The John Report: The WWE Raw Deal for 08/22/11 (Cena/Punk)
By John Canton
Follow me on Twitter at @johnreport
Live from Edmonton, Alberta this is the Raw Deal…
You could tell right away that the crowd was going to be hot. Being the Canadian that I am, I know my country has hot wrestling crowds. It’s different up here. We love the business and have always produced some of the best crowds. Edmonton did a great job this week. The show started with Ricardo Rodriguez introducing Del Rio in his usual awesome manner. Del Rio came out with a Lamborghini. Del Rio said “my name” and then John Cena’s music hit to a mostly positive reaction.
For some reason, Cena felt the need to re-introduce himself as the man that was going to take the WWE Title off of Del Rio. Cena ripped on Del Rio, basically calling him a coward and questioned his car collection probably because Cena has a legit car collection while only Del Rio’s character does. If you’ve been to WrestleMania Axxess you can see Cena’s cars on display. They are impressive. He said that there was only one guy in WWE that could toe to toe with Cena. He’s referring to Punk although he didn’t say his name. “Cult of Personality” hit and Punk came out to a big ovation from the crowd. He talked about how he beat Cena twice in big match situations (the second time had Triple H miss the foot on the rope if you recall), so if anybody deserves a title match it’s him. He called Del Rio great names like “Berto” and “Captain Third Wheel” as ADR told him that he was the WWE Champion as a way to rub it in. Punk brought up people trying to screw him and even referenced former Jack Tunney, who was the on screen “WWF President” in the late 80s/early 90s. He was actually a Canadian wrestling promoter who passed away in 2004. I guess enough people remembered him because his name was trending on Twitter after Punk mentioned it. That’s pretty damn cool! Punk points out that if Cena had beat him at Summerslam then Nash would have taken him out because somebody wants “Berto” to be WWE Champion. Del Rio said he’d ignore them both because he defended it last week and said the Canadian fans don’t deserve a title match.
“It’s Time to Play The Game” hit as COO Triple H came out. He told Del Rio he had a match and that it was next, which was not a surprise since Del Rio was already in his ring gear. He told Punk and Cena that he runs the show. Title rematches are not like Money in the Bank contracts, so what they’ll do is have a singles match with the winner facing Del Rio at Night of Champions. Hunter left to end the segment while the other three exchanged EVIL STARES~!
That was a nearly 20 minute segment to start the show. Four people talked, they all got a decent amount of time to make their point and while it dragged a bit, nobody looked too bad from it. It set up not only the main event of the show, but promoted the first match and the PPV main event. I’d say job well done.
Before the Del Rio promo started, they mentioned Rey Mysterio would be out with an injury. On TV they are putting over the arm injury from Del Rio, but he’s actually out due to major reconstructive knee surgery. It sounds as if it will be an 8 month injury at least, so he’ll be out until WrestleMania season. I’m not sure if he’ll be able to be back for Mania, but I’d expect him to work hard to be back in the ring by that point. I’m a Mysterio fan. I’ll miss Rey although he’s been needing another knee surgery for a long time and this is best for his long term health. How long will he wrestle after he comes back? Not sure. He’s had six or seven knee surgeries over the years, so he’s obviously nearing the end of his in-ring career and he’ll be 37 in December. He’s performed at a high level in North America for the past 15 years with an amazing run of great matches. He’s up there as one of my favorite performers ever, especially when he first showed up in WCW in 1996 (ECW before that although I never saw him there) and was one of the most electrifying performers I’ve ever seen. Booyaka booyaka get well soon.
Alberto Del Rio d. John Morrison (**1/2)
They got about 13 minutes with a commercial in the first half of it. It wasn’t as good as Del Rio/Bryan from Smackdown, but it was still a very entertaining match that the crowd was into. There was a scary spot with Del Rio being sent to the floor and the back of his head hit the mat hard. I wonder if he was a little dizzy after that because I noticed he was a little slow kicking out of a pinfall attempt. He seemed to be fine after that, though. I’m loving how Del Rio has added a bridging German Suplex to his arsenal of moves. It’s especially great when he hits it quickly because it adds to the impact of the move. The finish came after Morrison made a comeback with a hurricanrana, a Flying Chuck kick and he went to the top for Starship Pain only for Del Rio to counter it by shoving Morrison’s shoulder into the ringpost. That’s the setup for the Cross Armbreaker, which led to the victory for Del Rio. I like seeing a heel champion get a decisive victory like that. Post match, Del Rio attacked him on the floor with the Cross Armbreaker again. The announcers used it to rip Del Rio for being a dishonorable champion. That’s how you keep the heel heat strong. Win clean, but attack him after the match to get the crowd to hate you and the announcers to rip on you for it.
I like how they are booking Del Rio. On Raw last week, Del Rio beat Mysterio, then he beat Daniel Bryan and now he beat John Morrison on Raw. They were all very good TV matches that were clean wins over upper midcard babyfaces. Could you imagine how much it would have helped Miz if he beat guys like this when he was holding the title? This is how you book a heel champion.
Before the divas match started, a video insert aired with my favorites the Divas of Doom: Beth Phoenix & Natalya talking about how they don’t want to be like Kelly & Eve, but they didn’t exactly say what their motives were for their recent actions.
Eve d. Nikki Bella (DUD)
Kelly was with Eve while Brie was with Nikki although they were dressed differently for a change. They got just under three minutes, which is probably two minutes too long because the crowd was dead for it. The booty popping dance by Eve did get a reaction though. Good for her, I guess. She hit her finisher, whatever it’s called, for the win. I’m tired of seeing any combination of Eve & Kelly vs. The Bellas. They are never good matches. Use Maryse more. Post match, Beth & Natalya were dressed elegantly as they clapped from the top of the stage while they stared at Eve & Kelly in the ring. Get that title on Beth or Natalya soon, please.
They showed Kevin Nash walking backstage. He’s in the building, folks.
They plugged the August 30 edition of Smackdown that will be a live show on Tuesday from 8-10pmET and re-aired in the regular slot on Friday. The word given was that due to Labor Day weekend they know they get less viewers. Personally, I think they’re doing a test run to see what kind of rating they can pop for a live Smackdown because if it’s significantly better I can see them moving Smackdown off Fridays. I would do that if I were WWE because you’re only hurting yourself by putting that show on Fridays when less people are watching TV. Of course, the cost of doing a live show is more than a taped show so there is that too. It will be an interesting thing to monitor going forward.
Alex Riley d. Jack Swagger (1/4*)
No SAY IT TO MY FACE~! intro for Riley. That’s not a good sign for him. Vickie Guerrero came out with Swagger as a potential new manager, I guess. Ziggler wasn’t happy, so he came down to the ring soon after. They barely showed anything in the ring again as Swagger couldn’t give Riley the Gutwrench suplex properly again. It’s more on Riley to take the move right. He messed it up two weeks in a row. Guerrero took a fall to the floor as she showed Oscar award level acting (not really) and Swagger showed concern over it. That allowed Riley to roll up Swagger for the win. This is the second straight week with some messed up booking surrounding the US Title. Are they turning Ziggler face or Swagger face? I hope it’s Jack because he needs it badly. I’m not sure if the method is effective, though. This left me asking WHAT THE FUCK? Not a good question to ask.
They showed HHH backstage and he was walking too. I guess he’s next.
Hunter came out first. He brought out Nash saying they have talked about it and wanted to share it with the audience. They mention that Nash got a text from Hunter, which Hunter claims he did not send and Nash did it because he thought he was doing a favor to Hunter. Nash wanted to apologize to Punk, but didn’t know that he could. Hunter pointed out that Nash didn’t even work there. During all of this the crowd was chanting “WHAT?” which really seemed to fluster Nash. CM Punk came out. He wondered who sent the text and claimed that it was likely Stephanie. Punk said he was going to kick Nash’s ass this week, but Hunter prevented that from happening. Hunter told Punk that even though he’s the COO he’s still the same guy that he’s always been, which means a badass I guess. Punk told him he wouldn’t want him to fold up his suit and put it in Stephanie’s purse where he kept his balls and his phone. Good line. I approve. While this was going on, Nash attacked Punk with a right forearm shot to the head. Punk went crashing down while Triple H took Nash out of the ring. Punk was left alone in the ring, grabbing his jaw to sell the move. Nice heel cheapshot by Nash although we’re not any closer to solving the text mystery. Cue ominous 1960s horror movie music.
After the break, Nash wondered if Hunter went soft since he’s been in the suit while Hunter told him to just leave. Nash told him he’s changed.
Tag Titles: Kofi Kingston & Evan Bourne d. Michael McGillicutty & David Otunga (*1/4)
This was a decent, formulaic tag team that saw the crowning of new champions after five minutes. Lawler ripped on MM & Otunga saying they had less personality than the Buschwhackers. That’s true, but that’s also the fault of the writers for not giving them any kind of character. They worked over Kofi for a bit, he hot tagged Bourne and it ended up leading to the Air Bourne SSP for the win. The crowd popped huge for it because the babyface team is over huge. I like the team of Kingston & Bourne. I think they should be a permanent duo and a team that the tag division can build around. They’re exciting, they are good workers and they over with the crowd. The Trouble in Paradise into the Air Bourne finisher works very well. I know people are trying to come up with a name for them. I don’t think Boom Air or Air Boom is going to work too well. They don’t have to have a name, but for them to be considered a full time team it would help.
They plugged a bunch of different things before and after the break.
Back to the show, Josh Mathews interviewed Kofi & Evan. They talked about teaming together for awhile and how happy they were to be tag champs. It beats being jobbers! Into the screen walked Zack Ryder, Titus O’Neil, Derrick Bateman, I think Aksana and somebody else. Not important. I guess winning tag gold means you celebrate with the WWWYKI guy and the NXT crew. Thrilling.
They did a good job of putting over the tag title change after it was done. It gives me hope that they’ll be pushing the tag division more in the future. By the way, Jim Ross said it was a 450 Splash instead of a Shooting Star Press when Bourne did his finisher. At least he tries to call moves unlike Cole. It’s a live broadcast and mistakes happen sometimes. Last week in my writeup I mentioned Trace Adkins’ elbow when I meant to write album. I laughed when I saw it because when you do the live thing, whether it’s announcing or writing, mistakes do happen. As long as you keep the mistakes to a minimum it’s not a big deal.
Backstage, John Laurinaitis went up to Triple H to tell him that Nash got into some kind of accident. He wrote down the number on a piece of paper. Like the concerned friend that he is, Triple H left the show and left Laurinaitis in charge. Was “Super Dave” Laurinaitis lying or telling the truth? You’d have to keep watching to find out. Gee, I wonder.
Santino’s music started up. He got jumped by The Miz & R-Truth in the aisle. They went into the ring where jobber Santino took finishers from both guys before being taken away. Truth was bitching about there being a conspiracy as the crowd cranked up the “WHAT?” chants, to which Truth replied that they were making him go nuts. He said that everybody in the main event picture (he gave names) was sitting around the conspiracy table trying to screw him. He said they used to be in PPV main events, but not anymore. Miz agreed that there was a conspiracy and said that the fans sounded like ducks as they did the “WHAT WHAT WHAT” chants. He complains about how he beat Cena at Mania and now he’s out there with Jared from Subway to do something. He has a point. They gave him a feud with Riley, which didn’t end up being good for anybody and he’s had nothing to do since then. Then Miz spoke slowly to insult the crowd’s intelligence. Miz said they’re not going to wait around for another opportunity; they’re going to take it. Truth said sooner or later some people are going to get got and Miz concluded that it’s going to be awesome. That was lovely. Then they sang the What’s Up song except they inserted “You Suck” directed at the crowd instead of saying “What’s Up.” That was clever too.
This promo was very entertaining. It doesn’t really give them a feud, but I assume they’ll go after the new tag champs because what else is there to do? It’s not a bad idea because I’m sure those four guys could put on some awesome tag matches if given the opportunity to do so.
Main event time. Prior the match, Alberto Del Rio was sitting at ringside to the right of the announcers while John Laurinaitis was sitting to the left of the announcers. I’m glad that “Marty Funkhouser” Laurinaitis didn’t join the announcers.
John Cena d. CM Punk to become the #1 Contender to the WWE Title (***1/2)
At Money in the Bank they got about 35 minutes, at Summerslam they got about 25 minutes and here they got about 15 minutes, which is plenty of time for a TV main event. The match was very solid as all their matches have been, but obviously it lacked some of the appeal of the previous two. Still, the crowd was hot and they worked at a very good pace. It’s not going to be remembered in the same way as the other two, which is fine because it’s a free TV match. There was an interesting spot after the commercial where Cena put Punk into the Crossface, which was Chris Benoit’s finishing move. It’s interesting because he was raised in Edmonton. Obviously the announcers didn’t acknowledge it, but clearly Cena was well aware of where he was and what he was doing. It’s not like he’d be punished for it. It’s a good submission move. I was really impressed by Cena’s top rope leg drop too. He does it often, but that was as pretty as I’ve ever seen him do it. He really seemed to be on his game. He’s found his right opponent in CM Punk. The finishing sequence had some great moves including Cena kicking out of the GTS, Punk kicking out of the Attitude Adjustment (rare to see in a TV match) and an awesome running kick to the head by Punk that looked great. Punk set up for the finish, when Kevin Nash miraculously returned from his “car accident” (Laurinaitis obviously lied), “Punk, it’s not over yet” and then Cena finished off a distracted Punk with the AA. That’s a similar finish to Money in the Bank when Vince distracted Cena. I like how Lawler questioned it immediately, asking Laurinaitis for an explanation.
After the match, Del Rio attacked Cena. Laurinaitis and the referee tried to break it up. They did, but Del Rio kept attacking. That’s how the show ended.
I think it was okay that Punk lost that way because it was cheap. I’m sure the Cena haters are out in full force bitching about it, but I have no problem with it because it’s part of a bigger story. I think Punk’s journey back to the WWE Title should be a longer one because it will mean more when he holds the title again. It’s part of telling a good story.
Where does it go from here? I think we’ll find out that while Triple H told Nash that he doesn’t work there, Laurinaitis will reveal that he signed Nash (remember when they had a meeting on Raw last week behind closed doors). I also think the mysterious texter will end up being Hunter’s wife Stephanie McMahon, who sent Nash the text to attack Punk after Summerslam. Remember, it was Punk that caused the problems that led to Vince McMahon being relieved of his duties, so Vince loyalists like Laurinaitis and Stephanie can say they did it as revenge for Vince. It also leaves Triple H in the clear to play somewhat of a tweener role until he ultimately turns heel, perhaps leading to a big match against Punk at Survivor Series or some other big event.
Three Stars of the Show
1. CM Punk – Three segments and a strong main event match.
2. John Cena – Two segments and a strong main event match.
3. Alberto Del Rio – Nice match with Morrison, plus a good job getting heel heat.
7.5 out of 10
Last week: 4
2011 High Score: 9.1 (March 28)
2011 Low Score: 4 (Jan. 10/May 9)
2011 Average: 5.86
Last 5 Weeks: 4, 6.5, 5, 7.5, 6
I gave it a 7.5 this week. A very good show for the most part. The matches were pretty solid, there were some entertaining promos and they progressed the angles in a way that I enjoyed. I still think the Ziggler angle is a disappointment while the Divas match was really bad. It’s very cool that Punk is being positioned as a top guy because he was in three most important segments of the show (beginning, middle and end). If you’re a Punk fan, like most of us are, then you should be happy with how he’s being used. So what if he’s not holding the WWE Title. He’s being positioned the way we he wanted to be and that’s making for entertaining television.
We found out that it’s Del Rio defending the WWE Title against Cena at Night of Champions while I’d expect Punk vs. Nash as well. After that I think a triple threat would be likely although we’re getting ahead of ourselves if we go that far. It will be interesting to see what they do next week with HHH being pissed off at Laurinaitis for obviously lying to him about Nash being in an accident. They are doing a great job of having cliffhanger most weeks. I guess the soap opera writers they hired are coming in handy, huh? I don’t know if it’s them, but something is the cause of this and I’m a fan of it.
Also, the announcers did a much better job this week. Michael Cole was toned down. They let JR talk too. Jerry Lawler said some odd stuff like when he criticized Punk a bit, but maybe they’re slowly going to turn him into a heel announcer again, which is the best possible role for him. I rip the announcers a lot. This week I won’t. They did well. Hopefully Cole’s act is good on Smackdown during a Daniel Bryan match because he’s hurting the match with the over the top act.
Another thing I want to point out is the Anonymous Raw GM. Since Triple H has been “running the show” they haven’t mentioned the Anonymous Raw GM. I think it’s worthwhile, for the sake of closure, to have him say that he Raw GM isn’t needed anymore because he’s in charged and to end the angle. If you need a name, say it was Laurinaitis because the fans hate the GM anyway. If he’s going to be an on-air character you might as well give the heat to him too. It’s important to end it, though, because having loose ends like that only insults the intelligence of the viewer.
How would you rate 08/22 Raw on the 1-10 scale?
That’s all for me. Back on Saturday for Canton’s Corner. During the middle part of the week I’ll be working on one of my two major columns for September. I’m not offering any hints except to say one will be in the first or second week of the month while the other will end the month. It takes time to write these “epic” columns, so I do my best to make sure I give it plenty of time rather than write them too quickly. Keep checking out thejohnreport.net for daily content from the TJR crew.
Thanks for reading.
John Canton – [email protected]
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