6 Man Tag
Great opener, glad to see the Miz on the card, Del Rio didn’t need to be there , would have preferred it to be a normal tag with Miz/Truth Vs Mysterio/Morrison. Was not aware that Kofi was in a feud with Del Rio, but in fairness I’ve not seen a lot of Raw recently. Mysterio picking up the win, unsurprising. Possibly would have been better for the feud of Truth/Morrison to have Morrison gone over.
Rated 2.5/5
Sheamus vs. Mark Henry
I surprisingly enjoyed this match more than I’d anticipated. Felt that it was cut short and the finish unrealistic. The spot was great though, really brought the match to a high point. I understand that the finish had to be so that neither man lost their momentum going in to their respective heel/face turns. Would assume this is going on to at least another match, although rumours of Henry challenging Orton persist which may close this well built feud early.
Rated 3.5/5
Beth Phoenix vs. Kelly Kelly
Going into this match I genuinely hoped that women’s wrestling is on the up, and I was not let down. Although the match did not end the way I’d hoped, with Beth becoming the new champion, it was an excellent showcase of how, when given time and a good opponent every “diva” can be a good worker. I hope in the coming months the diva title is dropped and the Women’s championship resurrected. Kelly looked like a different person, and the quick roll up, while not my finish of choice, made perfect sense as in fairness no one would have given Kelly a chance of retaining going into the match. With Kelly being accompanied by Eve and Beth by Natalya I think we’ll see a few decent matches between the four of them developing of the course of the next few weeks.
Rated 3.5/5
Wade Barrett vs. Daniel Bryan
Most underrated match on the card in my opinion. Both are extremely hard workers and Daniel Bryan is the man in some circles. Me, I wasn’t aware of him until NXT. Good result for both men, gives Barrett momentum, shows that Bryan is fallible. See this going into another match as wade brags up the fact he won, perhaps ending in a match for the MITB briefcase 3.5/5
Christian Vs Randy Orton
Massive surprise to see Edge. Was not expecting it, although it seems I’m the only one in the world who didn’t! Calling Christian out on his behaviour, also unexpected, reminiscent of the E&C breakup. Edge however had no bearing on the match, leaving after calling Christian a bitch. A strong match contested between Orton and Christian, with some brilliant table spots. Kendo sticks once again coming into play, as happens in all good no holes barred matches. I was clearly surprised to see Orton win; I don’t understand why WWE keep passing the title to Christian to take it away from him in such a short space of time. I hear rumours of Mark Henry being next to challenge for the title. I wonder where this leaves Christian.
Rated 4/5
John Cena vs. CM Punk
After a hot month of Punk Promos and Cena not backing down it was another good solid match between the two. I was convinced that Hunter would have FAR more input and I half feel that his involvement was completely unnecessary. I’m going to say it, I’m a Cena fan and I’m not ashamed of it. People write him off with his “five moves of doom”. It is fair to say that his current position with CM Punk has given him a better stage to perform on and I enjoy watching them both together. The contract signing on Raw last week was electric. Both can drop a promo well and have worked some excellent matches.
I’ll be honest the entrances were enough to give me goose bumps! The pop CM Punk got was totally cool. I should mention here that I don’t think the audience came over too well, maybe it was just a sound thing, but they hardly seemed into any of the matches. Match is typically back and fore, with the standard let’s go Cena, CM Punk chants. Mainly gets going when both mend are flat out on the outside of the ring, Triple H starts to count them out and when he gets to 9 and realises that neither men would make the 10 count, he hauls both CM Punk and Cena back into the ring. I think this was a great move, as I felt completely cheated when Cena/Miz ended in a count out at Mania and would have been epically pissed off if this match had ended that way. The match continues and we see a good drop kick from Cena which leads to the 5 knuckle shuffle (by the way, did anyone else realise what a five knuckle shuffle apparently is?? Gobsmacked when I found out the term meant!) and an attempted AA which Punk counters into a pin which is met by a 2 count and another pin from Cena which Punk bridges out of. I loved this exchange. Showed exactly how good both men are. I also enjoyed the battle of the finishing moves which followed and the flurry of 2 count pins. This match went less time than their MITB encounter, but seemed to have much more going on. The homage to Macho Man by Cm punk did not go unnoticed, well apart from by the announce team (more on this later). The GTS gets the 3 count BUT Cena’s foot was clearly on the rope from the first count. This OF COURSE is not spotted by COO Triple H.
Cena, for me, gave in too easily which aroused suspicions that something else was to happen and lo and behold as Hunter walks away and Punk over celebrates the camera pans back and KEVIN NASH is stood behind Punk. Quick punch to the face and a power bomb and Punk is left flat on the canvas. Did Hunter know that he’d be there, doesn’t look like.
We all know what would happen next. Yup there’s Del Rio, briefcase and all, cashing in to become champion.
A solid match ruined by the ending in my opinion. Still worth 4.5/5
Raw will certainly have some questions to answer.
A few other things to mention:
Stephanie, what was her role in all of this? Great to see her and I’m hoping that it brings in a good story, perhaps another corporation? Or she’s looking after her father’s interests? What is Nash’s role? Working with Del Rio?
WHY were there so many adverts? I get the one for 7/11 but its unusual to show film trailers unless it’s for a WWE film...well at least I don’t remember seeing many over the last 10 years.
Overall a great PPV and worth a solid 7.5 out of 10 for me.
As always would love to hear your views, hit that comment button and let’s talk!
