Top 10 Moments from the 07/02/12 Edition of Raw

Raw delivered one of it’s best shows in recent weeks yesterday. We saw the return of two legends, another upset victory, and of course we finally got the WWE Champion closing the show. Let’s rank the top ten moments from last night’s show.

Stats

Kofi Kingston competed in his 40th match of the year in a winning effort against the team of David Otunga, Cody Rhodes, Darren Young, & Titus O’Neil.

R-Truth scored his 20th win of the year against the team of David Otunga, Cody Rhodes, Darren Young, & Titus O’Neil.

Titus O’Neil competed in his 25th match of the year in a losing effort against the team of Kofi Kingston, R-Truth, Christian, & Santino Marella.

Darren Young suffered his 10th loss of the year to the team of Kofi Kingston, R-Truth, Christian, & Santino Marella.

Sheamus competed in his 50th match of the year in a winning effort against the team of Dolph Ziggler and Vickie Guerrero.

Heath Slater scored his 5th win of the year against Doink the Clown.

Tyson Kidd scored scored his 15th win of the year against Tensai.

John Cena was involved in his 5th no contest of the year against the team of Chris Jericho and Daniel Bryan.

Daniel Bryan was involved in his 5th no contest of the year against the team of CM Punk and John Cena.

Chris Jericho competed in his 20th match of the year against the team of CM Punk and John Cena, which ended in a no contest.

John Cena competed in his 20th match of the year against the team of Chris Jericho and Daniel Bryan, which ended in a no contest.

#10. Alberto Del Rio granted number one contendershipIn the first half of Raw, Teddy Long revealed that Alberto Del Rio was the official number one contender to Sheamus’s World Heavyweight Championship. It’s nice to see Alberto Del Rio finally get his one-on-one match with Sheamus, and even thought the feud is uninteresting, and Alberto is not a serious threat to the title, Berto can still go in the ring better than most guys on the roster, so expect to see a good match from the two men at Money In The Bank.

#9. Sheamus & AJ vs. Dolph Ziggler & Vickie GuerreroAnyone else notice the new overabundance of mixed tag matches? First we had Punk team up with AJ, then we had Sheamus team up with Layla (I think…), then we had this match on Raw, and on tonight’s Smackdown we’re going to see Antonio Cesaro tea up with Aksana to take on Layla and The Great Khali (ugh). Anyway, the match was okay, and featured a gorgeous Brogue Kick to Dolph Ziggler (when are they not awesome), and AJ picking up a win over Vickie Guerrero.

#8. Big Show vs. KaneHow many times have we seen this match before? WWE once again tried to give us an entertaining Big Show/Kane match, and once again, they failed. Kane’s great in the ring and all, and Big Show, umm, well I can respect his contributions to wrestling, but no matter how many times you try, these two will never have a good match with each other. At least the spear through (?) the chair was pretty good.

#7. Eve returns to WWEI’m not sure if you’ll all agree with me, but I really did miss Eve. She was a great character and worked well in her new role. It was unfortunate that WWE kept her off of TV during the whole Laurinaitis firing angle, and it’s even worse to know that she will be taken out of her role as executive something to the GM. Even with all those negative factors, it was nice to see Eve again. Also, she looks forty feet tall next to AJ.

#6. Alberto Del Rio takes out Sin CaraIn what I think was an odd move for the WWE, they fed one of their experimental upcoming babyfaces to Alberto Del Rio. Clearly WWE isn’t as high on Sin Cara as they used to be.

#5. Tyson Kidd picks up another upset victoryTyson Kidd is finally getting the push he so desperately deserves, or at least it seems that way. After getting a win over Tensai in less than thirty seconds, Kidd was attacked backstage by Tensai. This can means two things: 1. Kidd is going to go into a program with Tensai and win, or 2. Kidd is going to go into a program with Tensai and lose to get Tensai over. Let’s hope it’s the first.

#4. Heath Slater actually beats a legend, gets taken out by DDPHeath Slater has won over a lot of people (including me) over the past few weeks. Not because of his in-ring talent, not because of his mic skills, but because he jobs to legends like a champ. This week was different, however. Heath Slater, after getting put into a match with Doink the Clown (Fun Fact: The Doink on Raw was played by Steve Lombardi, who portrayed the Brooklyn Brawler.), Heath Slater hit a neckbreaker, and WON. That’s right, Heath Slater beat a legend. The celebration didn’t last too long, however, as DDP would come down to the ring and hit him with a Diamond Cutter. SELF HIGH FIVE!

#3. Battle of the catchphrasesIn what was the funniest moment of the night, Daniel Bryan and Chris Jericho faced off in an epic battle of catchphrases. Daniel Bryan, of course, only had “Yes!” in his arsenal, but Jericho managed to pull some old tricks out of the bag, including “Will you please just shut the hell up!”, “Raw is Jericho!”, and “Never, EEEEEEEEEEEEEVVVVVVVVEEEEEERRRR!”. It was a funny little moment, and it even continued later on in the night in a weird/awesome backstage segment where Bryan was chanting “Yes!” while Jericho just kept screaming “EEEEEEVVVVVVVEEEEERRRRRR”. Are we seeing the return of the Ayatollah of Rock ‘n Rolla?

#2. CM Punk & John Cena vs. Daniel Bryan & Chris JerichoIn what was a pretty good main event, the team of Cena and Punk faced off against Jericho and Bryan. The match featured some good spots (and a few botches), but still managed to be entertaining throughout. Obviously the main event didn’t make the number two spot based on the match itself, but based on the fact that Bryan and Punk finally got to end the show. NOT CENA.

#1. AJDuh.