Mark Out Moments - Monday Night Raw: Bret Hart makes a surprise appearance, New Tag Team Champions crowned, Alex Riley fired by The Miz, and more


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Gessner's Blog


Mark Out Moments - Monday Night Raw: Bret Hart makes a surprise appearance, New Tag Team Champions crowned, Alex Riley fired by The Miz, and more
May 24, 2011 - 05:23 PM


By Mark Gessner

- Really nice surprise having Bret Hart appear on Raw following his appearance at Over The Limit on Sunday. However, while not advertising him for the pay-per-view is understandable as it was a surprise for those who paid for the show, why not advertise him appearing on Raw to potentially pop ratings. It was nice seeing him get to interact with the up-and-coming R-Truth. Not sure why the anonymous GM would make Hart the guest referee of the main event when the GM said that they did not like Hart following Nexus limousine attack last summer, but I don't think we're supposed to remember that since creative probably doesn't.

- Interesting move to put the Tag Team Championships on David Otunga and Michael McGuillicutty after having Kane and Big Show beat C.M. Punk and Mason Ryan at Over The Limit clean. Hopefully this is a way of rebuilding the New Nexus with Punk challenging Cena and potentially, as scary as it may be, Batis-two challenging Kofi for the United States Championship. Will putting the championships on all of them or having them being made out to be potential threats for championships be enough to rebuild them? Hopefully, but I am not holding my breath. It's just a possible direction that creative could choose to go in.

- As much as car angles tend to suck (see Rikishi and Stone Cold or John Cena and JBL for examples), it is interesting to see where WWE will go from here following Ricardo Rodriguez hitting Big Show. Will we see Kane versus Del Rio or potentially Ricardo's in-ring debut and have Del Rio and Rodriguez versus Kane and the recovering Big Show. Yes, I know Rodriguez has wrestled on NXT, but if a tree falls in the woods and nobody hears it... Why did the medical staff need a heart monitor though for Big Show for a knee injury?

- The two minute Jack Swagger vs. Evan Bourne was two of the most productive moments on Raw this week. You had Swagger dominating an opponent and winning clean in two minutes but made Bourne look good with his post match kick to the celebrating Swagger out of nowhere.

- Michael Cole's apology and change in personality was fun to see. It was a mixed bag however. If this signifies the end of what seemed to be the never-ending angle between Cole and Jerry Lawler, that's great because it has ran its course. However, if Cole goes back to being a straight play-by-play announcer, I am not happy with that change. We've seen from his years of calling Smackdown and following his move to Raw a few years ago, he is not good at play-by-play with the exception of a few years with Taz and his stint with JBL as his color commentator. He is boring and unenthusiastic unless motivated by his partner. Hopefully the last hour of this weeks Raw was just a prelude to him being revealed as the anonymous G.M. and Jim Ross goes back to being the voice of Raw.

- While Alex Riley beating down Miz following the verbal berating he received is a good thing for Riley, where does Miz go from here? He gave up quickly with little resistance to the STF on Sunday and then got his ass handed to him by Riley who was made to look like an "ameba and troglodyte" by Miz over the past few months. Hopefully Riley will receive a serious push when he moves to Smackdown where he was drafted and Miz finds away to not only rebuild his heat not only on the mic which should be easy, but can establish some in-ring credibility as well.

- When Kharma came out to the ring and subsequently broke down and started crying, my reaction was the same as the fan that the WWE's mic picked up and censored, "what the f---?" If WWE is giving her character depth and will have a payoff where she lulls the other Divas into a false sense of security, only to destroy them all, great. If this is the first step of WWE getting her away from her world-beater, dominant force stigma, I along with many others will be pissed.

- Drew McIntyre gets pyro added to his entrance but lost in four minutes. I do not understand how this happens. Pyro is generally saved for big names due to the expense of using it every week. so why add it only to have him lose in under five minutes? While McIntyre looked good working over Kofi's leg throughout the match, it would have helped to establish him further if he dominated and defeated the U.S. Champion.

- Back-to-back great tributes for the passing of "Macho Man" Randy Savage. First, with the phenomenal tribute video, which can be seen here. And secondly, with the new wrestling trunks and kick pads that C.M. Punk debuted last night. While I my first real exposure to Macho Man at the tail-end of his career, primarily when he was a member of the NWO Wolfpac, I realize the impact he had on the business and have seem some of his greatest matches throughout his career. Rest In Peace Macho Man, thoughts and prayers go out to the entire Poffo family, his friends, and his fans.

- The main event was a fun use of Bret Hart and a way to send the fans home happy. Interesting to see the faces cheat to win and even more interesting to see John Cena attempt to out jump Randy Orton following the victory, especially only twenty-four hours after a twenty minute beat down by Miz in the main event on Sunday. WWE has left there options open as to who will challenge Cena at Capitol Punishment in a few weeks. Hopefully, it will not lead to a multi-person match but it seems like a direction that they are going in.

Thanks again very much for clicking the link that brought you to my "Mark Out Moments" for Raw. If you have any thoughts, questions, comments, or critiques, feel free to email me at kliq4life28@gmail.com or tweet me at @MarkGessner. I will be back tomorrow for "Gessner's Ground and Pound" with a look at this past weeks news in MMA.

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