WWE Raw TV report Jericho vs. Ziggler
WWE Monday Night Raw
August 10, 2012
Fresno, CA
Rob McCarron
Tonight is the night...
- We get the fallout from all the big matches at the SummerFest!
Show opens with Paul Heyman and Brock Lesnar out to bask in the glory of Brock's SummerSlam victory. Paul reminds us of the actions of last night, and said that Brock Lesnar forced Triple H to quit on everyone and left him a shell of his former self. Paul called out referee Scott Armstrong, and Scott timidly walked to the ring while Lawler in the background sounded worried for Scott. Brock told Scott "good job" for his work last night in letting the two men fight. Paul kept saying that Brock ended Triple H's career last night, so he then anointed Brock the new 'King of Kings' and master of the 'Brocktagon.' Brock and Paul left, with Brock smiling. Paul was great here, but crowd was pretty quiet.
CM Punk touted that he's picking his next opponent.
Match: R-Truth & Kofi Kingston & Sin Cara vs Titus O'Neil & Darren Young & Cody Rhodes
Sin Cara pinned Cody after Cody was too distracted by his obsession of unmasking Sin Cara. There was a commercial break during the match, which happened after Sin Cara went to the top rope early, leading Cody to scram. Sin Cara looked good, albeit in a short spurt. Jerry Lawler at one point called Cody ugly.
Backstage, Matt Striker introduced AJ Lee. David Otunga returned! He plugged his movie with Halle Berry. Otunga offered legal services to AJ, saying he'd sue anyone who called her crazy. AJ's demeanor changed immediately, and she put Otunga in a match with TBA later. She said that Punk is okay to pick his next opponent, then skipped off.
Match: The Ryback vs Mike Spinner & Andy Tavares
The jobbers got no entrance and no graphics for their names. Crowd was quiet for the match, sans a few 'Goldberg' and 'boring' chants. Ryback was calling his opponents 'Jinder' during the match, building up his SmackDown program with Jinder Mahal. Speaking of, Jinder ambushed Ryback as he was setting up his finish. Mahal locked in his camel clutch, but Ryback stood up in it and brushed Mahal off. Ryback then hit his finish on the two jobbers to end the segment. I assume Ryback won by DQ although no announcement was made.
Backstage, Dolph demanded a rematch with Chris Jericho. AJ skipped in, and made the rematch. She stipulated that if Jericho won, he gets Dolph's Money In The Bank contract. However, if Jericho loses, his contract with WWE is terminated. So this is Jericho's out...
Or is it?
Backstage, Alberto Del Rio was storming in the halls. Ricardo offered him water, but he swatted it down.
Alberto came to the ring, sans vehicle, and with a short ring introduction. Del Rio claims he was robbed at SummerSlam, and shows photos on the Tron to prove it. He demanded another title match against Sheamus. AJ, for the first time in front of the audience, instead made a match between Del Rio and Randall Orton.
Match: Randy Orton vs Alberto Del Rio
Orton won with an RKO after Sheamus distracted Del Rio. Sheamus did commentary at ringside and admitted he got a lucky break last night at SummerSlam. Del Rio was showing his frustration during this match, but also took time to mock Orton's fist pounding on the mat. As Orton went for his first RKO, Ricardo provided a distraction. Sheamus got up from commentary and Ricardo bailed. Alberto was able to hit a lungblower, and went for the pin. Orton had his foot on the ropes, but the ref couldn't see it, so Sheamus alerted the ref before the three count. Del Rio was furious, but was caught with the RKO for the pin.
Video of a WWE.com interview of CM Punk aired, with Punk saying that no matter how he won, he won, and deserves respect.
Video from SummerSlam of Antonio Cesaro proclaiming his greatness in five languages aired. We also saw Antonio and Aksana's victory TOUT. Then, another recap of WWE's week in Los Angeles.
Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Brodus Clay.
Match: Brodus Clay vs Damien Sandow
Pay Per View be damned, this match is too big for a 2hr45m PPV. It needs a 3hr7m Raw! Clay squashed Sandow for most of the match, but Sandow was able to roll him up after Brodus missed a splash in the corner. After the match, during Sandow's celebration, Clay slammed Sandow and gave him the big splash. Brodus and the girls danced in the ring with kids afterwards.
Shawn Michaels appeared via satellite from San Antonio. Michaels said last night could very well be the end of HHH, and that Lesnar and Heyman have no integrity. HBK claims he went to the last couple of Raw's to be supportive, but now realizes he was just a distraction. Shawn admits he didn't think HHH could beat Lesnar, but didn't have the heart to tell HHH that. Shawn ended his speech by thanking HHH, and saying he has nothing to be ashamed of.
That was the best thing all night to build the story that HHH may be done.
Match: David Otunga vs Big Show
Big Show pinned Otunga after a punch. Big Show dominated, allowing no offense from Otunga.
Possibly the best reactionary promo of Big Show's career aired. Okay, that may be exaggerated. It was a WWE.com interview from last night, with Big Show complaining of being doubleteamed in the WWE title match.
Video promo for WrestleMania 28 airing, condensed, on NBC this Saturday night.
Match: Kane & Zack Ryder vs Daniel Bryan & The Miz
I have a feeling this will be our longest match of the evening. Ryder was very slow to enter the ring, and kept his distance from Kane. The announcers put over how it was crazy that Ryder and Kane were teaming together after their violent history. AJ Lee, it was claimed, put this match together so Kane and Daniel could work out their anger issues. The crowd was more vocal during this match than anything else prior, mostly because of their interactions with Bryan but they also showed love for Zack Ryder. After a few minutes, we started seeing dissension between the teams. Daniel went to land an elbow into his corner on Ryder, but Ryder ducked and Bryan hit Miz. Shortly after, Bryan went to tag Miz but Miz dropped down in refusal. This lead Bryan to slap Kane before leaving the ring and running away. Kane, angry, chokeslammed Ryder. Kane tore apart the announce table and beat up a timekeeper before going back to the ring to tombstone Ryder. Another non-finish, and no match result announcement was made. I was wrong on my longest match hunch.
Well, Zack, at least you got on the three hour Raw for once.
Another WWE.com exclusive aired, this time we got John Cena's thoughts on his loss. Again, this was a more honest tone in an interview than the normal scripted and over the top promos. I actually have liked these quite a bit, and hope they do more of these.
Backstage, CM Punk picked John Cena as his next opponent... on one condition.
Match: #1 Contendership Battle Royal to the Diva's Championship
Rosa, Natalya, Tamina, Aksana, Kelly Kelly, Alicia Fox, Eve, and Kaitlyn were in the match. Odd Beth isn't involved. Cole sarcastically called this riveting action. Lots of whatever eliminations. Kaitlyn eliminated Eve to win. Brad Maddox debuted as a ref here, raising Kaitlyn's arm in victory. An awkward minute of staredowns, camera cuts, and blank staring ended the segment.
Via Tout, Brock Lesnar quit WWE. He's leaving, and never coming back.
Wade Barrett return video aired. He punched and kicked guys in slow motion.
Cole and Lawler promoted the new WWE iPhone and iPad app.
Backstage, Vickie demanded that Dolph win the match for her. She needs to manage a world champion. Dolph said the match was huge for him, the biggest of his career.
Match: Dolph Ziggler vs Chris Jericho
Okay, this is my new guess for longest match of the night. With one hour of build, Chris Jericho's WWE career is on the line in this one. Jericho went for several covers early. Jericho hit some tope rope moves, also, including a pretty good looking hurracanrana on Dolph. Story was each guy wouldn't wait very long to try a pinfall attempt, as they each needed the win. Finish saw Dolph block a lionsault, and hit the ZigZag for the pinfall win. Dolph keeps his MITB contract, while Jericho's WWE contract is terminated. Seems a bit harsh.
Dolph was showing off, celebrating all around the ring while Jericho sat on the mat in shock. Jericho took the MITB contract from Vickie, and belted Dolph with it. The crowd was mixed in their reaction, as many seemed to see it as being a sore loser. Jericho hit his Codebreaker on Ziggler, and raised his arm to mild applause.
The trailer for the new WWE Films presentation 'The Day' starring the guy from Lost and the girl from Rules of Attraction aired.
It's time for the main event of the evening! CM Punk's one condition vs John Cena's response. Battle for the ages.
Punk began his main event speech by demanding an apology from Jerry Lawler for his words several weeks ago about Punk turning his back on the WWE Universe. Before Lawler could apologise, John Cena's music hit and the green clad superhero made his way into the ring. Punk asks Cena if he couldn't have waited to steal the spotlight. Punk started with what sounded like a full on heel rant on Cena and the lack of respect Punk gets. The crowd chanted 'Cena sucks' at this point, but it didn't gain traction. Punk has said the word 'respect' 32 times so far on this show. Please, don't go back to check that. A louder 'Cena!' chant began, while Punk issued his one demand of Cena to get the title match ~ John has to admit that Punk is the best in the world. Cena had a rant on respect of his own, and then refused to call Punk the best in the world. Cena's reasoning was that he has to believe he's the best in the world, so he cannot call someone else the best. He has to believe in himself so that others can believe in him. Cena said that Punk has been champion for 274 days, and noone remembers anything about him except the night he blew Vince McMahon a kiss goodbye. John offered vindication as the reason that Punk should wrestle him for the title, a chance to beat John Cena at Night of Champions in Cena's home town.
So after that well done speech by Cena, one that made a lot of sense...
Punk brushed off Cena, and turned back to Lawler and demanded an apology. Yep. Well, Lawler got in the ring, and called everything a misunderstanding then apologised to Punk. Lawler turned and walked away, but Punk stopped him. Punk demanded that Lawler call Punk the best in the world. Lawler couldn't do it. Punk kicked Lawler in the head, and stared over his still body. So... heel now? Punk stared off into a booing crowd, then knelt over Lawler's body to end the show.
Three hours and fourteen minutes later.
Final Thoughts:
Some pretty great buildup, but then weird follow up all in the same show. Paul Heyman called Brock the new gatekeeper and master of the WWE Universe, but then he quits. Cena cuts a very good promo on Punk's quest for respect, but Punk doesn't respond. I figure it was done to fully turn Punk, but really, Cena's promo would have a better chance of being remembered if it was the final thing on the show. You could have done Punk's heel turn next week. Plenty of time.
Overall, this was a show. A show to setup the build to Night of Champions. We pretty much have our main event with four weeks to go, so that's a plus.
