5 Ups And Downs From Last Night's WWE Raw (Nov 17th)

By Scott Carlson /

4. What Punishment?

When Cesaro gave an interview recently and badmouthed the 500th match between Randy Orton and John Cena, fans prepared themselves for the Swiss Superman to face in-ring punishment for his brutal honesty. And sure enough, Cesaro has ended up looking at the lights multiple times since then. But Monday night, he got a 15-minute showcase match against one of WWE€™s current top faces, Ryback. And he looked damn good during the match. While opinions about the match are going to differ, the straight-up power match was something different for Ryback. Sure, he€™s best in short, decisive matches, but this bout against Cesaro left the question hanging of whether a feud between the two could work. Ryback certainly isn€™t the guy to have this kind of match week in and week out, but the two of them traded power moves non-stop, right down to the finish. If there had been some impetus behind the match, it could gain some steam. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97cdwcde24w&index=4&list It€™s also worth noting that even is Cesaro is being punished for speaking out, he still got a prime spot on Raw in a lengthy match against a top face and he looked strong throughout the contest. He even varied the repertoire, mixing in a top-rope elbow drop and a series of German suplexes. If he is in the doghouse, Cesaro is giving WWE brass plenty of reasons to become a top dog again.