Ace’s Spades – The Premiere Edition!

WHATSUP ACE-HOLES! Hello and welcome to the debut edition of Ace’s Spades. In every edition of my column I will review an episode of Raw, Smackdown, or a WWE Pay-per-view.  For Raw and Smackdown I will review each segment/promo/match in order and tell you what I though of it. For WWE Pay-per-views I will review each match that takes place, give it a star rating (1-5) and give the overall show a letter grade (A-F). Now that I explained what to expect, let me tell you a little bit about what I do at LOE Wrestling. I am the co-founder, co-president, executive producer of LOE Live, and owner of this very website that you are looking at right now. I make all the graphics for the company (with the exception of the website background), I create all of the soundclips, and introductions for LOE Live. That voice that you hear on LOE Live is mine too.  The first show that I will be reviewing tonight is the June 13th edition of Monday Night Raw. Lets kick this puppy off right. As always LOE Wrestling does not endorse the kicking of puppies. No puppies were harmed in the creation of this column.

*KEEP IN MIND THAT ALL OF THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION IS STRICTLY MY OPINION ONLY*

Opening Promo –As the go home show for Capitol Punishment, I feel like The Miz should have talked more about his match with Alex Riley to build it up a bit more,  before Austin came out. The crowd popped huge for Austin when he finally came out (as they always do). It’s Always great to see Austin verbally assault someone, especially the Miz, and I know everyone wanted to Miz get assaulted verbally and physically. ADR comes out to confront Austin but isn’t able to get the best of him, instead the GM for the night puts him in a match against Kane. I liked how this Promo didn’t contain just one person, and it’s a good way to remind the crowd that Austin is the GM for the night, and a great way to fire up the Long Island crowd by having Austin come out at the top of the show.

Alberto Del Rio vs. Kane – It only makes sense to have these two face each other since Austin made the match to have ADR face Big Show (Kane’s partner) this Sunday.  Big Show running down to the ring after the DQ finish was something I’ve never seen before because I don’t think I’ve ever seen him run that fast. Ricardo Rodriguez getting knocked out I guess was revenge for him getting hit by his ADR’s car a few weeks back. I’m glad this match was made for Sunday since we only had 4 matches going into Raw.  The match itself wasn’t good, but the DQ finish I didn’t mind.

6 Man Tag Match – I understand this match to be on a WWE All Stars show, but this is the go home show for Capitol Punishment and the night should have been focused on that, and not having a throw away 6 man tag match that will do nothing to build up the pay-per-view.  If the show wasn’t an All Stars show I would be even angrier, but since it is I guess it’s alright. The match itself was decent for what it was, even if it was over in a matter of minutes. The Lighting for Sin Cara needs to stop, I mean seriously, it serves no purpose at all.

R-Truth Promo – I’m starting to dig this heel R-Truth gimmick, even though I never liked him as a face. Even as a heel he’s not that great, but he’s better than he was. Good way to slightly build up his match with Cena this Sunday. Kicking Hornswoggle was a simple way to get some cheap heat out of the crowd, which I found amusing. Austin making R-Truth vs. Morrison was a good way to revive an old rivalry, but shouldn’t Morrison be recovering from his neck surgery?  I’m pretty sure he’s not 100% yet.

Sheamus vs. Santino Marella – Like I said before, a throw away match like this shouldn’t be on WWE TV the week before a pay-per-view. However, the match itself was quick and painless. I also feel like Sheamus shouldn’t be punished by facing a guy like Santino, he deserves better.

Randy Orton and Christian Confrontation– Good to see The Viper and Christian back on the A show.  Finally glad to see some legitimate buildup for Sunday. The security separating both men was a very nice touch. I was hoping to not hear the Anonymous GM noise/Cole reading the emails all night since Austin is supposed to be the GM for the night, but I guess I was wrong.  Austin comes on the Titantron to make Christian vs. Mysterio for the next match. I’m finally glad Christian turned heel a few weeks back because it exactly what Smackdown needed. Heel Christian reeks of awesomeness.

Christian vs. Rey Mysterio – I’m a little disappointed that this ended in a DQ for two reasons. One: because we already had a DQ finish to another match. Two: because this match had a lot of potential.  However I understand why they did it and it’s to give more heat to Christian. After the match the New Nexus comes out to attack Mysterio to build up for their newly announced match for this Sunday, and Mysterio eats a Killswitch from Christian. Poor Mysterio. While Punk and Mysterio always have good matches together, having their 657^th match this Sunday is just…ugh…

R-Truth vs. Morrison – Ok, ok, the match didn’t happen, but Truth doing his “Little Jimmy” joke over and over Is just priceless and hilarious. I’m guessing Morrison wasn’t 100% after all and after that shot with the crate it looks like he’ll be out a little bit longer. Seems like we’ll be seeing  R-Truth vs. Morrison one more time down the road, but this time, it will be personal.

Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger vs. Evan Bourne and Kofi Kingston – Quick and fun match for what it was. Good thing Sundays show is getting more matches and good thing this match had a purpose, to build up Ziggler vs. Kofi. Although I didn’t see much build up, at least it’s a start.

Piper’s Pit – The Miz and Piper promo at the beginning was brilliant. Very good stuff.  I’m sure I’m not the only one saying this, but I absolutely love this Miz/Alex Riley feud.  Riley is getting pushed to the moon by being in the same ring and segment with Roddy Piper, and having a match with a former WWE Champion. I hope bigger things are in Riley’s future after this Sunday, like a shot at the US Championship. Austin comes on the tron and makes Piper vs. The Miz with Alex Riley being the special guest referee. HELL YEAH!

The Miz vs. Roddy Piper (Alex Riley as the Special Guest Referee) – The match itself wasn’t really a match, but more like a segment. To have Miz face off against Piper did nothing but have Miz be assaulted by Piper and Riley and be humiliated. Also it hyped up their match for Sunday, which is always a good thing.

7 on 7 Divas Tag Team Match – 14 women in this match and it only went about 2 minutes….THAT makes sense.  The post match stuff was….cute?….hot?….never mind it was terrible. Always good to see that many divas in a match though.

Backstage segment with Austin, Punk and Andy – Punk using Austin’s “What” against him was funny, the line from Austin saying “I can whoop your ass backwards” made me laugh out loud. Very funny stuff here. Andy needs to be used soon on the show; we need to see what this kid is made of.

John Cena vs. CM Punk – WOW WHAT A REACTION FROM THE CROWD! Back and forth chants for Punk and Cena, very good to hear. As a main event match this was very good and was given a decent amount of time. Defiantly the match of the night, but that’s not saying much.  Punk pinning Cena clean was a surprise. Truth attacking Cena after the match was well done, kind of makes you think if R-Truth can really win the WWE Championship on Sunday. I doubt it though.

- *Afterthoughts* -

Stone cold as the guest GM – Why have Austin be the GM for the night but still have the laptop chime in? I was happy when Austin finally destroyed that thing and continued to pour beer on it. I’m hoping that’s the last time we see that thing, especially after the announcement to have the anonymous GM “come back” next week. Austin served his purpose on the show, and that purpose was to make matches and entertain. When Austin appears on a show, you know it can only be good.

Raw as WWE All Star Night vs. Go home show for Capitol Punishment – I don’t know why they decided to have a WWE All Star show the week before a pay-per-view. Most of the night did nothing to build up matches for Sunday. Granted there were a few moments that did, but they were few and far between. They should have saved this gimmick for a week where not building up for a pay-per-view was ok, like next week. The quality of matches was terrible, only the main event was given fair time and turned out to be a good match. It’s like they wanted to take the focus off of Capitol Punishment and put it on an All Stars gimmick that no one cares about. In my opinion, this was the wrong week to do this. However, I’m glad we have more matches for Sunday.

No Zack Ryder – This was the biggest mistake of the night. You have a guy who is EXTREMLEY over with the crowd, you have 50% of the signs every week be Zack Ryder related, fans demanding to see him on TV and you still refuse to put him on TV. Especially since Raw was in Long Island, I can’t even imagine the pop that I would have heard if Zack Ryder appeared on the show, it would have been deafening. This guy clearly has what it takes to be popular, but he isn’t getting used. I don’t understand the WWE’s logic, but then again, WWE and logic don’t mix. I seriously hope we see this guy get used on TV soon, because I’m a huge fan of his, and I’m starting to feel bad for the guy.

The fact that I couldn’t go to this show – I’ve been a wrestling fan for 9 years. 8 of those years I’ve spent living in Long Island where I’ve attended 10+ WWE shows at the Nassau Coliseum (Where this past Raw was held) but none of them a live Raw taping. If I still lived on Long Island you could bet any amount of money that I would be at this show. Only thing holding me back was that I live in Pennsylvania now and to make a trip from there and back in 1 day is quite a task. The crowd was hot all night, especially for the main event, and I would have loved to be a part of that.

Well that’ll do it for this edition of Ace’s Spades. I hope you enjoyed what you read. Don’t forget to listen to the next episode of LOE Live and check out all of the other columns that we have up here on LOEWrestling.com. If you have any questions for me my email is listed below as well as links to the LOE Wrestling Twitter page that I run, the LOE Wrestling Facebook page, and the LOE Wrestling forum. Now let me leave you with a few wise words from a world famous philosopher that we should all take the time to reflect on.

Take care, spike your hair

Woo woo woo you know it!

-Zack Ryder

My email – Ageoface187@loewrestling.com

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