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May 24, 2011

WWE Raw: Big Show struck down; Kharma breaks down; Alex Riley rises up

Monday night’s episode of Raw certainly had its share of interesting story line twists.

We saw the seemingly unbeatable combination of Big Show and Kane drop the WWE tag team title to the unheralded team of the Nexus’ Michael McGillicutty and David Otunga, and afterward, The Big Show had his leg run over by a car driven by Alberto Del Rio’s personal ring announcer, Ricardo Rodriguez.

Also on the show, Kharma interrupted an eight-woman tag match, but instead of going on the attack as she has done the past several weeks, she fell to her knees and began sobbing and talking to herself.

But the most compelling and well-executed angle on Raw involved The Miz and Alex Riley. Not surprisingly, Miz blamed his loss to John Cena in an I Quit Match at the Over the Limit pay-per-view the night before on Riley.

Miz did a fantastic job on the mic as he berated and ultimately fired Riley, whose subtle facial expressions while Miz was yelling at him were excellent. After Miz pie-faced Riley for a second time, however, Riley snapped.

He proceeded to beat the heck out of Miz in the ring, on the floor and on the announce table. It was a realistic-looking fight, and the crowd immediately got behind Riley, who showed a lot of fire.

The fact that the fans were chanting Riley’s name during the beatdown is a real testament to how effective Miz is as a heel, because the crowd couldn’t have cared less about Riley when this segment began.

I’m curious to see what happens next with Miz and Riley. In the story line, Riley was under a personal services contract to The Miz, but he also is supposed to be a member of the Smackdown roster.

Other thoughts on Monday’s show:

The video tribute to the late Randy “Macho Man” Savage was very well done. When Jerry Lawler introduced the piece, it was interesting that he said that Savage “will always be a Hall of Famer no matter what.” ...

I didn’t know what to make of the Kharma segment, but wrestlingobserver.com reported on Tuesday that it was designed to write off her character for the time being. The report said that she is expected to be out of action for more than nine months, but no further specifics were provided. ...

R-Truth was very entertaining on the mic during the opening segment with Bret Hart and John Cena. R-Truth is getting a lot of heat from the crowd, and his “little Jimmy” shtick is tremendous. ...

It appears that the injury angle with Big Show was designed to give him some time off as well as to set up a future program with Del Rio. ...

McGillicutty and Otunga winning the tag team title was a surprise. I was pretty convinced that CM Punk and Mason Ryan were going to beat Big Show and Kane for the belts at Over the Limit. ...

It looks as if the Michael Cole heel character is going to be toned way down. He was very contrite as he apologized to Lawler, the fans, Josh Matthews and others for his behavior over the past several months. He still favored the heels in commentary but not in an over-the-top way. ...

It was nice to see Cena selling the beating he took at Over the Limit by walking gingerly to the ring for the opening segment. However, he seemed to be a lot better while working in the tag team main event, which saw him and Rey Mysterio defeat Punk and R-Truth. Cena even did a big leap in the air to celebrate the victory. Are he and Randy Orton having a contest to see who can do the goofiest babyface post-match routine? ...

The main event was fun, but I didn’t care for special referee Hart getting physically involved and costing the heels the match. It would have made more sense for Hart to put Punk in the Sharpshooter after the match. ...

Kudos to Punk for wearing the Savage-inspired tights and boots. ...

The Kofi Kingston-Drew McIntyre match was decent, although the botched leapfrog (I’m assuming it was a botch and not a planned spot) made me think I was watching Tough Enough. ...

In a major positive development, Dolph Ziggler – who was shown backstage with Vickie Guerrero during the Kingston-McIntyre match – has blond hair again! ...

The Jack Swagger-Evan Bourne match was short and sweet. Swagger scored a convincing win, but Bourne got his heat back after the match by delivering a kick to Swagger as he was taking a victory lap. Nothing against Bourne – who I enjoy watching – but I’d like to see Swagger involved in bigger and better things at this point.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 11:56 PM | | Comments (27)
        

Comments

Rumors are already running wild that Kharma is pregnant. Should be interesting to see.

My highlight of the night was CM Punk saying to Bret Hart "Where did you learn to count? Canada?" After his slow pin counts

Hi Kevin,

i am still waiting for your response for my comments made about over the limit.Now talking about raw.I felt it was not as boring as raw has been for weeks.The best and most exciting part was Alex Riley's snap.I must say now nobody will mess around with cena after he beat the crap out of miz.I felt since Miz got away from the punishment at over the limit.Alex riley made up for it.I always felt Riley can do much more instead of carrying Miz's dirty laundry around.Although i do agree associating himself with Miz gave Riley lots of tv time and exposure.But in my opinion i feel Alex Riley has been the best rookie from NXT up to date.He def has the size,skills and is quite good with the mic in his early stages.As for other thought on Raw,I felt Big Show was trying to sell his fake leg injury a bit too much by crying like a little girl and making kane shouting like a little girl.Cena was at his boring best as usual.Its really funny to see how bret hart is still being as a tough guy when truth is even i can knock out him with a punch.Because everyone can clearly see how weak Bret has become.Punk was as usual very entertaining with his unique humour and Rey mysterio should seriously be sent back to the cruiser weight division.He does not belongs in the big league.I mean its so ridiculous to see rey beating up big guys like Big show,Undertaker etc.When every one knows he doesn't even stands a chance against Zack Ryder. WWWYKIB

Syed Habib Fawaz

This was not a good night for bullies on Raw. Michael Cole was humbled, Alex Riley stood up to the Miz, and Kharma (who I thought was a lock to dominate the Divas division) had an emotional breakdown in the ring and may be buried without a single Diva laying hands on her. That Be a Star program is working really well.

I think you give The Miz way too much credit for his effectiveness as a heel. Alberto Del Rio, CM Punk, Jack Swagger and R-Truth are far more compelling heels than The Miz. R-Truth got a hundred times the heel heat The Miz got on Monday.

Yeah, Punk was awesome wearing Macho ring gear and using Bret Hart's moves in the ring!

I've been seeing some commercials for Impact Wrestling show up on Raw and Smackdown. Any thoughts on that?

Another angle about somone getting ran over... This has to be the most played out garbage I have ever seen! Unrealistic and stupid. Where were the cops? I just rolled my eyes and fast forwarded.

I definitely think the angle Truth is using is far overdue, but he's not the guy to do it. He wasn't particularly over as a face before his turn. It's not like he was the guy that the fans wanted to have a shot. Christian should be the one running this angle since he actually DID have his chance taken by a guy who sells T-shirts. Truth just seems delusional when he rants.

I wish Bret Hart would stop showing up. I appreciate what he's done for the business, and I was a huge fan of his when he was in WCW (I'm a little too young for his WWF days) but I just don't think he adds anything anymore. His slow counts were infuriating (although Punk's line about learning to count in Canada was the best part of the night) and his interference ruined the match for me. Has the WWE decided that Punk isn't going to re-sign his contract, so they're just burying him night after night.

Maybe we were watching a different Raw, but I didn't see Cena selling his beating last night any more than he sold it during the pay per view.

With Miz and Riley in a program together, can we expect Miz to get trapped back in the middle card? I can only hope this feud runs its course more quickly than Cole/Lawler.

I was shocked to be more annoyed at Lawler than Cole on Raw. I have no doubt that this is just a short respite from Cole's over-the-top heel act, but Lawler continued to play it like nothing had changed. I wish they'd separate Cole and Lawler, because it's obvious that they can't just commentate together.

This week's episode was better than they've been lately, but still far from great.

By the way, it was a little thing, but at one point, CM Punk hopped over the top rope and delivered a double axe handle to break up a near fall... ver Randy Savage-Like. Great job by him all around.

One thing that i hope Raw does not do is push Del Rio to the mid card because he should be in the title picture i mean R . truth are you kidding me i am fan of Del Rio i like his work ethic Raw does need screw this one up Truth is a fine competitor is he main event material over Del Rio .

The Big Show has been wearing a hefty brace on one of his knees (his right, not the one that got "run over") for some time now. And despite that brief show of sprightliness he showed on Raw, he's grown increasingly immobile right before our eyes. Andre the Giant (and Haystacks Calhoun before him) hung around to the point where you knew they could only pick themselves up off the mat once or twice a night. It was kinda sad.
Now I'm not saying Big Paul is that broken down, but realistically how much longer should he keep going and how should he be used? Just askin'.

On a brighter note, I think Cole still has an AHA stuck up his sleeve. Did he not give himself away (accidentally on purpose?) as the GM about three weeks ago when there was an inadvertant ring tone / light dimming and he pled guilty to mistakenly pressing "Send"? The Cole Miners Movement may not yet be flushed, as Lawler euphemistically once put it.

Am fan to Cena but i hate The Miz u must not dirtyfy the name of nexus plz

I for one agree with you the Miz - Alex Riley portion of Raw was quite compelling and though I agree that Miz is a great talker and instigator and I am usually right behind him in his title quests I for one was yelling at my tv "Tear him up Alex." because no one should be talked to or treated like that period and especially when personal sevices contract or not they have sworn and shown real allegiance to you. After all Alex is exaclty right he is not the one who said "I Quit." Apparently that was The Miz. By the looks of things Alex might have got the title for Miz if he had worked him up like that prior to the title and he had saw John Cena as The Miz.
Maybe the Anonymous GM had it right "Done" not fired.
'Nother point I was so happy for Randy Orton at the DVD signing in Saint Louis that was shown getting to meet so nicely his public and wild-eyed kids not believing that was happening for them eating it up a gift from heaven.
Condolences to Miss Elizabeth too. I believe her at his side sometimes in danger were Randy Savages best days and the love showed.

this had to be one of the most interesting and best RAWs in a good while. some interesting twists and turns and great crowd responses. some of the turns were predictable, but as long as the execution is right, then everything falls into place and everybody walks away happy knowing they did a job well done. kinda sad to know that Kharma is pregnant because i was really interested in seein wat was gonna happen w/ her next week. it's funny: the other day as i was commentin on Over The Limit, i said that the creative team needs to do their job and be creative and do somethin to get people's attention and to bring life back into the show and i think they're listenin. you're welcome everybody! lol jk but seriously great show.

It's OK that Kharma is gone. We have the ol' Bella Twins Switcheroo every week.

And I really hope WWE continues with the rock-solid bits involving someone getting hit by a car and yelping for 10 minutes.

Oh, and they should try to have Cena make dramatic comebacks.

I wouldn't recommend giving a world title to CM Punk and having him cheat his way into keeping it from Cena until Cena wins it going into Wrestlemania, where he loses it to Duane. That would be lame.

I'm glad they are getting Riley out from underneath of the Miz. I think the guy has potential. Not sure where they are going with Del Rio at the moment. The tag title switch was unexpected. I'm not buying the R-Truth persona at the moment. Teh Savage video was well done. I really don't like 3 guys doing commentary.

@Syed Habib Fawaz,

Kevin doesn't HAVE to respond to each and every one of these comments, so I don't know why you're "waiting" for his response on something, as if it's mandatory or expected.

@Kyle,

I don't think you're qualified to enough to say whether Bret Hart should or shouldn't appear at events, considering that you ONLY know him from his extremely BRIEF WCW days. His legacy was pretty much completely built in the (then) WWF, and what a legacy it is. He can only add to whatever's going on, whether it be backstage/off-camera or on-camera. He's obviously not what he used to be, but he's been around over the past 18 months in such small doses that there's absolutely nothing wrong with his legendary presence every few months or so.

The Miz - Riley feud should be a test for Miz as much as Riley. We know that Miz can carry on a main event, but in order for him to get to the next level, he has to be able to get other people over as well. So if Miz can make Riley look like a star, then that would prove to everyone that he deserves to be in one of the top spots.

I was kinda disappointed that Michael Cole got toned down. He was great while he lasted. Hopefully he'll be a bit more, uhm, feisty in upcoming weeks.

McGillicutty look like he botched a couple of holds on Kane in the beginning.

Boomerang41144, the mistake with the GM s few weeks back wasn't Cole. I believe the GM hit send to soon and the second message was the GM apologizing. I liked this RAW and Riley snapping awesome as was CM Punk coming out in Savage Gear. Brett should have stayed out of the match but overall it was nice to see the Hitman.

Kevin, don't forget the past 3 weeks that Riley has been getting MAJOR heat as a heel. WWE started showcasing him a lot more this past month, and Riley has definitely delivered. I actually thought that his awesomeness as a heel on the mic two weeks ago would have given them second thoughts about turning him face.

I love it! Otunga and McGillicuty new champions. Yes, this is hugh for the new nexus. I hope this is the life Otunga been waiting on. Less grow from this big win. Very happy for the team nexus!!!

She already looks pregnant. The rumours are true.

Unfortunately Hagen she passed away as well so I guess they are reunited and it feels so good.

We must be the few that got R Truth's "I want my son back" line from the movie, Legendary. Hell I don't even know if Cena got it no less even watched the entired movie without cringing himslef lol!

Haha at Cole getting shown the foot by Eve (smh at Kharma going out like that, pregnancy or not)

RIP to Macho and seriously a car angle right after Randy's tragic accident and Rey doing the leg drop on CM Savage (kudos to him and Truth and Riley btw)?

Well then again I'm surprised we got a vid at all dedicated to Randy given how he's been treated by Vince and Co. for so long (forget the long un accounted for rumors though)

@ Alex Nevermind ,

Nevermind about what you said.But Kevin should reply to atleast few queries.I mean he didnot even replied to even one on this thread.

I think cena deserves to be wwe champion and has earned it. del rio should get a title shot. the miz realli irritates me but i kinda like him for being so confident.

I know this doesn't have much to do with this thread, but I wonder when or if the Raw GM will be revealed, this has been going on for around 2 years, I doubt it's Cole because most rulings have been sent while he wasn't even near a computer,,, It could be someone we haven't seen in a while.....

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About Kevin Eck
The Baltimore Sun's Kevin Eck blogs about professional wrestling.
E-mail Kevin.
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