John Cena & the Problems with WWE RAW
By Kevin Nelson
The latest edition of RAW took place in Austin, Texas. In what can only be described as “Miz being Miz,” we learned that after the TLC Pay Per View, The Miz is still WWE Champion and he went out of his way to tell everyone that he is the champ and will be for a long time.
Along with his cohort Alex Riley and his number one fan, WWE announcer Michael Cole, they celebrated when “THE SHAMAN OF SEXY” John Morrison interrupted and told Miz that he has beaten him twice and, after beating Sheamus to become the number one contender, he will defeat him and win the WWE Title.
At this point Alex Riley and The Miz attacked Morrison and Jerry “The King’’ Lawler came to John Morrison’s defense by clothes lining Riley. Michael Cole received an email from the anonymous RAW GM declaring the main event to be Morrison, Lawler, Orton against Sheamus, The Miz and Alex Riley…a six man tag team match main event.
We also learned that John Cena has his job back after defeating Wade Barrett at the TLC PPV. John Cena would face WWE Intercontinental champion Dolph Ziggler after Cena insulted Vicki Guerrero for her weight issues. The match was a non title match and Cena was victorious.
Afterwards, it was announced that on Smackdown that Cena would face Dolph Ziggler and Vicki Guerrero in a handicap match. A triple threat match for the number one contender for the Divas Title had Melina, Eve, and Alicia Fox mix it up with the winner being Melina. Shortly afterwards, the Divas Champion Nathalia went to congratulate Melina only to be slapped. The US Title was on the line as Daniel Bryan defeated William Regal. The WWE Tag team champs Santino and Tamina defeated Ted Dibiase and Maryse.
The main event mentioned earlier had Randy Orton, Jerry Lawler and John Morrison face Alex Riley and The Miz as well as Shamus. Orton hit the Miz with a surprise RKO while the referee was not looking as Jerry Lawler pinned The Miz.
Raw Analysis
This particular episode of RAW was not the most entertaining. Whenever you have a six man tag match for a main event you’re not exactly putting a good match together. Several issues one concerning John Cena after a great feud with Wade Barrett has finished. It seems as though the WWE is running out of ideas for their superstar by getting him to feud with Dolph Ziggler. I don’t quite understand the thinking regarding that storyline. I also don’t get why they are having Jerry Lawler involved in a feud with “The Miz.” It is all so confusing…the direction the WWE is going with their superstars.
The number one problem facing RAW right now is the announcing team of Michael Cole and Jerry “The King” Lawler. Although Michael Cole is hated (which in wrestling, is a good thing to have that kind of heat, but not in the case of an announcer), he is insufferable and has been for years being on Smackdown. But some big changes have to be made. The problem is finding the right people to do the job of selling the matches while entertaining the viewing audience. Being an announcer is not an easy thing, but I think we are all longing for good ole Jim Ross.
In the case of The Miz: he has played the part of a heel to perfection while also good on the microphone, but I’m worried his first title reign is going to be shortened by John Morrison. In order to gain credibility as champion, you need legit wins and that goes without saying for any sport. But in the case of “The Miz,” if he were to have a lengthy reign, it could go along way for the future of the WWE.
The WWE is in a transition phase while wrestlers like Triple H and Shawn Michaels are retired. With John Cena seemingly not in the current title picture, the WWE has some wrestlers like The Miz and John Morrison that are more than capable of carrying the company. Let’s not forget about Daniel Bryan, who is a breath of fresh air in that the WWE has seemingly gone back to bigger and stronger brawler type wrestlers. He is the exception…a small but gifted mat tactician who is as enjoyable to watch as the late Chris Benoit was.
For the WWE to get back to their glory days, they need to decide what their identity as a company is. Although they have transitioned to a more kid friendly programming, they are not getting the ratings they used to. In order to understand how to do that, they have to know what the viewers want to see.
In all fairness, it may seem as though I am coming down hard on the WWE, but that is simply not the case. I do understand the thinking around the weak card on Monday.
After all they just had a tables, ladders, and chairs PPV and I’m sure a lot of the WWE Superstars are not exactly healthy. But the storylines and overall stale feeling of watching RAW made me want to change the channel.
I could only imagine what the viewers who paid good money to see it live must have felt.