The Good, Bad, Ugly and Meh of Monday Night Raw: February 13, 2012

The Good...
Triple H and Shawn Michaels' emotionally-charged encounter that was the highlight of the show for me. It gave new intrigue to the impending Undertaker/Triple H match at Wrestlemania and gave The Game new motivation for ducking The Phenom: he doesn't want to hurt business by taking Taker out. I look forward to seeing how Undertaker responds to that statement.

The Bad...
The commentary took a step back this week. Michael Cole was back to being a cheerleader and didn't spend enough time calling matches. It didn't help the show at all. And why was Michael Cole praising Daniel Bryan so much when he was sitting at the announce table and then bashing Bryan again once the champ left? Heel announcers have done this before, but Cole was too extreme and over the top.

Tamina's win over Brie Bella helped show the daughter of Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka has in-ring skill, as she hit a pretty splash off the top rope and a teeth-rattling back body drop, but this was totally a 2-minute squash match. Brie had very little offense and not enough time was given for any sort of story to really be told in the ring. Once again I will repeat, if you want the audience to take the divas seriously as wrestlers, the WWE must give them time to show their skill and charisma in the ring.

I like that Chris Jericho beat Kofi Kingston in their match, but how did Jericho kick out of 2 Trouble-In-Paradise finishers and defeat Kingston with 1 Code Breaker? They got a few minutes to tell the story in their contest and both competitors got in some offense and some nice spots. But it just doesn't sit well with me that sometimes finishers are lights-out and sometimes don't really mean much. Did a thumb to Kingston's eye really make Jericho's finisher that much better? I think it's becoming very obvious we will see Jericho/Punk at Mania.

The Ugly...
The 6-superstar debate that started RAW was just not good. Except for R-Truth's weird story about eating spiders, there were no exceptional speeches and it didn't help anyone gain support or heat. Also, why didn't a huge brawl break out when Jericho started insulting everyone and throwing podiums around? It just lacked any umph and felt very awkward.

CM Punk and the Miz had a short match in which Punk had most of the offense. Are they trying to squash the Miz and tell the audience that there is no way he can win the Elimination Chamber match? Miz was in the main event at last year's Wrestlemania and ain't going to be anywhere near it this time around.

The Meh...
The R-Truth victory over Dolph Ziggler wasn't a great match and Truth's victory came out of nowhere, which I DON'T LIKE. Every time you see a guy gaining momentum these days, you know he will lose within a minute.

The Kane/Cena/Ryder/Eve storyline saw yet another deadly attack on Zack Ryder by Kane, but I enjoyed the plot twist. Eve kissing Cena and subsequently telling Long Island Iced Z that he is just a friend was unexpected and an interesting device to use to push Cena closer to the edge of becoming a heel. I'm just not fully sure why Eve kissed him because in previous weeks it seemed very clear she liked Ryder and was certainly not fond of Cena. Some good and some head-scratching confusion puts this one in the Meh column.

Daniel Bryan didn't need to interfere with the Randy Orton/Big Show match, as they were doing a decent job in the ring and developing a rivalry between them. Theses run-in endings are hardly ever satisfying; however, Bryan did an excellent job playing up his character and has started to generate tons of heat from the audience. Again, a mixed bag segment.

Overall: 68/70
The show advanced the Cena/Kane and HHH/Undertaker storylines, but the matches left something to be desired. The crowd was ok and the mic work was entertaining, apart from the debate segment. Finally, the show would have been just as entertaining without the announcers. They are being wasted right now.