Raw recap: When you look at CM Punk, what do you see?

** The treatment of Randy Orton continues to be preferential, at best. His streak of pinning world title contenders stayed alive, as he put away Alberto Del Rio. The finish of the match was a clever play on the finish of Del Rio and Sheamus' SummerSlam match, as Orton had his foot on the rope to break the pin. Sheamus pointed it out to the referee, and the distraction allowed Orton to hit the RKO on Del Rio for the pin. Orton had a bit of a staredown with a laughing Sheamus, so it seems this may be heading toward a three-way feud and a possible Sheamus heel turn.

** Cody Rhodes has a good gimmick going, as he's focused on removing the mask of Sin Cara. If Rhodes got himself an ant costume, he could fit in as a member of Gekido. Rhodes' obsession with Cara's mask cost his team a six-man tag match, in which the former Intercontinental Champion teamed with the Prime Time Players and Cara teamed with Tag Team Champions Kofi Kingston and R-Truth. The match was good and fun. Hopefully Kingston and Truth are ready to move on to new opponents, while the Prime Time Players regain some momentum.

** Damien Sandow defeated Brodus Clay with a roll-up and a handful of tights in their first official meeting since beginning their rivalry. The match wasn't bad, but it wasn't as great as I'd personally hoped it would be. Of course, the good news is that their issues likely won't be over, as Clay got the better of Sandow after the match, and that surely won't sit well with our intellectual savior. Hopefully they'll get another chance to take things to the next level in a rematch.

** Ryback's latest victims didn't get a graphic to show the spelling of their names. The match was standard fare, except it ended when Jinder Mahal interfered and assaulted Ryback. Mahal locked in the Cobra Clutch, but Ryback fought out. It would have been more effective if Mahal had been allowed to look strong by getting the better of Ryback, but those are the breaks.

** The returning David Otunga found himself pitted against Big Show in a heel-versus-heel match. The result was an awkward squash match with fans unsure who to rally behind. This was designed to make Big Show look strong, but it's hard to buy into him as a believable threat when he loses so much, especially in big matches.

** The battle royale to determine a No. 1 contender to Layla's Divas Championship was extremely sloppy in the early goings, with several of the women seemingly unsure of what to do. It improved as it went on, and Kaitlyn won. That creates an interesting babyface-babyface title match situation for the future.

 

Match Rundown

Kofi Kingston, R-Truth and Sin Cara d. Titus O'Neil, Darren Young and Cody Rhodes

Ryback d. Two Jobbers by disqualifcation

Randy Orton d. Alberto Del Rio

Damien Sandow d. Brodus Clay

Big Show d. David Otunga

Kane and Zack Ryder vs. Daniel Bryan and The Miz went to a no contest

Kaitlyn won a divas battle royale

Dolph Ziggler d. Chris Jericho

 

My Take

WWE seems to be figuring out the right formula for three-hour Raws. I found tonight's show to be quite enjoyable all around. There was some quality wrestling and some good storyline development, and that's enough to earn a big thumbs up from me. Three hours still seems like such a long show each week, but at least WWE has been making it worth the time investment recently.

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 from 8-10 EST every Thursday on Monster Radio 1150 AM in Southern Illinois and streaming worldwide on wggh.net.