WrestleRant
  • Home
  • Columnist Corner
  • Reviews
  • Interviews
  • WRR
  • Audio
  • Videos
  • Photos
  • About
    • Contact

Columnist Corner

Monday Night Raw Review - November 4, 2013

11/4/2013

0 Comments

 
PictureCM Punk delivers a devastating knee to Luke Harper.
By Graham "GSM" Matthews

CM Punk def. Luke Harper

I went into this contest with high hopes, believing it would be a "Ring of Honor dream match" of sorts given their respective history in the organization. While it didn't live up to my lofty expectations, it was still a decent bout with Harper controlling most of the matchup. He looks to be the breakout star of the group (aside from Bray Wyatt), as his in-ring skills are improving and his facial expressions are priceless. Punk avenged the beating from last week and Harper was protected via the roll-up. Daniel Bryan coming to the aid of Punk was a cool moment and I hope to see the two team up come Survivor Series.


Ryback def. The Great Khali

This was about as good of a match as you would expect out of these two. By that I mean that it was relatively quick and painless. Despite picking up the victory, Ryback was dominated by Khali for most of the match, so he didn't exactly come out of it looking strong. His post-match attack on Santino Marella was a decent attempt at garnering heat from the live crowd, but I believe it is too little, too late for the Ryback character by this point.

PictureRandy Orton is taken to the limit by Big E Langston.
Alberto Del Rio def. Kofi Kingston

These two always work well together, and this match was no exception. It was competitive and given a substantial amount of time, but the crowd wasn't able to get into the action since the ending outcome was never in doubt. Dolph Ziggler is currently face, which means the person Kingston faces at least once a month will be Del Rio. Kingston hasn't mean much as of late, so it was hard to buy into him winning, but it was a good win for Del Rio for what it was worth. By the way, the only way Del Rio's "face of the Mexican people" schtick will make sense is if he feuds with Rey Mysterio when he returns, but that is pure speculation.


WWE Champion Randy Orton def. Big E Langston (Non-title)

I found it incredibly hard to believe that Langston beat both Dolph Ziggler and The Miz by a landslide in the poll, giving me as well as many other viewers the impression that the WWE App is indeed rigged. Nonetheless, this was a solid match with Langston have an impressive outing against Orton. Officials appear to be high on Langston and his tremendous upside, so I was surprised to see him take the clean pinfall loss here. However, he looked strong in defeat and the commentators mentioned how Orton hadn't seen the last of him. While Langston is gradually getting over with live crowds, giving him a gimmick (such as the five count one he had down in NXT) would help.


Tyson Kidd and Natalya def. Fandango and Summer Rae

After many months out of action with an injury, it was great to see Kidd back on television, but his return fell flat with this viewer. Could it have killed WWE to play Kidd's entrance music instead of Natalya's in an effort to make his comeback feel more like a big deal? Granted, the reaction might not have been much bigger, but it is the small things that matter. The match was pretty basis and I am glad Kidd and Natalya went over here. It was only logical for Kidd and Natalya to pair up on television with "Total Divas" returning soon, so at least Kidd is being given something to do for the time being.


World Heavyweight Champion John Cena and WWE Tag Team Champions Cody Rhodes and Goldust def. Damien Sandow and The Real Americans

Holding the rematch three days later on Raw made their initial encounter on SmackDown feel rather worthless, but it was a good enough match that I don't blame WWE for doing it again. It was given great time (more time than I originally expected considering this was on Raw) and the crowd was very much into the action. The final few minutes were fantastic and everyone was able to get involved and hit their signature spots. This was a high-paced, entertaining contest that the fans in attendance thoroughly enjoyed that proved to be even better than the bout on SmackDown. It was also nice to see the tag teams of The Rhodes Brothers and The Real Americans highlighted in a high profile matchup.


Dolph Ziggler def. Intercontinental Champion Curtis Axel (Non-title)

Both Ziggler and Axel are very polished in the ring and had a good match together, but it was hard for the live crowd to care since Axel has meant very little as of late. Let's face it: Intercontinental Champion or not, he will not receive any heat without Paul Heyman, who apparently won't be returning anytime soon. I like the feud of these two feuding with each other, but I have no desire to see Ziggler holding a midcard title at this point. I hate to see the midcard champion lose yet another match, but it was a lose-lose situation with Ziggler in desperate need of victories, too. The Intercontinental title picture is cluttered right now with Axel, Ziggler and Langston, so who gets the next title shot is beyond me.


The Usos def. 3MB

After what transpired on last week's edition of SmackDown, I fully expected to face The Shield in some form or fashion, but apparently not. Their match with 3MB was fine for what it was and was nothing more than a glorified squash match. If nothing else, it was good to see The Usos get more exposure on Raw (in winning fashion, no less) and to not see Los Matadores face 3MB for the millionth time.


The Bella Twins and Eva Marie def. Divas Champion AJ Lee, Tamina Snuka and Aksana

The in-ring action was exceptional at best, but far from terrible. The Bella Twins have improved immensely in the ring to the point where they can hold their own against their opponents, so thankfully they did most of the in-ring work for their team here. Eva Marie getting the win for her team was solely to promote "Total Divas", but could she have not pinned Aksana instead of the monster Tamina? At least AJ didn't take the loss for her team, which would have led me to believe that Eva was getting a Divas title shot, which would be a major mistake considering how green she still is.


Big Show def. WWE Champion Randy Orton and The Shield in a 4-on-1 Handicap Match by Disqualification

There is nothing worse in wrestling that I couldn't care less for than lawsuits, and I can't imagine a majority of the audience was too excited about it either. The video packages they aired throughout the show were pain-inducing and did nothing to make me excited to see Show get his job back. Hell, not even the live crowd seemed to care all that much during this segment, knowing that Show's "banishment" from WWE was a sham and lasted all of five days. Why even bother banishing him in the first place if they were just going to have him return the very next week? The Handicap match was painfully pointless as well, but at least it ended with Orton and company standing tall. I am not at all excited to see Show contending for the WWE Championship in the main event of a pay-per-view in 2013, but time will tell how well this program ends up doing. For the record, the sole highlight of this segment was seeing Kane in a suit. I can't remember the last time (if ever) we saw that sight, and although I like him better masked, this new corporate character is good evolution for him. Any chance he can go back to using "Slow Chemical" as his entrance music?


Overall Show

The WWE as a whole is still in a sad state at the moment, but they are gradually moving in the right direction, and this show helped with that. There were several solid matches and successful storyline progression for a handful of feuds. There was a minimal amount of filler with the only stupid segment being the main event. The ridiculousness of the angle involving Orton, HHH and Big Show unfortunately overshadows all the good things WWE is doing right now, especially since it is constantly being shoved down our throats. Nonetheless, this was an enjoyable episode of Raw and I didn't find the three hours to drag that much this week, although they didn't fly by, either.

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.


    Categories

    All
    #AskGSM
    Battle Of The Belts
    Cruiserweight Classic
    Halftime Heat
    Hidden Gems
    Lists/Rankings
    Mae Young Classic
    Mixed Match Challenge
    News
    NJPW
    NWA Shockwave
    Opinion
    Previews
    Retro Reviews
    Reviews
    RJ's Two Cents
    Satire
    SummerSlam Recall
    The Deadly Draw
    Tribute To The Troops
    Women's Eliminator
    Worlds Collide
    WrestleMania Recall
    WWE Draft
    WWE Starrcade


    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010

    RSS Feed

©2023 WrestleRant. All Rights Reserved.
  • Home
  • Columnist Corner
  • Reviews
  • Interviews
  • WRR
  • Audio
  • Videos
  • Photos
  • About
    • Contact