WrestlingNerd Presents: WWE Raw Review 12/12/11 (The 2011 Slammy Awards)

What up wrestling fans, I'm the WrestlingNerd bringing you another written review. Today, we take a look at WWE Raw on 12/12/11. Tonight was the Slammy Awards. Even though I don't have expectations for this whole ordeal, let's find out who won the awards and how the show went. Let's begin.

We open up with Booker T and Hornswoggle. They are out to present the "Tell me you didn't just see that" award. Strange name for an award, but do you really care? The nominations were Jim Ross' dance off against Michael Cole, Santino's almost Royal Rumble victory, Miz impersonating the Rock, and R-Truth having a run-in with Little Jimmy. The winner ends up being JR's dance off. As JR is out to accept the award, Internet Cole makes his presences felt. He talks about how this award show is a shame and how JR is a joke. Booker says Cole is a loser and wants to put together a rap off. A rap off? What's next, an egg throwing contest? Anyway, Cole attempts to rap, but it sucks. JR's rap wasn't much better since he completely forgot his lyrics. The audience chooses JR as the winner. The segment ends with JR performing a JR-a-roonie. Overall, we are off to a pretty silly start. As soon as I saw the nominations, I figured they were going to go with comedy as Cole goes into jackass mode. I have to admit that it was pretty bad. It was also at this moment that I realize the Death Note doesn't exist because there's no way Kira would've let this continue. Now, I want to addresses the Slammys now that I've started the review. I never understood why people make such a big deal about this. Every year WWE does this award show, the IWC is complaining that so and so should've won the award and such a category should exist. It isn't like there's a real committee that puts the Slammys together. It's just a show that's just kinda goofing around and thinking about all the stuff that happened throughout the course of the year. I try not to make that much of a big deal on who wins the Slammys since WWE has gone with kayfabe or future storylines with whoever wins a particular Slammy, so don't get bent out of shape because someone didn't win. Heck, most of the categories with the Slammys change every year, so it isn't really meant to be taken seriously. That also goes for the entire show. You knew the major emphasis was going to be on the awards and looking back on the year, so it isn't like the focus was going to be on wrestling matches tonight. I kinda wanted to get that one out of the way since I think people take the Slammys way too seriously, and I've never looked at it like that. It is a silly concept? Yes, but it does have its moments here and there, so just get over it and let it go.

Tell me you didn't just see that award- Jim Ross' dance off (I kinda have to agree with this one, but I almost felt that Truth could've won one of these awards tonight. I guess wellness policy suspensions screws you out of the winning a meaningless trophy. MLB might be taking notes on that one....)

Mick Foley and Ted DiBiase Sr. present the Holy S*** award. After some talk of how the Million Dollar Man is Holy and Foley is s***, time to get to the award. Nominations were Sheamus powerbombing Sin Cara through the ladder at MITB. Speaking of Sin Cara, you have to believe his white color scheme is bad luck. Think about it? He got powerbombed and had to be sidelined with injury (yes, I'm aware of the wellness policy suspension), then he injures his leg at Survivor Series. I guess Sin Cara Blanca was never meant to summon the white tiger zord in the WWE? Anyway, back to the nominations. Randy Orton's RKO on the steel steps towards Christian at SummerSlam, Mark Henry and Big Show destroying the ring at Vengeance, and Evan Bourne's Air Bourne off the ladder at MITB. The winner ends up being the ring collapse at Vengeance. Big Show comes out to accept the award, but it doesn't take long for the giant to demand a match. Show want match....Show now confused....why do Show talk like this? What the hell am I talking about? I say some pretty stupid s*** at times.

Holy S*** Moment of the Year- Big Show and Mark Henry's ring of destruction at Vengeance (No complaints here. This really was the only one deserving of winning the award)

Match #1: Big Show vs Wade Barrett
This match didn't last long. Wade about about to attempt a top rope move on Show as he's near the table, but Show is back up and destroys it with his fist. HULK SMASH!!! The finish comes when Wade gets the chair, but Show punches it away, thus the referee calls for the bell. You had to figure a DQ was going to end up happening. They don't want to make Wade look bad since they are finally going somewhere with the English brawler (Who is rooming with the Brooklyn Brawler) and they don't want to have him lose. It would also be a mistake to have Show lose since he has a world title match this Sunday. The DQ protects both guys, so I don't have a problem with this. Even though the main emphasis was the Slammys, they would invest some time in TLC. Which is a good thing since it's this Sunday.

Winner via DQ: Big Show

Time for the next Slammy award. Road Dogg presents the Pipe Bomb of the Year. Hmm....pipe bomb? I'll give you three guesses in who wins this award? I kinda feel bad for Road Dogg. I felt he was great tonight, but the audience barely gave him a reaction. Then again, not too many casual fans and children are going to know who Road Dogg is. They did a run through of the mic moments. The winner ends up being CM Punk, which should be no surprise to anyone. That would be like creating an award for best Italian Plumber of the Year and not give the award to Mario. Punk comes out with a mannequin. He says even though winning this award was great, he wants to recognize someone else for their hard work. He says this person deserves an honor on their own, but they are boring, bland, have no personality, no intelligence and have no balls (just like the mannequin). It turns out to be John Laurinaitis. Punk plays a tribute video of Laurinaitis. I have to say....this was freakin' hilarious. I love the music being used. If you have seen the Tranformers animated movie, you will recognize the music as "The Touch". Laurinaitis isn't here at the moment, but that moment will come later. I guess he was too busy watching his nephew playing against the Seattle Seahawks tonight (Go Seahawks!!!). Once again, Punk finds a way to make something interesting. Still, I wonder if all this back and forth shots between Punk and Laurinaitis will amount to anything? I have to think this whole thing is being played out for Punk to dethrone Roboinaitis at some point. Then again, maybe this is all in good fun? Laurianitis might be emotionless, but Punk finds a way to make it work. All I can say now is, Optimus Prime.......NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Pipe Bomb of the Year- CM Punk (Punk coined the phrase "pipe bomb", so it only makes sense to give it to him)

The next award for the evening is the Divalicious Moment of the Year. I don't even think that's a word. Then again, it isn't like I'm guilty of making up words. It was presented by Lita. I'm gonna say it right now, Lita is probably my all time favorite diva. I wish she would come back. Anyway, the nominations were Natalya's Double Sharpshooter, Kelly Kelly's title win, Kharma's destruction, and Beth Phoenix's Glam Slam from top rope. The winner ends up being Kelly's title win. Yeah, I can see a lot of people disagreeing with this move, but I'm honestly not surprised. Just as Kelly arrives to claim her award, Beth and Natalya show up and take the award. Kelly slaps Beth and takes the award back. And....that was it. Pretty pointless confrontation when you think about it. I understand Beth and Natalya don't like these model based wrestlers, but you can add more to the scene. It really looked like a throwaway moment since they added nothing new to the storyline, which makes this scene come off as padding.

Divalicious Moment of the Year- Kelly's title victory (I highly disagree with this one, but understand they did this only to fulfill fanservice and for the pointless confrontation. I would think Beth's Glam Slam or Kharma were more deserving of the award, but Kharma is still out of action while Beth winning might not make a ton of sense. Honestly, who really cares?)

The next award is the OMG Moment of the Year. You would figure they would get Joey Styles to announce this award, but no matter. The Bellas and Santino announce this one. Santino talks about how the Bellas are nothing but whores for latching onto Alberto Del Rio. In many ways, he's right. The nominations were the Rock's Rock Bottom to John Cena, WWE Superstars walking out on Triple H, Triple H tombstones Undertaker, and Punk walks out of Chicago with WWE Title. The winner was Triple H hitting tombstone on Taker. Triple H makes his return and his carrying a sledgehammer. He walks to the ring and talks about how he made Taker's streak end by forcing Taker out of the wrestling business. I'm starting to think Trips took too many sledgehammer shots because he in fact lost the match, but I also understand what he was trying to say. He finally talks about Kevin Nash and his match at TLC. It was a pretty good promo by the Game. I think some people would've been disappointed that Nash didn't show up, but maybe that was the best choice. Think about it? Why spoil a mini confrontation on free TV when you can go all out at the PPV? That's smart anticipation. If you've told me months ago this match was going to happen, I don't think I would be interested in it. However, thanks to the story being told between both guys, the interest for this match is there. I don't know how the match will turn out since Nash is pretty banged up at his age, but I'm sure both guys will find a way to make it work.

OMG Moment of the Year- Trips tombstones Undertaker (I would say Punk walking out with the title was the bigger moment since it was a pretty big moment in the career of Punk and the WWE, but they also couldn't give every award to Punk, so they kinda gave it to Trips and Taker in order to play to the transition of Triple H returning. Punk could've won a good chunk of the awards this evening. That speaks volumes on the year Punk had)

The next award is Trending Star of the Year, or as I like to call it, the Twitter Whore of the Year. David Otunga and Tony Atlas talk about this one. Otunga is trying to be serious while Tony is....

After all these years, he still thinks anything is funny. Anyway, the nominations were Zack Ryder, Daniel Bryan, Cody Rhodes, and Dolph Ziggler. Now, the interesting thing about this award is how it worked. All four guys would compete in a match, and I guess whoever was the going ape s*** in the world of Twitter would get this award. Well, at least we FINALLY get a match.

Match #2: Zack Ryder vs Cody Rhodes vs Daniel Bryan vs Dolph Ziggler
This match was given a really fair amount of time on free TV. I thought it was awesome. All four guys had a chance to show off what they can do and they all looked pretty good. The finish comes when Zack hits Rough Ryder to Dolph, but Cody hits Cross Rhodes on Zack. Bryan would follow up with the Le Bell Lock, but Dolph would show up (no selling the Rough Ryder?) and lock in the sleeper hold on Bryan. Daniel was able to counter, but Dolph finally hits Zig Zag on Bryan and gets the victory. Well, here's the way I look at it. Dolph is getting more and more exposure for a rise in the main event, but he has to drop the US title first, so he needed the victory. Cody has a title defense against Booker this week, so he can't take the pinfall. Zack has a US title match and he needs to not look too weak going into that match. Unfortunately, someone needed to take the pinfall, so it made the most sense for Bryan to fall victim here. Still, he didn't look that bad in losing this match. I still think they are trying this underdog character with Bryan. After the match, the King announces that Ryder is the winner of the award. As Zack gets his Slammy, Dolph hits Zig Zag on Ryder and takes the Slammy. Since I most likely see Dolph dropping the US title this weekend, he needed this victory in more ways than one.

Winner via pinfall: Dolph Ziggler

Trending Star of the Year- Zack Ryder (This one was a popularity contest, so I can't really say much on it. It was pretty much designed for Ryder to win, but there's nothing wrong about that)

The next award is the Game Changer of the Year. Christian is here to present the award. He's in a neck brace and crutches. It's somewhat ironic he's doing this considering  he's actually recovering from an injury. His appearance pretty much cancels him out as the person behind the "It begins" cryptic videos, but I also thought that was a real long shot. Once again, Christian demands for ONE MORE MATCH!!! That should be on a t-shirt. Anyway, the nominations were Vince getting fired, Edge's retirement, Kevin Nash's return, and Rock and Cena's WM match. The award goes to Rock and Cena. Cena comes out to accept the award, but talks about this being a team effort, so he wants to Rock to say a few things. But.....the Rock isn't there. Well, Cena says Rock made a via satellite segment, but.....that wasn't the case either. After talking about how Team Bring It isn't here tonight, he talks about his match against the Rock at WM and that pretty much ends the segment. I'm kinda disappointed that nothing else happened to Cena in this scene, but he does have a match for later tonight, so we will wait and see what happens then. By the way, did anyone else see the sign that said "Boots to Asses" and had a picture of Cole as the face of a donkey? That should get an award for best sign of the year. That was hilarious.

Game Changer of the Year- Rock and Cena (It was expected for Rock and Cena to get some type of award, so this comes as no surprise)

Match #3: CM Punk and Randy Orton vs Alberto Del Rio and Miz
The award show part might have been iffy, but at least the last couple of matches have been fun to watch. I thought this was a pretty decent match. Good back and forth exchange, but they also told the story in how Punk is up against a wall this Sunday if Miz and Del Rio work together. There was a good portion of the match where Miz and Del Rio continued to hammer away on Punk while he just couldn't make a tag. He would fight back from time to time, but it wouldn't last long. The finish comes when Punk is about to tag in Orton, but Del Rio jumps in the ring, thus causing the referee to deal with him. Barrett would show up and pull Orton's legs from the top of the ring, thus causing him to fall to the ground. Since Punk didn't make the tag, he's still going. It appears he's about to hit the GTS, but the earlier punishment was too much overcome. Miz hits Skull Crushing Finale and wins the match. I kinda like this move of the heels winning since it shows that Punk could be in trouble come Sunday. Of course, the IWC would give the response of how Cena can overcome the odds, so why not Punk? At the same time, I'm kinda glad they didn't do that. I understand the importance of making the babyface look strong, but you don't have to make him look like Batman and Spiderman every single week. After the match, Miz and Del Rio continue to beat up on Punk while Punk is trying to show signs of life. The champ wasn't able to come back and was taken out. The intrigue for the WWE title match is definitely there after tonight.

Winner via pinfall: Miz and Alberto Del Rio

The next award is the A-lister of the Year. This is basically the celebrity of the year for the WWE. Vickie Guerrero and Goldust did the announcing. The nominations were the Muppets, Snooki, Hugh Jackman, and Cee-Lo Green. The winner ended up being Snooki. What is it with pro wrestling and this stupid show? I'm fine with celebrity attention, but can you really consider the cast of Jersey S*** celebrities? Well, there's even more proof the Death Note doesn't exist. You lied to me, anime!!!

A-lister of the Year- Snooki (This would definitely be the award I have to call bulls*** on, but I also realize the WWE can do whatever the hell they want with the award. My personal favorites were Hugh Jackman and the Muppets. Come on. How can you not recognize the awesomeness of the Adamantium Punch? Let's just move on already...)

We were prepared for a Sheamus vs Jinder Mahal match, but it never got started. Jinder shows up and does his native language talk until Sheamus Brogue Kicks his head off. The match never got started. Pretty pointless segment. What did this accomplish? I think they only aired this bit so Sheamus had a reason to kick someone. Well, I'm sure somebody enjoyed it.

The last award of the night was the Superstar of the Year, which was another award decided by the fans. Rey Mysterio showed up to present this award. The winner ends up being CM Punk. Since Punk was taken out by Miz and Del Lamo, John Laurinaitis shows up and accepts this award on behalf of Punk. I guess Laurinaitis got tired of watching the football game. Hey, mock me all you want for being a Seahawks fan, but I stick by my teams even when they are terrible. You got the touch......you got the......slammy....

Superstar of the Year- CM Punk (Even though Punk is very popular with the wrestling fans these days, I'm still somewhat shocked that Cena didn't win this one. Either WWE rigged the award, or Punk is really that popular. Then again, Punk is extremely over, so you can't take that away from him. Still, I think it's pretty amazing how Punk continues to get support, but it also shows that people are getting a little tired of Cena. I'm telling you, people love rebels or people who stick it to the man)

Match #4: John Cena vs Mark Henry
A new version of the "It begins" video played again. I am really think more and more that it will end up being Chris Jericho, but we will wait and see. It's kinda funny how you see Cena selling how he can't lift up Henry, while we've seen him lift up Big Show multiple times. Wrestling logic? The finish comes as both guys are down and BAM!!! A pyro goes off in the background and....watch this....

Well, not really sure why the first mask Kane had looked like a mix between the Predator and Casey Jones, but he would take it off and show a different type of mask. When I first heard the pyro, it tipped me off that Kane would be returning, but I was more curious in how he would show up. Well, I gotta admit Kane looks like a bad ass. The second mask he had on looked like torn flesh. Seeing him come out made me remember his old days of wearing the original mask and how that sent shivers down my spine as I saw this as a child. Even though some might say Kane's best run was his world title run last year, I always preferred Kane with the mask. Kane has mostly been played to be a monster, and masked Kane shows that off a lot more than unmasked Kane. I also like the variation of his entrance theme. It combines his new theme with his original one. Overall, I liked how the re-debut went tonight. This would explain why Brodus Clay was ONCE AGAIN left off TV. Man, I think I will make my debut for WWE before Brodus. Joking aside, Brodus would've been overshadowed by Kane and Triple H's return, so it was best to wait for another day. With the way things are looking, Brodus probably won't debut until next year after the cryptic messenger shows up. Now, it also appears Kane will be playing the heel and could be going up against Cena. I'm not sure if that was the best course of action. You just re-debuted Kane and you immediately put him up against the face of the company? This could either be the sign of big things to come for Kane, or all this hype up was done for Cena to yet overcome the odds and take down another opponent before meeting up with the Rock. If a Cena/Kane rivalry is on the way, it would be interesting to see how they book it.

No Contest

Overall Impression: 
In terms of a wrestling show, it was pretty lackluster. There was some good wrestling matches, but the awards aspect of it was pretty silly at times. Then again, I can't really grade this show on a normal scale since it was an award show. As far as your award show goes, this was okay. Nothing overwhelming, but there was some entertaining moments here and there. The Slammy aspect of the evening is what I expected. It wasn't perfect and pretty dumb at times, but it was harmless. Plus, WWE doesn't really treat the Slammys with a sense of honor and is just a silly award show at the end of the day, so don't make more out of it than it's worth. There wasn't a ton of action tonight, but there was a number of appearances. Lots of guest appearances for the awards and the returns of Trips and Kane were present tonight. It's still kinda odd that John Cena doesn't have a match at TLC. Although it's possible he goes up against Kane, I think that would be a little soon since Kane just showed up. I can see some sort of confrontation between Cena and Kane at TLC, but we will wait and see. There was moments of the show I liked, but some of it was under par. I really liked Punk's speech, tribute video to Laurinaitis, the Fatal 4Way match, the tag team match, and the returns of Trips and Kane. Everything else is somewhat forgettable, but it wasn't the worst thing ever. Believe me, I've seen much worse from the WWE, and this was harmless and entertaining at times. Even though the focus of tonight was the Slammys, they did build up TLC. In many ways, they added more excitement for the PPV with how things were built up between Trips/Nash and the WWE title match. There's still an episode of SD to get through, so they will use the rest of that time to build up the WHC and the Rhodes/Booker match. Overall, TLC looks like it could be a pretty fun evening. That's going to do it for the review and I hope you enjoyed it. As always, tell me what you thought of my review or tonight's show. I will see you guys and girls on the next WrestlingNerd show, see you next time.