Monday Night Raw – December 27, 2010

Monday Night Raw
Date: December 27, 2010
Location: Times Union Center, Albany, New York
Commentators: Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler

First and foremost I hope everyone had a safe and Merry Christmas. Tonight is another edition of Raw and in this case it’s the final show of the year. We’re on the road to the Rumble which then merges with the Road to Wrestlemania. Tonight we’ll see what’s next for Punk vs. Cena which has me very interested indeed. With that being said, let’s get to it.

There’s a Smackdown house show tonight in Pittsburgh. Nice job guys. Make sure that however many thousand people going to that can’t watch Raw.

Well if nothing else the voiceover guy has promised me a great main event tonight so there’s that to look forward to.

Theme song opens us up which I don’t recall them doing lately.

Cena is here to open the show and remember he is LIBERATED now. He talks about how it’s odd that every time someone comes down the ramp they always grab a microphone and just talk about what happened last week. Tonight, he’s going to do the exact same thing. As always he acknowledges the fans that boo him which is rather refreshing. We get a clip of Punk destroying Cena with the chair and starting what could be a very awesome feud.

He talks about how in his relentless pursuit of Nexus he did in fact, accidentally spill Punk’s diet soda. Cena apologizes for costing Punk .75 or 1.25 in select vending machines. The soda can’t be replaced but he can give Punk a chance to come out here and air his grievances. Cue Killswitch Engaged and here’s Punk.

CM says that the Cena we get isn’t the real one as Cena is dishonest. Punk says this is beyond a diet soda. Oh man this is about to get intense. I mean, BEYOND A DIET SODA??? It goes like this I believe: a slap in the face, a murder, economic collapse, diet soda. Beyond that is hard to say. Punk talks about how Cena’s word means nothing as he said he was going back to Massachusetts but he was back that night. And then back the next week, and the next week and the next week.

And then we get to TLC, where Cena dropped 15 chairs on Barrett after winning. Cena calls that Balderdash (fun game actually) because it was 22 steel chairs. Cena says that after all the beatdowns Cena had taken from Nexus and being their slave and all that jazz, it was rather justified. Punk brings up making Batista quit after beating him at Over the Limit which Cena says was on his own choice and after Batista broke Cena’s neck, which is true to a degree.

Punk says this is all about making fun of people and how he always insults people that don’t deserve it all the time. Cena claims he has done that for 8 years and makes fun of everyone. This is going very fast and is hard to keep up with but it’s going very well so far. Punk says those two attacks last week were warning shots but this is going to stop.

Cena says nothing is going to stop and is all like bring it on. Punk says this is his show and tonight he’s going to call out Cena. There’s a real surprise later tonight and it’s something Cena is never going to forget. Punk says Happy New Year and salutes as he leaves. I’m intrigued now.

Orton vs. Sheamus and Miz vs. Lawler later, non title.

Ted DiBiase vs. Santino Marella

Wow DiBiase has fallen a good bit this year. DiBiase gets his following clothesline for two early on. Lawler blames Maryse for the losses that DiBiase has had recently. DiBiase misses a dropkick and Santino rolls him up to win this in a minute flat. This isn’t a surprise somehow.

Santino presents Tamina with her gift, and it’s a cobra. Better than a snake in a box I guess. Maryse and Ted jump them so Tamina and Santino hit matching salute splashes and Cobras to clear the ring. I use the term hit loosely in her case.

Miz tells Riley that he’s going to teach Morrison a lesson tonight. Miz says not to win but destroy him. Lawler is going to beg for mercy tonight too. Morrison pops up and says if he beats Riley, he gets to pick the stipulation and the date of their title match. If Riley wins then Morrison loses his #1 contender spot. Miz says deal.

John Morrison vs. Alex Riley

After a break we’re ready to go. During the break there was an e-mail and the stipulations are confirmed. Miz is up on the apron as Morrison hits a Russian leg sweep for two. Riley takes over after a distraction from Miz and hammers away for a bit. Morrison makes the standard comeback but Miz grabs his foot on the Flash Kick and gets thrown out. Riley gets a rollup for two but Morrison gets the Flash Kick and running knee to end this in approximately 4:30.

Rating: C. Basic match but it did the job it was supposed to. Morrison gets a win he’s supposed to and Riley loses a match he’s supposed to. Nothing special about it but nothing bad about it either. The rating of average is about as perfect as it could be right here.

Morrison goes over to Lawler and says the title match is NEXT WEEK and it’s falls count anywhere. All of a sudden I’m not sure how secure Miz’s title reign is as that could mean a quick Morrison run for the title switch again at the Rumble.

Back from a break Miz yells at Riley who yells back.

Punk talks to a cameraman and says he needs to make sure that every shot is perfect tonight, even moreso than Snooki on New Year’s Eve. Dang it.

Bryan is with the Bellas who are talking about Christmas when Kidd comes in. He talks about how he’s going to be the next US Champion and that you should watch his match with Mark Henry later.

Josh talks to Orton who says that he’s going to be champion again and tonight the reign of Sheamus ends. Nothing special here at all.

Mark Henry vs. Tyson Kidd

Jackson Andrews is the bodyguard of Kidd and is here with him. Henry tries a flying Rikishi drop but can’t hit it. Kidd, with hair growing in now, takes control for a little bit but tries to charge at him and runs into the World’s Strongest Slam to end this at about 2:15. Well that was abrupt. Post match Andrews comes in and we have a showdown. Henry hits Andrews with the Slam as well.

Miz vs. Lawler later still. That hasn’t changed in the last 40 minutes.

The Miz vs. Jerry Lawler

Cole is joined by Matthews on commentary here. That might explain Lawler being in the ring so often: getting Matthews in his spot and making him more familiar. Before this starts Miz talks about how awesome he is and how he is a master of the science of professional wrestling. He yells at the audience to stop talking while he is, drawing loud boos. Why mess with the classics I suppose.

Lawler is in a WWE shirt and regular pants because his luggage was lost in a storm. Miz shows off to start including walking on Lawler’s back. Lawler fights back with his vast array of offense including shoulders and punches. We keep getting quick shots of Riley which makes me think shenanigans are up, especially with the title match looming. Miz locks on the chinlock as we talk about the TLC match. Matthews finally tells Cole to shut up. The blowoff of Cole being a jerk is going to be epic beyond words.

Miz is taking time to get through with Lawler as another sign points to s surprise ending. Miz rakes the eyes and Lawler is more or less just taking a beating. Cole says he’s uncomfortable watching this as Lawler is taking too much of a beating. Lawler is standing in the corner and Morrison comes out. Lawler takes a clothesline in the corner and starts dodging. He looks pretty bad here but it’s time to fight. No strap to pull down though.

Lawler hammers away with lefts and rights. Dropkick takes Miz down as do two more. The crowd is back into this now. Miz reverses a slam and puts him in the corner. The running clothesline Mizes (anybody? Anybody at all?) but Miz gets a clothesline over the top rope. Lawler knocks him off the top and Miz’s head hits the steps. FREAKING OW MAN! Riley gets on the apron but Morrison uses the distraction to drill Miz with the knee. LAWLER WINS BY COUNTOUT!!! Match ran about 9:45.

Rating: C. This was exactly what it was supposed to be. Miz beat the heck out of Lawler. Lawler stayed in this just long enough to survive, and Morrison is in Miz’s head for the title match next week. The quality wasn’t great of course but it wasn’t supposed to be. This was what it was supposed to be: furthering of the Miz vs. Morrison rivalry. And let the people saying I’m crazy and biased begin.

Sheamus is looking at his crown when Punk comes up to him. Punk talks about how Cena has disrespected him time after time and how he’s been on the receiving end of Cena’s insults over the last year. He’s right too.

Eve Torres/Gail Kim vs. Alicia Fox/Melina

Alicia has red hair now. She and Eve start us off. Lawler is back on commentary and Natalya is a guest for this match. Cole tag off to Gail as the crowd isn’t seeming to care. Everything breaks down and Melina hits the Sunset Split to beat Gail in approximately 2:00. Natalya slaps Melina post match. No rating as this was simply to get Melina over a bit more. Love that jet black hair.

Punk talks to the trainers, saying that they need to be ready for Cena tonight. Actually scratch that as trainers won’t be enough as we need EMTs. I want to know what’s coming now.

Zach Ryder vs. Daniel Bryan

We come back with this already in progress. The Bellas are with Bryan of course. Ryder gets basic offense going but taps out in a little over a minute shown to the LeBell Lock. The Bellas come in to celebrate and we get an E-Mail. This coming year is going to be the best ever…MIZ ATTACKS LAWLER! Miz runs in and destroys Lawler as Cole is reading, ramming him into the barricade and leaving him laying. Skull Crushing Finale to the floor leaves Lawler laying. I guess Bryan just kind of left. If Matthews is coming in to the broadcast team full time, there’s his door.

Back from a break and Cole is concerned. Josh doesn’t believe him.

Sheamus vs. Randy Orton

BIG pop for Orton. Orton controls early for the most part with all of his basic stuff. The7 color difference is striking here as Orton is almost orange and Sheamus is almost clear. Elevated DDT is countered and Orton fires away. Sheamus hits the floor and rams Orton’s head into the post. Orton may be bleeding from the back a bit. Sheamus goes aerial with a flying shoulder block for two as we take a break.

Back with Sheamus holding a modified crossface chickenwing on Orton. Sheamus hammers away for a few minutes with big forearm shots and clubbing blows that get him nowhere. He charges in the corner but his shoulder hits the post. Orton gets a suplex with one foot on the top rope and one on the middle rope for a close two. Mild boo/yay as they slug it out. Orton gets the Angle Slam for two. Sheamus is almost the same color as the mat.

RKO is blocked and reversed into the Irish Curse Backbreaker for two. Brogue Kick is ducked and another RKO attempt fails as Sheamus takes his head off with an axehandle. Here comes the High Cross but Orton reverses into the backbreaker. Sheamus avoids the third RKO and heads outside. He sets for another shoulder block but jumps into the RKO to end it at 14:15. Oh sweet merciful psychology how I love you!

Rating: C-. Dull match throughout but the ending was sweet. Orton had gotten caught by that very move but knew it was coming this time and caught Sheamus with the RKO this time. That is what you call psychology in a match. Orton learned as he went and incorporated it into the ending. Perfectly done.

Cena is on his way to the ring.

Ad for the Heenan DVD which should be a definite pickup.

Back from a break with Cena. He’s all ticked off and calling Punk CM Sucks. Punk’s music hits but there’s no Punk. Cena says he’ll go get them himself. Instead he gets…..Nexus? Minus Barrett but it’s still Nexus. Otunga does the talking as usual. Cena got them as he said he would so now Nexus is under new management. Otunga wants to offer Cena a truce.

Cena grabs the mic and says he’d shake Otunga’s hand if he believed a word he says, which he doesn’t. Otunga is a slimy worm of a man it seems. No truce, no moving forward. Otunga can leave or the fight is on. Otunga leaves and lwalks away with Nexus but they turn and charge the ring to beat down Cena. Everyone hits their finishers on him as Cole says Otunga is the new leader. Yeah…you’re a stupid man Cole.

Nexus leaves and here’s Punk of course. He comes to the ring where Cena has been left laying and hits GTS. Nice one too as the knee caught him square in the shoulder. Punk hits the floor and grabs a chair. He pulls it back but pauses and instead sits down in it. Punk picks up the Nexus armband that Otunga left in the ring and slips it on, revealing to everyone including the very stupid Cole that HE is the new leader of Nexus, not Otunga. He does the fist in the air to Nexus as we go off the air.

Overall Rating: B. The ending, while good, kind of came off as underwhelming. I missed the return of Nexus line that was apparently said at some point earlier in the show so this was more surprising to me. Once Otunga said the new management line it was rather clear what was coming, but this sets up a brand new dynamic for the feud which I rather like. The show was solid and sets up a lot of new stuff for the new year, including a possible new champion. Good stuff but it could have used more wrestling for sure. See you next year.