Monday Night Raw – October 10, 2011 – When All Else Fails, Hit Reset
Monday Night Raw
Date: October 10, 2011
Location: Chesapeake Energy Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler, Michael Cole
This should be an interesting show as it’s after the walk out and we may only have about six guys (conveniently enough the top faces on the roster) and HHH to run things. There’s talk of something called a solidarity rally which I guess is their take on the Wall Street protests, which I’m sure will be laughed at because people complaining about business is bad right Vinny Mac? Let’s get to it.
We open with a recap of the walk out last week and I think it was the same one on Smackdown.
And we have no commentators. I’m not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing.
I guess he got the cameramen to agree with him as we go to the back and no one is there. HHH comes out of his office and looks around. He comes to the ring (with music) and talks about how everyone walked out last week. They walked out on the fans, not him. There’s a solidarity rally going on out back and they’re all in gear. HHH makes a good point by making fun of them for saying the show is too tough. They really do sound whiny out there with this argument.
He asks the fans if he should step down and he says no. HHH talks about how he’s never been a quitter and goes on a short rant about how he’ll never quit. He says he’ll wrestle a broomstick for two hours (Flair reference) and says it might give him a better match than some of those guys. There will be a show tonight, somehow.
Cue Cena who didn’t walk out last week. He’s very serious tonight and says there’s a reason he wasn’t walking out last week. Every person that walked out has personally asked him to join in the walk out. HHH never asked him to stay. HHH is the first boss for a lot of those guys so Cena runs down his bosses: Vince McMahon, Eric Bischoff, Vickie Guerrero, 56 guest hosts, a talking computer and Mike Adamle (“Now that was a real unsafe working environment.”) HHH is his boss and he’s staying.
Cena is staying because he loves the insanity. His loyalty is to the fans and when he wears the word loyalty on his shirt he means it. No matter what, he’s staying on Monday Night Raw. Cue Sheamus who talks about beating HHH up a year or so ago. He was young and trying to make a name for himself. Sheamus says that after that he got the worst beating of his life from HHH and he respects HHH for it. As corny as it sounds, that fits for Sheamus.
As for the big white dude, he’s not going anywhere because he didn’t come thousands of miles to be in a parking lot. Cue Punk with a mic. He says he can’t help but feel sorry….oh screw it yes he did start the whole thing. He made walking out look cool but now it looks stupid. Punk did it to prove a point and he had a great reason to do that. He talks about how someone doesn’t want him to be WWE Champion. Punk talks about how this is the place where differences between men are settled in a ring. This is professional wrestling, not ballet.
He talks about how he’ll deal with people personally (Calling Sheamus Shame-O and Cena the big boyscout). Punk asks the million dollar question: what do we do now? HHH says we do what we do on Raw: we shut up and fight. Tonight it’s Sheamus vs. John Cena. Since HHH is in something resembling stripes he’ll referee. Punk will be on commentary on his own and he can even wear HHH’s blazer. The look on Punk’s face cracked me up. Punk also has to ring the bell and wants double pay.
John Cena vs. Sheamus
They start with some basic back and forth stuff and we go to a fast commercial. Back with Sheamus countering the AA into a suplex for two……AND VINCE IS BACK! We saw all of 45 seconds of the match.
Vince asks the guys to leave so he can talk to HHH on his own. The fans chant you got fired. The guys not named HHH go to the back and Vince talks about how they’re all standing up for what they believe in. He mentions the Wall Street protests and actually doesn’t make fun of them. He’s on HHH’s side in this. Vince talks about how there are people that sympathize on both sides and some of the people that are on the walkers side is the board of directors.
The board isn’t sure what’s coming from this and it could mean anything up to the cancellation of anything from house shows to Raw to Wrestlemania. HHH is relieved of his duties. Neither him nor Vince nor any McMahon will be running Raw. The board is looking for a GM who is ethical. There will however be an interim GM and that’s Johnny Ace. Oh dear.
After a break, Ace brings in the guys again. Morrison of all people talks to him and tells Morrison he absolutely sucks. Morrison has to have a match right now against an unspecified opponent. Christian sucks up to Ace and for some reason is put into the match with Morrison. Ok then.
JR and the King come out for commentary. And so does Cole.
John Morrison vs. Christian
Christian has Ziggler, Rhodes and Swagger with them. Both guys are in street clothes. This is a nothing match for the most part as they hit each other a lot and then Ziggler distracts Morrison so that a spear can end this at 1:12.
All three other heels hit their finishers on Morrison post match. Swagger’s music plays them out. Odd choice.
Alberto vs. Punk (non-title) tonight.
Henry vs. Orton, also non-title later.
Wait. The five guys from the last segment were in street clothes. Didn’t HHH say everyone was in their gear? Consistency people.
Post break Ace is on the phone with his wife and HHH comes in. HHH stares him down and Ace tries to talk his way out of trouble. He talks about how he’s a company guy and was appointed just like HHH was. HHH threatens him and leaves.
Henry is in the ring and talks about Big Show. We get a video of Show vs. Henry including Henry getting beaten up on Friday. Show vs. Henry is official for Vengeance. Henry says Vengeance will be his. Orton’s voice comes over the speakers and says Vengeance will be his.
Mark Henry vs. Randy Orton
This is joined in progress after a break. Henry is overpowering Orton and JR calls him the Calculating Colossus. Oh dude….just no. A powerslam gets two but Henry misses an Earthquake drop and Orton takes over. A clothesline takes Henry down clean. Now that’s a high powered clothesline. Elevated DDT hits and here’s Cody Rhodes. He gets sent to the floor and Orton walks into the Slam. Orton escapes and hits the RKO but Cody runs in again for the DQ at 3:24 shown.
Rating: C. I’m not sure what you want me to say here as there wasn’t anything to this. Rhodes vs. Orton is a feud that hasn’t happened in full yet and now Rhodes is ready enough for it. Also getting Orton out of the title picture is probably a very good thing. Also it means the Cell ended a feud which is a good thing. Nothing to complain about here.
Post match Orton tries an RKO on Rhodes but gets shoved into the Slam. Henry leaves and Rhodes gives Orton CrossRhodes and bags him. Rhodes talks about cutting the head off the viper and asks if Randy wants a receipt with his paper bag and then laughs maniacally. Best laugh since DiBiase?
Rosa Mendes/Tamina vs. Eve Torres/Kelly Kelly
Kelly is all intense to start and she and Rosa botch the handspring elbow almost immediately with Rosa walking into the ring for the collision for some reason. Off to Tamina who gets beaten down by the weakest punches ever. Off to Eve and the fans go silent. Everything breaks down and Eve hits the moonsault for the pin at 2:14. This was one of the worst matches I’ve ever seen. I mean it was BAD.
Johnny Ace comes out during Eve and Kelly’s celebration and they leave. He talks about doing the ethical thing and asks JR to come into the ring. Ace fires him for being a hick ingrate. JR tips his hat and leaves immediately. Cole is elated.
Mason Ryan/Air Boom vs. Dolph Ziggler/Jack Swagger/David Otunga
Bourne vs. Ziggler to start but Kofi is drawn in by the magnetic power of Dolph. Dolph is sent to the floor so Ryan throws him back in only for Kofi to clothesline him back out. A dive by Bourne takes him down also and we go to a break with a standoff. Bad match so far for the US Champ. Back with Kofi reversing Swagger and bringing in Ryan. Ryan uses his assortment of forearms and it’s back to Kofi.
Otunga comes in and slams Kofi a few times so it’s back to Dolph for a SWEET dropkick. Everything breaks down and Bourne gets caught in a HUGE powerbomb by Swags. Ryan picks up Ziggler and does the way too complex and long spinning release Rock Bottom for the pin at 8:30.
Rating: C-. I just couldn’t get into this at all. I really hope they don’t just bypass Ryder as the #1 contender for the US title because he’s big and muscled. Anyway, this was a match that was just ok but Ryan and Otunga added nothing to it at all. Pretty boring overall and I didn’t get into it.
Brodus Clay is still coming.
Time to waste some time on the trailer for John Cena’s newest movie which has a limited engagement next weekend. It’s an action comedy where Cena is a private investigator to get an inheritance.
Del Rio vs. Cena for the title at Vengeance.
Alberto Del Rio vs. CM Punk
This is non-title. They start off with a feeling out process until Punk pounds Del Rio down onto the floor. Del Rio takes over for a bit and they do a bunch of nothing for awhile. After about four minutes, here’s Johnny Ace to stop the match. It’s now a tag match with these two vs. Awesome Truth who are reinstated.
Awesome Truth vs. Alberto Del Rio/The Miz
Miz and Truth do another remix onto the ring. This is in progress after a break. Del Rio fights off both of the other two heels and it’s off to Punk. This is one of those boring matches where they mess around a bit as we’re waiting for the ending to get here already. Alberto fights them both off again and tags in Punk before limping up the crowd with the help of Ricardo.
Ok so now it’s a handicap match. Miz and Truth are really boring when they’re in control. Punk fights them off for awhile and even manages to hit the Macho elbow on Miz. He calls for the GTS on Miz…and then it’s a double beatdown leading to a double DQ at 8:00. The fans audibly and correctly groaned at that ending.
Rating: D. Whatever here man. This was nothing and I could barely pay attention to it at the end. The ending was the worst thing they could have done to it and they did it anyway. Bad match and I have no idea where this is going, although in this case I don’t particluarly care, which isn’t good.
HHH comes out for the save and they beat on Awesome Truth until they run.
Ace makes Punk/Truth vs. Awesome Truth for Vengeance.
Overall Rating: C-. I’m not sure what I thought of this show. You certainly can’t say nothing happened though. It had some twists and turns and not a lot of wrestling. Ace as the GM is probably the most logical thing at the moment…..somehow…..but that doesn’t make him any more interesting. I guess we put the Big Bad reveal on hold a little while longer as I’m starting to agree that this has no idea where it’s going. It’s like they tried to reset the whole thing tonight and while I think I can see the ending to this coming, it’s not getting here any faster and that’s not good.
Results
John Cena vs. Sheamus went to a no contest
Christian b. John Morrison – Spear
Randy Orton b. Mark Henry via DQ when Cody Rhodes interfered
Kelly Kelly/Eve Torres b. Rosa Mendes/Tamina – Moonsault to Mendes
Air Boom/Mason Ryan b. Dolph Ziggler/Jack Swagger/David Otunga – Spinning release Rock Bottom to Ziggler
Alberto Del Rio vs. CM Punk went to a no contest
CM Punk/Alberto Del Rio b. Awesome Truth via DQ when Awesome Truth double teamed Punk
To be frank I kind of like that too much happened rather than too little. We’ve seen storylines in recent months with very little build but right now build is happening all over the midcard. This was necessary considering we have another PPV between now and Survivor Series.
I liked this week’s episode. Laurinaitis can be a good heel – he’s just so naturally hateable that he doesn’t even need mic skills or anything. Like Vickie G., he can just come out and get booed like crazy.
My major criticism however is that Vince’s appearance was underwhelming. That was one part that should have either been saved for another week or given much more oompf. Probably both those things.
There were flashes of good stuff, but only that. The first thirty minutes could’ve/should’ve perhaps been stretched to fill the first hour with Vince returning around the 45 minute mark and Ace becoming GM at the 1 hr.
Everything was so packed in, it didn’t have room to breathe. Lots of stuff happened, but it was far too much progression for this show.
Yeah I don’t get what they’re thinking either. They’re going to have a slapped together PPV with mostly matches we’ve seen before and they’ll wonder why the show draws no buys and they’ll find everything on the planet to blame except for their main event storylines and the amount of PPVs in such a short amount of time, because that’s the way WWE works anymore.
That Raw felt so damned rushed. Months of progression forced into one Raw. They should’ve let Sheamus vs Cena continue for a bit longer as everyone was really into it, especially CM Punk on commentary.
Once again another PPV has creeped up on us and in two weeks we’ll have Vengeance. It should have a decent card but it feels nothing except another stop gap on the way to Survivor Series.
I honestly would of preferred seeing HHH wrestle a broomstick for two hours then what we got tonight. I enjoyed the show quite allot until Vince McMahon came out. After that my interest level dropped so low that I wasn’t even paying attention to the last 20 minutes. The ppv (while rushed) is shaping up to be okay i guess…. damn Raw boring though.
KB, I will troll this site to no end until I get allowed one last thread on WZ. Allow me to make a thread or else this site will crash eventually. You know who this is.
Man, I die a little inside every time Morrison gets buried. I’m still optimistic though, no doubt he’ll probably re-sign. Still, sucks to be him, today. Guy needs to go heel, go big or go home.
Raw tonight was, at best, lackluster. I think it would have been much better, had Raw just focus on the conspiracy angle. I think the night was REALLY rushed as there were INSANE amounts of promos tonight. None of them were lease bit intriguing, though.
The only good part I can see from this is that the heels are now in control which eventually means the battle for Raw will commence at Survivor Series.
Miz and Truth are a good tag team, but perhaps they should have some underlings under them to be the really dastardly heel factions. Brings some heels over as well, seeing as they might share the ring with Punk and HHH.
I’d say perhaps the best part of the night was Punk almost commenting and HHH and Punk teaming up. I think we may have just seen a two man power trip.
Punk’s chemistry with Trips is amazing its perhaps his best tag team aside from DX and maybe the Two Man Power Trip.
Venegnce is shaping up to be pretty solid:
Orton vs Rhodes (most likely)
Mr. Ziggles and Swagga vs Air Boom
Cena vs Del Rio
Trips and Punk vs Awesome Truth.
There are about three people left out which are Sheamus, Morrison and Christian. I’d love for a Christian vs Morrison match and HOPE TO GOD, Morrison wins his first ever PPV since his injury.
Maybe a tag team of Sheamus and Morrison with Christian and someone else, perhaps, Otunga. If that’s the case, we know who’s gonna win here.
This was the worst Raw in recent memory. Everything seems so rushed and thrown together. Hell, even their PPV is TWO FREAKING WEEKS AWAY! These writers really need to write some better material because the whole walk-out storyline was so pointless.