WWE Raw Report
Date: 06/28/10 from Philadelphia, PA.
The Big News: The NXT group, Nexus, was without its leader but went after a group of wrestling greats.
Show Analysis:
The show started for the second straight week with Sheamus teasing a face turn and then laughing about it. This time he said he was disgusted by the attack on Vince McMahon and had a statement, but then he just said the champ is here and smiled. He said he would have defeated John Cena last week even without Nexus’ interference. He added that Cena is no longer the number one contender because he used his rematch clause and he’s done with Cena.
John Cena came to the ring and asked Sheamus for help. He said that Nexus will be after Sheamus next and suggested they band together to call out Nexus. Michael Cole then got an e-mail from the mystery GM. They have this goofy podium with a computer on it. It feels so contrived and hopefully they dump this gimmick quickly. The GM promised a ruling on Nexus next week and said that this week if the Nexus guys make contact with the WWE wrestlers they will be terminated and if the WWE wrestlers initiate contact with them the WWE wrestlers will be suspended.
John Cena responded by telling some stupid jokes and suggested a title rematch between himself and Sheamus. The GM quickly sent another e-mail. The GM made Sheamus vs. Mark Henry. Cena obnoxiously had a sarcastic fit about the internet. Cena’s reactions to all this made the whole thing a giant joke. Cena then told more idiotic jokes. The GM had a cage lowered and announced Money in the Bank will have Cena vs. Sheamus for the title in a cage.
The Hart Dynasty was going to have a match but the Usos attacked them before the match could get started. Tamina hit a top rope splash on Natalya. Backstage, R. Truth said that firing Nexus would be too easy. He suggested they be kept around so they can be taken care of. He called himself the zoo keeper. Does that mean he cleans up after the elephants?
Vladimir Kozlov beat Santino Marella. The stipulation was that if Santino won, Kozlov would become his partner. They did some comedy spots. Kozlov hit head butts and a belly to belly for two. He then hit a choke slam for the pin. William Regal came out and congratulated Kozlov. He then attacked Santino but Kozlov made the save. Kozlov helped Santino up and carried him to the back. This angle is weird but amusing.
Great Khali was interviewed backstage. He said something. Ranjin Singh translated that Khali said he is a big stupid giant, his manager is tired of protecting him, and if the Nexus group came after him he would run. I have my doubts about the veracity of that translation. Apparently Khali and Ranjin are doing a bizarro Anderson Silva and Ed Soares gimmick.
Rob Zombie was guest host and they did nothing with him. He announced the Raw Money in the Bank participants as Randy Orton, Miz, R. Truth, Chris Jericho, Evan Bourne, Ted DiBiase, John Morrison and Edge. He expressed dislike for Edge so Edge immediately appeared on the screen. They bickered about whether Edge dumped Rob Zombie’s entrance song or Rob Zombie dumped him.
Zombie left and that was it. Edge had a video ready about his MITB success for his impromptu reaction to Zombie not liking him. Edge said he will show how twisted he can be. The GM then announced the 8 MITB guys in an 8 man tag main event. They kept referring to this as a “mega match” over and over and over again.
Sheamus beat Mark Henry. Sheamus worked over Henry with kicks. Henry retaliated with a clothesline, head butt and splash. Henry covered but Sheamus got his foot on the bottom rope. They went to the outside and Henry pressed Sheamus back into the ring but was caught with the bicycle kick for the pin.
Nexus was backstage minus Wade Barrett, who apparently has visa problems. Nexus is now starting to resemble NWA if Eazy, Cube and Dre all left. They’ve pushed the angle so strong they of course should keep it going, but these six guys in a main event angle are among the ten worst on the entire Raw roster. Skip Sheffield attacked a production assistant.
Next up was a very well executed angle. It started with Jerry Lawler plugging the Ricky Steamboat DVD. Steamboat came to the ring and was joined by Arn Anderson, Mike Rotunda, Michael Hayes and Dean Malenko. I guess they just wanted to use the guys they had but that’s a strange group to honor Steamboat’s career. They basically acknowledged that none of them really had anything to do with him except Arn. They put over Steamboat and told jokes. Anderson said he has never seen or been in the ring with anyone better than Steamboat. That was a very cool little tribute for Steamboat.
The NXT guys then came out. They circled the ring and had a really well laid out fight. Basically, the legends tried to keep Nexus from getting in the ring so Nexus picked them off one-by-one until there weren’t enough left to defend. The legends fought off Nexus for a while. They then got Arn, pulled him out of the ring, and beat him up. They caught Malenko next and took him out. They then went after Rotunda and assaulted him outside the ring. That left only Lawler, Hayes and Steamboat. Nexus finally came into the ring and took out Steamboat’s final backup. That led to them destroying Steamboat six on one. I really liked this segment from beginning to end.
Maryse and Alicia Fox beat Eve Torres and Gail Kim. The heels worked over Eve. She tagged Gail. Gail hit a dropkick on Alicia but was distracted by Maryse and Alicia hit the ax kick for the pin.
R. Truth, Evan Bourne, John Morrison and Randy Orton beat Edge, Miz, Ted DiBiase and Chris Jericho. Bourne had a little success early but the heels took over on him. He eventually got the tag to Morrison, who hit a springboard kick on Miz and a corkscrew pescado on Miz and DiBiase. The heels gained the advantage on Morrison for a while but Edge missed a spear and Morrison gave him an enzuigiri.
Morrison tagged Bourne, who came in with kicks on Jericho. Bourne missed the shooting star but landed on his feet. DiBiase and Orton tagged in and Orton immediately hit the RKO on DiBiase and pinned him. The nature of the finish made DiBiase look bad. Afterwards there was a big brawl. Miz went to climb the ladder to get the worthless briefcase but was pushed off. Orton then climbed and got it. Why would you climb a ladder for a briefcase that means nothing when there are seven guys around who might push you off? Oh well. The match itself was good.
Final Thoughts:
This show was pretty good, carried by a great segment with Nexus and the legends and a good main event.
The Big News: The NXT group, Nexus, was without its leader but went after a group of wrestling greats.
Show Analysis:
The show started for the second straight week with Sheamus teasing a face turn and then laughing about it. This time he said he was disgusted by the attack on Vince McMahon and had a statement, but then he just said the champ is here and smiled. He said he would have defeated John Cena last week even without Nexus’ interference. He added that Cena is no longer the number one contender because he used his rematch clause and he’s done with Cena.
John Cena came to the ring and asked Sheamus for help. He said that Nexus will be after Sheamus next and suggested they band together to call out Nexus. Michael Cole then got an e-mail from the mystery GM. They have this goofy podium with a computer on it. It feels so contrived and hopefully they dump this gimmick quickly. The GM promised a ruling on Nexus next week and said that this week if the Nexus guys make contact with the WWE wrestlers they will be terminated and if the WWE wrestlers initiate contact with them the WWE wrestlers will be suspended.
John Cena responded by telling some stupid jokes and suggested a title rematch between himself and Sheamus. The GM quickly sent another e-mail. The GM made Sheamus vs. Mark Henry. Cena obnoxiously had a sarcastic fit about the internet. Cena’s reactions to all this made the whole thing a giant joke. Cena then told more idiotic jokes. The GM had a cage lowered and announced Money in the Bank will have Cena vs. Sheamus for the title in a cage.
The Hart Dynasty was going to have a match but the Usos attacked them before the match could get started. Tamina hit a top rope splash on Natalya. Backstage, R. Truth said that firing Nexus would be too easy. He suggested they be kept around so they can be taken care of. He called himself the zoo keeper. Does that mean he cleans up after the elephants?
Vladimir Kozlov beat Santino Marella. The stipulation was that if Santino won, Kozlov would become his partner. They did some comedy spots. Kozlov hit head butts and a belly to belly for two. He then hit a choke slam for the pin. William Regal came out and congratulated Kozlov. He then attacked Santino but Kozlov made the save. Kozlov helped Santino up and carried him to the back. This angle is weird but amusing.
Great Khali was interviewed backstage. He said something. Ranjin Singh translated that Khali said he is a big stupid giant, his manager is tired of protecting him, and if the Nexus group came after him he would run. I have my doubts about the veracity of that translation. Apparently Khali and Ranjin are doing a bizarro Anderson Silva and Ed Soares gimmick.
Rob Zombie was guest host and they did nothing with him. He announced the Raw Money in the Bank participants as Randy Orton, Miz, R. Truth, Chris Jericho, Evan Bourne, Ted DiBiase, John Morrison and Edge. He expressed dislike for Edge so Edge immediately appeared on the screen. They bickered about whether Edge dumped Rob Zombie’s entrance song or Rob Zombie dumped him.
Zombie left and that was it. Edge had a video ready about his MITB success for his impromptu reaction to Zombie not liking him. Edge said he will show how twisted he can be. The GM then announced the 8 MITB guys in an 8 man tag main event. They kept referring to this as a “mega match” over and over and over again.
Sheamus beat Mark Henry. Sheamus worked over Henry with kicks. Henry retaliated with a clothesline, head butt and splash. Henry covered but Sheamus got his foot on the bottom rope. They went to the outside and Henry pressed Sheamus back into the ring but was caught with the bicycle kick for the pin.
Nexus was backstage minus Wade Barrett, who apparently has visa problems. Nexus is now starting to resemble NWA if Eazy, Cube and Dre all left. They’ve pushed the angle so strong they of course should keep it going, but these six guys in a main event angle are among the ten worst on the entire Raw roster. Skip Sheffield attacked a production assistant.
Next up was a very well executed angle. It started with Jerry Lawler plugging the Ricky Steamboat DVD. Steamboat came to the ring and was joined by Arn Anderson, Mike Rotunda, Michael Hayes and Dean Malenko. I guess they just wanted to use the guys they had but that’s a strange group to honor Steamboat’s career. They basically acknowledged that none of them really had anything to do with him except Arn. They put over Steamboat and told jokes. Anderson said he has never seen or been in the ring with anyone better than Steamboat. That was a very cool little tribute for Steamboat.
The NXT guys then came out. They circled the ring and had a really well laid out fight. Basically, the legends tried to keep Nexus from getting in the ring so Nexus picked them off one-by-one until there weren’t enough left to defend. The legends fought off Nexus for a while. They then got Arn, pulled him out of the ring, and beat him up. They caught Malenko next and took him out. They then went after Rotunda and assaulted him outside the ring. That left only Lawler, Hayes and Steamboat. Nexus finally came into the ring and took out Steamboat’s final backup. That led to them destroying Steamboat six on one. I really liked this segment from beginning to end.
Maryse and Alicia Fox beat Eve Torres and Gail Kim. The heels worked over Eve. She tagged Gail. Gail hit a dropkick on Alicia but was distracted by Maryse and Alicia hit the ax kick for the pin.
R. Truth, Evan Bourne, John Morrison and Randy Orton beat Edge, Miz, Ted DiBiase and Chris Jericho. Bourne had a little success early but the heels took over on him. He eventually got the tag to Morrison, who hit a springboard kick on Miz and a corkscrew pescado on Miz and DiBiase. The heels gained the advantage on Morrison for a while but Edge missed a spear and Morrison gave him an enzuigiri.
Morrison tagged Bourne, who came in with kicks on Jericho. Bourne missed the shooting star but landed on his feet. DiBiase and Orton tagged in and Orton immediately hit the RKO on DiBiase and pinned him. The nature of the finish made DiBiase look bad. Afterwards there was a big brawl. Miz went to climb the ladder to get the worthless briefcase but was pushed off. Orton then climbed and got it. Why would you climb a ladder for a briefcase that means nothing when there are seven guys around who might push you off? Oh well. The match itself was good.
Final Thoughts:
This show was pretty good, carried by a great segment with Nexus and the legends and a good main event.
posted by Todd Martin at 10:02 PM
7 Comments:
I didn't think they would make Michael Cole the General Manager but that's no longer how I feel after this show. He read the emails as if he was trying to get his own agendas across as opposed to simply reading an email.
Also, John Cena was god damn awful. It's like his character knew all along he was getting a title shot so he was being completely insincere, which of course makes no sense since he had no reason to believe he was getting a title shot.
Maybe Cena is the general manager.
That would be quite the surprise.
The GM, whom I'll refer to from this point forward as "John Doe", made sure Nexus made their impact, which suggests that maybe he's on their side. Unfortunately, we've seen scenarios like this before when someone is destroyed and no one can help. It's wrong.
Vince needs to send Gewirtz and the rest of the writers to a creative writing class so they can come up with fresh ideas, and I do mean fresh.
I think we're all tired discussing Cena's promos on a weekly basis. It ain't his fault if he ain't writing them himself. I still think he needs to go back to the rapping.
Speaking of rapping, R-Truth didn't do his live for a change. What's up with that?
Women's tag was meh, but it seems as though they could tease a split between Maryse & Alicia.
Vlad brings out the best in Santino, so maybe a tag team run would work for them after all, since it would cut back on the comedy. Santino's comic relief act is all played out anyway.
I don't see Edge winning at Money in the Bank. They need someone new taking the briefcase, which brings it down to Bourne or DiBiase. Miz? Fuhgeddaboutit!!! While I'd prefer to see Morrison or Bourne or Truth win it, I think it'll be DiBiase.
Jerry Lawler is listed as a superstar on the wwe website soooooo...
Lawler may be a superstar according to the website, but he doesn't wrestle often enough on Raw. They needed to have it 6-on-6, and because Smackdown had a house show last night, that would explain away Tony Garea, the only other guy that would've otherwise been available, not being there.
Just want to know Todd, did you get the Steamboat DVD? Is it any good? Is there kayfabe, which I hate?
I ordered the Steamboat DVD but likely won't have a chance to watch it for a little while. I haven't even checked out the match listing to be honest but I can't imagine it won't be really good.
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