Live News & Notes From Last Night's WWE RAW

Credit: Chad Nevett

I was at Raw in Detroit tonight and thought you might like some notes on it.

First off, my girlfriend and I went to get tickets at the box office around 4:30 this afternoon and found ourselves invited to that screening that the WWE was holding. It was just a screening of a trailer that they wanted people to watch and fill out surveys on, with compensation of twenty bucks each. Considering our tickets were only $18, that seemed like a pretty sweet deal. The trailer was for Triple H's The Chaperone and was a little different from the one that's turned up online. Just some expansion of a few parts, not drastically changed. They later showed the same trailer during a commercial break.

Advertisement

The door opened at Joe Louis Arena at 7:20 and there was a decent crowd. Some upper sections away from the camera were tarped off with any empty seats on the side away from the camera. The rest of the arena was pretty much packed.

In the dark match, Percy Watson defeated William Regal in three or four minutes. It was decent, nothing too special.

For Superstars, Zack Ryder and Primo kicked things off against Yoshi Tatsu and David Hart Smith. Ryder and Primo cut a promo before the match demanding that the crowd give them the welcome they deserve and, when all they received in return were boos, Ryder said that, after the show, they would go find some girls that are DZP: down with Zack and Primo. The match was your standard Superstars tag match. The crowd was really behind Tatsu, not so much Smith. Ryder had some heat, but not Primo. The win by the heels was a bit surprising and the crowd responded accordingly.

Advertisement

When R-Truth came out for the second match, the pop was huge. People love him — or his entrance at least. They were very into it. Tyson Kidd got a somewhat mixed response, but not as much as you'd think given the amount of Canadians usually in the audience at Detroit shows. Not too much 'bizarro land' behaviour for him. I didn't catch the entire match, ducking off the bathroom before Raw started, but did return in time to see Truth get the win and people pop for him once again.

During the actual show, the biggest stand-out difference was, after the New Nexus came out for the tag match with Santino and Kozlov, they cut a promo where Mason Ryan spoke Welsh before David Otunga translated. That was a little confusing since it wasn't clear if he was speaking another language or just really, really bad on the mic. He basically put over Punk before Michael McGillicutty got on the mic and said we should all get on our knees for Punk. It was decent and filled the time. Before the main event CM Punk also cut a promo demanding silence, each time receiving bigger and bigger boos until he showed us a repeat of last week's Derek Bateman Mark Henry calogne bit with the promise it would make us all silent. Cricket chirps were added to the soundtrack.

Advertisement

Overall, the crowd was into almost everything except the Nexus/Santino & Kozlov match. I'd say the biggest pops went to John Cena, Randy Orton, and R-Truth. The biggest heat was on Punk and the New Nexus, but only when they spoke. When they came out, it was a much more mixed reaction. Same with the Miz. People hated him when he spoke or did anything, but his entrance was greeted with a mix of boos and cheers.

-Chad Nevett

Comments

Recommended