WWE takes nostalgic approach in build up to 1000th Raw episode

 

• Alberto Del Rio beat United States Champion Santino Marella in a glorified squash match. After the bout, Ricardo Rodriguez attacked Marella, signifying their tuxedo match may not have been the end of their "feud." While Del Rio should be above the U.S. title at this point, the best possible scenario would be for him to take it off Marella at this point. If not him, anyone else would suffice.

 

• Many people will likely rail the segment with Cyndi Lauper, Wendi Richter, Layla, Heath Slater and Roddy Piper to no end - and they may not be wrong in doing so. The segment had some nostalgic purposes and was likely a nice throwback for long-time fans, but for newer, younger viewers, the significance of the segment was likely lost. Slater seems to be the new fall guy for all the veterans who are returning to promote the 1,000th Raw. But, hey, he's getting weekly television time, and that's more than many of his colleagues.

 

Match Rundown

 

Sheamus and CM Punk d. Daniel Bryan and Kane

Dolph Ziggler d. Jack Swagger

Alberto Del Rio d. Santino Marella

Primo and Epico d. Prime Time Players by countout

John Cena d. John Laurinaitis and David Otunga

 

My Take

 

Fans looking for a lot of in-ring action from tonight's show were surely disappointed. That said, luckily I wasn't one of those fans. I wanted to see good follow-up to No Way Out and logical advancements in stories moving forward. We seemed to get a good balance of that on this show. The matches that happened were all good or served a purpose - though I disagree with the booking of the tag team match - and the promos and backstage segments made sense. Again, some people will gripe about the Lauper bit, but I'm not going to let that ruin a solid show. The next few months could be quite interesting.

 

Ring Posts’ Adam Testa has teamed up with My 1-2-3 Cents and All American Pro Wrestling  to bring you From the Rafters Radio, a weekly pro wrestling talk radio show airing on Monster Radio 1150 AM in Southern Illinois and streaming worldwide on wggh.net.