Roddy Piper deserves respect. The guy is a legend. Even if John Cen’s antics were a part of the skit, what occurred during the first 17 minutes of RAW was a joke. Supposed to obviously set up the thought of a possible Cena-heel turn, it was ruined.
Why?
Cena couldn’t shut up and let things simply come to him.
In an interview I did with Low-Ki this past summer, the World Warrior said many of the wrestlers in this generation think they have all the answers. While Cena is a made man, he could have benefitted from this situation so much more. All he had to do is keep quiet and let Piper intrigue the audience with the thought that the former WWE Champion could fall apart if he continued with his Boy Scout persona.
The way it stands, it was a waste of the first segment of the show. Considering how generic most of the action was afterward, this was possibly the only moment the show had to truly captivate.
The end result was a week show that wasn’t capable of being saved after a fun match between CM Punk and Alberto Del Rio for the WWE title.
Between the boring antics and promo work of John Laurinaitis, Del Rio and Wade Barrett, RAW, even with the inclusion of select Smackdown superstars such as Daniel Bryan and Randy Orton, is in need of a jolt.
Matches:
John Morrison vs. The Miz, in a falls count anywhere match: Morrison decided to wrestle even though The Miz took out his leg with a steel pipe before the bell rang. However, in spite of a quick flurry and some momentary offense, The Miz continued to work on Morrison’s legs and used a kendo stick and slammed Morrison’s leg against the turnbuckle. Eventually, the battle made its way to the entrance ramp, where The Miz hit Morrison with the Skull-Crushing Finale for the win.
Without a WWE contract, this appears to be Morrison’s last match in the WWE.
The Bella Twins vs. Kelly Kelly and Alicia Fox: Beth Phoeniz and Nattie Niedhart decided to run around the ring during this match and sadly, that made more sense than anything that happened during this encounter. After less than two minutes, Fox hit her flipping leg drop for the win.
Randy Orton vs. WWE United States Heavyweight Champion Dolph Ziggler: An overall lackluster match. Both of these guys are fantastic athletes, but the match just felt overtly routine. The commercial break in the middle didn’t help matters and while the contest sped up towards the end, with a nice exchange of offense, it was nothing we haven’t seen from these two before. Interference from Wade Barrett changed the game though and allowed Ziggler enough time to hit the Zig-Zag for the win.
Jack Swagger vs. Zack Ryder: A decent back and forth encounter that was over way before it started. After a few minutes of mixed offense, Ryder hit the Leg Lariat for the win.
WWE Champion CM Punk vs. Alberto Del Rio: Del Rio was on the offensive most of the match in what was the best of the night. The two traded aerial maneuvers, as well as high impact offense and near-falls in what was one of the better contests on RAW this year. It ‘s a great sign that these two were capable of having a different type of match than they did at Survivor Series. The hi-jinx that occurred at the end also didn’t take away from the contest overall, as Del Rio’s cheating ended up costing him the match, as Punk hit the Snake Eyes on the turnbuckle Del Rio exposed earlier, for the win.
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