4-30-12 Raw results and thoughts

        Coverage and thoughts on the April 30, 2012 episode of Raw

They start the show with still shots of the John Cena-Brock Lesnar match from Extreme Rules last night.

Also they showed a “Monday Night Raw Starring Brock Lesnar” graphic at the opening.

The actual show starts with Johnny Ace coming out and says that in one he revolutionized WWE for the fans and “People Power.” He says that the fans should thank him for bringing Lesnar in. He says that Lesnar gave Cena a major beating and showed that Cena is mortal. Then Ace says that Brock brought legitimacy back to WWE. Then he introduces Lesnar. Lesnar comes to the ring and he says that last night the world saw him bring the pain first hand. He says that he did what he said he was going to do. Ace says that is why he the face of WWE. Then Triple H’s music plays and he comes out. Johnny then says that Hunter is probably out there to congratulate the new face of WWE. Hunter says that he is out here to do what Ace doesn’t have the guts to do. Then Hunter tells Brock that his days of holding WWE are through. He says that the private jet and limo will no longer be provided for free. He says that Lesnar won’t be getting special treatment. Then he says that the name of the will always be Monday Night Raw. Hunter says no one is bigger than WWE. Then he says that Brock will get everything he wants in the contract that Hunter himself approved and not what the demands that Brock named last week. Johnny says that it isn’t right they go back on their word. Hunter tears the “contract” up. Then he says that Brock won’t be getting any of his demands. Hunter says he wants Brock in WWE and the fans do too. He says they might not all like Brock but they want to see him in a rematch with Cena. They want to see him face Punk, Orton, or Sheamus. Then Hunter says that if Brock doesn’t want to resign that’s ok. He says that if Brock wants to take his ball and go home he’s ok with it. Then he asks Brock what it’s gonna be. Ace says that it isn’t fair to put Brock in this position. Hunter says this is between him & Brock. Hunter says that the original terms were more than fair. Ace says that Hunter isn’t being reasonable and Hunter tells him to shut up. Hunter tells Brock he wants him here. Then Ace says Hunter’s being disrespectful and will have to take this up with the board of directors. Then as Hunter turns to Ace Lesnar attacks Triple H. Triple H fights back but Lesnar gets the arm lock on him. Then Kofi, Truth, Sheamus & Show comes and Brock leaves the ring. Brock is all pissed and he throws down the steel steps. Medics check on Triple H and he says his arm might be broken. The faces help Triple H up as Lesnar walks up the ramp. Then Show and the other guys help Triple H out of the ring. I wasn’t really into this segment. I really hope to God we’re not getting Triple H vs. Brock Lesnar. The whole segment made no sense to me. We’re supposed to forget that Johnny managed to get Triple H de throwned as GM last summer? It looks like they also want us to forget that Triple H & Sheamus had a rivalry 2 years ago. Logic once again takes a back seat in WWE booking.

They show Hunter being checked out by medics backstage. He says he can’t move his elbow.  

Eve Torres comes out and says that the number one contender of the WWE Title will be decided in a beat the clock challenge. There will be 5 matches and the guy who wins their match the shortest will face CM Punk for the WWE Title at Over The Limit. Then she says that the first match is now. Eve is terrible as the executive. Now she’s got glasses and ripping off the Traci Brooks bit.

U.S. Champion Santino Marella vs. The Miz in a beat the clock match. Miz gets the pin in 4:18. This was a decent match. No way is Miz gonna be the guy who gets the Title match though.

Divas Champion Layla El vs. Nikki Bella vs. Brie Bella for the Title. Layla gets the pin. This was meaningless. The Bellas argued at the bell and Layla got the pin. I believe that’s it for the Bella Twins as their deal ends tonight.

The lights go out and it’s time for Chris Jericho’s beat the clock challenge match.

Big Show vs. Chris Jericho in a beat the clock match. Jericho won by count out but not before the clock ran out. However the referee says that Jericho did beat the clock. They’re going to review this.

Back from commercial and Michael Cole says that Jericho didn’t make it. So the Miz still has the time to beat.

Brodus Clay time. I can’t stand this gimmick! JTG will be his victim tonight.

Brodus Clay vs. JTG. Brodus gets the pin. This was the typical Brodus squash. Are they gonna anything more with this guy then have him squash jobbers? He had a few kids come in the ring to do his bit with him.

They reshow the still shots from Cena-Lesnar and Cena’s post match promo.

Eve tells Teddy Long that his presence is upsetting Johnny Ace and she kicks him out. Eve talks about what happened at the start of the show. Then Eve says that Ace needs to make a decision as to what kind of leader he will be. She asks who Cena’s next opponent will be. Ace says that he knows and that Cena won’t like it. This was lame.

Randy Orton vs. Jack Swagger in a beat the clock match. Orton gets the pin in 4:16. This was a good match. Orton now has the time to beat.

Kofi Kingston & R-Truth vs. WWE Tag Team Champions Primo & Epico for the Titles. Kofi & Truth win to become the new Champions when Kofi pins Epico. This was a good match too. I had a feeling Kofi & Truth were going to win the Titles.

Backstage Primo & Epico argue about losing the Titles and then A.W. comes in. He says that if he had been managing them they wouldn’t have lost the Titles. He says more but the cut away and to the ring for Khali vs. Kane. Great way to emphasize that these guys don’t mean anything!

Great Khali vs. Kane in a Beat the Clock match. The clock runs out and the match goes to a draw. Afterwards Kane choke slams Khali. This sucked and was really tough to sit through.

Jerry Lawler vs. Daniel Bryan in a Beat The Clock match. Daniel wins by submission with 1:56 left on the clock. Then CM Punk’s music hits and he comes out on the stage. Ha applauds Daniel. Punk holds the title over his head while Daniel chants “Yes.” This was good. The match was decent and I liked Punk coming out on the stage. Him holding the title while Daniel chanted yes was cool. So Daniel Bryan will face CM Punk for the WWE Title. That works for me.

John Cena comes out with his arm in a sling. He still manages to be all smiles and the camera that he made it and is there. He gets the mic and talks about Triple H’s arm being broken. Then he mentions that his arm was broken too but he will be ok. He says that the X-Rays showed no breaks. He says that there’s a difference between being injured and hurt. Being injured is when you get sent home while being hurt means you might ache a bit but still get to be on the show. He says that he is here. Then Johnny Ace comes out. Cena is his usual cartoon super hero self. UGH! Ace says that when he said Brock was the new face of WWE he was trying to motivate Cena. Cena says that Ace hired someone to try to take him out. Ace says that Cena should be thanking him. Cena thanks him for being a cooperate jackass and other typical Cena talk. Johnny says that he can make Cena’s life easy or difficult. Cena says that he survived a match with Lesnar. Then he rags about the “People Power.” Ace brings up Over the Limit. Then he brings out his opponent of the next PPV. Out comes Lord Tensai. Tensai gets in the ring and Ace hits Cena in the back of the head with the mic. Then Ace says that Cena will face Johnny at Over the Limit. Then Tensai sentons him and Ace yanks off Cena’s sling. Then he kicks his injured arm and then Tensai holds Cena’s arm while Ace stomps on it. Then Johnny gets a chair and smashes it over Cena’s arm. Johnny does the you can’t see me gesture and walks out. Cena sells the arm injury as Ace walks up the ramp to end the show. This was idiotic! Cena, broken arm and all is STILL being the dumb cartoon hero! He has a broken and he says that he is hurt and NOT injured? HEH! The rest of this was crap too. Cena vs. Ace at Over The Limit? I thought it was gonna be Tensai but they’re trying to do another version of Austin-Vince and it ain’t gonna work!

I thought this was a mediocre show overall. I wasn’t into the opening segment with Triple H & Brock Lesnar. I thought Hunter & Johnny both talked too much. Lesnar “breaking” Triple H’s arm was good though. However I don’t wanna see Triple H vs. Lesnar. The end was crap! Cena was his typical cartoon self despite having a “broken arm”. The rest of the show wasn’t too memorable. I like that we’ll be getting Punk vs. Bryan at the next PPV. The Beat The Clock Challenge was hit and miss. Orton-Swagger was the best match out of that. Khali-Kane of course was the worst. Big Show-Jericho was ok too. Santino-Miz was ok for what it was. Lawler-Bryan was decent too. The tag title match was good and I figured they would have Kofi & Truth win the belts. The backstage bit with Primo, Epico, Rosa & A.W. wasn’t much. It meant so little that they cut away from it. The 3 way Divas match was WAY too short to be anything really. The Bellas are done with WWE now. Brodus Clay’s gimmick continues to be awful too. On the whole I thought this was a middle of the road show.