A few years ago, the WWE had a new idea. For years, bookers and writers decided exactly who would fight whom under what conditions and who would win. This new and innovative concept Pay Per View, Cyber Sunday, allowed for the fans to control two out of those three essential parts of booking for at least one night. The novelty of this event brought solid buyrates, but fans quickly realized that making their own choices was both difficult and time consuming, leaving the concept to be a thing of the past. That was the case until this Monday, when the idea of fan interaction was resurrected, only this time for a 3 hour special for Raw. Thanfully, the idea of voting had no effect on an event fans had to open their wallets for (except for those in attendance), and thus, fans were able to enjoy both serious and borderline ridiculous matches and events throughout the night. However, all of that is merely a footnote to what people are already calling "the best ending to Raw in 10 years". That's quite lofty, but I think that on a night where the fans had all the say, the fans got this one right.
As expected, most of the show was filled by selections of competitors or stipulations as voted on by the fans. Of course, the show was expertly scripted to coerce fans into voting for the stipulations felt to maximize the quality of the show, so the results throughout the night weren't exactly mind blowing. With that said, there were a couple of surprises along the way. Perhaps the first surprise of the night was the fact that Randy Orton came out while Teddy Long and Bret Hart were addressing the live audience regarding the concept of the show and requested a match with Edge. Those who have been following the product despite my writing hiatus know that Orton has been nursing a shoulder injury for a couple of weeks. If you weren't aware of this very real development, look no further than the footage of the event I'm talking about to see Orton in a sling. The word was that Orton was slated to still take part in the match at Fatal 4 Way, so to get him ready, his work on television would be greatly reduced. For this reason, it was surprising that one of the choices for the Edge/Orton encounter was an actual match, one arm or not. The fact was that Orton was going to take bumps which seemed like Russian Roulette for his health. The segment appeared almost 2 hours after the initial encounter and watching Orton take any sort of back bumps where he could hit his shoulder was cringe-worthy. With Orton hotter than he's ever been, he can ill afford to aggravate the injury, so the WWE better hope that this risky segment did not do so. Despite the risk, it certainly furthered the feud, and attacking a popular face while they are injured will always do wonders for a heel and their heat. It will be interesting to see when these two will face each other again since they are in a Fatal 4 Way at this PPV and the next one is Money in the Bank, where they may very well be in the famous ladder match. If that is the case, it may be almost 3 months until they fight one on one on a Pay Per View again. Keeping the feud fresh may be an issue, but these are two of the best the WWE has, so I expect this feud to stay strong for as long as it needs.
About the only other "serious" plot development, excluding the end of the show, was that Drew McIntyre drew a "mystery opponent" for his fan's choice match. That mystery man was his nemesis, Matt Hardy, who proceeded to pummel the Scottish psychopath in a quick victory. The emotional Hardy continued to beat down McIntyre after he gained pinfall, which was both weird and awesome. I mean, most people would milk the match to beat down a nemesis as long as possible since it's LEGAL, but Matt chose to pin DMac and try to continue the beating. Obviously refs will intervene at this point, so the strategy was questionable. What isn't questionable is Matt's crowd reaction, which is very solid. Hardy is more over with the crowds than most faces, yet still doesn't get a consistent push. Perhaps it spurns from internet hatred of the man, unaffectionately known as "Fat Hardy" to the smart marks. This writer does not see eye to eye with that contingency though, as I believe Matt is relatable and marketable as such, and I would like to see him get one true main event push before his time in WWE is up.
While the aforementioned two matches were filled with emotion and furthered storylines, most of the others were comedic in nature, with very few actually developing stories. Perhaps you could say the first match that featured Big Show and Jericho gave a bit of closure to the story of the former Unified Champions, but when a 200 pound man is put in a bodyslam contest against a 450 pound man, it's not exactly a contest of equally matched competitors. Couple that with the massive Show defeating Jericho in the other 2 match choices and well and you have the formula for a bit of comedy and the helping of the "funny big guy" push for Show. Along those lines, the Hart Dynasty had a match and it turned into comedy as well, as The Great Khali and Hornswoggle won the vote over The Dudebusters and The Usos. As much as it was a goofy comedy match, this was the result the WWE was looking for, since it allowed for the budding feud between the Usos (why they aren't the Fatus I have no idea!) and the Harts to continue without giving away a match just yet.
The only real concerning thing about this show is that while some storylines were furthered, no new matches were made for the Fatal 4 Way PPV, leaving only 2 title matches as official on the card with less than 2 weeks before the show. In WWE's defense though, the diva segment didn't epically fail! By the way, how great does Eve look?
Before we get to the insane ending to the show, I'd be hardpressed to not mention the guest hosts, the A-Team (minus Liam Neeson). With the relinquishment of power from the guest hosts, these men were relegated to (what they should be, in my opnion), plugging their movie and doing a little comedy. Of course, two out of the three men were involved in an ongoing comedy bit throughout the night, which if you didn't take seriously, was actually somewhat funny. It was a bit disappointing that Bradley Cooper did a 1 minute plug and wasn't seen again on the show, but it could have been worse.........he could have been Jeremy Piven! Just a little aside, but who else has started the countdown for Rampage Jackson becoming a professional wrestler? Those slams were executed better than half the roster! My guess is that it will happen sooner rather than later. Hell, after getting humiliated in the octagon, how much more abuse do you want to take?
Through skits, comedy matches, and the occasional serious feud segment, the episode of Raw coudl be considered decent, perhaps above average if you knew to expect this sort of show going in (which everyone shoudl have). However, any rankings, thoughts, or conclusions about this edition of Raw changed within the final 15 minutes of the show. It seemed as though John Cena and CM Punk would have a lengthy TV match, much to the approval of many fans (hell, they voted for it over Swagger and Mysterio!). The match was about 5 minutes in when Cena began his comeback. As he set up for the 5 knuckle shuffle, Wade Barrett made his way down the ramp, adorned in an armband with a yellow "N" on it. Cena became more distracted with every step Barrett took, but the problem worsened when all 8 season 1 NXT rookies emerged from the crowd. After beating down the Straight Edge Society who was at ringside, the rookies surrounded the ring like a pack of wolves around its prey. After an awkward staredown, the rookies proceeded to absolutely destroy Cena, as well as everything else in their path. The carnage included Cena, Punk, the Straight Edge Society, announcers, commentators, equipment, and even the ring. It was destruction the likes of which the WWE universe may have never seen before. It was quite the unpredictable ending, already being called by some as the best ending to a Raw in 10 years. From a storylne perspective, this has the potential to become one of the great angles in wrestling, but it must be closely monitored. With today's fans being more fickle than ever, every detail of this story must be intricately crafted to appease even the most cynical of viewer. With that said, the 15 minutes that have already occured are already the talk of the wrestling world, and this angle might be the very thing to jumpstart a new era in professional wrestling. With so many ways to go, it truly has the potential to dominate broadcasts in a way fans haven't seen since the failed WCW/ECW invasion. At this point, fans are banking on pure potential. Here's hoping I don't have to rant about how the WWE messed up the best idea they've had in years. For once though, I'm quite optimistic that I won't have to do that.
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