Monday Night Raw Review - September 5, 2011

After opening the show with the same logical promos each week, this drama between CM Punk, Kevin Nash and Triple H really seems to be cooling off big time. The overall segment did nothing for me, and the revealing of Nash as the texter was a horrendous conclusion to what used to be an intriguing storyline.

Pretty good tag team bout featuring the WWE Tag Team Champions Kofi Kingston and Evan Bourne defeating the team of The Great Khali and Jinder Mahal. I was impressed with Mahal here, and I'm glad he did the work for his team. I'm not sure where this tension where the two is going with Khali turning heel only a few months ago, but I'm certainly excited to see Air Boom finally bring some prestige back to the tag team division.

Although the #1 Contenders Match between Beth Phoenix and Eve was okay, the semi-botched Glam Slam was what ruined it. Even worse, the bickering duo of Divas Champion Kelly Kelly and Natalya took much away from the action. Hopefully it's in an attempt to hype an eventual Kelly vs. Natalya match somewhere down the line.

Despite R-Truth's stupid PG comedy, I'm loving the duo of The Miz and Truth, as they have excellent chemistry and will make great opponents for the tag titles. Truth's match with CM Punk was solid, and it's nice to see the Straightedge Superstar finally pick up a pin-fall victory. I'm not psyched to see Punk and Triple H competing in a No Holds Barred match this early in the feud, but I guess it might possibly improve pay-per-view buys.

Nice showing from Zack Ryder here, who received a mild reaction after an awesome hype video of all of his YouTube work. He seemed to be the main focus in this match, as the feud between Jerry Lawler and the team of Michael McGillicutty and David Otunga might as well end here. The latter two should really be sent back to FCW for further improvement and evaluation.

Personally, I felt the match between World Heavyweight Champion Randy Orton and Heath Slater was unnecessary and a complete waste of time. Sure, Orton got a huge reaction and added apparent star power to the show, but having two SmackDown stars wrestle on Raw didn't accomplish anything, especially when one of those men is Heath Slater.

The main event seemed a bit random to this viewer, but I guess the pre-packaged videos backstage helped build it to some extent. It was a very well-wrestled bout and entertaining match for the most part, but very predictable. I was shocked to see Morrison eliminated first and so quickly, where as the United States Champion Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger were the last two standing. John Cena living up to his Superman gimmick once again does not intrigue me, but his pummeling of WWE Champion Alberto Del Rio shortly afterwards gives me hope that Del Rio retains successfully at Night of Champions.

Overall, a lackluster show that ended any excitement that seemed to be going for the last few weeks. The mystery behind the text message has since been revealed, and Cena once again buries younger talent. With one week till Night of Champions, I hope WWE can put together a strong performance on next week's go-home show to sell people on buying the pay-per-view.