WWE RAW Coverage: Just Terrible

Another week of RAW and another wasted Chris Jericho segment. Unless this builds up and develops into one of the best angles of his career, the WWE will have ruined a great opportunity to bring back one of its most heralded stars. How does having Jericho not say anything and annoy the audience improve the show’s ratings?

They don’t.

Watching this show was like watching Zack Ryder try and change a tire.

Wait. It really was.

With dancers, singing and disappearing heels, WWE RAW was more about the entertainment and less about the in-ring competition tonight. With a lack of pipe bombs and great matches, the show caters more to the casual and young audience every week. The storylines aren’t sexy and lack intrigue. With so many good young performers and big names on the roster, RAW has the ability to be so much better than it is currently.

The problems started early as the first eight minutes of RAW this week nearly ruined the show. It’s not that Kane’s presence on the show isn’t needed. The guy is a star. But his promos have consistently run long. He was never a great mic guy in the first place. After Cena hit the ring and the two of them got involved, that’s when the segment was enjoyable. But rather than take advantage of the situation, RAW got corny and lame.

After he threw Cena around, Kane “disappeared.”

As The Miz would say, “Really”?

That’s something fans that watch TNA would expect. The WWE needs to do better here, or else Cena is going to continue to be hated by the hardcore and Kane is never going to be the heel he should be.

The horrid creative decisions continued throughout the show. What WWE creative has done to Brodus Clay is easily the worst gimmick for a big man since WCW’s antics with Mike Awesome. Why the WWE feels he’d be more entertaining dancing than destroying mid-carders is absolutely insane. His simplified moveset hasn’t helped his appeal either. Regardless of how you look at it, his return to RAW was an epic fail.

Away from the promo and matches, it was interesting to see Edge get inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. Perhaps it was a bit too early and many may say he doesn’t have the credentials, but considering some of the other choices over the years and his multiple reigns as a Tag Team, Intercontinental and Heavyweight Champion, his resume is definitely good enough.

On the other hand, the induction of the Four Horsemen into the WWE Hall of Fame is long overdue. Unlike last year, the first two announcements for the WWE HOF have been stellar.

Matches:

Sheamus and Santino Marella vs. Wade Barrett and Jinder Mahal: Marella took a beating, tagged in Sheamus, who quickly gave Mahal the Brogue Kick. Marella got back in the match soon after and delivered the Cobra for the win. How this advances any of the current storylines involving any of these characters is puzzling.

WWE Tag Team Champion Kofi Kingston vs. World Champion Daniel Bryan: A quick match that saw Kingston tap out to the crossface rather promptly. Big Show hit the ring after the encounter and called out Bryan for another match, this one a no DQ, no count-out match on Smackdown.

Brodus Clay vs. Curt Hawkins: A waste of a match. Clay’s new angle, a “Godfather” meets “Flash Funk” gimmick is a waste of his ability. He made quick work of Hawkins with an avalanche in the corner and then a running crossbody. Snore.

WWE Champion CM Punk vs. Jack Swagger w/ Vicki Guerrero and Dolph Ziggler: A good match with plenty of action. However, the fact that Punk won with the flying elbow was a bit disheartening. At first glance, it appeared to be a botch by the referee, but it may be a part of the storyline.

John Cena vs. Dolph Ziggler: A decent match until Cena ran out to the parking lot to help Zack Ryder and Eve, who were being attacked by Kane. A less than mediocre end to an abysmal show.

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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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