WWE RAW Review 17.09.12

Welcome to my review of the 17/9/12 Edition of WWE Monday Night Raw! This week’s episode starts with the WWE Raw opening video, followed by some pyro, and we are live in Bridgeport, Conneticut!

Paul Heyman kicks off the night’s show, by coming out to CM Punk’s theme song, and talking about Night of Champions, and the main event’s controversial ending. He invites Chad Patton, the referee for the WWE Championship match, and encourages him to tell the WWE Universe that he did, in fact, make the right decision by ending the match as a draw. John Cena eventually comes out, and admits that he did lose the match, and the right call was made by Chad Patton. But it was like ending the Superbowl in a tie. The people want to see who would have won between CM Punk and John Cena. He wants a rematch right here tonight.

Alberto Del Rio comes out alongside Ricardo Rodriguez, and says if anyone deserves a rematch, it’s him. The Brogue Kick was reinstated right before his match. He wasn’t ready for his opponent, but John Cena was. AJ comes out and announces that the two Night of Champions main events are going to be combined for tonight’s show to make a super main event. She seems pretty enthusiastic about the idea. It will be Alberto Del Rio and CM Punk, against Sheamus and John Cena. After the match, she will think about making a rematch, and exactly who will be in it.

Thoughts: We all know for a fact that John Cena is going to get a rematch with CM Punk, and I have no complaints. I’d like to see it again. My problem lies with Alberto Del Rio. He lost what was probably his 100th Championship match with Sheamus at Night of Champions, and now he wants another? Give me a break. The World Heavyweight Championship scene is incredibly dull with the amount of repetition it entails, and I may just lose it if Alberto Del Rio gets a rematch. If WWE Creative have any sense whatsoever, Sheamus will be moving on immediately.

Rey Mysterio and Sin Cara are shown backstage, making their way to the ring area. When we come back from a break, Epico and Primo are making their entrance, alongside Rosa Mendes. Michael Cole explains why Jerry Lawler is not there tonight. He’s wearing a Lawler-style T-Shirt, that says “Long Live The King”, which I think is a major sign of respect. John ‘Bradshaw’ Layfield and Jim Ross are introduced to join him on commentary for the evening.

Rey Mysterio and Sin Cara defeat Primo and Epico, in what was basically a tag-team squash match. As Mysterio and Cara celebrate their victory, they are attacked by the Prime Time Players. Titus O’Neil gets on a mic, and says that they were in line for a Tag Team Championship match before Kane and Daniel Bryan, but it was taken from them. They’re going to make sure that nobody ever takes anything from them again. Darren Young re-iterates what O’Neil says. It looked like either he forgot what he had to say, or Titus said too much. Either way, Titus looked pretty intimidating, and Young looked a bit silly.

Thoughts: I found Young’s short work on the mic to be a slight dampener on the segment, but it was good nonetheless. I liked O’Neil’s work. I also like the idea of a tag team feud between these two, to further along the team of Sin Cara and Rey Mysterio, as we draw closer to a potential Wrestlemania 29 match-up.

After this, Layla was on commentary to watch new Divas champion Eve take on Beth Phoenix. What really annoyed me is that the match ended the same way almost all Diva matches are ending recently, with a random roll-up. Eve looks at Layla post-match, and leaves with the title held high.

Thoughts: Beth Phoenix was one of the most dominant Divas in recent years last year, yet now she’s jobbing to the same woman she hit a Glam Slam on from the top rope? Ridiculous. Why not Alicia Fox? Why not Natalya? It just seems so stupid. In spite of this, I’m hoping for Eve’s title reign to be better than Layla’s. Hopefully she’ll get more screen time, and will be given opponents better than Kaitlyn, because she’s just terrible.

Antonio Cesaro and Aksana were the next two people to join commentary, as the United States Champion would be commentating over Brodus Clay’s match with Heath Slater. Cesaro attempted to distract Clay mid-match, but The Funkasaurus got the victory over Slater nonetheless. Brodus Clay celebrated his victory with a bunch of kids from the WWE Universe after the match.

Thoughts: I don’t know if I agree with Brodus Clay getting a United States Championship feud. All he does is beat guys in 30 second squash matches, and hasn’t had much of a serious feud in his current gimmick. If the time comes, however, I’m hoping Cesaro can look strong in victory over the Funkasaurus.

The Miz is shown backstage in a suit, as he will be presenting the very first edition of his own talk show, MizTV, up next. After the break, Miz comes out, and says that he deserves his own talk show. He talks about overcoming the odds at Night of Champions. He says his first ever guest on MizTV, is the man who didn’t think he’d be able to win last night, the WWE Smackdown General Manager, Booker T.

Booker comes out, and Miz practically tears him a new one, for thinking he couldn’t win at Night of Champions, for banning the Brogue Kick, and for wanting to get back in the spotlight. Booker grabs the mic, and says that maybe he should go, and his guest should be someone who is used to beating more than one opponent at the same time.

“Feed Me More” resounds around the arena, as Ryback makes his way to the ring. He tears up the set of MizTV, throwing Couches, Chairs amongst other furniture out of the ring, as the IC champion retreats to the back. Ryback also threw a Live Microphone into the crowd, and a fan grabbed a hold of it and started shouting “Goldberg” throughout the arena. I guess it was Ryback’s own fault.

Thoughts: I think the “boring” chants were a bit stupid. I was loving Miz’s mic-work. I’m happy to see Ryback get into something with The Miz, as I think it’s long overdue for him to get a legitimate feud going. Is he ready for Intercontinental Championship Gold? No. He needs a few more feuds under his belt, as opposed to squash matches, but this is a feud, so he’s off to a good start.

CM Punk and Paul Heyman are talking backstage, until Josh Matthews says he’s sorry to interrupt, and asks if Punk is looking forward to teaming up with Alberto Del Rio. He says he isn’t looking forward to it. He walked into Night of Champions as the WWE Champion and walked out as the WWE Champion. What else does he have to do to get respect? He walks off with Heyman.

Santino Marella is out to the ring for singles action. Vickie Guerrero follows, and introduces Mr. Money in the Bank, Dolph Ziggler. Dolph Ziggler defeats Santino Marella with two Zig-Zags, after a pretty swift match-up, in which Ziggler accused Marella of being a joke.

Thoughts: I think Dolph Ziggler is worthy of more than matches with Santino Marella. I’m really on the edge of my seat waiting for a World Heavyweight Championship run for Dolph Ziggler. Hopefully I won’t be waiting too long.

A replay of Wade Barrett’s promo on Smackdown is shown. Wade Barrett is out, and he is set to take on his old friend, Justin Gabriel. He beats him with his new finisher, a hard-hitting elbow to the face.

Thoughts: I liked how the history of these two men, and the “We want Nexus” chants were both acknowledged by Cole. I also enjoyed how, even though Wade Barrett was definitely going to win, it wasn’t a squash match. Justin Gabriel had a good showing, put in some good offence, and they wrestled a good match.

R-Truth is backstage, and when Kofi Kingston asks him what he’s doing, he says Happy Birthday. It’s not Kofi Kingston’s birthday, and Jared from Subway explains that it’s Subway’s birthday. They advertise Subway a lot, with Jared handing a bunch of subs to the likes of Kingston, Truth, Little Jimmy, Damien Sandow, Zack Ryder and Ryback.

Sheamus and John Cena are talking backstage, and Cena says they can’t just win. They need to make a statement tonight, so he can get a rematch with CM Punk. Sheamus says that after the match, they’ll go for a few pints, and toast to the likes of CM Punk’s WWE Championship reign coming to an end, and the Mexican Independance day.

Daniel Bryan and Kane are shown walking through seperate halls backstage, both shouting “I’m the tag team Champions”. They’re making their way to the ring. A few clips of Jerry Lawler’s return to Memphis, Tennessee are shown, and Michael Cole says that next week, they will host an exclusive interview with ‘The King’.

Thoughts: I’m happy for Jerry to be well enough to return home. I’m also surprised that he’s already going to be appearing on Raw next week, less than a fortnight after a viscious heart attack, even if it’s just via satellite. Long Live The King.

Kane and Daniel Bryan retain the Tag Team Titles against R-Truth and Kofi Kingston, with Truth tapping out to the ‘No’ Lock. Kane and Bryan hug it out post-match, but go back to shouting “I am the Tag Team Champions!”

Thoughts: Amazing. This is one of the most entertaining and hilarious duos in years in the company. I hope they hold the titles for a good length of time.

A video is shown of The Be A Star campaign’s last visit to Bridgeport back in March. Randy Orton is shown backstage, on his way to take on Tensai. Randy Orton hits Tensai with an Out-of-Nowhere RKO to earn himself a victory.

Paul Heyman and CM Punk are talking backstage. Alberto Del Rio and David Otunga approach them, and Otunga says that CM Punk should follow Del Rio’s lead tonight. Heyman says that on behalf of CM Punk, the WWE Champion doesn’t have to follow anyone’s lead. Del Rio whispers something to David, and he says that Punk looks homeless. Punk whispers to Paul, and he says that Alberto should get a time machine, and go back to Survivor Series last year, when CM Punk beat him for the WWE Championship. CM Punk looks at Alberto Del Rio, and says he looks forward to teaming with him. Del Rio says it’ll be an honour, and walks away.

Damien Sandow comes out, and explains that we are currently in the midst of his favourite season. The ‘Back to School’ season, which follows the season of sloth. He’s decided that he is going to get ‘Back to School’ season off to a good start, by introducing the masses to words such as ‘Temerity’, ‘Ignoramus’ and ‘Miscreant’. “Slobber Knocker is not a word.”.

Woo Woo Woo, You Know It! Zack Ryder makes his way to the ring. He says that the only words Sandow needs to know are ‘Shut’ and ‘Up’. Another word is ‘Now’, because Zack Ryder is going to face Damien Sandow right now. Damien Sandow defeats Zack Ryder with his finishing neckbreaker.

Thoughts: Damien Sandow is gold. What more can I say?

Sheamus is out to the ring for the main event. John Cena soon follows. Alberto Del Rio next, and finally CM Punk makes his way, as the main event begins. After an alright tag team match, John Cena hits CM Punk with the Attitude Adjustment, and the referee counted to 3 without seeing CM Punk’s foot on the bottom rope. John Cena and Sheamus celebrate, and the referee doesn’t acknowledge his mistake. CM Punk follows him to the back, complaining and insulting him as Raw goes off the air.

Thoughts: I was slightly annoyed that CM Punk took the pin with his foot on the rope, but that’s because I’m a huge fan. I don’t know where this is going to go, but I trust it will have a lot to do with referees and maybe Paul Heyman acting as a guest referee somewhere down the line. With John Cena being out for the next few weeks, the next while is going to be vital for WWE to prove that they can function well enough without the face of the company.

Thanks for reading!