When ratings are at a low from the previous week , what better way then to have Vince McMahon address the WWE audience, when I say address he was interrupted by the WWE champion CM punk, with the company of Paul Heyman within minutes. Both punk and Vince delivered a excellent promo about respect and facing John Cena at Hell in a Cell. Both speeches included valid points though you you can't help but feel for Punk. I know he's a heel and is supposed to come across as a douchebag but he makes great reasons as to why he should not face Cena at Hell in the Cell. Punk has defeated Cena many times for the championship in the past and its time to give someone else a crack, however Cena is one of the most respectable former champions and to be the best you have to beat the best. This resulted in Punk slapping Vince in the face. Elements of the famous feud between Stone Cold and Vince were on show and references were made towards that heated battle. You can't help but feel there teasing a Punk Stone Cold match in the future with the many references to Austin within recent weeks. It was a great shock to the viewers to then watch Vince challenge Punk to a match later on that night, something no one saw coming and gained massive cheers in the Sacramento crowd. Thus was an excellent segment on Raw and would of dramatically boosted ratings, If it was not for Monday Night Football i'm sure there wouldn't be as much concern.
Before this main segment Raw kicked off with MR poster boy John Cena, nothing really evolved from his promo in terms of storyline, it was just a segment to keep the crowd happy as he is currently injured. He did his usual talk about how he misses the crowd and some terrible impressions of Team Hell No that was embarrassing to anyone other the age of 12 though the kiddos love it. Brodus Clay then took the stage for a supposed match with R-Truth though they ended up dancing. Both guys are very talented though there gimmicks are simply awful, I'm all for humour within wrestling but when you have a guy who could be built like a pure monster, instead he's dancing around like Barney the dinosaur, and then you have a guy who has an invisible friend, you'd think you was watching Japanese wrestling. Thankfully it was interrupted by the great Vince Mcmahon which truly kicked of things and led to the great CM punk Vince debate.
There was also some wrestling in between, the tag team division is truly evolved within recent weeks and there was 2 more matches in the tournament to be held which was Rey and Sin Cara vs The Prime time Players. I have begun to really take to the Prime Time Players and believe they have a great future ahead of them, however as predictable as WWE can be you can guess who won. The 2 masked cretins how are fan favourites for there high flying approach but do nothing for me, its inevitable there building up to Wrestlemania where Rey will pass on the touch, the match was OK but just too predictable with the same finish we have seen for weeks. The other tag match was the Rhodes Scholars, which consists of the team of Cody Rhodes and Damien Sandow vs the underdogs of Zack Ryder and Santino Marrela. Was good to see the Rhodes Scholars win but was not the best of tag matches I have ever witnessed. Santino and Ryder provided us with there usual goofiness in the ring which is a shame as both, especially Santino are talented wrestlers and can put on good matches. However I am a big fan on Sandow so happy to see them getting pushed to the next round.
I like The Miz but he's been pretty bad since returning from shooting a movie, what with this whole talk show gimmick he seems to have at the moment. He was pretty poor again tonight in an awful segment involving Larry King, I had no idea who he is but went along with it. The promo also included Kofi Kingston. Even though Miz is one of the best on the mic it was a poorly executed promo, but there is potential to build a feud with Kofi Kingston which would be welcomed.
Ryback continues to do what he has been doing for every week now it seems, fair play to him though as he has got himself over with the crowd. I am still not convinced by him and he needs a lengthly match with someone on the upper card instead of facing 2 jobbers for what seems like the 100th time. I think a heel turn would really suit him and joining Punk and Heymans stable. Ryback also continues to hunt down the WWE Champion and gets you thinking if Cena can't make the match at Hell in a Cell then punk will face Ryback but i think its too soon for that to happen.
Team Hell No continue to entertain, and in Daniel Bryan, aside from Cena you have one of the most over guys in wrestling right now. His anger management partnership with Kane has been brilliant and there unorthodox procedure of winning matches has been greatly entertaining. The two have brilliant chemistry between each other and every time they shout "Im the Tag Team Chapions." you can't help but smile. Easily the best night of the match was when they took on Ziggler and Del Rio which again Team Hell No one in comedic fashion.
Big Show and Sheamus continue to build upon there rivalry when Sheamus battled Wade Barrett in and entertaining battle, until Big Show and Tensai for some unknown reason interrupted. I just feel they do this too often to build up storylines. I was enjoying the match until the interruption and left a bit of a downer on things. Its good to see Wade back and he's a main evener in the making. There was a also a Diva match, that enough mentioned on that.
The storyline between Punk and Vince continued to develop throughout the night with backstage segments with JR trying to convince Vince to backdown. Same with Heyman to Punk as he believed it was a bad idea for the long run. The match was entertaining with a few good spots such as vince charging headfirst after punk over the announcers table. If anything it felt like vince was trying to hog the limelight a little and he came of better overall in the match, which is not a good advert for your WWE champion against a opponent of much greater age. There was also the use of Kendo sticks and was more like a brawl. Ryback interrupted the match in great fashion as he hunted down his next victim while Punk was about to GTS Vince. You can't deny how over the guy is which led to a brawl inside the ring thanks to the assistance of Cena. In typical heel fashion Punk manages to escape the ring from the clutches of Ryback to which Vince announces a pipe bomb of his own by announcing punk will either fight Cena or Ryback at Wrestlemania.
Overall it was a good Raw, much better than previous weeks, however unfortunately the spotlight is going to be stolen by the fact CM Punk was accused of hitting out at a fan, which could lead to major discipline. Hopefully not as the storyline has really picked up within recent weeks and CM Punk is playing a blinder of a character, but you can't do what he did though I understand he needed to protect himself and the security should have done better. Expect to see a new champion at Hell in a Cell which will be a shame as Punk needs to be the one who defends to make WWE in general even slightly interesting.
7/10
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