WWE Monday Night RAW
February 11, 2011 – Anaheim, California
Announcers: Michael Cole & Josh Mathews [sub for Jerry Lawler]
[ REVIEWED BY STEVEN POST & BRAD DYKENS ]
IN THE RING
John Cena + C.M. Punk: Cena talked a little about Valentines Day. Cena then talked about the potential host for WrestleMania. His theory is that it’s Michael Cole because Vince last week said that the man had experienced a special moment that has never been seen before. He began to make fun of Cole for a couple minutes. Cena moved to a new topic that he really needs a new WrestleMania moment. He talked about the “rough” year he’s been having in regards to the Nexus. He brought up that in the Elimination Chamber the only man he would have to face from Nexus is C.M. Punk. That’s when Punk’s music came on and Punk came walking out. Punk pointed out that the last two times Punk faced Cena, he (Punk) came out victorious. Punk called himself and Cole good people. And even in the WWE, good things happen to good people. Then their match started.
SINGLES MATCH
C.M. Punk defeated John Cena: The announcers let us know that the rest of Nexus are banned from ringside for the match. Before commercial interruption, Punk had control of the match without question. After commerical Punk was still in control making a pin attempt. He continued to dominate the match Cena made a couple attempts to reverse things but Punk continued to put Cena into different submission holds. Cena finally reveresed things and got to perform all his typical moves that leads to the five knuckle shuffle. Cena tried the attitude adjustment but Punk escaped and took control of the match again. Punk attempted a flying cross body off the top rope and Cena caught him. When Cena tried the attitude adjustment. Punk grabbed the top rope and pulled himself out of the ring onto the apron. Cena knocked him to the floor. While the referee was dealing with Cena, an arm with a Nexus arm band on it reached out from underneath the ring and handed Punk a steel chair. Punk slid that into the ring. The referee saw the chair and immediately grabbed it to remove it. While the ref’s back was turned the arm reached out again with a wrench and Punk took it. Cena attempted to grab Punk from inside the ring and Punk hit Cena in the head with the wrench knocking Cena backwards. Punk got in the ring and performed the GTS onto Cena to get the win.
RINGSIDE SEGMENT
Michael Cole & Josh Mathews: Michael Cole introduced SmackDown! announcer Josh Mathews, filling in for Jerry “The King” Lawler, who was not there due to the death of his mother.
IN THE RING
Alberto Del Rio w/Ricardo Rodriguez + World Heavyweight champion Edge + Vickie Guerrero & the uncrowned World champion Dolph Ziggler: Del Rio reminded us again that it was his destiny to win the Royal Rumble but it is also his destiny to be the world heavyweight champion. That’s when Edge came out. Edge reminded Del Rio that a couple weeks ago Del Rio attacked Edge with a guitar. Edge claimed that he too has a destiny and then began attacking Del Rio. Edge was about to spear Del Rio when Ricardo got involved. Ricardo just got punched though. Del Rio was able to get out of the ring and when Edge tried to go after him, Del Rio punched Edge in the face. Del Rio almost got back in the ring but Edge speared Del Rio off the ring apron. That’s when Vickie Guerrero came out. She introduced Dolph Ziggler as the new heavyweight champion. They took time out to recap what happened last week on SmackDown! when Edge used his spear when he wasn’t allowed to. She said that Ziggler would have his coronation on SmackDown! this week. She also said that Edge would be losing his job soon because she had proof that Edge was involved in the attack on Teddy Long. Vickie started cackling with laughter at this point.
WWE DIVAS LUMBERJILL TITLE MATCH
WWE Divas champion Eve Torres defeated Natalya Neidhart: The ring was surrounded by Divas to act as lumberjills, including Maryse Ouellet, the Bella Twins, Gail Kim, Alicia Fox, Tamina, and Melina Perez. The match had a lot of back and forth with a lot of near falls. When Natalya got knocked outside all the heel Divas surrounded her. They started to attack her until the babyface Divas ran over to defend her. Eve jumped off the ring apron to knock most of them down. The camera lingered on Maryse a bit too long as she was covering her face for some unknown reason and the other girls were checking to see if she was ok. The action got back in the ring though. Shortly after that Natalya and Eve cracked skulls. When Natalya got back up she attempted to pin Eve but Eve twisted her body around to lock Natalya into a pin instead. Eve picked up the win. The two Divas shook hands in the ring.
BACKSTAGE SEGMENT
The Bella Twins + Eve Torres: The twins were arguing with Eve and bullying her. It quickly escalated to fighting until Gail Kim showed up to help Eve. Natalya also got involved in the brawl and referees had to break it all up.
RINGSIDE SEGMENT
Mark Henry + Sheamus: As Mark Henry was making his way to the ring for a match, Sheamus came running up behind him and hit him in the back and then scissor kicked him in the face. Sheamus asked for the ring announcer’s microphone. He reminded his upcoming Elimination Chamber opponents that this is what he is capable of. As Henry was getting to his feet again Sheamus hit Henry with another kick to the skull!
NON (WWE CHAMPIONSHIP/UNITED STATES) TITLE MATCH
WWE champion Mike “The Miz” Mizanin w/Alex Riley defeated WWE United States champion Daniel Bryan: Alex Riley joined the commentators table to help call the match. At first the match had a lot of back and forth. The Miz started to dominate, but eventually Bryan put the Miz in a submission move forcing the Miz to reach a rope to break the submission hold. Bryan had a gorgeous running drop kick he hit on the Miz in the corner. Later Bryan had the Miz outside the ring and he hit him with a flying knee off the ring apron and then later hit the Miz inside the ring off the top rope with an impressive missile drop kick. He tried another submission but the Miz reached the rope again. The Miz took control again by performing a neck breaker onto Bryan from the ring apron onto the floor. It looked pretty painful I have to admit. After commercial the Miz was in control but when he attempted a superplex Bryan reversed into a sunset flip power bomb. Bryan kicked the Miz several times in the chest. And then later kicked him in the head but the Miz continued to kick out of pin attempts. Finally, the Miz was able to get the skull crushing finale to get the pin. I daresay that this may be the best match that Daniel Bryan has had in a WWE ring.
IN THE RING
WWE champion The Miz: After his match, the Miz grabbed a mic and offered condolences to Jerry Lawler for having lost his mother this past weekend. The Miz however went on to say that he hopes Lawler doesn’t use this as an excuse for the reason Lawler would lose the upcoming championship match at the Elimination Chamber ppv. The Miz said he will be still WWE champion because he’s THE MIZ and he’s AWESOME!
TAG TEAM MATCH
R-Truth & John Morrison defeated Nexus (David Otunga & Michael McGillicutty w/ Mason Ryan): Morrison’s face was still red around his eyes from being sprayed in the face last week by C.M. Punk. Nexus dominated R-Truth but when Morrison got in the ring he got very aggressive throwing a lot of punches and kicks. He hit McGillicutty with a knee to the face to pick up the win. Mason Ryan attacked Morrison from behind but R-Truth & Morrison put a stop to that pretty quickly and forced him out of the ring.
PLUG: Chris Jericho‘s new book “UNDISPUTED” which is strange because WWE didn’t have anything to do with publishing it. They’re just kissing up to Jericho, begging him to come back.
IN THE RING
Ariel Winter + The Great Khali & Runjin Singh + Hornswoggle: She is Triple H‘s co-star in the Chaperone movie – which is intensely stupid. She was there to plug the crappy movie and praise Triple H. She was in the ring to bring back the Khali Kiss Cam for Valentines Day. Did I mention she is like 12 years old? Khali wished us a happy Valentines Day and they were going to be showing people in the audience and backstage kissing. They showed some audience couples, plus Santino & Tamina, Dolph & Vickie, Ted DiBiase Jr. & Maryse (who rejected Ted and kissed Yoshi Tatsu), William Regal & Zack Ryder (Regal actually kissed Ryder on the cheek and giggled – wtf?). Hornswoggle showed up acting all shy and gave Ariel a heart-shaped box of chocolates. She gave him a kiss on the cheek and he picked her up and spun her around. She yelled “Happy Valentine’s Day!” and accidentally dropped all of the chocolates on the mat and Hornswoggle started picking them all up fast! It was a mistake and the announcers ignored it.
SINGLES MATCH
Randy Orton defeated King Sheamus: Randy Orton is still looking over his shoulder anticipating an attack from C.M. Punk & Nexus at some point. After a tough match, Sheamus hit Orton with a Superplex. Both men were dazed and Orton hit an RKO out of nowhere for the win! Immediately the Punk & Nexus hit the ring and assaulted Orton. John Morrison ran down to help, followed by R-Truth, and eventually John Cena! Huge brawl. Orton RKO’d Otunga, then McGillicutty, then he and Cena knocked Mason Ryan out of the ring. Cena got some payback by giving Punk an Attitude Adjustment! Orton & Cena soak it up in the ring,
IN THE RING
The “host of WrestleMania 27” The Rock!: Justin Roberts announced “ladies and gentlemen, the host of WrestleMania 27….” and then there was a long dramatic pause…. ….. … . . . . .. .. . . . .. . All the lights went out one at a time with a loud locking noise each time. More “electrifying” special effects… followed by “IF YA SMELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!” and an appearance by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson wearing a ‘Just Bring It’ t-shirt. The Rock came out to the stage and milked the electrifying audience reaction before heading to the ring and soaking it in some more. The crowd chanted “Rocky” which they were also chanting 90 minutes ago during the prediction phase. The Rock marked out for the moment and then started with “After seven long years…. Finally! FINALLY! FINALLY, the Rock has come back to Anaheim! Which means FINALLY the Rock has come back to Monday Night RAW! Which means FINALLY the Rock has come back HOME!” He proceeded to cut a promo about his history with the WWE. The Rock said he needed to tell the fans something as himself, saying it’s been a long time since he’s been back, but he wanted to tell them why he’s back. The Rock said it wasn’t about the money, and wasn’t to promote a movie, he was there because of the fans. The Rock when he left seven years ago he dreamed big and the fans helped him accomplish his goals because they never left his side. The Rock wanted to tell the millions of fans around the world THANK YOU, he LOVES YOU, and it’s because of them he is back in the ring and he is never ever going away. That’s a bold statement. Dwayne put his sunglasses back on and proclaimed “The Rock is Back!” The Rock claimed he called Vince McMahon and asked him if he could host WrestleMania. The Rock actually dropped Justin Beiber’s name and said he was a cool kid, but there was only one man capable of hosting WrestleMania. The Rock snapped into Attitude era Rock and promised to layeth the smackd own at WrestleMania. The Rock teased who he had his sights on; The Miz? He sucks! The Rock said there was one more man he wants to see, and that man is…….. suddenly an email came in from the Anonymous RAW General Manager. Michael Cole took great pleasure in interrupting the Rock to read off the email for everyone. The Rock said if Cole took one step towards the computer he would slap the taste out of his mouth. The Rock said he won’t let Cole interrupt him when he is LIVE on RAW. The Rock said nobody gives a damn about what the Anonymous G.M. has to say. Cole plead his case. The Rock asked Cole what he thought, and then did the “it doesn’t matter what you think!” insult. The Rock told Cole to know his roll and shut his damn mouth! The Rock said if Cole doesn’t he’ll have some cool pictures to post on his facebook tonight. The Rock said he would step out of the ring, going to the computer, shine it up real nice, turn it side-ways, and stick it straight up Michael Cole’s candy ass! The Rock keeps saying “ass” which Cena got it trouble for a few months back. Cole finally sat down humiliated. The Rock back to teasing who he wants to see face-to-face at WrestleMania. He said this person started talking trash about the Rock, and his name is John Cena. This started a faint “Cena Sucks!” chant. The Rock said the WWE has gone from the powerful Austin 3:16, to the dominant iconic Can You Smell with the Rock is Cooking’, all the way to You Can’t See Me! (said in a sarcastic child’s voice). The Rock said a blind bull stuck in a basement Steve Wonder can see his monkey ass! The Rock made fun of Cena’s colorful ring gear looking like a big bowl of fruity pebbles. There was a lot of laughter, but there were scattered boos to that last comment as well. The Rock said he would see John Cena at WrestleMania, and then hyped that this WrestleMania he would show the world why he is the most electrifying man in all of sports entertainment! The Rock finished by saying “the Rock and the millions of the Rock’s fans go to WrestleMania and electrify the world like no one else can! If ya smelleelelelelelel what the Rock… IS……………… COOKIN’!”