We opened up to Triple H making his way to the ring and addressing the wrestlers protesting outside in the parking lot. He mocked them by accusing them of being weak and complaining that it's "Too hard for them" in the company. He also said that he's not a quitter and that he's not resigning from his position as COO. Cena joined him and said that he had not addressed the walkout from the previous weeks Raw and that every person that participated in it had contacted him personally to join them. He also ran down a list of bosses that he had worked for during his time in the company and claimed that he didn't care who he worked for and that he just wanted to perform for the fans that tune in. Sheamus and Punk also participated in the segment and explained that they were both staying too. CM Punk seemed to get the biggest reaction out of the three.
Triple H then decided to do what they do best and put on a fight, so he pitted Sheamus against John Cena and gave himself the role of special referee and Punk the role of commentator. In an amusing moment Punk asked if he could even wear Triple H's blazer for the role, to which he obliged. The match went on for a little while (nothing really worth noting form it) until Vince McMahon marched out and explained to Triple H that on behalf of the board he was relieved from his duties as COO of the WWE. He also introduced the charisma-free John Laurinaitis as the Interim General Manager of Raw. Much to the audiences (and many at home I'm sure) displeasure.
John Laurinaitis then welcomed back all the formerly protesting wrestlers, including John Morrison who told him that "You absolutely suck," Laurinaitis retaliated by putting him in a match straight away against a very pleased Christian, who was ecstatic about Laurinaitis' new position.
Christian versus John Morrison should've run a bit longer I felt. The two could have put on a much better match given time. Christian was joined by his new entourage of Rhodes, Ziggler, Vickie Guerrero and Swagger. After some distractions from ringside Christian managed to spear Morrison for the three count. They continued the assault on Morrison after the bout and each gave him their finisher.
We then had to sit through a boring promo by Mark Henry regarding the attack from Big Show on last Fridays SmackDown and their upcoming match at Vengeance (which I'm dreading).
Randy Orton versus Mark Henry was next on the card. Rather dull for the most part, except when Orton got some offense going. During the battle Cody Rhodes came out and distracted Randy who then countered a Worlds Strongest Slam attempt by Henry and applied an RKO. As he went to cover him Rhodes raced in and began to attack Orton. Randy started to fight back but it was short lived as Henry gave him a couple of Worlds Strongest Slams for good measure while Rhodes applied the Cross Rhodes and put one of his paper bags on Randy's head afterwards. I'm predicting a Rhodes versus Orton bout at Vengeance then.
Next up was the seriously flawed tag team match between Kelly Kelly and Eve Torres versus Rosa Mendes and Tamina. The only thing worse then having to witness Kelly in the ring is having to also witness Rosa Mendes as the same time, it wasn't pretty. All four divas looked awkward. In the end Kelly mounted a Lou Thesz press onto Tamina on the outside while Eve moonsaulted Mendes for the one-two-three. They really need to bring in some actual talent for this division. Gail Kim was wasted here, no wonder she was frustrated.
We then had the displeasure of having to have the boring Laurinaitis join us again when he came out and fired Jim Ross. Laurinaitis in real life took over Jim Rosses position as Talent Relations Manager in the company a while ago, so I bet he and Vince McMahon were howling with laughter at this segment. He even called JR a "Redneck, Oklahoma, ingrate," which I'm predicting was scripted by, you guessed it, Vince. But JR just stood there and took it like he always does. It's a joke that we have to suffer Lawler's inept announcing (he should've been fired years ago) yet they again remove JR form the desk.
Then was probably the best match of the night. It was a six-man tag team bout with Ziggler, Swagger and David Otunga against Air Boom and Mason Ryan. It had it's exciting parts here and there (Air Boom mainly, who I'm becoming a big fan of). Kofi and Bourne are looking solid to me and have brought some much needed excitement back to the tag team division. Ryan and Otunga didn't really do anything special, as usual. For the finish Mason got the pin on Ziggler, which means we may have him challenging for the US Title next so Jack Swagger and Dolph can concentrate on the Tag Team championships. I'd like to see the Usos used a bit more on SmackDown too to build them up for a possible shot in the future.
Alberto Del Rio versus CM Punk in a non-title bout was next up. At least Del Rio didn't have any mic time (his major weakness in my opinion and something he needs to work on). The match was all right, nothing spectacular. The crowd in attendance was mostly dead and indifferent during the match, not a positive sign for Punk who was a few months ago getting huge reactions. Like I said the match was okay, I reckon these two need a break form one another for the time being. It's been a little overkill the amount they have wrestled each other in matches over the last couple of months.
But the match was cut short as Laurinaitis announced that he had reinstated Miz and R-Truth and that they would now be facing Punk and Del Rio in a tag team contest. He looked uncomfortable on the mic. I really don't believe he was the right choice at all to bring in as General Manager. Why not Foley?
So Miz and R-Truth versus CM Punk and Del Rio commenced. This match was more exciting and the crowd were getting behind it a bit more and especially behind Punk. Unfortunately for Punk though, Alberto seemed to have knocked his knee and abandoned him. Miz and R-Truth then began to dominate Punk until he made a valiant comeback and even went up top and performed his elbow drop on Miz. As he set up Miz for the GTS R-Truth retuned and they both beat on Punk until the ref called for the bell. Triple H would then come racing out and began to brawl with Miz and Truth as Punk made a recovery and helped him. Triple H and CM Punk eventually stood tall in the ring afterwards as Truth and Miz had each made their getaway. We then witnessed Laurinaitis backstage with Otunga announce that it would be Triple H and CM Punk versus The Miz and R-Truth at Vengeance, which should be a very exciting tag team match. Although I can't imagine Triple H putting over Truth or Miz.
Overall Raw wasn't as exciting as I'd hoped it was going to be after the walkout last week. I also think Laurinaitis is an awful choice as GM and I just hope it doesn't last. I also hope there's actually some more wrestling next week.
That's all for now, I'll be back on Friday for my Smackdown and iMPACT recaps.
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