Raw began with Punk doing what he does best. Sitting cross-legged in the ring with a microphone in his hand. He said that he wanted to hear Johnny Ace say all the things to Punk’s face. Then John Cena came out and said he wanted Kane tonight and Ryder to get his rematch. Cena had some great fire and intensity. This is the hardest thing I have ever had to admit. But I am beginning not to hate Johnny Ace as a character.

The first match was John Cena & CM Punk vs. Dolph Ziggler & Jack Swagger. It was a really decent match. You had the face in peril and then Ziggler won via a handful of tights.

Chris Jericho played with the crowd. This is one of the best new things about Raw.

Mick Foley gave Zack Ryder a pep talk and Cena offered Ryder his back. Ryder said he wanted to do this on his own. Ryder took quite the beating. If you want to see this match done much better, click here and watch Icarus vs. Gregory Iron. It was a great moment for Ryder. Kane is over like a monster, and Ryder got lots of sympathy for it. Ryder got a lot of  chants in the show. As they were putting Ryder in the ambulance, Eve Torres auditions to be the worst human being ever by telling Cena this was all his fault. But the winner was Josh Matthews who tried to interview John Cena. John Cena gave his angry face at the camera which looked like a Vince snarl.

Sheamus wrestled Jinder Mahal. I would like Mahal to never appear on my tv. They’re building up the Royal Rumble.

Miz and Truth are wrestling tonight. Do they understand what it means to wait for something for a PPV?

Brodus Clay killed Heath Slater.

Miz and Truth wrestled a good match I didn’t want to see because they should be waiting for a PPV.

Johnny Ace is told his job is going to be evaluated by Triple H. Surprise, surprise. Ace didn’t wrestle. It was Otunga, whom Punk killed faster than I mute the tv when Jennifer Hudson’s commercials come on.

Another good Raw tonight. I really liked the build-up towards the PPV. The Punk-Ace stuff is evolving into good. Clay continues to be a great new gimmick and surprise. This has been a pretty solid Raw.

We start off with Mick Foley. The great part about Mick Foley is that he can laugh at himself. Foley will be in the Royal Rumble. I will only be happy if he takes Jinder Mahal’s spot. Then he is interrupted by Vickie Guerrero and Dolph Ziggler berating him for taking a wrestler’s spot. And then CM Punk comes out they have a nice face off. And then Johnny Ace comes out. He says he will be impartial. True story. My wife was passed out on the couch. When Johnny Ace came out, she groaned in her sleep.

We get footage of the tag belts changing hands. We had a nice match between the Colons &  (6 if you count Rosa Mendes. Some of you may have to think about this a little).

Chris Jericho will be in the main event. He turns out the light and lets his jacket sparkle.

Then we do a recap of Zack Ryder being unable to change a flat tire. Eve will accompany him to ringside. Ryder must have a member the size of Long Island cause I can’t think of any reason for Eve to still be with him after the “unable to change a flat tire” thing. Swagger destroyed Ryder and won the title.

In the back, Johnny Ace apologizes to Zack Ryder because he wasn’t medically cleared. Then Eve gets in his face and Ace tells her to respect authority. Huh?

R-Truth comes out and Wade Barrett interrupts him. Then after Barrett is done with his monologue, R-Truth begins his comments with ” ‘Allo, Govnuh.” Then there was a silly look at R-Truth’s trip to Disney. I hate to admit it, but I liked it. Then Miz came out followed by Sheamus. Teddy made a 4-man Over the Top Battle Royal match. R-Truth won. Nice match.

Then Jack Swagger comes out and he’s going to face John Cena? This was never a match. It was just a beatdown. This John Cena had some fire. Then Kane told Cena he was embracing the hate. Interesting.

We then had Brodus Clay kill JTG. Next to him is the chick whose second favorite match is Clay-Hawkins. I don’t know if this is right, but Funkasaurus is probably the best thing on Raw tonight.

Daniel Bryan cut a nice promo about why Big Show is a horrible person. The great part is that Bryan was a heel who told the truth. I really liked that.

The main event was really good. Jericho got tagged in, soaked up the adoration of the crowd and then walked off. Mark Henry chased Daniel Bryan to the back. And to make up for the missing person, Mick Foley came out. After the faces won, Johnny Ace came out and reversed the decision. Punk laid in to Ace about being pathetic and then walked off. Then Foley had a great face-off with Ace where Ace snapped. I had never seen Ace show that much fire before.

This turned out to be a really good Raw. I need more like these.

Kane talks forever. And then Cena comes out and they brawl into the crowd. It was a pretty awesome brawl and Cena was silent. I thought the announcers did a nice job of selling the brawl.

Sheamus & Santino took on Wade Barrett and Jinder Mahal. It was not a bad match. Mahal got pinned with the Cobra. Mahal, hope you like Florida, because I think you’ll be wrestling at the Impact Zone.

Miz is in the back with Johnny Ace and the never-ending cup of coffee with David Otunga.

Edge is being inducted in the Hall of Fame. So deserved.

Miz wants Mason Ryan to share needles or something.

Then Zack Ryder is hitting on Eve again and it works. Then Kane is seen lurking in the shadows.

Now Kofi Kingston is going to take on Daniel Bryan. I think it was a squash. Then Daniel Bryan celebrated like he had won the World Series. Then we had Big Show face off with Daniel Bryan.

Brodus Clay finally debuts. Holy s***! It’s the love child of Ernest “The Cat” Miller and Flash Funk. Poor Curt Hawkins.

We get Jack Swagger taking on CM Punk. Of course their match was good as we knew it would be. I also like the story they told of Dolph & Vickie getting involved. The ending just seemed kind of really weird, like a ref botch.

Miz wanted Ricardo Rodriguez to call out R-Truth for him. Ricardo Rodriguez was so awesome. Then R-Truth came out and asked Ricardo Rodriguez to sing a song. So he sang a remix of La Cucaracha. Rodriguez owned that segment.

Chris Jericho came out, soaked up the adoration of the crowd and began crying and then walked off. Brilliant.

Eve was about to go to the ring when Kane’s music hit. So Zack Ryder comes to get her and then goes to the car. The car’s tire is flat. So Ryder gets out to change the tire and leaves Eve stuck in the car. Zack Ryder has never seen a horror film. And Kane is apparently really slow.

Ziggler and Cena had a really nice match. And then, as we all knew would happen, Kane got to Zack Ryder. So Cena left the match and Kane laid him out.

All in all… I really wanted to like this Raw. But they did everything they could to make me not like it. Chalk this one up to awful.

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First match: BC & Frankie Fisher vs. Live, Fly & Die

BC got on the mic (which is always good) and explained that Zach T was out so he was going to have a special tag team partner, Frankie Fisher. You had a few stories told here. James Hawke and Frankie still remembered their feud. BC and Frankie kept on trying to tag in each other. In a really funny moment, BC (who is a take-off of a Jersey Shore character) introduced FTP: Fist-pumping, Push-ups and Tag in Frankie. Seph has come so far in the ring. He is a really good high-flyer. In a few years, I see him as being one of Texas’ best. And BC never has to learn how to wrestle nor does he ever have to win. He has so much personality and connects with that crowd so well, he will continue to be one of the best things in MPX. James was very good at engaging the crowd and trying to get them going. Eventually, Frankie just said screw it and walked off. Hawke submitted BC.

Winner: Live Fly Die

This match was a really good match and well-put-together. I was just a little confused over Frankie being used here. He should be a main eventer and didn’t make sense in the match. I know in a perfect world it would have been Zach T in the match and not Frankie. It just didn’t make a lot of sense for me. I also wanted to give props to Seph for his corkscrew plancha.

Second match: Andy Dalton vs. Kenny Steele

I was looking forward to this match as I thought it was a great opportunity for Kenny. You had the story of the great cocky physical specimen going against the wise gristled veteran. So every move Kenny would do, Dalton had an answer for. Also much can be said for how good Kenny is with the crowd. Dalton also did a good job of improvising when his music didn’t play. About the match itself, Andy Dalton had Josh Prohibition chops. For the 3 of you who will get that reference, they were some brutal chops. However, Kenny brought the win.

Winner: Steele

I wrote down that this was a fun match. What made the night fun is that Team Kyle had seats in the row in front of us. They spent the night torturing some girl. They had a party platter with some wine they kept on drinking. Kate introduced JT LaMotta who came out and cut a promo. He was so good with the crowd. He had everybody hating him in 45 seconds. He was so entertaining. Then Kristopher Haiden came out and they had a dueling promo. What made this segment so good is that you had intense LaMotta with mellow Haiden. The two just went out there and entertained.

Third match: “Just” James Johnson w/Kody Kox vs. $Payday$ w/WASP

I was a little confused at first because I thought Kody had quit in December. But I thought the two had a nice match. The best part was sitting behind $Payday$’s mom. She is a very proud mom and as well she should be. $Payday$ did a standing moonsault. He has such a natural athleticism. James Johnson did a great job of being the heel out there. $Payday$ did a great job of selling too. There was a mysterious really pretty blond (I recognized her from the indy scene, but I’ll let MPX announce who she is when it’s time.) that went to ringside and observed. She didn’t get involved, just observed. Interesting. So who is she? Why is she there? Who was she there to observe? A good wrestling promotion leaves you with questions and that’s exactly what they did with this match. $Payday$ hit the Shooting Star Press and won the match.

Winner: $Payday$

Fourth match: Carrion Arcane w/Claudia vs. Zero the Antihero

When Arcane’s music hit, Team Kyle did a song for him. They sang, “This is Arcane” to the music. I gotta admit I popped for that. Poor Zero. I think he needs to rename himself “Zero Horrowitz” or “Zero Luis Rivera” or “Hijo de The Gambler.” I know they don’t ever get the glory, but there’s a lot to be said for the enhancement talent. As Bill Goldberg once said about Bill DeMott, the streak had to start somewhere. The most important thing this match needed to do was get Arcane over as a brutal monster. That’s exactly what it did. Arcane was doing this weird eye make-up on his face. Somebody in Team Kyle, I think Choice or Regrub, said he looked like a raccoon. I thought he looked like a ninja turtle, either Leonardo or Donnatello. It was a total squash, but I even kept asking myself if tonight was going to be the night that Zero won.

Winner: Arcane

After the match, Tadlock and Arcane continued their attack. When Ben Wylde came to the rescue, Arcane channeled his inner Kane with Christian Bale’s Batman voice. He offered Ben a chance to join his group. How can Ben be evil? He is Team Pasty White. He is everything good and right with the world. Ah, the questions continue.

Fifth match: Viktor Tadlock w/Claudia vs. WASP w/$Payday$

WASP had an “You f’ed up” moment during the intros. He tried to jump to the top turnbuckle and slipped not once but twice. He can laugh at himself so he could recover just fine. This was a match with two big guys. The story was very compelling. Tadlock wanted to win on his own, but Claudia kept on interfering. $Payday$ also showed a lot of fire in WASP’s corner. Claudia red misted WASP while Tadlock was not looking and Tadlock got the pin.

Winner: Tadlock

After the match, Tadlock looked at WASP’s face and it noticed it was red. He was not happy with Claudia. Is Tadlock turning over a new leaf? (Personally, I think he’s such a natural heel, I’d like to see him stay that way, but I’ll reserve judgment until the story is done again.)

We did the contract signing with Headbanger and Frankie. Headbanger had quite a bit of swagger. He is looking a little more jacked and had the quiet intensity to counterbalance Frankie’s loud intensity. I was a little disappointed no tables were broken or that somebody’s name wasn’t written in blood. But it was a nice face off and built towards the big February show.

Main event: JT LaMotta vs. Kristopher Haiden

You can tell these are two very good friends familiar with each other outside the ring. They had really good chemistry inside the ring. This was a really good entertaining match. There was a wild crowd brawl. There was a ref bump and then Team Kyle came in and attacked Haiden. Surprisingly, Haiden kept kicking out. However, the numbers game was too much and LaMotta pinned Haiden.

Winner: LaMotta

All in all… A really great night of wrestling. Most every match went somewhere and had a purpose. The work was a lot better also. There were a few botches, but a lot less than we’ve seen in the past. My major concern is that they make sure to alternate the top of the card before they birth the next John Cena. It seems like they are doing a good job of alternating so far.

I like how they are building to bigger shows. I’m now looking forward to the late February show because it sounds like they are going to put a lot into it. There’s a few booking things that are driving me crazy, but overall it’s very well-booked. There are plenty of questions that will continue to make me come back. That’s exactly what we need.

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Gami wrestled a very nice heel style. Shimono and Cherry worked very well as a tag team and engaging the crowd. I really liked Uematsu’s in-ring style. She is a pretty nasty heel. You can get quite a big reaction by doing the little things. Cherry is such a great athlete and  is such a likable face. She did the face in peril very well. This was such a good match that went on for a long time. The heels won.

2. Ophidian vs. Gregory Iron

This is going to be fun for me. I had the chance to see Ophidian live once. He was so great with the crowd. And I like that they’re giving him a nice heel push. And who better as a heel to put him against than Gregory Iron? Ophidian has such a fluidity and lives his gimmick. Ophidian was so brutal (in a good way). He put Iron in a submission and the referee called the match. Good match.

3. Hanako Nakamori vs. Kaori Yoneyama

You had great babyface Japanese wrestlers going at it. It was a lot shorter than the usual Chikara matches I’m used to seeing. It was just a really good match by two great women workers.

4. Mayumi Ozaki vs. Mio Shirai

This was one of the major ones. The two most evil women in wrestling (with respect to Jessicka Havoc) going one on one. This match is worth the $15 by itself. Ozaki looked like she was going to devour you with every move she made. Whoever said Ric Flair was the dirtiest player in the game never saw Mayumi Ozaki. Mio is absolutely gorgeous. It is funny how much character development Ozaki has just in her in-ring style. She never has to say a word and is the most hated female wrestler.

5. Tsubasa Kuragaki vs. Sara Del Rey

Another thing Chikara does really well is short promos. I think it’s interesting Del Rey is comfortable appearing in her glasses, hair pulled back and being “herself.” This had some really nice drama behind it. The thing about Del Rey is that every move she does makes it look like she just killed you. And the thing about Kuragaki is that every move she did made it look like the last. The match got a “This is awesome” chant and deservedly so.

6. Team F.I.S.T. (Icarus, Chuck Taylor & Johnny Gargano) & Portia Perez vs. Manami Toyota, Mike Quackenbush, Fire Ant & Green Ant

How do you have a better 8-person than this? One of Chikara’s top heels in Icarus, the top heel tag team in Gargano-Taylor, one of the top female wrestlers in Perez against the very over The Colony, the face of the company Mike Quackenbush & Japanese legend Toyota. It’s impossible to do justice to this match as there were so many levels. Gargano/Taylor-The Colony have such a great chemistry. This was just such a great match. Toyota pinned Perez. The 8 were greeted with a very well-deserved standing ovation. Had I been there live, I would have stood as well.

7. Aja Kong vs. Ayako Hamada

What do you say here? Two of the greatest Japanese wrestlers of all time going one on one. Two great women doing their thing. One thing I have to say is that Gavin Loudspeaker and Chikara do a great job of making a main event feel special. As much as I loathe some of the stuff they do, Impact does a nice job at this as well. This match had a “big match” feel to it.

All in all… This was such a good DVD of wrestling. Del Rey-Kuragaki, Shirai-Ozaki, the 8-person were all very good matches. One of the best things about the Joshimania series is that this introduced a lot of wrestling fans to wrestlers we had probably never heard of. I got to be introduced to Ozaki, Shirai and a few others. So the best thing this did was bring about awareness for a niche of wrestling that needs all the attention they can get. Very much worth the night.

We start if off with a video package. And then John Cena starts off Raw. Any buzz I had for Raw was killed the moment Cena’s music hit. My daughter was still up and the minute she saw John Cena, she reached for the remote. I cannot make this up. So John Cena cut an ok promo on how fans can chant whatever they want. He’s going to keep on being John Cena. Then Kane does the same s*** he always does and we get pyro.

Daniel Bryan is introduced and the crowd doesn’t even come close to reacting for him. This was a pretty decent match. We got to watch Cody show off his skills as a mat technician. Bryan did get some chants. But would he have without Cody? It was a really short good match. Bryan won and then went over and celebrated with the crowd. The only thing is that it was kind of really excessive.

Johnny Ace recapped all the stuff with Miz. We get Miz and Sheamus. And then he called Miz a lame duck. Then they showed Miz walking away throwing a temper tantrum. And then R-Truth mocked a duck. Congratulations, WWE. You just killed R-Truth.

They showed recaps of all the Wade Barrett stuff. And he was interrupted by Santino Marella of all people. Sure enough, Wade killed him. The best part was the Speed references. R-Truth is now stalking the Miz.

Miz came out full of fire. And then Sheamus beat the sternum off of Miz. Miz tried running away. Then R-Truth was out in the crowd. R-Truth’s voices are now Little Jimmies. And then he beat up Miz with the Water Bottle of Doom. I feel really bad for Miz having to sell that. Then R-Truth found a kid and had him say something. I liked the segment. I just want to see more from what R-Truth is given to say.

Dolph Ziggler cuts a nice short promo.

Zack Ryder is trying to flirt with Eve Torres. Then Jack Swagger tries to talk trash. Ryder sounded sooooooo stupid. Then Johnny Ace makes a 6-man tag. So now Punk isn’t even going to be the main event? WWE, listen to what I say very closely. F*** you.

I really liked the feel of the Punk/Ziggler match. It felt exactly like a main event should be. Too bad it wasn’t one. It was a good match with lots of near-falls. Johnny Ace interfered and there was a countout. Ziggler won and then ran away with the belt. He didn’t win the belt.

The Bellas came out looking really smoking hot. We then got Kelly and Eve vs. Bellas. The Bellas won. It was pretty decent for usual divas matches.

Punk delivered a promo where he was going to beat Johnny Ace “like a bitch.” Ooh, they said the word “bitch.” Let me know when Punk drops a pipebomb.

Then they revealed the return of Chris Jericho. It was a pretty awesome moment. He looked genuinely happy and enthusiastic to be out there. It was the kind of reaction Hogan thinks he gets. He played with the crowd for a little bit and then went to the back.

The main event was such a non-event. At least Cena and Ryder had the advantage. The only good part was Kane attacking Ryder afterwards and then laying out Cena and Ryder some more. Kane was about to suck Ryder into the abyss when Cena pulled him out at the end. Cheesy, but it IS a TVPG product.

This was a pretty decent Raw. I’m close to calling it good, but we’re not quite there. I had things I liked: Ziggler’s promo, Bryan-Rhodes and Miz. There were some things I didn’t like: Cena in the main event, the Ziggler-Punk finish (not because of the countout but because Ziggler acted like he had won the belt) and opening it with a video package.

There were some nice questions to be asked here and all of them are WTF’s revolving around Jericho. And that is as it should be. Now we have a reason to come back.

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 10,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 4 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

1. Benny Boone vs. Mike Baker

Baker shows up with a Tracey Smothers t-shirt. And the fans of course show off their classier sides by chanting “You are gay.” (<—— sarcasm font) He found a book on old WCW and tried to read it to the crowd. Once he put hands on Pedro, Benny Boone came out to his rescue. Funny. I blinked and I missed it. Boone submitted Baker with a bear-hug. Very quick. I liked the angle though.

2. Marion Fontaine vs. Jack Verville

Verville looks like he needs to lose a hair vs. hair match. He looks like the villain boyfriend in a bad slasher film. And then there’s Fontaine. He’s got a lot of natural charisma and ring presence. I don’t see him going to the WWE or TNA as a wrestler, but he could deliver a very nice character in the way of a manager or enhancement talent. Verville was so ridiculously out-classed. Verville had very solid work; he just wasn’t at Fontaine’s level.

3. Jimmy DeMarco vs. Jason Gory

I had audio problems so I’m not entirely sure what I saw during the Johnny Gargano problems. Both guys seemed to be pretty athletic in the ring. I really liked what I saw from Gory. It was a very short match which saw DeMarco get the win.

4. Hailey Hatred vs. Rebis

I gotta admit I love Rebis. And how do you not love Hailey Hatred? And if I don’t, I’m not telling her. The two did a very nice job of working each other. For somebody who could snap my head off with her bare hands, she sure is really pretty. This was a pretty good match. It wasn’t male vs. female. It was wrestler vs. wrestler. There’s a difference between  outright violence against women and them competing in a match. There was interference from John Thorne and then there was an angle that led to a barb wire match. Ouch. Had it been a man in that position rather than Hatred, I would have liked it a lot more.

5. Flip Kendrick & Louis Lyndon vs. The Best Around

It’s interesting to see Aeroform before they were Aeroform. The lights went out during the match and the wrestlers continued very well. Lyndon is such an incredible athlete as is Kendrick. Best Around were solid in their work, but you can tell that Aeroform are just on a different level. Apparently, Flip Kendrick did a Standing 630. I don’t understand how it wasn’t a pin. It’s great that you can do that. But it is a total Holy s*** moment and should be saved. I came around on the Best Around by the end of the match. They were a pretty good heel team. I thought it was a very good match, maybe match of the night.

6. Facade vs. Shiima Xion

We began with homophobic slur. Stay classy, Shiima. Facade is quickly becoming one of my favorites. I love his look and his uniqueness. I do believe he is on my indy bucket list. Xion needs to have a mouthpiece because he has that Rey Jr. 12-year-old voice thing. Xion has a lot of smoothness and flow. Xion is also such a good heel. I really hadn’t seen “the match” where I saw something with Xion until now. Xion does have a lot of charisma and can really make a crowd hate him. But at the same time, you boo him with a smile. The match ended with both getting a pin. I like the whole double-pinning thing as long as it’s not done to death.

7. Da Latin Crime Syndicate vs. The Homeless Handicap Connection

This was K. Fernandez and Luis Diamante against Gregory Iron and Hobo Joe (I think). The HHC come out to Laverne & Shirley’s theme? Awesome. So this was the comedy match. We had Hobo Joe doing the Three Stooges thing. Iron and Joe worked really well together as a tag team. DLCS are very solid together and have good chemistry. The DLCS ended up getting the win in a very fun match.

8. Luis Diamante vs. Nick Belushi

I’m not sure who Belushi is, but he seems to be very over with the crowd. He’s quite tall. He was a pretty decent brawler. I liked Diamante’s work as a heel. Also I was pretty impressed by him doing two matches. I thought it was a pretty decent match. It told a good story and the characters seemed to be over. It was a nice angle, too.

9. No DQ Grudge Match: “The Psycho Shooter” Drake Younger vs. Necro Butcher

And of course, I am the biggest Necro Butcher mark. But I recently discovered Drake Younger too. This was Necro Butcher vs. Drake Younger. What did you expect? It had such great drama and intensity. Plus, it was not the bloodiest I had ever seen those two.

10. Casket Match: The Young Studs vs. Faith In Nothing

So you have a Casket Match but you have good athletic wrestling in the middle of the ring? Huh? I liked the drama of the tag team both having to be in there. Faith In Nothing were such a great team together. You had the brutality of Christian Faith/Rickey Shane Page and you had the MMA-type finesse of Vincent Nothing. It was a pretty decent match even though I was confused for why they had a casket match. But I liked the drama and the psychology of having to get both guys in there.

All in all… This was a pretty good show. There was a little something for everybody. You had the intense feud with Young Studs vs. Faith in Nothing. You had the violent hardcore match with Butcher vs. Younger. You had the high-flyer match with Xion vs. Facade and Aeroform vs. Best Around. You had the comedy stuff with HHC vs. DLCS. A very full, solid show.

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We start off with a very hot crowd. PWG’s crowd reminds me a lot of the old ECW crowd in that they made the show. They had some “Lucha Libre” chants and shot some “Luke” heckles at Bonham. Old Cranky White Man thinks they should be using guard rails, but the no guard rails does give it that intimate feeling. They didn’t know Bonham’s name so they chanted “New Guy.” Nemesis had some nice chops. I like Bonham’s ability to sell and his Swanton was nice. He took away the win. Good match.

2. Candice LeRae vs. LuFisto

I know both these names, but have never seen either wrestle before. One of the fans yelled   out “You’re both hot!” I agree. For such a pretty blond, LuFisto is very hard-hitting and unrelenting. I was really impressed with her. She looked like she killed Candice. Then Candice began to get her offense in and we saw more of that brutality. I blinked and I missed the finish. Really good match. Think my Fav 5 for women may get reshuffled.

3. Claudio Castagnoli vs. Chris Hero

I was wondering how in the blue hell you have these two fight 3rd on the card. This match seemed to come out of nowhere, much like an old ECW show. (And I mean the ECW comparisons only in the most positive light, not implying that they are a knockoff. California already tried ripping off ECW and it didn’t work too well.) Castagnoli is such a good heel. I see him being rather successful if the WWE books him right. These two had a lot of emotion in this match. Human Tornado came out and stopped everything.

4. PWG Tag Titles The Dynasty (Scott Lost & Joey Ryan w/Jade Chung) vs. El Generico & Kevin Steen

Of course I know the name Joey Ryan, but I think this might be my first time to ever see him. He is such a good mic worker and a great heel. It is interesting to watch Kevin Steen back before he was the monster he is today. Kevin Steen reminds me a lot of Mick Foley. You have the big guy with the unusual shape. It’s an interesting discussion point. Generico and Steen won and were well-received by crowd.

5. DD4 Qualifier Elimination Match Hook Bomberry & TJ Perkins vs. Ronin & Scorpio Sky vs. Los Luchas (Phoenix Star & Zokre) vs. The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson)

Most of these guys were brand new to me except for the Young Bucks and Scorpio (the latter of whom I only know of by name). Scorpio has such a great look. TJ Perkins is very over as a heel. I really liked the action here. The Bucks are so good as double-teamers. The Luchas won. I was very impressed by all the work I saw. Because it was so fast-paced, it was difficult to transcribe it. I will simply say, “Very good action.”

6. Intergender Street Fight Human Tornado & LuFisto vs. Chris Hero & Candice LeRae

You’ll have to forgive my inner Old Cranky White Man. He doesn’t like violence against women. But the stuff between the women was great. When you watch Alicia Fox every week on tv, sometimes you forget that women can actually work. That is exactly what I thought watching this match. I remember a hardcore match between Trish and Victoria once. These two women in this match were great. I knew I’d heard the name LuFisto before and now I know why I remembered her. She was the CZW IronMan champ for a spell. This was such a long match. They ripped out LuFisto’s hair extensions. It wasn’t entirely violence against women, but it seemed to rise above it. Hero won in what was a very long match.

After the match, there was a huge angle with the guys duct-taping Hero to the ropes and continuing to attack LeRae. I was disgusted and really angry, which I’m sure was the point.

All in all… I think there were some good things here. The street fight was very long, even though I hated the inter-gender aspect of it. It was brutal, intense & shocking, which I’m pretty sure was the point. A good show worth the $15 or whatever I paid for it.

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But enough of a retread. They opened up in Chicago (in CM Punk’s hometown) with CM Punk’s music. Out came Johnny Ace dressed in CM Punk’s outfit. He tried to make a guantlet match featuring CM Punk. Then Punk tried to get Ace to accept a match with him. Groan… Punk was just missing something. Really can’t put my finger on it.

Booker T is wrestling Cody Rhodes. Again. I ended up not seeing TLC, but wasn’t I just supposed to pay money for this? It just seems like we’re getting the same matches over and over and over again. They are not squash matches if the loser looks like they have a chance of winning. The WWE product is so repetitive that there’s no newness to their matches. Booker T won. As glad as I am to see him win, why did we have to watch that?

Zack Ryder is thanking John Cena. All along Zack Ryder had it in himself.

Kelly Kelly and Big Show are hawking an app of some kind. Then Scotty Armstrong tells Big Show that Johnny Ace needs him now!

So Big Show punched David Otunga on Smackdown. Then Show said he could beat Otunga with one hand tied behind his back. I guess they are watching old nWo footage. Now Dolph and Swagger are arguing. It was pretty fun until the Planet of the Apes comment. That just sounded so 10-year-old on the playground. Ugh, just soooooooo bad.

Eve an Zack Ryder come out to the ring. They seemed to get pretty decent crowd reactions. Then there was Tyson Kidd and Nattie Neidhart. It was actually not too bad of a match. I think the referee fell out of the ring as he was making the 3rd count. How botchariffic.

Cena came out and cut a really forced promo praising the city of Chicago. He called out Kane and got The Miz. Miz wanted Cena. Cena accepted. A few minutes into the match, Miz couldn’t handle that people weren’t chanting for him. So he cuts a promo on Chicago and gets counted out. Are you f***ing kidding me? As he’s done, we get the R-Truth return. I really liked his return.

We were saved from the retro nWo match by Big Show. It was short and painless. Mark Henry came out. Daniel Bryan came out. Then it was just Big Show and David Otunga in the ring. He channeled The Giant of old and did a chokeslam like he’d just joined the nWo all over again.

Then Alberto Del Rio came out in a wheelchair. He told us all that he had a torn groin. Then the fans laughed. Classy. Then the Bellas got to fight over who could throw a party to help him recover. Awful.

Swagger jobbed first. Then he attacked Punk to wear him down for Ziggler. I liked Punk and Ziggler’s work. Ace stopped the match, distracted Punk and then Ziggler pinned Punk. What a good opportunity for Ziggler. No hate over getting to watch those two. Just that I watched this match not too long ago.

AAA’s El Zorro  Kane is walking to the ring. He starts explaining and Cena’s music hit. Kane cut a very nice promo explaining why he attacked Cena. He wanted Cena to give in to the hate. I thought Kane delivered his lines very well. I just felt like I was watching Empire Strikes Back.

Overall, I’d have to say this was an awful Raw. There was nothing that got my attention for this show. The most exciting thing was R-Truth’s return. Remember yesterday when the Mavericks stunk up their home court? Let’s say the fans start booing Dirk. Does he get on the mic and ask how dare they boo him? That’s what we got with the Miz. It was uninspired, outright insulting and nothing worth seeing.

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