RAW Thoughts

Who's Playing Who? We May Never Know...
No pyro or intro again for RAW this week. Triple H is just saving some $$$ by having himself come out to start the show every week. HHH said it's his job to make sure this company succeeds. He said Smackdown stars will be joining RAW to create a RAW SuperShow. That's the good part. The bad part is that people also lie to him. HHH called Nash out to the ring and told him to be a man and tell him why he lied. Out came C.M. Punk instead. Punk credit his performance and told HHH to stop lying and admit he's in on everything. The old nWo music interrupted and Nash came out. Nash said he lied because he didn't finish what he had to do, taking out Punk.

Nash asked Punk what kind of man HHH was. HHH said he can't trust Nash anymore and asked him to leave. Nash said last week, while HHH was gone, John Laurinaitis signed him to a very lucrative contract. C.M. Punk mocked throwing up. Punk said congratulations the Kliq is back. That's the sound the viewers remote makes when Nash is on TV, and the sound Nash's knees make when he walks "click." Both asked for a match at Night Of Champions. Punk said to check with the Board of Directors, meaning his wife. Punk said he knew HHH didn't wear the pants in his family, but he does wear his wife's panties. HHH made the match, and said as far as Nash and Punk are concerned, he has 2 words for them. Good opening segment. Punk's involvement was short, but made it better than average. Survey Says: 4/5

Does Randy Hear Voices on Monday Too?
Randy Orton came out before the break. He was fighting Dolph Ziggler. Ziggler worked over Orton early after Orton missed a flying knee. Ziggler hit a nice dropkick. Orton went for his elevated DDT but Vickie climbed on the apron, distracting Orton and allowing Dolph to throw Orton over the top rope. Ziggler hit he ZigZag outside on Orton and Orton beat the count back into the ring at 9. Back from break Ziggler worked over Orton before Orton regained momentum. Orton hit a SuperPlex from the top rope for a near fall. Orton hit his signature moves all for near falls. Orton lined Dolph up for a punt to the head but Dolph countered with a superkick for a 2. Orton countered Dolph and hit the elevated DDT. Dolph countered an RKO attempt into a sleeper, but Orton countered into a face plant on the mat than an RKO for a victory. Fun match that made Dolph look good. Survey Says: 3.5/5

Funnel Cake Full of Farts? Really John?
John Cena came out to a surprisingly positive reaction. Cena said his reaction to Del Rio's attack last week was that he was going to kick Del Rio's teeth so far down his throat that his mouth would become his anus. Instead of Del Rio, Mark Henry came out. Henry said he came out to get some. So far he's taken out Kane, Big Show, and others. Soon he's going to join Henry's Hall of Pain. Christian interrupted. Christian said he's sick of Cena coming out whining every week. Cena made a couple lame jokes and said if they want some come get some. Sheamus came out. Cena thought it was to attack him but instead it was to aid him. Backstage Johnny Ace made a tag match for later: Christian/Henry vs Cena/Sheamus. HHH told Ace to remember that he was his boss. OK stuff. Survey Says: 3/5

Hey Oklahoma: Wake Up!
Up next was Punk/Miz. Miz said he was dropping pipe bombs long before Punk, and he was going to take action about that tonight. Miz was in control early. Other than Punk getting some kicks in it was all Miz early. Same thing going into commercial. It was weird to see Miz just dominate Punk pretty much the whole match. Back from break Punk finally got into the fight. He hit a running bulldog than his flying clothesline for a near fall. Punk hit the Macho Man Elbow then went for the GTS, but Truth interfered causing the DQ. Punk hit the GTS on Truth before Kevin Nash started walking to the ring. Miz jumped Punk from behind. Nash came in and hit the Jacknife Powerbomb. A weird match, especially because the crowd wasn't too into it, and seemed like they cheered Nash more than Punk. Survey Says: 3/5

Sin Cara? On Live TV? Uh oh...
Ten seconds in Sin Cara botched a hurricarana. He made up for it with a nice reverse moonsault off the ropes to the outside. Vickie came out to get a closer look. Dolph came out and distracted Jack Swagger. This allowed Sin Cara to regain control and hit a couple moonsaults for the win. OK stuff: Survey Says: 2/5

Hey Otunga: Can I Get Fires With That?
Tag Title rematch from last week was next. Lawler continued to rip on Otunga and McGillicutty. The Tag Champs, now called Air Boom, made some quick work of Otunga and McGillicutty. After the match Otunga and McGillicutty confronted Lawler. Otunga ripped off his headset and threw it at Lawler. Just ok. Don't really care too much about a Lawler vs Otunga/McGillicutty storyline. Survey Says: 2/5

Can We Get the Divs That Can Actually Wrestle Please?
Brie Bella took on Kelly Kelly. Eve pushed Kelly out of the way of a baseball slide, allowing the Bellas to pull some twin magic to pick up the win. Ugh. More Beth and Natalya please. Survey Says: 1/5

Where's My WWE Champion???
Tag Main event to close the show. Hnery and Christian worked over an already hurt Sheamus early on. Sheamus eventually tagged in Cena who worked over Christian and hit his normal offense routine. Sheamus and Henry went to the outside. Christian hit the spear for a two count. Christian went for the Killswitch. But Cena countered and threw Christian into a Sheamus Brogue Kick, then Cena hit the AA for the win. OK tag Main event. Kind of short. Plus no Del Rio? Survey Says: 3/5

Backstage HHH was shown watching the show. Punk came in. HHH said he called the Board of Directors, and Punk's match with Nash is off. Instead, he's facing Hunter now. Interesting...

OVERALL
Touching on the wrestling on the show first: It was good. Orton/Ziggler was a great TV match. Ziggler is an outstanding worker and should be a main eventer sometime down the line. Miz/Punk was ok as well as the tag match. I don't know why the crowd wasn't into Miz/Punk more than they were. The tag match main event should have went a bit longer. They could have eliminated the Divas stuff. It was pointless and didn't advance the Beth/Natalya storyline.

Now, storyline wise this was also good. Although there was no Del Rio, it was apparently because he was getting his work visa renewed in Mexico. But as far as HHH/Punk goes, just wow. Apparently Nash didn't do too well on his physicals and that caused the WWE to back out of the match at Night of Champions. I still wouldn't have made this match right away IMO. I would have saved HHH/Punk for Survivor Series, a show that's lacked a big time match recently. I might have just thrown Punk into the WWE Title Match for now. Of course, the selfish part of me is PUMPED to see HHH/Punk live at NOC. Good show, some questions remain. I'm giving the show a 7.

Another entertaining RAW. I might do a recap of the live Smackdown when I get home from work tonight. Depends on how I feel.

And remember kids, Pinstripes are not back in style. Nash just hasn't changed his shirt since 1996.

Until next time,
Justin C
Follow me on Twitter @JCWonka