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By Rich Twilling

Aired live on pay-per-view
Minneapolis, Minnesota at the Target Center

The opening video played focusing on Kane vs. The Undertaker. Fireworks lit up the stage. Michael Cole and Jerry "The King" Lawler welcomed us to the show. They hyped Randy Orton vs. Wade Barrett.

They showed that ridiculous trophy and Matt Striker checked in on commentary. He hyped Kane vs. Taker and the Buried Alive set was shown...

Vickie Guerrero came out...

Twill's Two Cents: Son of a bitch.

She said Dolph Ziggler could date any woman, but instead, he dates her. Did anyone else catch that? Awesome. Ziggler made his entrance. The stage has a Raw side and a Smackdown side. The ring ropes are half red and half blue. Seriously...

1. Daniel Bryan defeated Dolph Ziggler (with Vickie Guerrero) in a Champion vs. Champion non-title match in 16:14. Bryan enjoyed some early success, but Ziggler was quick to exit the ring until he was able to grab the offensive advantage. Ziggler scored the first nearfall.

Twill's Two Cents: Okay, here is the ropes situation. They are all blue on one side and all red on the other. However, the ropes on both sides of the hard camera are half blue and half red. Get it?

Series of nearfalls for both men. Ziggler slowed down the pace. He scored a nearfall with a Mr. Perfect flipping neckbreaker. You would have though the Minnesota crowd would have appreciated that a bit more.

Bryan tried and missed a running dropkick onto Ziggler in the corner and fell violently backward. He came back though and hit several high impact kicks. Ziggler hit an impressive superkick of his own and scored a two count.

"Vickie Guerrero is like Kent Hrbek in a dress," said Striker. Dot Net Member Kent Hrbek is at the show tonight. Huge spot from the top with Bryan trying a back suplex and Ziggler countering in mid-air with a high cross body. Both men went down with dueling high cross bodies off an Irish whip.

Ziggler pinned Bryan, but Bryan's foot was on the bottom rope and the referee waved off the pinfall. Bryan applied the LeBell Lock and Ziggler tapped out. After the match, Vickie Guerrero and Ziggler argued with the referee...

Twill's Two Cents: Awesome opener and even better than I expected, which is saying something given my expectations were pretty high. I would love to see more from these two in the future, but we would need to see some sort of brand exchanges for that to happen.

Team Raw attempted to strategize backstage, but Sheamus and C.M. Punk did not want to listen to The Miz. Santino kept asking about snacks. Everyone took off and Alex Riley said Miz needed to get things together. Miz said the team was where it needed to be and chaos created opportunity...

Cody Rhodes and Drew McIntyre came out to the ring and bragged that nobody wanted to face them. The Raw GM said there was a team ready to face the tag champions tonight. Wade Barrett came out and introduced David Otunga and John Cena as their opponents...

Twill's Two Cents: I wonder how many kids elected not to have their parents order the show because they didn't think Cena was going to wrestle?

2. John Cena and David Otunga defeated Cody Rhodes and Drew McIntyre to win the WWE Tag Team Championships in 6:26. Once Cena tagged in, he did not want to tag out, and that infuriated Otunga. Rhodes and McIntyre double teamed Cena successfully.

Cena came back and still did not tag in Otunga. Cena threw McIntyre out of the ring but Rhodes made the blind tag. He was nearly able to hit Cross Rhodes on Cena, but Cena countered with the STF. Rhodes tapped out...

After the match Otunga celebrated with both belts and then gave Cena one. Cena then gave the Attitude Adjustment to Otunga and took off with both belts...

Twill's Two Cents: Storyline driven match of course that furthers Cena's undesired involvement with The Nexus. The tag belts don't mean anything anyway, but I wonder what will be next for Cody and Drew.

Backstage, Ted DiBiase complained that Goldust stole something that was a family heirloom. He said he would get the belt back tonight...

3. Ted DiBiase (with Maryse) defeated Goldust (with Aksana) in 7:37. Ted was in charge early on but Goldust came back and turned up the pace of the match. He scored a nearfall with a bulldog.

Goldust went to the top rope and jumped toward DiBiase, but DiBiase hit a dropkick. Powerslam by Goldust for a two count. DiBiase came back with a spinebuster for a two count of his own. On the floor, Maryse woke up the crowd by beating the crap out of Aksana.

Aksana was crying in the ring. Goldust checked on her, allowing DiBiase to score the win. Afterward, Aksana knocked Maryse down and grabbed the belt. Ted approached her and she seduced him. He fell for it and Goldust then hit him with the Final Cut...

Twill's Two Cents: Good match, but the crowd was not into it at all. By the way, why do they keep calling the Million Dollar Belt a championship? Has it ever been defended by Ted Jr.?

LayCool came out to the ring and badmouthed Minnesota. They even made a Brett Favre text messaging joke. Striker said it was "Shockmaster bad." ...

4. Layla (with Michelle McCool) defeated Natalya to retain the Unified Divas Championship in 4:51. Layla knocked Natalya to the floor, who thwarted the first McCool attack, but not the second one. Layla scored a nearfall.

Natalya fought back and hit a nice double underhook suplex. She tried to get the crowd into it, but they were making negative noise. Layla tried to leave, but Natalya threw her back in. Michelle kicked Natalya in the head without the referee seeing and Layla pinned her...

Twill's Two Cents: Yet another chapter in a division that is not very strong at all. I just don't know where they go with LayCool and if they will just keep having Natalya challenge them.

Wade Barrett was featured in the Survivor Series commercial. He said at the event, "you are either Nexus, or against us." ...

Josh Mathews cut a promo hyping the Buried Alive match while standing inside of the grave. A Kane vs. Undertaker video aired...

5. Kane (with Paul Bearer) defeated The Undertaker in a Buried Alive match to retain the World Heavyweight Championship in 16:48. Taker met Kane in the ramp and began beating on him. The crowd chanted "We want blood!" Not going to happen unless someone gets cut the hard way.

They fought in and out of the ring and Taker was in complete control. Kane did not get anything going until he hit Taker with a chair in the ring. He hit a chokeslam. He measured Taker and nailed him with a second chokeslam. Crowd was hot for Taker's moves. Quiet for Kane's.

Kane carried Taker toward the dirt and grave. Taker wiggled out and they exchanged huge right hands. Kane crawled away and they fought next to the open grave. Taker applied the Hell's Gate. Kane tapped but that meant nothing of course.

Taker released the hold and Kane was out. Taker rolled Kane into the grave. Paul Bearer nearly took a chokeslam as well. The Nexus came out and started beating on The Undertaker. Kane climbed out of the grave.

The Nexus held Taker for Kane and he nailed his brother with the urn. Taker fell into the grave. Barrett and Slater started shoveling dirt on Taker. Kane ordered them away and then a bulldozer full of dirt was dumped on Taker, giving Kane the win...

After the match, Taker's music played and his symbol was shown on the gravestone. They went from that shot to Josh Mathews with a cheesy smile on his face...

Twill's Two Cents: Didn't they use the bulldozer finish when Taker faced Vince McMahon? Anyway, formula brawl between the two and the finish wasn't even all that surprising. Sure, Kane and Nexus was weird, but you knew someone was going to interfere. That just wasn't very good.

Randy Orton was interviewed backstage and said if John Cena interfered in his match, he would make the decision easy for him by kicking him in the head in the middle of the ring...

Team Raw made their entrance, followed by Team Smackdown. Everyone came out separately...

6. Edge and Rey Mysterio, for Team Smackdown, that included Big Show (with Hornswoggle), Kofi Kingston, Tyler Reks, Alberto Del Rio, and Jack Swagger defeated The Miz (with Alex Riley), John Morrison, Ezekiel Jackson, R-Truth, C.M. Punk, Santino Marella, and Sheamus in a Bragging Rights elimination match in 27:54.

Morrison and Reks began the match. Every wrestler kept their Raw or Smackdown brand shirts on. Santino tagged in and tried to hit the Cobra, but Reks hit his finisher (Torture Rack Driver) and pinned Santino...

Marella was eliminated by Reks at the 2:36 mark, giving Smackdown a 7-6 advantage.

Big Show and Ezekiel Jackson were in the ring together and Show dominated him. Rey tagged in and Kofi followed, but Zeke grabbed the advantage by getting the best of both men. Kofi remained in the ring and worked over Sheamus. Sheamus came back with the High Cross for the win...

Kingston was eliminated by Sheamus at the 6:50 mark, evening the match at 6-6.

Punk and Mysterio came in for their teams. Punk nearly pinned Mysterio and then tagged in Sheamus. Del Rio and Mysterio had their issues. Alberto threw Rey into the barricade and Rey was taken to the back. He is not officially eliminated, so I'll assume he is still coming back.

Impressive work by both Swagger and Morrison, as they traded nearfalls. Morrison hit Starship Pain and pinned Swagger...

Swagger was eliminated by Morrison at the 13:06 mark, giving Raw a 6-5 advantage.

Sheamus and Reks went back and forth, but Sheamus hit the Borough kick and pinned him...

Reks was eliminated by Sheamus at the 14:29 mark, giving Raw a 6-4 advantage.

Show and Sheamus fought to the floor. Show was out of control and did not get back to the ring in time to beat the count...

Show and Sheamus were eliminated by countout at the 15:59 mark, giving Raw a 5-3 advantage.

Edge hit a spear on R-Truth and pinned him...

Truth was eliminated by Edge at the 16:28 mark, but Raw still had a 4-3 advantage.

Edge speared Morrison and pinned him...

Morrison was eliminated by Edge at the 16:48 mark, even the match at 3-3.

Punk pinned Del Rio with a backslide...

Del Rio was eliminated by Punk at the 18:19 mark, giving Raw a 3-2 advantage.

Mysterio came back and attacked Del Rio on his way. Miz came in for the first time and prevented Edge from tagging Rey. Edge could not get to Rey, as Zeke, Punk, and Miz worked on Edge. Rey finally tagged in and went back and forth with Punk.

Mysterio hit the 619 and then a slingshot (not a springboard) splash to pin Punk...

Punk was eliminated by Mysterio at the 24:07 mark, evening the match at 2-2.

Mysterio hit the 619 and tried his normal splash, but he tripped on the top rope. He still came down on top of Jackson and pinned him...

Jackson was eliminated by Mysterio at the 26:14 mark, giving Smackdown a 2-1 advantage.

Miz came in and nearly pinned Mysterio after Riley took a 619 from Rey. However, Rey countered a Skull Crushing Finale attempt, made the tag, and Edge speared Miz for the win...

The Miz was eliminated by Edge at the 27:54 mark, giving Team Smackdown the win.

Twill's Two Cents: That was a lot of fun. Nothing really stood out and I cannot fathom why Edge and Mysterio were given the win, when several of the guys in the match could have used the high profile victory. Perhaps they will take the rivalry more seriously throughout the year and next year, this match will mean something for the winner.

A Wade Barrett, John Cena, and Randy Orton history package played...

Barrett and Cena made their entrance. Cena still made nice with a fan by giving him his hat. Orton made his entrance and did not take hie eyes off of Cena. After the championship introductions, Barrett told Cena if he does not win the match, he is going to fire Cena tonight...

Twill's Two Cents: He said if he did not win the match; he did not say anything about not winning the title. I don't know. I could see Cena attacking Barrett, causing the disqualification and giving Barrett the win.

7. Wade Barrett (with John Cena) defeated Randy Orton by disqualification, but Orton retained the WWE Championship in 14:32. Very slow pacing early on with both men on the offensive at different times. At times, Orton looked at Cena, who had an emotionless look on his face.

Barrett showcased his bare knuckle fighting skills and then hit a second rope elbow. Cena's expressions changed up a bit, but that is still one of his glaring weaknesses. The referee got knocked down while Orton tried his hangman's DDT. Cena jumped up on the apron.

Orton pushed Barrett into Cena, knocking him to the floor. Orton was then attacked by the rest of The Nexus. Cena threw The Nexus out of the ring. Barrett wondered what Cena was doing, but Cena said he had to do it or Barrett would have been disqualified.

Orton came back and hit the hangman's DDT. He set up for the RKO but Cena ran into the ring and gave the Attitude Adjustment to Barrett. The referee rang the bell and disqualified Orton, giving Barrett the win...

Twill's Two Cents: Well, I called that one, and I wish I would have been wrong, because that was a crappy ending to the main event.

Orton and Cena went face to face and Orton hit him with the RKO. After a small celebration, Orton hit the RKO on Barrett. The announcers made the point that Barrett won the match, so Cena did not break orders and could not be fired. Show ended with a shot of Orton's stoic face...

Twill's Two Cents: Horrible show that ranks up there amongst the worst WWE pay-per-views this year. The elimination match was mindless fun, but the wrong guys won and the result didn't mean anything. The four title matches were bad or ended badly. The opener was great and then it was a landslide from there. I'll have more to say in tonight's Members' Exclusive Audio show.

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