WWE Raw Supershow 5/9/11: Results, Review and Analysis

Punk mocks at Nash after HHH fired him

Raw Opener:

This week, it was CM Punk who kicked off Raw. He came out and said that he was different from everyone else and hence he wants Nash also to be different and face him like a man. Nash came out followed by Triple H and the three men had yet another heated distraction which came to a standstill after Nash reveal that he did not receive any text message but he himself decided to attack Punk at SummerSlam. Triple H later fired Kevin Nash from the WWE. Besides being let down by who sent the text, which has been building for weeks, this segment was pretty good. I wish Punk interjected more, as it moved away from his match with Triple H and more of a personal friendship. It is not Nash v. Triple H, its Triple H v. Punk, and I feel they needed to interact much more in the ring than they did. The text drama was solved, and failed. There were many ways they could have gone, but I am still hoping something else comes out of this, which it more than likely will. There needs to be some sort of power struggle or descent between Triple H and someone else. I want to see that, and everyone wants to see where this can go. Good chemistry of Nash and Triple H, but there needed to be more focus on the match in two weeks rather than Nash.

Segment Rating: 3/5

Match 1: Air Boom vs. Jinder Mahal and Great Khali:

Tag-Team Match:

A short match which ended with Air Boom getting the victory. While this victory brings credibility to them as tag team champions, WWE missed a point by not making them win against another credible tag team. Jinder and Khali weren’t a tag team and hence this match proved to be pointless for air boom.

Winners: Air Boom

Match Rating: 2/5

Match 2: Eve vs. Beth Phoenix:

Divas match to determine the No.1 Contender for the Divas Championship

With Kelly Kelly and Natalya slugging it out in the commentary table, Eve and Beth had a brawl inside the ring. Beth was the eventual winner and will face Kelly at Night of Champions(NOC). This was a bland match with a few missed spots. Phoenix looked pretty good, but Eve just missed a few moves and looked rusty. Natalya attacking Kelly Kelly after the match made sense, as both “pretty” divas lay on the outside while Phoenix and Natalya look powerful and the more dominant divas.

Winner: Beth Phoenix

Match Rating: 2/5

Match 3: R-Truth vs. CM Punk

Singles Match

Before this singles match started, Truth and Miz came out and announced that they would face Air Boom for the tag titles at NOC. Then the match started with Punk getting the initial advantage. R-Truth came back quickly in a match which was quite long. But a good wrestling bout in which Punk got the pinfall victory after hitting the GTS (Go To Sleep) on Truth.

Winner: CM Punk

Match Rating: 4/5

Segment: Stipulations for Triple H Vs Punk :

After the match, Punk took the mic and made a promo about the distrust that he has on Triple H. Triple H came out and made their match at Night of Champions into a No disqualification Match. CM Punk said that he too wanted to add a stipulation for NOC. Punk wants Triple H to resign as COO if Triple H loses the match. Good segment. Having the stipulation added by Triple H was perfect, because it is not just another match, it is something that gets everyone wondering from here on out what will happen. Well done in two ways, wrestling and story building.

Segment Rating: 4/5

Match 4: David Otunga and Michael McGillicutty vs. Jerry Lawler and Zack Ryder

Tag-Team Match

WWE Internet Champion – Zack Ryder

Jerry Lawler came out and introduced his partner Zack Ryder. A promotional video package flaunting the success of Zack Ryder on youtube was shown. I’m glad that WWE has finally taken Zack Ryder seriously and have given him a much deserved push. Ryder got the victory after hitting the Rough Ryder on Otunga. Very nice to see Ryder on Raw. Call me a mark, but he is entertaining. Storyline wise, there may not be much legs behind this for Otunga and McGillicuddy getting squashed. Lawler gets his “revenge” and we get to see a semi decent tag team match, given it was only five minutes or so. I was entertained throughout and kept my interest because it was different.

Winners: Jerry Lawler and Zack Ryder

Match Rating: 4/5

Match 5: Randy Orton vs. Heath Slater

Singles Match

An all Smackdown match on Raw. The match was quite good with Orton being at his usual best. He was the winner after hitting the RKO on Slater. A solid match between the two, even though it made no sense to have Slater on Raw. There are so many other wrestlers they could have had here, and he was furthest from my mind. Why not Drew, Cody, Ted, Swagger, Barrett, it is just far from my mind. I do not get this, do not understand some match bookings, but at least it was not a bad outing by a young Slater.

Winner: Randy Orton

Match Rating: 3/5

Match 6: John Cena, John Morrison, Sheamus, and Alex Riley vs. Jack Swagger, Christian, Dolph Ziggler, and Wade Barrett

Eight Man Elimination Match

Alberto Del Rio, the WWE Champion was instrumental throughout the show, in building the team of Christian, Ziggler, Swagger and Barrett to face Cena and his boys. However, Del Rio wasn’t involved in the match which was baffling to me, to say the least. He should’ve taken part but he just attacked Cena at the end of the match to keep their storyline moving. This match was entertaing from beginning to end, having Cena look strong…shocker. I enjoyed the entire match because we got to see all different types of guys work together. You saw some great pacing, great action from Riley, Barrett, and Swagger specifically. With the crowded 8 man tag match, they really scripted enough timing for everyone, excluding John Morrison. They built two storylines, possibly three with Sheamus/Christian in one match, which works perfectly. They ended Raw entertaining which was the bottomline.

Match Rating: 4/5

The Bottom Line:

The first hour was really… boring to say the truth. The opening segment was a big letdown with the firing of Nash and the other drama. The matches were also bad but the second hour of the show was solid. Truth Vs Punk was fabulous and the eight man elimination match was good. Overall, Raw did a good in building storylines for Night of Champions.

Raw Rating: 3/5

Best Match : CM Punk Vs R-Truth