Monday Night Raw SuperShow Review - September 12, 2011

Stale opening segment to kick off the show. John Cena continues to bury WWE Champion Alberto Del Rio, and neither characters are interesting enough to this viewer anymore. Bret Hart added a nice hometown feel to the promo, but it couldn't save the dying program.

Lackluster tag team match pitting Alex Riley and John Morrison against the falling out team of Jack Swagger and United States Champion Dolph Ziggler.  It's hard to believe Morrison has been reduced to this. The contest was too short and the green Riley didn't make it that great either. Hopefully, we see a new champion this Sunday and move away from the tension between Ziggler and Swagger.

In what eventual got my vote for Match of the Night, familiar foes The Miz and Kofi Kingston had a very fun contest. They were given great time, which shows they serious about rebuilding the tag team division. With Miz's victory, I see Air Boom successfully retaining their titles at Night of Champions, but hopefully the feud doesn't end there.

What is the whole point of Jerry Lawler feuding with the likes of Michael McGillicutty and David Otunga? If a Raw commentator keeps stacking up wins against younger talent, it serves no purpose on the flagship show. The latter team really needs to be demoted back down to FCW, but Sheamus looked great in this bout in other news.

John Cena teaming with Bret Hart only to decimate the team of Alberto Del Rio and Ricardo Rodriguez was beyond predictable and pointless. We all knew Hart wouldn't be tagged in until the end, and WWE continues to book Del Rio as a coward heel for running away from Cena after all the weeks of Del Rio being that one strong heel in the company. The bout does not get me excited for their upcoming WWE Title match whatsoever.

Terrible Divas match, but I expected nothing more from the start. It baffles me as to why Vickie was chosen to wrestle the Divas Champion for no apparent reason. It's sad that they've run out of credible Divas to wrestle on Raw, so they have to pick on a manager. With Kelly Kelly getting the upper hand over Phoenix following the contest, I fully expect the Glamazon to walk away with the gold on Sunday.

Another solid Champion vs. Champion match with Randy Orton and Cody Rhodes, but the crowd just wasn't in to it. I'm glad this week they actually used to SmackDown match to promote the World Heavyweight Championship match this Sunday, and I was surprised and pleased to see Rhodes pick up the upset victory. Mark Henry continues to impress. By the way, is this the end of Rhodes wearing the face mask?

Strong final promo from Triple H and CM Punk to close the show. It amazes me how they keep the feud intriguing with the new material in all their promos, and are able to give both casual and internet fans on their seats. Personally, I thought breaking the fourth wall at the end was a very nice touch, and cutting off the mics raises suspense. They succeeded in putting their Night of Champions Match over big time, as well as leaving numerous fans wanting to purchase Sunday's pay-per-view.

Overall, the show lacked heavily with the in-ring action, but made up for it with the impressive hype for Night of Champions. A new match was added, SmackDown was promoted, and Raw's biggest feud with CM Punk and Triple H has people highly anticipating Sunday's show.