Between the high quality matches, vignettes, the emotional retirement of Edge and solid story development, the WWE delivered the goods on RAW this week.
After the first seven minutes, the WWE found a way to captivate. With five of the top stars in the company in the ring, the anonymous RAW General Manager called for a Gauntlet match, which would determine the number one contender for the WWE title, who would then get a title shot at Bragging rights.
Ten minutes later, Awesome Kong got her first vignette on RAW.
What followed continued to pick up the pace as Brie Bella won the Divas championship and Sin Cara made his WWE in-ring debut. Afterward, The Corre began to address their internal problems before they were challenged by Evan Bourne, Daniel Bryan, Santino Marella and Mark Henry, who call themselves APPLE [Allied People Powered by Loating Everything you start for].
Okay, so their name stinks, but Bourne and Bryan are two of the best workers in the company, Marella is a fan favorite and Henry is the muscle. The Corre needs to get over and the guys in APPLE need to work. Will it? Who knows.
On another note, the Jerry Lawler Michael Cole angle continues to roll on. Cole is a great heel [maybe the best in the company right now] and Lawler is a face the fans believe in. At the same time, it doesn’t help Jack Swagger to look so beatable in the ring with a guy 35 years his senior. For his sake, this angle needs to end soon. Fortunately, after his match with Lawler tonight, it appears now that Swagger will have more of an opportunity to strut his stuff.
The news of Edge’s retirement was a shock. But it’s a reminder that this business is not one that physically forgives. The bumps and tolls the sport takes on your body are no joke. It’s a shame that someone that is so young has to end their career, but at least he got the send off he deserved [if this isn’t a work that will allow him some time off to heal his legitimate injuries]. He won’t be a martyr for the business the way so many great athletes that refused to stop working in spite of tremendous injuries were.
Matches:
Brie Bella vs. Eve for the WWE Divas Championship: Eve was smart to have the referee draw an X on Brie’s hand to make her distinguishable from her twin sister. The fact that they were still able to cheat and win the title was interesting as well. While the fact itself was decent, with Eve doing most of the major lifting, it remains to be seen if the Bellas can spice up the Diva’s division. The bottom line however is a simple one- Eve was given an opportunity and showed that she is a competent competitor, but isn’t as over with the fans as much as a Diva’s champ should or could be. Could the Bellas be different? Or are they just sexy fodder for Awesome Kong?
Sin Cara vs. Primo: While the match itself was a bit sloppy, with several hurricanranas and headscissors not as tight as they could have been. The near-botched finish didn’t help the squash match either. It had one magic moment though. Sin Cara’s top rope flipping urinage suplex, is the best looking finisher in the company and there’s no doubt he’s an amazing talent.
The Corre vs. APPLE: It was a quick match, but it was full of high spots and fun. These guys could provide a fantastic opening match for the next pay per view. This is what happens when you have good, energetic, young talent, and experienced and dependable workers in the ring.
Jerry Lawler vs. Jack Swagger: Cole’s repetitive yammering hurt the match. Where was Josh Matthews? Why wasn’t he doing the play by play? Aside from that, the match itself was average, but again, Swagger was made out too weak here. Between that and Lawler’s Hulk Hogan-esque comebacks throughout the match, this was an old school match that for some reason, the fans seemed to love. Don’t be fooled though; this match was mediocre.
The best part of the match ironically was afterward, when Swagger got slapped by Cole in the kisser, which sets up a tag team match between Swagger and Cole vs. Lawler and Jim Ross at bragging Rights next month.
Five-man Gauntlet for the right to be the Number One Contender for the WWE title, John Cena, Randy Orton, R-Truth, John Morrison and Dolph Ziggler: After Ziggler got the first fall, eliminating Orton, thanks to some help from the New Nexus [Mason Ryan powerbombed him, while David Otunga and Mike McGillicutty provided backup], he was eliminated after R-Truth beat him with a jumping complete-shot. A few minutes later, Truth defeated Morrison with the move too. Against Cena however, Truth was handed a boatload of offense. Nevertheless, he showed some moxie with several kick outs. Any smart fan knew what was coming next. The Miz, at ringside, doing commentary, was going to play a role. He ultimately did, but seeing R-Truth kick out of so many moves, including a jumping top rope rocker dropper, was good TV.
The end result is a three way match at Bragging Rights.
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