Last night’s RAW was three hours, but it failed to deliver anything of any significance.
Sure, Kelly Kelly defeated Brie Bella for the Diva’s championship and CM Punk was named number one contender for the WWE title, but aside from that, the matches were average and most of the promos were boring.
It feels as if the WWE tried to break up the monotony of the show by providing a gimmick such as the “Power to the People†episode last night. In spite of more matches, this episode failed to deliver on pretty much every front.
While WWE is not nearly in as bad shape as TNA, they have to find a sweet spot for their current programming, or else the low tide the industry is currently embroiled in isn’t going to end anytime soon.
Matches:
Brie Bella w/ Nikki Bella vs. Kelly Kelly for the WWE Divas Championship: Brie Bella continues to polish her in-ring abilities. Not only did she do a good job selling Kelly Kelly’s offense, she did a good job delivering offense of her own. However, before you knew it, the match was over. While Kelly Kelly got the win with a double reversal of a rollup, the match was far from epic. Ultimately, it was decent. Had it gone a few minutes longer, it could have been a more than solid opening match. Instead, it hurts the legitimacy of Brie Bella’s run as Diva’s champion.
Evan Bourne vs. Mason Ryan: Ryan ended up with the win after he hit his sit-out urinage suplex finisher, but it’s obvious that Bourne was the one calling the shots in the ring. Suffering from lapses in pace, the match had potential, but wasn’t exactly stellar. At one point in the match, Bourne missed a mule kick because of a lack of communication with Ryan. While this match won’t hurt either one of them, it proves Ryan is still very green and is far from being able to be in a long-term program with anyone.
Kane vs. Mark Henry in an arm-wrestling match: The filibustering before the start made this more of an annoyance than anything else. With no real winner and the two engaging in a scrap afterward, that led to Kane getting Henry’s front slam finisher through the announce table, this was mere fodder to begin their angle.
Dolph Ziggler vs. Kofi Kingston, two out of three falls for the United States title: The commercial break robbed this match of any flow. Luckily, Kingston’s SOS finisher spiced up the action and made the last flow a worthwhile one. However, the last fall was given to Kingston after Ziggler was DQ’ed. Could have been the match of the night. Instead, it was filler.
Rey Mysterio vs. CM Punk vs. Alberto Del Rio in a falls count anywhere match for the #1 contender spot for the WWE title: Best pace of all the matches of the night up until that point. All three guys worked hard and delivered a bevy of offense. Punk played the role of the opportunist however and ended up stealing the match after Mysterio hit a top-rope splash on Del Rio.
Cody Rhodes vs. Daniel Bryan in a no count-out match: Bryan continues to prove he’s the best worker in the WWE. He did his best to make Rhodes look good in this contest. In his defense though, Rhodes was decent. Regardless, this match was rushed and used merely to continue their angle.
Alex Riley, Randy Orton and John Cena vs. Christian, R-Truth and The Miz in an elimination match: A match where the heel team of Christian, R-Truth and The Miz were simply smarter than the good guys in the early going. After Riley was eliminated, thanks to a skull-crushing finale behind the refs back, they began to work on Cena and Orton. The pace of match was altered when Cena joined the party, and performed his typical barrage of jumping shoulder blocks. A few minutes later, Miz was eliminated after an attitude adjustment by Cena, which then left Christian, R-Truth, Orton and Cena left. After Orton pinned R-Truth with an RKO, Christian scored the pin on Orton with a spear. Within seconds, Cena latched on the STF to gain the submission fin. Although the match was solid, it ended incredibly abrupt.
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