WWE Monday Night Raw 10/8/2012 Review

WWE Monday Night Raw 10/8/2012 Review

Last week's show is here:
http://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2012/10/wwe-monday-night-raw-1012012-review.html

John Cena came out to start the show. John Cena made fun of Kane/Daniel Bryan and got booed, then he made fun of Antonio Cesaro's "unusually large nipples". Aw, here we go, have to mess with Cesaro because he's an indy guy that internet fans like.  He then brought up the girls with AJ losing her mind but not her charm and he asked about a date with her to In-N-Out Burger. He then brought up Vince McMahon, Larry King and Arnold either being involved with the show tonight.

He brought up Punk and said the choice is up to him for Hell in a Cell. He then said that sometimes Paul Heyman is not a man, he is a punk.  He then said Punk needs to find his legacy at Hell in a Cell against John Cena. I guess as the guy who beat Cena four times in a row.

Ryback then came out. He stared down John Cena and headed to the ring for his match.

Ryback vs Primo and Epico
They mentioned Ryback's new nickame - The Big Hungry. JBL mentioned that Ryback bench-pressed 225lbs 15 times. I don't think that is super impressive. He then brought up Carlos Colon who he says still owes people money. The Colon cousins worked over Ryback together and he made his comeback with a backpack stunner. He clotheslined both men and lifted both men up on his shoulders for the shellshock samoan drop. He pinned both on top of each other to a good pop.

They went to break and pushed Big Show vs Randy Orton on WWE Main Event this Wednesday. I'll be reviewing it here so make sure to check it out.

Brodus Clay come out and Michael Cole brought up Flash Funk. R-Truth got a mic in the ring and got seperate microphone for Little Jimmy. He said Little Jimmy was going through puberty. He said tonight Little Jimmy "wanna dance". All of them danced and Jim Ross said that Little Jimmy was wearing a fanny pack.

Vince McMahon then came out and asked them to dance out of the ring. Vince McMahon said it was time for his state of the WWE address. Vince talked for a little about fans demanding action and CM Punk came out. CM Punk shaved his head. CM Punk accused Vince McMahon of taking a shot at him for not facing John Cena at Hell in a Cell. He says it's his perogative if he gives him a shot or not and mentioned that he beat him many times already.

CM Punk asked Vince McMahon, "Do you respect me?". Vince says he respects his title reign but doesn't respect that CM Punk is a Paul Heyman type of guy. Vince McMahon said that he is "not a CM Punk guy". Punk said that Vince should be kissing his feet right now. Vince said that what makes WWE is the WWE universe. He said the fans said that "somebody needs to shut your mouth" to CM Punk.

Vince McMahon said that CM Punk is nowhere near the caliber of Andre the Giant, Steve Austin, Shawn Michaels or Bret Hart. CM Punk said that he's nothing like Stone Cold and said that Stone Cold made it through taking shortcuts. CM Punk said that Vince had been slapping him for years and then he slapped Vince McMahon in the face. He said, "And now that's a slap in your face". Vince said he wants to fire him but it's too good for him. Vince then challenge CM Punk to a match tonight.  Paul Heyman told Punk not to do it but he accepted.

#1 Contender to the Tag Titles Tournament: The Primetime Players vs Rey Mysterio and Sin Cara
The PTP's beat Kofi/Truth to get here which I covered here: http://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2012/10/wwe-friday-night-smackdown-1052012.html

My pick for the final is Rey/Cara vs Rhodes Scholars with Rey/Cara winning, so we will see. Rey and Cara each wore half masks with both men's masks on them. They started out early with big dives to the outside before we hit the break. The screen shook when the returned during Sin Cara's comeback. Don't know if it was due to the reaction or what. JR called the faces offense a "hurry-up offense, a no-huddle". Darren Young hit a cool gorilla press into a boot to the body. Rey then hit a g19 on Darren Young and dropped the dime for the pin. It's a shame they cut to commercial during this because it was a really fun match. The PTP's are growing on me every week and you have to love Sin Cara and Rey Mysterio.

Paul Heyman was talking to CM Punk in the back and called this a no-win situation. Heyman brought up how even if Punk beats him, Vince will then obsess on how to make their lives miserable. Good line by Heyman. CM Punk said that there was nothing to worry about.

Sheamus vs Wade Barrett
Jim Ross pushed this as Ireland vs England. This is an interesting match as Wade Barrett really shouldn't lose at this point and it's unlikely that Sheamus would lose again after losing to CM Punk last week (See here: http://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2012/10/wwe-main-event-debut-1032012-review.html ).

No sooner did I say all of this than the Big Show came down. Wade got an early attack in on Sheamus while Sheamus was looking at The Big Show.  Michael Cole said that "Sheamus has been one of the great world heavyweight champions of all time".  JBL brought up that Regal has been mentoring Wade Barrett since they live only 10 miles apart. Wade Barrett and Sheamus made it to the outside with Sheamus starting to hold his knee as we went to commercial.

We came back with Barrett in control. Wade hit a big boot on Sheamus that had him hanging off the edge of the ring. Sheamus started to get the advantage after with Tensai coming into the ring to attack Sheamus in revenge for him interferring in their match friday (see here: http://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2012/10/wwe-friday-night-smackdown-1052012.html ). JBL was cheering for Tensai to punch Sheamus out, but Sheamus Brogue kicked both men out. Show then came in and threw Sheamus over the top which ended in a bad landing.

They mentioned Vince wrestling tonight and JBL compared it to "Babe Ruth coming back to hit one more home run". Jim Ross did not approve and JBL brought up that Vince was a "65-year old man". Jim Ross mentioned that he will have a talk with Vince and went up the rampway.

CM Punk went to AJ Lee in the back asked what she thought of Punk beating up AJ Lee.

Tyson Kidd vs Antonio Cesaro
They showed Cesaro at a cafeteria ripping on american food. He called the taco salad disgusting and said that all this crap is why Europeans talk about American obesity. Tyson Kidd did some nice flying here. Antonio Cesaro hit a gorilla press uppercut then a Gotch-style Neutralizer for the win. This was short but good. I would have liked a longer match as both men got the goods for it.

We came back from break with Vickie Guerrero introducing Dolph Ziggler. Daniel Bryan came out and got a giant pop. Kane had a different entrance with red smoke.

Team Hell No - Daniel Bryan and Kane vs Dolph Zigger and Alberto Del Rio
Kane and Daniel Bryan argued over who the tag team champion was while the crowd yelled "YES". Kane asked for a tag and Daniel Bryan yelled, "NO". We came back from break with DB/Kane getting the advantage. Dolph went for a huge splash here and hit all turnbuckle for a nice bump. They had a really long match here.  Kane hit a big chokeslam to get the win here. Good match but definitely a little long.

Jim Ross went to Vince McMahon backstage and mentioned that Vince called him his friend last week. He said that Vince has nothing to gain and brought up King fighting Punk and getting hurt.  Vince asked Jim Ross to announce Vince's match like he used to do with Austin by saying, "McMahon, McMahon, McMahon". He then yelled at JR to do it now and JR did it for him, which was awesome. Vince then quoted the Rock after JR says he can't do it by saying, "It doesn't matter what you think". Vince was having the time of his life here.

Larry King Now
Larry King was there with his very young wife(I'm sure it's for the love, not the boatloads of money) and introduced the Miz. Miz said it was the greatest day of all day's as it was his birthday. Larry tried to say something but Miz told him he should lead the audience in signing Happy Birthday.  King said that nobody cares about his birthday. He said he would replace a boring guest with a new guest and introduced his new guest, Kofi Kingston. Miz then called both Kofi and King amateurs and said he's had more championships than King has had wives and Kofi had main events. King's wife threw water at the Miz after he said that he would divorce King's head from his body. Kofi then went after Miz and threw him off the stage. Kofi then dove onto Miz and Larry King celebrated and said goodnight.

They showed clips of WWE 13 with Austin stunning McMahon and JR saying: "Big Mouth, Big Mouth Bradshaw".

#1 Contenders to the Tag Titles Tournament: Santino Marella and Zack Ryder vs The Rhodes Scholars - Cody Rhodes and Damien Sandow
Michael Cole said that the faces call themselves, "Team Slow Bro". They did an inset with the heels where they said they have an IQ approaching infinity and with Cody saying, "Woo Woo Woo, I know it".  They worked a pretty fast pace. JBL talked about not getting the "woo woo woo" stuff. Santino got the cobra ready here quick but Cody Rhodes hit a surprise disaster kick from nowhere for the win. This was a short but quick match and hey, my finals pick came true!

The Band (Slater, Jinder and McIntyre) came out after and stomped Santino. They all did different instrument poses after. Yeah, I don't like their chances. JBL compared them to Poison and Cole said, "Warrant's coming next". I'd be up for a Jani Lane run-in.

Paul Heyman was in the back and asked to broker the peace between Vince and CM Punk. Vince asked him if he even knows when he's lying or telling the truth. Paul said he was here for Vince's state, not Punk's. He said don't make Punk do to you what Brock Lesnar did to HHH.

Diva's Title - Eve Torres vs Kaitlyn
Kaitlyn arrived with a taped left ankle. JBL criticized Layla's accusations of Eve causing the attack on Kaitlyn. Kaitlyn put Eve in a really weak torture rack which could be explained by Kaitlyn's hurt ankle. Eve ended up getting a shot on Kaitlyn's ankle which turned the tide of the match. She then hit a sweet heel hook on Kaitlyn which Kaitlyn tapped to. A good and short match. Eve wouldn't let go after the match making Layla come in to make the save. Eve then stared down Layla and Eve tried to say she was sorry to Kaitlyn. Layla then pushed Eve and said, "I didn't do it".

We cut to the back with ADR and Ricardo. Josh Matthews showed ADR a tweet but ADR didn't care, even though it was by Randy Orton. The tweet said that Orton will be on Smackdown Friday. Josh asked if he was concerned by ADR and Ricardo left.

Daniel Bryan went to Larry King backstage and brought up how Letterman said King looked like an owl. He said that people called him a goat. He asked King's wife if he would be interested in him. She says she doesn't sleep with trolls who grew under privileges. King told DB to accept the insult. Kane jumped in and called him a goatface and they argued again. DB said that it looked like someone slapped Kane in the face with a fruit roll-up. Kane didn't notice that he scared off King as he thought it was Skeletor.

Paul Heyman was in the back with CM Punk and was trying to talk him out of it. He told Punk to give Vince a terrible beating that would render him senile and hopeless. CM Punk says that he is going to be the demise of Vince and is going to enjoy every second of it.

Vince McMahon vs CM Punk
Michael Cole mentioned that this is Vince's first match in 2.5 years. CM Punk attacked Vince from behind during his entrance.  He kneeds the crap out of Vince and then pounded on him. Punk threw off his shirt and Vince got up. He then speared Punk and pounded on him. Vince then took a big kick to the back of the head. The camera started to shake as Punk stepped on Vince's back. Punk threw Vince out of the ring then slammed his head on the announcer's table. He then took Cole's headset and said, "What a manuever!", quoting Vince's old line from his announcing days. Punk had Vince for the GTS but Vince pushed Punk into the post. Vince was bleeding under the eye here. He threw Punk over the announce table. Vince grabbed the mic and said he would teach Punk about respect. He dove over the announce table and hit Punk with the mic several times. Vince pushed a rolling chair into Punk and threw him back in the ring.

Vince went looking for a weapon under the ring and then found a kendo stick. He went to crack Punk but Punk went outside the ring. Punk asked for the championship and Vince went outside and cracked Heyman. He grabbed the title and told Punk to come get it. Punk got a kendo stick too from under the ring. Amazing how the production crew just left those lying around there. Punk and Vince dueled with Vince getting the advantage. Punk was begging off and the crowd was going nuts. He then low blowed Vince.

Punk grabbed both kendo sticks and beat down Vince.  He was going for the GTS when Ryback came down. CM Punk quickly ran out until John Cena threw him in. Ryback nailed Punk and went for the shellshock only for Punk to roll out. CM Punk went running out into the crowd to get away.

Vince got on the mic and asked if Punk learned something about respect. He said that Punk will either face Ryback or Cena at Hell in A Cell and gave him til next week to decide who to face. He said if he doesn't decide, he will make it up for him. CM Punched an innocent fan during this. The video of that is here:

Overall thoughts: I thought the show was good. There were some decent but short matches and there was nothing really stupid. The main was very good. The show mostly flew by and I really enjoyed Jim Ross, who was the star of this show. I do think that Vince looked too strong and Punk looked too weak, but atleast the match was entertaining and atleast the crowd loved it.