A proud CM Punk looks upon the fallen Ryback. Photo credit: WWE.com
A furious Ryback demanded that CM Punk and his three attackers from Survivor Series come out so he could exact his revenge, or else he'd tear the place apart. Vickie Guerrero instead came out and warned Ryback that if he destroyed anything or attacked Punk then he'd be fined or suspended, but admitted her admiration of his destruction in the ring so booked him against Tensai. Ryback did okay on the mic here, he needs to start evolving his persona and that's the way to do it.
Ryback beat Tensai in a passable, if pretty unmemorable a match. Both men looked okay, it was just quite average for the most part with nothing exceptional about the bout.
Wade Barrett defeated Kofi Kingston in a largely solid contest, with worthy efforts from both men. For a refreshing change an eye injury that Barrett caused Kofi earlier in the match up actually stuck through most of it, and came back into play at the end when Wade rubbed the IC Champion's face on the top rope and applied the Bull Hammer for the one-two-three.
Kaitlyn bested Aksana in a mediocre bout. Just average displays from both participants.
Antonio Cesaro defeated Brodus Clay in a mostly pedestrian and forgettable match up. Fortunately Cesaro applied a nicely executed uppercut to Clay and a Neutralizer for a decent looking finish.
Vickie Guerrero presented two eye witnesses who had apparently seen Cena and AJ acting rather intimately together at a restaurant and spending a prolonged amount of time together in a parked car. AJ Lee herself then interrupted them and accused the man and woman of being frauds, and told Vickie to "shut the hell up" or fire her. As Vickie then went to present apparent photos of them in the car together, John Cena came out and told Guerrero to stop and gave her something for people to talk about as he then kissed AJ. This gave Dolph Ziggler a chance to attack Cena form behind, but this was short lived as Cena soon chased him off. Hopefully this is the end of the awful scandal storyline.
Randy Orton bested Alberto Del Rio in a two out of three falls match. Both men put on a great contest here, with solid action throughout and a well told story. Just goes to prove that there's no excuse not to regularly have high quality match ups on television. Orton grabbed the first fall via DQ after Del Rio refused to stop attacking his arm in the corner, then Del Rio grabbed the second fall via submission from his signature cross armbreaker and finally Orton grabbed the winning pinfall after applying an RKO.
The Great Khali beat Epico and Primo in a nothing Handicap match. During which Hornswaggle made an unwelcome return and pretended to give flowers to Rosa Mendes but instead squirted water from them. Do the writers of this material really believe that it's entertaining in any way?
The Miz defeated David Otunga in a bit of a drab contest. In a strange booking decision Otunga was also made to control most of the match up. Surely as a newly turned face Miz should be made to look as strong as possible right now?
Sheamus spoke about how Big Show had made their rivalry personal after attacking William Regal and then pulling the referee in front of him to aid his victory at Survivor Series against the Irishman. 'The Great White' then stated that his usual smile had disappeared, and challenged the World Champion to come out and face him. Big Show sure enough came out, but called Sheamus "barbaric" after his attack with a steel chair the previous night on him and claimed that he doesn't deserve to be World Champion. As Sheamus went to respond, his opponent for the night Damien Sandow joined him. This segment had some terrific mic work from Big Show.
Sheamus beat Damien Sandow in a decent enough bout. While it wasn't the most engaging fight, it was fun enough to watch.
Backstage an an upset AJ Lee asked Vickie Guerrero what she was going to do about Cena's injury after Ziggler's attack, to which the managing supervisor of Raw replied "nothing." So AJ took matters into her own hands and barged into the WWE locker room and confronted Dolph herself. But the 'Show Off' had a few choice words for her, as he called her pathetic for latching onto anyone that gives her even the slightest bit of attention, and girls like her are "a dime a dozen." It was a very nicely executed promo from Ziggler, one of his finest I'd say.
So AJ responded with a series of slaps until Cena pulled her away, which gave Dolph the chance to once again attack Cena's injured leg, and then tackled him through a toilet cubicle. It was a nice spot, and one that should certainly elevate Dolph. It's not often someone gets to take out Cena like that.
Team Hell No (Daniel Bryan and Kane) versus Sin Cara and Rey Mysterio ended in a no contest after Titus O'Neil and Darren Young (who'd provided so bad it was funny commentary at ringside, so much so that King and Cole felt compelled to amusingly mock them for it) ran in and attacked them, although this didn't last long as the opposing two teams then took out the Prime Time Players. The actual match itself had been an enjoyable one for the majority, with decent displays from all four men.
Paul Heyman came out to start the celebration for CM Punk's momentous year-long title reign, but first accused the fans that cry out for the Attitude Era again that it's not really what they want after all the complaints about his and Punk's (highly entertaining) promo on Jerry Lawler last week. Soon enough Heyman then introduced the man of the hour (or rather whole company) CM Punk. Punk went on to present a nice VT of highlights from his lengthy title run, with Heyman then listing off some of the all-time greats of the business and claiming that they would be unable to defeated Punk on their very best day.
Ryback decided to then crash the celebration, but was stopped once again by the trio of Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins. The three also once more planted Ryback through the announce table. A confused looking CM Punk then approached the fallen Ryback, and proudly stood tall over him with the title held high. I'm a little disappointed we didn't get an explanation of any kind from the attackers, but hopefully we will next week.
For the most part it was a pretty average Raw, with most bouts being average at best. But fortunately the locker room segment involving Ziggler, AJ and Cena, the celebration at the end, the Sheamus Big Show confrontation and the Orton versus Del Rio contest helped make it a show worth watching. So overall I felt it was a decent enough broadcast.
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