Quick Thoughts on Raw

Hi all - know there was no ITVR as promised - would you believe how much work and sleep there is to catch up on after a weekend of travel with wee ones? - but we did catch Raw last week and tonight, and I wanted to give some thoughts on some highlights.

First - definitely some stupid stuff. Not impressed, for example, with the Hart Dynasty being broken up AND feuding on free TV when this could at least be a semi-decent undercard PPV match; no respect for the tag division, but no surprise here. And while I'm amused with Tamina and Santino's romance, and the conflict of interest this causes as Santino and partner Vladimir Kozlov feud with Tamina's proteges, the Usos, I'd still like to sort of see where this is going; this story doesn't deserve the kind of attention it's getting, while the Harts and other undercard storylines are being so underserved.

However, WWE is doing a lot of things right lately on Raw, and some major compliments I want to dole out include:

• I enjoyed Michael Cole's heel turn last week, Jerry Lawler's getting into his face, and the anonymous email GM intervening at just the right moment (AND CM Punk getting to have fun reading the email for a change). In fact, I'm very much enjoying Punk on the Raw announce team in general, he has a lot to add to it. Randy Orton's reapparance to RKO Michael Cole when Jerry Lawler couldn't lay his hands on him is also good, and transferred the feud and attention from the Miz and the announce team, to the Miz and really his most obvious #1 contender. I'm not a fan of this 'oooh what kind of match will they pick to fight in on the upcoming PPV?' on both Smackdown and Raw, when this is the frickin' TABLES LADDERS AND CHAIRS pay per view they're building up toward, but these two guys can at least go, both on mic and in-ring.
• I definitely have found John Cena's interference the last few weeks a bit annoying, especially after his heartfelt 'I want to go spend time with my family' speech - but somewhat acceptable given they at least provide the continuity of him buying his tickets and otherwise acting on subterfuge - but at least it came to an interesting head this week with the Nexus, after having all been attacked and the threat of those attacks continuing until John Cena was rehired, no longer wishing to be Wade Barrett's whipping boys and turning on him. An interesting way to end Raw and with Barrett, for the first time in a long while, actually being on the short end of any given scenario. It will be interesting to see how this plays out next week.
• Also want to give credit to John Morrison and Sheamus - excellent performers who are keeping up their feud (and doing a great job despite being very DIFFERENT performers), while obviously sowing some seeds that Sheamus is on to Triple H whenever the King of Kings makes his triumphant return (OK - so not terribly original, hello Booker T - but still funny and being pulled off by a decent entertainer).

So definitely some strong stuff, and the quibbles are just quibbles - as the Road to Wrestlemania season is starting to rev its engines (albeit not quite out of the starting gate), I recommend fans tune in, as obviously the powers that be are working hard at getting back on their game.