last night's edition of Raw was a good, entertaining two hours.  In many ways, it was the more fulfilling show that they've presented on Monday nights in some time, but at the same time, I don't know that the concept of the rap vs. Rock concert sold one more ticket or PPV to Wrestlemania.  But, I enjoyed the show.  Onto my thoughts:

We opened with John Cena whipping out the old school Thuganomics look and demeanour for a "hip hop" set that pretty much was Cena freestyling off the top of his head ripping on Rock.  Years ago, I actually was witness to Cena "battling" fans and he's great at pulling stuff out of nowhere, so I have no doubt this was all his material.  The set was OK but Cena's attitude and intensity was off the charts, a stark reminder of what he could be if he wasn't playing "Shiny Happy Cena" all the time.  For a PG show, at 9 PM, it was a racier segment than you'd expect but it was good.  When it was done, you got the idea that Cena really wants to kick the hell out of the Rock.  Thumbs up.  While I don't know I'd want to see the hip hop stuff ever brought back again, I'd love to see that attitude brought back.

Sheamus vs. Dolph Ziggler was a stronger bout than I'd expected going in.  There were some moments here where Ziggler was a great heel and showed some strong moves, but you get this feeling watching him that something is still missing in terms of the way he flows in the ring.  Still, he's made a huge leap from when he started and hopefully over time he finds that missing piece, but he looked good here.  Sheamus was his usual solid self and they had a good match.  The promo in the crowd with Daniel Bryan and AJ was great as AJ was too nervous to admit that Bryan had snapped at her.  Their characters have really developed well in recent weeks.  Bryan is so entertaining as the Owen Hart-esque weasel heel.

Then we had the handicap match with David Otunga and Mark Henry defeating Santino.  If I never see another handicap match, I will be a happy man.  They never, ever mean a thing and are a sad crutch for the creative teams these days.   The Teddy Long vs. John Laurinaitis interplay continues to be entertaining and Long shoving Ace over the announcers was a pretty funny sight.  I loved seeing the return of Mark Henry as a beast laying out Marella and Kingston and Truth when they tried to come to the rescue.  As a set up for the 12 man at Wrestlemania, this was entertaining.  I know run-ins are pretty much overdone but the way they were presented here, the crowd was into them and I liked it.

We had the next chapter in Eve Torres and Zach Ryder.  Ryder again looks like an idiot trying to get with Torres.  I don't think WWE realizes how badly they are killing his momentum, or they don't care.  Well, they will when they are left with a warehouse full of merchandise because of their bad decisions.   Torres is playing a sybil like back and forth manipulative woman who doesn't want him but doesn't want anyone else to take her plaything - or else she's going to end up with a Grey's Anatomy brain tumor split personanility storyline.  I don't know.  In the middle of all this was Beth Phoenix announcing she was going to go on NBC's Extra to see Maria Menounos to set up the next celebrity angle.  This is what happens when Chelsea Handler blows you off

Miz wanted to be on Johnny Ace's team.  At this point, Ace would be better off with The Bushwhackers.  James Roday of Psych was with Miz and was told to ring announce.  He said he would "Finkel it."  I love this man!

Brodus Clay returned with a fast forward version of a match, defeating Jinder Mahal in no time.  They must have been trimming the time on this show.  Clay didn't get much of a response for his return, but that's what happens when you introduce a character and then yank him off TV for a month.  The gimmick is fine but Clay lacked the ferocity he's shown before - and they need to give the character something more than the entrance and the dancing for it to work. 

The Shawn Michaels-Undertaker segment started off a little goofy on the logic side with Michaels assuming that Taker talked about him behind his back.  Once Taker came out, their back and forth was great with Michaels teasing that even in retirement, he could be the one ending the streak by counting the pinfall.  They kept pushing the end of an era, which makes you think something final is planned there.  If it's the end of Taker, and they have him lose to HHH, my mind will be blown.   Taker warning Shawn to do the right thing and make sure there is a clean finish or he's going to finish him, followed by Shawn teasing the superkick, only to pat him on the shoulder and blow off Taker was GREAT.  They have built a hell of a triangle between these two and HHH, especially since none of them have laid a finger on each other.

CM Punk vs. Miz was OK but watching Miz, you can tell that either his confidence is completely shot or he's hiding an injury publicly.  He was a step behind or off on just about everything he did, right to the point that he looked to take Punk's bulldog wrong and was out of place when Punk went for the flying clothesline off the ropes.  Punk gets the win and Miz disappears so Chris Jericho can cut his promo, revealing that Punk's father was an alcoholic.  ROH did a promo with Punk years ago where he revealed that and it was a shoot.   Jericho was great in the promo and Punk sold it like someone just told him his entire life was shattered.  They both were really good here but I am not convinced the Wrestlemania match needed this extra "oomph" to it.  They were building a good match just on the rivalry of who was the best in the world and who wanted the WWE title more.  To me, this feels like an added element that could have been saved for a rematch down the line.  We will see, but now they really need to up the intensity here, or the moment they had tonight will have been for nothing.

Randy Orton beat Jack Swagger in an OK match.  No news there.  The Kane fire haunting Orton was fine and Orton's reaction to it were well done. 

Then, we closed out with The Rock concert.  As a segment, I loved it and thought it was extremely entertaining and funny.  Rock's jabs at Cena's marriage and mom were great but it was something of a let down.  Every week, it feels like one guy is out for blood and the other is out for jokes.  This week, it was Rock out to make people laugh and while it was the best Rock promo on Raw since he returned, I didn't feel like this was going to increase anyone's interest in buying the PPV.  If the material had been delivered by anyone else, it would have bombed.  Johnson is just that good and off the charts as a performer.   Once he ripped on Cena's wife, for Cena not to come out made him look bad.   The closing sequence with Rock tripping over his words on a forced "We Will Rock You" takeoff was anti-climactic and flat.  But, I appreciated the segment - I just didn't think it followed up on the intensity of the Cena promo and didn't seem designed to do anything but try and pop a nice overrun number.

Overall though, good, fluid and fun two hours.

Mike Johnson can be reached at Mike@PWInsider.com.  He recommends DC Universe: Secret Origins for your reading pleasure.

 

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