July 09, 2012|By Adam Testa
• Tensai and Dolph Ziggler defeated Intercontinental Champion Christian and Tyson Kidd in a remarkably average tag match. No one in the match got on-screen entrances, which is never a good sign, and the match was too short to become anything of consequence. After that match, Tensai beat down Kidd to continue their recent issues, and Vickie Guerrero gave Tensai an approving look. Not sure the pairing of Tensai and Guerrero would work too well, but it's an interesting proposition.
• The opening segment with Punk, Bryan and AJ was so over-the-top it was funny. Yes, the content of the dueling wedding proposals was ridiculous and ludicrous in every sense of the words, but what makes it work are the expressions and reactions of all three involved. They've all become so great at getting across the small things that go a long way in making something so obscene actually work.
• Jerry Lawler defeated Michael Cole, but because Booker T got involved, the referee reversed the decision. Allegedly 75 percent of the audience voted to see this match. I have a hard time believing that. After the match, it was revealed that Hornswoggle was the anonymous Raw general manager. Why even dredge that story out of the gutters for such a stupid and anticlimactic ending? Such a giant waste of time.
• Brodus Clay got a little bit of his heat back by defeating Drew McIntyre. For those wondering the direction Clay would go after finally losing a match, here's your answer: He's right back to squashing jobbers!
• R-Truth and Kofi Kingston will defend the tag titles against Hunico and Camacho on the Money in the Bank pre-show. What happened to All World Enterprises and the Prime Time Players' No. 1 contender status?
Match Rundown
Sheamus d. Jack Swagger Tensai and Dolph Ziggler d. Christian and Tyson Kidd Brodus Clay d. Drew McIntyre John Cena and Kane d. Big Show and Chris Jericho by disqualification Sin Cara d. Heath Slater Michael Cole d. Jerry Lawler by referee reversal AJ and CM Punk d. Eve and Daniel Bryan
My Take
To put things bluntly, tonight's Raw simply was not good. There was very little of substance to the show. Only one match received a decent amount of time, and it wasn't a very strong outing. There are only, I believe, four matches announced for the Money in the Bank pay-per-view on Sunday, and nothing tonight seemed to build toward any new matches being announced for that show. This appeared to be nothing but filler and lacked the essential attributes of a go-home show. Right now, WWE is relying on the drama of the Punk-Bryan-AJ drama and the appeal of the ladder match concept to convince people to buy the show. That's a hard sell.
Ring Posts' Adam Testa has teamed up with My 1-2-3 Cents (www.my123cents.com) and All American Pro Wrestling (www.aapwrestling.com) to bring you From the Rafters Radio,(www.facebook.com/RaftersRadio) a weekly pro wrestling talk radio show airing from 8-10 EST every Thursday on Monster Radio 1150 AM in Southern Illinois and streaming worldwide on wggh.net (www.wggh.net).
