WWE RAW opens up with a look back at TLC and the title unification match.
- We're live from RAW in Dallas, Texas as Michael
Cole welcomes us. The entire WWE roster is out on the stage as Triple H's music
plays. He is in the ring with Stephanie McMahon. The ring has a black cover on
it as Stephanie welcomes us to a historic edition of RAW. Stephanie says it's
time for everyone to pay respect and honour to one man. Triple H says WWE's
rich history collided with its bright future last night and we crowned a
champion of champion. Triple H introduces the new WWE World Heavyweight
Champion and out comes Randy Orton with both belts. The roster parts and makes
room for Orton to walk out. John Cena is there and they stare at each other.
Orton raises the titles up and stares as Cena. Daniel Bryan looks on as Orton
heads to the ring.
Orton poses with his gold as The Authority looks
on and smiles. Orton says it's a nice feeling when your faith is rewarded.
Orton says but the fans didn't have faith in him at TLC. He says they all
bought into the lie that he's been handed everything his entire career. Orton
says he proved that last night. Orton says he sees the rest of the roster
beaming their jealousy at him. He says he's better than everyone. Orton says
he's the most powerful person standing in the ring. He's the WWE World
Heavyweight Champion and his reign... John Cena cuts him off and calls him an
idiot. Orton wants Cena's mike turned off. Cena says he's not going to ruin
Orton's moment but Orton has trouble speaking sometimes so he's going to sum up
what Orton's about to say. Cena mocks Orton. Cena congratulates Orton and says
he earned it. Cena quotes Steve Austin and says that title forces Orton to put
up or shut up every night. Cena wants Orton to put up or shut up tonight. Orton
says there will be no rematch tonight. Cena says he wasn't talking about
himself. Fans start the "yes!" chants up.
Cena proposes that Daniel Bryan gets a shot but Orton isn't hearing it. Orton
says he doesn't have to listen to anyone. Except us, says Stephanie. Triple H
agrees with Orton that Bryan doesn't deserve a shot right now. Stephanie says
however, the WWE Universe did vote Bryan as Superstar of the Year. Triple H
says he and Stephanie always listen to the WWE Universe and if they want that
match... fans start "yes!" chants again. Orton pleads but Triple H is
going to give Orton a chance to silence his critics. It will be Orton vs. Bryan
in tonight's main event. Bryan gets a "yes!" chant going and Orton
gets upset as Triple H's music hits again.
Fans have voted on WWE.com for Goldust and Cody
Rhodes' opponents tonight. That match is up next after commercial.
Goldust & Cody Rhodes vs. Big Show & Rey
Mysterio
This match was voted on by the WWE Universe prior
to RAW, with Big Show and Rey Mysterio winning the poll. The bell sounds and
Rhodes and Mysterio start things off. Mysterio beats up Rhodes a bit early on.
The match spills out to the floor with Mysterio doing a cool slide under the
bottom rope into a splash on Rhodes on the ground. Back in the ring, Rhodes
hits Mysterio with a disaster kick for a near fall. Rhodes follows that up with
a longly held inverted suplex for another near fall. Rhodes tags in Goldust and
Goldust picks up where his little brother left off. The fans chant “you still
got it” to Goldust as he continues the attack on Rey-Rey.
Goldust and Mysterio both make tags and Big Show
clotheslines Rhodes down to start off their battle. We head to a mid-match
commercial. When we return from commercial Big Show is in the middle of
man-handling Rhodes. Big Show does the “shush” sign to the crowd and chops
Rhodes. Rhodes tries fighting back but Big Show hits him with a big boot to
slow him down. Big Show puts a choke on Rhodes that he remains stuck in for
quite a bit before dropping down for a jawbreaker on Show to break free. The
fans start chanting “we want Goldust” as Big Show continues to control Rhodes
in the ring. Big Show hits maybe the loudest chop he’s ever executed in his
life on Rhodes that got a huge pop from the crowd and the announcers. Big Show
goes for a flying elbow smash off the middle rope but Rhodes moves. Rhodes
makes the hot tag to Goldust and the golden one goes nuts on Big Show until
Show chokeslams him out of nowhere. Big Show goes for the pin on Goldust but
Rhodes breaks it up.
Big Show throws Rhodes out of the ring and dodges
a cross-body attempt from Goldust. Big Show hits the KO punch on Goldust and
helps Mysterio up to stand on Big Show’s shoulders. Mysterio comes off with a
flying splash. 1-2-3. Big Show and Mysterio win what I guess was a non-title
match.
Winners: Big Show & Rey Mysterio
After the match, everyone helps Goldust up to his
feet. Rey is limping very badly.
Fans can vote on the WWE App for CM Punk's tag
team partners against The Shield - The Usos, Los Matadores or The Prime Time
Players. Back to commercial.
We get another ringside segment with Bad News
Barrett.
Kane, Stephanie and Triple H are backstage
talking. Orton storms in and is upset about having to face Daniel Bryan
tonight. Stephanie says they value Orton as the face of the company and their
friend. Triple H says they have Orton's back and he storms off.
Dolph Ziggler vs. Fandango
We go to the ring and out comes Summer Rae with Fandango. Back to commercial.
Back from the break and Dolph Ziggler is out next.
They lock up and go at it. Ziggler nails a big dropkick. Fandango goes to the
floor but clotheslines Ziggler on the outside. Fandango taunts Ziggler before
bringing him back in and attempting a pin. Fandango with more offense and
another pin attempt. Fandango with a heel kick and another 2 count. Ziggler
starts to make a comeback but Fandango cuts him off and takes control.
Ziggler comes back with another roll up out of
nowhere for the win.
Winner: Dolph Ziggler
Big E. Langston & Mark Henry vs. The Real
Americans
When we return from commercial, The Real Americans
are making their way to the ring. Out next is Big E. Langston, followed by Mark
Henry, both of whom we saw walking backstage to the ring as we went into
commercial break before this match. The bell sounds and Jack Swagger and
Langston start things off in this tag-team match.
Within seconds, Langston blasts Swagger with a
huge shoulder tackle, leading him to quickly tag out to Antonio Cesaro.
Langston man-handles Cesaro quickly as well, so Cesaro tags Swagger back in.
The fans chant “OU Sucks.” Langston tags Mark Henry back in. Henry plays to the
crowd by throwing up the Texas Longhorns hand gesture, so they all pop. Henry
beats up Swagger a bit and then tags Langston back in. Langston beats up
Swagger for a few seconds and tags Henry back in. Lots of quick tags from both
teams thus far.
Henry smashes Swagger with his big fat ass and
then yells to the fans “that’s what I do,” before quickly tagging Langston back
in. Swagger finally starts fighting back and then tags Cesaro in. Langston tags
Henry back in. Cesaro punches Henry maybe twice and then tags Swagger in. Man
there is a lot of tagging going on. Henry tags Langston back in within seconds
as another “OU Sucks” chant breaks out. Swagger tags Cesaro back in. Langston
clotheslines Cesaro out to the floor.
Back in the ring, Cesaro beats up Langston for a
bit but then Langston regains control. Swagger changes that by yanking Langston
out of the ring and stomping him out on the floor as we head to a mid-match
commercial. When we return from commercial, Cesaro is beating up Langston as
the fans cheer Langston on to make a tag to Henry. Cesaro powers Langston up
for a gut-wrench suplex. Very impressive showing of strength by Cesaro. Cesaro
tags in Swagger and Swagger picks up where Cesaro left off.
Langston tries fighting back but Swagger cuts him
off and tags Cesaro back in. Langston dumps Swagger out to the floor and
belly-to-belly suplexes Swagger. Langston and Cesaro are crawling for their
corners to make the tag. Langston tags in Henry and Henry runs over Cesaro like
a truck. He follows him down and crawl-headbutts him ala the Junkyard Dog.
Henry powerslams Cesaro for a near fall that is broken up by Swagger. Cesaro
goes for the swing on Henry but Langston tags in and flattens him. He hits the
“Big Ending” and pins him. 1-2-3.
Winners: Big E. Langston & Mark Henry
Ryback and Curtis Axel vs. Tensai and Brodus Clay
Xavier Woods and R-Truth are out on commentary for
this one. Ryback and Axel wait in the ring as Tons of Funk make their way out.
Tensai starts things out with Axel and strikes first. Tensai runs over Axel and
keeps control. Axel turns it around with a big dropkick. Axel works Tensai over
and tags in Ryback for some double teaming. Ryback slaps Tensai around as fans
chant for Goldberg. Tensai fights back but Ryback powerslams him for 2.
Tensai goes for a tag but Clay backs off the
apron. Ryback works over Tensai some more and hits Shellshocked for the win.
Winners: Ryback and Curtis Axel
- After the match, Axel taunts Tensai on his way
out of the ring. Clay enters and nails a big splash on Tensai. Cameron and
Naomi start yelling at him from ringside. Clay nails another big splash on
Tensai. Clay drags Tensai to the corner but Truth and Woods hit the ring for
the save.. Clay charges but they both dropkick him out of the ring. Clay calls
everyone a bunch of haters. Truth takes the mic and invites Cameron and Naomi
to join he and Xavier. Woods has them come in the ring so they can dance
together. Clay looks on pissed off from the stage as they dance in the ring.
CM Punk & Shawn Michaels
CM Punk comes to the ring as we see highlights of
his involvement in the big melee during the main event segment on RAW last
Monday night. Punk talks about not only not getting taken out at TLC but he
actually beat The Shield. Punk says he can’t shake the feeling that someone is
trying to sweep him under the rug. Punk talks about slugging Triple H in his
stupid mouth. Punk challenges Triple H to come out and resolve their issues
man-to-man, face-to-face. He says that’s unless he’s afraid of what Punk can do
to him with “this microphone.” HHH doesn’t come out. As Punk continues to
speak, Shawn Michaels’ music hits.
HBK comes to the ring. Punk tells HBK he wasn’t
finished. Punk says Hunter, actually Stephanie, whenever you’re ready, “The
Best In The World” has something to say. HBK begins to talk and the fans chant
“you sold out” at him. HBK tells Punk he understands his problem with
authority. HBK says Punk’s issues shouldn’t be with Triple H, he’s the one who
kicked him, Punk’s problems should be with him. Punk says he respects Shawn,
that’s the reason he’s getting a pass from him. HBK says kicking Punk hurt him
more than it did Punk. He says what he’s about to do now is going to hurt even more.
HBK introduces Punk’s opponents, The Shield. The Shield makes their way to the
ring through the crowd as we head to a commercial.
CM Punk & The Usos vs. The Shield
When we return from commercial, The Shield are
standing outside the ring. Punk is in the ring. Jerry Lawler announces Punk’s
partners, as voted by the WWE Universe, The Usos. The Usos make their way to
the ring to join Punk in battle against The Shield. The bell rings and this one
is officially underway.
Uso and Dean Ambrose start things off. Roman
Reigns is shown standing on the apron with a black eye as a result of his
missed spear at TLC on Sunday night. Jimmy Uso beats up Ambrose a bit and then
tags in Jey Uso. Uso picks up where…well, Uso, left off. Uso hits Ambrose once
or twice and then tags CM Punk into the match. Ambrose whips Punk into the
corner and then tags in Seth Rollins. Punk drops Rollins and tags in one of the
Usos. After a bunch of action, we head to a mid-match commercial.
When we return from commercial, Rollins is beating
up Jey Uso. That continues until Rollins misses a big splash in the corner,
allownig Jey to tag in Jimmy. Jimmy takes the hot tag and is flying all over
the place on Rollins in the ring. Rollins finally cuts him off and tags in
Ambrose. Ambrose keeps the pressure on Uso for a while until he tags in the big
guy. Reigns takes the tag and comes in to pick up where Ambrose left off.
The announcers talk about Reigns’ black eye from
Sunday’s TLC handicap match with Punk. Meanwhile, Reigns continues to beatdown
of Uso in the ring. Within a couple of seconds, Reigns tags Rollins back into
the match. Rollins beats up Uso a bit until Uso hits a flying cross body off
the top onto Rollins. Both guys are down and crawling to their corner. Rollins
tags in Reigns, who stops Uso from making the tag. Reigns goes back to work on
Uso. This continues until Uso blasts him with a big spinning kick and makes the
tag to Punk.
Punk takes the hot tag and is cleaning house on
all three members of The Shield. All the guys on both teams end up in the ring.
Uso flies onto Reigns on the floor. When the smoke clears, Punk and Ambrose,
the legal men, remain in the ring as the battle continues on the floor. Punk
dives through the ropes and hits Rollins on the floor. Punk stops Ambrose with
a big shot from the floor from doing the same thing. Punk hits a sloppy top-rope
flying elbow smash for a near fall. Punk calls for the GTS but some
interference stops that. He ends up hitting it anyways but is met by a spear
from Reigns, who Ambrose tagged in unbeknownst to Punk, for the 1-2-3. Believe
Ambrose was busted open during all of this. He was, the other Shield members
just pointed out the blood streaming down his face.
Winners: The Shield
AJ Lee, Tamina Snuka and Alicia Fox vs. Natalya
and The Bella Twins
Natalya and The Bella Twins wait as Tamina Snuka,
Alicia Fox and Divas Champion AJ Lee make their way out. Natalya starts things
out with Alicia.
AJ ends up hitting Shining Wizard on Nikki Bella
for the win. Nikki took a nasty kick to the mouth during the match from Tamina
and it looks like she may have been injured.
Winners: AJ Lee, Tamina Snuka and Alicia Fox
Randy Orton vs. Daniel Bryan
Daniel Bryan makes his way to the ring, followed
by the WWE World Heavyweight Champion Randy Orton. The bell sounds and our main
event is officially underway. I actually missed a few minutes of the beginning
of this match. When I came back, Bryan is in the middle of a half-boston crab
on Orton. Orton crawls to the ropes and breaks the hold. Bryan continues to
work on the leg of Orton, slamming his knee into the mat and then following it
up with some trademark Daniel Bryan kicks. Orton nearly takes Bryan’s head off
with a big clothesline and now both guys are down.
The cut on Orton’s head from last night opens up a
bit. He slams the arm of Bryan and JBL points out Bryan “screaming like a
little girl.” Orton continues to work on the arm of Bryan in the corner as the
referee forces him to break. Michael Cole points out that if you take Bryan’s
arm out of his arsenal, you take away his “Yes! Lock.” Orton continues to work
on the arm of Bryan as the fans chant “Yes! Yes! Yes!”
Bryan starts firing back with punches. The fight
goes out to the floor. Bryan goes to hit the dive through the ropes onto Orton
but Orton moves and Bryan crashes on the floor. We head to a mid-match
commercial. When we return from commercial, Orton is working on Bryan in the
ring. Michael Cole informs us that during the break, doctors attended to the
blood on Orton’s face. Orton knocks Bryan out to the floor. Orton back-suplexes
Bryan on the barricade and then throws him back into the ring. He tries pinning
him but Bryan kicks out at two.
Orton takes Bryan to the top rope and nails him
with a superplex. Bryan starts to make his comeback. He nails Orton with some
“Yes!” kicks and then clotheslines him down. Both guys are down. Bryan lands
some more “Yes!” kicks on Orton in the corner and then seats him on the top
rope. Bryan hits a flying huracanrana off the top and tries to pin Orton. For
some reason, the fans really bought into that as the finish, as they popped
huge and started a “this is awesome” chant immediately after it. Bryan’s
comebacks are pretty awesome, by the way. Orton slows Bryan down with a big
back-breaker.
Out of nowhere, Bryan goes for the “Yes! Lock” on
Orton. Orton fights his way out of it and tries throwing Bryan over the top
rope. Bryan ends up skinning the cat but walks into a big shot from Orton.
Orton stalks Bryan as he’s down, pounds the mat in Viper-style but Bryan pops
up and rolls Orton up, 1-2….Orton kicks out. Orton has checked his tooth about
two or three times, by the way, he might have had it loosened or knocked out or
something during a big clothesline spot earlier in the match, as Michael Cole
pointed out at the time. Orton goes for another superplex off the top but Bryan
knocks him off and hits him with a flying headbutt for another near fall.
“This is awesome” chants continue to echo
throughout the arena as Bryan starts firing up with “Yes!” kicks again. Orton
goes to roll Bryan up, 1-2…Bryan reverses it directly into a “Yes! Lock.” Bryan
has it this time but Orton eventually makes it to the ropes to break the hold.
Orton rolls to the floor to recover but Bryan dives out and splashes onto him.
Bryan whips Orton into the barricade and hits him with a running kick.
Back in the ring, Bryan hits a missile dropkick
off the top onto Orton and then starts blasting him with “Yes!” kicks. Orton
nails Bryan with a low-blow out of nowhere and the referee calls for the bell.
Orton has been disqualified.
Winner via Disqualification: Daniel Bryan
After The Match
John Cena’s music hits and out sprints Cena to the
ring. Cena tackles Orton and starts punching him. Within seconds, Cena is on
the receiving end of a RKO by Orton. Orton is handed his two title belts, which
he cradles like a baby before standing back on his feet and raising them in the
air proudly. RAW ends on that note.
