Ryback finally gets some payback on Punk. Photo credit: WWE.com
The ever popular Team Hell No came to the ring and challenged The Shield, who were looking on safely from a box in the arena, to come down to the ring for some retribution after their attack on them from last week. Of course Ambrose, Reigns and Rollins remained where they were.
Team Hell No (Daniel Bryan & Kane) defeated the Prime Time Players (Darren Young & Titus O'Neil) in a fair match up. The action was solid and enjoyable enough, but nothing outstanding. Throughout the bout the three members of The Shield slowly made their way through the crowd and once the bell had rung then ran in and took out both Bryan and Kane. It was a nice touch having the impending attack slowly build up to create a little tension, but one big flaw for me was the lack of security, why weren't there any there to at least attempt to apprehend the trio? Otherwise it was an exciting start to the show.
In an awful cut we then went straight from that assault on the Tag Team Champions to Sheamus and John Cena joking about backstage (I use the term 'joking' lightly as it's rare anything Cena says is actually humorous to anyone over the age of five). Why couldn't they have left this segment for a little later? It watered down the effects of the previous attack.
AJ Lee bested Tamina in a passable Divas bout, for todays standards anyway. As expected the powerful Tamina dominated AJ for the most part, with AJ gaining the win with a quick roll up as her opponent was about to go for the Superfly Splash. It wasn't anything that memorable but it at least gave us something a little different from the female performers.
Paul Heyman, accompanying WWE Champion CM Punk, explained that while he felt that the newly released WWE Encyclopedia didn't have enough information on his client, it did however reveal that after tonight he will have overtaken John Cena's 380-day title reign to become the longest reigning WWE Champion of the modern era. A huge statistic. CM Punk then as standard complained about the poor treatment he's receiving by having to defend his strap against Ryback once again at TLC.
He also went to claim that he was the sole reason people tuned into every "dismal three hour Monday night Raws" which is actually not far from the truth at all, without him Raw would be far, far poorer right now. He then went on to call himself the "hottest thing in WWE" right now, which again was a very honest statement from the champ.
The Miz decided to then join both men and called Punk a liar for denying his involvement with Brad Maddox and The Shield, and challenged him to come on 'Miz TV' and take a lie detector test. After some convincing Punk agreed to do the test, stating that afterwards everyone will have to admit how good he is. It was as usual with Punk and Heyman a brilliant segment, and Miz was also on very good form on the mic.
John Cena and Sheamus beat Dolph Ziggler and Big Show in a mixed bag of a tag team contest. The efforts of Ziggler and Sheamus can't be faulted, and even Show when he was taking on the Irishman in the best part of the match, unfortunately Cena's time in the ring let it down and was just pretty drab with his usual stale routine. Cena for the second week in a row pinned Dolph for the victory.
Why did they even bother having Ziggler win the MITB contract? They don't seem to have any real motivation to actually push the guy. Even after tackling Cena through the bathroom cubicle two weeks ago, we had Cena return the very next week ready for action. They could have at least kept him off TV for a little while to sell it some more and have Dolph brag about taking him out and get a few wins under his belt leading to Cena's return. It would've done far more for him I reckon.
Damien Sandow just like on last weeks SmackDown challenged a member of the audience to answer three questions, and if all are answered correctly then they would become his apprentice. And once again the third question stumped the fan and they failed the challenge. It was another amusing segment with the charismatic Sandow, and quickly becoming a highlight for me. Santino Marella then joined the 'Intellectual saviour of the masses' and mocked him before receiving a punch in the face for doing so.
Damien Sandow defeated Santino Marella in a rather pedestrian match up. Santino performed his signature comedy routine while Sandow gave a fair display. More of a filler match.
Brad Maddox convinced Vickie Guerrero backstage to give him another chance at earning a WWE contract by competing in a match against an unknown opponent. Maddox showed some character here with his smug attitude.
Alberto Del Rio bested Sin Cara in an enjoyable outing. Both men gave good displays here, with exciting lucha action executed nicely (for the most part). When Sin Cara is put in the ring with someone he's compatible with then he can provide entertaining wrestling.
Vince McMahon convinced Vickie Guerrero to book Cena versus Ziggler at TLC in a Ladder match, with Dolph's MITB contract on the line. He also convinced her to put Paul Heyman in a match with Ryback next week if CM Punk fails his lie detector test later on. It was a poor segment, and just felt awkward.
Randy Orton beat Brad Maddox in a brief squash match. So much for Maddox's latest attempt to earn a contract. Afterwards The Shield revealed their latest victim as Orton as they took him out and applied their signature three-man powerbomb.
Antonio Cesaro (c) defeated Kofi Kingston, R-Truth and Wade Barrett to retain the United States Championship in a Fatal Four Way match. After an awkward a fairly sloppy start the bout started to pick up in quality and all four men delivered a fun title contest. The excitement peaked at the end where everyone came close to winning the strap, but Cesaro managed to apply the Neutralizer to Kofi for the one-two-three.
As CM Punk was being set up for his lie detector test on 'Miz TV' him and Miz amusingly started bickering, which included Punk telling Miz to go "back to wrestling school, jerk." As Punk answered a few basic questions, including one where Miz brought up the fact that he main evented WrestleMania XXVII which got the champ a bit upset, he was finally asked if he was involved with The Shield and Brad Maddox. CM Punk stalled, and then The Shield ran in and took out Miz and all the equipment and set.
Daniel Bryan and Kane then decided to get some payback and with the aid of Ryback managed to scare off Ambrose, Reigns and Rollins. A cocky Punk then kicked Miz out of the ring and turned to face his TLC foe Ryback, who then struck the World Champion with a ladder and chair, then put him through a table. For the first time in a little while Ryback ended on top.
Overall Raw ranged from mediocre to quite entertaining, with CM Punk and Heyman's promo with Miz, the Fatal Four Way, Del Rio vs Sin Cara bout and Damian Sandow's segment being the highlights. Unfortunately the McMahon and Vickie Guerrero part was really quite bad, and most match ups were fairly unmemorable and average. Fortunately we didn't have to endure any more of the tedious AJ/Cena scandal nonsense, so that's one plus I guess.
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