Monday Night Raw
Date: January 3, 2011
Location: University of Phoenix Stadium, Phoenix, Arizona
Commentators: Josh Matthews, Michael Cole

It’s the first show of the year and we have a huge main event in the form of Miz vs. Morrison in a falls count anywhere match for the WWE Title. Apparently that’s going to be opening the show which kind of negates the whole main event thing. Also we’ll get to see the next step in the Punk vs. Cena feud. Let’s get to it.

Theme song opens us up.

Raw World Title: The Miz vs. John Morrison

No Lawler due to the beatdown last week by Miz. Morrison takes down Riley to start and we hit the floor very quickly. Morrison fights both guys off and comes off the top of the big W with a huge cross body for two. Back to the ring as that was a very quick segment up there. Missile dropkick gets two for the challenger. The running knee gets two also as Riley interferes. Morrison DESTROYS Riley and we take a break as the paramedics attend to him.

Back with Miz setting up a piece of railing up against the stage. He can’t suplex Morrison through it for awhile but Morrison tries one too many counters and winds up taking a backdrop into it for two. Back towards the ring again with Miz in control. They slug it out in the ring with Morrison taking over again.

Morrison gets Miz down and goes for Starship Pain. Miz rolls out of the way and gets the Reality Check for two. He charges but rams into the post. Starship Pain hits for two and a big kick sends Miz to the floor. Morrison sets up a table and goes for Starship Pain off the top through the table. The champion moves and the table more or less explodes in an awesome looking spot. That somehow only gets two and Miz is ticked off. The Skull Crushing Finale on the floor ends this clean at approximately 22:00.

Rating: B+. This was a good brawl and a solid back and forth match. I’m not sure if I get the point of having Morrison use his title shot on the first show of the year rather than the Rumble but there’s time to see what they’ve got planned I suppose. This had some good spots and there were a few moments of possibility that the title could change hands. Good stuff but it never hit the level they wanted it to I don’t think.

There’s a #1 contenders match later in a cage.

Back with a new backstage interviewer who is with Miz. Miz goes on about how he’s WWE Champion and is still awesome.

We recap the Natalya vs. Melina issues with Cole saying Natalya needs to get over it.

Melina/Maryse/Alicia Fox vs. Natalya/Brie Bella/Eve Torres

Quick break between the intros. Those are some lackluster partners for Natalya. Maryse and Brie brawl to start with Maryse controlling. Brie is sent to the floor and the twins switch under the ring. Off to Natalya and Alicia and Natalya is more concerned with getting at Melina than Alicia. Butterfly suplex puts Alicia down and Natalya goes after Melina. The champion gets clotheslined over the top rope and here’s Melina officially. Natalya drills her with a spinning forearm and brings in Eve. Not much of a showdown there. Eve hits a spinning neckbreaker to end it at approximately 3:00.

Rating: D+. I’m not sure what the point was to having Natalya be all about getting to Melina and then having them be in at the same time for maybe 4 seconds. The Twin Magic was incredibly quick and didn’t serve much purpose at all. I’m not sure what the actual point to this was but it didn’t work that well.

Uso Brothers vs. Santino Marella/Vladimir Kozlov

Pretty sure this is non-title but I’m not sure. Vladimir and I believe Jimmy start us off. After some brief Russian dominance we’re off to Santino to a big pop. This is looking like a squash so far. I’m glad they’ve giving Santino some real offense such as the sambo stuff. Back to Kozlov and the crowd dies almost immediately.

The Usos take over with basic jobber offense for a little while. Santino comes back in and cleans a few rooms. He isn’t doing enough to classify it as cleaning house you see. Kozlov comes back in illegally to try and help out his partner by growling at an Uso. Somehow this works but Kozlov winds up getting sent to the floor. Vlad gets stuck on the ropes for a bit so Santino has to finish shoving him over. Santino sets for the Cobra but walks into a Samoan Drop for the surprising pin at 4:02.

Post match Tamina and Santino hit a double Cobra on Jey. You never would know they had just lost the match based on how well they’re taking it.

Rating: D. Pretty ugly match here with the crowd completely dying when Santino wasn’t in there. The Usos aren’t exactly an interesting team but they’re better than nothing I suppose. It gives them actual challengers which they’ve been needing since they won the belts. Weak match though.

Tough Enough is officially coming back. Oh joy.

Punk is on his way to the ring.

Back from a break with the new leader of Nexus. Punk says he loves being in Phoenix and that he’s been bust all day looking for Cena. He couldn’t find him anywhere though and that he, ahem, couldn’t see him. Cena isn’t here this week because of Punk and what happened last week.

Punk talks about being a leader of men and that Nexus saw this and they almost begged him to be their new leader. We see a clip of the Nexus beatdown from last week and Punk’s GTS. Punk talks about hustle, loyalty and respect and how it’s just a catchphrase to Cena but to Punk it’s very real. Cena can’t win this fight and Punk is taking over both Nexus and Monday Night Raw.

Here’s Wade Barrett who isn’t thrilled with this at all. Barrett says that Cena isn’t here because of a beating he gave Cena in a match in Pennsylvania earlier in the week which is true kind of. Barrett also says he’s the leader of Nexus, not Punk. Punk says Nexus needed new management and now has it. Wade says that Punk is a liar, including about being straightedge.

Punk says let’s ask Nexus who the liar is and Barrett agrees, calling down the troops. I like how they come out in the V formation like an army. We get an E-Mail almost immediately and tonight there’s are three participants in a match in the cage for the title shot at the Rumble. It’s Barrett vs. Punk vs. Sheamus vs. Orton. They finally have something that looks like an e-mail on the screen too. Ah apparently only Barrett or Punk can be in the cage.

Barrett says he’ll take the spot as the leader of the Nexus. Punk says take it as he’s a talker not a fighter. If Barrett wins the match then Punk will work for him and Barrett can be the leader. If Barrett loses he’s out of Nexus and Punk is officially the leader.

Del Rio is here? Nice surprise. I love that car he’s in which is a red and white Chevy from the 1967. He says it’s his destiny to be world champion and that he’ll show that tonight. It’s his destiny to win the Rumble and be in the main event at Wrestlemania. R-Truth apparently disagrees. Truth says that Alberto’s destiny is to go back where he came from.

Alberto Del Rio vs. R-Truth

Truth dominates early on with his usual unorthodox offense. A clothesline puts Alberto on the floor almost immediately and a dive over the top puts Del Rio down as we take a break. Back with Truth hammering away on Alberto in the corner. Del Rio gets in a shot to break the momentum and hits a Codebreaker onto the arm.

Off to an armbar as we talk about how Del Rio has taken out various people on the Smackdown roster and wants to take out more. Truth tries to fight back but can’t do his flip out of the corner due to the arm. A modified arm drag gets two and it’s back to the arm. Truth manages to send Alberto to the floor and starts taking over with his one good arm. And never mind as Alberto sends his arm into the post and the Cross Armbreaker (with very little torque on it at all) ends this clean in 10:00.

Rating: C+. Better than I expected here given that R-Truth is a guy I can’t get into at all. Del Rio gets another nice win to further his push even more which is something he needs, especially before his big match with Rey on Friday. Nice little match here with Truth being able to hang in there for awhile but at the end being overwhelmed in the end.

Barrett talks to Nexus and says that he can make each and every one of them champions like he did Slater and Gabriel. Punk comes up and calls out Barrett when Barrett says Punk is using Nexus for his own gain. Punk says they’re all pulling for him. Barrett leaves and Punk shakes all of their hands.

Over to Orton who says last year meant nothing and that the only thing he cared about was Miz cashing in. Orton says he was FAR too nice as he actually held back a bit and didn’t punt Jericho. He says that nice guys finish last and implies that isn’t happening anymore.

Cage match is next.

Randy Orton vs. Wade Barrett vs. Sheamus

In a cage and the winner gets Miz at the Rumble. We’re going old school here as it’s escape only. Cena might be back next week. BIG pop for Orton. Sheamus and Orton beat down Barrett early on but Sheamus tries to run away, only to be stopped by Orton. Barrett takes over off the distraction and goes for Wasteland which is acknowledged as the move that injured Cena. Orton tries to escape to no avail.

Sheamus tries to escape to complete the set of people trying to get out. Orton almost goes through the door but turns back around to coil up in front of the other two. Cole says Orton couldn’t have made it out, but it was pretty clear he could have. Odd indeed and we take a break.

Back with Orton almost all the way out until Sheamus makes the save. Barrett helps to finally pull him back in and the two evildoers take over again. Orton tries for the elevated DDT on Sheamus but has to stop to keep Barrett from getting out. He tries for a double elevated DDT but Barrett fights out of it. Sheamus blocks as well and sends Orton into the steel.

Orton gets taken down by the two UK dudes but since one is Irish and one is British they start fighting amongst themselves. Barrett goes up but slips, allowing Orton to make another save. Superplex puts Barrett down as are Orton and Sheamus. Sheamus gets up and beats the tar out of Barrett but can’t get through the door thanks to Orton.

Barrett sends Sheamus into the cage multiple times and adds a pump handle slam. Orton is back up though and gets taken down almost immediately by a Boss Man Slam. Barrett tries to escape but Sheamus slows him down. Wade kicks him down but instead of going out he tries a top rope elbow which gets knees. Sheamus doesn’t take the chance to get out either and gets taken down by Orton’s clotheslines.

Powerslams to both guys and the Angle Slam to Sheamus. Elevated DDT to Barrett but Sheamus slows Randy down. They slug it out on the top rope until Barrett kicks said rope to crotch both guys. Both guys are down now after a pair of big boots. Barrett is the only person up so he tries to climb out. Here’s Punk though, climbing into the cage and offering his hand. He’d help a lot better to just open the door for him but whatever.

Barrett takes his hand but Punk goes all Scar to Barrett’s Mufasa and pulls the armband off and shoves Barrett back into the ring. Sheamus puts Orton down and the door is open. And of course there’s the RKO to Sheamus so that Orton can go through the door at 19:40 to get the title shot at the Rumble. Oh joy.

Rating: A-. I liked this better than the opener actually. The escape only worked very well and it does two things as it sets up the PPV and gets Barrett out of Nexus (not mentioned at all post match). This was a more old school style with the false finishes and saves. I like the lack of pinning as it makes it feel more about survival than winning. Very good match to close out Raw.

Overall Rating: B+. Well you certainly can’t complain about a lack of wrestling here with two very good matches that both ran about twenty minutes.  Throw in a ten minute Alberto match and you’re looking at nearly an hour of wrestling on a two hour and ten minute show.  This was fun stuff as we’re in Rumble mode now and things are starting to click.  Good stuff here, although I’m not looking forward to Miz vs. Orton at all.

Results

The Miz b. John Morrison – Skull Crushing Finale

Natalya/Brie Bella/Eve Torres b. Melina/Maryse/Alicia Fox – Spinning neckbreaker to Melina

Uso Brothers b. Vladimir Kozlov/Santino Marella – Samoan Drop to Marella

Alberto Del Rio b. R-Truth – Cross Armbreaker

Randy Orton b. Sheamus and Wade Barrett – Orton escaped the cage

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.

Monday Night Raw
Date: December 20, 2010
Location: Frank Erwin Center, Austin, Texas
Commentators: Michael Cole, CM Punk, Jerry Lawler

After last night’s AWESOME TLC, we begin the Road to the Royal Rumble and ultimately the Road to Wrestlemania with tonight’s episode of Raw. We have Miz vs. Morrison at the Rumble for the Raw World Title which is amazing when you consider where they were a mere two years ago. But remember, WWE doesn’t elevate people right? Let’s get to it.

We open with Miz coming to the ring as STILL WWE Champion! There’s no Cole on commentary here. Miz says that you better get used to hearing people saying STILL WWE Champion about him. Miz is ROCKING that suit by the way. Suddenly the lights dim and we get something close to a gong. No way….

Nah it’s Riley with bandages and chains around him as the Ghost of Christmas Past to show him the error of his ways. The first clip is of him beating Lawler which Miz says was impressive. Gong and lights go down again and Cole is the Ghost of Christmas Present. And he quotes™ that although his actions last night were vintage™, he needs to change. Miz says nah because the actions of a champion are defined by one statement: he is STILL WWE Champion. He’s a bit fixated on that no?

Miz gives us a Christmas card picture as he holds up the title and the lights/gong go off again and DEMON CHILD pops up on the screen. Her mouth moves and says Miz needs to change or Morrison will take his title. This is awesome by the way, but I’m sure people will b**** and complain because it’s “childish” or something like that. Miz disagrees again and does his catchphrase but is cut off by a very sweaty Morrison.

He says that that was really stupid, even for Miz. Morrison says that he’s getting a title shot soon and that he’s beaten Miz in the past, he can beat him in the present, and he will beat him in the future. Simple but effective line. Miz says really a lot and Riley jumps Morrison. Cue Sheamus and it’s on again. Sheamus hits John’s knee in a nice bit of continuity and Morrison is down. Lawler DRILLS Riley who goes down in a heap.

We get an E–Mail and we’re going to get Miz vs. his ghosts tonight in a 6 man tag. Riley/Miz/Sheamus vs. Morrison/Lawler/Orton. That should be fine, as long as it doesn’t lead to more Orton vs. Sheamus. Miz holds up the title and gets drilled by the emerging Orton.

Clip from the end of the PPV with Barrett being “buried”. Cena addresses the Cenation tonight.

Cole is on commentary now, as is Natalya for the following match.

Melina vs. Alicia Fox vs. Eve Torres

Winner gets Natalya at a later date. Melina has a bit of a haircut. I could look at Eve in those gold shorts all day. Natalya puts her arm around Lawler which is odd. There really isn’t a leader in this for the most part but Eve is down for the most part. Melina tries a headsdissors out of the corner but gets caught in a powerbomb by Alicia for two.

Standing moonsault by Eve gets two on Alicia. She tries to go up but Melina charges into her and is acting all aggressive here. Eve and Alicia set for a Doomsday Device on Melina but she rolls through with a victory roll as Eve’s cross body misses for the pin at 3:15. Pretty slick ending.

Rating: C+. Short match but it was energetic throughout. The powerbomb was very nice and the ending was another thought out one. They’ve been doing better at that recently and it’s making the shows better. Fun match and it sets up the post match stuff right here, which was needed.

Post match Natalya goes into the ring to congratulate Melina but gets slapped instead. Looks like a heel turn which is probably a good thing.

The Bellas are talking about some guy when Bryan comes up and they walk him to the ring arm in arm in arm.

Daniel Bryan vs. William Regal

The IWC just collectively orgasmed. To the shock of no one we start with a lot of technical based stuff with no one really being able to control. Bryan rapid fire kicks in the corner and backflips off the top. He runs into a running forearm/elbow for two for Regal. Regal gets a side headlock/Cravate on the mat and hammers away for two.

This is a rather physical match with them hammering away with European uppercuts and the boo/yay thing begins. Bryan starts winning it but Regal blocks and we hit the mat. Regal Stretch can’t go on though so Regal wants a butterfly suplex instead. That can’t connect either and Bryan reverses into the LeBell Lock for the tap out at 4:33.

Rating: B-. I liked this for the style of it as both guys hammered away on each other but neither could pull it off until the very end. Allegedly Regal is considering retirement so going out against your best student (he trained Bryan) is certainly a nice way for him to go out if he’s leaving soon. Good match with a very different style than we’re used to recently.

Post match Regal applauds a bit and Bryan points at him. The Bellas celebrate with Bryan and one kisses him on the cheek. The other spins him around and kisses him on the lips. The other is like oh no you didn’t and kisses him even harder. Not bad Bryan.

Back from a break with Morrison getting ready. Orton pops up and says they’re partners tonight and if Miz loses the title to Morrison, Orton will come after the new champion. Orton says don’t trust him.

Santino is getting a massage from Tamina who is walking on his back. Maryse comes in and says that now Tamina has a plan B. Maryse gets on his back also and Santino is in pain after Vlad and Ted take the girls away.

Mark Henry and Gail are talking about how nice it is with Nexus gone. Vickie and Dolph come up and she says EXCUSE ME so Henry says maybe he was wrong. Was there a point to this at all?

Santino Marella/Tamina vs. Maryse/Ted DiBiase

Tamina actually looks like a girl here. It’s hard to believe but it’s true. Tamina has to crack Santino’s back to get him able to move. Santino and Ted start us off with Santino threatening the Cobra but uses the fake out to flip Ted over in a nice move. Nice dropkick puts him down though and the evildoer takes over. Ted goes for his clothesline move but Santino does the splits to get out of harm’s way.

He hits his flying salute headbutt and loads up the Cobra but Maryse is tagged in before he can hit it. He can’t use it on Maryse though due to the rules but he can’t get it to stop going. Maryse turns his hand around, causing the Cobra to hit Santino! Tamina comes in and throws the WORST SUPERKICK EVER which misses by a good six inches to put Maryse down. Superfly splash ends it at 3:00. No rating as it was mainly just the guys fighting but the splash was awesome.

Cena (Eruption for seeing him) is coming to the ring and a guy gives him flowers for some reason. He gives them to a female stagehand and steals he coffee! What a jerk our hero is!

After a break here’s Cena who is REALLY happy. He says that for the first time in 6 months there’s no Nexus on Raw! He hugs a guy with a WE HATE CENA sign. Cena says he feels like singing and dancing so we get the Dougie and what I’m assuming was the opening of the University of Texas theme song.

Cena shows us footage from TLC last night where all the chairs fell on Barrett from three camera angles and once in slow motion. That was still awesome whether you think it was or not. Cena invokes the Shamwow and the Snuggie for no apparent reason. Last night he got to every member of Nexus so now Cena can focus on the more important things, like winning the Rumble. Punk wasn’t happy with the chair thing at all.

Instead here are Vickie and Dolph. Vickie keeps trying to say that Cena isn’t the only one that won a match last night but she keeps getting booed out of the building. Cena dies laughing and even Vickie starts laughing at it. AWESOME crowd tonight. This goes on for like three minutes until Cena has to tell them to be quiet so they can talk. Even that doesn’t work so Vickie just has to talk over them.

What we learn after a LONG time is that Dolph is still champion and we have a clip from Vickie. It’s from last week where Vickie made fun of King losing the title and then Lawler making fun of her figure. It turns into Lawler and Cena ripping on Vickie back and forth. It’s really stupid but the crowd is cracking me up.

Vickie FREAKS OUT and Dolph yells at Cena and Lawler in her defense. Cena gets on Dolph saying that when they met Dolph was afraid of the dark. Then he saw Vickie undressed and he was afraid of the light. E–Mail makes the match you would expect it to make, and it’s happening RIGHT NOW! AFTER THIS COMMERCIAL! Absolutely hilarious segment and one of the funniest things on Raw in as long as I can remember.

John Cena vs. Dolph Ziggler

The bell rings as we get back which is a nice touch. Ziggler stomps away as apparently Dolph wants revenge. This should be a pretty good match actually and it’s a good sign to see Ziggler getting ring time with the big boys instead of fighting Kofi all the time. Cena takes over for a bit but misses a charge and hits the corner rather hard.

Cena gets a suplex/slam to reverse for two. Ziggler hooks a side chinlock while on the mat and the crowd keeps getting louder and louder. Cena picks him up into the FU position but Ziggler counters into an X–Factor for two as we take a break. Back with Cena hammering away at Dolph. Side slam marks Cena’s 7^th move.

They ram heads and both men are down. Dolph gets a Downward Spiral Stunner for two. Nice move. Big dropkick gets two and here comes Cena as he initiates his ending sequence. Five Knuckle Shuffle hits but Ziggler avoids the FU and tries for the sleeper. John blocks and the STF….doesn’t end this as Vickie has the referee.

Ziggler gets a Fameasser which is apparently now called the Zig Zag for a long two. There goes the buckle at the hands on the blonde, meaning he’ll be going into it. It’s just a diversion though as Dolph goes for the belt. FU is the counter to end this at 13:15. Nice long match here.

Rating: B-. Nice match here as they got some time here with Ziggler getting a chance to rub elbows with the big boys and gets to look pretty good doing it. He’s one of the best heels on the roster and him getting ring time against a prominent guy is the best thing for him at this point. Nice match here and it got good time.

Post match Punk runs into the ring and drills Cena with a chair. OH HELL YES!!!!!

Back from a break and Josh asks Punk why he did that. Punk says all Cena understands is aggression and he was giving him a taste of his own medicine after what he did to Barrett. Punk drives away.

Jerry is getting ready for the main event and looks pretty good for a guy that is 61. Sheamus comes up and says he’s the real king and that tonight Lawler is done. LONG LIVE THE KING.

Vickie is going off on Ziggler. He’s challenging Cena to a rematch tomorrow on Smackdown which Vickie makes a handicap match with her in it also. Oh dear.

The Miz/Alex Riley/Sheamus vs. Randy Orton/Jerry Lawler/John Morrison

It’s 10:35 and this is starting already? Riley’s briefcase is just a normal one now so maybe people can quit complaining about him holding it a bit. We take a break after Miz and Riley’s entrances. Back with some clips of Miz on Jimmy Fallon’s show with the title. Lawler gets a nice reaction. Orton gets a BIG pop. He’s doing the Austin rope pose now. I guess using a move similar to Austin’s and being names after a snake weren’t enough similarities.

Josh Matthews is on commentary for the main event. Riley and Orton start us off. Big pop for Lawler as he comes in and he manages a dropkick. It sucked but he tried at least. Cole complains about Lawler doing too many things on Raw lately. The irony there slays me. Orton comes in to fight Miz and the champion runs to bring in Sheamus which stops Orton in his tracks as we take a break.

Back with Sheamus working on Lawler and getting two off an unseen move. Morrison comes in and SELLS THE KNEE from last night as he reverses an Irish Curse. Flash Kick takes Sheamus down but a quick interference from Riley stops Starship Pain. Sheamus works on the knee as the fans chant for Morrison.

Miz goes to cannonball down onto the knee but Morrison kicks him to the floor. The champion makes the save to stop the tag though and here’s Sheamus again. A big kick can’t get Morrison out of trouble as Sheamus goes right back to the knee. Half Crab by the pale one until Orton makes the save. Tags in to Orton and Miz and the crowd wakes WAY up.

Powerslam and Angle Slams take down Miz. Elevated DDT has the champion reeling but it only gets two as Sheamus saves. Morrison takes the Irishman to the floor as Orton sets for the RKO. Riley takes it instead as Miz gets a big boot to Orton. Lawler tags himse in and pulls the strap down. Miz goes for the Finale on him but Orton sneaks in with an RKO and Lawler pins Miz at approximately 13:00.

Rating: C. Not bad here with a fun main event to end this. Lawler winning was a nice touch there as it’s a feel good moment to end the show. I would have gone with Morrison pinning Miz to further the setup for their title match but this works too. It was a decent little main event tag match and we got two thirteen minute matches tonight. That’s a rarity for Raw and it worked rather well.

Post match we get an E–Mail which is booed out of the building. The GM apparently has authority to make matches on Smackdown now as he makes Miz vs. Orton which is non–title I’d assume. Orton goes for a powerbomb on Riley but Miz saves and runs.

Overall Rating: B. This was an incredibly fun show. We had well over half an hour of wrestling here including two matches going thirteen minutes which was a nice change of pace from the wrestling–lite show from last week. They have six weeks until the Rumble so it’s more than ok to have a fun show like this one where things weren’t as serious as they have been recently.

Cena vs. Punk sounds great and there was no Nexus for at least a week so maybe they really are on the verge of death. I liked this show a lot as it offered a little something for everyone. Very good show and I’m looking forward to Smackdown tomorrow.

Monday Night Raw
Date: December 13, 2010
Location: New Orleans Arena, New Orleans, Louisiana
Commentators: CM Punk, Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler

It’s Slammy night which is almost always fun. Tonight we find out who the fans deemed the best of 2010 which should be interesting. In storyline terms tonight we have the ultimatum for Barrett: either rehire Cena and end the attacks or he’s out of Nexus. Most interesting indeed. Let’s get to it.

There’s either a new theme song or it’s for the Slammys. There are tables, ladders and chairs in front of the announce table.

We open the show, I kid you not, with David Arquette. He more or less cuts a promo at the presentation table with a deep voice and talks about beating Eric Bischoff for the world title. He’s booed out of the building to be nice about it. He’s presenting Shocker of the Year.

Nominees:

Miz Cashing in Money in the Bank
Nexus’ Initial Attack on Raw
Paul Bearer Turns on Undertaker at Hell in a Cell
Orton Punts Jericho

Winner: Nexus’ Initial Attack on Raw. That’s without a doubt the right choice. The last two aren’t surprises at all as Bearer constantly turns on Taker and Orton’s punt meant nothing really. Miz was a shock but we all knew it was coming eventually. NO ONE saw Nexus coming.

Barrett comes out to accept on his own and says he’s responsible for Nexus being here. He hasn’t made his mind up about the Cena situation but he will by the end of the night. Barrett turns to leave and we get an E-Mail. In short, we’re getting a match right now.

Wade Barrett vs. Big Show

Show grabs the Slammy out of Barrett’s hand as he comes to the ring. Barrett hides from Show and hits the floor before any contact is made. Ah here we go as Show pounds away. Punk says Barrett is a hero for getting rid of Cena. Barrett gets a Greco-Roman thumb to the eye and goes after Show’s leg. Everyone tries that strategy and it rarely works.

Show wakes up and we head outside again for a BIG chop. Barrett’s back looks awful with all the welts on it. He grabs his Slammy and takes the walk for the count out at 2:45. No rating due to the shortness and the fact that a lot of that was Show setting for chops and Barrett hiding.

Voting is still open for Superstar of the Year.

There’s a battle royal for Diva of the Year later tonight.

Kelly Kelly is here for the Despicable Me Award, along with Tyson Kidd and his bodyguard who towers over both of them. Kelly can barely read her teleprompter. This is more or less the biggest heel move of the year. Tyson introduces his bodyguard, Jackson Andrews. Kidd makes fun of Kelly’s intelligence and she says he doesn’t talk much. I see why she hardly ever talks.

Nominees:
Drew McIntyre Making Teddy Long Lay Down
Kane Buries Undertaker Alive
Mr. McMahon Kicks Bret in the Gut
CM Punk Sings Happy Birthday to Rey Mysterio’s Daughter

Winner: CM Punk. That’s the best one probably as he was more or less pure evil there. This is his third Slammy and he celebrates like crazy in a funny bit. He says if you work hard you can achieve your dreams but tonight there is someone in the back that has wronged him. Punk will get him and what he did to Rey is nothing. He doesn’t say who it is.

Kofi Kingston/Daniel Bryan vs. Ted DiBiase/Dolph Ziggler

Bryan has the Bellas with him again. I would have expected Swagger instead of DiBiase but this works I guess. Ziggler is in traditional tights now instead of the shorts. We take a break before the bell. Back with the match already going. The heels beat on Bryan as we’re told that some awards were already handed out and those can be found on WWE.com.

Lots of chinlocks follow before Bryan gets away long enough to bring in Kofi. The Jamafrican gets Trouble in Paradise to Ziggler to win at 3:00 shown. Again there’s not enough here to rate as this was barely a match from what we were able to see. The Bellas looked great though.

Morrison vs. Sheamus again tonight.

Santino and Vladimir are here for the Guest Star Shining Moment of the Year Award. We get a MacGruber reference and Vlad isn’t happy with is so Santino kisses him. These two are rapidly growing on me.

Nominees:
Mike Tyson Knocks Out Chris Jericho
Pee Wee Herman vs. Miz
Wayne Brady Takes an RKO
William Shattner Sings Theme Songs

Winner: Pee Wee Herman. None of them are here tonight but Pee Wee accepts the award via satellite. I liked Shattner better which was awesome beyond words. Punk wants a recount.

Nexus confronts Wade about his decision with Otunga saying Barrett’s singles career isn’t looking good after his loss to Show. Barrett says he has his decision now and leaves.

Best Performance By a Winged Specimen: Raw Chicken
Best Use of Exercise Equipment: Rosa Mendes Uses a Shake-Weight
Most Menacing Haircut: Tyler Reks
Best Family Values: Kane Beats Up Jack Swagger Senior
Superstar/Diva Most in Need of Make-up: Sheamus
Cole in Your Stocking: Daniel Bryan Beats Up Cole on NXT
Outstanding Achievement of Baby Oil Application: Dashing Cody Rhodes
Frequent Tweeter Award: Goldust
Best WWE.com Exclusive TV Show: WWE NXT
Most Annoying Catchphrase: Zach Ryder for “Woo Woo Woo You Know It.”

Mark Henry vs. Cody Rhodes

Random matches for the win I guess. Cody tries basic stuff and gets LAUNCHED away. Mark grabs his face and messes it up. Why not go with basic attacks I guess? Cody trips him up and stomps away which is probably the best he’s going to be able to do. Henry keeps shoving him away with eas.

This is the basic formula for most super strong wrestlers: non-strong guy does what he can, strong guy does basic stuff, small guy moves out of the way of something to get the win. In this case it’s a charge from Henry that misses to set up the Beautiful Disaster and a top rope kneedrop to end it at 2:49. What’s with the short matches tonight? Match was ok but like I said there was more or less nothing going on there so again no rating. Sorry about the lack of them tonight.

Holy *#&$ Award next.

Lawler is presenting this one and is in his full attire. His co-presenter: Vickie. Oh joy indeed. This is the Holy @*$& Award. King says he was at the vet all night with his lizard who had reptile dysfunction. I hate my life. Vickie has slimmed down a bit so Lawler makes fat jokes.

Nominees:
John Morrison Dives off the Set at Hell in a Cell
Kofi Kingston’s Boom Drop at Money in the Bank
John Cena’s FU to Batista at Over the Limit
Randy Orton RKOs Evan Bourne Out of AirBourne

Winner: John Cena. That is RIDICULOUS. It was an FU off a car and that’s it. I was at the Raw where Orton hit the RKO and the place erupted. It was one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen. This wasn’t even the best FU he’s ever hit and it wins an award? Give me a break.

Barrett comes out to accept the award and give his decision. He says that he’s not going to make his decision unless Cena is here so come on out. Cena comes through the crowd as you would expect him to. As Punk said last week: “We have the worst security in the world.” At least try to make it seem like he’s fired. Have a guard escort him or something.

Wade says that this is a huge decision and here comes Nexus. They surround the ring and Cena is officially rehired on two conditions. Number one is he has to face Barrett at TLC in a chair match. Wasn’t there already one of those scheduled? Number two is he faces Otunga tonight. Odd choice but ok.

Barrett says this is why he rehired him and Nexus attacks. Barrett grabs a chair and cracks Cena over the back with it. Nice shot so he does it again. Nexus leaves Cena laying. I’m really not big on them rehiring him that fast. That could have gone on for months but they pull the trigger that fast? I’m not digging that at all.

Next week there is a special two hour live Smackdown on USA and the Tribute to the Troops has an encore. The SD would be to avoid the show being on Christmas Eve which makes sense.

Arquette is back again, dressed like a low rent Elvis impersonator. He’s opening a theater in Hollywood or something like that. He’s presenting the Crowd Reaction of the Year.

Nominees:
Kid Reacting to Cena Joining Nexus
Woman Crying When Shawn Lost at Wrestlemania
Some Dumbstruck Moron (no event specified)
DEMON CHILD! (huge pop for that actually)

Winner: Do I even need to say this one? She’s here! She’s really quiet and here comes Miz. Oh this should be great. He offers to take the award for safekeeping and wants to see the face again. The girl gets all sad and leaves. Miz, Riley and Arquette come to the ring as the girl just leaves all sad.

Miz lists off his accomplishments this year which really are impressive. He says on Sunday he’s going to dominate Orton but we get an E-Mail. They actually have text on the monitor now. Both Miz and Orton are facing former champions tonight and Miz’s match is now.

The Miz vs. Rey Mysterio

I think there’s something wrong with the audio there as the theme music is somewhat quiet. Rey sends him to the floor as we take a break. Back and they go for Rey’s sit out bulldog and botch the HECK out of it. Rey may have tweeked his knee but he sets for the 619. Here’s Del Rip and Rey charges at him.

Miz catches him and sets for a powerbomb but drops backwards to send Rey face first into the apron which looked brutal. It gets two as it took awhile to get back into the ring. Rey’s knee looks fine so maybe he just landed oddly. Ah it was his ribs that he hurt. Superplex is blocked and Rey lands a big springboard crossbody for two.

Rey sets for the 619 but again Del Rio gets in his way. Miz is sent into him though and down goes Alberto. Rollup by Rey gets two. He sets for the 619 again but Del Rio interferes again and a small package gets the win for the champion at 3:30 shown of 7:00.

Rating: C+. This was pretty fast paced and it worked rather well. Miz cheated to win but that’s his job as a heel. He keeps getting victories over these big guys which is the best thing he can do to gain credibility. Decent little match with more added to the Rey vs. Alberto feud and Miz gets a nice win. What more can you ask for other than more time?

E-Mail says Orton vs. Arquette/Riley tonight. Oh dear.

Back from break and Edge is here for the Oh Snap Meltdown Award. Kane was supposed to co-present with him but he’s having a meltdown of his own. He needs a co-presenter so he brings out Christian. Nice indeed. So are they brothers or just friends at this point? He wants Alberto to win for various reasons.

Nominees:
Big Show Breaks Swagger’s Trophies
Alberto Del Rio Breaks Rey’s Arm/Wrist
Edge Destroys the Laptop
Batista Quits

Winner: Edge. I know people that that was awful but it really wasn’t so bad. I liked it a lot actually and it made sense. Edge says this is odd as he’s always been calm and cool and loses his mind about the laptop again. He apparently has a match with Swagger later and

Christian gets an E-Mail on his phone. Edge: YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME! Christian: Yes I am. Funny stuff. Edge cuts a short promo and says that things always stay the same. Christian does the e-mail sound into the microphone so Edge can say “And I quote: Michael Cole is still a huge tool.” I love these two.

Sheamus vs. John Morrison

It’s the inbred spawn of Batman and Satan! Morrison spears Sheamus down and it’s on early. Sheamus spears Morrison down just as hard and it’s a big brawl. It’s thrown out in 30 seconds for a double DQ. And before people freak out, that ending is perfect. It sets up the PPV and doesn’t give the match away again so soon. It’s perfect.

An E-Mail says Morrison vs. Sheamus at TLC in a ladder match for the #1 contendership. I’ve been calling Miz vs. Morrison at the Rumble for months so that would make perfect sense. Sheamus jumps Morrison post E-Mail and spears him with one of the ladders that were at ringside. He sets the ladder up at an angle against the apron and launches Morrison over the top to land back first on the ladder. FREAKING OW MAN!

Back from a break with JTG and William Regal presenting Knucklehead Moment of the Year. Regal tries to get through this quickly because he doesn’t understand JTG.

CM Punk Tries to Hide from Show and Gets Unmasked
Mae Young Wins at Old School Raw
Beth Phoenix is in the Rumble and Eliminates Great Khali
Santino Marella and Vladimir Kozlov Have a Dance-Off

Winner: Mae Young and Laycool. I’m not sure what the point of this was as those weren’t really knuckleheaded moments. Either way Laycool comes out and look great to accept it.

Diva Battle Royal next.

Battle Royal

Laycool, Kelly, Maryse, Eve, Bella Twins, Rose, Melina, Alicia, Kaitlyn, Beth, Tamina, Natalya

I think that’s everyone but I’m not sure. Everyone surrounds Laycool and to their credit they’re like BRING IT ON. Tamina chills in the corner for a bit but puts out Kaitlyn. You can go through the ropes here. Rosa is out second. She has never won a match on the main roster. Tamina is out.

A Bella is out as they’re flying out of here insanely fast. The other Bella goes out with ease as Laycool is dominating. Maryse is gone. There’s no particular rhyme or reason here as you would expect in a battle royal. Michelle, looking GREAT in those red shorts, puts out Kelly who looks GREAT in those white shorts. Beth Glam Slams Melina out.

Down to Laycool, Beth, Natalya, Gail and Alicia. Beth kicks Layla out and she FREAKS. She distracts the Glamazon long enough to let Michelle put out Beth. Natalya puts out Alicia and Gail and walks into a big kick from Michelle who wins this at approximately 3:30.

Rating: C. This is hard to grade as battle royals aren’t something that there are standards for. This was fine for what it was and one of the girls that should have won it got the award so I can’t complain. Also you have hot women so how much can you really complain? Good stuff.

Another E-Mail says Beth/Natalya vs. Laycool in a tag team tables match. The look on Michelle’s face is AWESOME.

Quick recap of Kane accidentally killing Paul Bearer on Smackdown.

Edge vs. Jack Swagger

Triple threat ladder match at the PPV for the IC Title: Ziggler vs. Kofi vs. Swagger. Wow this is going to be all gimmick matches isn’t it? Swagger overpowers Edge to start as it’s pretty clear that Kane will be involved here somewhere. After a brief beating, Edge gets an Edge-O-Matic to take over again. DDT gets two.

Swagger gets a shot in and sets for the Vader Bomb with Edge having his knees up before Swagger gets to the corner. Thankfully he winds up landing on his feet and grabs the ankle lock. Much better. Edge reverses the ankle lock into a rollup for two. There’s the Impaler and the spear ends this completely clean at 4:50. No Kane? Really?

Rating: C+. Quick match but it worked pretty well for the most part. Edge winning clean works but Swagger can’t buy a break for the most part as he’s constantly losing clean. If he’s going into a title match Sunday, couldn’t they get someone else to fight Edge? Like Chavo or someone? Decent little match though.

Riley, Miz and Arquette have a stupid moment. Arquette has energy. You have to give him that.

We see clips of the Slammy winner for video game moment of the year. It’s nothing special at all.

Big Show is here to present moment of the year. He talks about some great moments and mentions Hogan, Superfly and Austin. Tonight something joins them. I doubt that.

Nominees:
Cena is Free or Fired
Sheamus Jumps HHH as he Says Goodbye to Shawn
Edge’s Huge Spear at Wrestlemania
Streak vs. Career

Winner: Streak vs. Career. Thank goodness. Shawn…isn’t here, but he appears on satellite and is in an undisclosed location which he won’t say because WWE would try to make him come back. Funny line. He has a big cut on his nose. Shawn says he doesn’t miss it but does miss the fans who he might see soon.

Randy Orton vs. Alex Riley/David Arquette

I never thought I’d have to type that. Riley starts and actually gets Orton down. Then Arquette comes in and runs away after Orton sets for the RKO. Backbreaker to Riley and the knee drop hits. Then it misses. Arquette is wearing what Punk calls Clubber Lang’s Gi. That fits rather well actually. Orton hits an Angle Slam on Riley and there’s the RKO for the easy pin at 2:45. No rating for an extended workout for Orton.

Miz blasts Orton with the briefcase post match and they try to put him through a table. He fights them off and Arquette goes through it instead as every WCW fans ejaculates at once. Somewhere Russo is saying we just didn’t get it. Stretcher ride for Arquette.

We run down the TLC card. I kind of like them just saying screw it: let’s go all the way with the gimmicks. It makes it more appealing than last year’s.

The presenter for the Quote of the Year: Michael Cole.

There are too many nominees to list off. It’s more or less every funny line of the year with some very funny ones in here, my favorite being “I would RKO my own Grandmother to get back the WWE Title.”

Winner: Michael Cole. Apparently he wins in general. He of course has a speech ready. He gets played off and the Superstar of the Year is next. Isn’t there supposed to be a Match of the Year award?

Teddy Long comes out to do Superstar of the Year.

Nominees:
Edge
The Miz
Kane
John Cena
Rey Mysterio
Randy Orton

Winner: John Cena. Is anyone really surprised by that? He says that his fans never gave up on him and runs down a list of things he’s done this year. Cena talks about getting all of Nexus and having only Barrett and Otunga to go.

John Cena vs. David Otunga

Otunga hasn’t come to the ring yet and it’s 11:05. How long do you think this is going to go on for? Cena looks pretty good for a guy that took two chair shots earlier. We see a clip of that attack as we apparently need to waste more time. Otunga high flives every Nexus member other than Barrett but they smile at each other.

Barrett sends Nexus to the back and leaves as well. Cena attacks as Otunga turns around and methinks this isn’t going to last long. Cena is all kinds of ticked off. He misses a charge in the corner and here comes Otunga. He’s clearly winning here. You know he will right? I mean he’s DAVID OTUNGA! A kind of Pounce/elbow smash hits and there’s the STF to end it in 1:58. Well they made it quick. Just a squash.

Post match Cena destroys Otunga with a chair as Barrett just stands there watching.

Overall Rating: B. I liked the show. A lot of things were set up for the PPV and overall the show was fun. It’s no classic and last week’s was better, but overall this worked rather well I thought. It’s not an incredibly serious show but then again it’s not supposed to be. It was a fun go home show for a gimmick PPV and it worked fine for what it was supposed to be. Pretty solid show and rather fun. Good stuff.