Monday Night Raw SuperShow Review - April 30, 2012

Brock Lesnar locks in the Kimura on Triple H.

Strong segment to kick off the show with Brock Lesnar brutally attacking Triple H. It seemed like they completely forgot about Lesnar's loss to Cena other than the opening video package, which would be the best move to keep his momentum going. He and the Game have yet to clash, so I'm mildly excited for this dream feud to come to fruition. Also, I loved seeing Lesnar's Kimura lock get major focus here.

Fun match between The Miz and Santino Marella that seemed much more enjoyable than their bout the night before at Extreme Rules. The Miz feels like an afterthought at the moment, so it was a much-needed victory for him after being left off the program over the last month. Wouldn't this mean that Miz deserves another shot at the title?

Brief match that saw newly crowned Divas Champion Layla successfully defend her title against the Bellas in an 11-second Triple Threat match. I though it would be used to create tension between the Bellas, but apparently not. This didn't really accomplish anything, but I'm somewhat glad they used logic and gave the Bellas their rematch clause for the championship before they left the company.

Decent match between Chris Jericho and Big Show apart of the Beat the Clock Challenge. After weeks of build-up, Jericho received little to no emphasis on this show. Even worse, there was no mention that these two were former tag team champions together, which most fans would remember if there was acknowledgement. I'm not sure if Jericho was supposed to beat the clock or not with the count-out victory, but it was not well established.

Typical squash match with Brodus Clay destroying JTG. This is much of the same from Clay that we were seeing a weekly basis before WrestleMania, so I wish they'd capitalize on his victory he scored over Ziggler at Extreme Rules. If nothing else, I'm relieved to see he's Hornswoggle as his sidekick, who was not helping him get over whatsoever.

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WWE Champion CM Punk confronts Daniel Bryan.

Predictable match between Randy Orton and Jack Swagger, but contained pretty good action. These two have suitable chemistry and it shows every time they have a bout together. Swagger has been irrelevant forever, so Orton beating the clock was no real surprise. Having him beat the time in the last two seconds seemed more of a flashback moment when he did the same thing to Dolph Ziggler last December.

Good match with R-Truth and Kofi Kingston capturing the WWE Tag Team Championships from Primo and Epico. I'm confused as to how Kingston and Truth earned a shot at the titles since it was Santino Marella and Zack Ryder who beat the tag champs last week, though. Primo and Epico have been buried over the last few weeks, so it came as no surprise that they'd give the straps to Kingston and Truth for Darren Young and Titus O'Neil to chase. I don't necessarily care for the team of Kingston and Truth, so this moment was easily forgotten by the end of the night.

Throwaway match between The Great Khali and Kane that served no purpose. It was obvious neither man would be beating the clock, so the four minutes of garbage we got was horrendous and meaningless. There's four minutes of my time I'll never get back.

Effective match between Daniel Bryan and Jerry Lawler that saw Bryan beat the clock and become the #1 Contender to the WWE Championship. Lawler sold the offense well, and Bryan was able to pick up a nice clean victory. Having CM Punk stare down the American Dragon moments later was awesome, and has me highly anticipating their pending WWE title match at Over the Limit. On a side note, Zack Ryder would have been a better choice to put against Bryan here, who was absent from this show.

Solid segment to close the show featuring John Laurinaitis and John Cena. I enjoyed the surprise that we'll be seeing Lauriniaits challenge Cena at Over the Limit instead of the stale Lord Tensai, even if Laurinaitis shouldn't be main eventing a pay-per-view. He doesn't have any real rivalry with Cena other than that brief confrontation at Money in the Bank last year, so hopefully they can build upon that and help make it relevant. Tensai was able to get in a few shots here and there and looked like a complete monster in the process.

Overall, a decent show that felt a bit disappointing following the hot Extreme Rules pay-per-view the night previous. My real issue with the Beat the Clock Challenge matches is that it shortens bouts throughout the show, which is never a good thing. However, the opening and ending segments helped made this show somewhat entertaining despite feeling random at times.

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