1/11 WWE Raw onsite report: A very detailed report on Monday's Raw show including Shawn Michaels returning, members of the production crew watching the college football game, and more


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1/11 WWE Raw onsite report: A very detailed report on Monday's Raw show including Shawn Michaels returning, members of the production crew watching the college football game, and more
Jan 11, 2011 - 02:18 PM


Jimmy Eaton of the Perspective of The Common Fan radio show attended the WWE Raw show on Monday in Nashville, Tenn. and passed along the following report.

My fiance' Jenn and I got back from Raw here in Nashville around 11:00 PM CST (Literally seconds after the National Championship ended, thank goodness for radio!) and I have to say that it was certainly an interesting, newsworthy show. I really enjoyed it for the experience per the usual as I never come expecting a ton of excellent wrestling in the ring.

Despite one really good match between John Morrison and Sheamus, wrestling wasn't all there, but when we got an awesome HBK surprise induction announcement to the HOF, PLUS the appearance and Super Kick... Well, let's just saw I wasn't disappointed with no Divas match to fill out the show.

We got here about 45 minutes prior to the doors opening (About 6 CST) and walked two blocks in the snow from our parking garage to the arena. Fun, but of course not what the readers are wanting to hear about. For the record, thanks WWE for making us wait so long in the cold before letting us in. Bastards. At least prices for merchant were a tad lower then I remember.

No word on Cena appearing at first, still playing the tease. The crowd seems to be pretty full despite the snow but the 3rd level of the Bridgestone Arena is tarped off. A ton of kids hear too, the most I've seen at a WWE show but that's no surprise.

Most of the videos playing prior for the crowd were WM highlights, action figures, merchandise, troops, etc.

Crowd was pretty loud, but not deafening. Seeing how it plays out on TV will be interesting. Big pops via video so far for Cena, Edge, and Morrison. A fan yelled out that Mike Chioda is his hero. Funny.

Most video heat- CM Punk. Another nice sign that he deserves this push that can hopefully only help him down the line as a top heel.

Speaking of videos, I've seen the production crew watching both the National Championship and on Facebook. Found that interesting. Not to mention a stupid fan who off and on throughout the show was trying to block the photographers and take pictures with his iPhone of the production crew's TV monitor. Seriously, not making that up. Moron.

Jenn and I had a blast from our seats though that were pretty much right next to the production staff halfway up on the lower level. Near perfect seats actually. Wegrabbed some merchandise that included the program, a Cena foam finger, Generic WWE shirt, 50 Greatest Superstars DVD, and Nexus shirt. Both the Nexus shirt and DVD were only 15 bucks so I jumped on those while the rest were for Jenn.

Below is a match breakdown with ratings and crowd reaction;

Segment 1- Santino and Vladamir Koslov vs... Oh wait, no tag team title match. Shucks. (N/A)

Nexus had a good chunk of heat despite how horrible they've been booked. Punk displays his usual excellent heel persona to the crowds dismay. The group for me personally already looks more credible then they have in a long time. Nice start with the "initiations". Live crowd still waiting for a reason to care though.

Match 1- R-Truth vs. Alberto Del Rio (*)

Nice heat for both Del Rio and Ricardo. Always like seeing his pyro, looks great live. The match was nothing special but the punch Truth threw on Ricardo look pretty good from our vantage point. Sounded good to and a great sell by Ricardo. Good way to make Del Rio look like the typical, sneaky heel. Nice reaction for Truth in Nashville, oddly enough, where TNA began as many know. Good lord does Jenn love to chant "What's Up!". Ugh.

The singing by Ricardo was painful for so long and was stuck in my head for most of the night. Ugh. Interesting note though is that Ricardo stopped early a few times and we saw the cameraman keep giving him cues to continue. I think near the end he was just glad to be done, heh. Speaking of which, now I have Del Rio's entrance music stuck in my head! One last point on Del Rio, he really reminds me of the Model, Rick Martel with how he carries himself and dresses. Food for thought.

Segement 2- After this we had the biggest heat of the night with the GM chime and Michael Cole. Yes, Cole has more heat then CM Punk. But is it go away heat? I'd say yes more than anything. His interaction with Lawler really took away from the show though and seemed out of place with the banter. Really slowed down the show and while the crowd popped for Lawler and the Randy Orton announcement for the main event, they didn't get loud until Morrison's entrance a little while later.

Segment 3- Nexus strapping of Husky Harris. This was pretty brutal looking and the crowd reacted as such. Even Jenn mentioned to me that it "Looked pretty real and painful." I would have hated to be the guy that draw that as my initiation, heh.

Match 2- Mark Henry and Daniel Bryan vs. Ted Dibease and Tyson Kidd (*1/2)

Great to still see Tyson getting somewhat of a push, but taking the pin to Henry was a bit lame. Then again, at least Ted Jr. didn't take yet another pin or submission. Nice reaction for Bryan too but the match wasn't anything special. I still think Bryan has the makings of being a star with more mic time and a feud with Kidd looking incredible on paper. And also, can the Bella's skirts be any tighter?

NXT Plug- Dead reaction. Ouch.

Segment 4- Big Show came out to a huge pop to reference Wade Barret. At least he gave a reason as to WHY he was on the show. Still think they need to reference that more when they bring on Smackdown stars. Either way, a decent segment to get Show over, which still doesn't make sense entirely besides his crowd reaction. I like him, but would rather see more wrestling. Fine for what it was.

Match 3- John Morrison vs. King Sheamus (***)

Easily the match of the night, both guys worked hard and Morrison had the biggest pop of the night up to that point. Sheamus is entertaining in the ring and incredibly solid from what I've seen. I've never been a fan of "King" gimmicks though but we all know what it's leading up to...

For the record, my fiance' loves R-Truth but hates Sheamus. I wanted to sock her one. Kidding of course, this is PG after all. Yet this show, not so much.

Segment 5- We then had the LONG drawing out of Gabriel and Slater with the kendo sticks. Punk was great here and the crowd surprisingly in the arena popped pretty big when the two of them went to hit Punk. After leaving everyone sounded disappointed, but still a bit interested. Jenn put it well by saying multiple times "Get to the point".

Segment 6- Massive reaction to The King introducing HBK as the newest inductee to the HOF. The crowd blew up and even I was shocked. I give Jenn a ton of credit. I said it would be Arn Anderson. She said "Who? It'll be Shawn Michaels". I laughed, called her cute, and didn't think for a second that it would be. Yep, awesome surprise. Even after that, I personally didn't think he'd do more then a video. Then the music hit and even I jumped out of my chair. An awesome moment that I won't soon forget and it makes me feel better that I won't be at WM this year to see it. Hell, I saw Ric Flair, so I can't be to upset I saw Michaels at least here in Nashville! Best part of the show live by a long shot.

Segment 7- CM Punk teases jump off the Tron. Cool moment as no one saw where he was a first, but it looks like they raised part of the set for this as it lowered afterwards. Interesting segment and the crowd was hot to see Cena, but disappointed that he wasn't there live. Or so we thought. During the following commercial he interrupted Punk again, who was correcting the crowd that his name was CM PUNK. You tell em' sir, because that's a lame joke if you ask me. Cena said he'll take him on tonight, hence the advertised dark match main event (See below). I was surprised he said the word "Ass" and the crowd even popped more I think because of it. Between a handful of things tonight, this hasn't been a PG show and there were a TON of kids. Make up your mind WWE.

Match 4- Randy Orton/Jerry Lawler vs. The Miz/Alex Riley
(**1/2)

Not a bad match, crowd was really behind the faces and King did the usual classic job of getting the cheers before the hot tag. Great job by all four guys, it just felt like nothing really special. I'm still amazed at how the King still works at his age. Really a treat to see live. Before I knew it, it was on to the dark match.

Dark Match- Cena/Orton defeated Punk/Miz (**)

Cena wrestled with Orton against Punk and Miz as advertised. Cole was the special ref. Cena looked good, so the injury must be healed or not as bad. He didn't take to many bumps but did all his signature moves. Orton carried it and Punk looks fresh too off his injury.

All guys played to the crowd well and the crowd ate it up, especially loving Cena being there after thinking it would be only on video. CM Sucks chants, heel comedy, methodical, old school feel to the match. Classic heel work playing up to Cena hot tag.

Finish was Cole not seeing the tag and both Orton and Cena hitting their finishers for the win after another red came out. Crowd loved it. Fun way to end the show.

Overall this was a fun show, but still underwhelming in some areas. If I was watching at home it would get a solid C but being there live, I'll call this a B- show.

Here we have the typically report pop/heat list;

Biggest pops:

1.) HBK by a LONG shot- Great surprise for the live crowd. Amazingly enough, Jenn called him getting inducted AND being there. Go figure. The Sweet Chin Music was probably the peak of the night.

2.) John Cena- This was mainly after he appeared on screen and then when he announced to the live crowd that he was in Nashville and wanted to take on Punk tonight. Not surprising.

3.) Randy Orton- WWE does a good job it seems usually with no having Orton over exposed. The crowd went ballistic when he finally was announced in the tag team main event and when he came out for his entrance.

Notable mentions: Jerry Lawler, Big Show and John Morrison- Lawler got a great reaction throughout the night, just not as much as the three above. For Big Show, possibly because it wasn't expected, but he got a great reaction. I've wondered why they've kept him near the top for so long but folks, that's why. Kids love him. Morrison got a really nice pop and until the second half of the show, had by far the biggest reaction.

Most heat:

1.) Michael Cole/GM Ding- By far the biggest heel heat, not to mention go away heat mixed in. This started when he came down before the show kicked off, all the way through the dark match main event for the live crowd when he refused to see if Miz tapped out in the STF.

2.) Alberto Del Rio- He took the lead over Punk and Miz here when he interupted Shawn Michaels. A lot of time on TV period, really last night. Interesting, but I'm not complaining.

2.) CM Punk/Miz- Throughout videos and his stuff with Nexus, he was fantastic at drawing heat. Good stuff all around and the crowd kept telling him of course to "jump" off the 'tron. Miz had the typical good heel reaction here. He's great with his mannerisms and always irks the crowd just enough to almost get anyone he's in the ring with a more positive reaction. Nice to see him serious too in his promo, as with most of them tonight.

Here are just a few "What the hell was that?" moments throughout the show;

1.) Justin Roberts playing elevator with King and Cole- No joke, but Justin was all giddy in front of King and Cole before the main even rising up and down and waving like he was on an elevator in front of the announce table. Um, ok. Just a bit odd to see.

2.) Alicea Fox laughing after her match on the way to the back with a ref, plainly in the view of fans- Just thought this was interesting because when you're at a live event you see more.

3.) Huge "We want JR!" chants all night- There were a group of loud fans REALLY wanting JR. Just a fun note as most of us share their wanting to have good ol' JR back behind the announce table.

4.) Two segments in poor taste?- I only say this because, while I wasn't offended, some may have been with how Michael McGillicutty was carried out in the opening segment, and then the harness bit regarding how Owen Hart died. Small things to point out, but they were just thoughts at the time.

Well, with that said I hope everyone enjoyed reading this report and if you'd like to hear more of my thoughts and other insight, head on over to BlogTalkRadio.com/potcf at 9 PM EST/8 CST tonight for Perspective of the Common Fan. So until next time, this has been your perspective, from a common fan.

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