Monday Night Raw – June 27, 2011 – Well….Punk Isn’t Happy Is He?

Monday Night Raw
Date: June 27, 2011
Location: Thomas & Mack Center, Las Vegas, Nevada
Commentators: Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler

It’s Raw Roulette tonight, meaning Spin the Wheel Make the Deal for you old school WCW fans.  In short it’s a lot of gimmick matches, determined by a likely rigged wheel.  We’re building towards Punk vs. Cena at the PPV and also towards the MITB ladder match which is likely to see some qualifying matches tonight.  Also Shawn Michaels is here tonight.  Let’s get to it.

Booker T is operating the wheel.

Here’s Shawn to open things up.  He says he promised he’d stay away but he can’t quite leave all this.  He did it for 20 years and you can’t just stop cold turkey.  Shawn is still the headline, the showstopper, the main event, Mr. Wrestlemania and now Mr. Hall of Fame.  He insists he’s not the guest host but is just a guy that’s here.  The last thing he’s going to do is tell you about a new show he has on the Outdoor Network which debuts tomorrow night at 11:30 PM.  He’s not going to point out his Twitter which is listed on the screen.

Shawn is interrupted by Punk and Nexus minus Ryan who apparently was hurt over the weekend.  Punk talks about how Shawn has an addictive personality and can’t stay away.  He reminds us that he’s leaving on the 17^th.  He says he’s going to leave a winner, which Shawn says you might want to ask Cena about.  After some more insults, Shawn gets a great line in by saying that the people cheer him because they know he’s better than Punk.  Punk wants to know if that’s a challenge.  Shawn says they’re not alike even though they have similarities.  Shawn says they both have their own styles and Otunga’s head is kicked off.

An E-Mail says Punk has the first match tonight so let’s spin the wheel.  Booker lists off some possible matches: on a pole, guest referee, cage, submission, pillow fight etc.  We spin the wheel and it lands on a question mark.  That means he has a mystery opponent, in the form of Kane who just happens to be standing next to the wheel.  Shawn gets Sweet Shoulder Music to McGillicutty and here’s Kane.

Kane vs. CM Punk

 

The bell is after the break.  Before we come back there’s a video about Mark Henry and then Henry putting Kane through the table last week is mentioned.  I wonder if that’s hinting at what’s coming.  They hit the floor with Kane totally dominating.  Clothesline in the corner and a side slam get two.  Punk manages to guillotine him on the top rope and a high kick puts Kane down.

Punk hammers away and tries to kick at the leg a bit, only for Kane to grab a chokeslam attempt.  Punk escapes but Kane takes him down anyway.  Top rope clothesline is broken up so Punk tries a superplex.  That doesn’t work but Punk rolls to the floor to avoid the clothesline.  Punk walks out for the countout at 4:16, saying that he doesn’t care which makes sense for him.

Rating: D+. Nothing of note here at all as it was mainly just to play up the whole Punk is leaving so he doesn’t care at all.  That makes sense and could prove interesting over the next few weeks.  The match itself meant nothing and wasn’t very interesting as a result, which gets annoying quickly.

Sin Cara vs. Evan Bourne

 

This is the make up match from last week when they screwed up the voting thing.  It’s also a roulette match with the stipulation of….something that is going to be determined after they get confused.  They ring the bell with Justin Roberts still in the ring and before the wheel is spin.  Even in some Daisy Dukes is with Booker and it’s no countout.  They start on the mat until Cara speeds things up with his insane flying stuff.

They head to the floor and then roll back in almost at the same time.  Bourne gets his double stomp to the chest for two.  Handspring elbow misses and Bourne misses a jumping kick.  Rana sends Bourne to the floor and Cara hits a HUGE suicide dive.  The crowd is into this also.  Bourne counters a spinning something into a headscissors to take over and we go back inside.

Cara avoids a dropkick and gets a rollup for two.  La Magistral gets two for Cara.  A spinning crossbody which wound up with Cara landing with his back on Bourne’s chest for two.  Standing moonsault gets two for Evan.  Shooting Star misses and Cara gets his spinning mat slam for the pin at 4:52.

Rating: B-. Cara is getting better with fewer botches, even though it seemed like Bourne was shaken up on the ending.  They did the right thing here and let them go, but a few more dives would have made it far better.  Still though, there was enough there to make it fun and the fans were way into it which is the whole point.

Kofi gets to spin the wheel to determine what kind of match he has with Ziggler next.  Vickie comes in to spin it for him and it’s Player’s Choice, meaning Kofi gets to pick the match.  He goes with Vickie is barred from ringside.

Instead of qualifying matches we’re just going to be told who the participants in MITB are going to be.  For Raw:

Rey Mysterio, Kofi Kingston, Evan Bourne. Alberto Del Rio, R-Truth, Jack Swagger, Alex Riley, The Miz.  No Dolph?  Interesting.

Kofi Kingston vs. Dolph Ziggler

 

Vickie tries to come out and is sent to the back.  WWE really needs to find something else for these two to do.  Dolph hits the floor almost immediately and tries to walk out like Punk did, only for Kofi to stop him and bring him back towards the ring.  Dolph sends him into the post as we take a break.

Back with Dolph holding a chinlock.  Fameasser gets two.  Kofi reverses a half nelson slam into a small package for two.  Slugout is won by Kingston but Ziggler gets a big boot up.   He throws Kofi into the ropes but Kofi bounces off the top and a sweet Trouble in Paradise ends this at 7:35.

Rating: C. Match was mostly in the commercial but that kick to end it was pretty sweet.  I guess we’re going to get another match between these two later on because we haven’t seen it enough yet.  These two desperately need something new to do and they have for a very long time.  Not bad here but nothing memorable at all.

Booker recaps the first hour with Maryse next to him.  Alberto comes in and complains about having to face Show again.  Alberto hits on Maryse, asking her to spin it for luck.  The match is a steel cage match which gets a big reaction from the crowd.  Maryse leaves when she sees that.  “Tell me she didn’t just spin that.”

We get a clip of Henry slamming Show through the table at Capitol Punishment.

Big Show vs. Alberto Del Rio

 

Pin, submission or escape here.  Alberto runs for the wall almost immediately and that doesn’t work at all.  Alberto gets a boot in but can’t really follow up.  He gets a shot in to the knee and works it over which is the best strategy against Show here.  And yeah there’s Henry.  Show starts his comeback and chops away.  Chokeslam is loaded up but Alberto kicks the knee out again.

Show goes down after some more kicks but as Del Rio tries to escape he gets chopped again.  They go up on the corner and a superplex nearly breaks the ring.  And here’s Henry to try to rip the door off.  Thankfully it didn’t take as long as it did when he did it on Smackdown a few years ago.  Henry comes in and beats up Big Show, allowing Del Rio to escape at 5:23.

Rating: D. Just…no.  A cage match that lasts 5:23 and has outside interference completely misses the point of the thing.  Henry stays intimidating and interesting for about five minutes and then once he loses he goes back to being a bunch of nothing again.  One of the worst cage matches I’ve seen in a very long time.

Henry rams the door into Show who is against the wall of the cage, making it break and fall to the floor.  Show gets laid out and Henry yells a lot.  The cage breaking was cool.

We recap Kelly winning the title last week.

Nikki Bella vs. Kelly Kelly

Brie vs. Kelly at MITB.  It’s a submission match.  Oh sweet mercy help up.  Nikki goes after the arm and grabs a Fujiwara Armbar.  And never mind as Kelly reverses into a Boston Crab for the tap at 1:18.  They beat Kelly down post match and Eve makes the save.

Video on Andy Levine winning Tough Enough.  He talks about getting slapped and taking the Stunner after being hired.  We see various people talking about how Andy is promising and all that jazz.

The wheel is spun for Rey’s match and it’s a tornado match.  It’s him and Riley vs. Miz/Swagger with no tagging.  Rey leaves and of all people Diamond Dallas Page pops up to push his WCW DVD.  Drew McIntyre comes up and says the old guys are taking up his TV time.  He says they have ten minutes to leave and walks into Sweet Chin Music.  Shawn wants the DVD because he never watched WCW.

The Miz/Jack Swagger vs. Rey Mysterio/Alex Riley

 

No tagging remember.  Rey vs. Swagger and Miz vs. Riley are the pairings to start us off.  Mysterio and Swagger stay in the ring and Riley gets beaten down.  Miz and Swagger set up for a Doomsday Device but Miz gets crotched.  Seated senton from the apron takes down Swagger and Riley gets a hiptoss from the top for two on Miz as we go to a break.

Back with Miz and Swagger beating down Riley as Rey is already down.  Riley comes back and gets a rollup for two on Miz.  Rey tries a springboard but jumps into a fireman’s carry into a gutbuster on Miz’s knee.  Swagger and Riley fight to the floor and Miz tries s superplex but is knocked back to the mat.  Seated senton hits and the returning Swagger is sent into Miz.

Riley pulls the ropes down to send Swagger to the floor.  Big kick to Miz gets two for Rey.  Another kick sets up the 619 but Swagger breaks it up.  Riley gets a spinebuster to Swagger for what looked like three but Miz saved just in time.  Reverse DDT gets two for Miz.  Cactus Clothesline sends Riley and Miz to the floor as Swagger hits a big boot to Rey for a close two.

Gutwrench bomb is countered into the 619 which is countered into the ankle lock.  They’re in the ropes but that doesn’t matter I guess.  Riley makes the save and there’s the 619 position.  Riley drills Swagger and then the 619 hits.  Inverted (kind of) DDT sets up the top rope splash for the pin at 11:45.

Rating: B. This got a lot better as the match kept going.  Riley keeps getting pushed harder and harder which is a good sign for him.  The tornado aspect helped a lot here as it kept things from getting boring.  They let the guys do all of their stuff and the false finishes were pretty awesome too.  Pretty awesome for a TV match.

Rey might have hurt his knee.

Quick video on Shawn’s new show.

Truth spins the wheel after checking for a conspiracy.  Truth vs. Cena will be a tables match.

John Cena vs. R-Truth

 

Tables match here.  Truth gets a right hand to start but walks into a suplex to give Cena the advantage.  Table is loaded up but Truth beats Cena to it.  Surfboard hold goes on by Truth as the fans are split on Cena again.  Dropkick puts Truth down.  AA is blocked into the suplex into a Stunner by Truth.

Truth sets up a table in the corner as Cena is getting up.  A suplex into it is reversed though and both guys are down.  Truth charges at Cena but goes over the top and they both hit the floor.  Cena puts him into the steps and takes a table from the aisle to put in the ring.  Apparently the one that was already in there isn’t to his liking.  AA is loaded up but Punk comes out to move the table.  Cena and Punk brawl and Truth manages to hit a shoulder block/spear to put Cena through the table to end it at 5:08.  Punk is wearing an Austin shirt or a great imitation of one.

Rating: D+. Pretty weak match due to the time limit but overall these two don’t have much chemistry for the most part.  Punk was the main thing here and that’s fine.  I’m curious as to where they’re going with this because it could go anywhere for the most part, namely due to the uncertainty of whether or not Punk is leaving.  Match was worthless though.

Post match Punk sits on the stage and says he doesn’t hate Cena.  He even likes him more than most people in the back.  Cena isn’t the best though, at least not in the ring.  Punk says that Cena is only the best at kissing up to Cena.  He’s even better than Hulk Hogan was at it.  He’s not as good as Dwayne though but he’s close.  Punk says he’s the best wrestler here and has been since day one when Paul Heyman saw something in him.  He’s a Heyman guy, just like Brock Lesnar was and he left too.  There are some named you never hear anymore.

Punk talks about how he’s tired about not being on souvenir cups or on the front of the program or in movies or on a show on USA or on Conan or Fallon even though he should be.  He’s not even in the opening video of the WWE shows.  Some fans are cheering and Punk says that’s a big problem with him leaving because they’re sipping out of the cups he’s not on.  He’s winning the title and might defend it in New Japan or Ring of Honor.  “Hi Colt Cabana.”  Vince is a millionaire and not a billionaire because of the idiots he surrounds himself with.

Punk says that the company might be better off when Vince is dead because then the company is going to his idiot daughter and worthless son-in-law.  He has a personal story about the bullying campaign and his mic is cut off, ticking him off before they cut the cameras and end the show.  This was mind blowing stuff.

Overall Rating: B. This was right in the middle but some of the matches are good enough for the show to work.  I’m not a fan of the gimmick shows for the most part, especially three in a row.  The tornado tag was rather good and hopefully sets up Miz vs. Rey which is a feud we haven’t seen before.  Thankfully next week we get back to the regular stuff which I’ve missed over the past month.  Not bad show here but there were definitely bad parts to it.  Punk’s promo pushed this up from a C+.

Results

Kane b. CM Punk via countout

Sin Cara b. Evan Bourne – Headscissors into a mat slam

Kofi Kingston b. Dolph Ziggler – Trouble in Paradise

Alberto Del Rio b. Big Show – Del Rio escaped the cage

Kelly Kelly b. Nikki Bella – Boston Crab