Inside Pulse Wrestling | 10 Thoughts on WWE Raw for 01.03.2011 – Miz vs Morrison, #1 Contender Cage Match

10 Thoughts on WWE Raw for 01.03.2011 – Miz vs Morrison, #1 Contender Cage Match

by Will Pruett on January 4, 2011

Welcome to another wonderful edition of 10 Thoughts on Raw and welcome to WWE in 2011. In case you didn’t already know, you now have the ability to follow me on Twitter at twitter.com/itswilltime, where you can not only get wrestling thoughts, but all sorts of other treats straight from my mind to your digital device.

Enough about me, how about we get to the thoughts?

1. What a match from The Miz and John Morrison. That was a PPV quality match that was enhanced by the announcers making it seem like a major deal. It is rare that I compliment the Raw announce team these days, but Michael Cole and Josh Matthews did great work with this match.

2. John Morrison continues to show that he is taking the next step forward in his in-ring work. He has flashy spots, but he is learning to tie them together and make it look like he is actually in a fight, not just doing backflips for no reason. This was in the top three matches of his career and I hope WWE follows this performance up with a major moment or two in the Royal Rumble to continue his momentum.

3. Wait, so The Uso’s aren’t jobbers anymore? I can’t complain about building up a tag team, but WWE could find better ways to do so than victories over the champions. That is my personal least favorite path to the #1 Contendership because it makes the champions look weak going in.

4. The exchange between CM Punk and Wade Barrett definitely held my attention. They could have some great promo exchanges together as time goes on. If the fans had to pick a side in this one, I wonder who they would pick. Would they believe that the devil they know (Punk) is superior to the devil they don’t (Barrett)?

5. Alberto Del Rio on Raw is a good play for WWE. I usually prefer for the brand split to be firmer, but introducing this character who could be the next World Heavyweight Champion to the Raw audience is an important step in his development. Also, he was in a really awesome car this week.

6. Once again, Michael Cole gets one right on his criticisms of R-Truth and his awful singing down to the ring. Thank you Cole. You had a great night.

7. Does anyone else ever want the ominous steel cage theme music to play in other precarious situations in their life?

8. If the main event cage match could only be won by escape from the cage, why was there a referee in the ring?

9. I case you’re wondering about WWE and their ability to make new stars, you need to watch this episode of Raw. Miz, John Morrison, Sheamus, Wade Barrett and Alberto Del Rio all delivered big and showed that they have made it to the upper echelon of WWE Superstars. Suck on that TNA.

10. CM Punk’s betrayal of Wade Barrett played out perfectly tonight. I’m very interested in where the Wade Barrett character goes from here. I still believe a Smackdown run could be in the cards, but a Raw babyface turn wouldn’t surprise me.

10a. Randy Orton as #1 Contender does not appeal to me because it is giving out a major main event at the Royal Rumble, which doesn’t need a major championship match. That said, I do not know when WWE could get back to this match if they do not do it now.

Really good episode of Raw tonight. WWE turned up the heat knowing that Monday Night Football was over and that they had two major main events to allow to play out. Good wrestling tonight and story lines were moved forward. This was everything a major episode of Raw should be. Thanks for reading and make sure to check the Twitter at twitter.com/itswilltime.

Tags: 10 Thoughts, cm punk, john cena, John Morrison, monday night raw, randy orton, Raw, sheamus, The Miz, Wade Barrett, Will Pruett, WWE

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Will Pruett

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Will is a 23 year old graduate student at UC Irvine. He is going to school for Stage Management and has always been passionate about pro wrestling. He began writing "The People's Column" in 2009. In 2010 he started his own wrestling blog, which is growing at an alarming rate. He is married to a beautiful woman (pictured on his profile) who accompanies him to most wrestling events that he goes to. Will is thankful for everyone who reads and interacts with him on Pulse and on his blog.

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Sebastian Howard

1. I thought Morrison/Miz was boring but I seem to be in the minority.

2. His moves looked botched to me, the crossbody from the WWE Sign hit Riley more than Miz.

3. Actually the Uso’s going over the champions isn’t the worst thing, they do stuff like this all the time in other promotions, it’s actually smart if the other wrestler is leginemt… plus it’s better than hot-shotting the title TWENTY times (ala Cena/Orton).

4. This was the best part of RAW, praise Punk!

5. Alberto’s always in a nice car.

6. I agree, thank you Cole for stopping Truth’s awful music from entering my ears.

7. Hmm, I suppose playing the steel cage theme randomely in my life would be cool.

8. Uh, to stop them from bleeding?

9. Agreed.

10. I like Orton as #1 Contender because we get Miz/Orton, lets just hope Miz wins.
damnufine

I agree on basically all your points. I liked Morrison’s work in the title match. I’m not sold on the Miz, his facial expressions during the match didn’t match Morrison’s intensity but he did have a decent match. Morrison is really developing the right mentality to match his look and athleticism. I don’t like John’s move set because he has “Jeff Hardy stupid moves” syndrome which played well into the end of the match.
Punk is gold and HE should be the future of the company. He’s really the main reason I despise the Miz’s push. He’s simply better than the Miz in every way and “better” should lead to the belt in my “Fantasy booker” world. I enjoyed Raw, I like the Uso’s because they seem focused. They want to win, not date, not joke, not get over with the crowd or have them chant his catch phrase. I like that type of stuff. lol
incognito

@#9 – Wait until Triple H returns before gloating too much, or, God forbid…The Undertaker aka the pushkiller.
Marlowe

Let me counter some of the Cole accolades-did anybody else catch him saying in the intro that Cena’s injury was “exasperated” during a match with Wade Barrett?
Sebastian Howard

Well it’s not too bad, at least he was putting over the Nexus attack.
Joe

While I’m bored as Duggan’s 2×4 at Orton being the #1 contender, my hopes are high that they have Miz win an actual match with no stipulations and in somewhat of a clean fashion.

But then my hopes lim a little and the life gets sucked out of me with thoughts that HHH wins the rumble, challenges Miz for the title, belittles him as a meaningless champion, so Miz runs over his dog in the story lines and then is buried by Hunter at ‘Mania.