Nice to see Bryan made the effort with his hair. Photo credit: WWE.com
Vickie Guerrero, with Paul Heyman accompanying her, announced that she had banned The Rock from entering the building that night after he had embarrassed both her and Heyman on last week's Raw with his concert. We then witnessed The Rock backstage warning the San Jose police that he was "relentless" and would eventually find a way into the building anyway.
Randy Orton defeated Antonio Cesaro in 11:36 as part of the Beat the Clock Challenge. It was a decent contest, with solid enough action as expected from these two. For a 'Beat the Clock' match there were moments were both men were taking their time though, it looked a bit daft.
Big Show beat Zack Ryder in a brief squash match. Ryder also had on his self-made Internet Title belt on his way to and during the bout, this really did a lot for the strap I'm sure. It's almost hard to believe how relevant Ryder was back in 2010. Afterwards Show claimed that the same thing will happen at the Royal Rumble when he faces Del Rio. The most entertaining thing about the match was actually Brad Maddox's impromptue guest commentary as he jumped from the crowd onto the announce desk. This guy's got character, which they could really use right now.
Ryback bested Heath Slater in a short and average outing, with the victor dominating for the majority. Ryback managed to also take out 3MB members Jinder Mahal and Drew McIntyre towards the end, and then apply a Shell Shock to Slater for the one-two-three. Ryback then stated that the Royal Rumble match was the kind of environment he thrived in, and the stepping stone for him getting to WrestleMania.
Backstage Vickie Guerrero offered Rocky a way into the show by apologising to her. But The Rock refused, claiming once again that he'll find a way into the ring anyway.
WWE Champion CM Punk came to the ring and stated that he was "the man" and spoke about how hard he'd worked to get to his current position, refusing to let The Rock take the strap from him. He went on to call 'The People's Champ' a fool for choosing to support the fans rather than be arrogantly honest such as himself. You could sense the raw honesty from him as he told everyone how he'd earned the championship through years and years of blood, sweat and tears. As usual it was a stellar and engaging promo from the champ.
Dolph Ziggler beat The Miz at 10:56 in the BTC Challenge. It was a disappointing bout, with quite a few clumsy and sloppy moments marring it. Ziggler worked well enough, unfortunately Miz seemed off his game a bit, wrongly applying the Figure Four Leglock being the worst part of his display.
In a highly amusing segment, Doctor Shelby officially graduated Daniel Bryan and Kane from his Anger Management course. Naturally it wasn't long before the tag team began arguing, so to settle things Shelby asked them if they'd feel comfortable hugging it out if everyone else did too. So Team Hell No had everyone in the arena hugging, including Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler. Even Doctor Shelby began getting his own chants going. It all ended with Kane, Bryan and Shelby all sharing a group hug.
Kaitlyn beat Alicia Fox in a pretty forgettable affair. Nothing about it was particularly engaging, and the action wasn't terrible but just unremarkable.
Paul Heyman came to the ring on his own and called Vince McMahon a "tyrant" who was hell bent on taking the WWE Title from Punk. He also added that The Rock, like the people, was stupid for mocking him rather than concentrating on the man he's going to face this Sunday in what should be a very good match up. The Rock himself then joined Heyman, producing a ticket as an excuse to be in the arena legally, and told him to leave.
'The Great One' then told Punk that it was his very last night on Raw as the WWE Champion, and went on to claim that he'd worked his "ass off" to earn the title shot at the Royal Rumble after ten long years since he last held it. The lights then went out, and as they came back on we witnessed The Shield (Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns) take out Rocky, applying their signature three-man-powerbomb.
CM Punk then told the fallen 'People's Champ' that although it's nice he has a dream, eventually we all wake up from them and he simply wasn't good enough to bring down the "best in the world." Rock sold the attack from Shield tremendously, even spitting out blood in the ring for added effect.
Sheamus failed to beat Wade Barrett in time in a BTC Challenge match. 'The Great White' had Wade lined up for a Brogue Kick, until AJ Lee, Ziggler and Big E Langston all came down and distracted the Irishman, causing Barrett to mount a brief comeback. Sheamus did manage to then apply his signature kick, but it was too late as the clock ran down. The bout itself had been fair, certainly watchable but nothing exceptional.
Afterwards Vickie informed a jubilant Dolph Ziggler in her office that the two entrance numbers for the Royal Rumble he gets to pick from after winning the Beat the Clock Challenge was either one or two. The odds aren't looking good for old Dolph this Sunday then.
Vince McMahon warned CM Punk backstage that if The Shield interfere in his title clash with The Rock this Sunday then he will be stripped of his championship. He also added that if there is any evidence of his involvement with the trio than he'll find it.
Alberto Del Rio defeated Tensai in a fun watch. Although it was quite short, the action they did provide was enjoyable enough. Del Rio grabbed the winning pinfall after an off-target moonsault.
Bob Backlund was announced as the next inductee into the 2013 Hall of Fame. A worthy candidate, although I admittedly haven't seen many matches of him in his prime. But anyone that holds a World Title for six years is an inevitable candidate.
John Cena came out and spoke about Sunday being a day for everyone to recover and recuperate, and then asked a young fan what he does in his luxury time and began harmlessly arguing with with him about beating him online at Black Ops 2, admitting his username was "skid marks one-eighty-seven." Yeah, it was the standard kind of humour expected from Cena.
After some more light banter with a couple of fans he then turned his attention to this Sunday, which will not be like every other Sunday for him, and proclaimed himself the victor of the coming Rumble match to a mixed reaction. Sheamus, The Prime Time Players, Randy Orton, the Miz, Team Hell No, Antonio Cesaro and 3MB, along with a host of other wrestlers then all came out claiming they would instead win the RR, which instigated a brawl between them all in the ring.
Overall it was a fair show, with the CM Punk promos, effective Shield beat down and Anger Management Graduation being my personal highlights. Most matches were okay, but none exceptional or particularly memorable to be honest. It wasn't a bad Raw by any means, and with a few segments I'd recommend checking out I'd call that a win.
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