By Jason Powell

WWE Raw on the USA Network
Live from Milwaukee, Wisc.

[Q1] The opening video played... Michael Cole introduced himself and Jerry Lawler on commentary... Vince McMahon's music played and he walked onto the stage. Cole said it was the first time we've seen Vince in over a year. Vince congratulated the Packer fans on the Super Bowl win.

Vince said it's time for WrestleMania. He assured fans that WrestleMania would have something special that separates it from the others like it always does. Vince said the man he'll introduce next week is the master of those moments. He said there's only one man capable of guest hosting WrestleMania in front of 75,000 fans, and we'll meet him next week. Vince thanked the fans.

Powell's POV: Wow, that was uneventful. A guest host for WrestleMania? It seems too soon to bring Shawn back to television, but he fits that description.

Randy Orton's music played and he headed to the ring as Vince made his exit. The announcers narrated highlights of Orton punt kicking Husky Harris last week. Orton said that Punk better not think that makes them even. He said it will cost Punk a lot more than Harris.

Punk's music played and he walked onto the stage by himself. Punk sat down on the stage and said he was stunned that he and Orton agreed on something. "You're right, Randall, this isn't over," Punk said. He played a clip from Unforgiven 2008 of Orton interrupting his promo and calling him a fluke, which led to Legacy attacking him and then Orton punt kicking him.

Punk was shown watching the video on the big screen. He said he waited all this time to get his revenge. Punk said his actions are defensible. "I am right, you are wrong," Punk said. Punk vowed that Orton will not be the WWE Champion again as long as he's breathing.

Punk said he didn't feel like waiting until Elimination Chamber. "I'm going to eliminate you right now," Punk said. The rest of Nexus (minus Husky) joined Punk and hit the ring. Orton fought them off initially with a microphone while Punk watched from ringside. The threesome eventually got the better of the situation and then Punk entered the ring.

"Now, as I was saying," Punk said, only to have Orton break free and attack him. David Otunga, Michael McGillicutty, and Mason Ryan attacked Orton and tied him up in the ropes. Punk stood up and was bleeding from the nose. Punk got in Orton's face and talked smack. Orton kicked him.

Nexus roughed up Orton again. They picked up Orton and placed him on Punk's shoulders. Punk hit the GTS on Orton and then stared down at him. Punk mocked the Viper's pose briefly. Punk raised his fist and the rest of the Nexus did the same...

Powell's POV: I love it when they go to the video vault to tie stories together. Punk was great on the mic and the feud now feels personal rather than feeling like John Cena and Randy Orton just swapped opponents. I almost forgot Vince was on the show already. By the way, Chris Shore is tweeting during Raw. You can follow him at Twitter.com/The_shore_slant.

[Q2] [C] The horrible Triple H movie trailer was shown... The announcers recapped the Nexus attack on Orton... Highlights aired of Michael Cole reading a message from the Anonymous General Manager during the break. He said every member of Nexus will be in action, culminating with C.M. Punk vs. John Cena...

1. R-Truth defeated Mason Ryan via DQ in 2:25. Ryan targeted Truth's knee. He slammed him so that his legs caught on the ropes. Ryan locked in a submission hold in which he wrapped Truth's leg around his head. The ref reversed his decision when Ryan would let go of the hold. Ryan applied the hold again, stood up, and dropped Truth from that position...

Cole hyped that The Miz wants to publicly congratulate Jerry Lawler on becoming No. 1 contender... [C]

Powell's POV: At times like these, I turn to the world famous philosopher and wordsmith Sean "X-Pac" Waltman, who just wrote the following on Twitter: "Who the f--- thought that would be a good finish for a guy like Mason Ryan? Terrible finish. My God!" I probably would have left the f-bomb out, but it's hard to argue with Waltman on this one. By the way, Truth screwed up and said Green Bay during his promo, which led to a bunch of Milwaukee chants from the crowd. Funny.

[Q3] Backstage, Punk confronted Ryan as he entered the locker room. "What was that?" Punk asked. He eventually smiled and told him well done. He told McGillicutty and Otunga that he wants anyone in the Elimination Chamber match to be injured. "That's what we do, we injure people, we weaken them," Punk said.

Otunga asked if Punk was sure that he wanted him to be the one to take out Sheamus. Punk said he had a plan, and told Otunga to have faith...

Powell's POV: Truth seems like the odd guy who doesn't belong in the Elimination Chamber. They're talking injuries, so perhaps they are setting the stage for Truth to be replaced.

2. Eve, Tamina, and Gail Kim defeated Melina and The Bella Twins in 2:25. Natalya joined the announcers on commentary for the match. She bickered with Cole and complained that Eve didn't pin her to win the title. In the ring, Eve hit a neckbreaker on Melina and scored a clean pin...

Powell's POV: They announced Eve vs. Natalya for the Divas Title on next week's Raw. Here's hoping Eve learns to throw a better clothesline before then.

The latest 2-21-11 video aired. We got a longer shot of the cabin and another shot of the trench coat guy's boots. The Johnny Cash lyric, "There ain't no grave, can hold my body down," was featured... [C]

Powell's POV: Welcome back, Taker. I'd love to think it's a swerve, but all signs point to Undertaker.

The announcers spoke as a graphic showed Aaron Rodgers of the Packers wearing the championship belt on the MVP podium at the Super Bowl... They set up a video package for the Elimination Chamber...

Powell's POV: Very good video package that showed Triple H, Batista, Undertaker, and Chris Jericho, among others. Best of all, it featured Jim Ross's voice. He's apparently not good enough to appear on Raw ever week, yet WWE isn't afraid to dig up his sound bytes when they really need to sell something.

[Q4] [C] 3. John Morrison pinned Michael McGillicutty in 2:30. Early in the match, McGillicutty pinned Morrison's arm between the ring and the ring steps. He dropkicked the steps, but Morrison pulled his arm out at the last second. Back in the ring, Morrison went on the offensive. Morrison hit Starship Pain and scored the clean pin.

After the match, Morrison celebrated and headed to the top of the ramp. Punk walked onto the stage with a spray can and sprayed it in Morrison's face. Punk smiled as Morrison writhed on the ground. Trainers ran out to tend to Morrison...

Powell's POV: McGillicutty is improving, but he still has a ways to go with the facial expressions. He looked to the crowd at one point and instead of looking like an arrogant heel who was mocking them, he looked like a guy who was desperately hoping they were going to give him a reaction. A good angle with Punk at the end. How many guys can one guy feud with? Are they setting him up for a major ass kicking in the Elimination Chamber?

Highlights aired of Jerry Lawler winning the Raw Rumble to earn a shot at The Miz... The Miz and Alex Riley came to the ring for a promo. Miz said he was pulling for Lawler last week. He called for Lawler to join him in the ring and excused Riley. Lawler joined him.

[Q5] Miz said he and Lawler are mirror images of one another. He said Lawler was a lightning rod throughout his career. Miz said people stopped and listened when Lawler had something to say. Miz said that in some way, he has patterned his career after Lawler's. "And then it happened," Miz said. "I became a modern day Jerry Lawler."

Miz said he's now the one on talk shows and everyone wonders what he's going to say next. Lawler mocked Miz's hair. Lawler said the difference between him and Miz is that while they both have big mouths, he can back his up. Lawler said that if Miz thinks he's a modern day Lawler, then he doesn't know Lawler as well as he thinks he does.

Lawler said he didn't pattern his career after anyone. "I'm an original," Lawler said. Miz called him a cheap shot artist. Footage aired of Lawler punching out Ted DiBiase from last week. Miz said it was like a sucker punch. Lawler said that's funny because he thinks Miz is a sucker.

Jerry said he's never been a WWE Champion, nor competed at WrestleMania. Lawler said no one knows what it would mean to him to be WWE Champion and compete at WrestleMania. Lawler said it's been a lifelong dream of his and he doesn't plan on letting the opportunity pass him by. "I'm going to be the WWE Champion," Lawler said. He added that he'll tell the interviewer that he's going to WrestleMania.

The Miz said that's where Lawler is wrong. He said the only thing the world will here is "I'm The Miz and I'm..." Lawler cut him off and inserted "awful" instead. The crowd picked up on the chant. Miz took a swing at Lawler, who ducked and fired away on Miz. Riley tried to help, but Lawler dumped him over the top rope.

Ted DiBiase ran out to attack Lawler. Daniel Bryan ran out and cleared DiBiase from the ring. The anonymous general manager's email chime sounded. Cole stood up and announced King and Bryan would face Miz and DiBiase. Riley joined Cole on commentary for the match...

4. Jerry Lawler and Daniel Bryan defeated The Miz and Ted DiBiase (w/Maryse) in 9:05. Lawler got the better of Miz early, but Miz came back and dumped Lawler to ringside before the break. [C] After the break, the heels were in control of the match. DiBiase worked over Bryan as Cole vented about how big Lawler's ego is.

[Q6] Bryan came back and performed a suicide dive on Miz at ringside. "Nerd!" Riley yelled. Funny. Inside the ring, Lawler performed a second rope fist drop on DiBiase and scored the pin. Cole continued to sound off on commentary. Riley insisted that he will not let Lawler beat The Miz at Elimination Chamber...

Powell's POV: Riley did a nice job on commentary. I liked the angle that set up the match. I'm pleasantly surprised that Miz didn't take the pin. He needs to have some credibility if he's going to be champion heading into WrestleMania. Speaking of Mania, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson would be a hell of a guest host. He'll be filming a movie around that time, but maybe he'll schedule a day away from the set. The guest host has to be better than Vince's setup. The old man is 0-2 in his last big hype moments.

At ringside, Cole hyped Black History Month features on the WWE website and then mocked Lawler briefly. They recapped Vince McMahon's appearance at the top of the show, and hyped that Vince will name the host of WrestleMania when Raw takes place in Anaheim next week...

King Sheamus was on his way to the ring when Josh "The Stalker" Mathews appeared out of nowhere to interview him in mid-entrance. Mathews said he was asked to ask Sheamus about comments made by Mark Henry. "What comments?" Sheamus asked. Yeah, what comments?

Mathews claimed Henry said that the general manager should replace Sheamus in the Elimination Chamber match. Sheamus said Henry has never been a World Champion. He said Henry should shut his mouth or he'll shut it for him...

Powell's POV: That was lame. Since when do they interrupt ring entrances to get comments on smack talk that no one even heard? It just felt forced.

David Otunga made his entrance, but he was interrupted by Mark Henry's music. Henry walked past Otunga to go to the ring to brawl with Sheamus. Henry ended up hitting a pair of World's Strongest Slams. No one cared, but I guess WWE got to follow up their Black History Month plug.

A shot aired of Otunga standing over the fallen Sheamus with his fist in the air. A shot aired of the rest of Nexus laughing backstage. Alberto Del Rio's music played. He drove his car into the arena as Ricardo Rodriguez introduced him. [C]

[Q7] Del Rio was in the ring after the break. He bragged about winning the Royal Rumble and said his destiny is to become the next World Hvt. Champion...

5. Alberto Del Rio defeated Santino Marella in 3:00. Santino threw Del Rio over the top rope in a pre-match brawl as the announcers pointed out that he would have gone to WrestleMania if that had happened during the Rumble. Del Rio took a big bump through the ropes and onto the floor. It looked like he failed to use the ropes to slow himself down.

The crowd rallied behind Santino whenever he went on the offensive. They fired up when he set up for The Cobra. However, Del Rio dodged it and went after Santino's arms. Del Rio applied the cross armbreaker for the submission win...

Powell's POV: That was fine for what it was. Santino woke up the live crowd, and Del Rio got a clean win on Raw. I like the way Del Rio licked his chops when he saw that he had Santino prone for his finisher. It's a nice touch that made him look sadistic.

The announcers narrated Mason Ryan destroying R-Truth, and then Punk spraying and kicking Morrison on the stage. They showed John Cena doing a flashy/nerdy handshake with some dude backstage... [C]

A graphic touted that WWE Smackdown has been the No. 1 show on Syfy since it debuted on the network on October 1... The announcers hyped Edge vs. Dolph Ziggler with Vickie Guerrero as the special referee for Friday's Smackdown television show...

Vickie Guerrero did the "excuse me" bit to mega-heat and walked to the ring with Dolph Ziggler for a promo.

[Q8] Vickie had to yell over the top of the booing crowd. Awesome. The boos turned to cheers when John Cena's music played. Cena said he was there to issue an apology for R-Truth. He said that after the Green Bay Packers won the Super Bowl last night (big pop), Truth may have celebrated too long and thinks they're still in Green Bay (crickets).

Cena got the crowd behind him again by yelling that they are in Milwaukee and putting it over as the home of Laverne and Shirley and Pabst Blue Ribbon (no love for the Old Milwaukee red rockets?). Cole said he's bored by Cena and said he does the same stuff every week. Lawler couldn't believe what he was hearing.

Vickie continued to try to yell above the booing crowd. Cena led the crowd in a "Go, Pack, Go" chant. Vickie and Dolph threw their hands up and left the ring. Cena said it was time to get serious. He pointed out that Nexus beat up everyone they've come in contact with tonight.

Cena said he would bet his last PBR tall can that Nexus would come down and get involved in the match. Cena said he was going to beat Punk and take on Nexus. He said he didn't know how he was going to do it, but he was going to go through them and remain in one piece and then go to the Elimination Chamber and then on to WrestleMania... [C]

Powell's POV: Truth is going to be hearing about the Milwaukee thing for a long time. Triple H should hear about his crappy movie trailer even longer, but something tells me that some of his peers will act as if he delivered an Oscar worthy performance. Great heat for Vickie, and the live crowd loved Cena.

The second 2-21-11 video from earlier tonight was replayed...

6. C.M. Punk defeated John Cena by DQ in 4:50. Punk came out alone. Cena looked to the entrance ramp a couple of times. Punk jumped out to the early advantage.

[Overrun] Punk continued to dominate the offense and threw Cena to ringside at 3:00. Punk jumped off the apron and clotheslined Cena. Punk flashed a sadistic smile. When they rolled back inside the ring, a "C.M. Punk" chant broke out briefly. Punk followed up with his high knee and bulldog out of the corner followed by another smile.

Lawler sold it perfectly by sounding agitated while saying he wants someone to wipe the smirk off Punk's face. Cena dodged the GTS and went on the offensive in the corner. The referee pulled him back and told him he's in control. Cena shrugged his shoulders and intentionally low-blowed Punk for the DQ.

The rest of Nexus ran to the ring. Ryan tended to Punk on the floor while Otunga and McGillicutty entered the ring and walked slowly toward Cena. Lawler stood up and handed Cena a chair, which he used to rough up the two Nexus members and clear them from the ring to end the show...

Powell's POV: A copout finish is better than ruining whatever momentum Nexus picked up tonight. I was also encouraged to see Ryan avoid the Cena chair swinging by staying with Punk on the floor. He's being treated like he's a notch above the other two Punk minions, and that's a wise move.

Overall, this was a solid show that continued the build toward Elimination Chamber. Lawler and Miz did a good job of selling their match, Punk was spotlighted nicely until the end of the show, and they provided some hype for Friday's Smackdown television main event.

Unfortunately, the Vince McMahon appearance was a big letdown. They didn't bother to say where he's been or play up The Nexus angle that led to his departure. Worse yet, he did a mediocre job with his brief promo. Maybe it's just hard to take the guy seriously when he previously boasted that NXT would be "the next evolution in television." Thanks for watching along with me tonight.

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