Instant Reaction - WWE Raw 8/13
By Benjamin Tucker, PWTorch TV specialist

Overall Score - 5.5

With a lot of filler, several missed opportunities, and one of the weirdest closing segments I've ever seen, Raw wasn't a great lead-un show form Summerslam on Sunday. That being said, it was a step up from previous pre-PPV episodes in that at least WWE has a filled-out card. But, how well was each Summerslam match hyped? Let's see...

First off, hype for both the Intercontinental and World Title matches was essentially non-existent. On that same note, Daniel Bryan is getting over brilliantly as a character, but his feud with Kane is non-existent at this point. The two have barely been in contact with each other since Kane left the WWE Title storyline. At least, even if Bryan's antics are a little goofy, he is getting extremely over as a heel. It was fascinating to see a relatively bored crowd during the tame Punk-Show opener go crazy as soon as D-Bry's music hit. The character evolution of this man is astounding. His story with Kane? Not so much. While it was overshadowed later in the evening, at least WWE tried to put a smidgen of effort into the Tag Title match on Sunday. The Prime Time Players had a solid beat down on R-Truth. It wasn't particularly memorable, but it at least was something.

It was the other three matches for Summerslam that received the most hype, and once again, the results are mixed. The three-way for the WWE Title stayed on pretty much the same page tonight, with the exception of Punk going even closer to the edge of a heel turn. But, really, Punk's right. Why does Cena all of a sudden not trust him? As long as he doesn't cross Punk, they're fine. Cena not shaking Punk's hand, at least in my book, makes him look more heelish. Maybe not. Big Show still seems like a huge third wheel in the feud, but more than anything Raw tonight didn't give me a big final push to order the pay-per-view for this match. Even when A.J. was in the midst of the WWE Title story, they gave the viewers a final sell on the match. None of that was here. The tag match was okay, if a bit repetitious (so tired of Punk-Bryan and Show-anybody), but I didn't get a lot out of final hype.

Piper's Pit tonight will go down as one of the most disappointing segments of Raw 2012. You have Roddy Piper, Miz, Jericho, and Ziggler in a talking segment all at once. That should mean a spectacular segment, but instead it was a meandering Piper's Pit that indeed furthered the Dolph-Jericho feud, but not too much into new territory. So much more could've been done. More than anything, Roddy was a big let down. When Piper has a segment, you're either going to have good Roddy or bad Roddy. Bad Roddy was in the building tonight. At the same time, the triple threat was an excellent TV match that didn't give away too much of Ziggler-Jericho. The finish played right into the feud, and Miz didn't look any worse than usual (which isn't saying much).

And, then, we come to the Lesnar-Triple H segment(s). The contract signing itself was fantastic. Everyone was great, especially Heyman. If the guy is good at one thing, it's selling a show. The intensity was almost at WrestleMania levels, and as the end of the show, it would've been great. But, it wasn't. Instead, what followed were various Tout messages, recaps, video packages, and Brock attacking HBK off-camera. Was WWE running short on time tonight? The attack was campy, Shawn sold the arm injury as if he were four-years-old, and while it was still an okay ending, the contract signing ending the show probably would've been superior. I'm not one of the fans who crave blood, but how could Shawn NOT have bled after being slammed on top of a car window?

The rest of the show was okay. Sin Cara's quick victory over Tensai was unnecessary, as was the Divas tag match (but hey, at least they made it on TV this week). Ryback's new theme is terrible, but at least people are using his chant now, and Pauly D added (but also detracted) nothing to the show. The biggest surprise on these three-hour shows continues to be Damien Sandow, and I am loving his budding feud with Brodus. He even got a clean win after a ringside distraction! How often does that happen with a heel? And, it was against Christian! This mid-card feud is one of the bright spots of these otherwise middling three-hour Raws.

Any questions or comments? Feel free to message me on Twitter at BTuckertorch.

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