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411’s Instant Analysis 6.08.10: WWE Monday Night Raw

June 8, 2010 | Posted by Larry Csonka

WELCOME
Welcome kids to a little fun we’re going to have here at 411. The
Instant Analysis column is the companion piece to 411 Live Pay-Per-View Coverage and features immediate reaction to wrestling pay-per-views. The focus in Instant Analysis is on first thoughts and initial reactions instead of play-by-play, with the goal of providing you with instant access to writers’ thoughts on the show. We have decided to give these a try for some of the TV shows, so lets see how things work out…

Bradley Cooper, the UFC’s Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Sharlto Copley from The A-Team are the hosts

SEGMENT ONE:
Bret Hart and Teddy long kick off the show.
Analysis: Bret and Teddy awkwardly opened the show, almost not sure who was supposed to talk. They gave us a welcome to the viewer’s choice Raw, and explained things to the crowd. But they had to discuss Randy Orton, which led to Orton coming out. Orton simply wanted revenge on Edge, tonight, no matter if he had his arm in a sling or not. Edge wanted the bout, the GMs spoke, and we got the choices of a debate, a sit up contest, or a one armed match. The crowd voted for a one armed match, and while Edge found it unfair, we had our first match of the evening. It was then announced that Chris Jericho would face the big show in either an over the top rope challenge, submission match, or body slam challenge. It was a fine opening segment that set two matches and got the viewers choice off to a fine start. It was nothing great, but it was kept short and did its job.
Rating: ***

SEGMENT TWO:
Big Show vs. Chris Jericho in a Body Slam Challenge
Match Result: The Big Show won via body slam
Match Length: 3:00
Match Analysis: The stipulation that was selected was both a good and a bad thing. Bad in that there is no psychology as far as building pins and or submissions to a finish, but good because if Jericho loses, he was supposed too, due to the size difference. It was fine for what it was and about what you would expect from the match. Show also put on his colossal clutch and then tosses Jericho over the top rope to add some insult to injury.
Segment Rating: *

SEGMENT THREE:
Unified Tag Team Champions The Hart Dynasty vs. Khali and Hornswoggle
Match Result: Unified Tag Team Champions The Hart Dynasty defeated Khali and Hornswoggle
Match Length: 1:00
Match Analysis: The choices were the Usos, the Duebusters and the team of Khali and Hornswoggle. I had the bad feeling that Khali and Hornswoggle would be selected, and they were. I like some comedy in wrestling, and I know that the WWE doesn’t care about tag team wrestling, but we disagree here, because they have some talent and should be building the tag team division. Te Dynasty quickly won, thankfully, and this led to the real deal, the Usos and Tamina running in. For the first time the Hart’s got the upper hand and stood tall. I am still expecting a tag title match for the PPV, which has not been announced as of now.
Segment Rating: ½*

SEGMENT FOUR:
Lawler leaves, we learn that the Undertaker is a vegetable
Analysis: Jerry Lawler left the announce table for some unknown reason, which led to Michael Cole being very dramatic as he explained the situation from Smackdown, regarding the Undertaker. With a three hour show, we have come used to seeing tons of recaps, and with this being a main Smackdown angle, and with Smackdown losing viewership, this was a smart idea to replay the angle for the people that have not watched it. They get the A for effort, because they will also have to explain the change to the World Title match.
Rating: **

SEGMENT FIVE:
THE A-TEAM ARRIVES/LAWLER
Analysis: Bradley Cooper, the UFC’s Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Sharlto Copley made their first appearance at 8:36PM, although only Bradley Cooper came out. He pimped the movie and that was it. We then saw Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Sharlto Copley capture Jerry Lawler, and he wanted to hire the A-Team because someone stole his crown. They promised to find it, and when they were met with the Bella twins, they pretended that they were their characters. It was silly, it will likely last through out the show, and as long as it is kept short, I guess it isn’t too bad. But to be honest, it is not my cup of tea. I know, call me crazy, but I like wrestling on my wrestling show.
Segment Rating: *

SEGMENT SIX:
Santino vs. Vladimir Kozlov in a dance off
Match Result: Kozlov won
Match Length: Too Long
Match Analysis: This whole thing was part of Santino’s ongoing quest to get Kozlov to be his tag team partner. Of course the worst possible stipulation was chosen, the dance off. God bless Santino, he is willing to do anything for his job, and Kozlov was humorous, but again, call me crazy, but I like wrestling on my wrestling show. 48-minutes in and nothing of note has happened to take advantage of this first hour and build to the PPV, which as of now, only has two official matches.
Segment Rating: *

SEGMENT SEVEN:
DIVAS MATCH – Battle Royal
Match Result: Maryse won, last eliminating Jillian Hall
Match Length: 5:00
Match Analysis: We had the choice of a 6 on 6, a battle royal or champion vs. champion, and we got a battle royal. I expected that for the simple fact that it got all of the ladies involved. These matches tend to be a complete cluster, with people almost getting hurt, but it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. That doesn’t mean it was good, it just didn’t suck. I liked Lay-Cool working together, as it solidifies their gimmick, which has been fun overall. It came down to Mayrse vs. Jillian, and Maryse got the victory, likely setting up a rematch for the title with Eve.
Segment Rating: *

~HOUR ONE ENDS~

SEGMENT EIGHT:
Kane Confronts Sheamus/Sheamus vs. Kane
Match Result: Kane defeated Sheamus via count out
Match Length: 7:00 (with commercial included)
Match Analysis: I liked that they had Kane confronting Raw talent, and doing it with Sheamus, who has already taken out HHH. Sheamus also stood his ground well, noting that if he did it, he would have done it in front of the world to prove a point. Sheamus was then up next in a match, with Kane, Bourne and Mark Henry as possible choices, and even though Bourne got the win last week, Kane DESTROYED them in the vote, with 88%. With his WWE popularity, it should have been no surprise to anyone. The match was fine, and Sheamus got to hold his own, but after last week’s tag team loss and the fact that he is n the title match at the PPV, I felt that Sheamus needed the win here. Thus far they have a good job of making him a badass heel, but on this occasion, they decided to make him more of a chicken shit heel. I would have rather Sheamus get DQ’d here, but that’s one man’s opinion.
Segment Rating: *½

SEGMENT NINE:
NXT RECAP/BARRETT INTERVIEW
Analysis: Again, with the small audience that NXT has, it was very smart to show the recap from last week’s finale. Not only was it smart to get Barrett on Raw looking good in the recap, but it also helps to hype tomorrow’s season two debut. Barrett also got an interview, and came off very well, also announcing something that has never happened last week.
Segment Rating: ***

SEGMENT TEN:
SEARCH FOR THE CROWN
Analysis: The A-Team tried to question Ted DiBiase about the crown, and after some shenanigans, IRS appeared and announced that he repossessed the crown, due to King not paying back taxes. Some kind of gas bomb went off, hilarity was supposed to happen, but it came off as stupid.
Segment Rating: Shit

SEGMENT ELEVEN:
R-Truth John Morrison and vs. The Miz and Zack Ryder
Match Result: The Miz and Zack Ryder defeated R-Truth John Morrison
Match Length: 3:00
Match Analysis: The gimmick here was that the WWE Universe got to select the tag team partners for Truth and Miz. Christian, MVP and Morrison were the choices for Truth, and his partner was announced as Morrison, which is good since they previously tagged and his history with Miz. Miz’s possible partners were Regal, Ziggler and Zack Ryder. Zack Ryder was selected, woo WOO woo, you know it. For the first time we were getting something that resembled a wrestling match, but it was too good to be true as it was so short. It was fine for the time, Truth didn’t take the loss (neither did Ryder) and Miz got a good rebound win.
Segment Rating: **

SEGMENT TWELVE:
KANE,EDGE,BRET/EDGE vs. Orton one armed match
Match Result: Randy Orton defeated Edge by DQ
Match Length: 2:00
Match Analysis: Like a good heel, Edge was complaining to Bret Hart about facing Orton later in the night. After Bret said it was a lock, Kane made another appearance to accuse Bret of hurting Taker. Some fine continuity, which is something I appreciate. This stip, along with blind fold matches, tend to suck unless there is an angle payoff, which is what we got here. They did some work, Edge cheated, got DQ’d and then kicked his ass with the chair, because he’s a heel and he is a DICK. With Orton a question for the title match, this was a very good segment to run.
Segment Rating: ****

~HOUR TWO ENDS~

SEGMENT THIRTEEN:
John Cena Super Serial Interview/A-TEAM STUFF
Analysis: John Cena takes a lot of shit, and I do have issues with his booking at times, but overall, when he cuts a promo, he delivers. The guys gets the people excited, he hypes what he has too, and he doesn’t take 15-minutes to do so. Mean gene then appeared with one of the A-Team guys, and more bullshit happened. After a good segment with Edge and Orton and the Cena promo, it went off the cliff.
Segment Rating: *

SEGMENT FOURTEEN:
Drew McIntyre vs. The Mystery Man aka Matt Hardy
Match Result: Matt Hardy defeated Drew McIntyre
Match Length: 3:00
Match Analysis: The choices were Yoshi, Goldust and a Mystery Matt Hardy, who won. The choice of Hardy works into their feud perfectly, and Drew of course reverted to being a whiney bitch. Unfortunately for Drew, Teddy said that Matt’s suspension did not include Raw. One thing I appreciated is that Matt went right on the attack, no lock up bullshit. He is pissed off, and should have and did attack right away. Matt got some revenge which was needed since he has lost to Drew so much, and the post match beat down was also good.
Segment Rating: ***

SEGMENT FIFTEEN:
Rampage Goes On A Rampage
Analysis: IRS, DiBiase and Virgil took Rampage to the ring, and DiBiase explained that someone bought him off to get to “B.A.”, and that was Rowdy Roddy Piper. Piper, still angry about Mr. T, came to the ring and rambled as he does, and was out for revenge. But as Piper was about to have his way with rampage, DUSTY RHODES, I don’t care about the others, hit the ring! Rampage ad Dusty cleaned up DiBiase and Virgil, and overall, it was good, just for Rampage killing people and Dusty throwing elbows.
Segment Rating: **

SEGMENT SIXTEEN:
CENA’s POSSIBLE OPPONENTS SPEAK/CENA vs. PUNK/NXT BEATDOWN
Match Result: No Contest
Match Length: 10:20
Match Analysis: The choices were Swagger, Rey and Punk, and Punk won the vote. All three delivered in their short promo segments before the match as they played to their strengths while speaking. Thankfully Cena and Punk went out there and actually gave us some wrestling, which was greatly appreciated. And while that was fine, the ending of the show was most excellent. They are having a good match, and then Wade Barrett made his way to the ring. And then other NXT rookies made their way out and started a gang style ass beating of the SES. And then they turned their attention to Cena, and the ass beating began! And the best thing was that there was no SUPER CENA comeback. They kicked the shit out of him and left him lying in the ring. They attacked Striker, Lawler, the timekeeper, some random guy and Cole seemingly escaped the beating as then they started to destroy the ringside area. Hell, even Justin Roberts got an ass beating. They then ripped the ring apart and insanity was the name of the game. The beat down of Cena and also Punk continued as the NXT rookies actually came off as a big deal. Last week there was a lot of discussion of how Raw felt fresh with the opening of the show and then the Bourne victory. Well, the show largely sucked, this was a fresh and very entertaining ending to the show. Could Barrett take the place of an injured Randy Orton at Fatal Four-Way? Was Michael Cole responsible for this gang attack? Where do these guys go from here? These are actually questions that I WANT to see answered.
Segment Rating: ****¾

FINAL THOUGHTS

Segment of the Night: CENA’s POSSIBLE OPPONENTS SPEAK/CENA vs. PUNK/NXT BEATDOWN

Trash Segment of the Night: SEARCH FOR THE CROWN

Final Analysis: Overall this was easily one of the worst episodes of Raw in 2010. Outside of the Orton/Edge segment and the closing angle, there was just about nothing that good. Some minor stuff was fine, but the lack of building to the PPV was horrendous as they left the show with only two matches announced. They did some very small things, but with the PPV under two weeks away this three hours was mostly wasted.

Verdict: 3.0

411 RATINGS SCALE:
0 – 0.9: Torture
1 – 1.9: Extremely Horrendous
2 – 2.9: Very Bad
3 – 3.9: Bad
4 – 4.9: Poor
5 – 5.9: Not So Good
6 – 6.9: Average
7 – 7.9: Good
8 – 8.9: Very Good
9 – 9.9: Amazing
10: Virtually Perfect