3 Things You Need To Know About Raw (3 Weeks Until Royal Rumble)
1. The Rock returns.
This was really CM Punk’s show, but the Rock was the big news. I was impressed with Punk’s ability to not allow Rock to steal all the spotlight. He really came out geared to put on some of his best work in WWE. And one could argue that this was some of his best work. He’ll probably never top the original pipe bomb and his big promo tonight did seem more prepared, but nonetheless, it was really good. I added it to the site earlier tonight.
He put himself over as the hardest working champion ever, which puts the belt over just as much. And that’s key because on the day after WrestleMania last year, Rock made it clear that he was coming back to be the champ again. He also categorized himself as the anti-superstar, which makes him unique even if it’s not really true since he sells a boat load of t-shirts too. He even criticized Daniel Bryan for smiling for the WWE cameras even though he’s the baddest submission wrestler they have.
If you were scoring at home, Punk probably wins their toe-to-toe mic battle in a close 10-9. What made it work is what made Cena’s promo work not really work last year. Punk didn’t try to out-Rock the Rock. He was just a more courageous version of himself. He had a little bit of Stone Cold Steve Austin in him too.
Rock himself was fine, but he did a few cutesy lines like trying to get #cookiepuss to trend on Twitter for whatever reason. He explained why he was there, but more importantly, he also put Punk and his title reign over. At some point, it’s hard to sell this match completely seriously unless they swerve the ending and Punk is really going to win. But they did a pretty darn good job. Punk was Rock Bottomed to end the show, which means that either Punk has to go crazy next week and just kill dudes, or he gets retribution on Rock in a more fierce way than normal.
2. Ryback isn’t ready for prime time.
While the CM Punk vs. Ryback TLC match was good, Ryback looked a bit out of sorts in parts of this match. He didn’t sell the drama of the ladder match well enough for me to believe that Punk’s win was anywhere in doubt. When he started climbing the ladder for the finish before he was attacked by The Shield, he barely got up a few rungs before they attacked him. He should’ve gotten near the top for it to mean what it could’ve. I don’t know if that’s entirely to blame on him. But I thought it hurt the finish. And then, when The Shield gave him the triple power bomb through the table and onto the steps, he turned what was a brutal looking bump into just a wrestling spot because he looked back at the steps twice. Now, that’s probably what I would do if someone was about to throw me, but I’d also be kicking and screaming. From what it looked like, Ryback was supposed to be beaten up enough to where he couldn’t get out, and thus, did he really have energy to nervously look at where he was going to get dropped twice? It may be nit picking on my part, but it really ruined the end for me.
3. Dolph Ziggler is still John Cena’s bitch.
Let me steal this from Big D’s Facebook page:
That’s exactly what happened.
Here’s what friend of FGB HoachX said on Twitter:
True!
Dolph Ziggler beats Cena for the briefcase and for his winnings, he gets to look up at the lights every time he faces Cena after. And while I may be complaining a bit about the finish, the match was really good. You had two good, long matches on this show which made it a win.
Maybe the most bad ass thing on the entire show was Antonio Cesaro hitting The Great Khali with the Neutralizer. How strong is this dude?
Next week is the 20th Anniversary show and they will try and bring out all the stops. I can’t wait.