My Raw, November 21st Recap

CM Punk kicked things off with a typically entertaining speech from the new WWE champion. He talked about how he wanted to once again make the title interesting and fun and how unlike most champions lately (including himself) he was going to keep hold of it for a long time. Just taking the title off of Del Rio has already made the title more interesting in my eyes. He also announced how he would like the current interim General Manager John Laurinaitis to become the "former Raw General Manager" due to how fake he comes across and how out of touch he is with the fans and what they want. The tediously dull Laurinaitis made an appearance and announced that he would face Dolph Ziggler that night and how rather then face Del Rio in a rematch for the title like Punk requested, that was going to be moved to next weeks Raw instead which Punk called "stupid." Which was due to the fact that it was unoriginal and that the fans clearly wanted to see Ryder face off against Ziggler for the US championship.  
Alberto Del Rio defeated Zach Ryder in a weird decision by WWE. Why have one of the most clearly popular wrestlers in the company beaten like this the night after he received a huge ovation at Survivor Series? They should be carrying on the momentum and pushing him further, but when have they done that with younger talent in recent years? The actual match was decent enough, Ryder was given a fair amount of offence but Del Rio was the predictable victor after making Ryder tap to his armbar.
Sheamus defeated Jack Swagger in a quite forgettable match that just felt like a repeat of all their previous bouts of recent weeks. Swagger deserves better then to be in this position in my opinion, at least when he was in a tag team with Ziggler he was relevant again.
Kevin Nash spoke more on the mic about his sledgehammer assault on Triple H and how 'The Game' had let him down. He also claimed that out of the original Kliq "the real survivor of that group, stands before you now!" Can't say I'm overly excited about seeing Nash back in the ring but the storyline has been executed well I feel and I can't help but want to know what happens next. I can also see Shawn Michaels appearing soon to confront Nash.
Cody Rhodes defeated Santino Marrella in a brief match up after he applied the Cross Rhodes and gained the one-two-three. Afterwards he confronted Booker T who had been guest announcing on the show due to Jerry Lawler's voice all but being gone (which made a nice change.) and threw a cup of water in his face. Looks like the rumours of a Booker T Cody Rhodes rivalry is definitely in the works. I'm looking forward to it myself, the in-form Rhodes deserves high calibre feuds at the moment and Booker returning to the ring should definitely prove popular.  
CM Punk defeated Dolph Ziggler in a entertaining enough bout after hitting him with the GTS. The match went back and fourth and once again Ziggler was allowed to look competitive against some main event level competition and looked like he belonged there too. The future is looking good for him I reckon.
Big Show claimed that at Survivor Series he proved that he was "better then the world's strongest man" and that when he returns from the leg injury that Show inflicted, he would be waiting for another World Heavyweight title shot. I was really hoping that they were going to end this feud after last night's pay per view, but it looks like we're going to have to endure it for another month at least.
Wade Barrett defeated Kofi Kingston in an decent enough effort, but nothing outstanding. During the bout Randy Orton came out and sat at ringside to witness the continuation of the 'Barrett Barrage' as Wade's calling it. After the win Barrett grabbed a mic and rubbed in the win as Orton was about to walk away, Orton threatened an attack but merely made Barrett flinch.
The goofy John Cena spoke about the match with The Rock the night before and basically buttered up his future WrestleMania opponent and the same man who had been constantly mocking him for months now and barely given him any credit at all. Same Cena character.
Awesome Truth came out to make it interesting and honestly told everyone that they weren't going to let Cena get away without admitting how The Rock had shown him up at Survivor Series and how the fans were totally against him, even chanting "don't tag Cena" to Rock at some points. R-Truth also mentioned how The Rock is going to destroy him at WrestleMania. Cena then nonsensically buried the two of them by saying how no one cared about them and how they weren't even considered a threat, even though the two of them get more cheers then Cena has in years. So once again we have Cena completely bury an act not only inside the ring but on the mic too. The management should carefully plan out every word he says in the future when discussing the up and coming talent who have potential in the company. He also stirred things up by saying how Miz really thinks R-Truth is stupid and how R-Truth believes The Miz to be "pompous" and "attention seeking." The two began to confront each other in the ring while Cena snuck away until Miz convinced Truth that Cena was trying to mess with them and how they could take him out together. But as they were leaving down the ramp Miz suddenly applied the Skull-Crushing Finale to Truth.
For me like many story lines this year WWE have just completely rushed the split of Miz and R-Truth. The tandem still had life in them and were one of the most entertaining things on Raw for the past few months. Plus it was another credible tag team for the company who sorely need them. I have faith that Truth could probably pull off turning face and the rivalry should be entertaining enough but there was just no need to start it this rapidly. 

My Raw, November 14th Recap

The show opened with the Michael Cole challenge, which was predictably a waste of time for the most part. There were three challenges and if JR won them all he would replace Cole on commentary on Raw. The first challenge was an arm wrestling contest, which JR won. Then there was a dance competition between the two which provided the only entertaining part as Jim Ross really got into it, which was a nice surprise and pretty damn awesome to be honest. Then the final challenge where the conniving Cole revealed it to be a weigh in where the lighter person would win.

After Michael Cole began to celebrate his cheap victory, CM Punk thankfully interrupted him and made the segment remotely interesting. “Your time is up Michael Cole,” Punk informed as he honestly revealed how bad the whole challenge had been and how it was a “colossal waste of time.” Cole eventually asked Punk to apologise for his remarks. Punk decided to go a different route and head butt Cole, followed by applying the Anaconda Vice.

Matt Striker backstage revealed how the time had finally come as a limo pulled up behind him where out stepped Mick Foley to a huge pop from the crowd in attendance.

Cody Rhodes and Hunico defeated Kofi Kingston and Sin Cara in a pretty flawed tag team match. It had decent moments but also it’s fair share of mistakes by all the wrestlers involved. Rhodes has now also gotten rid of his mask and has new music to help take him more seriously. I think this is definitely a step in the right direction for Cody who in my opinion should be seriously challenging for a World title over the next six months if WWE keep this push of his up.

Vickie Guerrero informed everyone about Christian’s unfortunate injury during the recent WWE European tour. I was gutted to hear about this, for me Christian has been the most consistent performer in WWE this year. She also revealed that Dolph Ziggler had taken his place on Wade Barret’s team at Survivor Series. Which makes sense, although I was really hoping for a Ryder versus Ziggler match up at the pay per view for the United States title.

Mason Ryan defeated Dolph Ziggler via disqualification when Vickie Guerrero slapped him on the apron. I was just grateful that a Mason Ryan match was cut short, apart from his build he hasn’t really shown me much to prove he’s the next Batista. After the bout John Morrison threw Ziggler back into the ring for Ryan to finish off.

Mick Foley called out John Cena and explained that he wanted to help him and The Rock coincide together a team. Mick Foley then presented a ‘This is Your Life’ for John Cena which was a largely disappointing segment and not particularly entertaining I found. Foley brought out guests Bull Buchanan, Cena’s old little league coach and Cena’s father John Cena SR, who actually told all the fans that chant “Cena sucks!” that “you suck,”I’m sure that’ll get them on his side. The Rock then mercifully came out and Rock Bottomed Foley to finally end the segment. Not a great start for Foley’s return is it?

Sheamus defeated Jack Swagger in a decent enough match. To be honest at this point in the show it was just a relief to have some action in the ring rather then talking, it was almost like an episode of iMPACT.

Kelly Kelly defeated Natalya with a quick roll up pin to add another loss to Natalya’s current poor record in a quick and forgettable bout. I can see all these losses building up to Beth Phoenix dumping Natalya and having her turn face and challenging for the title.

Mark Henry and Alberto Del Rio defeated Big and CM Punk after Henry World Strongest Slammed Punk and Del Rio raced in to grab the pin. The match was average for the most part, the parts with Show and Henry facing off were just dull, which doesn’t bode well for their most likely also dull match on Sunday for the title.

Santino Marella claimed to everyone in Boston that it was the place where his career got back on the right track once again. But he spoke too soon, as Kevin Nash (slowly) made his way out and reveled he was a big fan of Marellas and asked Santino to do his trombone routine. As he did Nash big booted and then Jacknife Powerbombed Marella.

Randy Orton versus Wade Barrett ended in DQ after all their respective team members raced into the ring and began to brawl until Orton’s team threw out all of Barrett’s squad. The actual match didn’t really last long and made more sense to finish this way to help build up their match at Survivor Series.

The Rock then revealed how ready he was for his Survivor Series match but wasn’t willing to wait another six days as he called out Awesome Truth to the ring. Miz and R-Truth joined him but explained that he was going to have to wait until Survivor Series to lay his hands on them. As they were about to leave Cena predictable made an appearance and him and The Rock exchanged some amusing words, such as Rock claiming Cena has “lady parts.” The Miz and R-Truth exclaimed how sick they were of Cena and The Rock’s ongoing feud and went to leave, that was until The Rock decided to put “boots to asses,” as he and Cena then beat on them both and he Rock Bottomed Awesome Truth and left.

To be honest it felt like a mostly average Raw considering it was a special three-hour event. But there were still some entertaining parts but just no particularly outstanding matches to be honest. But I still can’t help but look forward to Survivor Series this Sunday.