CM Punk stands proud with his mentor Heyman. Photo credit: WWE.com
Paul Heyman started things off by announcing that this was the last anyone would see of him in WWE, claiming that the McMahons would take out their revenge for him on CM Punk instead and he would rather leave before that happened. Unfortunately the majority of the largely clueless crowd continued to boo Heyman even when he spoke about making ECW the product it would be best remembered as.
CM Punk soon joined his mentor and said that he didn't have to leave, but Heyman told him to let him go. After some more convincing though, Heyman eventually agreed that he should be in Punk's corner on Sunday at Elimination Chamber and the two hugged. It was a decent start to the show, you know that Heyman is always going to be solid on the mic.
Mark Henry beat The Great Khali in a mediocre and forgettable contest. As expected both men slowly clobbered each other until Henry World's Strongest Slammed his opponent for the one-two-three. He then continued to smash Hornswaggle into the mat with the same finishing maneuver.
Backstage Chris Jericho asked GM Booker T for a spot in the Elimination Chamber, so Booker agreed to put him in a match up with Daniel Bryan to earn a spot.
In Vickie Guerrero's office, Paul Heyman convinced Vince McMahon to add a stipulation to The Rock versus CM Punk where if 'The People's Champ' was counted out or disqualified he would be stripped of the WWE Championship.
Chris Jericho pinned Daniel Bryan in an exciting back and fourth bout. Both men worked tremendously together as they each put in great efforts to be proud of. With similar styles it was hardly surprise how well this turned out, with constant counters and effective near fall and submission attempts. Jericho managed to score the winning pin after a Codebreaker out of nowhere.
John Cena, Ryback and Sheamus bested 3MB ( Heath Slater, Drew McIntyre and Jinder Mahal) in a six-man squash match. Each man on the winning side took their turn to make their opponents look worthless (much like the match itself) and then all applied their finishers for the finale. You can go ahead and fast forward this one. Afterwards all three men on the winning side each spoke about how they'll get their revenge on The Shield this Sunday.
After mocking him backstage for having paint spilt on him from Del Rio on last Friday's SmackDown, Big Show KO'd Alex Riley and Yoshi Tatsu, then also KO'd Matt Stryker (unfortunately not for real) as he was about to interview him in the ring. After pacing around furiously, Show then left without saying a word.
Jack Swagger pinned Zack Ryder in a fair encounter. While unremarkable, it wasn't bad, and each man gave a worthy enough display with the time allocated.
Afterwards Zeb Colter (who'd accompanied Swagger, and no I'd never heard of him before this either) then accused America of changing too much due to people immigrating from other countries. I certainly wasn't expecting that, but I have to say that I think this could be the start of something very interesting with Swagger. I just hope that WWE don't restrain him and Colter too much, if left to become quite controversial with these promos Swagger could become a terrific heel. And how perfectly suited would this be in a feud with Del Rio?
Dolph Ziggler demanded that Booker put him into the Elimination Chamber match to stop Jericho from winning it and going on to 'Mania. Booker decided to give 'The Show Off' a chance by competing against Kane for the last spot.
The Miz won via DQ versus Cody Rhodes in a passable outing. The match was never exceptional or particularly engaging but both men were competent enough. The disqualification came when Antonio Cesaro (who'd provided guest commentary) attacked Miz and then impressively swung him numerous times into the barricade. Expect a rematch at Elimination Chamber over the US Title.
Tensai and Brodus Clay beat Primo and Epico in an average tag bout. Tensai and Clay incorporated some of their usual bad dance moves and celebrated afterwards by (you guessed it!) dancing.
The Shield (Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns) came out and demanded Cena, Sheamus and Ryback to "come and get us!" after their words for them earlier. They then called Cena a failure, claiming that the standard he set has brought about people like Sheamus and Ryback, that he doesn't have to ever answer to his actions. The mic work of Rollins and Ambrose here completely eclipsed that of their three opponents on Sunday from earlier, you could actually believe in their hate and aggression towards their foes.
The lights then went out and once they came back up Cena, Ryback and Sheamus began brawling with The Shield, eventually going out into the crowd and chasing them off. Should be a decent enough match at Elimination Chamber between them, although not a touch on the superb TLC match from December I imagine. Unfortunately with Cena dded to the equation I worry for the treatment of the trio too, Cena only tends to bury up and coming talent like them, never enhance.
Damien Sandow berated the typical country music found in Tennessee, the current destination. As usual he was quite amusing.
Alberto Del Rio defeated Damien Sandow in a brief but enjoyable outing that deserved more time in my opinion. Del Rio was on good form in the ring as usual, and Sandow also put in a fair display. Afterwards the World Champion stated that Big Show's earlier promo of saying nothing at all was the best of his career, agreeing that the time for talking was over and that he was heading to WrestleMania XXVIIII with his strap.
Before his following match up, Wade Barrett was attacked backstage by rival Bo Dallas, who the Englishman had beaten from behind on SmackDown a few weeks ago. Nevertheless the Intercontinental Champion went on to pin Kofi Kingston after the break in a worthy effort by both men.
Unfortunately like most matches that night though it never really grabbed your attention, but I can't complain about the action they provided. Considering Barrett's attack beforehand this also made Kofi look particularly weak, I guess his push towards the end of last year was another half hearted attempt by the bookers to enhance him. I can't see it ever happening for Kofi unfortunately.
Kane pinned Dolph Ziggler in a bout that ranged from decent to passable. Unfortunately a few sloppy moments hindered the match a bit, which is out of character for the two talents.
WWE Champion The Rock came out and told the story of how he and his family moved to Nasville in 1987, and at the age of fifteen bought a car from a crackhead in a bar, only to realise it was stolen so he dumped it in a car park. The moral of the story was that you have to take control of your life, which is what he did at age twenty-four when he had his first match in the WWF. It was a decent enough promo from the champ.
CM Punk and Paul Heyman then joined Rocky, with the champ warning them that he's going to "beat your punk ass this Sunday." Punk then ran into the ring and the two began going back and fourth. As Rock was about to then hit the People's Elbow, Heyman pulled his leg which led to Punk applying the GTS and walking away with the strap he felt he'd never lost.
It was a largely average Raw for me this week, with a lot of forgettable matches and unremarkable promos. To be fair the Jericho versus Bryan encounter, Heyman's work on the mic, Punk and The Rock tussling and the possible interesting direction Swagger and Coulter may be taking gave the show something to remember, so at least there were a few exceptional parts. Bit disappointing though after the last couple of weeks efforts.
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