And I thought WrestleMania was great…

I expected something special from the fallout of WrestleMania, but tonight’s Raw was truly epic. I expected a great Rocky speech (which we got), and I expected Jericho/Punk to continue (which we got), but a Brock Lesnar return was a great shock to me. Many of those reading this probably expected it from reading Ryan Clark’s updates on this very site, but I purposely avoided spoilers all week because it was WrestleMania week. It’s also the same reason I haven’t posted a review all week – why offer a critique on WrestleMania? It’s the greatest week in the WWE year and I simply decided to enjoy it. Instead I decided to give my blog a permanent title, and in honour of the Florida crowd tonight, I went with ‘Yes Yes Yes? The Raw Review’. I hope you like it. Anyway, on with what was an epic Raw.

I honestly have no idea how to dissect this week’s Raw, so I’m going to work it segment-by-segment.

Rocky’s prophecy

It’s a safe bet that we expected The Rock to open Raw, and we easily expected him to give us a not-so-farewell speech, but for what it was worth I liked it. The crowd were a massive help in fairness (as they were all night), but it wasn’t just that. It was the fact that Rocky gave us something to look forward to; a future championship reign. In hindsight on the end segment, I can see next year’s WrestleMania main event already – Rock versus Brock for the WWE Championship anyone? I personally hope that prediction is wrong, but it was a great start to Raw nonetheless.

Santino got his Cobra out

Considering this was the start of ‘People Power’, I don’t think anybody expected a match the crowd would eat up. The US Championship match was predictable but, as ever, Santino was entertaining as hell! I still cannot figure out where this push has come from, but I still love it. The segment with Brodus afterwards was good too, and it helped that Dolph loves to takes spots in Florida. Rest assured, I’ll be doing ‘the cobra’ on my next night out.

Lord Tensai decimates A-Ry

First off, the crowd seemed a little muted for this one (by the standard they set), but it was still good television. We didn’t get a Funkasaurus squash match, which was good. We got an idea of Tensai’s moveset and style, and anything else would have been pointless. The former A-Train is going to be a force in WWE.

Alcoholic Punk

Not only was this a great match for the WWE Championship, which could have been passed off on PPV as a potential Henry win, but the aftermath of this match was great too. Some will argue that Jericho ‘went too far’, but WWE needs something this personal right now. I’m stupidly intrigued at where this is going, and I can’t wait for what I hope is a Submission match at Extreme Rules. Also, it looks like Punk will be defending his title on a weekly basis – I just hope that doesn’t get old quickly.

Alberto Del Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii iiiio

This was easily the low point of tonight’s Raw. I haven’t missed ADR one single bit, and his return straight into the title picture discredits the World Heavyweight Championship further than the 18 second title match we got last night (although it was a shocking start to ‘Mania). Del Rio simply isn’t entertaining, and it seems like he’s going to be shoved down the very small SmackDown audience’s throats on a weekly basis. Fortunately this return happened on a night where pretty much everything else went right.

An embarrassing Cody Rhodes WrestleMania moment

Hopefully this feud only lasts until Extreme Rules, and Cody gets his title back. Big Show as any form of champion seems pointless since he isn’t a monster these days, and the fans could care less. Cody has brought prestige to the IC title over the last few months and it needs to remain prestigious. I get that two title changes in two PPVs would cause prestige to drop, but would you rather see Big Show and his lazy in-ring style defending it?

Mark Henry getting a card from a mystery man

The only clue I got to who the smooth-talking promoter talking to Henry in the back was is that it says ‘AW’ on his calling card. Hopefully this will go somewhere good and not further bury the World’s Strongest Man.

Hoeski’s pointless promo

This was pointless really. The heel run of Eve got old very quickly, and I have to disagree with the loud Miami crowd when they say ‘We Want Ryder! Woo Woo Woo!’ Ryder and Eve need character alterations and quickly before they both become irrelevant. With people returning and superstars getting pushed, Ryder is very close to falling out of choice. I call for Ryder to become a heel!

The Awesome One is ‘Back Baby!’

Teddy versus Johnny proved to be more than a time-filler at WrestleMania, and it put Miz back on the map. I’m glad WWE seems to have forgiven him for his mistake a few months back. Long live the Awesome One!

Welcome back Brock!

That Miami crowd is clever. They called Cena’s bluff and he gave the return away in an instant, or at least hinted on it. Nonetheless, Lesnar’s return was a true mark-out moment (if you ignore the old age that seems to have hit Lesnar like Big Show’s WMD would Hornswoggle), and it proved two things. When it comes to repeating exact moments from years past WWE can get away with it (search ‘Brock Lesnar destroys John Cena’ on YouTube), and John Cena is a heel whether WWE wants to admit it or not. Think about it; if Cena was really a face we would have gotten Cena telling the fans what they want to hear, not the SuperCena speech we did get. He knew it would piss the fans off to come out and say he isn’t bothered by his loss to The Rock, and then say he’s man enough to admit defeat. He knows exactly how to piss of the majority of the WWE universe (18-34 males) and he took advantage of it tonight. If that wasn’t enough evidence, you had Brock Lesnar come back to a sea of cheers and F-5 him. Brock is the clear face in this feud, and we might get our full Cena heel turn in the process.

I know it’s a long entry, but so much happened tonight that was noteworthy that I had to approach it this way. Tonight’s Raw was immense and I cannot wait for next week. Thank you for reading, and hopefully you’ll read next week’s entry too.

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