It’s time again for the Monday night review of WWE RAW by GuysNation.com. If you’re new to these articles, I’ve been writing them weekly for RAW and Smackdown for the better part of the past 8 months. Lately I’ve been trying to get these things done live while RAW happens. It’s tough to inject my brand of humor into the article and keep things up to the minute, but I do my best to give analysis and pose questions in a Seinfeld-type style. Not that I’m as funny as Seinfeld, but that’s who I’ve been compared to with these articles. Some people find it funny, others just read it to get a recap of RAW or to vote in the polls (exclusive to the GuysNation.com version of this article).
If you’re reading the article and it’s not current with what’s going on with RAW at that minute, you’re probably not reading the GuysNation.com version of the article, which gets updated first, prior to anywhere else it’s posted.
Anyway, it’s 9 pm, so away… we… go!
I had totally forgotten about Nexus. They weren’t present last week, so we had no way of knowing where their focus would shift after Wade Barrett lost to John Cena at the TLC pay per view. If they keep the Nexus focus on John Cena, things could get very stale.
Did Michael Cole just say that Jerry Lawler was going to take on The Miz tonight? Ugh, not again…
No surprise here, John Cena’s focus is on CM Punk, who attacked Cena two nights in a row following a Cena / Ziggler match (that’s right, they did lack creativity last week). The mention of John Cena spilling CM Punk’s diet soda from a month ago (or thereabouts) is a great touch by whomever included it into Cena’s speech. It’s one of those little things that happened which became net-famous. Line of the night so far (albeit early in the evening) is Cena’s mention of “calorie free frustration”.
CM Punk shows up and addresses his grievances with John Cena, including the fact that John takes liberties with his opponents once they’re already beaten, including Batista and most recently Wade Barrett. Maybe it’s because I’ve been a fan of CM Punk for years, but I’m buying what he’s saying.
Refusing to do things on Cena’s terms and wrestle at the start of the show, Punk promises to stand in the ring later in the evening and call Cena out for a match, and I’m hoping that the call out follows closely after a backstage beatdown of John Cena.
In addition to The Miz challenging Jerry Lawler in a non-title match later in the evening, we will also see Sheamus vs Randy Orton which I had forgotten was even a feud in 2010. It’s been a long day, though, so don’t hold it against me. If this were Tuesday, things would be different.
Match – SanTamina Snukarello vs Ted Marybiase
Sorry, I tried to make those mixed tag team names interesting, and while I not only failed at that, I also failed to notice that it’s actually just a singles match. Santino Marella vs Ted Dibiase
Outcome – Before the announcers even stop commenting about how hot Maryse’s outfit is, Santino rolls up Ted DiBiase for a quick pinfall.
After the match, Santino gives Tamina a gift, which turns out to be his Snake In A Box.
After the eye-rolling gifting, DiBiase & Maryse get the leg-up over Santino and Tamina, but it’s only temporary, giving Santino and Tamina the chance to do a double Cobra and a double saluting headbutt drop.
Before we cut to commercial, we find out that Alex Riley is going to be facing John Morrison tonight, and apparently John Morrison SOOO badly wants to pick the date of the title shot AND the stipulation under which it’s fought that he’s putting his #1 contendership status in the balance. Has Alex Riley ever beaten anyone on RAW? Why would we even think that John Morrison stands a chance at losing the match? I suppose now that Kaval has been granted his release from WWE, Alex Riley is the closest thing we’ve got to a winner of NXT Season 2, but he still never won anything.
Match – John Morrison vs Alex Riley
They’re actually going a lot further than I thought they would’ve with this match to make Alex Riley look like a decent competitor. Despite the fact that he can’t hit a decent backdrop suplex.
The referee sends The Miz backstage for interfering, and I’m not quite sure why he wouldn’t have just disqualified Alex Riley. It was clear what happened.
Outcome – John Morrison gets the victory after his springboard spin kick, followed by his shining wizard knee to the temple of a seated Alex Riley.
The stipulation and date picked by John Morrison? I expected he was going to wait for Royal Rumble, but apparently the match is taking place next week… and it’s a Falls Count Anywhere match. If there’s any sort of clean finish to that match, I’d be shocked.
The Miz and Alex Riley have some tension with one another, and while I don’t want the duo to split just yet, I do see some potential for it down the road…. obviously once Miz has lost the WWE Championship.
How great is it that we get to cut from a segment with CM Punk to one with Bryan Danielson / Daniel Bryan? Two of my current favorites. The Punk segment was fun, with him making sure the cameraman was going to be ready… all the while keeping him from being ready for whatever segment might be going on that the cameraman could’ve happening at that moment.
American Dragon’s segment made me happy, too. They continue things between Bryan and the Bella Twins, with the ladies saying they’re hoping to lock lips with him again tonight (which begs the question: why don’t they try to get “in touch” with him some day of the week other than Monday?). Then we actually get Bryan moving on to another feud, this time it’s Tyson Kidd coming face to face with the reigning champ and announcing his intention to become the next United States Title holder. Not only do I love the fact that they’re placing more attention on a secondary championship (an opinion I’m very vocal about), but matches between Tyson Kidd and American Dragon should be phenomenal. I do think this means we’re not going to get any Hart Dynasty feuding for a little while though, which is disappointing, as they should’ve given us more meat in that feud, which Bret Hart alluded to in a recent interview.
Match – Mark Henry vs Tyson Kidd (w/ Jackson Andrews)
Does anyone realistically think that Mark Henry stands a chance in this match? Never a good thing to face an opponent who is fresh off of a backstage segment.
The fact that Tyson Kidd is growing out his hair is a very good thing, as the bald head with the flip-up bangs representing the only bit of hair just looked bad.
Outcome – As proof that I write these articles as I watch the show, Mark Henry slams tyson Kidd with the World’s Strongest Slam and gets the victory.
Given the loss by Tyson Kidd, should we really take his challenge of American Dragon seriously? And then after the match is over, Kidd’s bodyguard Jackson Andrews gets beaten down as well, further showing that WWE might not be sold on giving those guys any credibility. At least let them cheat to win, otherwise you take away any reason we might have to be interested in them.
Did Michael Cole just say that The Miz was undressing Alex Riley backstage? I don’t think that’s the term he was looking for…. though that doesn’t change the fact that Alex Riley is wearing tights right now which show more skin than the underwear I’m currently wearing. The term is “dressing down”, Michael Cole.
The Miz rambles on about how no one compares to him. He tries to prove his point by mentioning historical wrestlers like Vern Gagne and Lou Thesz… wrestlers who 99% of the fans have never heard of because they retired prior to Jerry Lawler getting his start in this business… which is a long time ago.
If The Miz realizes that people don’t like him, why does he think we’re going to take the time to email / Facebook / Tweet / call our friends and family to make sure that they tune in?
If Jerry Lawler is “The King”, why does he never wear that crown? I always see him just carrying the crown.
Match – Jerry Lawler vs The Miz
Am I the only one who agrees with Michael Cole that Jerry Lawler shouldn’t be the focus on RAW? It’s one thing for him to have the occasional segment or match, but this is the third week in a row that he’s in the ring with the World Champion.
Josh Mathews just said that if the referee had caught Alex Riley interfering in the match, that The Miz would’ve been disqualified. Was “Rear View” even watching earlier in the night? Can’t he “think back” and remember how The Miz interfered and Alex Riley wasn’t disqualified?
Outcome – Jerry Lawler wins the match as The Miz gets counted out.
Why does Jerry Lawler get any sort of vindication or pride out of the fact that John Morrison attacked The Miz outside the ring and that’s why The Miz couldn’t get back into the ring. It’s a step below having Randy Orton hit the RKO on The Miz for Lawler to get a quick pinfall from last week.
Match – Eve Torres & Gail Kim vs Alicia Fox & Melina
So Melina slaps Natalya once after a match and suddenly she’s booked to team up with a heel Diva in a tag match? They could’ve still teamed her up with a face or neutral Diva partner.
Is anyone else just glad that Gail Kim finally gets the opportunity to be in the ring? I’m not going to grade her performance out there, given the duration of layoff since her last time on television.
Am I the only one surprised by how QUICK Alicia Fox was with some of her moves? That elbow smash attempt was phenomenally fast.
Not to go without mention, Eve Torres was hot as usual… probably the most attractive diva in this match.
Outcome – Melina gets the win over Gail Kim with her standing guillotine leg drop splits move.
Is anyone else glad that Natalya knew Melina was going to try to slap her after they shook hands? Sometimes I get tired of the heels ALWAYS being too smart for the faces, and this was a good opportunity to get the two ladies on even footing.
Match – Zack Ryder vs Daniel Bryan
Did I miss the start of this match while I was inserting some polls into the GuysNation.com version of this article? We come back from commercial and were in the middle of the match?
Hey announcers, maybe you shouldn’t slag Long Island Iced Z for being the #1 Contender to the World Title for one evening. At least he’s a current wrestler who isn’t a couple years away from being able to collect social security from the Federal Government. He’s really talented at wrestling, but I won’t even go further into making that point.
Outcome – Without any surprise, Daniel Bryan gets the victory by submission with the LaBelle Lock.
The lights blink, and it appears that the Anonymous GM has something to say about the United States Championship? That would be a first…
Did The Anonymous GM just set a pick for The Miz to be able to attack Jerry Lawler? Did we really need a reason for Lawler to not notice The Miz showing up through the crowd? He doesn’t have eyes in the back of his head. They could’ve easiliy done that without The GM sending an email. I knew it was too good to be true that the US Title was going to get that sort of attention.
Upon returning from commercial, we got a 2 minute recap of a segment which happened 2 minutes ago. Are you serious? Did anyone actually miss what happened? If they did, can’t they just hear it mentioned a few times between now and the end of the night and have that suffice?
Match – King Sheamus vs Randy Orton
As Michael Cole recounts the various matches Orton and Sheamus battled in this year, I certainly remember the feud a bit more clearly now, and I think I realized why it was tough to receall it earlier in the evening: The Nexus vs John Cena feud overshadowed it.
Did anyone else appreciate the simple offense by Sheamus when he kicked Orton in the knee as Sheamus was trying to avoid Orton while seated in the corner? Simple, yet effective, and wrestling could really use more moves like that.
Michael Cole claims it was smart of Sheamus to try to counter Orton’s rope-assisted DDT. Smart? Really? Isn’t it just common sense that you’re supposed to try to avoid the more effective moves employed by your opponent? There shouldn’t be praise heaped upon him for his “smarts” for avoiding the move. Agility? Acumen? Sure. Smarts? not really.
Aside from continuing this feud or getting a decent, high profile match on RAW, I’m still not seeing a reason to have this match. I suppose there doesn’t have to be a reason each time you watch a match, and there’s still time for something to happen before the fall finalizes the outcome, but I can’t help but think that they could’ve done more with this match. Maybe they could’ve had a particular spot in the Royal Rumble determined by the outcome? Maybe “Winner enters the match after 20, Loser enters before 10” or something to that effect?
Outcome – Sheamus tries for a flying shoulderblock over the top rope for the second time in the match, and this time Randy Orton turns it into an RKO, showing he can hit the move out of nowhere.
It’s 54 minutes into the second hour of the show, and although CM Punk claimed he was going to surprise Cena with his challenge, I think it’s safe to say that’s what’s coming next. One of the announcers mentions that John Cena had better be prepared. If he isn’t, he’s either not worried about Punk’s challenge, doesn’t remember the opening segment, or can’t tell time.
Commercial comment: John Cena should probably get a new catchphrase. He can’t legitimately say “The Champ is here” right now…. nor for the majority of 2010 could he.
Back to RAW, and although CM Punk is the one who said he’d be standing in the ring, on his own terms, calling out John Cena, when we come back from commercial Cena’s music hits and he hits the ring. So much for continuity. Thanks to “Rear View” Josh Mathews for remembering what Punk said at the top of the show and calling him out on the continuity error… which was actually put together by Cena, who showed up early to get the jump on Cena.
As Punk’s music played, was anyone else expecting that CM Punk was just going to show up through the crowd like he did on RAW and Smackdown last week?
And THERE’s the surprise… Nexus shows up… sans Wade Barrett. What are the odds that the Second City Saint shows up with a Nexus shirt on?
David Otunga has a mic, and half the RAW audience is groaning and just waiting for it to be over with.
So we find out that Nexus is under new management, and it sounds like David Otunga is the new management… but somehow I’m still thinking it’s the new Straight Edge Society.
With an out-stretched hand, David Otunga offers Cena a truce, but Cena says he doesn’t trust Otunga. Cena instead issues an ultimatum, that Nexus can either leave, or fight. Otunga exits the ring, deciding that Nexus is… only going to pretend to retreat. Unfortunately for a lot of us, Nexus is once again targeting John Cena, and regardless of whether or not CM Punk shows up with a Nexus logo on his shirt, I still wish they would’ve turned their attention elsewhere.
The Nexus music hits again, and when they reach the top of the ramp, they find themselves face to face with CM Punk, who splits their ranks and heads for the ring. Punk hits the Go2Sleep on Cena, then decides not to go for the follow-up chairshot. Instead, he sits down and puts on the armband, and while it’s quite possible that Punk is going to be announced as the force behind Nexus all along, I still don’t like the fact that John Cena is caught up in the whole Nexus angle yet again. Furthermore, would it even make sense? Is this “new” management if he has been pulling the strings the entire time?
While folks were waiting for updates to this article, I posted some links to other articles here on GuysNation which could serve to entertain and inform. Even though the article’s done, I’ll leave the links:
The debate about whether or not Die Hard qualifies as a Christmas movie
Late, great holiday gift ideas
Hollywood Hotties and Not-ies of Christmas
