Raw Thoughts - November 22

• Wow. That's a hot crowd. Great heat for Barrett. Serious, old school, genuine heat.
• Proper heel reasoning too. He has a point - Cena cost him the match.
• More genuine heat......this time for Cole. The trouble is there is no money in Cole.
• General point..........but good lord Barrett is good. His mannerisms, his timing, his character. Just spot on. He is actually way more British than any of the British stereotypes wrestling has had over the years - and it works.
• Great decision to have Punk on comms. He is great.
• Is KotR a three hour show?
• Get Crunk got binned. Good. Cole says he likes "What's Up?". He said he hated it before, didn't he?
• Cole and Punk actually have similar voices.
• Pleased Sheamus got a good win to get back on track.
• I'm happy with the Santino and Laycool skits. That exactly the way to light-hearted, fun stuff to break up the two hours. Background stuff that puts a smile on your face, but doesn't take away from the serious business of matches and championships.
• By the way, the Orlando crowd is really hot, but it's important to note that not only did Barrett get huge heat at the start, but there was a frisson of noise to recognise Sheamus' high cross, Natalya got a pop for appearing on screen, and so did Santino. There are gradually more and more people who are over.
• Is Ezekiel Jackson the new Rob Terry?
• Topofthesecondhour Cena time
• Erm.........why is Cena smiling?
• Good list by Cena...........no Rock, though.
• "Lets go Cena" "Cena Sucks". I really, really liked that. You know what, there were guys in the audience saying "Cena sucks" with a huge smile on their face. That's the whole of point of wrestling. Smile.
• I understand that they'll be worried about ratings, but they could do with Cena being gone for a while to let it sink in, not bring him back in two weeks
• Great, great promo from Cena. Perfectly pitched, in my eyes. There will be some that didn't like it, because it was worked, and they'll think it waters down real retirement speeches like HBKs, but I thought it was spot on.
• Barrett's "You can't see me" was priceless as Cena left.
• Cena didn't pound Barrett's face to mush, though, did he?
• Did Punk call Maryse "Maurice", like Steve Miller in the The Joker?
• Punk is actually getting annoying already, because he is another heel presence.
• I'm disappointed that two of the three KotR matches I've seen so far have been ultra-short. Perhaps Cena really did go long on his promo.
• Decent outing for Nattie. It made sense to give her a bit of a showpiece win. If they have enough Divas, they ought to do that for another couple of weeks.
• Did Tyson Kidd just do the Moss Covered Three Handled Family Credenza?
• Add Morrison to the list of really nice pops.
• I'm assuming there will be four Smackdown guys in KotR but they haven't done a great job of explaining that.
• This show is full of little nuances that I love this week. I love Barrett talking to the ref about the match. He is obviously saying if Orton can't wrestle it's a forfeit, and Chioda was saying no to that.
• This is proper, old school, clever, subtle sensible booking. THIS is how you book a wrestling show, people.
• Cena run-in. Brilliant.
• MIZ! Awesome! Sorry, I've just realised this has ceased to become a thoughtful set of points about the show, and simply me reacting to stuff, but that's a good thing. I like it when shows make become a fan again. I absolutely loved that show. Best Raw in ages. Possibly the best of the year. Do you think they decided that they thought they'd get a big rating coming off Survivor Series and tried to hook them? Great strategy. It remains to be seen if it holds people, but it's great thinking.