5 Ups And Downs From Last Night's WWE Raw (Nov 17th)
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 WWEs 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, hes 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 isnt 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 Its 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.
Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.
