WWE Raw results and reactions from last night (Nov. 4): Best for business?

WWE returned to the USA network for Monday Night Raw last night (Nov. 4, 2013) from Greenville, South Carolina, featuring Big Show's quest to get his job back finally coming to a close after a long and arduous five-day ban from the company.

I didn't catch the show live -- was too busy catching my Chicago Bears going into Green Bay and beating the Packers -- but I did catch a replay and that means reactions are going old school once again. Click here to check out full results and the live blog if you missed it.

Let's get to reactions:

• Actually thought Luke Harper did quite well for himself in there with CM Punk in an extended singles match where he didn't have the luxury of tagging out to Erick Rowan. Punk was motivated enough and the match itself was good. Punk's later interview with Renee Young was awful, though. He actually said we "may not know" that he's not the only one who has an issue with the Wyatt Family. This was after Daniel Bryan helped him fend off the trio. You know, Bryan who we all saw the Wyatt's attack last week.
• As far as Bryan goes, there isn't much more to be said about his positioning on the card. He was moved down, there's no doubting that. But his teaming with Punk represents a move up for the Wyatt clan and the ensuing feud should be interesting enough. Still, it sucks something fierce that this is a mid-card program and we're getting Big Show vs. Randy Orton in the main event.
• Great Khali vs. Ryback was a real piece of shit. I love how Ryback literally just slipped right back into the bowlie character he was before they randomly made him a Paul Heyman guy.
• Speaking of Heyman, I love him as much as the next pro wrestling fan but I think we're going a bit far with a phone interview in the middle of a wrestling show. There are far better things to devote that time to.
• Alberto Del Rio continues to have fine matches while failing miserably to connect as a character. In short, that means I'll be entertained when he does wrestle, but I'll never care enough to actually pay to see him do it. He's far too forgettable. The Mexican angle doesn't work for me.
• Randy Orton did his best Rick Rude impression last night and it came up short in every way possible. The thing is, though, I agree with the general idea there. Orton is a physhical specimen who absolutely comes across like the asshole guy who gets all the hot chicks that other, lesser men envy. It's the right direction to send his character, there was just someone who did it far better than he ever could who we'll always be reminded of. Unless he can find his own spin on it that makes it his own. I doubt it, though.
• The Big E. Langston push is something else. Good thing John Cena is back, huh? For what it's worth, I agree with the talking points WWE is delivering: Langston is the future.
• Then again, I thought the same of Bryan and he was chewed up and spit out in favor of the old guard like Orton, Big Show, Kane, and Triple H.
• Tyson Kidd and Natalya teaming together to feud with Fandango and Summer Rae just makes too much sense not to do. Glad it happened and hope it continues.
• Cena and the Rhodes boys taking on the Real Americans and Damien Sandow was fun, as has been the case for pretty much every six-man tag we've seen over the last year. Actually, is this the year of the six-man? How many amazing six-man tag matches have we seen over the past year? At least 25, right? Maybe even a whole lot more, and that's awesome.
• I do feel somewhat bad for Damien Sandow, though. Not only was he forced to job for almost the entirety of his run with the Money in the Bank briefcase, he then failed in his bid to win the title once he cashed it in. Now, he's working matches opposite Cena in a quest to stay relevant while Cena is destroying him at every turn and staying focused on the real threat to his belt, Del Rio. Sandow has just been made to look like a mid-carder. Yeah, he had a great match with Cena but you know what? That's what great mid-card, enhancement guys do. They have great matches with the main event players who need to look good.
• Still don't care about Curtis Axel.
• Still enjoying the work of all the Divas on the roster other than Eva Marie. Can't believe she was allowed to roll up Tamina Snuka. Kind of mark hoping Tamina kills her in a singles affair soon.
• I guess I have to talk about this whole Big Show deal, huh? Oh boy, is this whole thing just god awful. I'm a fan of Big Show's work in the sense that, well, you can tell he's doing a good job. But this angle is painful to watch. They did a great job of building to the Show-Triple H confrontation last week but I'm not interested in a feud that centers solely around legal bullshit like lawsuits and employment conditions and all that shit. It's just not all that interesting, especially when we're dealing with a guy like Show who has been pushed to the top of the card about 58 times in his career and it NEVER WORKED, EVER. How many times are we going to watch Show push a guy like Bryan down to the mid-card so we can watch him bomb on PPV in a WWE title match against Orton, who also hasn't ever really drawn well? It's pretty ridiculous to think that the main event program now includes Orton, Show, Triple H, and Kane. Were it not for The Shield, this would be awful simply because of the combined age of all involved. All these guys have had their shot to get over and be the big time players they always said Bryan isn't and none of them succeeded outside of Triple H, and he's not even a wrestler anymore. I don't care to see these particular folks headlining shows anymore because I've seen it so many times before.
• Oh, and can Big Show stop stealing Bryan's "YES" gimmick? Get over with your own stuff, big boy.
• Thank god for The Shield just for the fresh faces.
• Business Kane, for what it's worth, is awesome. He's needed a makeover for a really long time now, so it's good to see him playing a role other than the big red monster who just destroys people. Kane wearing a suit with the old dead eyed look doing the bidding of his corporate overlords? I mean, that's glorious, again, if only because it means he's not doing the same old shit.

This show had some bright spots but the main event angle is really starting to drag thanks to those involved.

Grade: C

That's it for me, Cagesiders. Now it's your turn to sound off in the comments section below with all your thoughts on last night's show. How did you feel about it?