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Coming on the heels of a spectacular TLC pay-per-view, 19/12 edition of WWE Monday night Raw was supposed to be exciting. Kane was expected to appear to explain his attack on John Cena, last week. Moreover, the new champions crowned at TLC were bound to express their thoughts on their victory. Here’s a brief review of what happened in this week’s Raw at Philadelphia.
Opening Segment: The three champions
In a unique way of opening the show, CM Punk introduced himself and the other two champions to the crowd. Zack Ryder and Daniel Bryan received huge pops from the crowd. The three champions addressed on their title victories at TLC, during which they were interrupted by the Miz, Alberto del Rio and Dolph Ziggler. The losers at TLC were desperately seeking revenge and hence attacked the three champions. Raw manager John Laurinaitis came out and made a 6-man tag team match as the main event for the show. I enjoyed this segment and felt that WWE did a great job by putting the spotlight on the champions.
The three champions: Zack Ryder, CM Punk and Daniel Bryan
Match 1: Randy Orton Vs Wade Barrett
Singles Match
A TLC rematch between Randy Orton and Wade Barrett took place. The match was entertaining but the finish was disappointing. The match ended in a disqualification when Wade Barrett poked Orton’s eye in front of the referee. Wade Barrett continued to attack Orton even after the end of the match. He plunged Orton into a table in the middle of the ring courtesy of his signature move – ‘wasteland’. This signals the continuation of their feud, heading into Royal Rumble.
Winner: Randy Orton, via disqualification.
Match Rating: 7/10
Match 2: Alicia Fox Vs Beth Phoenix
Divas Singles Match
Fresh off her victory over Kelly Kelly at TLC, the Divas Champion Beth Phoenix took on Alicia Fox. Surprisingly, Alicia emerged victorious. Fox is very athletic and has a good look, but her win over Beth, with so much ease, was ridiculous. The match was too short and lacked perfection from Fox.
Winner: Alicia Fox
Match Rating: 3/10
Match 3: Sheamus Vs Jinder Mahal
Singles Match
Jinder Mahal asked for a rematch against Sheamus, after being brutalized by him in last week’s Smackdown. There wasn’t any change in the result this time either – Sheamus comfortably won the match, looking like a typical mid-card guy who is debuting on Raw. He is getting no feud, and is stuck with a guy with absolutely no charisma or heart.
Winner: Sheamus
Match Rating: 4/10
Kane returns again!
John Cena came out and received nothing close to brotherly love from the Philadelphia crowd. He talked about Kane’s attack last week and said that he wanted to let bygones be bygones. He asked Kane to come out, but Mark Henry came out and talked about their match last week. He was interrupted by Kane. While everyone waited in anticipation on who he would attack, Kane fixed his eyes on John Cena. Cena knocked him to the outside, unharmed. Kane pushed Cena on the announcer’s table. He then suffocates Cena until his mouth begins to bleed. It looks like Kane-Cena feud is bound to continue in the coming weeks.
Kane suffocating John Cena on the announcers table
Match 4: The Uso’s Vs Primo and Epico
Tag Team Match
After their loss at TLC, Primo and Epico got a chance to redeem themselves against another tag team. The Uso’s put up a good fight but were unable to succeed. Primo and Epico along with Rosa Mendes, are getting the spotlight and it is good to see WWE pushing tag-teams in the last two months. Will they succeed in bringing back the glory days of Tag-team wrestling? Only time will tell. A funny spot occurred when the replays were shown after the match, during which Jerry Lawler referred to Primo as Carlito!
Winners: Primo and Epico
Match Rating: 6/10
Match 5: Santino Marella Vs Cody Rhodes
Singles Match
Cody Rhodes quickly finished off Santino Marella in a short match. This match was meaningless and Cody should have been involved in his storyline with Booker or given a new feud. Putting him in a match with Santino does not help his goal of becoming a credible superstar.
Winner: Cody Rhodes
Match Rating: 5/10
Big Show was interviewed backstage regarding his loss to Daniel Bryan at TLC. While he took his loss lightly, he became pretty angry after Josh Mathews mentioned that he now held the record for the shortest World Title reign in history.
Match 6: Zack Ryder, Daniel Bryan and CM Punk Vs The Miz, Alberto Del Rio and Dolph Ziggler
6-man Tag Team match
The three champions in this match came into the ring through the crowd which was a nice touch by the WWE. This match boasted of six great in ring talents, mostly good characters and personalities, one different from the other. Also, I loved the action back and forth, giving us a little taste of everyone and what they are capable of doing. Alberto Del Rio was injured during the course of the match. Expectedly, the champions got the victory, when Daniel Bryan forced Del Rio to tap out to his La-Belle lock. The Champions celebrated with the crowd to end the show. Great chemistry and presence in the ring throughout the match enabled the crowd to be alive during the course of the match.
Winners: Zack Ryder, Daniel Bryan and CM Punk
Match Rating: 9/10
Prophetless:
The ‘It Begins’ video was aired this week too. In contrasting with the four videos of the past, this video focused on the girl and ended with the message ‘Prophetless’. I’m excited about this and can’t wait till January 2nd to find out who is going to return. My prediction is Chris Jericho. But who knows, WWE might spring a surprise.
The BottomLine:
Raw was entertaining and thoroughly enjoyable. Kane’s return was taken forward and his feud with John Cena will be in the spotlight in the coming weeks.
Raw Rating: 8/10
