This week: CM Punk versus Kevin Nash? CM Punk versus HHH. Alberto Del Rio versus Sin Cara? Sin Cara versus Daniel Bryan. Brand split? Well, no, Raw is Raw and it’s Smackdown. But Smackdown is still just Smackdown. Except this week, it’s Raw too. Confused? Welcome to SUPER WWE! Plus, NWO music 4 life, the rise and rise of Randy Orton, Evil Sin Cara and Superstars gets a real main event.
RAW
– Triple H opened the show, for a change. He said it was his job to give everybody the best the WWE had to offer at all times. And as such, “for the foreseeable future”, the Smackdown guys were going to be on Raw every week. He called it “Raw Super Show”. He moved on to the issue of the mysterious text and said Nash had been lying to him a lot lately. Nash was called out by HHH. Instead, CM Punk came out. Punk applauded HHH for his performance and told him to stop lying. He accused Nash and HHH being in on the whole thing, when the nWo music hit and Nash came down.
– Nash admitted he lied about the car accident, which probably didn’t need clearing up, but there you go. Nash said he lied to get HHH out of the building to get to Punk. He told Punk him trying to make a fool of him was done. Someone held up a sign saying “Nash Is A Vanilla Giant”. Too inside. Nash told HHH Punk was insulting him and his wife too. He asked what kind of man HHH is. HHH said he couldn’t trust Nash. He told him to leave and to not come back this time. Nash said he didn’t lie about the text. And he revealed that Laurinaitis had given him a new contract, so if HHH wanted to fire him, he’d just sit home and get paid. HHH said he wouldn’t fire him and Nash went for a hug, which HHH wasn’t down with. Punk pretended to vomit. For a long time. Punk still accused them of lying. He made fun of Nash. Nash reminded him he had a contract now and challenged Punk to a match. Punk agreed to do it at Night Of Champions and dared HHH to make the match. Punk goaded HHH by making fun of Stephanie again. So HHH made Punk versus Nash. As HHH left and Nash and Punk stared each other down, Randy Orton came out for his match.
– Randy Orton d. Dolph Ziggler in 8:56. This was World Champion versus US Champion. Bobby Heenan, Jimmy Hart and Freddie Blassie all got name dropped in here as they talked about Vickie expanding her roster. Vickie got on the apron to distract Orton, allowing Dolph to back drop him outside. Ziggler then hit the Zig Zag on the floor. Orton narrowly beat the count. They showed Swagger watching backstage. Ziggler got more than his fair share of the match, before Orton made his big comeback, after a superplex. Match got back and forth towards the finish. Ziggler cut off the punt with a superkick for a close near fall. Finish saw Ziggler counter an RKO into the sleeper. But Orton escaped, threw Ziggler up with a flapjack, then followed up with a snap RKO for the pin. Really good match, especially considering Orton had a bigger match to come the next night.
– Josh was backstage with Cena. Cena didn’t want to talk though and instead went to the ring.
– So, Cena cut his promo in the ring instead. Cena said Del Rio promised to be a champion with class and dignity, but his actions told a different story. His reaction would be to kick his teeth so far down his throat, his mouth becomes his anus. Not sure Del Rio’s smile would be quite so fun to see at that point. Cena called Del Rio out. But instead of Del Rio, Cena got Mark Henry. Henry wanted some of Cena and talked about all the guys he’d hurt recently, warning Cena he’d join the Hall of Pain too. And so would whoever was World Champion at Night Of Champions.
– Christian interrupted, promising to beat Orton on Smackdown and face Henry at Night Of Champions. But, he didn’t want to talk about that, with Henry around. Christian said Cena made him sick and said he hated people who whine and complain. He gave Cena the same speech Bret gave to him last week, unironically. Cena made fun of them both. It threatened to break down into a fight, as Christian tried to gang up with Henry. But Sheamus ran in to even the odds. Christian bailed, leaving Henry two on one. So, Henry left as well. Backstage, John Laurinaitis set up a tag team match between the four. Triple H walked up and said he already made the match and reminded Laurinaitis that he worked for him.
– CM Punk d. The Miz by DQ in 10:26. Miz cut a promo on his way to the ring, saying he was speaking his mind way before Punk started dropping “pipebombs” and said if last week wasn’t an example of what happens if he doesn’t get attention, tonight would be. Miz crotched Punk as he went for the elbow off the top. Miz took a lot of the match, shutting down Punk any time he tried to fight back. Eventually Punk fought back. Punk broke out a Tenzan chop to escape a superplex, then hit the elbow drop. At which point R-Truth ran down for the disqualification.
– Truth and Miz tried to beat Punk down after the match but Punk was able to fight them off and gave Truth a Go To Sleep. Kevin Nash walked down, or “lumbered” as Cole said. The distraction allowed Miz to attack Punk from behind. Miz and Truth then stood by, as Nash gave Punk the Jacknife.
– Sin Cara d. Jack Swagger in 2:55. Cole had a list of spurious accolades for Sin Cara. Cara wiped Swagger out with an asai moonsault. Vickie came out to watch the match as Swagger took over, which brought Ziggler out to confront Swagger. With Swagger distracted, Sin Cara hit a springboard DDT, then beat Swagger with the senton/lionsault combo.
– WWE Tag Team Championship: Evan Bourne and Kofi Kingston (c) d. Michael McGillicutty and David Otunga (Kofi pinned McGillicutty) in 2:25. Poor Kofi’s pyro failed. Bourne and Kofi are called “Air Boom” now. Lawler was burying Otunga and McGillicutty again, claiming it was motivational. Kingston beat McGillicutty with the Trouble In Paradise. After the match Otunga and McGillicutty confronted Lawler. Otunga in particular. Otunga grabbed Lawler’s headset off of him and they got into a staredown. What a match that would be.
– ‘Brie Bella’ d. Kelly Kelly in 2:04. Natalya and Beth were watching backstage, complaining about the fans cheering Kelly. But said they weren’t jealous. Eve got taken out and the Bellas switched behind Kelly’s back as she checked on her. Nikki then beat Kelly with a facebuster after a little Twin Magic.
– John Cena and Sheamus d. Christian and Mark Henry (Cena pinned Christian) in 6:37. Sheamus had his ribs taped after the slam on the steps on Smackdown. After briefly going toe to toe with Henry, Sheamus was isolated. Cena got the tag and made his comeback, going through Christian and knocking Henry off the apron. Cena eventually got the STF locked in, but Henry broke it up. As Henry and Sheamus fought outside, Cena kicked out of a spear by Christian and turned the Killswitch into a Brogue Kick by Sheamus and the AA for the win.
– Triple H watched this in his office. CM Punk came in and HHH said he’d spoken to the Board. Punk goaded him some more, but HHH informed him the match with Nash was off and it would now be Punk versus HHH at Night Of Champions. Which was all rather weird.
SUPER SMACKDOWN
– Since it was Super Smackdown, the Raw guys were there, which meant John Cena, who started things off. Booker dropped his line about Cena conquering WWE with “limited skills”. Cena said everybody from Raw, Smackdown, NXT, Saturday Night’s Main Event, Shotgun Saturday Night, Nitro, Thunder, Velocity, Afterburn, Heat and Smokey Mountain Wrestling was here. Sadly this wasn’t the case. Cena made an XFL joke. 2011. Cena called Del Rio out, but since Alberto wasn’t there, Ricardo Rodriguez appeared alone. Ricardo, bi-lingually, told Cena he’d have to wait until Night Of Champions. Ricardo kept yelling Alberto’s name until Cena shut him up. Cena then laid out Ricardo with a right hand.
– Wade Barrett came out for his match, saying Cena had learnt none of the lessons of last year. Barrett said he demanded the match with Cena tonight to prove Smackdown was his territory. He promised to make Cena feel as pathetic as when he was Wade’s slave. Cena told Wade he had a bright future, but he owed him some payback. And payback’s a bitch.
– John Cena d. Wade Barrett in 3:17. Payback was, in fact, a bitch. Cena dominated most of the match and won with the Attitude Adjustment pretty quickly.
– Striker interviewed Mark Henry. He asked who Henry would prefer to win the main event. Henry said either way, whoever won would be a Hall Of Pain candidate. Striker asked what it was like to be in a cage match and Henry put over how dangerous it was, before saying it was just as dangerous facing him. And either way, whoever won tonight was going to lose.
– Sin Cara d. Daniel Bryan in 5:00. Sin Cara was still the Hunico version this week. They worked well together. Bryan broke out the old school (comparitively speaking) dragon sleeper surfboard. Both guys hit big dives. We got some insightful Fave Five discussion. Bryan picked up the intensity in the strikes, but Cara hit a modified samoan drop and set him up for the senton/lionsault combo to pick up the win. This was good stuff. Afterwards, they shook hands. But then, Sin Cara hit Bryan with a kick to the face out of nowhere. Interesting.
– Striker was backstage with Air Boom. Kofi and Evan did a promo about how excited they were to be champions. Kofi said he wanted to fill the shoes of great teams of the past. Then, all three did Kofi’s Boom Boom Booms.
– Busy night for Striker, who interviewed Christian. Christian said this was his night. He said he wasn’t a whiner, he was a fighter, who fought for what he wanted whether anybody liked it or not. And tonight he wanted to be World Champion.
– Natalya and Beth Phoenix d. Kelly Kelly and Alicia Fox (Beth pinned Alicia) in 2:03. Aksana was the special ring announcer. They played the sexy music over her ring introduction. Fantastic. Booker seemed impressed. Alicia is now a face after her beating from Natalya, I guess. Beth won with the Glam Slam.
– Triple H and CM Punk had their contract signing for Night Of Champions. HHH explained he cancelled the Punk versus Nash match and he’d be taking the suit off for one night to deal with Punk. HHH didn’t see the need to sit down, but Punk kicked his feet up and settled in. Punk wanted to know why they needed to sign the contract like this, wondering if HHH had a stipulation written in allowing him to change the match again if he got cold feet. HHH explained he changed the match because despite Punk disrespecting him and his family, he tried to work with Punk. But it wasn’t good enough for Punk. HHH said he paid for Punk’s theme song, approved Punk’s t-shirt and gave him Kevin Nash, but Punk still kept pushing his buttons. And he could only take so much. He said Punk insulted him as a man, so now he’d have to deal with him as a man.
– Punk said he didn’t want the COO at Night Of Champions, he wanted the old HHH. Punk compared HHH to Vince, unable to separate personal issues from business issues. He said he loved WWE, but he wanted change, for things to be better. HHH claimed half the people agreed with Punk, but some people liked WWE the way it is. He said his job was to make it better and claimed Punk’s idea of change was wanting to be on top. HHH said the difference between them was, he looked people in the eye on his way to the top where-as Punk backdoored and tried to be a martyr. Punk said he wanted everybody to like WWE and admitted he was doing things for him, because he was still a fan deep down. Punk admitted he was testing HHH. And HHH failed, he was just like Vince. Punk said if he had to go through HHH to get change, so be it and signed the contract. HHH said he respected Vince, unlike Punk. He said the comparison was a compliment. HHH went to sign, but Punk cut him off. Punk told HHH he’d lost touch like Vince, he was the guy who still told people to “suck it”. HHH signed the contract and said Vince would have taken a beating from Punk, but this was personal and HHH was going to kick his ass.
– Kevin Nash interrupted and HHH started holding Punk back from getting to Nash. Punk shoved HHH down and started attacking Nash, but HHH threw him off. That allowed Nash to boot Punk, but HHH then started shoving Nash. So Nash shoved HHH down and left.
– During the break, Striker tried to get a comment from Nash, but Nash left without saying anything.
– Sheamus d. Great Khali by DQ in 2:46. Khali went after Sheamus’s ribs. Sheamus knocked him down with a shoulder block off the top, but Jinder attacked from behind. Post match Khali laid Sheamus out with the chop. They attacked Sheamus outside, but Khali chopped the post and Jinder was left to take the High Cross in the ring from Sheamus.
– World Championship Steel Cage Match: Randy Orton (c) d. Christian in 12:14. Christian tried to escape immediately, which didn’t work. Christian avoided the RKO early but Orton had the firm advantage for the first part of the match. The match turned when Christian blocked the draping DDT and backdropped Orton into the cage. Orton was able to prevent Christian’s numerous attempts to exit the cage. Orton made a comeback and it got back and forth at the end. Christian almost won with a frog splash, then got a near fall with a spear. Christian then set Orton up for the punt kick. Orton avoided it, they played off the sunset flip/RKO spot again and Orton nearly won with the elevated neckbreaker. Orton finally hit the draping DDT, but Christian countered the RKO. It looked like Christian would escape. But Orton rushed up to stop Christian and they fought on top of the cage. Both went for their finishers off the top, before Orton finally hit the RKO off the top to retain. Another great match in their series of great matches, another great match for Orton who’s had a great year. Thumbs up.
– Before Orton got a chance to celebrate Mark Henry came down to the ring. Orton jumped Henry as he got in the cage, but Henry fought him off and rammed him into the cage. Orton escaped a second one and tried to fight back. But again Henry knocked him down. Henry hit a big splash then sent Orton into the cage a second time, before hitting the World’s Strongest Slam to close the show standing over Orton with the belt.
SUPERSTARS
– No NXT this week, by the way. Apparantly it was some form of clip show. I’ll be honest, I didn’t watch. My idea of an NXT clip show probably couldn’t be lived up to. They showed the Smackdown Money In The Bank match though, so that’s cool, if you didn’t watch the PPV.
– Ezekial Jackson d. Heath Slater by submission in 3:06. Another rough night for ol’ Heath. Slater tried, targetting Zeke’s knee first, then Zeke’s arm. But Zeke just kept overpowering him. Zeke finished him off with the Torture Rack.
– Brodus Clay d. Brandon James in 0:58. You know the deal here. Brodus smash, Brodus win. Korpela claimed that Brodus’s last three opponents still hadn’t been released from hospital. Which means one of them has been hospitalised for three weeks. I doubt that’s true. And, you know, hope it’s not true. That’d be unfortunate. Brodus won with the crossbody. We also learnt Brodus became a father the week before. So, good for him.
– Zack Ryder d. Tyson Kidd in 4:43. Zack was filming for Z True Long Island Story on the way to the ring and was looking for a Broski Of The Week. Some kid got a t-shirt out of it. Crowd got behind Ryder. Zack tried to have fun until Tyson slapped him, so Zack suddenly got serious. But he missed a pescado and Tyson nailed a dropkick through the ropes. Tyson ended up countering the Ruff Ryder, but ended up running into knees in the corner and hit with the Ruff Ryder second time around. Pretty good little match.
– R-Truth d. John Morrison in 10:44. They played clips through the show of the Truth and Morrison feud, hyping up this main event. Which was the biggest Superstars main event in a while. Maybe we’ll get a few more with the new roster situation. Crowd were nicely into this since it was stars out early in the Raw taping. Morrison did a parkour flip off the steps and then hit the flying chuck off the steps. Truth managed to regain control with a drop toe hold into the dasher board. Finishing stretch saw Truth kick out of a Moonlight Drive, then roll away from Starship Pain. Morrison kicked out of the suplex into a stunner. Morrison then countered a back superplex, knocking Truth down, in position for the Starship Pain. But Truth got his knees up, which looked painful, following that up with the jumping flatliner. Which may or may not be called the Little Jimmy now. That’s what Scott Stanford called it. Which is good enough for me.