12/5 Powell's WWE Raw Live Coverage: WWE Network announcement, C.M. Punk's WWE Championship match at TLC details


prowrestling.net
MEMBERSHIP INFO | LOG-IN | CONTACT US | SUBMIT NEWS | ABOUT US
Insider News • Live TV & PPV Coverage • Hitlists • Results • Blogs

HOME | WWE NEWS | TNA NEWS | MMA NEWS | ALL NEWS | TV & PPV | ARENA REPORTS | VIEWPOINTS | PRODUCT REVIEWS | AWARDS



Dot Net App
GOT AN IPHONE, IPAD, IPOD TOUCH, SAMSUNG GALAXY TAB, OR ANDROID PHONE?

THEN BE SURE TO DOWNLOAD OUR NEW FREE APP
(or SEARCH "pro wrestling" in App Store or Android Marketplace)

Dot Net Podcast
CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE TO DOT NET FREE PODCAST IN ITUNES OR CLICK HERE FOR LISTING OF LATEST SHOWS

WWE TV Reports


12/5 Powell's WWE Raw Live Coverage: WWE Network announcement, C.M. Punk's WWE Championship match at TLC details
Dec 5, 2011 - 08:00 PM


By Jason Powell

WWE Raw on the USA Network
Live from Tampa, Florida


[Q1] The opening montage opened the show... Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler introduced the show from ringside... John Cena headed to the ring for a promo and was greeted with more boos than cheers from the Tampa crowd. He recalled being a special guest on Piper's Pit last week. He thanked Roddy Piper for being a friend, a WWE Hall of Famer, and for being part of the WWE Universe.

Cena said that just like the fans do every week, Roddy Piper told him exactly how he felt. "Was it the words that I wanted to hear?" Cena asked. "It absolutely was." He said there is no show without the fans. "If you don't watch, we don't work," he said. Cena said the fans have earned the right to tell him what they think. The crowd booed

Cena encouraged the boos and got them. He welcomed the fans to cheer him and he got a high pitched cheer. He got the fans to chant "Fruity Pebbles" and told viewers to try finding that on any other television show. Cena said he's been dealing with reactions like this since he arrived in WWE.

"The reaction was not the big deal last week," Cena said. "The big deal was the slap." Cena said he wasn't referring to Piper's slap, but rather C.M. Punk pinning Alberto Del Rio again to retain the WWE Championship. Cena said he has all the respect in the world for Punk, but he needs a new No. 1 contender. Cena said the only thing bigger than The Rock vs. John Cena at WrestleMania would be if the WWE Championship were on the line during their match.

Alberto Del Rio interrupted Cena's promo and said the title shot belongs to him. Cena said everybody saw Del Rio lose last week. Del Rio said the fans don't count. He recalled the intentional DQ stipulation that was put in place. Del Rio replayed footage of the finish that had Punk dropping Del Rio's head on the exposed turnbuckle. Del Rio accused Punk of cheating and said he did it on purpose. He said it's not his fault the referee didn't see it. Del Rio said he should be the WWE Champion.

Vickie Guerrero interrupted with the "Excuse Me" routine. Vickie and Dolph Ziggler headed to the ring. Vickie said Cena and Del Rio don't deserve the title match, Dolph Ziggler does. Ziggler pointed out that he beat Randy Orton on Raw last week and is the longest running champion in WWE. He boasted that he has the most entertaining match..."on purpose."

Cena mocked Ziggler's gimmick. He said he knows Ziggler's the showoff now because Cole said it 25 times last week. He thanked Cole for beating the fans over the head with it. Cena encouraged the fans to remove the word show and replace it with jerk when using Ziggler's name. Get it? Cena said Ziggler won't face the deserving U.S. Championship contender - Zack Ryder. Ziggler said the next WWE Championship will go to "the hashtag heel."

The Miz headed to the ring and staked his claim. He boasted that he beat Cena at WrestleMania and noted that his title reign lasted longer than a month. He said he doesn't need Vickie to get a reaction. He said he's going to be the Superstar of the Year and the next WWE Champion.

[Q2] John Laurinaitis interrupted The Miz and walked onto the stage. He said the wrestlers in the ring will each face a Smackdown wrestler. He said if they win their match, they will earn a spot in the WWE Championship match. Laurinaitis said he has a special match for Cena, which he referred to as a "social experiment." He told him to come see him to find out who his opponent would be.

Laurinaitis said Miz's match was up first and introduced his opponent. Randy Orton made his entrance for his match with The Miz... [C]

Powell's POV: A good verbal segment to start the show. It's nice to see Dolph Ziggler in this mix even though I fear he'll be the odd man out of the championship match. Cena was booed heavily this week. His response to the Piper's Pit segment was just more of the same speech he always delivers about the boos. I hope last week was just planing the seed for something bigger and it wasn't just so Cena could deliver his usual response...

1. The Miz beat Randy Orton via countout to earn a spot in the WWE Championship match at TLC. The Twitter graphic displayed the URL for the latest mystery man Youtube video. Orton got the better of Miz and slammed him on the floor. Wade Barrett's music played and he walked to ringside. Orton slid Miz back into the ring and then ran after Barrett, which led to the referee counting out Orton.

Barrett ran backstage. Orton headed back toward the ring only to have Barrett return and take a shot at the back of Orton's head that left him lying. A graphic showed that Miz will challenge C.M. Punk at the pay-per-view. The announcers noted that Ziggler and Del Rio also have a chance to earn a spot in the match...

The announcers hyped an important announcement regarding the WWE Network for after the break... [C]

Powell's POV: The Miz gets a fluke win and made him look like the same chickenshit heel that he did before they set out to give him an edge by having him take out R-Truth and John Morrison. Meanwhile, Orton looks like a complete tool by running after Barrett and getting himself counted out. A counterproductive segment. The network announcement will likely be that they are launching on WrestleMania Sunday since it looked like the Sports Business Daily article was straight from WWE.

[Q3] Cole set up a video that led to a WWE Network video package. It hyped "live in-ring action," past footage from various promotions, and "break through reality shows." They hyped the Legends House show that will feature WWE legends living under one roof...

Powell's POV: Well, not time line established. I may have suffered a seizure while watching that obnoxious video package.

Backstage, Zack Ryder told John Laurinaitis about how excited he is about the WWE Network. He mentioned his petition, but Laurinaitis said he agrees with Ziggler. Cena showed up dressed in his Zack Ryder gear and clowned around with Ryder. Laurinaitis said he wants to put Cena in a match against Ryder.

Cena got serious and said the match doesn't need to happen. Laurinaitis said Ryder will get a future U.S. Championship match if he wins, and Cena will be entered into the WWE Championship match at TLC if he wins...

Powell's POV: Cena was trying to look like Ryder, but he looked more like Darren Young. Cena was really obnoxious at first, but he did a nice job of getting serious when Laurinaitis named Ryder as his opponent.

Backstage, David Otunga told Kevin Nash that he will face Triple H in a ladder match at TLC. Nash asked if Hunter was medically cleared. Otunga said he's meeting with a doctor now and should be cleared in time. Otunga explained that there will be a sledgehammer hanging above the ring that the winner will be able to retrieve and use on his opponent. Nash agreed to the match. Otunga said Laurinaitis told him to tell Nash that he will be in action tonight...

Ricardo Rodriguez introduced Alberto Del Rio. Cole said we'd find out the identity of Del Rio's opponent after the break... [C]

2. Alberto Del Rio defeated Daniel Bryan in 1:45 to earn spot in the WWE Championship at TLC. Bryan came out with a wrap around his ribs. Cole gloated that it was going to be an easy win for Del Rio because Bryan was still beat up from his match against Mark Henry. Del Rio won with the Cross Arm Breaker...

Powell's POV: The win didn't do anything for Del Rio, but they protected Bryan by making it seem like he was injured. Lawler started talking about Del Rio taking advantage of the situation, but he backed down quickly. I wonder if he got an earful that made him change his tune.

The announcers hyped the WWE Championship match for TLC, and said the contract signing for the match would take place later in the show... A shot aired of Kelly Kelly, Eve, and Alicia Fox walking backstage...

[Q4] [C] An ad aired for the WWE Tribute to the Troops special... The Did You Know graphic hyped that the WWE Facebook Network has over 42 million followers...

3. Kelly Kelly and Eve (w/Alicia Fox) defeated Beth Phoenix and Natalya in 1:10. Cole hyped that Royal Rumble tickets go on sale on Saturday. A Pin-Up Strong video package aired. It was interrupted by the Mystery Person video that hyped that the "prophet will emerge" on the second day of January. It morphed back into the Divas video. Kelly pinned Beth, which Cole played up as a major upset...

Powell's POV: Is it really an upset when Kelly has pinned Beth several times this year? Anyway, this is the first time that the mystery man's video has made it to television. The announcers didn't acknowledge it, and I wonder how many fans watching the show were left wondering if it was just a production error. The video now includes a creepy little girl and a red ball. It concluded with the line "Look Within." It's like a low rent American Horror Story knockoff, yet still intriguing.

Video game footage aired and the announcers plugged Cena vs. Ryder... [C] An ad for Smackdown focussed on Mark Henry and Big Show...

[Q5] 4. John Cena beat Zack Ryder in 6:45 to earn a spot in the WWE Championship match at TLC. Tye Dye Guy is at ringside with a "Never Cena Nuff" sign. Shame on him. The bell rang and the wrestlers looked to the crowd for a reaction and didn't seem to get what they were looking for. However, the crowd did get into the dueling chants once the match got going.

The announcers spent time discussing whether the boos are getting to Cena. Lawler doesn't think they are. A shot aired of Dolph and Vickie watching the match on a backstage monitor. Ryder got his share of offense in, but Cena put him away with the Attitude Adjustment.

After the match, Cena helped Ryder to his feet. Ryder wasn't happy about losing the match and not getting his U.S. Title shot. "That's all I had," Ryder said. Cena tried to calm him down. Cena headed backstage as the announcers showed the graphic with the wrestlers who qualified for the WWE Championship match... [C]

Powell's POV: I'm guessing Cena lobbies to get Ryder his match if Ziggler fails to win his match or something along those lines. Either way, I expect a four-way main event for the WWE Championship and a Ziggler vs. Ryder match. I guess we'll find out soon enough.

Cole hyped the Slammy Awards and showed off his two awards at ringside. He boasted that he will be a triple crown winner this year. Cole showed viewers that he could vote for Superstar of the Year. The options are Cena, Miz, Henry, Punk, Del Rio, and Orton...

[Q6] Backstage, Cena interrupted a Laurinaitis and Otunga conversation and ran the latter out of the room. Cena got fired up and said Ryder deserves an opportunity to challenge for the U.S. Championship. Laurinaitis said he blew his chance. Cena got even more intense and moved closer to Laurinaitis, who then said Ryder will have one more opportunity tonight.

Laurinaitis said that if Ryder loses, Cena has to give up his WWE Championship shot at TLC. Cena looked conflicted, but eventually agreed. Cena asked Laurinaitis who Ryder will face. Laurinaitis said he doesn't know, so Cena will have to wait and see...

Powell's POV: Cena is going all out to endorse Ryder, but it feels like it's designed to make Cena look like the good guy more than it is to help Ryder. This would be a good spot to reintroduce Brodus Clay if they are pulling Cena from the title match.

The announcers spoke at ringside about Laurinaitis and Ryder's chance... The latest Kane Resurrected video aired. It included shots of various WWE stars in the glass before he smashed it. Kane put his mask on and a closeup aired of Kane's eye with the mask on, then a shot of the burning mask concluded the video... [C]

Powell's POV: Despite the burning mask at the end, all signs point to Kane bringing back the masked look. I'm looking forward to that. It's been long enough that it should get people buzzing about his character again.

5. Zack Ryder beat Mark Henry in a non-title, no DQ, no countout match to earn a U.S. Title match. Justin Roberts said the added stipulations were to ensure that the match had a winner. Henry had his left ankle taped. Ryder went after the ankle by slamming it into the post at 1:40. He got the crowd to chant along with his "Woo Woo Woo" routine.

John Cena walked to ringside at 1:55. Ryder tried to take advantage of the distraction, but Henry clotheslined him. Cena entered the ring and hit the Attitude Adjustment on Henry, and then put Ryder on top of Henry for the win. Ryder celebrated afterward and shook hands with Cena on the stage...
Powell's POV: The Ryder dynamic is really odd in most cities. It seems like a portion of the fans are really hot for him, while the rest of the fans don't know what the other fans are so excited about. I just hope that his little buddy relationship with Cena leads to a Ryder heel turn someday.

Backstage, Vickie Guerrero informed Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger that Ryder won. She also told him that Sheamus would be his opponent. Dolph wasn't happy. Swagger said he'd be with him at ringside. Dolph told him no...

[Q7] A shot aired of Kevin Nash walking backstage. Cole said it was the first time in over eight years that Nash would be in a match on Raw... [C] The announcers talked about the WWE social networking site and read fan comments...

6. Kevin Nash pinned Santino Marella in 1:05. Nash carried a sledgehammer to the ring and placed it on the announcers' desk. Cole said this was Nash's first Raw match since August 18, 2003. The announcers aired the footage of Nash destroying Santino in a recent Raw segment. Nash got the win with the Jackknife Powerbomb.

After the match, Nash went to ringside and grabbed the sledgehammer. He came back to the ring and Santino begged off. Nash teased hitting him, but stopped and held up the sledgehammer while playing to the crowd before leaving the ring. Cole said Nash won't be that kind to Triple H...

Powell's POV: An all out squash match. I'm surprised they didn't have Santino sell the Jackknife by lying motionless rather than having him beg off right away.

A backstage shot aired of C.M. Punk talking with Evan Bourne... [C]

Mr. Mackey's POV: Synthetic marijuana is bad, mmmkay.

7. Sheamus defeated Dolph Ziggler (w/Vickie Guerrero) in a non-title match in 4:00. Ziggler dodged a lunging Sheamus twice and gloated over it. Sheamus jumped out to the early advantage, but Ziggler came back with a great dropkick. They continued to trade offense until Zack Ryder's music played at 4:40.

Ryder ran to ringside and then stopped. It distracted Ziggler, who then walked into the Brogue Kick. Sheamus covered Ziggler and scored the pin, so Ziggler is out of the WWE Championship match at the pay-per-view. After the match, Ryder entered the ring and hit the Rough Ryder on Ziggler. The crowd chanted along with his "Woo Woo Woo" routine...

A graphic showed Punk, Del Rio, and The Miz in the WWE Championship match at the pay-per-view... [C] The Slammy show preview video aired. The three-hour show airs next week...

Powell's POV: Ziggler and Sheamus were entertaining while the match lasted. I'd like to see more from those two once then end up on the same brand someday. Cena wasn't shown in the WWE Championship graphic. I thought he was in the match as long as Ryder won his match earlier, but it appears that Cena agreed to forfeit his spot in the match altogether. My head hurts.

After the break, The Miz, Alberto Del Rio, and Ricardo Rodriguez were in the ring where a table and chairs were set up for the contract signing. Justin Roberts introduced John Laurinaitis, who announced that Mark Henry will face John Cena on next week's Raw show. Laurinaitis introduced C.M. Punk, who then made his entrance.

Punk entered the ring, and Miz and Del Rio were seated on the opposite side of the table. Punk played to the live crowd and received a good reaction from the standing fans. Punk shoved his chair aside, rested his hands on the table and glared at his challengers.

Punk pulled the table back. Laurinaitis asked what he was doing. Punk said contract signings are the biggest cliche in WWE. He said they always end in a pier six brawl and said he'd like for that to trend on Twitter. Punk said WWE hasn't had a good contract signing since Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant at WrestleMania 3.

Laurinaitis announced that it will be Punk vs. Miz vs. Del Rio in a Triple Threat TLC match at the pay-per-view. Punk said he just has to beat the guy he beat on Raw last week and the guy who lost at Survivor Series. Way to build up those opponents! Miz boasted about taking out R-Truth and John Morrison.

Punk asked where he took them, and guessed that it was to the new Twilight movie. "Not that there's anything wrong with that," Punk said. Miz bragged about the way he took out Truth and Morrison. "And I'd like to wish John Morrison the best in his future endeavors," Laurinaitis said while Cole giggled.

The Miz and Del Rio rattled off some mic work. Del Rio was about to delivery the destiny line when Punk cut him off and begged him not to say it again. Miz said that no matter what happens at TLC, Punk is not walking out the WWE Champion. Miz signed his name to the contract.

Del Rio said Miz is right, and then signed the contract. "You are going to lose, Punk," Del Rio said. Punk took the contract and read it over. "Once I sign this, we can get to fighting, right," Punk asked. Laurinaitis said no. Punk signed the contract.

Laurinaitis announced that the match is official and wished all three of the men good luck. He said he's looking forward to the match and asked everyone to pose for a picture. Punk mocked him. "Oh, come on," Punk said. He added that contract signings are supposed to end in violence.

"I guess you just gotta do it yourself" Punk said before going after the heels. Punk had Ricardo up for the GTS, but Del Rio put the boots to Punk. Del Rio was going for a move on Punk when Miz pulled him off. They backed into a corner, where Punk hit the high knee on Del Rio, and followed up by bulldogging him through a table. Punk hit the GTS on The Miz and dropped him on Del Rio.

Punk played to the crowd and then held up the belt and glared at Laurinaitis, who was standing on the stage. Cole closed the show by saying they would see viewers next week at The Slammys....

Powell's POV: Miz felt repetitive and Del Rio isn't being given any quality material to work with. It's hard to take the heels seriously going into the pay-per-view when Punk just left them both lying. That said, making Punk look strong is more important than making his challengers look strong right now, so I'm okay with it. It would be different if Punk were truly established as longtime babyface main eventer, but that's not the case.

Overall, the show held my interest, and I'm happy they're not putting Punk and Cena in the same match just yet, as that matchup should feel special when they go back to it. Unfortunately, Cena doesn't have a pay-per-view match, so they could add him to the mix next week somehow. I'll have more to say about Raw in the Dot Net Member Exclusive audio review later tonight. Join us on the ad-free version of the website and listen to the two-hour Shawn Daivari interview now by signing up for membership via the Dot Net Members' Signup Page.

RECOMMEND THIS ARTICLE:


READ OUR INSIDER NEWS BEFORE ANYONE ELSE! BECOME A MEMBER FOR JUST $7.50 A MONTH (or less with a year-long sub) - GET THE FIRST LOOK AT EXCLUSIVE INSIDER DOT NET NEWS, TONS OF EXCLUSIVE AUDIO CONTENT, MEMBER MESSAGE BOARD ACCESS, START YOUR OWN BLOG, AND VIEW THE SITE WITHOUT ANY ADVERTISING: SIGN ME UP (or MORE INFO)



RELATED ARTICLES FROM MGID AFFILIATE SITES...



MEMBERSHIP INFO
Become a Dot Net Member right now for $7.50 a month or $66 a year ($5.50 a month avg.). Get exclusive audio, first-look insider news, Forum access, member blogs, more...

CLICK FOR SIGN-UP INFO


The Current Must-Read List
ACCESS PREVIOUS MUST-READ ARTICLES

Vote In Our Latest Poll


Dot Net Free Podcasts
CLICK FOR FULL LISTING OF ALL PODCASTS

Latest from Our Affiliate Site

_pwtorch.com_
CLICK HERE FOR MORE PWTORCH HEADLINES

© 2008-2012 LAST ROW MEDIA LLC • ALL RIGHTS RESERVED -- PRIVACY POLICY