The Raw Debrief 26/7/10

The Raw Debrief 26/7/10

Welcome back, one and all, to the Raw Debrief. I’m your host The General, here to take you through a hugely Nexus-centric version of Raw.

John Cena starts us off tonight from San Antonio, Texas, getting a mixed reception. He tells everyone about the Summerslam fight between himself, Edge, Jericho, Khali, Morrison, R-Truth and Bret Hart against the Nexus. The more power Nexus get, the more influence, the more likely they are to take over the show, and it could lead to the end of Raw. He lies, telling us he’s not Superman (more Aquaman, apparently) but he does tell us that he photoshopped Khali onto Wonderwoman and the results were disturbing. Gentle comedy.

Jericho comes out to argue against Cena’s use of ‘my team’, and gets a much better reception, even a reasonably loud Y2J chant. He makes something clear, after reminding everyone that they’re hypocrites and parasites (drawing the boos), that he’s doing everything for his own personal reasons. This is Jericho’s team! Cena lets him have it – he just wants to beat Nexus.

Jericho has a bit of a tirade before Cena knocks the mic out of his hand. “It’s about this damn business, don’t you get it!?” Little hallmark moment there, and here comes another one, as he tells Jericho he’s essential to this team. Jericho knows though, and tells Cena that like Nexus, Cena is a threat to the WWE, and that as soon as Nexus is gone, Jericho will turn his sights to getting rid of him – with the help of his team, or by himself.

Bingle! Every email takes up a minute... it’s irritating. The Summerslam match is going to be an elimination match, and in a preview, the Nexus will squash a bunch of Raw superstars tonight. Jericho and Cena will team up tonight to face a team of the GM’s choice. And if you’re not down with that, he’s got two words for you. Not ‘ya’, ‘you’. Come on Cole! Learn how to deliver a line... the GM has been Stone Cold, Roddy Piper and now HBK based on the catchphrases so far.

Sheamus is out to scout his opponent for Summerslam...

Match 1: Randy Orton vs. Jey Uso (w/ Jimmy Uso and Tamina)

We’re reminded that the Usos are the sons of Rikishi. Orton takes his time getting the squash win, occasionally being distracted by Sheamus’ presence at ringside. RKO for the victory. Jimmy Uso jumps him following the match, only to eat a missed Brogue Kick from Sheamus, who takes an RKO from Orton.

AWESOME! The Miz comes down to cash in the MITB briefcase.

RKO! The bell didn’t ring, but Miz is laid out by Orton, who’s getting a major push going into Summerslam... I think there’s only one option for creative to mess up this title match, and that’s to have a cheat win by Sheamus. There’s only so many times the bad guy can win dirty before his title reign looks weak. A clean win for Sheamus against an Orton who’s looking very strong would be really beneficial to him, while a win for Orton wouldn’t be too bad for Sheamus, and Orton would definitely deserve it.

Edge is backstage telling DiBiase he should be on Team Raw, Ranjin Singh overhears.

Bingle! Sheamus and Miz are still in the ring, and they’re going to be Cena and Jericho’s opponents.

Edge gets shouted at by Khali (who’s translated as saying Edge is a nincompoop). They’re going to have a match up next, and if Edge wins Khali is off the team at Summerslam.

Match 2: The Great Khali vs. Edge

Khali overpowers Edge for a minute or so, before the Nexus interrupts... Edge and Ranjin Singh scarper and the Nexus surround Khali, before letting him go.

Huh?

Match 3: The Nexus vs. Mark Henry, Evan Bourne, The Hart Dynasty, Goldust, Yoshi Tatsu and Jerry Lawler

The Nexus stay in the ring, and the Raw group are out to Mark Henry’s music.

Yoshi Tatsu starts off against Tarver, hits some knife edge chops (which I thought were banned) but quickly gets eliminated one-on-one by a kind of reverse swinging powerslam. So THAT’s his finisher.

The King takes down Gabriel a couple of times, hits the second rope fist drop. During the ads, Lawler was eliminated by Heath Slater who hit the Zig Zag (Ziggler’s finisher).

DH Smith hits Slater with a stalling brainbuster and backbreaker, but Slater hits a second Zig Zag to eliminate him.

Goldust gets a great pop as he comes in, but tweaks his knee. A couple of his signatures get hit before Otunga hits his Kozlov-style finisher.

Mark Henry beats up Slater a bit, then Darren Young, but Sheffield eliminates him with a Clothesline from Hell after Gabriel provides the distraction.

Tyson Kidd gets hit with a second clothesline from Sheffield, but allows Darren Young to hit his twisting full nelson slam.

Evan Bourne comes in with it 7 on 1, to go against Barrett. A quick flurry from Bourne takes a few guys off the apron, but he gets hung up on the top rope and Barrett hits his finisher to make it a clean sweep.

Afterwards, Sheffield hits the Clothesline from Hell on Bourne, followed by Otunga with the Iron Curtain and Gabriel with the 450.

6/10 – Good idea to put over the Nexus... but in this match they just buried the Tag Team Champions alongside some of the other fringe stars. Nice to see Tarver and Slater’s finishers for the first time in a while. In fact... that’s the first time I’ve ever seen Slater’s finisher. Aren’t the tag champions supposed to be able to be on both Raw and Smackdown? I’ve not seen them on Smackdown at all... They’d do MUCH better over there, where there’s a bit of a lack of talent over there.

I think now might be a good time to give a NXT Season 1 ranking, because they’ve all been given about as much time in the ring and on the mic to see which of the group are going to stick around and which will be allowed to leave when the Nexus inevitably splits up.

7 – Heath Slater – suffers from ‘generic wrestler syndrome’, the same as Lucky Cannon in Season 2. He’s got Ziggler’s finisher, so I can only assume he’s not going to be allowed to use it much longer, and they’ll let him go as soon as the storyline’s finished.

6 – Darren Young – Only higher than Slater because he’s got a slightly more interesting finisher, even if it’s not that impressive.

5 – Justin Gabriel – One trick pony with the 450 splash, decent in the ring but non-existent mic skills

4 – David Otunga – Alright on the mic, alright in the ring. Absolutely average, and so he’s right in the middle of this list.

3 – Michael Tarver – Not fantastic in the ring but solid enough, his mic skills have improved beyond recognition since NXT. I still don’t think he’s good enough to last long in the WWE.

2 – Skip Sheffield – A solid powerhouse, particularly if he’s allowed to use his old finisher (a kind of cradle jawbreaker/stunner) and looks very solid using that clothesline as well. He’s not fantastic on the mic, but could easily fit in as part of a tag team in the future.

1 – Wade Barrett – Head and shoulders above all of the others both with the combination of mic skills and wrestling ability. There’s a reason he was #1 (or #2 when Bryan Danielson was still around) the whole time during season 1.

Sheamus warns Miz about trying to cash his MITB case in on him. Miz says he might try again tonight, after he throws Sheamus to Cena for an Attitude Adjustment and Jericho for the Walls of Jericho, then he can hit the Skull Crushing Finale and that’ll be it.

Match 4: One of the Bellas vs. Alicia Fox

Jillian comes down to stop the Bellas switching. Axe Kick for the win. Jillian tries to sing to Alicia, who hits her with another Axe Kick.

Match 5 – John Morrison (w/ R-Truth) vs. Ted DiBiase (w/ Maryse)

Truth’s a bit obnoxious on commentary – ‘Jo Mo fo sho’ being his best contribution. DiBiase starts out on top, Morrison hits a calf kick and an overhead and sets up for Starship Pain. Maryse distracts him before that can happen, DiBiase gets a rollup and puts his feet on the ropes but R-Truth throws his feet off the ropes to break the count. DiBiase hits a drop toe hold to send Morrison crashing into Truth on the outside, and picks up the pin as a result of the collision.

2/10 – Short, without any good spots. Truth and Morrison have some handbags after the match.

Package to remind us of what happened last week. Take a look at my article from last week if you missed it.

Matthews is backstage with Orton, who says he doesn’t care who walks into Summerslam as champion, because the question of who walks out with the championship will be answered with an RKO.

Match 6 – The Miz and Sheamus vs. John Cena and Chris Jericho

Commentary mostly focuses on the cracks showing in Cena’s team. Edge and Khali, Truth and Morrison, Jericho and Cena... and says the egos might be main factor in the outcome of Summerslam. Neither team looks happy working together, but Cena-Jericho is possibly a little bit more coherent. Jericho gets cheered where he’d normally be booed, I reckon he must have enjoyed wrestling as the good guy for a change. Jericho ends up getting dominated, and Cena’s in on the hot tag. You know how it goes from here... so we fast forward to just after the five knuckle shuffle. Jericho hits Cena with the Codebreaker and The Miz picks up the win for his team.

6/10 – Quite fun seeing Jericho in an unfamiliar role, but it was never going to last... match did everything it had to

Jericho locks in the Walls on Cena, but it’s reversed into the STF. Khali comes down to break it up but gets speared by Edge. Morrison and Truth come down and get involved in a shoving match. Khali hits Morrison with a big forearm, and then Edge. It’s all imploded then, as we go off the air

Show rating: 5/10 – It just seemed to me like a lot of things could have been done better. I’m enjoying the pushes being given to The Miz and Orton, but I also reckon they’re making Sheamus and The Hart Dynasty look too weak. Jericho was the star man of the show tonight though, as the centre of everything. They’ve done a good job making the fractures look obvious within the Team Raw camp, but I don’t really believe Morrison would be that upset if R-Truth cost him a meaningless match against DiBiase.

Whatever happens until Summerslam, I can’t see the Raw guys pulling off a major victory this early. The Nexus storyline has a while to run yet. Whether it’s a major defection that costs Raw the victory or they just win it using better teamwork, Nexus has to win at Summerslam to have any credibility.

I’ve been The General, consider yourself debriefed.

The Raw Debrief 26/7/10

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