We open the show with HBK. He talks about breaking his promise in making multiple appearances after his retirement. He plugs is new tv show on the Outdoor Network and is interrupted by CM Punk and Nexus. There was no Mason Ryan tonight since Michael Cole informed the audience he was injured during the weekend. Punk mocks the audience and HBK because they cheer their asses off for the HOFamer, but should be begging to keep Punk around. HBK claims he is better than Punk, which makes Punk say that he "was" better than him, but not anymore. HBK hits SCM on David Otunga and Punk says he will regret that. Raw GM email comes through and because of Punk's words, he is going to have a match right now against somebody. Booker T gets on the titantron and spins the wheel. It lands on a question mark space, meaning Punk gets a mystery opponent (Wasn't it already a mystery?) and Book reveals it is Kane. HBK hits SCM on Michael McGillicutty and it appears that match will start after a commercial break. Overall, a decent opening. I like how they let Punk and HBK exchange some words. This is about as close as your gonna get to a confrontation between Punk and HBK and I enjoyed it. I felt the first choice for the Raw Roulette was kinda cheap. Considering that Punk already had a mystery opponent since it was never revealed, it was like making the first spin kinda pointless. That would be like having a tag team and saying you will be competing in a tag team match, well duh? Just a minor thing I had to say about the first Wheel of Wrestling spin.
Match #1: CM Punk vs Kane
The match was nothing special and didn't last too long. Punk eventually walks out on the match and claims he had nothing to gain by defeating Kane. I have to agree with Punk on this one. Punk would make one more epic appearance before the show ends. Like I said, I am saving the best for last.
Winner via countout: Kane
Match #2: Sin Cara vs Evan Bourne in a No Countout Match
Cole claims it was the flooding from the WWE Universe that caused the screwup in the voting last week. I don't really buy that since I think what happened is WWE didn't reset the counter for a new vote. I say that because Kelly Kelly was selection "B" and so was Ryan who ended up being "voted in". Anyway, this was a pretty good match with lots of fast paced, highflying action. Booker is a riot as the host and it almost seemed like he was on some special drug that gave him so much energy. Sin looks like the green ranger with the blue and gold lighting in the ring. It kinda turned the aqua/sky blue color Sin usually wears into a green color. I almost expected Sin to play the dagger flute to summon the Dragon Zord. Anyway, the match ends when Sin hits La Mistica (that is at least what it was called in Mexico since WWE hasn't really given it an official name. It is the Tilt a Whirl going into a DDT or sometimes a Bulldog) and wins cleanly. Well, it was nice to get the matchup despite some of the voting screw ups in last week's show.
Winner via pinfall: Sin Cara
Backstage scene with Booker and Kofi Kingston. He says Kofi gets to spin the wheel, but Vickie comes in and spins it anyway. It ends up landing on Player's Choice, meaning Kofi gets to pick the match. He says he wants to have Vickie banned from ringside and Booker seems ok with it. This was another possible screwup in last week's voting since WWE would say it was supposed to be Vickie banned from ringside, but ended up being 2 out of 3 falls. For being Power to the People, we sure didn't get a whole lot of power based on some of these errors. I am Error.
Match #3: Kofi Kingston vs Dolph Ziggler
It was announced by the announce team who will be competing in the Raw MITB Ladder Match at the PPV, but based on everything going around, it is possible this match might change. Again, I will get to that subject at the end of the review. I really wish King would stop the Vickie/overweight jokes. For one, they are not funny and two, she isn't even overweight anymore and is in excellent shape. Yeah I know, faces just poking fun of the heels, but can't King be a little more creative with his insults? This was a decent match, but this also proves the WWE has no immediate plans for Kofi and Ziggler if they are still doing the same thing after the title just changed hands. Both guys really do need new programs. Anyway, Kofi hits TIP and wins the match, meaning this might make the rivalry continue. Well, we only have to have this feud continue for another 8 months until it reaches the Kurt Angle/Jeff Jarrett rivalry level of ridiculousness. Wait, is that even a word? Well, it should be....
Winner via pinfall: Kofi Kingston
Backstage with Booker and Maryse. Alberto Del Rio arrives and says he shouldn't have to face Big Show since he already beat him. Maryse spins the wheel for Del Rio and continues to flirt with him until he sees the results and gets angry. It is revealed it will be a Steel Cage match. Those women are beautiful, yet cold hearted at times.
Match #4: Alberto Del Rio vs Big Show in a Steel Cage Match
Hey, I think Bumblebee is in the house since Del Rio is arriving in a yellow car. Come on, the movie does come out this week, so I couldn't have been the only one to think the same thing, right? This match was rather short, but I am ok with that because the idea of a ten plus minute steel cage match with Show is enough to make me sick. Mark Henry arrived during the match and ripped off the cage door. He then brings the door with him in the cage and attacks Show. Del Rio escapes through the door and wins the match. After the match, Henry tackles Show through one of the caged doors and leaves Show down and out. I gotta admit that I am invested in what Henry is going to do next since he is actually turning some heads with this push. It has been a while since Henry has made himself stand out and even though I am not a Henry guy, I am interested to see where this goes. Needless to say, Show isn't have a good month and that hospital bill must be through the roof.
Winner: Alberto Del Rio
Match #5: Kelly Kelly vs Nikki Bella in a Submissions Match
A submission matchup involving the divas and Natalya is NOT involved is enough to make think about hitting myself with a frying pan. In fact, excuse me a moment...
What's next, Daniel Bryan vs Punk in a Pillow Fight? Anyway, the match didn't last long and Kelly wins with a Boston Crab. It was also announced Kelly would defend the title against Brie at the PPV.
Winner via submission (ugh...): Kelly Kelly
Backstage with Book and Rey Mysterio. I gotta say I am really liking Booker as the host of this and think he did this roll a lot better than what he has been doing on commentary. Anyway, he spins the wheel and it will be a Tornado Tag Match with him and Alex Riley vs Miz and Jack Swagger. I miss Tornado Tag matches, we need to see this more often. After he leaves, Diamond Dallas Page walks in to plug the WCW Nitro DVD. Drew McIntyre walks in complaining about not getting enough screen time until HBK shows up to greet him with a SCM. Booker tries to talk to HBK about the WCW days but HBK has no memories of this because he was in WWF and he had to take some time away from his back troubles. Don't worry HBK, if you want to see WCW at its worst, just watch TNA. Oh wait, the DVD is called the BEST of Nitro, so nevermind. Actually, TNA isn't doing too bad as of right now, but something is bound to screw up when Vince Russo is still there.
Match #6: Rey Mysterio and Alex Riley vs Miz and Jack Swagger
This was a pretty long match, but I thought it was pretty good. Up to this point the action wasn't really anything special, but finally we got a pretty good match out of the evening. This was hands down the best match of the night. The finish comes when Rey hits 619, Riley hits a DDT, and Rey hits a Splash on Swagger and wins the match. Check out the match, wasn't too bad.
Winner via pinfall: Rey Mysterio and Alex Riley
Backstage with R-Truth and Booker. Truth is talking to himself and reveals he is in a Tables Match against John Cena tonight. Truth seems fine with it and continues to talk to himself. Can we get Truth his bi polar medication? It might help....just saying?
Match #7: John Cena vs R-Truth in a Tables Match
Matchup was pretty short. It ended when Cena had the AA set up to send Truth through a table, but Punk arrives and moves the table. Once Cena realizes what happened, he attacks Punk. They are both in the ring and he is about to hit AA on Punk, but he gets out of it and Truth shows up to hit a Spear on Cena through the table to win the matchup (this table was setup at one of the four corners just in case you were wondering). Truth wins the match, but we are not done yet because it appears Punk has something to say. Back in a second.
Winner: R-Truth
Punk now goes to the entrance ramp and cuts a promo. Quite frankly, I would go into detail on what Punk was talking about (and based on my thoughts, I kinda did. I am a lier, so sue me?), but I think youtube can do justice. Please watch Punk's promo if you haven't seen it yet because it is definitely a watcher. If you have seen it, watch it again or continue reading my review....
Wow....just wow. I am going to say this was most likely a worked shoot promo by Punk. Despite that, this was one of the best promos I have heard all year and probably one of the best promos I have heard in all the years I have been watching pro wrestling. I love how he called out Hulk Hogan and Dwayne Johnson (The Rock) for being ass kissers. I also liked how he mention breaking the fourth wall. Yeah, it is without a doubt the crumbling of the fourth wall. In fact, Punk breaks the fourth wall so much in this promo that it seemed like be picked up a bulldozer, smashed the wall, rebuilt the wall, and then repeated the process 20 times to make sure that wall was made his bitch. It was also kind of funny how he plugged in Colt Cabana, NJPW, and ROH and doesn't even mention TNA. I think Punk has made it pretty clear that working in TNA would be onn of the last things he would ever do. That was almost Punk's way of saying TNA isn't it worth coming out of his mouth because of what is going on over there. I know I just pissed off a lot of TNA marks out there, but Punk would never consider working with the Hardys unless it was in a WWE ring, and even then he probably wouldn't be ok with it. I have to agree with Punk in saying he is the best talent out there. He goes out there and makes it all work and it really does feel that Punk doesn't get his due because he is very outspoken or a bit of a rebel with some of the WWE's changes, like the show being PG and the fact they aren't called wrestlers anymore. I also like how he talked about Paul Heyman. I have always said that Heyman was a genius with how to book talent. Heck, he had some pretty awful talent in the original ECW (he had some good talent as well, but some of his talent were broken down or had their limits) and somehow made it last as long as it did. Heyman is a pretty bad business man, but the man really knows how to write an interesting wrestling show and I think is the best booker out there. TNA just wishes they could get Heyman, but Heyman would never go that way unless he has complete creative control because he doesn't want Russo, Eric Bischoff, Hogan, and Dixie to mess with his creation. I also liked how he talked down about the fact the Rock is already in the main event for WM and it should be him. I think there is plenty of talents in the WWE who are just as frustrated about Rock getting the main event slot considering he has been out of the game for 7-8 years and they get passed over for him. Still, I am for the Rock vs Cena match, but I can understand what Punk is saying and I think there are others who feel the same way. This had to have been one of the best endings to Raw this year, and it might even be better than when the Rock made his first appearance this year. It was also reported on the WWE website that Punk has been suspended for what he was saying. I am pretty sure this was a worked shoot. If it was a shoot, I would guarantee that WWE wouldn't have let Punk talk about all the smack he did tonight and would have cut his mic a lot sooner. Plus, they were quick on the button for when he said the word "douchbag", so this has to be a worked shoot. Now, I have a confession. Raw did a double taping tonight, so next week's Raw has already been filmed. I normally try to restrain from the spoilers, but after seeing this promo, I just had to find out what is going on. I won't post any spoilers for next week's show, and I ask that anyone who is reading this that they DO NOT post any spoilers for next week's show in the comments. Please, I beg you, DO NOT talk about next week's show because I hate it when people ruin it for somebody who wants to wait until they have seen it. All I can tell you about next week's Raw is that it is a watcher, but I think you already knew that after tonight's ending. I am also going to say something that is going to get a lot of hate from some people, but this is my opinion and my show and I am going to say it. CM Punk is the best pure talent in all of pro wrestling currently and he is better than John Cena. I know people are going to disagree and get angry with my statement, but Punk makes pro wrestling fun to watch. He cuts brilliant promos, he is funny and cunning, he is charasmatic, has great in ring ability, and he needs to be reckonize for what he brings to the table. I want it to be known that if I had Punk's autograph, I would NOT sell it and I would probably frame it on my wall. You have to admit since this was a work shoot, Punk is one hell of a negotiator to somehow convince McMahon to green light some of the things he had to say. I know most people are aware that I am a pretty big Punk supporter, but even you have to agree that Punk is a valuable character to this company and it would be a mistake to not agree on a new contract.
Overall Impression:
Prior to Punk's last promo, I would say this was a skippable Raw, but Punk totally changed that. It is amazing how one sceen in a wrestling show can immediately change my perspectative of the show. I highly recommend checking out this show, and if you don't want to watch the full show, just watch Punk's promo and I am sure you will enjoy it. Raw had some pretty good matches brought to the table in the Sin match and the Tornado match, but clearly what stole the show was Punk. This is very compelling television and I really want to see what happens next week. Definitely one of the groundbreaking moments we will be talking about when we recap 2011 later in the year. Say what you will about McMahon, but ending the show liked this is genius and I am sure we will see Punk back in the ring and the "suspension" is all a work. WWE should be bending backwords in trying to make Punk stay with the company because he is in his prime. If Punk leaves, who becomes the best heel on the show? Del Rio? Please, he isn't even close to Punk and is drawing basic heat at the moment. Christian is doing ok with the heel roll, but it doesn't hold a candlestick to Punk. Miz is close, but he still needs work. Unless Chris Jericho isn't set to show up once Punk leaves, we might have an issue here. That is going to do it for the review and I hope you enjoyed it. As always, tell me what you thought of my review and tonight's show. Also, please tell me what you thought of the Running Diary concept I did last week. I would like to continue that and I might even review SD in that format, but I am still debating. I will see you guys and girls on the next WrestlingNerd show, see you next time and prepared to be Punk'd.
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