Monday Night Raw – January 24, 2011: Excessive Profanity For A PG Show!

Monday Night Raw
Date: January 24, 2011
Location: Joe Louis Arena, Detroit, Michigan
Commentators: Jerry Lawler, Michael Cole

It’s the go home show before the Rumble so something tells me they’re going to be talking about one thing quite a bit.  Tonight is probably going to be the last push for people that actually think they have a chance at it while they’re nothing but cannon fodder for the people that really have a chance.  Also tonight we get to find out a little something about the guy that might as well be Batista’s son.  Let’s get to it.

Theme song opens us up.  I can’t remember the last time that happened.

Edge vs. Miz in a champion vs. champion match.

Melina challenges for the Divas Title tonight.

Here’s Edge to open the show.  He says to Miz that he doesn’t have a lot of patience and doesn’t want to wait.  After listing off things he doesn’t like to wait for he says let’s do it now Miz.  An E-Mail cuts him off though and the GM doesn’t like Edge still.  Thankfully they’ve gotten what looks like an e-mail on the screen now.  We’re going to have a mini Rumble right now and whichever of the three can throw Edge over gets #40.

Edge vs. Tyson Kidd/Drew McIntyre/Jack Swagger

 

They all come and are in at once.  Edge takes them all down and eliminates Kidd.  Drew kicks him HARD in the head and almost gets him out.  Swagger makes the save as he wants the final spot but charges at the champion and goes flying out also.  Edge throws Drew out without much effort to win at 1:14.  No rating of course and I’m not even going to call it a real match of course.

Post match Edge says he’s going to get ready for Miz but first of all he wants to relive something that he did the last time he was on Raw.  Does anyone want to see a smashed computer?  Edge goes out to the computer but Cole stands in his way.  Edge is going after him but here’s Nexus instead.  Five guys this time, including the new guy.

Punk says that in this world only the strong survive and they do that by evolving.  He talks about the Rumble being bigger and to survive, the New Nexus had to evolve as well.  Punk introduces the new man, and his name is indeed Mason Ryan as we all knew coming in.  At least it’s official now.  Ryan says faith.  That’s the only thing he says.  Everyone is in Nexus because of faith according to Punk.

He talks about Corre (yes I know it’s the wrong spelling and I don’t care) and how Nexus has more faith than they do.  He will win on Sunday and Nexus will become the most powerful group the WWE Universe will ever see.  Could that mean a new addition?  As he stops talking, cue the Corre (I hate myself at times).

Barrett says he’s looking at the poor man’s version of Nexus.  Jackson says Corre will try to win the Rumble for themselves but will eliminate Punk.  Ryan gets in his face and we have an e-mail.  The GM makes Barrett vs. Punk.  The loser’s entire group is out of the Rumble.  The guest referee is Cena.  King says it’s a match you never thought you would see on Raw.  Why wouldn’t you expect to see that on Raw?  Anyway that takes us to our first break.

Back and we get a clip of the mini Rumble from last week with Henry clearing the ring.

John Morrison/Mark Henry vs. Sheamus/Alberto Del Rio

 

Alberto and Morrison start us off.  Cole is ripping into Jerry over him lasting 4 seconds in the 97 Rumble.  Alberto controls early and brings Sheamus in after a few seconds.  Morrison fights back fairly well against the Human Jar of Mayonnaise.  Off to Alberto again and Morrison may want to consider a tag.  He’s fought off Del Rio but won’t tag.

Morrison sets up for Starship Pain but Sheamus pulls him to the floor as we take a break.  Back with Del Rio holding Morrison in a chinlock.  Sheamus interfered during the break to give his team the advantage.  Off to Sheamus again and we see that Michael Tarver is watching on.  He looks a bit slimmer but that could be due to being in a suit.  Sheamus continues to hammer away and locks in that highly modified crossface chickenwing that he’s been using recently.

A tilt-a-whirl backbreaker gets two.  Brogue Kick misses and Morrison gets an enziguri to take down Sheamus.  Henry finally is tagged in after 9 minutes.  He runs over Del Rio a few times and gets a standing splash for two.  He and Sheamus face off but get Sheamus gets taken down by the Flash Kick.  Morrison dives out onto Sheamus and may have tweaked his knee on the landing.  In the ring the cross armbreaker ends Henry at 10:07.

Rating: C-. I wasn’t feeling this match for some reason.  It’s not terrible but Henry not coming in until the very end hurt it a bit.  Morrison seemed like he was sleepwalking through this and it didn’t work that well for the most part.  It’s an ok match but it never really got going for me.

Divas Title: Melina vs. Natalya

 

Melina is shrieking early and knocks Natalya to the floor very early.  Natalya is in trouble and Melina locks on a Full Nelson using her legs while sitting on the mat.  That’s a new one on me for sure.  Natalya stands up and rams Melina in the corner and fires off some forearms.

She pulls back for a big right hand but Melina drills her to take her down.  Melina tries a leg lock but Natalya grabs the legs and pulls into a Sharpshooter, wrenching back on it so hard that she’s laying on her back.  There’s the easy submission at 2:45.  Too short to grade but that submission was great.

Post match here’s Laycool.  They say that this Sunday Natalya is losing some weight in the form of the title.  They don’t say which it is but apparently one or both is getting a shot.

Back and we recap last week’s main event with Punk winning by DQ due to Ryan kicking him in the face.  There’s a religious sounding song in the background as Punk narrates about loyalty and faith.

Nexus is worrying about how Punk could cost them their spots in the Rumble.  Punk and Ryan come up and Punk talks about making a sacrifice to beat Cena.  He says that Sunday they will all sacrifice their spots so that Punk can win.  Harris isn’t looking happy about that.  He says there are 40 people this year and what if Punk is already gone when they get there?  Ryan says Punk won’t be eliminated.

Punk says take care of the Corre tonight but McGillicutty says what about Cena?  Punk says he’ll win because Barrett was Cena’s main enemy, not Punk.  The leader has them take a knee and raise their fists, drawing great heat from the crowd.

Matthews is with Cena who says he’s always done the right thing and he’ll do that tonight.  If Punk wins he’ll eliminate every member of the New Nexus.  If Barrett wins he has to deal with the Corre, which has an extra R.  He found out what it stands for earlier today but gets cut off by Miz and Riley.  Apparently it stands for rectum.

Miz says everyone needs to realize that winning the Rumble could be the worst thing possible as it means they could face him.  Cena stares him down and says Miz might lose at the Rumble and lose his rematch and not make it to Wrestlemania.  Cena leaves and Miz gets rid of Matthews.  Miz asks the audience if they think he’ll win the Rumble.  He asks Riley if it’s ready and Riley says roll the footage.  We get a clip of the beatdown of Orton from last week and Cole is very happy with it.

The Miz vs. Edge

 

As we’re about ready to go here’s Dolph.  Can we get to some wrestling already?  Ziggler and Vickie join us on commentary and we finally get the bell.  Edge has taped ribs due to the Corre attack on Friday.  After a brief feeling out process Edge takes over with some basic stuff.  Later on we’ll get an update on Teddy Long.  Miz fires back but no one has had a long advantage yet.

Edge gets a clothesline to take Miz to the floor and we take a break.  Back with Edge getting a cover over what looked like a backdrop.  Jerry: “Vickie I’m glad you could be here.  I thought you’d be at the birth of your next boyfriend.”  King gets a good line in every now and then like there.  Miz takes over but lowers his head and gets caught in a spinning neckbreaker.  Edge wants the spear but Miz hits the floor.

Miz goes for the ribs but can’t send Edge into the railing as the Canadian reverses.  Back in and Miz can’t get a superplex.  Edge knocks him off and gets a top rope cross body for two.  Jerry gets in an argument with Vickie and Dolph over glasses and pants or something like that.  Miz drapes Edge over the top rope as we take another break.

Back with Miz getting a two off an unseen move.  Some right hands get another two.  Miz has a body scissors on Edge as Cole goes on and on about how great Miz is, listing off various people he’s a combination of: Sammartino, Thesz, Michaels, just to name a few.  Edge fights up and gets his half nelson face crusher for two.  Miz’s corner clothesline misses and Edge gets two.

Riley grabs the leg of Edge and Edge goes after him.  Nothing comes of that but Miz gets a small package on Edge when he comes back in for two.  Edge hits the ropes and misses a clothesline but Edge takes out Riley with a baseball slide.  Edgecution puts Miz down and Edge wants the spear.  And never mind as Ziggler trips him for the DQ at 16:40.

Rating: B-. Good match here and it got a lot of time.  The double commercial kind of hurt it as it made it feel a bit disjointed.  They started to crank it up at the end, but the most important thing here is that Miz looked pretty strong.  No one winning definitively is a good thing for sure.  Not a great match but not bat at all.

Post match Ziggler hits the Zig Zag but here comes Orton for the save.  The crowd wakes way up for his appearance.  RKO to Riley and RKO to Ziggler, but Miz gets a shot in and leaves with the title as we take a break.

Back with Barrett saying that he always talked about how Nexus was about the bigger picture.  However he lost sight of that and only cared about the title and humiliating Cena.  We pan out to see everyone else but Barrett repeated that there are no leaders here.  Matthews asks about the attack on Long but Barrett again denies it.  He respects Cena and hopes that can be mutual someday.

Daniel Bryan/Bella Twins vs. Ted DiBiase/Alicia Fox/Maryse

 

The genitaila have to match here.  The guys start and it’s off to a Bella and Maryse very soon.  The other Bella hits on Daniel and Maryse gets a rollup with ease to end it at 57 seconds.  No rating of course.  Alicia I beg of you: straighten your hair again.

Back and the Bellas are arguing about Bryan.  Tarver is staring at them and then disappears.  That was….odd.  They go into Bryan’s locker room and find him making out with Gail Kim who is apparently his girlfriend who he’s been dating for SIX MONTHS???  And yes he was in fact a vegan.  Gail says he was hanging with the Bellas because he felt sorry for them since there were no more guest stars and they had nothing to do.  They call Gail a nothing and a brawl breaks out.  This was surprisingly hilarious.

Here’s Nexus and the tag titles are on the line next.

Miz/Ziggler vs. Rated RKO on Friday.

Michael McGillicutty/Husky Harris vs. Santino Marella/Vladimir Kozlov

 

Cole corrects himself as this is not a title match.  McGillicutty and Kozlov to start.  Off to Santino and he loses the advantage for his team.  Harris beats him up for a good while as the Canaditalian is in trouble.  He needs a tag but Harris takes Vlad down before it can be made.  Santino wakes up and fights Harris off on his own.  Time for the Cobra but he walks into a clothesline from Husky.  Downward Spiral ends it at 3:52.

Michael McGillicutty/Husky Harris b. Santino Marella/Vladimir Kozlov @ 3:52 – Downward Spiral to Marella

Rating: D+. Nothing special at all here and I’m not entirely sure if I’d have gone with a glorified squash of the champions.  It was a TV match with nothing going on at all for the most part.  Pretty clear that it’s just a way to set up another Nexus title run which they could use I guess.  Yeah that’s it.

Otunga says let’s hear it for the winners and introduces Punk.  Cena is coming and we go to a break.

Wade Barrett vs. CM Punk

 

Cena is referee and the winner’s group gets to stay in the Rumble.  Before the match, Cena throws Nexus out.  Hey Corre, you’re out too.  Cole gets on Cena for abusing his power with those ejections.  Ah there’s the bell but Cena shoves Punk down almost immediately.  Punk comes up with a fist but Cena points out the referee.  There’s a slap to Barrett from Punk and again with the shirt.

Punk jumps Barrett and we’re finally on.  Barrett is thrown to the floor and Punk jaws at Cena, saying that’s him on Sunday.  Naturally Cena throws Punk over the top.  Punk charges back in but won’t hit him because it would mean he’s out of the Rumble.  Barrett jumps him from behind, but Cena hits the floor to sign some autographs instead of counting a pin.

Back in the ring and it’s…a bell?  It’s a double DQ for use of excessive profanity on a PG show at 2:00.  Both teams are out of the Rumble!  Cena starts to leave but it’s an E-Mail.  The teams are back in, but if Cena doesn’t apologize to both guys then he’s out.

Wade Barrett vs. CM Punk went to a Double DQ @ 2:00 when they both used too much profanity

Cena apologizes but drills them both.  The rest of the teams run in and Cena hits the floor.  The locker room empties and it’s the annual pre-Rumble big brawl to end the show.

Overall Rating: B-. And let the bashing me begin.  This wasn’t about wrestling tonight and I’ll be ignoring comments from people that say this is unfair to give this such a grade.  Yes it is, as the point of this show was a buildup to the Rumble.  This certainly did that and in spades.  It wasn’t a wrestling heavy show but it wasn’t supposed to be.  Decent enough stuff and the things that needed to happen happened.  Good go home show.

Results

Edge b. Drew McIntyre/Jack Swagger/Tyson Kidd – Edge last eliminated McIntyre to win

Alberto Del Rio/Sheamus b. John Morrison/Mark Henry – Cross Armbreaker to Henry

Natalya b. Melina – Sharpshooter

Maryse/Ted DiBiase/Alicia Fox b. Daniel Bryan/Bella Twins – Rollup to Nikki Bella

Michael McGillicutty/Husky Harris b. Santino Marella/Vladimir Kozlov – Downward Spiral to Marella

Wade Barrett vs. CM Punk went to a Double DQ when they both used too much profanity