Tonight on Raw: Kane and Jericho! This should be everything I've ever wanted in wrestling, but is it?
Continuing on from last week's excellent confusing, Raw starts with Kane coming out to talk to the crowd. His focus on hatred is really interesting, and fits him really well. In addition, it seems like he's getting the crowd back on Cena's side, which is an impressive accomplishment. That is the sign of a good heel. Admittedly, there are those in the crowd who will hate him no matter who he's feuding with, but there's no pleasing them. I do like the simple dichotomy going on here – Cena representing hope, while Kane represents hate. Cena comes out to attack Kane, in a decent slugfest that takes them backstage and outside to the loading dock. Maybe Cena did some hardcore matches when I wasn't watching, but I hadn't seen him do it, and I think he did a decent job. I'd like to see how he'd fair in a full hardcore match – if he's had any good ones in the past, let me know!
Sheamus doesn't seem like he's had a whole lot to do lately, but maybe this feud that seems to be brewing between him, Jinder Mahal and Wade Barrett might be interesting. Wade Barrett is a great heel, though Jinder Mahal bores me. He sees like a less charismatic Indian Alberto Del Rio. In any case, Sheamus is joined by Santino in a tag team match against Mahal and Barrett. I really enjoy Santino – It's nice to have some comedy, and he's pretty funny. The match isn't bad, but it's not great. While Sheamus doesn't quite squash Mahal and Barrett, it's close enough. I do like Santino managed to pull of the Cobra, which hasn't been at all effective lately.
I think the best part of the promo involving the Miz, Otunga and John Laurinitis (the Executive Vice President of Talent Relations and Interim General Manager of Raw) was Otunga's ridiculously loud slurping of his coffee. The Miz is great, don't get me wrong, and I like his feud with R-Truth. Also, I agree with him: who cares about Brodus Clay?
They announce that Edge is this year's first inductee to the WWE Hall of Fame, and they have a pretty good video to go with it. I think he deserves it, he was always one of the most fun superstars to watch, whether he was a heel or a face. I've been an Edgehead since he debuted. It's a shame that he had to retire last year. This is followed by a quick shot of the Miz trying to get Mason Ryan (who cares about him?) to guard, and then we get to see Zack Ryder being as amazing as he always is. He's in my fav five.
We come back from the break for a match between Kofi Kingston and Daniel Bryan. I like that they're keeping Kofi in the spotlight, and they're sort of trying to make the tag team championship meaningful again, but they're not doing a very good job of it so far. They have some good tag teams (AirBoom, the Usos, Primo and Epico) but they keep breaking up their main event teams – the Awesome Truth were great. In addition, there haven't been any tag team promos, which means there isn't any emotion behind the matches. They need to establish the various team's personalities so they can start feuding properly.
The match between Kofi and Daniel Bryan was alright, though not as good as it could have been – Daniel Bryan and Kofi Kingston are great wrestlers, and they could have a fantastic match. That clearly wasn't the point of the match, though, as Big Show comes out afterward (and puts his hat on a tiny soldier, who can practically wear it as a mask). Daniel Bryan is clearly becoming a heel, and might be getting a cowardly personality. The no-DQ match might be good, though.
HOLY CRAP SUDDENLY I CARE ABOUT BRODUS CLAY! Though the crowd doesn't seem to agree with me. He squashes Curt Hawkins (literally) and I find it very amusing. I like the promo of Zack Ryder brushing his teeth, especially when Kane shows up in the mirror.
As Swagger, Ziggler and Vickie Guerrero come to the ring, I remember that Swagger and Ziggler make a good tag team, they just need a good name. Swagger is facing CM Punk for this match... Except John Laurinitis (The Executive Vice President of Talent Relations and the Interim General Manager of Raw) comes out and... makes the match more interesting by adding the stipulation that, if CM Punk wins Ziggler and Vickie Guerrero are banned from ringside at Royal Rumble, and puts CM Punk into a match with Cena later tonight. Not bad. The decisions he's made would make him a face if he wasn't targeting CM Punk and had taken over from Triple H. The match itself is good, though unsurprising. Punk mostly dominates, with Swagger putting up a good fight but only gaining control very briefly. It really picks up after the commercials, though. Swagger has some great counters, with Punk showing off his never say die attitude. It's a good enough match that it feels like it should be a championship match. Punk wins, though it's kind of iffy – Swagger clearly kicked out before three.
After the match we get a brief promo between Ryder and Cena – Ryder is clearly nervous, which suits him well. Following the break there is a good promo featuring the Miz and Ricardo Rodriguez. I'm glad they're still using Rodriquez despite Del Rio's injury – he's remarkably good. Following this, we find out that the Four Horsemen are being inducted. While I think they deserve it, are they now inducting stables? Does that mean DX is going to be inducted?
Rodriguez insulting R-Truth further proves to me that he is fantastic. I like that R-Truth is working with the “Whats” now. R-Truth is getting good at working the crowd. Miz comes out and attacks, and I find myself completely bored and barely watch the rest of this segment.
Here comes Jericho! I like that they mentioned the time he defeated Steve Austin and The Rock in the same night. I guess the lighted jacket is his new thing? I kind of miss the countdown. As he comes out to the ring, I get the sinking feeling that this might end up the same as last week, which is strengthened when he just keeps pointing at the crowd for a few minutes. Yes, I get that you're excited to be back – say something already! And then he looks like he's about to start crying. Seriously? I don't know, maybe there will be a big payoff for it? I really hope so. Don't get me wrong, I've been a Jerichoholic since the days of WCW, but so far I'm disappointed.
Hey look, a Divas match! I didn't care at all until Kane's music started playing. Zack Ryder runs out to save her, and they run all the way out to his car, where Ryder shows that he has no idea how to change a tire.
Apparently I misheard John Laurinitis (The Executive Vice President of Talent Relations and the Interim General Manager of Raw) earlier, as it's Ziggler who is facing Cena in the final match while Ryder and Eve still try to escape. I like Ziggler – he's a fantastic heel, and I particularly liked it when he was doing a headstand. The amount of showing off he's doing is hilarious, and he really does it well. When the Titantron shows Ryder getting attacked by Kane, Cena gets distracted and barely gets out to try and help Ryder. Kane takes advantage of Cena's kindness to choke him out, after chokeslamming Ryder off a loading dock.
Final verdict on the night: Kane is great, Jericho is still disappointing, John Laurinitis (The Executive Vice President of Talent Relations and the Interim General Manager of Raw) and Ricardo Rodriguez are better than they have any right to be. This was a mostly good episode.
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