A.J. Lee’s second RAW as General Manager had a great card. It was almost pay per view caliber. The only problem was that the matches were routine. Why match up top-tier guys that aren’t in angles with one another if they aren’t going to work? It makes zero sense.
Even the Triple H/Lesnar segment and Shawn Michaels’ small appearance was vanilla. In the end, that’s the best word to sum up this episode of RAW- vanilla. At three hours, the show seems to drag at a TNA-like pace. It’s going to take a little while or the show to get in a groove, but the last two weeks have made anyone feel optimistic about the show’s future just yet.
Matches:
WWE Heavyweight Champion CM Punk vs. Rey Mysterio: A slow-paced match with a handful of ground submissions. Odd. Mysterio had a few spots, but they were all routine. This match essentially was a bore as both Punk and Mysterio went through the motions. Aside from Punk’s Superplex, there was nothing else memorable here. After he countered the top rope splash after a Mysterio 619, Punk hit the GTS for the win.
Alberto Del Rio w/ Ricardo Rodriguez vs. Christian: Good, quick match. Del Rio worked on Christian’s arm, but Christian wired back with chops and kicks. Del Rio missed a Senton Backsplash, but nailed a Super Kick. These guys were stiff. Rodriguez caused a distracted that allowed Del Rio to latch on the Cross-Arm Breaker for the win.
Randy Orton vs. Big Show: Orton and Show both had their moments in another routine encounter. The Viper made his typical face comeback and even kicked out of a Chokeslam. After a Big Show Spear on the outside, the match was ruled a double count-out. Show threw Orton back in the ring after the decision and set him up for the WMD, but Orton hit the RKO.
Tyler Reks and Curt Hawkins vs. Ryback: Reks got in a few big boots and a clothesline and the duo hit a double front suplex, but Ryback is a tougher animal than that. After a vicious clothesline, Ryback hit the marching Fisherman Drop on Hawkins for the win.
Primo and Epico vs. Darren Young and Titus O’Neil w/ AW: Um, no Rosa Mendez? Why would anyone want to watch this match? All jokes aside, these are the two best young tag teams in the WWE and this match was decent. Between the fast pace and nearfalls, these two teams continue to prove that the tag team division ca be resurrected. After R-Truth and Kofi Kingston served as a distraction, Primo hit the Back Cracker on Young for the win.
Damien Sandow vs. Brodus Clay: Sandow continued his assault on Clay, attacking him before the match got started. He worked on his legs for a few minutes and the match never got started. Lets hope these guys are doing something at Summerslam or else this is a waste of time.
Kelly Kelly vs. Eve Torrez: A waste of time. A sluggish and disgusting excuse for a match that doesn’t belong on RAW. Kelly won with a sloppy frankensteiner.
Dolph Ziggler w/ Vikki Guerrero vs. Alex Riley: Ziggler was too busy talking to Chris Jericho on the outside and allowed Riley to win with the School Boy.
The Miz vs. Kane: Miz tried to work on Kane’s legs and even though he had some success, it wasn’t enough. Kane won with a Chokeslam.
John Cena vs. Daniel Bryan: Not much of a main event. Well, until the end. Again, it was routine as Cena had his moment of glory while Bryan pandered to the crowd and worked hard. Once Bryan hit the headbutt, the match was worth it. The submission counters were fun too. Cena ended up winning with The Attitude Adjustment after a nice series of counters.
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