*OFFICIAL* Raw Discussion Thread: July 16 2012

[Majin HoHo]

The Champ is Here?
 


At Money in the Bank, John Cena entered his first Money in the Bank ladder match and took on the Big Show, Chris Jericho, Kane and the returning Miz. Despite a star studded match, John Cena still came out on top to claim the Money in the Bank briefcase, which guarantees him a future WWE title match anytime in the future. The question now is: when will John Cena cash in his contract? Nobody has ever cashed in the contract and failed before and most have used the contract when the champion is at his most vulnerable. Will John Cena follow the same route, or will he announce ahead of time? Will we find out more about his intentions this week on Raw?
 


Also on Raw

 


Also at Money in the Bank, Dolph Ziggler won the World Heavyweight title Money in the Bank ladder match and has already teased cashing in on Sheamus. Will we learn about his intentions for the briefcase, or will he keep it a secret and try to catch the World Champion off guard? What's next for CM Punk, AJ and Daniel Bryan after CM Punk defeated Bryan last night. Expect to hear more from Triple H regarding the potential Brock Lesnar match at Summerslam. What will happen this week on Raw as we prepare for Raw 1000?

[chappers]

Good RAW imo

Punk promo to start the show was his best in quite some time, still needs to rebuild from the shit he's had to work with the last few months.

AJ/D Bryan stuff was all pretty good, kind of glad they are focusing on just these two now and Punks moved on. Announcement of the wedding next week seems a bit rushed, but not a surprise given WWE's eagerness to move stories on asap, I feel like it would have been better to announce this a week or two later. Possible Eve and Miz relationship as well?

Clay vs JTG just seemed like filler to me, got to be honest, I think Clay has potential but I'm really bored of him just coming out and constantly squashing people, he should have moved on from this months ago and should be in proper feuds now. Give him the US title, I think it would suit his current position in the company and I think he can do a lot more with it then Vertigo.

I didn't like Ryder getting squashed again, I thought they would finally support him a bit again after Zackdown, I don't get why they couldn't just do this with someone else. Mysterio returning was pretty good though and the best part of Mysterio being back is the fact that it will completely shit on Sin Cara.

Jericho and Ziggler interaction was interesting, I think they are going to change the direction for Jericho and eventually turn him face, he's constantly getting Y2J chants and his heel return hasn't quite clicked. I enjoyed Dolph on the mic, think he's been really good the last few times he has gone solo which makes me wonder why they didn't just keep Vickie with Swagger rather then Dolph. I didn't like the tease Dolph made on MitB winners cashing in and always winning, I feel like they could easily make him out to be a joke.

Swagger vs Ryback was good for the length it had, I've got to wonder why Swagger isn't used more seriously, the guy is quality in the ring, pisses me off that he's just fodder for other guys. Guy deserves a break given the shit he's been given since losing the WHC and he has way more talent then most of the people they decide to push instead of him.

Heath Slater was as usual hilarious, I loved his RAW 1000th moment promo before the match as well. Didn't mind Rikishi being the returning legend, he got the crowd involved and helped the Uso's out a bit in the process which was good. Jerry Lawler saying Rikishi looked good was another Jerry Lawler facepalm moment.

Truth and Kingston beating PTP was a good move imo, rather then taking the obvious path of just giving the titles to PTP they are giving the tag titles more of a story, dare I say it I'm interested with where they take the tag division from here. PTP are starting to grow on me a bit, I think A.W. will gradually get over and become absolutely despised like Vickie, think Titus O'Neill has potential however I'm still not a fan of Darren Young. I just hope the WWE continue backing the tag division, at the moment they are making the right steps but they really need to support it otherwise it will just go back to square one.

Punk vs Cena at 1000th RAW was fairly predictable, but I think they were going to cash that RAW MitB sooner rather then later. Makes sense to give more people a reason to tune in next week.

Overall a solid RAW and one of the best we've had in a while, they are shaking up storylines which is the main thing I wanted and I see a lot more progression. Even though I'm not huge on either guy, having Mysterio and Miz back will give some much needed depth to the roster.

[RyPrax]

Clay vs JTG just seemed like filler to me

You mean it wasn't obvious?

[chappers]

Clay vs JTG just seemed like filler to me

You mean it wasn't obvious?

I forgot to mention one thing I didn't like about RAW: Tout

[RyPrax]

Eh, the people they showed were mostly tolerable. I'm sure it's going to get annoying once Cole won't be able to stop screaming TOUT TOUT TOUT like he does TWITTER TWITTER TWITTER, but at least the people they showed weren't complete morons.

[Awesome]

They're probably going to keep pushing Tout, as WWE have invested in them.

[RyPrax]

Raw last night drew a 3.44 in the ratings, which is up significantly from the 3.17 the show drew last week headed into Money in the Bank.

Perhaps bigger still, is the rating from last night was higher, albeit only just, than the post-Wrestlemania show this year, which drew a 3.43 rating.

Probably the PPV factor + pending RAW 1000. Wonder how that'll do in the ratings next week.

[Adampro123]

I know im late to the part because i was going to talk about my thoughts on Raw after i finished watching the MITB PPV but i still haven't gotten around to watch Punk vs Bryan yet because i wanted to really sit down and watch it since Prax said it was Match of the year.

Opening with Punk and the Big show was good. It was some of Punks better mic work in the last month or 2 and im really glad he's out of the love triangle storyline and can get to being more serious now. showtelling him he may be the champion but he's not the manthere is only one top guy in WWE John Cena. Of course playing up on how Cnea always takes the spotlight and main event from punk even though punk is champ.

Tag Team title match was pretty good. it was actually given a decent amount of time too. I liked A.W. on his little mic and how he was fixing Young's hair.  but the problem with PTP is that the talent just isn't there. neither guy seems like anything special at all and both are kind of boring and generic. (Unlike the best team in the WWE Hawkins & Reks)

I liked seeing Ryder on Raw i didn't like seeing him get beat by Del Rio again. However i LOVED seeing Rey return. it just seemed like such a breath of fresh air. it was so nic to see someone do those lucha type moves and actually execute them unlike Sin Cara. Also the this could help the WWE Mid card and main event out a lot.

Rikishi vs Heath Slater was probably my favorite part of the night. i never was a fan of Rikishi. i actually never liked him & Too Cool when they were all a team but to see him pay tribute to Umaga with the Samoan Spike and then him dancing with his sons the Usos's was a great moment and it actually gave me chills.

Mixed tag match was okay. I didn't like seeing Miz come back just to be apart of this and to lose too. but it was good for Bryan and AJ. I don't know how i feel about The proposal after the match. I don't really like Weddings in wrestling and nothing can top ODB and Eric Youngs wedding from earlier in the year but im sure these 2 will make it fun. It seems Bryan could be starting to turn into a face? I'm not sure but he and AJ were going against heels and he seemed like a face in this match.

Sawgger/Ryback match was really good. i think it was the best Swagger has looked in around 2 years. Before Ryback made the come back THAT IS HOW YOU BOOK SWAGGER. Of course Ryback did make the comeback though but it was all good. and both guys looked good.

Jericho/Ziggler segment was amazing! Just as good if not better than the Mic Foley/Ziggler segment late last year. Makes me wonder and hope that these 2 will start feuding and Jericho puts Ziggler over. It seems Jericho may also be turning face out of nowhere too. We'll see.

Clay vs JTG was the worst part of the night. I was glad to see JTG again though. i think he is really underrated.

Punk vs Big Show was about as good of a match that you're gonna get out of Big Show anymore. That aftermath with Cena coming out was good too. i knew Cena wouldn't cash in at the time but a Punk vs Cena Stare down is always good.

Overall Great Raw IMO. which is coming off of the worst Raw we may have ever had. It's Amazing how it can go from being so bad to so good that fast.

[RyPrax]

I know im late to the part because i was going to talk about my thoughts on Raw after i finished watching the MITB PPV but i still haven't gotten around to watch Punk vs Bryan yet because i wanted to really sit down and watch it since Prax said it was Match of the year.

Since when do you listen to me? I'm a John Cena mark.

[Adampro123]

I usually listen to anyone when they say something is match of the year. Plus with Punk and Bryan you can't really go wrong.

[Leonardo Lunchbox]

Punk vs Big Show = MOTY.

[Leonardo Lunchbox]

I just remembered but, Wade Barrett return at 1000?

[RyPrax]

Santino vs. Ricardo = MOTY

[Adampro123]

In that case...Garret Bischoff vs Gunner MOTY 

[Leonardo Lunchbox]

Actually though, i really did enjoy that Big Show/Punk match on RAW a few weeks back. It was really great.