The show opened with a John Cena-narrated tribute to Veteran's Day/US troops around the world. There were several plugs throughout the evening and I really respect this partnership that the WWE has with the armed forces.
This was the first time that I remember seeing the 'recap' opening to Raw (complete with the epic-voiceover-guy!). Issues raised were the Jerry Lawler return, the [awful] Cena/AJ/Vickie situation, the Brad Maddox/Ryback confrontation and Punk's epic 358 day WWE Title reign. Not sure how I feel about this opening - give me a few weeks to get used to it!
Orton vs Ziggler gets turned into a tag team match by Teddy Long (Is he famous for this or something?!) - with the additions of Kofi and Alberto Del Rio on the sides of their Survivor Series teammates. A positive from this match was that the faces sticking together after - no mention of their heated rivalry before - a nod to the average wrestling fan's memory of previous feuds! After this match Ziggler had stayed in the ring and was joined by Vickie. Great, we're going to get more allegations that nobody cares about! I can't understand why Ziggler would still be sticking his nose in this crap unless there's going to be a Cena match out of it.
Prediction #1: After being floored, I can see that being a reason why Ziggler would screw Cena out of the title at Survivor Series and then start a proper feud between the two that can stretch over the next couple of months.
Also from this mess is now the possibility of Cena and AJ getting together in the future. The 'never would happen' line was quickly taken back by Cena... I pray that this leads to the possibility of AJ going crazy and scorned that Cena even said that it would never happen - another person who could screw Cena at Survivor Series maybe?
The best segment(s) of Raw came next with the Jerry Lawler return. Cole and JR welcomed back Lawler to a greatly deserved reception. This guy had a major heart attack and is back just TWO MONTHS later. Respect. Enter Lawler to thank the fans and everyone for the support over this situation. Once he'd said what he needed to say there was only one thing to do with this section of the show - get some top heel heat - enter CM Punk.
Punk began to berate Lawler, saying that he was trying to steal the spotlight by having the heart attack. He followed up by comparing figures; Lawler was clinically dead for 15 minutes. For Punk this meant nothing compared to the 358 days that he has been WWE Champion... and if Lawler doesn't 'croak before the PPV', he'll see that figure raise to 365. This was then followed up with the fake Heyman heart attack and Punk 'save' - which Punk is taking credit for on Twitter still!
This was such a great situation to gain some hatred for the top heel in the WWE. Playing off a real life situation was always going to create controversy - the one thing you can take from this is that if Lawler was ok to go through with this then it was justified to do. After all; he is the guy that this happened to do.
Foley coming out, and the confrontation that followed, cleaned up the traditional survival match, too. It was nice of Foley to say that he was pissed that their 5on 5 match was cancelled, but he's pleased that Punk's been forced into the triple threat so that Ryback/Cena can 'teach him a lesson' by taking the WWE title away - the only way that Punk will be taught one. I kind of feel that Foley being 'Enforcer' in the main event was his retribution, unless they revisit this feud after Survivor Series. Great, emotional promo from Foley here, too.
Just a quick note/prediction on Punk reading Heyman the riot act backstage to sort the problems he has: Maybe somewhere down the line, after 'x' amount of tellings off (and Punk losing the title to Rock at the Rumble), Heyman turns on Punk and brings Lesnar out, setting up a 'Mania match between Punk and Lesnar? Everyone else is coming up with their crazy scenarios so this is mine! The only thing in my mind saying this isn't a possibility is that Punk hasn't been a heel that long so turning him face probably won't happen for a while yet.
Ryback vs Maddox was as expected (and it bothered me a little that the WWE 13 game clip gave away the finish?!). Bit of a longer squash than usual but I suppose he deserved a bigger beating. I can't help but wonder what Heyman spoke to Maddox about earlier in the night:
Prediction #2: Maddox screws/distracts Ryback at Survivor Series. So to recap the earlier prediction (#1); I think Ziggler has enough of a reason to screw/distract Cena and Maddox will distract Ryback enough so that Punk can pin Cena (again *yawn*) to retain heading towards TLC.
Other thoughts
- Can't believe they gave Cena vs Punk FREE on Raw. But I suppose after loss after loss, he needed the win going into the PPV.
- Daniel Bryan and Kane started to get a little boring, but the talk before the tag match was awesome! Bryan's jealous girlfriend act was a nice addition to their partnership.
- Miz revealed on Team Foley was no surprise - after quitting Team Punk and one slot being left on the face team, there wasn't many names that could've filled that space (were Ryder or Santino ever getting on that team?).
- Were Cole and Lawler both faces on the show?
- Please let Cesaro retain at the PPV and that be the end of R-Truth... also, they REALLY don't like Tensai (bring back Albert!!)
- The future: 8 man tag team match between Rey/Sin Cara/Gabriel/Kidd vs PtPers/Epico/Primo was a great showcase of the tag team division - great high flying, cruiserweight action at times! Them matches with Cesaro have really raised Gabriel and Kidd up to being mainstays on Monday nights.
- I wonder if it hurt Cena's hand when he missed the devastating, potentially paralysing move that is the 5 Knuckle Shuffle!
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