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Last night's taped Raw continued the established storylines from last week as we move closer to Summerslam. Team WWE still doesn't get along, with Chris Jericho and Edge actually leaving the team (for now), while Nexus remains united. Sheamus and Randy Orton both looked strong as we get closer to their title match, and Miz, with the Money In The Bank briefcase, remains an X-Factor. The only segment on the show not connected to the two big Summerslam bouts was the Divas match, which saw Melina make her return to instantly become the top contender for Alicia Fox and the Divas Title. As is usually the case when Raw is taped, WWE put on some longer, PPV quality bouts with John Cena vs. Chris Jericho and Miz vs. Randy Orton, making for a good episode.
Here's my thoughts on the show, as it happened:
Edge opened things up with a good promo about why he doesn't like his Summerslam team, and how he is going to take out Wade Barrett on his own. Enter R-Truth, who tries to convince Edge that they need to work together to beat Nexus. I like that they gave Truth the chance to do some mic work with a top star. Edge says he is going to "cut the head off the snake" that is Nexus, and doesn't want any help. The anonymous GM orders Truth to leave, and the match to take place.
Unfortunately, one of the pitfalls of a short PPV build kept coming up during this show, as Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler, in an attempt to put over the Team WWE vs. Nexus angle, kept saying how there had been dissention "for weeks" when the team was only announced two weeks ago, and the dissention has only been going on for one week.
Edge vs. Barrett was solid, and while Barrett might not be ready for the main event slot, he is showing a lot of potential. Of course, working with Edge is a big help. I hope being the "leader" of Nexus doesn't end up hurting Barrett, and he is given time to develop. Barrett avoided the spear, which was a smart move, and then calls out the troops, prompting Edge to escape, another smart move. Sometimes it is better to just get out of the way.
Backstage, Edge and John Cena argue, and I was hoping Edge might bring up how Cena didn't try to help Great Khali or Evan Bourne last week, but no such luck. Edge quits the team, leading to Jericho telling Cena he should quit. They argue, and we end up with Jericho vs. Cena later, with the loser leaving the team. Cena looks exasperated over the situation. Well, maybe he shouldn't recruit heels for his team next time!
Cool Summerslam moment, going back to 1991 when Bret Hart won the Intercontinental Title for the first time. That was a huge moment in Bret being accepted as a singles star, with Curt Hennig working the match despite a badly injured back, because he knew it would launch Bret in a big way.
John Morrison, in his only appearance of the night, chats with the Great Khali, then Michael Tarver & David Otunga show up and proclaim their respect for the Punjabi Playboy, planting some more seeds of dissention in Team WWE. They also say Cena will replace Khali with Ted DiBiase if DiBiase wins tonight. Well, it was Edge who wanted DiBiase on the team, and Edge quit, so that really doesn't seem to make sense anymore. I actually think they should have done this angle with Morrison, since they could have played up how Morrison, unlike Khali, has never gotten main event and major title opportunities the way the talentless Khali has.
Six-Diva tag, just to prove there are enough Divas to have one! I was glad they explained that Jillian and Alicia had made up after last week, since their teaming made little sense. The match was short, and pretty much a showcase for Natalya and Gail Kim, who both looked good here. You can tell Eve is being downplayed in a big way now. The finish, with Fox kicking Natalya for the win as she went after Tamina, was well done. Solid match. Alicia cut a good promo, if not entirely factual, about beating everyone (although when you include battle royals, and I guess FCW matches...), leading to Melina's return, which was well done. I especially liked the "I'm Back" yell. Fox vs. Melina should be good, and I hope it doesn't mean Fox loses the belt and gets depushed, because I am enjoying her as champ.
I was pleasantly surprised that they brought up the ECW match between Goldust and Sheamus from last year. I remember that as being a great match, and the rematch... well, was pretty much a total squash. Sheamus blocked Goldust's drop-down punch with a knee, and then never let up. Felt like a filler match. Sheamus' post-match promo was pretty good, and he used the squash to show how he has improved in the last year.
Chris Jericho vs. John Cena was a PPV quality match, with a less than satisfying finish. Jericho dominated Cena for the early part of the match, then Cena made his comeback after dodging Jericho and sending him into the ringpost. I like the way Jericho blocked the Five Knuckle Shuffle with the Codebreaker, and from there we had some nice near falls by both men. Really enjoyable bout, although Jericho tapping to the STF before it was even applied was bizarre. I was expecting Jericho to reveal he did it on purpose because he didn't want to team with Cena, but he never came out and said that.
Cena pleads with Jericho to stay with the team, and Jericho teases staying, then leaves, like a good heel should. This leads to the backstage bit with Jericho and Edge reconciling. Bad blood never lasts long in WWE, but at least with Jericho and Edge, you can always assume this is just a case of them using each other. The mystery GM orders Jericho & Edge vs. Bret Hart & John Cena for next week, with Nexus as lumberjacks. Cool, maybe Bret will turn on Cena and form Team Canada with Jericho, Edge and the Hart Dynasty. Okay, probably not.
Randy Orton, who has gotten much better in the promo department post-Wrestlemania, delivered a good rebuttal to Sheamus' promo earlier, and also got over his match with Miz later in the show.
Oops, I accidentally fast-forwarded and missed the trailer for the John Cena movie, but I understand this IS NOT a movie where he plays a cop/Marine/crossing guard who has to save his wife/girlfriend from bad guys. Good for him, nice to hear he is expanding his craft.
Great Khali vs. Ted DiBiase. Khali is horrible. DiBiase is easily distracted. DiBiase loses. Well, things could be worse for DiBiase. At least he's not losing on Superstars.... yet.
Instead of a guest host, we have a guest segment with Mark Wahlberg and Will Ferrell to promote their new flick, which I think has a former wrestler in it. Ferrell was funny messing around with the Bellas, and I'll take one segment like this over multiple bad guest host segments like we had last year.
Miz cut an excellent promo, and I thought it was interesting how the fans booed him, while he was cheered in his attempts to beat Sheamus. Miz is now in a position where the fans boo him because of his opponent, not because "he sucks" now. That's actually a big step for him.
I thought the main event was good, and they did the "Miz can hang with Randy Orton" bit, but I would have liked Miz to get more offense. Orton dominated a good portion of the match, with Miz only getting occasional spots, like his front kick. Miz got a little bit more towards the end of the bout, and Orton bumped big on the backdrop to the floor, but then Orton pulled out the RKO for the win. Good bout, I think they can do better (and look forward to them doing so in the future). Orton and Sheamus have a staredown, and I was hoping for Miz to blast someone with the briefcase, but not this week.
What To Make Sure And Watch If You DVR'd The Show: Jericho vs. Cena and Orton vs. Miz are the best bouts, in my opinion. If you are a Melina fan, you'll want to see her return.
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