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Quick Results
- John Morrison defeated Chris Jericho
- Melina defeated Alicia Fox
- John Cena defeated Justin Gabriel
- Edge defeated The Great Khali
- Randy Orton defeated Wade Barrett
The Good
- Chris Jericho vs. John Morrison - Not a bad little television match...it was slow at times but picked up significantly towards the end. Morrison looked like a star against Jericho as he got a ton of offense in on the Ayatollah of Rock 'N Rolla. I'm wondering if this result is a way to dance around what Jericho said last week about leaving the WWE if he didn't win the WWE Title at Night of Champions or if he will be giving the rub to as many people as possible on the way out. The crowd showed him some love with a pretty loud "Y2J" chant before they cut to a commercial break. It will be interesting to see exactly what Jericho will do with the time he has left with the company. I wouldn't mind seeing him try to figure out who the anonymous general manager is as that was what was teased before and during the match.
More after the jump!
- John Cena vs. Justin Gabriel - I was surprisingly surprised by the amount of offense Gabriel was able to hit Cena with. Despite picking up the loss he was able to showcase a pretty diverse moveset -- something that we really haven't have the luxury of witnessing up until this point (It was only a few weeks ago that Gabriel looked terrible in a "winning" effort against Randy Orton). The ending of the match was pretty cool as Cena having to use a top rope Attitude Adjustment to put away Gabriel made the South African look like a legit threat. I was VERY impressed with Justin Gabriel...I am looking forward to seeing more of him in the coming weeks. What was the deal with Cole calling the Attitude Adjustment the 'AA'? Really weird.
- The Miz Gives A History Lesson - Anyone who reads this feature regularly knows that I am a sucker when it comes to the WWE recognizing its history -- both recent and distant -- so I really liked this segment. It is truly impressive to see just how far The Miz has come over the past half decade. Great mic work by Daniel Bryan at the end of the segment. The guy has charisma but it's different than the type that guys like The Miz and John Cena exude. I think Bryan should roll with the everyman persona that he seems to be cultivating.
The Bad
- Alicia Fox vs. Diva's Champion Melina - The rematch the internet wanted -- nay! -- DEMANDED! Just as bad as their other televised matches.
- Edge vs. The Great Khali pt. 1 - Pointless. It got Edge over as the Ultimate Opportunist and that is all well and good but this is the type of garbage booking that has set professional wrestling/sports entertainment~! back big time.
- Edge vs. The Great Khali pt. 2 - So the Anonymous GM wanted to stack the deck against Edge and he STILL came out on top? I don't understand the logic behind these two segments at all. Also, when was the last time that The Great Khali was relevant? It seems like the only reason he is still around is because he is super tall...the dude hasn't won a match in forever. I honestly thought I was watching TNA for a second based on the booking. Ugh.
- Wade Barrett vs. Randy Orton - A really blah match, especially considering it was the main event on a night that featured two VERY good television matches (Morrison/Jericho and Cena/Gabriel). I was wondering exactly how they would reintroduce Darren Young back into the Nexus storyline but his subsequent clowning by Randy Orton rendered him null and void already. I get that Randy Orton is the viper and can strike at anytime but having him RKO everyone immediately after finishing his match was a bit over the top. On the plus side we get to see Cena/Orton for the thousandth time next Monday.
The Ugly
- Legendary - Only a limited amount of theaters have the privilege of showing this masterpiece. I think it is safe to assume that a majority of movie theaters across the country said, "Thanks but no thanks." I'll probably download it, though.
- Michael Cole - So, what do you guys think about Cole ripping Khali during the match for supposedly eliminating himself? Do you think that was scripted or was that a legitimate response from Cole? Every week he has his moments where I can't quite tell exactly what his deal is. Shades of Tony Schiavone right there.
I found myself feeling ambivalent towards tonight's edition of Raw...I didn't hate much of it but I also didn't find much of it entertaining. The opening segment between Nexus and Randy Orton was what it was as was a lot of the backstage stuff (Miz/Josh Matthews, Edge/Zack Ryder and Ted DiBiase/Maryse spring to mind). The good wrestling countered a lot of the dumb stuff that we get subjected to on a weekly basis.