 By Graham "GSM" Matthews
Sin Cara def. Jinder Mahal I still don't understand that for all the trouble you hear Sin Cara is backstage why they bother keeping him around. It's not like he's making them any money or is of any real value to them. The character has been damaged goods for years. Anyway, this was a relatively decent match, but I couldn't care less about either one of these guys right now, so I didn't have too much of an interest in the match. Bo Dallas def. Curtis Axel Of course, I was already aware of this, but hearing the commentators acknowledge that both of these guys are second-generation stars blew my mind. And yet they're considered jokes for how badly they've been utilized in recent years. I thought this was a better wrestled bout than Cara vs. Mahal and told a superior story simply because of the history they have together, but the fans sat on their hands throughout. And can you blame them? Axel is hardly a babyface and Dallas' renewed push flopped miserably.
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 By Graham "GSM" Matthews
Triple H and Jeff Hardy def. Umaga and Snitsky This was a great follow-up to the events from the week prior by having HHH and Hardy join forces to take on the duo of Umaga and Snitsky. Not only did I appreciate the storyline consistency, but it is always refreshing to kick off Raw with a match as opposed to a talking segment. It was actually a pretty good match, too, with HHH and Hardy having good chemistry as partners, and I liked that this led to them facing off one-on-one at Armageddon a few weeks later. Mr. McMahon Confronted Ric Flair The best part about this segment and how they teased Flair might be retiring was Flair had legitimately met with McMahon months earlier and when the meeting didn't go well, there were rumblings Flair was on his way out of WWE. Thus, fans believed he was going to hang up the boots for good here in his native North Carolina, only to say he never planned on retiring. McMahon received mega heat for saying that the next match he lost would be his last, which was a cool, unprecedented story when you think about it. It also set up the main event match between Flair and Randy Orton nicely.  By Graham "GSM" Matthews
World Tag Team Champion Jeff Hardy Brawled with The DCC While "Broken" Matt Hardy is recovering from amnesia, I'm glad Jeff has something worthwhile to do in the form of a feud with The DCC. Jeff has never been the best talker, but this was a straightforward promo with him calling out The DCC and narrowly escaping an attack at the hands of the group, building intrigue for the night's main event with which member of The DCC Jeff would face. X-Division Champion DJ Z, Mandrews & Braxton Sutter def. Trevor Lee, Andrew Everett & Marshe Rockett and Rockstar Spud & Decay in a Triple Threat Elimination Team X Gold Match The rules of this match were that every individual from each team had to be eliminated, not just one member. Thus, although there were a few sweet spots mixed in, most of the eliminations were completely forgettable because they happened so quickly. Not to mention Abyss looked like an idiot for blatantly getting himself disqualified in plain view of the referee. The only real intriguing aspect of the match was how DJ Z promised whoever survived from his team a future title shot, so him vs. Sutter should be happening at some point.  By Graham "GSM" Matthews
Mr. McMahon Endorsed Raw General Manager William Regal; WWE Champion Triple H and Mr. Kennedy Interrupted Regal McMahon appearing at the start of the show to endorse Regal was a nice touch that explained why he wouldn't have take action against him for abruptly ending the show the week prior, plus it was in line with McMahon's heel character. That said, McMahon in small doses is always good and this was a smart use of him. The subsequent interaction between Regal, Triple H and Kennedy was well done and successfully set up the night's Handicap main event while also promoting ECW's "grand" 100th episode for the next night. Women's Champion Mickie James def. Beth Phoenix in a Lumberjill Match I'm never a fan of Lumberjack-style matches, especially with the women, because the Superstars surrounding the ring always take away from the action. However, that strangely wasn't the case in this match as the Divas weren't much of a distraction and James and Phoenix were able to contest an even better match than they did a few weeks earlier. Tension was also teased between Phoenix and Melina when Melina accidentally cost The Glamazon the match.  Ember Moon scores the victory for her team. By Graham "GSM" Matthews
Rich Swann vs. Kona Reeves Ended in a No Contest It isn't every day that a jobber receives entrance music, so perhaps there's a chance Reeves is signed to a contract. After all, he has competed on NXT before as Noah Potjes and he showed some good charisma here. Of course, not as much as Swann. Unless you watched the Cruiserweight Classic, the average viewer doesn't know much about Swann, yet he's still fairly over with the audience because he's likable, is excellent in the ring and has sweet dance moves. I certainly did not SAnitY coming out to put an abrupt end to the matchup, which was a nice transition into what happened next. SAnitY Attacked No Way Jose Selfishly, I was hoping Jose's extremely addictive entrance music would hit when he came to Swann's aid, but no such luck. I guess I'll have to wait a week with Jose facing Eric Young on next week's episode. This was a pretty basic ambush from the heels that effectively build toward that bout, and I was surprised Jose was cheered over Young considering Young is a Canada native (I say that as a good thing). |
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