By Will Pruett

- If WWE cares about any of their fans, there will be a new Raw theme song next week. Please, WWE eliminate the awfulness that is Nickelback.

- Is it possible that we saw a full Raw intro this week because there will be a new set and look to the show next week? This may be hopeful thinking on my part, but it would be great to see.

- C.M. Punk returning to the scene of his breakout promo last year made for a fun moment. Punk's career has developed quite nicely since that moment. It may not be what many hoped for, but Punk is now the established number two guy in WWE, which is remarkable.

- Big Show had a really strong night as far as promos go. His promo in the opening segment was pretty much perfect. He was able to get under Punk's skin and twist the truth into what he wanted it to be. I've been down on Show since his heel turn, but this night was actually really good for him.

- The announcers did a really nice job of hyping John Cena cashing in his Money in the Bank on this show. There was a nice amount of impatience, combined with being opportunistic in it. This was a great hook for the rest of the show.

- I was surprised to see the Primetime Players vs. R-Truth and Kofi Kingston take place on this show. There wasn't any hype going into this, after all the time they spent telling their story in the last couple weeks.

- Have Kofi and Truth defeated every tag team in WWE at this point?

- Daniel Bryan and A.J. were really great backstage. A.J.'s bewildered expression was fun and Bryan's over-the-top sincerity made me laugh. Both of their segments were great on this show. It'll be fun to see how Bryan and A.J. develop next week and in the months to come.

- With how amazingly loaded next week's 1,000th Raw is, it was nice to see them announce the DX reunion for the opening of the show. That should be enough to draw viewers into that key first segment. I doubt anything of substance will occur, but it would be fun if all of the past DX members showed up. Road Dogg, Billy Gunn, and X-Pac would spice this up a little bit.

- I didn't see the Tout overkill that many thought occurred. It was a fair amount of promotion, but I expected more. I still believe that Tout is a good choice for WWE.

- It seems like Alberto Del Rio beats a mid card comedy act after every loss on pay-per-view. This week it was Zack Ryder. This entire match existed to put Del Rio in the ring for the post-match angle. It worked, but seeing Del Rio beat Santino and Ryder is getting boring.

- Rey Mysterio's return was a really well-done moment. It worked as a surprise and was exciting for everyone involved. Did Rey look smaller to anyone else? It's actually a positive to me that he did, as he was often carrying too much weight before.

- Heath Slater is doing a nice job getting his personality over in his current role. He is funny and really easy to dislike. It never feels out of place to see an old guy beat him up.

- Rikishi's return was fun. It was the basic Slater squash, but I enjoyed it. The moment with him dancing with his sons was pretty cool. I only wish we would have seen a moment between Rikishi and Brodus Clay.

- Once again, Smackdown commercials are worthless. WWE would be better off not airing them during Raw if they plan to use them the way they currently are.

- The Miz returning and being paired with Eve works for me. They're fun characters that I would be fine seeing attached to each other for the near future.

- It sure seemed like Daniel Bryan was turning babyface during his segment with A.J. First, they were paired against Eve and Miz, a heel duo. They won by being smarter than their opponents. Bryan seemed more sweet than insincere. Maybe they will undo this next week with a great angle at the wedding, but at this moment, it looks like Bryan might be a babyface.

- I love wrestling weddings. They're silly, but they are the perfect kind of silly. In the universe that wrestling exists in, weddings are an added bonus. They're predictable, in that they never end well, but unpredictable because we never know quite how they will go wrong.

- The Jack Swagger vs. Ryback "match" was pretty fun. I liked Swagger's attack and the selling that Ryback had to do. Ryback did a nice job making the comeback. This was a good angle to change up the Ryback formula.

- The crowds are starting to get into Ryback's "Feed me more" chants. That's great for him.

- Chris Jericho and Dolph Ziggler put together a great segment. Jericho is seeming more and more like a babyface these days, especially since he is playing with a rock star twist on his character when he first returned. Ziggler cut a very good promo tearing him down here.

- How great is it to see Ziggler finally working with an established star that it seems like he can get over on? Ziggler now has the Money in the Bank briefcase and an opponent that can make him into a star. I am very much looking forward to the eventual match between Ziggler and Jericho. Let's hope it's at SummerSlam, so I get to see it live.

- The rundown of Raw 1,000 reminded me of just how loaded that card is. No matter what, this will be an exciting and newsworthy show. There is only one 1,000th episode and WWE is pulling out all the stops for this one.

- Was that the third time Brodus Clay has beat JTG?

- I never expected to enjoy Big Show vs. C.M. Punk. Their feud in 2010 was very disappointing, but this match was great. Show looked better than he has in the last year. Punk looked gritty, tough, and determined.

- Big Show vs. Punk was the perfect example of a match that needed to go to a non-finish. It was well fought all the way to the non-finish and both men looked great. The entire segment worked for me, mostly because of how great Punk was allowed to look, even while doing a copious amount of selling.

- Big Show's promo encouraging John Cena to cash in was remarkable. It went on just a little too long, but it worked. He made the logical choice of cashing in now seem absolutely devious. Show helped this program quite a bit.

- John Cena announcing that he and C.M. Punk would main event the 1,000th episode of Raw for the WWE Championship was huge. I don't feel like it is too soon to go back to that match and pulling out all the stops for one major episode of TV doesn't bother me. We know the match will be great, but the finish is what we have to debate about now.

- I'm still predicting John Cena to lose his Money in the Bank title shot. It will probably set up a rematch at SummerSlam between them. Cena winning the match wouldn't surprise me, or even bother me, but I believe the better call is a Cena loss. Either way, I'm looking forward to the match quite a bit.

This was a great episode of Raw building up to another major episode. Almost every segment pointed towards Raw 1,000 and most of them were genuinely entertaining on their own. With everything set to occur next week, that show will be must-see from beginning to end.

This show also began some different angles that I'm excited to see. Jericho and Ziggler should have a great feud. Punk and Cena will do something very fun and creative together. Parts of the show felt new this week, which I haven't been able to say since shortly after WrestleMania.

So, what did you think of the show? Agree? Disagree? Either way, feel free to email me at itswilltime@gmail.com or to follow me and interact on twitter at twitter.com/itswilltime.

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