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LOOKING AT LAST NIGHT'S RAW

RAW – 2/27/11
What this show needs to accomplish?
•The Rock returns to Raw and needs to cut a blistering promo on John Cena   
•I think we need to see a strong promo battle between Chris Jericho and CM Punk to elevate their feud into marquee status for Wrestlemania
•Make sure the Laurinaitis-Teddy feud doesn’t overshadow the entire show like it did on the live Smackdown from last week
•Triple H-Undertaker match has been set with five weeks to go so this might be a week to let things marinate. You don’t want to escalate things too fast and burn out before you hit Wrestlemania
Show Breakdown

1. Raw starting the right way by showing us clips from the John Cena promo from last week. You know why Cena is so annoying? It’s because you see promos like that and you know he has it in him, but he gives it to you every one out of ten times. Cena mocks Rock for using a writer for his promos yet when does Cena ever do good comedy centric promos or is able to hold the crowd like The Rock can. His strength is his intensity, but his attempt to copy Rock promos has been his downfall for several years.

2. I don’t need to see the Laurinaitis-Teddy thing as a focus of this week’s show overshadowing the WWE and World Title programs so no need for me to see the replay from last week’s Smackdown just yet.

3. Gorgeous promo from Punk and Cena so good I had to go back and watch it again. I was pacing while watching it. Loved Punk’s line about Bret Hart and swimming with the sharks while Jericho is dancing with stars. Jericho’s retort and intensity was outstanding as well.

4. We go from gorgeous to ugly as once again we have a Champion vs Champion match but it has to be overshadowed by the “entertainment” storyline between Laurinaitis and Long on commentary. Do you get the feeling that Rock-Cena, Punk-Jericho and HHH-taker are doing alot of their own thing so this program is where the sixteen writers have their input and thus why it’s such a focal point of the show?

5. Nice match with Bryan and Punk and the commentary was overshadowing it, but they seemed to tone it down after the commercial break.

6. I love Bryan’s attempt to always escape his matches with the title before they can conclude. Such a great heel.

7. Punk and Bryan leave the scene of the action while John and Teddy argue and steal the segment. I don’t like using the Champions for this storyline, but the crowd seems into it. I wonder if Teddy is really this over or if the crowd just hates Laurinaitis this much. This is back to back shows now where Teddy has got a chant.

8. Oh and now Jericho is attacking punk. This is like Russo style TNA. I don’t mind crash television every once and a while so I can it.

9. Good segment with Jericho and Punk and Jericho needed this to put some major heat on his character.

10. Great video package for Triple H and Undertaker with all the different talents talking throughout it. They need to do this type of stuff for more matches for current guys going forward and not just save it for those “Smashmouth” wrestlers.

11. Another pointless divas match. WWE kind of got away from the pointless divas matches, but have brought them back once again as we head into Wrestlemania, very weird. Also the divas champ has gone missing again and why do the Bellas choose such horrible ring attire?

12. Fine Miz promo, but it doesn’t help matters if he just goes and loses.

13. Cena wins, which was the smart thing to do, but then don’t have Miz come out and cut that promo. The losing streak gimmick does not work in this business. Also Rock shows up on the tron and we are then treated to the ridiculous Cena smile, which doesn’t add anything and in fact takes away from the storyline. He needs to stop with the stupid “I’m too cool” smile.

14. Fine match for the tag title, but I see no purpose for Kane coming in afterwards and destroying everyone. Two of the guys are your tag champs and one of them is your best rising star. It’s just a shame that WWE is so short-sighted in this area.

15. The Eve promo was fine, but I don’t need to see Zack Ryder feuding with her so I’m not sure what the point was. Also I would be indifferent to a Kelly-Eve feud at any other time during the year, but in Wrestlemania season I have no time for it. We haven’t seen Beth or Kharma yet, but hopefully it’s coming.

16. I really enjoy Cody showing the videos of Big Show’s Wrestlemania embarrassments, but I think that’s the last one he can show so not sure where he goes from here.

17. The treatment of Dolph Ziggler and now Mark Henry has put a real damper on this show for me. I just don’t get how you spend an entire fall season building up a guy only to tear him down in two swift weeks. It’s really a credit to how stupid The Bubble is in WWE.

18. Even though it did no ratings last time, it was good to see WWE still plug Shawn Michaels return for next week.

19. What a reaction to The Rock. The man is truly in his own stratosphere...sorry Trish.

20. I don’t think The Rock knew he dropped “trail blaze” at the home of the Trailblazers or he’s a damn good actor, because he didn’t react to it.

21. Fantastic segment with Rock and Cena, fantastic!

What this Raw accomplished?
The Good
•You really got to hand it to The Rock. What a marvellous individual and what every top star in this company should dream to be. I said to myself before Raw started that The Rock had to brutalize John Cena after Cena’s kick ass promo last week, but I was wrong, dead wrong. The segment tonight was designed to build heat and interest in the match, in other words do good business. Guys like Triple H and Shawn Michaels and Kevin Nash can learn a lesson from a man who is clearly secure in his abilities and his position. The Rock is made to look a fool last week and this week once again is punk’d out while he’s standing in the ring. Rock’s facial reactions and acting was tremendous in this segment. I still hate Cena doing the awkward smile, but his promo was once again solid. My entire issue with the program is that Cena is the wrong guy, because once Rock is gone, John goes back to goofy wannabe Rock promo style and that doesn’t work for him. He’s calling The Rock out for doing the cliché promos, but that’s a John special. I like what they did this week, I really like it, but I truly hope John is learning something from how this program is being developed
•Chris Jericho and CM Punk knock it out of the park. Another tremendous promo segment, just tremendous. Both men turned up the heat nicely. Punk had some great one liners and Jericho turned up the intensity at the exact right now. I loved Punk saying “I don’t need to point to the sign; I can point to the title”. Also the beat down of Punk by Jericho was great. It might have been a bit early in the program with five weeks to go, but will see where they take it...hopefully they avoid any car accident angles.
•The video package on Taker-Triple H. I love it! This is exactly what I meant by marinate for a week
•Punk and Bryan deliver in the ring again!
•Cody Rhodes presents....cute bits and Cody’s delivery and reaction to them are awesome. Hopefully Cody doesn’t get Dolph’d or Mark’d anytime soon.
The Bad
•The treatment of Mark Henry and Dolph Ziggler is astounding, just astounding. Why is Henry being squashed by Sheamus? They are doing a bang up job at chipping away at his armour and for what? Because he got hurt? Frustrating stuff. The stuff with Ziggler is just as bad. He should be in a marquee place at Wrestlemania, but instead like all the other heels he’s just being used as fodder. As short sighted as it gets, but that’s Vince McMahon
•The Laurinaitis-Teddy program overshadowing the Champion vs Champion match again. I guess WWE was pleased with what they did on Smackdown so they are doing it again on Raw. It’s getting a reaction which is great, but I don’t need to see it associated with the WWE and World Champion
•Miz-Cena. Miz cuts a ‘shoot” style promo, and then quickly loses to John Cena. Losing streak gimmicks don’t work, once again I’m unsure what the end game is here other than sabotaging talents.
Overall thoughts
•The opening and closing of this show made this a damn good Raw. Four promo guys who really delivered. I’m still bewildered as to why WWE treats certain talents the way they do, but it’s rare that WWE can deliver a perfect Raw. I don’t really have a comment on the Eve stuff. I’d really prefer if Zack just blew her off till post Wrestlemania and went on to take on Kane, but it looks like they are going to have Zack feud with Eve, which I’m not sure is the best course of action. Maybe they will build to a Zack and Kelly vs Eve and Kane match at Wrestlemania, which would be beyond weird. I really don’t want to rip on the use of the ladies too much, because I’m a big proponent of intermixing them with the men. I like Rosa with the tag champs and AJ with Bryan, but the Eve turn is forced and has alot of holes in it
What needs to happen on next week’s Raw?
• WWE really needs to think twice about how they handle their mid-upper card heel talents. At the Elimination Chamber we saw Alberto Del Rio and Christian come out and endorse John Laurinaitis? Where have they been since?
•Speaking of John Laurinaitis, it looks like Teddy Long will be running Raw next week and I think there has to be some changes to the show to validate why that’s important next week. Perhaps JR returns to commentary? At the same time we don’t want the Teddy-John feud overshadowing the top tier programs
•Top Programs...so far so good. The top three matches are all being handled as well as can be expected so I really don’t have any big needs for them other than to stay the course with what they are doing.
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