WWE Monday Night Raw 12/5/2011 - The Good, The Bad And The Ugly

WWE is in an odd place right now as it struggles to figure out how much traditional wrestling psychology and booking is applicable when it comes to their increasingly sophisticated and in-the-know audience. Nobody encapsulates that struggle better than Cena, who even though he is a squeaky clean babyface, still has huge portions of the crowds at live events booing him. While it's up in the air whether WWE knows how to capitalize on it (more on that later), it's clear that Cena knows exactly what his role is: Bret Hart circa 1997.

14 years ago, Hart had the unique position of being a reviled heel in the United States and a face pretty much everywhere else in the world, even though he generally acted like a heel. Similarly, but somewhat opposite, Cena never acts like a heel, but is still treated as one by a very vocal part of the WWE audience, while his sizable fanbase continues to see him as a face. In his opening promo on Raw last night, Cena showed that he understands the complex role he plays, even baiting the audience into chanting the Rock's signature Cena insult, "Fruity Pebbles."

From Michael Cole's shameless plugging to obtrusive bugs at the bottom of the screen to their top stars practically begging to get things trending, WWE is absolutely obsessed with integrating social media, especially Twitter into their shows. But while much of that initiative seems forced and awkward, when Dolph Ziggler came out to the ring last night, he knew exactly how to play off the Internet perception of him.

After some completely unnecessary screeching from Vickie (she's great, but can we break those two up already?), Ziggler launched into his campaign for a WWE Title shot, alluding to the fact that he has the most entertaining matches every week. While I certainly wouldn't argue the fact, it's an odd claim when you think about it in the context of WWE's fictional world, as Ziggler usually doesn't even win those matches, and when he does, it's because of outside interference. In other words, great heel boasting. Last night also marked (what I believe is) the first time that Ziggler has referred to himself as the "hashtag heel" on television, which is not only way better than "the show off," but is a solid, organic way to integrate Twitter into the show.

Call me a mark if you want, but I'm really excited about The Network, WWE's new cable channel. The company has an outrageously huge library of classic footage, having bought up tape collections from most of the top promotions in American wrestling history. If even a fraction of those make it to the air for the first time in decades, I'll consider The Network a win.

There are even rumors that The Network could be home to some or all of WWE's monthly pay-per-views, which would be a much more cost-effective way to keep up with the product. Hell, I'm even up for WWE's much-talked-about take on the Surreal Life concept, putting a bunch of old wrestlers under one roof in Legends House. I was already interested in The Network, but last night's kind-of-super-exciting video package got me completely onboard.

Don't get me wrong - I liked the Daniel Bryan vs. Alberto Del Rio match on this week's Monday Night Raw. Both guys are tremendous performers with complementary, MMA-influenced styles and they worked wonders with the scant few minutes afforded them last night. The match was exciting, crisply performed and had a story to milk in the form of Bryan's injured ribs. I'm not thrilled, however, with how it ended.

I understand that Alberto Del Rio is now one of WWE's top guys and he can't be losing matches all over the place, especially when you're trying to keep him in the title picture. But the Money in the Bank briefcase is meant to turn people into top guys, and you can't do that if they're losing matches clean week-in and week-out.

Winning with the help of Ricardo Rodriguez wouldn't have hurt Bert as we already know the guy is a snake, and it could have helped protect Bryan a little more, making him look more like the No. 1 Contender-in-waiting that he is. Bryan even had an injury that could have been capitalized on better, as Del Rio worked his opponent's ribs, but ended up winning with an arm-based submission. That's not only a clean win over a guy who we're supposed to believe could realistically challenge for a World Title, but a submission victory over someone billed as a submission specialist.

As much as I like the idea of Bryan being noble and challenging for the World Title at WrestleMania, it causes a huge problem in the form of what to do with the guy in the meantime. He has to have matches to stay fresh in people's minds, but there's little to be gained from him winning, and a lot at risk if he continues losing.