WWE Monday Night Raw 12/24/2012 Review

WWE Monday Night Raw 12/24/2012 Review

Last week's show is here: http://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2012/12/wwe-monday-night-raw-12172012-review.html

They played the WWE Ring The Bell song to start the show. Santa Claus then came out to host Raw.

"You killed Santa." - The fans

Alberto Del Rio ran over Santa to start the show. NO! I am not joking! ADR = greatest face ever. If teaming up with the Brooklyn Brawler didn't work, THIS SURELY WILL!

Can you imagine how this could traumatize kids? Seriously, I can totally see kids right now going to mom and saying, "Mommy, they ran over Santa on wrestling! He can't come tonight!".

There are some mall Santa's that have some serious explaining to kids to do tonight.

Booker said Santa was down and ADR said it wasn't his fault because he always parks there. Santa then told Booker that Alberto will be in a Miracle on 34th Street Fight against John Cena.

"Do it for Santa. Santa! Santa!" - Booker T then the wrestlers.

Cody Rhodes vs Kane

Cole said that Kane is upset because "he has a very special relationship with Santa Claus". Lawler then said, "Cody needs to get a relationship with Santa because then he can ask for a better mustache.

"That was some real mistletoe right there." - Lawler

"Kane's in the christmas spirit. He's wearing red." - Cole
"He always wears red!" - King

"Kane looks like a christmas creature here tonight." - Lawler bringing up Kane's old gimmick as the Christmas Creature from USWA

Kane won with a chokeslam. It's a Kane match. You know what you are in for. Not bad really but nothing any different than usual. I guess Kane can't beat up Santa tonight...

Santa's Little Helper 8-Diva Tag Match - Eve, Tamina, Rosa and Aksana vs Alicia Fox, Layla, Kaitlyn and Natalya

Kaitlyn got the win for her team with a gorilla press into a gut buster. Not a good one here and the focus was mostly on upskirt shots of the girls. They all did their finishers in a finisher train until Kaitlyn got the win.

And he gets hit by ADR's car!

AJ and Dolph watched Cena getting turned on again:

"The best part of this holiday is a little tlc." - DZ

King then sang "Santa got run over by Del Rio" to the tune of "Grandma got run over by a reindeer" in a quick remark about the hit.

Lumberjack Frost Match - The Big Show vs Sheamus

"I think Show already got his gift. It was that giant chair at TLC." - King

"I think kids might be scared of Big Show as a santa."  - King

3MB refused to touch Big Show out of fear

Big Show sang Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer during this.

"It's like present opening time at my house." - King

"Big Show had a giant chair, but Sheamu just delivered an Electric Chair." - King

"Some kids get teddy bears for christmas, but you don't want this kind of bear a - a bear hug." - King

"Merry Christmas." - Show

"Well, you're supposed to go to sleep early on Christmas." - King

"Not exactly the three wise men." - King

Sheamus beat Big Show with a Brogue Kick. Pretty good match here as has been the usual. You have to give it to these two. They match up great and do some neat stuff together. The lumberjacks were as big of a focus as the wrestling but it all worked out. The lumberjacks wouldn't touch Big Show while they ganged up on Sheamus. The highlight of this one was King's awesome lines and Sheamus putting Big Show in the Electric Chair. After the match, the heels went after Sheamus and the faces cleared them out. Good match and good stuff all around. Rating:***1/4

Otunga commented on Santa getting hit with a car.  He said the crowd was being prejudice and pre-judging. He said that ADR was the victim. He said "The Jolly Geriatric" Santa was operating without a visa and destroying property.

Ryder interrupted.

Zach Ryder vs David Otunga

"You wanna interrupt my promo?" - Otunga

Ryder won with the Rough Ryder. Not that bad here. They mostly just worked the chin lock. Ryder then made his comeback and got the win. Rating:**

Booker told Brad Maddox, "You awful". He gave him another chance tonight to get a contract and said all he had to do was beat one of Santa's Elves. Booker said that this would be great television.

The Miz and Kofi Kingston vs Antonio Cesaro and Wade Barrett
Miz shook Kofi's hand, forgetting last time he did that he got kicked. Will be interesting to see who loses here.  No entrance for the heels.

Miz got the pin after a TIP kick and a skull crushing finale. Decent but not really a fraction of what they could do. The match was pretty short and I was surprised to see Wade take the L here. I was also surprised to not see the faces fight since Miz really should be getting revenge.

"How did you know?" - Dolph

 AJ gave Dolph the breifcase then revealed her DZ outfit under her robe.

Logan Shulo of IWC appeared as an extra during the update on Santa, which basically had no news.

Brad Maddox vs The Great Khali

"Brad Maddox is coming...to Raw!" - Maddow

They teased Hornswoggle being the elf.

Khali won with the tree slam. Brad got a bunch of offense in and looked like he could win it, but that wasn't gonna happen. Not as much of a squash as you would think. I have no idea where they are going with this unless it is supposed to be a running joke. That might work actually, but he's never going to be above jobber level now.

Khali sang Merry Christmas and Horny hoped Santa would be ok.

CM Punk came out:

Punk accused Khali of being from Pittsburgh because no one could understand him. This resulted in a "Here we go Steelers" chant. That is the Pittsburgh chant that people do when they are bored. The Steelers are huge here.

Punk said Ryback effectively ruined Christmas and Hanukkah for all the mutants. He said Ryback getting rewarded for injuring Punk sucks.

"Recently surgerized" - Punk

He said that all the people in the crowd were bar hoppers and the crowd cheered that.

"Let's get one thing perfectly clear. You don't boo this man." - Heyman

They brought up CM Punk now being champion for 400 days and mentioned Ryback failing to become champ.

"You could amputate this leg and I'd be better than you." - Punk

Ryback then came out.

Ryback said he got his gift of a TLC title match with Punk. the crowd then chanted TLC with him.

Daniel Bryan vs Damien Sandow

"Silence" - Sandow

Sandow apparently told Cole that Christmas is usually in January, not on 12/25.

"I hope Santa and Rudolph have a better landing than Daniel did." - King

DB won with the No Lock in a quick but decent match. Nothing wrong with this one at all. They mostly played up the No thing and that's about it.

12 Days of Christmas - 12 Man Tag - Brodus Clay, Justin Gabriel, Tyson Kidd, The Uso's and Santino Marella vs The Prime Time Players, Tensai and 3MB

Cole said Titus got Lawler a washrag. King said he got Titus a comb but "he'd never part with it".

Jey Uso got the pin after a Samoan Splash. Fun match here with lots of dives and just guys having a good time out there. Not great but a nice match and a fun segment.

Hell No exchanged gifts even though Kane hates Xmas:

"Thank you. It looks delicious." - Kane

DB then freaked out by saying, "Animals are our friends" and screamed "No".

AJ read a christmas poem to Ziggy:

They had some clever lines with AJ talking about wanting to hit Cena with a chair and Vickie getting fatter.

Striker reported on Santa, whose heart monitor started to play jingle bells.

Miracle on 34th Street Fight - John Cena vs Alberto Del Rio

"John Cena looks to save Christmas next here on Raw." - King

Ricardo tried to introduce ADR but he was crying during it.

"It was just an accident. I was not trying to hurt Santa, ok?" - ADR

"Oh no. Look what John got for Christmas." - Cole

Cena won with the AA. This was a totally fun match with SANTA CLAUS doing a run-in. If you couldn't enjoy this, I don't know what to tell you. I laughed so many times and this made my christmas. So much fun and you need to see this. Mick Foley was Santa here by the way and gave the heels a mandible claw.

Overall thoughts: This is one of my favorite Raw's ever. Fun show. They were in the Christmas Spirit here and made the show a good time for all. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves and this is the best christmas wrestling show yet. I don't know about running over Santa with a car though. Still, this is must see.