Powell's WWE Raw Hitlist: Brock Lesnar and John Cena contract signing, Edge returns, C.M. Punk and Chris Jericho, Sheamus vs. Mark Henry with Daniel Bryan as special referee, Kane runs away like a Big Red Little Girl


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Powell Editorials


Powell's WWE Raw Hitlist: Brock Lesnar and John Cena contract signing, Edge returns, C.M. Punk and Chris Jericho, Sheamus vs. Mark Henry with Daniel Bryan as special referee, Kane runs away like a Big Red Little Girl
Apr 24, 2012 - 02:15 PM


By Jason Powell

Dot Net Members are listening to my 61-minute audio review of Monday's WWE Raw television show. Join us on the ad-free version of the website by signing up for membership now via Prowrestling.net/amember/signup.php.

WWE Raw Hits

Edge: WWE teased the contract signing to start the show and did not deliver, but they more than made up for it with the surprise appearance of Edge. The new WWE Hall of Famer delivered a good Apollo Creed speech to John Cena's Rocky Balboa. It fit the theme of what they're trying to do with Cena and Lesnar, and Edge was the right man to deliver the speech given their history together. A strong segment.

C.M. Punk and Chris Jericho: An entertaining segment with Punk playing into Jericho's claims that he's hitting the bottle. Punk was comical and Jericho pleading with Teddy Long to make Punk forfeit the belt was great. I didn't mind Punk getting the better of Jericho on the go-home show simply because it seemed like they were giving the Punk fans a quick sample of the punishment he is going to dish out Extreme Rules on Sunday. After weeks of building up heat on Jericho, it was probably best to have Punk show some fire heading into the pay-per-view.

Sheamus vs. Mark Henry with Daniel Bryan as special referee: I like the way they used Sheamus attacking the referee as a way to justify Bryan serving as special referee rather than using the typical heel general manager logic. They set up a rematch for Friday's Smackdown and, more importantly, put good heat on Bryan heading into his pay-per-view rematch.

John Laurinaitis and Teddy Long: They've done a better job of getting Laurinaitis back on track as a heel rather than making him out to be the goofball comedy figure he played at WrestleMania 28. Long is a good sympathetic figure and thus Big Johnny looks villainous for picking on him.

Brock attacks Josh Mathews: At least they didn't play the Be A Star video right after the biggest bully in WWE destroyed the undersized interviewer/stalker. I've spent years waiting for someone to rough up Mathews for popping out out of nowhere and sticking microphones in the faces of the wrestlers. I also wanted to see Brock bitch slap him when he made the whiney comment about just doing his job. Fortunately for WWE, I'm in the minority on this one, as the masses clearly viewed Lesnar's actions as heelish. Has anyone slowed down the video to see if even a single strand of Josh's hair moved during the attack?

Overall show: A minor Hit. Think about all of the bad three-hour show gimmicks they've used in the past. This was far from a flawless show, but at least it was a straight forward edition of Raw that happened to be three hours rather than a silly variety show on acid.

WWE Raw Misses

Brock Lesnar and John Cena contract signing: They successfully turned Lesnar heel in the eyes of the live crowd. The only problem is that it didn't seem like the fans who turned on Lesnar were any more interested in cheering for Cena. I really wish they would have let the fans decide which wrestler to cheer for in their first match. At the very least, I'd rather see Paul Heyman making those demands while Lesnar sits back and makes his mean face while saving his rare comments for the video packages like we saw last week (and repeatedly replayed last night). More than anything, I felt the segment went on way longer than it needed to. Lesnar's list of demands were comical and close to home, but it felt like this would appeal more with Vince McMahon and Dana White than the average fan. It was nice to see Cena keep a straight face and even show fear by keeping a chain wrapped around his fist. It's nice to see them do something outside the usual Cena playbook via the apparent losing streak gimmick.

Lord Tensai vs. R-Truth: Tensai pinned John Cena last week and was back into boring squash mode this week. Rather than take a big step forward following the upset win, it felt like Tensai took a step back to working predictable matches that fans are not responding to.

Randy Orton and Kane: Did I really see the Big Red Monster run through the crowd and up the stairs to get away from Orton?!? It was nice to see Paul Bearer again, but this was one of those segments where I couldn't help but ask myself why the cameramen couldn't have simply opened the freezer door for him. Anyway, the idea of Orton beating up Kane and making him run away like a scared little girl did not do anything to make me want to see their rematch on Sunday.

Big Show and The Great Khali vs. Cody Rhodes and Alberto Del Rio: The giant tag team bores me to sleep. It's painful to watch Khali move let alone wrestle. Meanwhile, they once again failed to put heat on the heel heading into the pay-per-view. Rather, Show chokeslammed Rhodes and pinned him with ease. Perhaps it's a sign that Cody will go over on Sunday, but it wasn't a good teaser for Sunday. A stipulation to be determined? Really?

Brodus Clay and Hornswoggle vs. Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger: The Clay gimmick took a hit when he was paired with Hornswoggle. I'm ready for the character to evolve and do something more than dance and win squash matches. Adding Hornswoggle to the mix left me feeling like what we see is what we're going to get from Clay for the time being. Fonzie has the waterskis strapped to his feet and is preparing for his jump. Meanwhile, poor Dolph Ziggler continues to be wasted in this mid-card comedy feud.

Zack Ryder and Santino Marella vs. Epico and Primo: Another week, another non-title loss for the tag champs. The idea that A.W. is stepping in to help with the lack of respect they are getting doesn't even make sense. The problem isn't about respect in the storyline since they are getting TV time. Rather, it's that they keep losing matches.

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