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•The Rock must cut an amazing go home promo to build anticipation for his first match in seven years something WWE has failed to do so far.

•The Miz and R-Truth need to look stronger if we are to buy that they can be of any threat to Rock and Cena.

•Survivor Series hype. What do the two points above equal? Build to your pay per view in six days! Hype and promotion. Let’s see the production videos, let’s see and talk about the historical significance of Survivor Series. Card rundown, hype for other matches. Make the show feel special = maximizing profits!

1.       What a waste of time. Vince McMahon and Kevin Dunn doing their thing with this opening segment. Jim Ross dancing was great, I’ll say that much as was Michael Cole for that matter.  Punk saved the segment, but I am not sure about telling the audience to fast forward and that it’s “unbearable”.

2.       “Michael Cole trending” - It might not be the popular opinion, but I don’t mind their promotion of twitter, however when they get on to something, they tend to overdo it real fast so this might get old soon. I don’t want to see the superstars themselves talking about twitter though.

3.       I was thinking about Raw earlier today and thought to myself that they might do a CM Punk and Big Show vs Alberto Del Rio and Mark Henry match and that being said the match should have been announced in advanced. The WWE and World Champion teaming together against their two number one contenders should be advertised in advance. When did WWE stop announcing matches for Raw in advance? I guess when you are rewriting stuff up till show time that’s what happens. Advertising a match in advance adds hype and intrigue to the matches. It makes them feel special and important, when did this company forget how to do that?

4.       As I was watching the CM Punk-Michael Cole segment, I was hoping he’d lay him out. Punk needs to be doing stuff like that to put some steam on his character.

5.       I can deal with Matt Striker on Smackdown, I’m not sure I need him on Raw telling me what’s trending on twitter. Go back to having the hot chick backstage announcer. Maria use to be fantastic in that role.

6.       Mick Foley, always a great surprise.

7.       Just a suggestion, but instead of showing us a trailer for The Reunion over and over again, perhaps it might be wise to bring actors like Amy Smart and Ethan Embry on to the show to talk about it. That might help sell the movie better than a standard trailer showing WWE performers in a straight to DVD movie release.

8.       I was praying JR would be at the booth after the commercial break, as it really would have been a burn to CM Punk for Michael Cole to be fine and doing commentary right away.

9.       I really like Cody Rhodes and finally it looks like the baggers and the mask are behind him. The Randy feud did nothing for Cody. Anyone who has watched WWE television closely for years should know that if Mark Henry beat Randy Orton two times in a row that they were going to feed the next heel Orton feuded with to him. They would have been better off going back to Christian (who has already been established as not being able to beat Randy) than hurting a character like Cody and the Intercontinental Title with a feeder feud for Randy Orton. WWE overprotects guys like Cena and Orton and that can be a big time hindrance to those characters and the characters they feud with.

10.   Good win for Cody and he needed it, if you read my above paragraph.

11.   I like the video for Show and Henry, but I need to see more than a standard commercial for these matches to feel special.

12.   Terrible decision having Zack Ryder back John Cena in that backstage segment with Santino. The male audience is never going to like John Cena and having characters they like such as Ryder, Rock, CM Punk, Jim Ross or Bret Hart endorse him doesn’t help Cena, it only waters those characters down. Vince McMahon needs to accept this and move on.

13.   Jim Ross on commentary adds so much credibility to the product. I don’t play videogames and I almost want to buy WWE 12 myself with his plug for the game.

14.   Dolph Ziggler is the next big thing, but I have a feeling WWE doesn’t know it yet. The music cue after he was done talking was so quick making that segment feel a tad overproduced, but that’s WWE. Jim Ross saying “I’ve always been very impressed with Dolph Ziggler” really makes Dolph feel like he’s something special as well.

15.   On another note, I really was hoping they would do Ryder-Ziggler in MSG for the US title. Putting the title on Ryder at the Garden would have been something special, maybe Dolph will end up pulling double duty again.

16.   Ah commentary ruined as Michael Cole returns. Vince McMahon knows Jim Ross is the better commentator, but he still has Cole do commentary. Talk about a guy who has been booking television too long and is more concerned with entertaining himself than anything else.

17.   Mason Ryan. I stress again that Ryan needs to change his music, it’s very generic. Nobody buys him and the music is something that can be helped at least.

18.   I do like the complexity of Morrison feuding with Ziggler, while Ryder is also petitioning for a title shot, although my hunch is WWE isn’t trying to do that on purpose.

19.   Cute segment with Foley and Ryder backstage.

20.   Was Mick Foley being scripted word for word in the beginning of his promo...I hope not, but I have my doubts. Again watering down guys by having them endorse John Cena. Get over it. If you didn’t write the character so poorly, perhaps there wouldn’t be this problem. Now you want other top characters to be booed alone with him. Mick now joins the club of CM Punk, Bret Hart, Zack Ryder, Jim Ross, The Rock, etc.

21.   Whoever becomes the guy who gets the male audience to cheer John Cena is going to have Vince McMahon indebted to them forever. Mick is trying and he might be sincere, but that’s not what the audience wants.

22.   What kind of music piece was this? Who chooses this music? They try to put Cena’s character over as the greatest guy, but there are so many unlikeable things about him. This segment is quickly going down the toilet. At least the crowd somewhat applaud the video and Cena knew the music score was terrible.

23.   A Bull Buchanan cameo? Ok I can pop for that.

24.   It’s not about how hard Cena works; it’s about how the character is portrayed. For some reason Vince and his inner circle (From now on I am just going to refer to him/them as The Bubble) doesn’t realize that.

25.   This entire segment has once again been dedicated to getting Cena over. What a waste of time. Hype the pay per view not the ever ending need to control your audience.

26.   The ending of this Cena-Foley segment almost made the whole thing worth it.

27.   A nitpick, and as I mentioned in my Smackdown column, the way they word things is key and saying “Sheamus had the opportunity to hang with Justin Bieber” kind of takes away from what that was. It’s a chance to showcase Sheamus on the same platform not as some great honour, which puts Bieber on a different level than Sheamus. Granted the audience all knows he is, but it doesn’t need to be pointed out to everyone.

28.   Sheamus-Swagger. Swagger deserves better than a clean loss in a few minutes to Sheamus, but this is the way WWE operates. I like Sheamus as well and hope he continues to have the rocket strapped to him.

29.   Lots of Ryder on this show and I am not complaining, I am a fan. Are the Bella Twins heels or faces? At least the jumping from Ryder to Del Ro was consistent with their characters.

30.   I am not however a Kelly Kelly fan; she still hasn’t won me over. To me she’s the corporate pick and not necessarily the audiences choice, but I guess it doesn’t matter when the divas are treated like just another cog in the machine. Some things never change; Natalya loses again in one minute. What does Natalya-Kelly do to hype Eve-Beth? The Eve and Beth match doesn’t even get a graphic, just a brief talking point from Michael Cole.

31.   Brodus isn’t wrestling again. The habit of advertising something and not delivering needs to end.

32.   What would be so hard about having Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler go into the ring and run down the full card for Survivor Series? Or go backstage to someone credible who runs down the pay per view. The pay per view full and I emphasis full card run down should be a segment that feels important not another cog in the machine segment.

33.   I like the backstage interview segment with Miz and Truth. It definitely creates intrigue for later in the show and I don’t have any problems with that.

34.   Back to back weeks where Alberto has attacked CM Punk backstage. I like that as well. Two straight backstage segments to create intrigue and build heat for the pay per view.

35.   Another reason WWE should advertise matches like Del Rio and Henry vs Punk and Show in advance is that it probably would have given them the opportunity to tease tension between Punk and Big Show since Punk had a feud with him last year. These are minor details that we let WWE off the hook for now days, but really we shouldn’t, because past feuds and wins and losses should be acknowledged.

36.   The Boston crowd really loves CM Punk and I almost want to order Survivor Series in MSG to see the reaction he gets more than I do to see Rock wrestling.

37.   I like the finish of this tag team match. It puts heat on the heels going into Survivor Series and that’s what should be happening especially on the go home show.

38.   Good to see Kevin Nash has learned from last week and is using words everyone knows such as “ovation” instead of “pop”. BTW would Kevin Nash as Kevin Nash gotten the same reaction at the Royal Rumble as Kevin Nash as Diesel?

39.   BTW, I like earlier that Dolph brought up the point that he is the US Champion yet Barrett is the captain of his Survivor Series team. Barrett has the US and IC Champion behind him not that I am making an issue of that.

40.   Barrett is a fantastic promo, but “Devenomise the viper”, who talks like that? It screams scripted verbiage to me.  I said in my Smackdown breakdown that I hoped WWE didn’t give Randy his win back on the go home week before the pay per view and I’m glad to see that they didn’t do it on Raw. I am not sure why Jerry Lawler should have a “Good Feeling” about Team Barrett when they just got cleared out by Team Orton. Credibility for your commentators is important!

41.   The Rock is just so good on the mic. There is nobody that compares. He can do the Brian Gewirtz style comedy that John Cena can’t, but they still try having Cena do, which has also hurt Cena’s character over the years, but that’s beside the point.

42.   I was going to say I don’t mind Michael Cole or Jerry Lawler on commentary saying something is trending, but I am not sure The Rock should be doing a promo about it and then we got a “boots to asses” chant, which was great!

43.   Why would Miz and Truth just stand in the ring, while Rock and Cena rip each other and then vice versa? I know we have to sustain disbelief, but they could have designed this segment a little better. That being the crowd along with The Rock kept it entertaining.

44.   Miz and Truth once again look terrible and its clear WWE is hyping this as can Rock and Cena coexist as oppose to building any heat for Truth and Miz. I am not sure why WWE has such a hard time doing that for heels, but it’s per the norm for this company.

 

 

 

• They didn’t totally humiliate Jim Ross

• Mick Foley was fun in his backstage cameos at least

• Fine build for the World and WWE title matches

• It’s always a positive when the best promo in the game shows up even if he didn’t do what was needed to be done!

•The hype for Survivor Series was average at best. There was no full card rundown. Beth and Eve didn’t even get a graphic in their segment. Team Orton already took care of Team Barrett on Raw so the Survivor Series match is now pointless. There were no historical videos and Rock did not cut a strong promo dedicated to the Survivor Series, although he was fine with the material given. The Survivor Series hinges on Rock returning to the ring and if people are interested in whether he and Cena can coexist

• The Bubble’s continued obsession with trying to get that adult male audience to cheer John Cena

• Miz and Truth are useless and I am a bit concerned for them post Survivor Series

•I really can’t say until I see Survivor Series. That being said this go home show was probably a C+ effort in my view. None of the goals I stated at the beginning of this column were met and the only reason I didn’t completely hate on this show is because I think it was an improvement from what we have been seeing and I’m not going to totally bury a show that has the return of The Rock and Mick Foley on it.

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