This weeks edition of Raw gave us a lot of The Shield - creating more enemies that will eventually come back to bite them in the arse. Two enemies that continued from last week were Kane and Daniel Bryan; these two starting off Raw 'united' - walking to the ring together and DB in a more serious mood (no 'no' chants/shouting). They started off against The Prime Time Players - a cover for the inevitable decent from the sky box of The Shield. This all ended with a win for Kane and D Bryan and a beatdown from the three former NXTers.
In the backstage, there was a nice arse-licking segment between the ultimate good guys - John Cena and Sheamus - is Sheamus Cena's apprentice; to get him to be as annoying as him when he finally hangs his boots up?
AJ vs Tamina free on TV? So they're not going with this on a PPV at some point? This makes me think further that they're going to ditch this angle and have AJ turn on Cena at TLC. I'm unsure where that leaves Tamina though? Would she instantly turn face as a result?
Punk out next with Heyman. He rants that it's unfair that he has to defend against Ryback for a third time. He also goes onto say that he's the reason that people tune into watch - also agreeing with us all that three hours is a chore! Please have a word with Vince...
Out comes Miz to confront him about taking a lie detector test to prove that he has no connection to The Shield. Along the way there was a very interesting personal aspect to this. As well as getting Miz in contention for a future WWE Title challenge, I think there was possibly some true feelings brought out in this segment. There were a few hints to how Punk feels about Miz backstage - this was evident in the CM Punk dvd when Punk said that he wasn't best pleased that Miz main evented 'Mania a couple of years ago.
Really not a big fan of the Cena/Sheamus vs Ziggler/Show match - stereo finishers followed by a Cena pin on Ziggler. Second week running. This surely makes it inevitable that Ziggler will retain the MITB at TLC? Cena already had the WWE MITB contract and messed it up so why does he deserve a shot at the World Title contract? Also, Dolph has been on a good run since Survivor Series and after the last two weeks needs to beat Cena to carry that on. If he loses at TLC, he's back to square one. How many chances will Cena keep getting??
Brad Maddox and Vickie have a conversation about him getting another shot at getting a contract. After sucking up a bit he gets that opportunity - against Randy Orton. Nice, simple squash - followed by The Shield beating down Orton. Maddox definitely needs to be part of this group eventually otherwise he'll be back on NXT for good if he keeps getting battered after two minutes. I got thinking about these four new guys - how come The Shield can just run riot and that's ok, but Maddox has to earn a contract? They're both former NXTers so why can't he just be part of Raw as they've done? Flaw...
I keep reading how the Alberto Del Rio vs Sin Cara match was so good. It was pretty good, but I swear Sin Cara messed quite a few moves/spots? Most notably for me was the Handspring Back Elbow that he just about connected with. Maybe I was being too picky here.
I always like seeing Vince back but not sure about pushing Vickie into decisions like he has the last couple of appearances on Raw. He put her in that role and now seems to monitor how she's doing from time to time - she's had this type of role before so what's the need for his appearance? Take your hand from out of her arse! As well as making Ziggler vs Cena at TLC (Ladder match; MITB contract on the line), she (Vince) also makes it that if Punk lies in lie detector test, then Heyman has to face Ryback next week.
Vickie is confronted in the back, first by Dolph - not impressed by having to defend the briefcase (again) and then by Heyman - great little stare down; I wondered who was going to blink first?!
Prediction: Just lately, Vickie hasn't overdone the 'excuse me' crap and has been bullied a lot. She's also had Dolph read her the riot act. If AJ does align with him at TLC, I can see Vickie becoming face sometime soon - her and AJ can't both be heel? Still not sure exactly of AJ's motives but they can always go with the 'crazy' card again.
Tag match between Cesaro/Barrett vs Kofi/R-Truth is ready and waiting before Teddy Long comes out. He decides that either the US or IC title will be on the line and a Raw Active vote will decide which. Three minutes later and the votes are in(??) - the heel champion has to defend. Shock there, eh?
This was a great move by Long - maybe he should make fatal four ways in future as they turn out better than his usual favourite match type! A really entertaining match was topped off by a great finish - everyone performing their finishers before Cesaro caught Kofi in the Neutraliser (complete with hands connected at the last minute, so that it's not a Styles Clash!) for another deserved win. His build has been great since day one and this goes nicely before their Champion vs Champion match on Main Event. It's no bother to Kofi that he lost this - he's been in the same spot for a few years now. I still hope that he and Barrett do each other proud and up the value of that great title. Please do not devalue the US belt by giving it to Truth at TLC, though...
The Main Event was the lie detector test on MizTV. As I said before, there was a lot of personal digs here between Punk and Miz - I hope this gets Miz in contention as Raw is in dire need of another/different face challenging. The Miz isn't quite ready but he's (worryingly) possibly the best hope there is at the moment.
When the test came down to the all-important question of whether Punk is in cahoots with The Shield, the three newbies entered the scene to beat on Miz and trash the MizTV set. After Kane, Daniel Bryan and eventually Ryback cleared the ring, Punk was left alone with Miz. After berating him and kicking him out of 'his' ring, Ryback appeared behind him and used a table, a ladder and a chair to leave the champion in a heap as Raw ended. What match are they meant to be having at TLC?...
Verdict
Again, there were some positives this week. Unfortunately the three hours really did me in this week!
The Shield were all over the show this week and it was nice to see that they made some new enemies (Orton/Miz). The only worry here is that all these new foes will all gang up on the three and send them packing. Although my prediction of a Ryback/Kane/D Bryan vs The Shield main event this week didn't happen,there is news today (Wednesday) that I've read that Punk's out of TLC (knee injury) and the 6-man tag is in place as the new main event. I'll take that one.
Even though Punk can't wrestle at TLC, it's good that they're giving the WWE Title a break for one PPV - they should've taken this opportunity at Survivor Series and left him in the 5on5). I hope that the World Title gets top billing as a result - this will give it a bit of worth back. Either that or the 6-man tag will stay as the main event; there will need to be a prize in this match though and I'm not sure if the Tag Titles will cut it.
- Last note on Raw was another nice promo from Damien Sandow followed a comedy match with Santino - by far the funniest guy on Raw. Sandow reacted accordingly and got an easy win. You're Welcome!
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