We open this week’s RAW with another John Cena boo me/cheer me/ I don’t care promo. Cena goes on to argue why he should be CM Punk’s next opponent for the WWE Championship. Alberto Del Rio interrupts and tries to make his case about being robbed last week when Punk cheated and deserving the next title shot. They are interrupted by the always exciting Vickie Guerrero and Dolph Ziggler. Vickie and Dolph begin to argue their point on why Ziggler should be the number one contender, but Cena interrupts and tells them Ziggler should give Zack Ryder a US Title match first. They are interrupted next by the Miz, who reminds us of what he did to R-Truth and John Morrison as he tries to make his argument for why he should face Punk next. Johnny Ace interrupts and tells us how it’s going down. He tells Ziggler, Miz, and Del Rio that all they have to do tonight is defeat an opponent from Smackdown to be in the WWE Championship match at TLC. He tells Cena to see him in the back to find out about his special opponent. He then introduces us to Miz’s opponent tonight, Randy Orton. This was a fun little opening to see all of these guys stake their claim as “the guy” who should be champion. On a side note, what was WWE thinking when they gave a guy that stumbles over his words such a long ass introductory titile?
Miz and Orton work a basic match with Orton dominating. Orton and Miz are on the outside when Wade Barrett comes out and distracts Orton. After rolling Miz into the ring, Orton chases Barrett up the ramp and gets himself counted out. As he comes back down to ringside confused, Barrett comes up and knocks him down from behind. We’ve seen this sort of ending to a qualifying match before. You could almost predict how this one was going to go down. Barrett adds fuel to the fire for his rivalry with Orton this way too. I’m expecting these two to have a tables match at TLC, but I suppose it could be anything at this point.
Zack Ryder is backstage with Johnny Ace trying to make his case for a title shot against Dolph Ziggler. Cena comes in and and goes off on Johnny Ace to the point where JL can’t help but smile. JL books Cena vs Ryder tonight with the winner getting their respective title shot. I like the thought here. Otunga is then shown with Kevin Nash confirming a ladder match with Triple H at TLC. The prize at the top of the ladder is a sledgehammer that can be legally used in the match once it is obtained. Does that mean it’s not really an official ladder match if the match doesn’t end when the prize is claimed? I don’t get it. Nash is slow and this match has “suck” written all over it.
Daniel Bryan is ADR’s opponent for his qualifying match. They are selling Bryan having injured ribs from his match with Henry. Bryan and Del Rio put on a fairly sound match that ends with Bryan tapping out to the cross armbreaker. I’m picturing Del Rio challenging for the title repeatedly until WrestleMania. Despite how little I care for him, I don’t see the creative team taking him out of the main event scene anytime soon.
Kelly Kelly and Eve with Alicia Fox took on Beth Phoenix and Natalya. Really? Shocker. Beth gets distracted by Alicia and gets pinned by the world’s longest inside cradle at the hands of Kelly Kelly. In the words of Owen Hart, enough is enough and it’s time for a change. Find something else to do with these divas. There’s nothing relevant about the same rivalry with bleak storylines continuing for months on end. I love the divas wrestling when they decide to give us a good match, so I’m praying we get one soon.
John Cena and Zack Ryder gave us a really good match filled with both of their signature move sets. Cena picks up the victory with the attitude adjustment when he stops the roughryder. Ryder is pissed with Cena after the match and Cena tells him to wait in the ring. Cena goes to JL and tells him to give Zack Ryder another chance. JL tells Cena the only way Ryder gets another chance at a US Title shot is if Cena gives us his title shot at TLC. Cena eventually agrees to it after thinking it over. Ryder will now have another opponent. Otunga is at ringside and it’s announced that Zack Ryder will now face Mark Henry in a no dq and no countout match. Ryder does all he can but gets tossed around by Henry fairly easily. Cena eventually comes out and hits the AA on Henry and puts Ryder on top of Henry for the victory. Ryder celebrates and Cena raises his hand at the top of the ramp. After the match, Vickie comes out of JL’s office and confirms that Dolph Ziggler will defend the US Title against Zack Ryder at the TLC pay per view. WWWYKI!
Kevin Nash squashes Santino Marella. Nash looks very slow in this match. He struggles to lift Santino for any moves and nearly stumbles over when he does the jack-knife. This is horrendous. I’m not bitching for the sake of bitching here. Nash and Triple H will have to beat each other bloody to make the fans ignore just slow this match is going to be. It’s awful and Nash just needs to disappear. I believe Santino Marella could work a better match with his damn trumpet than what you will see from Nash and Triple H at TLC.
Sheamus is Dolph Ziggler’s opponent for the qualifying match tonight. They didn’t give us much time for this one but it was two top wrestlers showing us exactly how much talent there is in WWE today. Sheamus picks up the victory with the big boot when Zack Ryder comes down and distracts Dolph. Darn; there goes Dolph being double booked on a pay per view again. I actually like watching the guy compete multiple times in a show. He’s entertaining enough to do it and can have a good match with just about anybody.
The contract signing for the Triple Threat TLC WWE Championship match was only saved by Punk’s humor. After all the implications that this was going to be a brawl, Punk turned it into exactly that and wound up beating down both challengers. Punk celebrates as the show goes off the air. I like the potential for the match between these three. I think the Miz is more likely to win the WWE Title than Del Rio if the belt is going to change hands again. Either way, I expect Punk and the Miz to continue feuding for some time into 2012.
So to sum up the show, you had eight matches given and none of them really had enough time. Johnny Ace did a better job with his words given all the segments he had. He’s sort of almost kind of winning me over. It’ll take more time though. That said, storylines were finally pushed and things are finally rolling for the pay per view. I’d give the show more of a thumbs up than a thumbs down to be totally truthful, but Kevin Nash made it a close argument for me. RAW has been getting better as of late and I hope the Slammy’s aren’t too horrible next week. I’ll be back Friday with Smackdown! Until next time, you’ve been ThunderStruck!
