buy cigarettes online online/www.prowrestlingponderings.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/rawreview.jpeg”>
So tonights a big night for WWE as they host the viewers choice edition of Monday Night Raw during the next three hours. It would be not only one of the best nights of Raw, but also one of the best endings of a Raw episode in years. So lets get this started as tonight Chris is taking over the Raw Reviews.
Opening up the night is General Managers from both Raw and Smackdown! in the form of Bret Hart and Teddy Long. Of course the bantering of tonights historic evening is going on until the interruption of Randy Orton. Orton demands Edge one way or another and of course Edge obliges the fans by coming out and telling everyone that he is going to finish what he started. The “Hitman” and Teddy Long offer the choices of debate, sit up contest, or an one-arm match where Edge will have one of his arms tied behind his back. Didn't Austin do that years ago? Great segment though as it really puts both superstars over as bad asses who aren't going to back down from anyone. Even Edge isn't playing the chicken-shit heel and is prepared to fight mono e mono. Of course the night has to continue and we have The Big Show come to the ring for his match against his former tag partner Chris Jericho where the fans are going to pick the stipulation of course from WWE.com. Hey at least there are smart phones out there now that can surf the web while you're at an event. So we have the first match of the night:
Chris Jericho vs Big Show in a Bodyslam Challenge
The Big Show knows he's gonna have fun with this so we have Big Show opening his arms in allowance to let Jericho try, but Jericho being the ass he is has to go and slap the Big Show. Head-butts and chest chops fly in retaliation from the Big Show but Jericho finds a way to reverse the situation in an attempt to body slam the Big Show. Hey so far both talents have found a way to make this match entertaining and that is what counts. The end of the match comes as Chris Jericho attempts a cross body press but the Big Show catches him and body slams him down winning the first end of the match. Of course not to disappoint the fans he makes Jericho tap to a modified camel clutch and then throws him over the top rope to show he could have beaten Jericho under any stipulation.
The Unified Tag Team Championships are on the line as the fans get to choose who the Hart Dynasty fight against, The Uso's, The Dudebusters, or one of the worst tag teams of the decade The Great Khali & Hornswaggle. Why can Hornswaggle just be put into comedy skits and not actually have a role in any wrestling match?
This absolutely shows the stupidity of these viewers choice shows and clearly shows that most of these rigged votes because it makes no sense that a make shift team would win over a feud that has been building for the last two weeks. I'm gonna say that in some way the Uso's are still going to make an impact tonight.
Unified Tag Team Championship match: The Hart Dynasty vs The Great Khali & Hornswaggle
Not the greatest way to start, but we have Tyson Kidd going up against Khali. I'm not sure why anyone would start that way though the quickness could have been the plan in order to chop the giant down to size. We have a tag from Khali to his pint-sized partner and of course the tadpole splash is attempted but after a miss and a slam we have Tyson Kidd pinning Hornswaggle for the win and retention.
Of course this isn't the end and finally The Uso's show up though after two weeks the Hart Dynasty get to show dominance and aren't laid out for the first time. Short and sweet but it got the point across.
We get footage of the Undertaker's memorial from Kane and really this is going to be an interesting storyline as who knows what we're going to get from Kane as I've always felt that Kane can still be a force to reckon with if used correctly. This is possibly the best promo from Kane in the last five years, hell possibly 10.
Hey look at this, we finally are going to get the guest hosts out in the open as it's going to be the A-Team movie cast. Epicness in it's history making as a still contracted UFC fighter is making an appearance. Bradley Cooper comes out first and he schills the movie out to the fans of the WWE and really says nothing…fail.
Jerry Lawler earlier left the commentation booth and is found backstage wandering around but gets dragged in the back by Murdock and B.A. Rampage is on a WWE screen and the first job is to find King's crown….. not that epic but still semi funny and of course the Guest Host whores.. I mean the Bella Twins have to earn their money some how by making it on screen.
Santino comes out to a semi decent pop as he's going up against Kozlov as he's tried to join the ranks with Vladimir and William Regal. This is going to be either an arm wrestling match, a dance off, or a match. Of course a Brian Gerwertz classic as this is going to be a dance-off.
Santino Morella vs Kozlov in a Dace Off
Santino's strength shows in his promo ability but this is of course going to be a great waste of time, but hey for three hours you gotta give something entertaining. Santino does almost every bad stereotypical dance style in existence, but soon Kozlov is going to do something horrible. He speaks. Holy crap he's doing the Robot and a decent Moonwalk, but of course he has to bring back horrible memories of Dude Love and Scotty 2 Hotty. God damn that was more awesome than it should have been, of course the ending dance moves and head butt are probably being YouTubed right now.
It's going to be a Divas specialty match as we could have 6 on 6, a battle royal, or champion vs champion.
Diva Battle Royal
Do you really want me to do commentary for this? I didn't think so and if you did… damn you. We basically have the Divas all fighting over and doing basic pushing and shoving. Tiffany is eliminated by the co-Womens champs… how do they both…nevermind. Kelly Kelly is gone next. Gail Kim is gone. Bella Twins next and we are down to the wire. Lay-Cool is eliminated but that leaves us with Eve vs Jillian Hall and Maryse. Eve is quickly dumped out and as Jillian tries to celebrate with Maryse, she gets whats coming as Maryse dumps her out. You can see Maryse being pushed against Eve very soon.
We get the announcement that Edge vs Orton is going to be the One-arm tied behind his back match. But we get Sheamus walking back stage but he gets confronted by Kane about Undertaker. Sheamus shrugs it off stating that if he did such a great thing he would have sung highly about it. Sheamus is going to face either Evan Bourne, Mark Henry, or Kane.
Sheamus vs Kane
This is something that I can actually say I'm looking forward to as I am a fan of two big guys who can tell a story in the ring. This is going to be a brawl and what else would you expect? Kane is dominating the match for the first few minutes until he tries to go for his top rope clothesline. Sheamus though gets huge top rope body slam on Kane for a two count. Second times must be a charm though as Kane is able to get his top rope clothesline the second time. Sheamus counters the chokeslam in a very decent fashion and almost hits his big boot but then gets thrown over the top rope. I, as well as other insiders have pretty high hopes for Sheamus and really see the potential that he brings despite some of the unwarranted hatred from a majority of the internet crowd. Sheamus loses via a count out but really this didn't make him look weak but at the same time made this budding inter-brand feud seemingly interesting for future bookings. Not to say that the Undertaker's disappearance is a mystery to those of us online, but hey it can definitely provide some entertainment especially for Kane.
We get to vote on Cena's opponent also as we get to pick between Swagger, Rey Mysterio, or CM Punk. Intriguing to say the least as I can see all three of those men having a decent match with the champ. Wade Barrett gets his cameo interview for Raw, and as we reported on ProWrestlingPonderings.com Facebook page earlier that we can expect to see him on Raw with his mentor Chris Jericho. Of course this could just be good foreshadowing to what would happen.
We then get to see Ted DiBiase Jr. with Virgil, but we get the typical skit that we had to expect was coming. But hey seeing Virgil face to face with Rampage was well worth it. It of course turned out to be I.R.S., yes Irwin R. Scyhster who confiscated the crown. Why couldn't Ted Sr. be in attendance?
U.S. Champion R. Truth & John Morrison vs. The Miz and Zack Ryder
The main story here is the building of The Miz vs R. Truth where in some odd fashion R. Truth seems to be getting the larger push than the usual suspect of John Morrison. Of course, as is reported on many sites, McMahon is high on R. Truth and it I can't say that R. Truth doesn't at least get a decent pop on house shows and during his TV appearances. The pairing of Zack and Miz is also pretty awesome, no pun intended, as the character parallels are obvious. This is a great tag of mid-card talent that showcased all of their skills. It's exactly what WWE needs to build their mid card talents into upper-mid card superstars. Hell I wouldn't mind seeing all four of these men in a Fatal Four Way at the PPV for the United States title. It's a shame that Dolph Ziggler fell off the radar, though this rebuilding of the sleeper hold as a finisher is growing on me. Great back and forth match that ends with Miz and Zack Ryder getting the win over R. Truth and Morrison. Good match that held the crowd and didn't make anyone look weak and allowed them to schill the NXT Season 2 which I still have yet to watch…grah I'm behind.
We see Edge and Bret Hart in the back and of course Kane has to accuse Bret… yes the lethal Bret Hart would have been able to take out 'Taker… still a fun little skit that did touch some nerves obviously when Kane mentioned that the legacy of the Undertaker might challenge that of Bret's.
Edge vs Randy Orton in an arm-tied-behind-back Match
The build to this was decent and it really does put over that Randy is going to have that “Stone Cold” aura where he still has heel tendencies but is going to be the people's choice. Can WWE build a better tweener than Russo? I think so. Of course Edge had to find a way to get a no-contest but that just made the anticipation for when Orton has full use of his arm even more. On a side-bar note, has anyone else noticed that Orton hasn't used wrist tape since he became a tweener? Had this been the end of Raw, it still would have been a so far entertaining show that really didn't have a lot to suffer through.
For the first time we see the WWE Champion John Cena and we get another A-Team skit. Mean Gene, as Rampage tweeted, is a PIMP when it comes to the interview unlike Josh Matthews, who is just a scary stalker.
Drew McIntyre vs Matt Hardy
So we see this feud come to fruition on Raw which isn't so bad seeing as how it wasn't really going anywhere on Smackdown!. The returning Matt Hardy comes out to the ring to what sounded like one of the louder reactions of the night. This guy really needs to channel those Version 1 promo abilities as Matt Hardy hasn't impressed me ever when he's a face. But I do have some hopes for Drew as well as I have watched him in Irish Whip Wrestling, though the weak argument that Matt is on Raw now and thus isn't suspended is just stupid. Does this mean he's a Raw superstar? Or can Teddy Long actually un-suspend him? Whatever it is thank god Matt isn't in those horrendous purple key tights. What was that crap? Decent match though despite it's quickness as it did provide something to the feud as Matt legitimately acted like he was pissed at Drew instead of just going for the win and being satisfied with that. Did he just eat some of Drew's hair? WTF moment of the week for me so far.
B.A. Boracas has been captured and it's Ted Jr with I.R.S. and Virgil. Wow this is going to get dumb real fast. Dana probably is laughing his ass off though seeing as how it clearly shows the ridiculousness…entertainment part of the WWE. Smart move on WWE though to not capitolize on making it a UFC vs WWE issue. Roddy Piper on Raw though is always a good thing and no doubt this is going to blow up in Teddy's face. Dusty Rhodes and Mean Gene to the rescue? Wow. Well it's always fun to see the legends involved and this was meant to be a feel good moment. Spinebuster by Rampage Jackson! If this man wanted to be a wrestler, I'm damn sure he'd have money written all over him.
WWE Champion John Cena vs CM Punk
The leader of the Straight Edge Society CM Punk is once again going to face John Cena, let's hope it turns out better than his past outings with the WWE Champion on Raw. This was a good match with some good sequences for both Punk and Cena. I'll give credit where it's due in that Cena may not be a technical marvel but what he does have he uses well and can definitely tell a story in the ring which for many wrestling fans can sometimes be deemed more important than how many suplex variations a talent knows. Punk deserves half the credit as well as he has proven throughout his career that he can have a good match with almost anyone, no matter what. Is it just me or did we actually see a faster paced style from John Cena and CM Punk tonight than what we're used to seeing? Good back and forth action with Punk trying to wear down Cena's strength while we saw more high impact moves from Cena. Both went for submissions, but it would be hard pressed to say that Cena didn't do more damage per hit than Punk which is the way it should be. I just don't understand when a heel does flashy crowd pleasing moves.. it just shouldn't happen. That's heel 101 as far as I'm concerned and you can tell that Punk knows how to work both heel and face very well… though Wade Battett and the rest of the NXT wrestlers came out to invade the show boat promotion of the WWE. All the season 1 NXT rookies, including everyone's favorite Daniel Bryan, have come to invade the WWE! This is what we've been waiting for out of the WWE and this is definitely going to take them to the next level. This by far has been one of the best endings to not only Raw but a wrestling show period. I'm as excited for this as I was when the Age of the Fall first came out at Ring of Honor's Man Up PPV. This is just a plain win for all the talents of WWE and everyone. It was great to see them actually seem renegade as they attacked everyone from Lawler, to the ref, to Striker, to even the ring announce crew. Justin RRrrrrrrRoberts just got decked…win. The WWE has officially been invaded and hopefully they will do more with this than they did that horrendous WCW Invasion..sorry I had to bring that up. I hope you all enjoyed this review and be sure you listen to the podcast that was posted on Monday following this episode.
Be sure to check out my Strikes & Bumps ROH Columns every Sunday as well and do leave me some
eedback.