By Jason Powell

WWE Raw on the USA Network
Live from Richmond, Va.

We're starting our coverage before the top of the hour. Vince McMahon came to the ring, where Steve Austin, Luke Robinson, and Andy Leavine stood. Vince asked Austin for a hug for old time sake. Austin offered a Stunner instead. Vince asked the students what makes them think they should be in the same ring as greats such as Steve Austin and Andre the Giant.

[Q1] Andy made the mistake of saying "guaran-damn-tee." Vince took exception. Andy said he already knows he won. Luke was booed as he delivered his argument. Vince announced that they were on the air with Monday Night Raw. Vince teased that he was on the verge of picking the winner. Austin told Vince that wasn't going to happen since he's the host of the show. Austin was censored at one point.

Austin stared at the two contestants. Vince said he would have a drum roll if he was doing it. Austin said Vince is a dumb SOB, but it was a good idea. They used lighting special lighting and a drum roll played. Austin continued to look at both men. "And the winner of Tough Enough because I said so... Big Andy," Austin said.

Andy pumped his fist and the live crowd cheered. Austin shook hands with Luke, who walked over and shook Vince's hand. Andy and Luke shook hands, and then Luke handed his title belt over to Austin. As Luke was leaving the ring, Austin told him he did a good job.

Austin asked Vince if he had any words for Andy. Vince said he's not so sure whether he would have chose the other guy. Vince slapped Andy, who fell to the mat. Once Andy got to his feet, Austin gave him a Stunner. Vince smiled. "Welcome to WWE, you son of a bitch," Austin said. "Congratulations and that's the bottom line because Stone Cold said so."

Andy sold the move by falling to the floor and stumbling around while Austin drank beers inside the ring. Austin reached out and shook Andy's hand. Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler noted that the show was just getting underway with Steve Austin and Vince McMahon standing in the ring. Austin called for more beers.

R-Truth's catchphrase played. He came to the ring in a Civil War outfit and was singing as music played. Lawler was cracking up and saying that Truth has lost it. Truth said the Raw general manager said he had to apologize for what he did. Vince stopped R-Truth and said they needed to show everyone why he had to apologize.

Powell's POV: Good move to show the clip. It's one of those little things that WWE does extremely well, whereas TNA really needs to start airing more highlight clips for viewers who don't watch on a weekly basis.

Back live, R-Truth said, "I want to say I'm sorry, I'm a good R-Truth," he said. Truth apologized to Big Jimmy, Little Jimmy, and the soda he threw. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Truth said. Austin told him he should be sorry for dressing like a jackass.

R-Truth said he was wearing the Civil War uniform because they were in Richmond, which was the capital of the Confederacy. Austin said that was about 150 years ago, and questioned what difference it makes today. Truth said nothing good ever came out of the south. He said the best idea they had was seccession.

Truth announced that he is seceding from WWE because he's the victim of a companywide conspiracy, and directed the comment at Vince. McMahon told the same joke about Truth's first name being "R" a few times because the crowd never laughed. Vince said Truth knows where his office is if he wanted to discuss something.

The Miz's music played and he walked down the ramp wearing a suit and saying "really" a few times. Miz said R-Truth had the Chairman of WWE in the ring, but was taking about a made up conspiracy. Miz said that if it wasn't for Alex Riley, he would still be the WWE Champion. He complained about the cheap shots from "the ungrateful nobody," and said he deserves another shot at the title.

[Q2] Alex Riley's theme played and the crowd cheered. Riley headed to the ring wearing a suit and said the only Miz deserves is a third straight beatdown. John Cena's music played and he headed to the ring wearing his usual gear. Cena recalled making The Miz say that he quit repeatedly. "I'm not general manager, but you will not get a rematch for the WWE Championship," Cena said.

Cena approached Riley. He said he doesn't like him or trust him, but he manned up and showed him he had a set by going after The Miz. Cena turned his attention to R-Truth, mocked the uniform he was wearing, and insinuated that Truth has mental issues. Cena said Truth should take the ridiculous outfit off because he already apologized and now has his WWE Championship match.

The Anonymous General Manager's email chime sounded. Cole delivered his line, but Vince stopped him by saying, "Michael Cole, shut up!" Vince booked R-Truth and The Miz vs. John Cena and Alex Riley as the show's main event. "Oh, and there's just one other thing, the special guest referee is 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin," Vince said... [C]

Powell's POV: A strong first segment. Vince's appearances aren't as meaningful as they used to be, but I like the way that everyone in the ring got some rub from appearing with Vince and Austin. R-Truth antics cracked me up and were definitely memorable. I figured we'd get an insincere apology, but I didn't see that coming. I must question the decision to not push Austin's appearance harder last week, and to not even tease that Vince McMahon was going to show up.

1. Santino Marella (w/Vladimir Kozlov) beat Michael McGillicutty (w/David Otunga) in 4:40. Lawler actually told an F Troop joke regarding R-Truth. More on that in the commentary. Santino got the advantage, and Otunga helped McGillicutty at ringside. Kozlov ran over and knocked Otunga down. Santino hit The Cobra on McGillicutty and got the win...

Powell's POV: For those of you wondering what the hell Jerry Lawler was talking about when he mentioned F Troop, it's a sitcom that aired on ABC from 1965 through 1967.

The announcers aired a clip of Andy Leavine celebrating his Tough Enough win earlier in the show...

Powell's POV: Anyone upset over Andy being bitch slapped by Vince and Stunned by Austin, one can only assume that he'll be heading back down to FCW for additional training. It wasn't exactly a hot introduction to WWE, but at least Austin shook his hand to show that it was an initiation.

Kelly Kelly and Beth Phoenix headed to the ring. Cole said they were going to talk about the "nasty things" that the Bella Twins had to say about Kharma last week...

[Q3] [C] Highlights aired of the Kharma and The Bellas segment from last week... Cole read a scrip while hyping a USA Network show that called it the No. 1 show of last summer. Lawler jumped in and said Raw is the No. 1 show, and "Covert Affairs" is the No. 1 summer show...

2. Kelly Kelly and Beth Phoenix beat The Bella Twins in 2:30. Cole hyped The Bellas' twitter page, and recalled them saying they were only saying to Kharma what everyone, including Jim Ross, was thinking. Lawler said to leave J.R. out of it. Cole said he was just quoting The Bellas. Beth hit the Glam Slam on one of the Bellas for the win...

The announcers hyped the main event, and Rey Mysterio vs. C.M. Punk... [C]

Powell's POV: So they're trying to build up the twins as the heels of the Divas division by having them badmouth Kharma last week, right? So why in the world would they have them put in their place on the very next Raw? Strange move. I'm not advocating the idea of pushing the twins as the top heels, but if you're going to do it then don't have the babyface duo get revenge for Kharma the very next week.

Cole hyped that WWE has over 30 million fans on Facebook... Backstage, Booker T spoke with Trish Stratus. He wanted to show her how to do the "Trish-a-Roonie." They were interrupted by Jack Swagger, who said all of the contestants would have been winners if he had trained them.

Swagger challenged Booker to get in the ring with him. "You didn't say that," Booker said. "Tell me you didn't just say that." Booker accepted the challenge. He said Swagger will be asking himself one question afterward. "Can you dig it, sucka?"...

[Q4] C.M. Punk and Mason Ryan walked onto the stage. Punk took a seat on the stage and Ryan, who remained standing, handed him the mic. Punk pointed out that he beat Rey Mysterio last week. He said he's beat him roughly 600 times, and Mysterio has never defeated him. Punk said he's going to beat Mysterio again to prove to the fans that the power of New Nexus is unyielding... [C]

An ad aired for Friday's WWE Smackdown that questioned what Christian will do next...

Powell's POV: A nice hook for Punk vs. Mysterio heading into the break. I assume we're getting a Mysterio win given how flippant Punk was about beating him repeatedly in the past, but I guess we'll find out in a moment. Maybe they'll save that for the pay-per-view.

3. Rey Mysterio defeated C.M. Punk (w/Mason Ryan) in 8:45. Punk teased that he was going to leave the ring and Ryan would face Mysterio. He climbed back inside the ring and told Mysterio not to worry about Ryan because he should be worried about "him" (pointing to his boot) instead. Punk controlled the action heading into the top of the hour and threw Mysterio under the bottom rope and into the post.

[Q5] Mysterio battled back as Cole reset the show at the top of the hour and announced that Andy Leavine won Tough Enough. Mysterio hit a shoulder block off the ropes. Mysterio was controlling the offense when Punk powerslammed him out of nowhere for a good near fall.

Rey set up for the 619, but Ryan stood on the ring apron. Punk went for the kick that won last week's match. Rey ducked the kick and hit a tornado DDT and kicked Ryan off the ring apron in the process before getting the pin. Punk threw a fit to sell the loss afterward...

Powell's POV: Another good match from Punk and Mysterio, which should surprise no one. WWE has to re-sign Punk. It would be a huge mistake to let him walk away.

Cole and Lawler spoke at ringside. Cole announced that Cena will defend the WWE Championship against R-Truth. Cole said it was official because Truth apologized earlier. Lawler set up the latest WWE press conference video by saying what if the President told the truth for once...

R-Truth was at the press conference this time around and asked questions relating to the conspiracy against him and not having a title match...

Powell's POV: This was slightly better than the previous videos thanks to Truth, but I'm just not a fan of this ad campaign.

Backstage, John Cena told Alex Riley that he cost him the WWE Championship on more than one occasion. "Don't trust him," Lawler said on commentary... [C]

Powell's POV: I like that Cena doesn't just automatically trust Riley following a couple of fights with The Miz. People seem to forget the past too quickly in pro wrestling following a turn, so that was a nice touch.

Another ad aired for WWE Smackdown... An ad aired for "WWE All Star Night" for the three-hour Raw next week. They hyped wrestlers from Raw and Smackdown...

Powell's POV: I guess it sounds good and it ties into the video game, but it looks like the typical three-hour Raw with wrestlers from both brands to me. We'll see if there's more to it. It will also be interesting to see what they come up with for the following week since that is also a three-hour show. I'd love to see King of the Ring, but that would be a risky move since it could overshadow the pay-per-view for a lot of viewers since they'd have to promote it next week and it will take place just a day after Capitol Punishment.

Alberto Del Rio made his entrance and set up the replay of Big Show's "accident" on the big screen. He called out Big Show.

[Q6] A guy dressed like Big Show came out eating a hotdog while limping to the ring on crutches. The Show impostor also had a weird baseball glove on his hand, which he held up while performing Big Show's entrance routine. The crowd seemed to be in groan mode.

Del Rio said what happened was an accident. He asked the impostor whether the crutches were a little too much. The man made obnoxious giant noises whenever Del Rio asked him a question. The crowd was definitely in groan mode. The plastic bald piece came off the guy's head to reveal that the impostor was Ricardo Rodriguez. Del Rio looked into the camera and talked about how bad things happen to bad people...

Powell's POV: I dig Del Rio and Ricardo, but this was horrible. I must admit that I didn't even recognize Ricardo, but I was so bored by the segment that I stopped caring long before the head piece came off. The end result of this eventual feud better be Show tapping to the cross arm breaker or putting Show and Del Rio together was a bad idea.

Cole and Lawler set up a Kofi Kingston video package, which Cole referred to as "Controlled Frenzy"... [C]

4. Kofi Kingston pinned Zack Ryder in a non-title match in 2:40. Dolph Ziggler and Vickie Guerrero stood in the ring and pumped up Ryder before the match. They headed to ringside and joined the announcers on commentary. Cole said Kofi was facing "Zack Ziggler, the Long Island Iced Z." Cole and Ziggler promoted Ryder's online show. Kofi hit Trouble in Paradise for the win...

Powell's POV: Dolph did the bulk of the talking on commentary. As much as Vickie entertains me, it's good to see them give Ziggler a chance to talk. He has to establish whatever his character is to get to the next level.

[Q7] A shot aired of R-Truth and The Miz talking backstage... Booker T was shown taping up his wrists for his match against Jack Swagger. Lawler said it would be Booker's first match on Raw in four years... [C]

Powell's POV: They should have considered saving Booker's return to the ring for Capitol Punishment. Lord knows that show needs all the help it can get, and they may have been able to make it feel important enough to score some extra buys. Maybe an angle will set it up.

A graphic noted that John Cena has more Twitter followers than the Dalai Lama, Tiger Woods, and Kim Kardashian among others...

5. Booker T beat Jack Swagger via countout in 3:15. Highlights aired of Evan Bourne beating Swagger on last week's Raw. Cole, who has been talking about Twitter all night, said Swagger wore a Dallas Mavericks jersey for a photo on his page.

Swagger stood at ringside and allowed himself to be counted out after Booker had gotten the advantage in the ring. Bourne ran out and took a shot at Swagger, who followed him inside the ring. Booker hit a scissors kick, and Bourne hit Swagger with AirBourne. Booker and Bourne performed a double Spinaroonie...

Powell's POV: Booker looked the same physically as the last time he worked. The guy just seemed to stop aging several years ago. Bourne can perform some amazing high spots, but he didn't seem to have a clue when it came to performing the Spinaroonie. He didn't even spin, he just rolled over and stood up. By the way, could someone please remind WWE that they have a pay-per-view coming up in less than two weeks?

A shot aired of Steve Austin walking backstage...

[Q8] [C] Steve Austin made his entrance. He wore a black long sleeve shirt and jeans instead of the traditional referee gear. The heels received separate entrances. Riley came out to his new theme, and then Cena made his entrance... [C]

6. The Miz and R-Truth beat John Cena and Alex Riley via reversed decision in 10:45 with Steve Austin as special referee. Truth and Riley started. When Riley tagged in Cena, Truth quickly tagged The Miz into the match to avoid Cena. The heels took control of the match and they cut to break again less than three minutes into the match. [C]

Powell's POV: Damn, these commercial breaks are just too much. That's three commercial breaks in 15 minutes.

After the break, Miz was getting the better of Riley in the corner, and Austin pulled him off, which revved up the live crowd. Riley sold for the heels while Cena waited for the hot tag.

[Overrun] Cena took the tag around 9:00, and the crowd popped big as he worked over The Miz. Cena hoisted up Miz for an Attitude Adjustment, but Truth broke it up. Later, R-Truth ran in with a chair, but Cena dropkicked it into Truth. Cena and Miz double clotheslined one another.

Riley grabbed a briefcase and entered the ring. He stood behind Cena, but hit Miz with it (sloppy spot). Miz stumbled into Austin, who gave him a Stunner. Miz then stumbled into an Attitude Adjustment from Cena, who pinned him to win the match. Cole threw a fit about how it wasn't fair for Austin to get involved. Lawler said Miz put his hands on Austin earlier.

Austin called for beers. He tossed a couple to Riley, who was already on the floor at ringside. Cena swigged a beer with Austin while standing on the ropes. The anonymous general manager's email chime sounded. Cole stood up and announced that the referee blatantly overstepped his boundaries, and thus Miz and Truth won by DQ.

The GM chime sounded again. Cole announced on behalf of the anonymous general manager that Austin would be the special guest general manager of next week's show. Austin headed to the floor, knocked the computer down, and roughed up Cole. Inside the ring,

Austin hit a Stunner on Cole, and Cena followed up with an Attitude Adjustment. Austin got down in Cole's face and said he'd see him next week when he's the general manager. The beer bath continued. Austin threw several cans to Cena on the floor. Austin headed to ringside and threw the beer cooler inside the ring...

Powell's POV: Apparently, the Austin as GM ruling was made to prevent Austin from doing, well, what he ended up doing anyway. It didn't really make any sense. They have a lot of work to do to make viewers care about the Capitol Punishment pay-per-view next week.

The All Star Night gimmick may bring in some extra viewers, but WWE really needs to make the most of it, as even a great go-home show may not be enough to save this buy rate. I'll have more to say about tonight's show in my member exclusive audio review of the show later tonight. Join us on the ad-free version of the website by signing up now via the Dot Net Members' Signup Page.

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