WWE Raw results and reactions from last night (Feb. 13): Hot crowd makes for solid show

R-Truth saved that debate segment and made it watchable. When they started it the WWE World gave a collective “WTF” and it probably wasn’t worth 20 minutes. But, he seriously plays the nutjob well and the crowd loves him. Not happy Ziggler had to job to him, but I enjoyed his promo.

This might not be a popular opinion, but instead of having the three matches end cleanly part of me would’ve rather had each one just end in a brawl with others from the EC match interupting. Would’ve been repetitive by the time they got to the third match, though.

Typical WWE. How many matches were on the card? 3 matches in 2 hours? Maybe more than that but still a horrible ratio.

The Cena / Kane / Ryder stuff at the end was good; but was it worth sacrificing 5+ shows worth of this storyline which they have? They’ve spent too much time on this and the hook took too long to come.

Miz in the main event. You suck WWE.

How is HHH vs. Taker compelling? It’s clear who would win. And we’ve already seen this match. Sorry, I’m not getting pumped over seeing this match for the ten-hundredth time.

Better than Punk and Jericho at the moment? That’s a laughable comment but then again I’d expect nothing less from his biggest mark.

The debate idea was funny, Truth made it bearable and it continued the Punk-Jericho feud.

Your ‘reactions’ to the show are so glaringly inconsistent I struggle to remember it’s the same guy writing them. One week all I hear is you ripping the piss out of a certain storyline only to sing its praises the next week.

It should have been a trainwreck, but the sheer talent in the ring made it great and it accomplished a lot. For one, it showed that Kofi Kingston really is the most overlooked wrestler on the roster now that Ryder is getting love. I was indifferent at first to him being in the EC, but I hope this is the beginning of a solid push for him now that Evan Bourne is out for a while. He’s good in the ring and can have some amazing spots and he can more than hold his own on the mic. Yesterday was flashes of his feud with Orton from a few years back, which is great to see. And he hit a great Trouble In Paradise on Jericho to build on his recent highlight reel.

R-Truth came out of the debate the best. This is why he really can’t be an effective heel with this gimmick. He’s just too damn funny. The line about Dolph being named after Flipper, treating the whole thing as if it was for an election, “Don’t WHAT! me. Okay, WHAT! me.”, and really everything he said was amazing. I’m also pretty sure a lot of that was improvised judging by the look on everyone’s faces as he was talking.

Dolph Ziggler yesterday reminded me of his time on NXT. He doesn’t need a script to read off of. Just give him a mic and put him near the other wrestlers and his commentary will be priceless.

CM Punk and Jericho didn’t really stand out, but they didn’t need to. They continued to be the “Best In The World” and “The best in the world at what they do”. I did particularly like when Punk shot down Miz after his failed “Cookies N Cream” jab.

As for The Miz, he clearly was the weakest of the bunch and it didn’t help that they were buzzing him at the end. Still, it was his best promo in a while and it may be a sign that he’s back to being the guy that is trying to prove himself against all the haters. Last night was good progress in the right direction for him and he had a pretty good match with Punk later on in the night. Speaking of which, did it seem like Punk was working pretty stiff with him? I almost never see Punk drop the elbow on someone that hard in the chest. Most of the time, he’s missing the chest completely.

Unfortunatly I sounded like Moufassa from the Lion King

A lot of Raw was crap…too much talking like every Raw. But the crowd being hot puts the shit over…so have to give credit where credit is due. WWE still sucks at wrestling though…

Eve got into the ambulance without much coercion (sp?, too lazy to spell check, but I can type this out..)… The way she came flying out of it with her lips pursed… I really think she and Kane may end up together in the end… And I can’t say I don’t like the idea… Where Eve has manipulated them all… Anyone else see this coming or am I off my rocker?

Also, that was one of the best kiss scenes i’ve seen in recent memory… Tongues were flaring and it looked like they both were into it… Cena of course ruined it all with his acting… “What was that?” I’m surprised his tongue didn’t get bit off he had it so far out there…

The debate. Kofi=brilliant… Truth=brillianter… I felt like Dolph got lost in the shuffle (w/ the exception of the snide remarks) and Miz was a doofus but we knew that… Punk delivered while Jericho felt a little forced to me. But alas, good build to the chamber as were the matches. I commented in the thread i’d have done something a bit different with the pairings but alas, it worked…

Near the end of Raw, I was curious if Sheamus would end it but no Sheamus. No Funkasaurus. Not enough Johnny Ace… (who would think i’d ever say that)

I don’t know why and maybe i’m on an island here but I could sit in a movie theatre and watch Santino Marella for two and a half hours straight and probably die of laughter… He’s comedic gold… If only Funaki were around… Having those two have a war of words would probably break my TV.

The HBK, HHH, Undertaker setup really left me wondering if we might not see HBK at Wrestlemania… Wrestling the Undertaker himself… I didn’t quite get where they were going and i appreciate the story they tried to tell but something was off on the whole exchange to me… Undertakers video was great again and i continue to think he makes osme of the best vignettes EVER. It truly will be the end of an era when he hangs up the boots for good.. :( I do like having HBK on my TV though. It makes me nostalgic.

There is one thing I cannot wait for.. Kane v Cena at elimination chamber… to end this horrible feud and let us focus once and for all on Cena v Rock… Having Teh Rock on my TV again will be good too… Kane saying last night he would put Cena out until WM made me want to fly to San Diego and shoot whoever wrote his material… Retards.

I didn’t even realize Brodus wasn’t on the show.

I’m betting he dropped dirty on his piss exams.

Orton versus Shamus is the only match that makes sense for Mania coming out of this EC event. I don’t like DB always going up against these giants its just not entertaining. He needs to drop the strap and use his vegan hook and get involved with Jericho and Punk and Ziggler.

These are the dudes that say TNA is better “wrestling”. As if the only thing that matters is in ring ability (a mostly subjective term anyways).

WWE is about making money off of colorful characters. Not about presenting you with the folks with the best ability. The Ultimate Warrior made a ballsload more cash than Austin Aries ever will.

Luckily for us WWE strikes a pretty good balance between entertaining characters and in ring ability. (see Daniel Bryan/CM Punk/Dolph/Funkasaurus/etc).

Like I said last time:

Good wrestling does not always equate to a good fan experience.

I think there is reason to be concerned if you are a fan of Brodus. They waited many many weeks (or months?) to debut him because they had nothing for him. He finally got a few weeks to squash some jobbers but it was ultimately the same match each time. And now he is having trouble finding TV again. But with WrestleMania coming up, they are going to need to allocate even more TV time to guys like Taker, HHH, Rock, Cena, Shaq, Big Show, Punk, Jericho, Bryan, and Orton. And Sheamus too, since he won the Rumble. If Brodus is having trouble finding TV time now, how will his chances of getting TV time possibly improve between now and Mania when some of those other guys will be getting increased TV time?

And has Swagger appeared on any of the last 3 Raw’s? They really should have just kept the US Title on wheelchair boy if it was never going to be featured on TV for the last month. I’m not a fan at all of Swagger so I’m not complaining about not seeing him on my TV, I just think it shows how little planning went into giving him that belt.

The “debate” was horrible. R-Truth saved that train wreck by being pretty awesome. I wasn’t sure if I’d like face crazy R-Truth, but I think he might be better than heel crazy R-Truth.

The wrestling all night was eh. Nothing really special. Big Show botching that RKO, it made me like the match even more (and, is it me, or does Randy Orton roll out of the ring more than anyone else?). Kofi and Jericho, eh. R-Truth and Ziggler, eh- I liked R-Truth’s roll-up pin while he was doing sit-ups; nice touch. CM Punk and Miz, eh. Nothing bad, per se, but nothing particularly noteworthy.

The Cena-Kane-Ryder triangle has gotten stale, especially with Ryder in a wheelchair and not able to do anything particularly meaningful, but they breathed new life into it with Eve, and Cena not putting broskies before hoeskies- on Valentine’s Day. Nothing relevant will be able to happen until Ryder is “better”, and Wrestlemania is over, but I’m happy in the storyline, Ryder and Cena aren’t attached at the hip anymore. Plugging John Cena into Ryder’s overall story kind of slowed it down, made it stale. I’d much prefer Ryder being in a story with Jack Swagger, trying to get the U.S. Title back.

Overall, a much better RAW than last week.

As for my opinions on the show, I thought it was a decent show, not especially good or bad. I was entertained enough.

The opening debate mostly fell flat for me. There were a couple of good one-liners here and there but ultimately I thought the childish bickering between most of the guys made the title seem second-rate. I thought Jericho’s point of being more accomplished than the other 5 guys put together was pretty good.

I enjoyed Kofi/Jericho as well as Orton/BigShow.

I hated the first half of the HHH segment but enjoyed the latter half. So ultimately it was a mixed bag for me. It’s kind of hard to believe HHH’s argument that the future of business rides so much on Taker, a man who wrestles once a year and is on the verge of retirement. And why exactly did Taker cut his hair in that video? That’s supposed to get HHH to change his mind?

More HBK, please.

Ziggler lost again!

Divas. Eh. At least we didn’t have to deal with any farts.

Punk vs Miz was ok, I guess, but it is hard to take the Miz seriously right now or enjoy anything that he is involved with.

The Kane/Cena/Ryder/Eve stuff. Hmmm. Well overall it at least entertained me this week. Not sure why the hell Eve ran into an ambulance. The smooch on Cena with Zack watching with flowers in hand was straight out of an episode of Saved By The Bell. Kane playing wheelchair toss with Ryder was fun. Kane saying that Cena has finally embraced the hate was pretty dumb. So anyway, some of this was entertaining, some of it was still bad. Ultimately I just want Cena to move on to The Rock already. I’m not sure what Kane will be doing at Mania.

No Sheamus on the show. Was swerving the Internet really worth it at the Rumble, huh WWE? Nice planning.

And yeah I agree that having Ryder get destroyed in a wheelchair every week would be pretty entertaining.

You couldn’t get a better reaction than when Eve said the word “friend”

I think the “Zach Ryder as Kenny” idea would be awesome.

I guess Chris Jericho doesn’t count as one of the “Last of the Old Guard from an Era Bygone”?

The debate I was like WTF but I thought R-Truth’s speech was wonderful, Miz made me laugh because he was being a bitch, Jericho calling Punk boy and Punk making fun of him for DWTS was funny so it initially was bad but those moments salvaged it.

Cena and Eve making out in front of Zack, oooooooooo. Make Cena look like the asshole but turn him complete heel. I love that idea. It has already been documented that it is in WWEs best interest not to turn him heel due to the money he makes as a “brand.” However, he needs to have some heat going into Mania.

Give Cena points, he is doing a decent job at making this believable.

Kane pushing Ryder off the stage was a great ending to the show but how many more times I will going to have the Ryder stretcher bit. I love the idea someone said about equating Ryder to Kenny from South Park. If they actually do it, that would be wonderful.

Nice bounce back from RKO for Show. They made it happen.

The HHH/HBK segment kicked ass. There were times where even though you know its scripted you were like “oh no you didnt just say that.” HBK saying he married “that chick.” HHH saying this will be mine one day and you live through me. It was a very compelling segment I thought and it does make a match which in my opinion shouldn’t be happening more interesting.

I am the biggest HHH fan you will meet, but I still feel he shouldn’t be the guy to end the streak. I still say it should be younger guy. I have a feeling this match ends with no winner, or Taker gets the W. HHH is not winning this match, and if HBK gets involved, I am interested to see how it happens.

The Punk/Jericho feud is going to be awesome. I don’t know, but I get this feeling Ziggler gets the belt at EC and Punk and Jericho will be involved in some match that doesn’t involve the title. The title should be involved, but if Bryan does make it out of EC champ, I see him in a program with Orton and that would be your match for the World title, and Sheamus will get Ziggler which will make Sheamus Rumble win pointless because Ziggler is not dropping title. However I just get a sick feeling this is how it plays out. I could be wrong and most likely am, but I had to put it out there.

Great show last night

facepalms Maybe it’s because I didn’t see it to see how it played, but really, even if it did make the angle better, too little, too late. I still maintain that the best course of action would have been to leave Eve and Zack to their own storyline.

It’s Attitude-era terrible, but instead of staying terrible because of stupid dick jokes or birthed hands, it went straight into B-movie camp. It’s the Ed Wood of wrestling angles, and dammit I think that it’s so bad it’s just enjoyable.

It’s the other stuff on the show that isn’t nearly as well thought out that aggravates me. Jericho dropping his trolling to have a stupid boring angle with Punk over “Best in the world,” HHH losing to Undertaker and pretending that he won, and last year’s winner begging for a rematch like he lost…that is genuinely bad television with no redeeming or entertaining value.