BRM Reviews the 4/2/2012 Raw (AWESOME!)

[Big Red Machine]

OPENING SEGMENT- I liked it a lot. They are clearly going for a McMahon-Austin type vibe with Punk and Johnny Ace here.

THE ROCK PROMO- awesome
WHOA! Did a Rock promo just get interrupted by “YES! YES! YES!” chants? I don’t think that anyone can dispute that Daniel Bryan is over.

TRIPLE THREAT MATCH FOR THE WWE UNITED STATES TITLE: Santino Marella(c) vs. Dolph Ziggler (w/Vickie Guerrero) vs. Jack Swagger (also w/Vickie Guerrero)- 4.75/10.

AFTERMATH- “FUNKASAURUS!” *clap!*clap!* *clap!*clap!*clap!*

LORD TENSAI (w/Sakamoto) vs. ALEX RILEY- Great squash, but I thought that the ref stoppage was awkward, the way they did it.
The reveal was great! Albert is a pretty unique looking guy, but they way this did this was perfect. Add in a bunch of tattoos, and take a away the distinguishing back hair, and then you have yourselves a surprise. He got a nice pop when he took the mask off. My one gripe here that they used Alex Riley, rather than a jobber. If you are going to do a squash match, use an actual jobber.

WWE TITLE MATCH: CM Punk(c) vs. Mark Henry- 8/10
Absolutely awesome match, but with a disappointing finish.

JOHNNY ACE PROMO- GREAT!

CHRIS JERICHO PROMO & BEATDOWN OF PUNK- HOLY SH*T. THIS WAS AMAZING!

SHEAMUS & DEL RIO SEGMENT- pretty good.

JOSH MATTHEWS INTERVIEWS DANIEL BRYAN- I like it. Dragon’s silence mirrors Big Show’s after Dragon cashed in MITB on him.

CODY RHODES vs. KOFI KINGSTON- no rating. Good segment. I normally hate this sort of thing, but this just worked for me.

EVE TORRES PROMO- okay

THE MIZ vs. ZACK RYDER- 3.25/10.
Short, but I understand why they did it.

During this match, Lawler told us that John Cena had just arrived at the arena. I actually loved this little comment. It is the exception to the rule. Tonight has been build around “what state of mind is John Cena in after losing a match that he said that he absolutely had to win?” Having John Cena- the guy who is always there, and loves to be there- show up way late for a show is a great way to add to this.

JOHN CENA PROMO- GREAT! If I were booking a Cena heel turn, this is how I would start it. I would have The Rock come out and snub Cena and then build the turn on the fact that the fans popped for it. Speaking of Rocky, why isn’t he out here ye-HOLY SH*T!
Am I the only one who didn’t know that Brock had signed a contract?

Needless to say, that was an awesome way to end the show. I got a major Rock-Goldberg vibe from it. My one gripe is that Cena just seemed to die on Brock’s shoulders. He should have been struggling to avoid the F-5.

There were “DANIEL BRYAN” and “YES! YES! YES!” chants all night long. Hopefully WWE realizes what a mistake they made by booking Dragon vs. Sheamus the way they did.

Overall, this episode of raw was AMAZING! One of the best televised wrestling shows I have seen in a long time.

[cero2k]

My one gripe here that they used Ales Riley, rather than a jobber. If you are going to do a squash match, use an actual jobber.

maybe that's what he is now, a jobber

[Big Red Machine]

My one gripe here that they used Ales Riley, rather than a jobber. If you are going to do a squash match, use an actual jobber.

maybe that's what he is now, a jobber

It's not. WWE used Primo and Epico the same way a few weeks ago against the Big Show.

[e-moose]

I hope I'm witnessing the resumption of Punk's "rebellious teenager" character. It seemed as though this was somewhat abandoned after the fued with Vince and HHH ended. This role is what made Punk a huge star. This week on RAW the rebellious teenager gives the whole world the finger and the whole world beats him down. Classic storytelling. Let's see what happens next week.

[badnewzxl]

I had heard rumors on saturday that Brock had signed a one year deal with WWE.

[Big Red Machine]

I hope I'm witnessing the resumption of Punk's "rebellious teenager" character. It seemed as though this was somewhat abandoned after the fued with Vince and HHH ended. This role is what made Punk a huge star. This week on RAW the rebellious teenager gives the whole world the finger and the whole world beats him down. Classic storytelling. Let's see what happens next week.

I think it will be. They are looking for Austin-McMahon all over again. Punk can tell his boss that he thinks he is an idiot, and we all get to live vicariously through Punk.

[yourcrapsweak]

When I watched Raw last night, I got the SAME exact vibe as you BRM about the McMahon-Austin thing. I'm stunned it's taken me this long to see the parallelism.

[Shogun Rua]

Lesnars return sucked. He walked in and held Cena on his shoulders for a good ten seconds before doing the F-5. I'm pretty sure a multi-time world champion like Cena would have enough to sense to not just sit there.

Don't get me wrong, I'm pumped that Lesnar is back, but really. It really stopped me from enjoying his return.