Review: WWE RAW

Went to see the show live yesterday.  I saw the trucks pulling in on Saturday night, so I can't imagine what their travel schedule's like since they were in San Diego last week.

Wasn't quite sure what seats we had except that they were right behind each other.  Turns out that they were right next to where the Zamboni comes in, so literally our seats made up the rows. Quite cool that I didn't have to deal with any louts next to me, but because they weren't part of the concrete, any time someone over 150 lbs walked up or down the steps, my chair shook along with the camera.  Anyways, to get decent shots of the ring, I only need to use my max optical zoom of 10x, and for the ramp it was about 15x digital zoom.

They taped 2 matches for Superstars:
Sheamus vs. Heath Slater  - Sheamus got a huge pop of course.  Heath got a really good pop too.  Maybe that's why he's still around.  It was very entertaining.
Daniel Bryan vs. Drew McIntyre -  Pretty good pop for Daniel, not quite as huge for Sheamus.  Drew got a decent pop.  Good match with some back'n'forth.  Daniel won, but didn't get a very long cheer at the end, although he did stay around a bit.

I thought they'd have fireworks for RAW as well, but it was only for Superstars. So I wasn't quite sure of when to stand up.  Oh well.  I don't know why they still have the laptop around when the mysterious GM hasn't been around for months.

Didn't see Alberto's car except on the Titantron.  Looked like had some problems getting out.  I like Richardo Rodriguez, he's good on the mic, and has a lot of touches that are fun.  I like Alberto, but it's fun to boo him too b/c it gives him pop.  Stupid Cena.  CM Punk is so right, it's complete deja vu to have Cena ask for yet another title shot.  Bit unfair to make Alberto be in a match w/o any warning, but he's been a real good champ.  Until Cole mentioned that he'd won it on Sunday, defended it on Monday, and fought on Smackdown, I didn't add them all together. Considering he'd a match 3 days in a row, and very good matches, that's pretty awesome.

Alberto Del Rio vs. John Morrison

Very good match.  Again, I'd forgotten that John had a repaired neck, so I was wondering why Alberto spent so long in the holding positions.  It's hard to take pictures and watch at the same time, b/c my camera blacks out while it's saving, so I'll miss stuff.  Or I'd be watching and then I'd forget to have my camera up.  And since it's on auto-focus, it's takes a bit of time to correct.  Which is when I miss some moves.  Yup, on TV, it's annoying that they're telegraphing moves, but when it's live, it just goes soooo fast.  Anyways, very exciting match, and didn't know who'd win.

Nikki Bella vs. Eve

Okay, so if it's Eve's match, why the F is Kelly holding her belt up and walking in front of Eve when they're going down the ramp?!  Stupid b!tch.  The Bellas are pretty amusing when they're heels.  As faces, the whole "Twin Magic" doesn't make sense.  I'm neutral on Eve.  She can do moves, but she's not interesting.  And that stupid Kelly doing the legdrop on Nikki when she's coming in to pull out her sister.  Some champ.  Wish Beth and Nat would come down, but they just stood up on the ramp.   I had almost as many pics of Beth and Nat as there were of the Divas match.

Alex Riley vs. Jack Swagger

Alex got a pretty good pop.  But when Vicki came out and announced Jack, wow, that's pretty cool.  Didn't know they were on try-out basis. (again, that's why it's good to watch the show on TV after you've seen it live)  So is it jealousy that Dolph doesn't want Vicki to manage anyone else?  Even though he dismisses her a lot nowadays?  Hmmm.  Anyways, I don't see how it's a bad thing that one of the qualities Vicki looks for in prospective clients is their appearance.  She knows that a good looking wrestler will last longer and go farther than ones that aren't.



Kevin Nash and HHH and CM Punk

Kevin could've apologized to Punk, but it probably would've meant the same as when Punk apologized to that Jack Larynitis. Loved the reference to Tim Horton's.  Not sure if it's only in Canada that we call it Timmy's or Tim Ho's, but it was wierd to hear the full name except in commercials.  Enjoyed the talk a bit too much, so didn't take any photos when Punk was in HHH's face and missed Kevin punching him out.  Later on, Jack Larynitis (I know it's Laurinaitis, but since he does sound pretty bad) says the Nash was involved in an incident on the Yellowhead "Parkway".  Dude, it's Yellowhead Trail.  But at least they got the Royal Alex right ... because it was written on a paper.


Kofi Kingston and Evan Bourne vs. David Otunga and Michael McGillicutty

After that long-ass title, I'd missed good pics of Kofi's entrance. Anyways, got some really nice pics through the match, and it was a very good match.  I'm not sure why people don't like Kofi. He's well-spoken, has some unmatched moves, and can do aerial and matwork.  Oh well.  Glad the title's changed b/c Otunga and McGillicutty were pretty boring.  They need a manager.

Santino vs. beatdown from Miz and R-Truth

It's true, it's kinda mind-boggling that Santino still gets such huge pop after not appearing for a long time, or winning.  Anyways, the crowd was soooo loud yelling "What?!" back.  Didn't catch a lot of the insults that Miz & R-Truth slung out until I saw it on TV.  Good entertainment.


CM Punk vs. John Cena
The hosts on Score's Aftermath said that they were worried that CM Punk was becoming overdone.  I thought that we were about as loud as before, although I was getting coughing fits from cheering so long and loud.  Anyways, they didn't see what happened after the feed cut. And unfortunately I don't have a $1000 camera that can take auto-focus continous shots faster than 0.7/sec because I'd have a lot of pics before or after a cool move.  Or they'd be pretty fuzzy. But I still have pics that showed some cool stuff too.  Anyhoo, does the job for everyday things.

So after RAW when off-air, Miz and R-Truth come out and put the beatdown on CM Punk and Cena.  Alberto joins in too, and this goes on a while.  Then Punk and Cena beat them off, and do their respective finishing moves.  Alberto loses his scarf in the ring and Punk takes it and wears it.  Alberto sends Richardo in to get it, and Punk plays matadore with it.  Punk hands it to Cena to have some fun, but Cena doesn't play along too much.  Anyways, Richardo gets slammed and Punk jauntily wears the scarf and does the Ric Flair strut.  So they're playing Cena's music at this time, but Punk is totally hamming it up with the scarf.  Then when they switch to Punk's music, the crowd really explodes, so Cena bows down to Punk, and leaves the ring.  And Punk had fun in the ring, wearing and elbowdropping a fan's hat and taking a lotta photos with fans.  And he showed off a fan's sign for a CM Punk Ice Cream bar.

Afterwards, we went by the loading ramp, but they had all the trailers way down by the entrance, so we didn't see any superstars walking up.  Oh well, it was still awesome, but did I get a migraine and sore throat from it.  Didn't have earplugs, but as long as it's not all the time, I should be ok.

Summerslam 2011

Saw it in the theatres with D again.  Not very crowded this time, we had an empty seat on both sides of us even though we were in the 4th row.

Alberto Del Rio/Miz/R-truth vs. Kofi Kingston/Mysterio/John Morrison

An unannounced match, and it was really good.  Everyone got to play, although Kofi and Miz took most of the bumps.  Lots of good spots and back & forth to keep it exciting and moving.  Good storytelling too.  I love Alberto's Ferrari.  I may not know cars but I know what I like.

Mark Henry vs. Sheamus
Also a very good match.  Kinda wierd to see Sheamus as the face.  And really, is Mark Henry that much a bully?  He's just trying to get noticed.  So if it takes out a few people, well that's the biz.  But I think it was supposed to go a little longer, except the wall broke.  But still a very good match, and moved the story along.

Beth Phoenix vs. Kelly Kelly
Not sure I like the outfit on Beth.  Really doesn't fit her image.  And what's with having no headband?  That's why she lost.  And that she couldn't do most of her moves, and obviously didn't hit Kelly when she could've.  Did like her rubbing her butt into Kelly's face. Geez, waaay too many rest moves.  Barely any back & forth, and it's just so tedious watching Kelly.  I'm really hoping that they do more w/ the Divas of Doom (I also like Destruction better.  LoD has doom already), and add Tamina.

Liked seeing Jimmy Hart again.  Didn't really care about the musical guest.

Good match between Wade and Daniel.  Honestly, all the guys did really well at wrestling and telling a story.

Christian vs. Orton
Totally awesome to see Edge.  I hope he helps Christian recover from this loss.  Anyways, the match was awesome, and did they take a lotta damage.  Wish Christian was able to let loose a bit more.  He was getting there, but of course they wanted to focus on Orton going nuts.  I'd like to have seen them match the crazy.


CM Punk vs. Cena
Loved Punk's apology to the Sr. VP.  Cena did more real wrestling in this match than thru this entire year.  OMG, he did a dropkick?!  OMG, a fisherman suplex?!  Very good back & forth, although I could see Punk holding back on some of his repetoire.  Honestly thought that they'd reverse the decision, so I'm superglad that HHH upheld it and didn't get mad when Punk didn't shake his hand.  Very nice, and it looks like maybe a future storyline would be to rebuild the relationship btwn the WWE and Punk.  Whatta kicker to see Nash back.  And then to have Del Rio win the title.  Wooooo! 

Overall, it was a great PPV, even if not all my favs won.  But everyone worked really hard, told their stories, and set up for future grudges/rematches and development.  No audio/video probs this time, and work the $17.