RAW
A Martin Luther King Jr. edition of Raw comes to you live from Anaheim, California.
MLK tribute.
Justin Roberts introduces Mick Foley. Foley says he came back to WWE in a pure nostalgia role. He talks about his history in Anaheim at WrestleMania 2000 and says he wants to take part in the Royal Rumble because his kids haven’t seen him wrestle much. Vickie Guerrero and Dolph Ziggler come out and say he doesn’t deserve to be in the match. Ziggler mocks Foley’s kids. Foley says anyone can win, and mentions his three WWE Championship runs. Ziggler counters with bragging of his recent accomplishments, and says he’ll win the WWE Championship and the Royal Rumble. Ziggler tells Foley to go home, eat a salad and go away.
CM Punk’s music hits. Ziggler rips on Foley and Punk’s clothes, but Punk counters saying they don’t dress like everyone else and don’t hide behind a woman. Punk says Ziggler has John Laurinaitis in his back pocket, and that he’ll retain the WWE Championship. Punk says it’d be fun to defend the title against Foley. Everyone started bickering, so Ace came out to the stage and says he’ll be an unbiased ref at the Rumble. He says he’ll consider Foley’s request to be in the Royal Rumble, but quickly says “no.” Vickie is laughing at Foley to end the segment.
Backstage, Kofi Kingston & Evan Bourne are without their titles, and dropping them to Primo & Epico. Overall, a nice exchange to start the show. Foley/Ziggler could be a match at WrestleMania too. The segment took roughly 17 minutes.
WWE Tag Team Championship: (C) Epico & Primo d. Evan Bourne & Kofi Kingston (D)
Bourne made the hot tag to Kingston. Epico with a good nearfall on Kingston, but Kofi counters with Trouble in Paradise. Primo took out Kingston on the floor, leading to Epico pinning Bourne with the Backstabber at 3 minutes. Why so short? Reports have Bourne being in the doghouse, either related to his suspension or for him leaking R-Truth’s suspension. Keep checking the site for updates.
Backstage, David Otunga tells Ace someone there to see him. Ace books Ziggler, Mark Henry & David Otunga vs. CM Punk, Daniel Bryan & Chris Jericho. Jericho is smiling but remains quiet. Jericho shut the lights off in the room, then posed as his jacket lights glowed in the room.
Zack Ryder vs. Jack Swagger for the United States Championship later. Eve says Ryder should be at home recovering, as Ryder has taped ribs.
Kane/Cena/Ryder recap from last week.
Jack Swagger entered along with Vickie Guerrero. They replayed the finish of the Ryder/Swagger match from last week with the blown call. There was a debate about it between Cole & Lawler. It still seems like a legit blown call to me, but they are turning it into an angle. The match is up after the break.
(Commercial)
United States Championship: Jack Swagger d. (C) Zack Ryder (D-)
Dennis Haskins, aka Mr. Belding from Saved by the Bell is behind the announce desk. He’s got a petition going to become the new Raw GM. Swagger hit a pair of Gutwrench Powerbomb, but Ryder kicked out of both. Swagger hits a third one for the pinfall at 3 minutes. We have a new US Champ. Ryder got zero offence in, and was selling the rib injury hard. Ryder’s title reign fell flat.
Backstage, Ryder getting looked at by a doctor. Ace comes in and says he got a doctor’s note that Ryder isn’t cleared to compete.
Perez Hilton comes out to announce the next match. Why? He got mostly boos. Rightfully so.
Kelly Kelly & Alicia Fox d. Nikki & Brie Bella (F-)
After Twin Magic, Perez Hilton pulled one of the Bellas out of the ring. Kelly rolled up the other for the pinfall at less than 1 minute. I think there was a total of 2 moves in that match. Pathetic. Post-match, one of the Bellas pushed Perez, who took a bad fall.
Replay of Big Show KO’ing AJ on SmackDown.
Royal Rumble flashback from 1992. Solid show.
R-Truth starts the second half of the show. Wade Barrett immediately interrupts and asks Truth if that’s his real name. Barrett says he’s happy Foley isn’t in the Rumble, but says he and Truth are both in. Truth says he was at Disneyland and wants to show his pictures. He brings out a great slideshow of Mickey, Minnie and Donald Duck. The fans are “What?” chanting after he said it was OK. Truth says Pinnochio told him Barrett was going to win the Rumble, but then his nose grew longer. “And I don’t even know if that’s PG!” Awesome. Randomly, The Miz jumps Truth. Sheamus’ music hits and he makes the save. Teddy Long comes out and books an over the top rope match.
At the top of hour two, R-Truth walks out. He’s not in his ring gear. Before he can talk, Wade Barrett interrupts with a microphone asking R-Truth if that’s his real name. He’s in his ring gear. He says he’s glad Mick Foley isn’t in the Rumble. He said he’s in the match, so is R-Truth. Truth said it was okay for the crowd to “WHAT?” him so they did. Truth was at Disneyland earlier in the day so he wanted to show Barrett his slideshow. He met Mickey & Minnie, then Donald Duck. The photoshopped photos were hilarious. Truth is doing great off the “WHAT?” chants. He said Pinnochio told him that Wade Barrett was going to win the Rumble and look what happened, his nose grew. “I don’t even know if that is PG.” He says he believes a mouse can talk, an elephant can talk and he believes that Barrett won’t win the Royal Rumble. Out of nowhere, The Miz attacked R-Truth. The music of Sheaus started up for the save. Here’s Teddy Long. I wonder if he’s making a tag match? I guess R-Truth does have his ring gear on. No tag match. Instead, it’s an over the top rope challenge between Miz, Barrett, Truth & Sheamus.
Over the Top Rope Challenge: R-Truth d. Sheamus, Wade Barrett & The Miz (D)
Barrett was out first. Truth snuck up behind Sheamus and Miz and dumped both of them over the top at 4 minutes. Post-match, Sheamus hit Miz with a Brogue Kick.
Backstage, John Cena is complaining to Ace about Ryder getting screwed. Ace books Cena/Kane at the Rumble and Cena/Swagger for later tonight. “Let’s go Cena/Cena sucks” chant over their segment.
Jack Swagger vs. John Cena ends in No Contest
Cena beat down Swagger on the outside, including a hard toss into the steel steps and a shot to the head with them. Everything took place outside the ring, so the match never officially begun. Backstage, Kane is seen on the jumbotron. He says he’s impressed by Cena’s performance, but says Cena will “embrace the hate” before the Rumble. The segment worked for Cena, but why bury your new US Champ in the process?
Brodus Clay d. JTG (F)
Clay kept his dancing routine from last week. He hit his running headbutt, an overhead suplex and a big splash in the corner leaning into the running Crossbody for the pinfall at 1 minute.
Daniel Bryan/Mark Henry for the World Heavyweight Championship on Smackdown.
Video package from last week’s Big Show/Daniel Bryan/AJ segment. Bryan asks AJ how much she loves him, making her take the heat for bailing on the match. Bryan came out to the stage and called Big Show a freak because he KO’d his 95 pound girlfriend. AJ has been traumatized and will never recover. He said Show didn’t apologize for what he did. Bryan threatens Show to not show his face on Smackdown or else he’ll pay. Bryan dedicates Friday’s match versus Mark Henry to AJ. Good promo overall.
Dolph Ziggler, Mark Henry & David Otunga d. CM Punk, Daniel Bryan & Chris Jericho (C)
The whole match is teasing a tag to Jericho. Big pop for Y2J. He eventually gets one from Bryan, but then leaves, getting some boos. Awesome. Bryan with the hot tag to Punk, who hit his usual set before Henry broke up the pinfall. Bryan and Henry are fighting up the ramp, so Punk is alone. Foley runs out and tells the ref that Ace allowed him in the match. Foley gets the hot tag and works over Otunga. He pulls out Mr. Socko and gets the submission at 13 minutes. Post-match, however, Ace comes out and says he didn’t allow Foley int he match, so he reversed the decision.
Punk grabs the mic from Ace and tells him to shut up. Punk goes on an awesome tirade, ripping Ace all over the place–from being a bad wrestler, to being a castoff as a Road Warrior’s brother. He says Ace will screw him at the Rumble out of jealousy and spite, but Punk will come out better. He says he won’t GTS Ace if he gets screwed, but will kick his ass. Big pop for Punk as he leaves through the crowd.
Ace is angry in the ring, so Foley gives him a thumbs up. Ace does his usual thing, so Foley chirps him. Ace says he’s tired of being disrespected and bullied each week, and clocks Foley with the microphone to end the show.
Three Stars of the Show
* CM Punk
** Dolph Ziggler
*** Mick Foley
Final Grade: C+
A lot of promos, but they were all good. Ace was particularly strong tonight. Ace/Foley should continue and looks interesting as a potential Raw GM angle. Jericho remains quiet, but still isn’t getting booed much. Overall, a good show aside from the short matches.