Wow. The opening segment of this week’s Monday Night RAW was easily comparable to the infamous Stone Cold and Mike Tyson segment during the attitude era. With the slap and Cena’s bloody mouth setting the scene, this is going to be an interesting encounter.
A straight-edge promo from CM Punk has been done before, but never with this much emotion. There was no cockiness or heel-a-tude involved. It was for an angle, but it was as close from the heart as a wrestling promo on the WWE can be. It was awesome. Even if you were turned off by the Punk/Jericho angle at first, you have to admit, its got a bit more luster than it had originally.
Much like Lesnar and Cena, the match between Punk and Jericho at Extreme Rules can be fantastic if done correctly.
Even the Three Stooges segments were fun, even with the unbearably annoying camera shakes. While Will Sasso’s Hulk Hogan impersonation was spot on, the fans didn’t dig it. They did enjoy Kane’s dismantling of Sasso though.
Overall, the show continues to pick up the pace after Wrestlemania.
Matches:
Brodus Clay and United States Champion Santino Marella vs. Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger w/ Vikki Guerrero: Intriguing that Clay actually sold a bit here. Swagger and Ziggler had some success in what was a decent opening match, but with no tag titles or any real heat between these four, this match was just for crap and giggles. The fact that Clay so easily dispatched Ziggler for the win after a T-Bone suplex and splash- and Swagger didn’t break up the count- makes us call shenanigans on this one.
Cody Rhodes vs. R-Truth: A few minutes into this one, Big Show once again hit the ramp to embarrass Rhodes. Just like last week, it worked again, as Truth hit his jumping “Little Jimmy†Downward Spiral finisher for the win.
Lord Tensai w/ Sakamoto vs. Yoshi Tatsu: Even with the “Albert†chants, Tensai destroyed Tatsu with a double-arm release suplex and then the Choke Bomb. After the referee called for the bell, it was the same thing as last week, the Poison Mist on the hand and then the Von Erich Clawhold. The crowd didn’t seem too excited.
WWE Heavyweight Champion CM Punk vs. Mark Henry: Jericho pissed off Punk before the match and the WWE Champion hit Henry with a TV monitor. After the DQ, Henry got the upper hand and caught Punk with the World’s Strongest Slam. Jericho also managed to hit Punk with a Codebreaker and pour more beer on the champ’s face.
Zack Ryder vs. Alberto Del Rio: Ryder hit the Broski Boot, but missed the Rough Ryder and got wrapped up in the cross-arm breaker.
Dave Otunga w/ John Laurinaitis vs. John Cena: Otunga needed to look good here. Even a respectful showing could improve his value and the standing of Laurinatis’ stable. He wasn’t amazing, but he proved he could hold his own with Cena. Like a typical Cena match, the heel had the advantage and out of nowhere, it was vintage Cena. A five-knuckle shuffle, Attitude Adjustment and STFU later and Cena was victorious. Lesnar hit the ring soon after and nailed Cena in the testes with a low blow kick and a F-5.
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