And here we are with the first Raw of the new year. I’ve been slacking off due to the holiday season, which is a shame really, since the last handful of shows since TLC have been top quality. Some basic thoughts on the goings on of the E. Miz: Every bit a deserving champion. The promo from last week should have made believers out of a lot of people. Morrison: Slow burn. Danielson: Get this kid a feud. Why, oh why can’t the E maintain some level of importance for their midcard titles? IC Title: Prominence? Yes, I think so. Dolph is doing the lord’s work with that belt right now. No undue respect given to Kofi and Swagger for putting on stellar matches every week. WHC: I couldn’t be more bored with Edge at the helm. My only hope is that they actually go through with a drawn out Christian program at Mania. Del Rio: Solid gold. But you…you already knew that. Divas: Hitting sort of a slump and a stride at the same time. It’s pretty neat that Natty is in two programs at once across the shows. I love that they’re keeping LayCool relevant because they have been the best thing to happen to the women’s division in a long time. Legitimate heels with characters to boot. Punk: Okay. I’m a fanboy for the guy. Which is why I’m hesitant to jump on this bandwagon. I was excited about a Punk/Cena feud. But JUST a Punk/Cena feud. The inclusion of the Nexus cheapens the experience for me. As good of a fit as they are with him, I don’t like them being dumped on Cena again. It feels like back to square one and I’m very very tired of seeing him destroy them all, or all of them destroy him. It’s tired. There is the possibility that Punk could add some new things to the mix, but I would really just rather have Punk/Cena. Now then, onto new things.
WWE Title
Absolutely fantastic opening match. As I knew it had to be. But let’s not be mistaken, it was the Morrison show. Miz was there to make him look good, and he did that well enough by being there to deliver some hellacious offense and pick up the pieces after Morrison crashed and burned with the high risk offense. The only bits of build Miz got, though they were Very Big bits, were kicking out of his first finisher and actually going over on a long time rival. But even that latter bit works more for Morrison than Miz. Thing of beauty the way this match panned out, and it does me no small amount of joy to have these two guys duking it out for the freaking WWE title as the first match of a new year. It says a whole lot about the company that they wanted those to be the first two faces you see at the beginning of a whole new schedule. Paired up with the fact that the last faces we saw prior to this show were Kofi/Dolph/Swagger, I am even more optimistic than usual about the future with these kids.
But back to the match, Morrison has found his niche. He should pretty much never dominate any match ever. He plays underdog far too well with the bumps he takes and his spindly wirey selling style. The people eat his comebacks up like candy. If you’re seriously worrying about the status of Morrison in relation to the main event, I have two words for you. Chris Benoit. This just FEELS like the same build. Think about how many big matches Benoit lost leading up to the Rumble. If we look back at the last year or two, Morrison has hung with and even beaten Soon-to-be world champs, but then fell short once they had the gold. He’s always managed to fall short when the lights are on bright. If they aren’t grooming him for a Rumble win then I’ll eat my hat.
Divas
The women’s match was there. I’m a fan of Eve’s finisher, but it isn’t established. The crowd was dead either way, and didn’t appreciate the average work going on. Odd that Eve got the win instead of Natty though. But I suppose breaking the monotony is a little better. Here’s my thing. We have a wealth of divas of varying skill and only one belt. I think they should just scrap the singles title and make the whole division compete for a set of tag titles. LayCool proved that a women’s team can get over, and it’s always easier to stick two people with a gimmick as opposed to one and let them work with it. Plus team colors. They mostly do tag matches anyway. By pairing them up, you can mask some of the lesser talented women (KELLY) with the tip tops and let everyone’s skills show through. Plus the ever-present issue of pacing will go by the wayside when you institute hot tags and dirty tricks into what would normally be a rest hold. Yes, they should do this. But they never will. Speaking of divas and teams, Alicia Fox needs to turn face and Percy Watson needs to come back so that they can become one of the most entertaining couples ever.
Tag Match
How happy am I that the Usos got a win? Pretty happy. The kids can work pretty well, so them getting a program, even if just to get beaten, is fine by me. Good match too, despite Koslov’s big botch. Mark of a guy who is still green right there. You’ve got to adjust to that spot man, not push through it. Freaking Russians.
Nexus
I have to say that the Nexus goings on were definitely abrupt and awkward, but what can you do? Well, you could have Barrett sell anything. Anything at all. Not walk out and wrestle as if nothing happened. That’s one thing you could do. But I’ll tell you what, the back and forth with him and Punk was entertaining at least. Punk continues to cut promos as a guy who knows how to speak well in the world of wrestling. Not as a wrestler who is good at speaking. Slight but significant difference. The result of the (rather boring) cage match at least made Punk taking over somewhat interesting, if not a bit more awkward. But they’re playing clean up so it’s a total wait and see.
But you, you already knew that
As much as I love Alberto, he didn’t need airtime on Raw. Give that to Danielson.
Cage Match
The biggest thing of interest here seems to be that they went throwback with the rules. No pinfall, no submission. Escape only. For me, as a mark, I love it. I’ve always preferred those rules to a cage match, and I assume they did it for effect here. Orton carried the match for the most part with Sheamus having to play dumb lower main eventer. Seriously though, Wade should have sold SOMETHING. That’s pretty piss poor. The match was mostly uneventful, but the last RKO was brilliant. As they tend to be. Orton should lose at RR, god willing, and things will be safe and tidy until Elimination Chamber. If Morrison does in fact take the Rumble, Miz is a pretty much guaranteed to retain there.
Decent show. Fantastic highlights.
JoMo. Followed by our first real big spot of the match.
Looks like we may be getting our match-making spot here as they teeter above that “clevely” placed ladder. I am fearful of it. Ladders are not tables. And Jeeeeesus Christ. It is for the very reason that ladders are not tables that I am not certain who got the worst of this. Because JoMo fell a looooong way too.
this time. Back and forth after that bit, and Miz’s punch actually looks pretty good. Even if it is a lefty. We get into Orton’s cut scene and the crowd is eating it up. He is still very much dominating. Much like Cena did last year.
A-Ri AGAIN getting involved which leads a ref bump during the attempted SCF. Uh oh. And we get our prerequisite RKO. And once again, dear lord, Orton channels Batista with that freaking vicious powerbomb through the table. Jesus. Remember kids, Orton is a Huge Dude. And uh oh. I think Miz is a genius. Yes, yes Miz is a genius. I love this. This is brilliant. BRILLIANT!
I enjoy that the two sandbags of this match, at least when paired with each other, leave the ring so the better workers can take the spotlight early on. Once again we see someone going up the ladder quickly to start. Much appreciated. Ends in Rey taking a dive onto Kane and Edge. Later Del Rio sold a drop toe hold into a ladder like a bitch. He really didn’t let himself go at all. Disappointing. Rey managed to save a botched spot directly after that, pro as he is. And following that we get a reminder that Kane Hates Rey. Hates. That’s how you take a ladder, Alberto.
Man, this crowd is DEAD. This is hardly a heated match up, sadly. I almost wish I cared more. The super highlight was DHS doing the super standing vertical, what looked like a botch, then still getting Tyson over. Quick roll up and done. Does this big dude look like a giant Rob Conway to anyone else? Eh, I still don’t really care. I just like calling him Ethanol. Y’know, as opposed to Diesel. heh.
matches them too. Ha! But you know what, as bitter as I am about the tag division, our new Ballin Warriors at least tried to put something together in the intro. I feel worse for our IC champion, but perhaps they are just fodder to pick up steam for this new duo. More than likely the case. Tag team offense? I’ll take it.
That’s going to make a great poster. The ability to which Kofi can get it done gives me a lot of hope for him. He’s going to be one of those guys that won’t be believable when he finally gets big gold, but his work will put him over. Not Big Boot, HUGE BOOT from Jack. And how great was the Vader Bomb counter by Kofi? These guys are putting on a match that just plain hasn’t been seen, and on free tv. The counters to their usual offense alone has been worth he price of admission. Noted by Jack’s blocking of the pendulum kick, and subsequent Re-counter in the hang up by Kofi followed AGAIN by a big time cross body. This match is LEGIT.
Sheamus and Truth to start, but oddly, he dropped his old theme song. “Rapping and carrying on.” Thanks Punk. I’ll probably saying that a lot in the future. Sheamus is not amused.
PG era. They give him a good deal of offense which almost let some of us believe for about a split second that he might upset Sheamus. Yeah, not bloody likely. But the important part is that it LOOKED like that. I was wondering if he’d get the gourdbuster off, Sheamus says no. But that missile drop kick was pretty. But dear boy Sheamus returned the favor after the countered victory roll. Meeeeean. High Cross and Sheamus advances. Decent little match.
Alright kids, here we go. It’s time for Survivor Series 2010 with what looks like a decent card.
