Technical Creative Difficulties

The first ten minutes of last night’s RAW, where technical difficulties plagued the opening segment, were a sign of things to come on an overall average show.

The mediocre matches ultimately dragged RAW into the mud. It’s understandable that during the low tide professional wrestling is going through that these guys would want to protect themselves more during TV tapings, but if the WWE is to ever usher in a new era in sports entertainment, they have to deliver higher quality matches on RAW.

Luckily, the resolution of the Alex Riley/The Miz and Kharma situations were enough to make you want to watch the whole show. As far as Riley/Miz is concerned, Riley has quickly gotten over with the fans, but can these two have a solid match together, or is Riley still too green?

As far as Kharma goes, her promo was something special. Honest and minus kayfabe, Kharma told the WWE Universe that she was pregnant. The Bella Twins came in after [ushering back kayfabe] and the moment of sincerity was soon gone. But the fact that she was honest with her fans was pretty classy and one that allowed her to not let the events of last week serve as a stamp on her WWE career.

At the same time, it robs her of any heel momentum she had, making her return next year an interesting one.

The storyline in progress between R-Truth and Cena, is slowly, but surely picking up pace. R-Truth is coming into his own as a heel, in spite of some hiccups during his promos. It’s fair to say he can’t hold his own with Cena on the microphone and that hurts this angle. The fact that Cena is a routine worker doesn’t give someone with the versatility of Truth the canvas he needs to paint on.

Regardless, this is a fresh match up that should be entertaining if given a real chance.

However, that didn’t mean that the entire show was a home run.

The mediocre matches and inane Memorial Day vignettes [the opening one was good enough] took the air out of a RAW that could have been memorable.

As a result, last night’s RAW was nothing special.

Matches:

Dolph Ziggler vs. Kofi Kingston: For a match they devoted so much time to, it was filled with basic moves and no real animosity. While you have to be happy the brass let these guys go this long on RAW, the match itself was missing something. Both of these dudes have problems on the microphone and any angle they’re involved in has to be wrestling heavy. While this one was, in the end, the match was yawn-inducing. Both of these guys are capable of wrestling at a high pace, but the counters were slow and predictable and made the contest drag. The close pin-falls towards the end of the match helped it a tad, but overall this was a mediocre match that Ziggler won with the zig-zag.

Eve Torrez and Kelly Kelly vs. Nikki and Brie Bella: This match was simply fodder. No pace, no real purpose, other than to get these four beautiful women on the show. No one will complain about it, but they should. Wrestling fans deserve better because these four are capable of so much more.

CM Punk vs. Rey Mysterio: Again, a match with no real zing. This “renewed” rivalry was just a way to kill time before the main event. Sure, these guys went out and worked hard, but there was no real reason for it. After Mason Ryan interfered to induce a victory for the new Nexus leader, both Mysterio and Punk were no better than they were before the match. What does this match prove or do for these guys’ future?

Jack Swagger vs. Evan Bourne:
Much like last week, Swagger delivered most of the offense here. However, unlike last week, Bourne got the surprise win with a counter roll-up off an attempted German suplex.

John Cena vs. R-Truth: Was this even a match? R-Truth returned to the same fan he had a problem with earlier and threw a drink in his face. Insert ping-pong ball here. Of course, Cena had to come to the rescue. This was entertainment in the purest sense.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14230 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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