With Raw on a strange sort of high-quality tear as of late, can they keep things up on this latest episode?
We start our show, in a rare turn of events, not in the ring, but at the merchandise stand. The reason is so that R-Truth can address the fact that there’s a multitude of John Cena faces on just about everything, while the only place you can find Truth’s face is inside the program. His lament of “Even Zack Ryder has a T-Shirt?!” is hilarious. Truth continues his rampage through the concessions, knocking over any Cena merchandise he can find. He makes his way to the ring via the audience, lambasting anyone with a Cena shirt he can find. Man, I love how much fun Truth is having with this. It could be so over the top, but he manages it well with a great, believable intensity. Once in the ring, Truth calls out Cena, who obliges. Cena says he has absolutely no problem in knocking some sense into Truth, and as such, a match is arranged for later in the evening. I do like how Cena is putting Truth over here, using his serious face to make us believe Truth is a threat. Moreover, assuming that we are going to have a lengthy Cena title reign, it’s good that’s he’s not only facing people he’s never really gone up against, but that he’s helping out some of the lower-card guys improve their screen presence. A good example of what a Champion ought to do.
Know who doesn’t do that?
Yeah, yeah, you know.
Meanwhile, we have our first match of the evening, and what a match it is: Kofi Kingston vs. The once again blonde (no longer newly improved?) Dolph Ziggler. As a brief aside, I notice that Vickie has lost weight. This is a solid fight, and it goes to show that Dolph is more than capable of stealing a show. Last year, he had his incredible match with Daniel Bryan, and here, should this rivalry continue, I think we could have a repeat. What I love in this match is the amount of counters and reversals of moves. It helps highlight that the people in the ring know what they’re doing, and for story telling purposes it creates intrigue with every move used, making the audience wonder if it will connect or not. Also, props to Kofi, who has increased his move-set gradually and is no longer a one-note high flyer. The ending is an example of the counters working so well, with Kofi trying to go for the SOS, Dolph blocking it by holding onto the ropes, and as Kofi gets back up, Dolph hits the Zig Zag to win. It’s hard to type from memory how great this match was, but I certainly hope we get an opportunity to see more of this in the future.
Know what I’ll never tire of? Alberto Del Rio being a huge jerk. The malicious pleasure he takes in it is just so darn fun, especially tonight as he discusses what happened to the Big Show last week. After asking Ricardo Rodriguez to apologize, which he does, Del Rio says that the problem is solved... except for the damages to his car, which he intends to bill the Big Show for. Brilliant.
So, remember how a few weeks ago, when it looked the women were having a rennessaince? Yeah, that’s not happening anymore. Our match this week is Kelly and Eve vs. the Bellas. Say, we are aware that we have Melina, Beth Phoenix, and Gail Kim on this show, right? The good wrestlers? This match makes me sad, as it highlights much of what I hate about Kelly. Eve starts, and is pretty damn good, hitting a mean looking backdrop, suplex, and locking in a nifty submission move that looks like an armbar and leg-scissors. In other words, Eve uses actual moves. Kelly gets in, and does her usual flying-crotch-into-the-opponent, shrieking while ineffectually shaking a Bella, spanking her, and then rubbing her ass in her face. In other words, Kelly is fan service to prepubescent men. Seriously, I thought we were on the way up with the Divas? Why is Kelly still getting screen time? Especially since, as I mentioned, you have all of the good women still on the show. At least try and give Eve the push, as she can actually do some decent moves. And why do we still have Brie Bella as the Champion, when she’s quite plainly useless as mud? Kelly wins the match. The rest of us lose.
In the meantime, Cole hasn’t entirely revoked his heel status, and goes out to the ring to criticize Alex Riley for attacking the Miz last week. It also seems that the Raw GM has resigned Alex, even though he was traded to Smackdown in the draft. Cole does the usual thing of pointing out that Alex is ungrateful, and eventually calls him a bastard. I can’t help but wonder how much freedom is being given to speech now, since the Rock was allowed to use “bitch” a whole lot, and what with this being the PG era and all. Alex, to his credit, looks and sounds pretty cool in this, as well as having a nifty new theme. He’s carrying himself with more dignity, and his time on the mic (used to point out how annoying both Cole and the Miz are) is concise and clear, whereas before, he used to ramble a bit. At any rate, Alex doesn’t like being called a bastard, and is about to tell Cole so, when the Miz appears and tries to take down his former lacky. Again, Miz looks crazy intense. He doesn’t get far, though, as Alex rallies back and returns in kind. I think it’s cool that Alex is getting this kind of push, and let’s hope he can make the best of it.
While the women’s division seems to be rapidly slipping away from good wrestling, the men’s division is improving, as we get CM Punk vs. Rey Mysterio. The New Nexus (with the exception of Mason Ryan) don’t appear in this at all, and even then, Mason’s interference is limited so that Punk doesn’t look like a bitch. In fact, this match is nearly all Rey and Punk, as it should be, putting on a fast paced, technical clinic that is just plain fun to watch. The two just work well together, knowing just when to use which move, and how to sell the other. I particularly like the ending, with CM Punk winning not with the GTS, but with a kick to Rey’s head. I think it’s more creative, and suspenseful, to sometimes end a match without a finisher, which can sometimes be predictable. With a win from a regular move, it means that the rest of the moves used are not just filler waiting for the finish, but are all culminating to create damage, to the point where any one move will do the trick.
Finally, the news we’ve all been dreading to hear is made official: Kharma is indeed pregnant, and it going to have to take time off. I’m pleased that they let her actually speak out about this, as I was afraid they were going to write off her crying spell last week as her just wanting to fit in. So at least her motivations are real (really real) and don’t ruin her character. It makes her less of a monster figure and more human, but that’s not a bad thing, as you can only run the monster role for so long, and it’s best to give her some depth. She’ll have a hard time going back to being a heel, though, as she was getting a fair amount of applause and fan support here. But out comes the Bellas to try their best to be villainous. And by be villainous, they make fat jokes. Which is kind of silly, considering that Kharma beat the tar out of Nikki a few weeks ago, and thus is totally above the eeeeevil threat of name calling. Basically, all the Bellas are trying to do here is to emulate LayCool with their high-school antagonism, but without the comedic timing of Michelle and Layla. Needless to say, Kharma is not impressed, and says that when she’s back in a year, she really hopes the Bellas are still around, because she’s got a whole new dream to take care of now. That’s a great set-up for her leave of absence: not only a promise of return, but a promise of a kick ass return. I miss you already, Kharma.
More good wrestling in the works, with Jack Swagger vs. Evan Bourne. This is an oddly short match, especially considering that the bookers seem to be trying to build something between these two, yet they’re not given much time to make an impression. Evan wins, and that’s good, as the score is one-one, and there must be a rubber match. I’m behind Raw pushing their young guys, be it Kofi, Dolph, Jack, Evan, and Alex (and in theory, Drew, right? /Right?/) as it definitely gives the show more faces and color than a few years ago, when all we saw was Batista/Triple H/Orton/Cena over and over again. Not to mention it shows that the WWE is preparing for the inevitable mass-retirements that are bound to happen sooner or later, with their aging superstars on the way out (actually, most of them already are. Triple H and Undertaker aren’t official yet, but it’s more or less that way now).
And now, it’s time for our main event. And I have to say, it’s a bit of a let down. It seems shorter than it ought, and it’s pretty basic in design. Essentially, Truth just lures Cena out of the ring and gets him counted out. I’m glad Truth gets the win, no matter how dastardly, and that it looks like they’re gearing for him to have a title match with Cena, but I was hoping for something a little longer, to show off Truth’s skills in the ring, albeit very limited. Actually, I’m curious to see how a regular match between Cena and Truth would go, as both men don’t have a huge moveset. Cena gets by with an impeccable sense of timing, but I don’t know how Truth would do in a match where someone wasn’t more or less carrying him with their wrestling. That isn’t to say that Truth is unwatchable in the ring; as a matter of fact, he’s gotten indefinitely better from where he first started. He’s just never been the one to carry a match before, or be the provider of the main momentum, so it’s just going to be interesting to see if he can pull it off and put a lock on his push into main-event land.
So that was Monday Night Raw, and in spite of having the women’s division explode in a fiery ball of death, everything else was good. I’m glad that at long last, Raw has recognized that people want to watch wrestling on a wrestling show, and are putting more matches in, and what’s more, good matches. No more squash matches, no more joke matches, just good solid entertainment with good workers and good storytelling.
Bet you anything they screw this up, just to spite me.
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