BRM Reviews the 8/13/2012 Raw

[Big Red Machine]

CM PUNK vs. THE BIG SHOW- no rating. Eh segment. This wouldn’t have been so bad if this wasn’t the same we thing we used to get every week on Smackdown. At least they did a good job with Dragon’s motivation for running in, and the stuff with Punk and Cena was good. I really wasn’t sure if Punk was going to jump Cena or not.

BACKSTAGE SEGMENT WITH AJ, KAITLYN, & THIS GUY I DON’T RECOGNIZE- decent

RYBACK vs. THAT GUY WHO IS APPARENTLY JTG- squash.

Cesaro vs. Santino for the US Title will be on the pre-show? Really?

HBK & PIPER BACKSTAGE- Triple H has to be here tonight to sing a big contract and isn’t using a WWE private jet? Bad planning, Hunter.

HEATH SLATER vs. R-TRUTH- DUD!
You have a three hour show. You can’t give Heath Slater six minutes to not look like a total jobber?

PRIME TIME PLAYERS ATTACK R-TRUTH- good

SIN CARA vs. TENSAI (w/Sakamoto)- DUD!
This was great while it lasted, but I am giving it a dud for Tesnai, who is a supposed to be a big monster, who went ten minutes with Cena earlier this year… losing by pinfall in one minute.

PIPER’S PIT WITH CHRIS JERICHO- Aside from the Piper parts, this was great. Piper himself seemed very out of it. Bringing up Jericho’s father was entirely irrelevant (and unfortunately, Ted Irvine never won “the big one”). I’m really not sure why Miz was out here or what he had to do with anything.

CHRIS JERICHO vs. THE MIZ vs. DOLPH ZIGGLER (w/Vickie Guerrero)- 7/10
Great storytelling.

CM PUNK & EVE TORRES BACKSTAGE- good segment.

CENA & PUNK BACKSTAGE- good

WADE BARRETT VIDEO PACKAGE- awesome again!

LAYLA EL & KAITLYN vs. EVE TORRES & BETH PHOENIX- 3.5/10
Apparently Beth is a heel now.

DANIEL BRYAN & THE BIG SHOW vs. CM PUNK & JOHN CENA- 6.75/10
Not good enough for a main event, but I’ll give it a pass for great storytelling. The interactions between the two sets of tag team partners were great. I wasn’t a fan of Punk walking off, though. The aftermath was okay. If I was booking it, I would have had Dragon roll Cena up for the win, so Dragon can keep claiming that he belongs in the main event, and thus get angrier that he isn’t being put in the main event.

CM PUNK PROMO- didn’t like it. Punk is allowed to be a jackass, but Cena isn’t. I did enjoy the ROH reference, though.

DAMIEN SANDOW vs. CHRISTIAN- HOLY BALLS! Sandow beat Christian in three minutes.
I’m pretty sure that the last match had been hyped up as the main event. How is it the main event if this match is going on after it?

BROCK LESNAR-TRIPLE H CONTRACT SIGNING- Heyman’s promo was fantastic. The rest of the segment was eh.

HUNTER & SHAWN BACKSTAGE- eh.

BIG SHOW PROMO- dece-WHOA! Brock & Heyman trap and assault HBK.

ENDING OF THE SHOW- I’m eh on it. It just felt kind of excessive after everything else. I think it would have been better to end the show about thirty seconds after the camera got knocked out.

Overall, a decent episode of Raw.

STUPID ANNOUNCER QUOTES:
1. Jerry Lawler (to Cole) “I suppose you thought it was okay for Vickie to slap Jericho last week.”
Really, Lawler? Really? You lost all right to call anyone out on this sort of thing last week WHEN YOU SAID IT WAS OKAY FOR SHEAMUS TO STEAL A CAR!

[Rabid619]

LAYLA EL & KAITLYN vs. EVE TORRES & BETH PHOENIX- 3.5/10
Apparently Beth is a heel now.

She's been a heel for a few months now....

[cero2k]

PRIME TIME PLAYERS ATTACK R-TRUTH- good

i thought that the absence of AW should have been addressed, not by saying he got fired or anything. but take the momentum and say they're on their own from now on, there's no more waiting for title shots, they're gonna take what belongs to them.