John Cena kicked off Raw to a chorus of boos and chants of "You suck!" to wish everybody a "Happy new year." He went on to list a few of his New Year resolutions, one of which was to to beat The Rock at WrestleMania and prove he has no "lady parts." Cena also further confirmed his feelings towards the fans by admitting that they have every right to say what they want after paying their hard earned money to attend the show. "I will continue to enjoy any emotional response that I get" he also remarked, which seemed really genuine and I can believe it. Kane soon interrupted him and claimed that on that night he would learn to "embrace the true power of hate."
Daniel Bryan defeated Cody Rhodes in a solid encounter when he applied a small package for the one-two-three. Finally WWE have been building Bryan up properly as of late and giving him these consecutive wins since winning the World Title. Although I can see a heel turn approaching for Bryan in the very near future, possibly against Big Show in their match on Friday possibly.
Wade Barrett came out to brag about taking Orton out on last weeks SmackDown after he threw him down a flight of stairs during their Falls Count Anywhere match. He also went on to talk about how his "Barrett barrage" will continue to Royal Rumble, and then on to WrestleMania to become a World Champion. I have to say, right now Barrett is my pick to win the Royal Rumble at the end of the month. Santino Marella then joined Barrett before their match and bragged about how he lasted longer in last years Rumble bout and intends to do the same this year. He also urged the fans to join his own version of the 'Barrett Barrage' with the "Santino Marella choo choo trains, all aboard!" As usual, Santino was quite amusing and brought in a good reaction from the crowd.
Wade Barrett defeated Santino Marella in a brief bout that was more of a comedy match at moments. But it did the job in continuing to make Barrett look dominant, so it was a success.
Backstage we witnessed R-Truth stalking a paranoid Miz before his match with Sheamus, which ended as a no contest after The Miz ran off into the crowd. But unknown to him his old partner R-Truth was also in the audience waiting for him. The deranged Truth consulted with Little Jimmy about Miz and announced that Jimmy said that "you need to get got" to him. As Truth gave chase Sheamus halted Miz with a Brogue Kick and Truth once again smacked him in the head with a water bottle. R-Truth went back into the crowd and announced that this was another "weekly Miz beat down," I quite like the idea that he's going to torment Miz every week for revenge. It suits his unstable persona.
Dolph Ziggler defeated CM Punk (c) via count out in their WWE Championship bout. The match was a solid effort by both wrestlers and was filled with some nicely executed near falls towards the last third of the match up. For the finish CM Punk accidentally removed a turnbuckle pad as he held on to avoid the Zig Zag from Dolph. This cued John Laurinaitis to race out and inform the referee, thereby distracting him from seeing Punk make Ziggler tap to the Anaconda Vice. As the challenger decided to make the most of the distraction and attempt pounce on Punk, the champ reversed it and threw Dolph into Laurinaitis on the ropes. As Punk was then irish whipped into his direction, John Laurinaitis purposely held down the ropes causing Punk to land hard on the outside and give Ziggler the count out victory.
I can see this storyline leading to Laurinaitis eventually causing Ziggler to win the WWE Championship from CM Punk at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view. Although I don't envisage Ziggler's reign lasting all the way to WrestleMania.
The Bella Twins defeated Kelly Kelly and Eve Torres in a usual forgettable Divas tag team match up. At least the superior Eve had more time in the ring then Kelly Kelly.
Backstage CM Punk expressed his anger at Laurinaitis for causing his loss against Ziggler and almost costing him the title. Laurinaitis informed Punk that due to Ziggler's win he will get another title shot at the Royal Rumble, and that he would be the special guest referee. Punk viciously warned the Interim General Manager of Raw that if he screws him out of the WWE Championship then he'll get done for animal cruelty because "I'm going to beat you like a bitch!" Which provoked a tremendous reaction from the crowd in Memphis, and many fans such as myself I'm sure. At least Laurinaitis has been showing a little more character lately, I'll give him that.
Then, we finally had the answer to who was behind all the 'End of the World' vignettes that have been playing for weeks now. Now my guess was the Undertaker, it seemed like the most logical choice and the promos seemed to suit his style. But I was wrong. It was in fact the man who has been constantly refusing any association with WWE via Twitter for the last few weeks, Chris Jericho.Which understandably provoked a huge reaction. He continued to race around near the crowd, high-fiving people and then entered the ring with a mic, but dropped it and continued to scream and celebrate with the fans. Without saying a word to anyone he then made his way back up the ramp, and with a smile on his face just left. In my opinion I thought this was a brilliant idea. Rather then having him talk straight away, Jericho keeps us guessing as to why he didn't say anything. Is he a face as he first appeared or was it all a ruse to fool us fans? The rumours of a CM Punk versus Jericho match at Mania seems like a very likely possibility right now.
Then we had the main event, the six-man elimination tag team match pitting John Cena, Big Show and Zach Ryder against Mark Henry, Jack Swagger and Kane.Unfortunately for Swagger and Henry, Kane didn't turn up. Big Show was first eliminated via disqualification after striking and taking out Henry with a steel chair. Cena then pinned glorified jobber Swagger after an Attitude Adjustment for the win. The match was pretty entertaining at parts, didn't really live up to the main event billing though.
Kane's music then hit so Cena decided to go down the ramp to greet 'The Big Red Monster'. But Kane had different ideas as he rose up from the middle of the ring and attacked Ryder. As Cena realised what had happened Kane struck him and once again choked him out. Kane continued his havoc as he went back into the ring and attempted to drag Ryder down with him through the hole he'd risen from, but Super Cena managed to just save Ryder and drag him out of Kane's grasp. For the final image of the show we witnessed fire rise up from the same hole. Keeping the red lighting and footage of fire on the tron was a nice touch for the segment. It was an effective ending to the show I thought, much better then the promo between Kane and Cena from the ending of last weeks Raw anyway.
Overall Raw was decent. Jericho's return is very much welcome in my eyes, as we know Taker will be back in time for Mania anyway. I was originally disappointed that his return hadn't been left until the final part of the broadcast, but to be honest I feel they made the right choice by switching it with Kane's own opening to Hell.
Daniel Bryan defeated Cody Rhodes in a solid encounter when he applied a small package for the one-two-three. Finally WWE have been building Bryan up properly as of late and giving him these consecutive wins since winning the World Title. Although I can see a heel turn approaching for Bryan in the very near future, possibly against Big Show in their match on Friday possibly.
Wade Barrett came out to brag about taking Orton out on last weeks SmackDown after he threw him down a flight of stairs during their Falls Count Anywhere match. He also went on to talk about how his "Barrett barrage" will continue to Royal Rumble, and then on to WrestleMania to become a World Champion. I have to say, right now Barrett is my pick to win the Royal Rumble at the end of the month. Santino Marella then joined Barrett before their match and bragged about how he lasted longer in last years Rumble bout and intends to do the same this year. He also urged the fans to join his own version of the 'Barrett Barrage' with the "Santino Marella choo choo trains, all aboard!" As usual, Santino was quite amusing and brought in a good reaction from the crowd.
Wade Barrett defeated Santino Marella in a brief bout that was more of a comedy match at moments. But it did the job in continuing to make Barrett look dominant, so it was a success.
Backstage we witnessed R-Truth stalking a paranoid Miz before his match with Sheamus, which ended as a no contest after The Miz ran off into the crowd. But unknown to him his old partner R-Truth was also in the audience waiting for him. The deranged Truth consulted with Little Jimmy about Miz and announced that Jimmy said that "you need to get got" to him. As Truth gave chase Sheamus halted Miz with a Brogue Kick and Truth once again smacked him in the head with a water bottle. R-Truth went back into the crowd and announced that this was another "weekly Miz beat down," I quite like the idea that he's going to torment Miz every week for revenge. It suits his unstable persona.
Dolph Ziggler defeated CM Punk (c) via count out in their WWE Championship bout. The match was a solid effort by both wrestlers and was filled with some nicely executed near falls towards the last third of the match up. For the finish CM Punk accidentally removed a turnbuckle pad as he held on to avoid the Zig Zag from Dolph. This cued John Laurinaitis to race out and inform the referee, thereby distracting him from seeing Punk make Ziggler tap to the Anaconda Vice. As the challenger decided to make the most of the distraction and attempt pounce on Punk, the champ reversed it and threw Dolph into Laurinaitis on the ropes. As Punk was then irish whipped into his direction, John Laurinaitis purposely held down the ropes causing Punk to land hard on the outside and give Ziggler the count out victory.
I can see this storyline leading to Laurinaitis eventually causing Ziggler to win the WWE Championship from CM Punk at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view. Although I don't envisage Ziggler's reign lasting all the way to WrestleMania.
The Bella Twins defeated Kelly Kelly and Eve Torres in a usual forgettable Divas tag team match up. At least the superior Eve had more time in the ring then Kelly Kelly.
Backstage CM Punk expressed his anger at Laurinaitis for causing his loss against Ziggler and almost costing him the title. Laurinaitis informed Punk that due to Ziggler's win he will get another title shot at the Royal Rumble, and that he would be the special guest referee. Punk viciously warned the Interim General Manager of Raw that if he screws him out of the WWE Championship then he'll get done for animal cruelty because "I'm going to beat you like a bitch!" Which provoked a tremendous reaction from the crowd in Memphis, and many fans such as myself I'm sure. At least Laurinaitis has been showing a little more character lately, I'll give him that.
Then, we finally had the answer to who was behind all the 'End of the World' vignettes that have been playing for weeks now. Now my guess was the Undertaker, it seemed like the most logical choice and the promos seemed to suit his style. But I was wrong. It was in fact the man who has been constantly refusing any association with WWE via Twitter for the last few weeks, Chris Jericho.Which understandably provoked a huge reaction. He continued to race around near the crowd, high-fiving people and then entered the ring with a mic, but dropped it and continued to scream and celebrate with the fans. Without saying a word to anyone he then made his way back up the ramp, and with a smile on his face just left. In my opinion I thought this was a brilliant idea. Rather then having him talk straight away, Jericho keeps us guessing as to why he didn't say anything. Is he a face as he first appeared or was it all a ruse to fool us fans? The rumours of a CM Punk versus Jericho match at Mania seems like a very likely possibility right now.
Then we had the main event, the six-man elimination tag team match pitting John Cena, Big Show and Zach Ryder against Mark Henry, Jack Swagger and Kane.Unfortunately for Swagger and Henry, Kane didn't turn up. Big Show was first eliminated via disqualification after striking and taking out Henry with a steel chair. Cena then pinned glorified jobber Swagger after an Attitude Adjustment for the win. The match was pretty entertaining at parts, didn't really live up to the main event billing though.
Kane's music then hit so Cena decided to go down the ramp to greet 'The Big Red Monster'. But Kane had different ideas as he rose up from the middle of the ring and attacked Ryder. As Cena realised what had happened Kane struck him and once again choked him out. Kane continued his havoc as he went back into the ring and attempted to drag Ryder down with him through the hole he'd risen from, but Super Cena managed to just save Ryder and drag him out of Kane's grasp. For the final image of the show we witnessed fire rise up from the same hole. Keeping the red lighting and footage of fire on the tron was a nice touch for the segment. It was an effective ending to the show I thought, much better then the promo between Kane and Cena from the ending of last weeks Raw anyway.
Overall Raw was decent. Jericho's return is very much welcome in my eyes, as we know Taker will be back in time for Mania anyway. I was originally disappointed that his return hadn't been left until the final part of the broadcast, but to be honest I feel they made the right choice by switching it with Kane's own opening to Hell.
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