WWE TV Reports 12/1 Twilling's WWE Raw Live Coverage: John Cena makes his Raw in ring return vs. Kane; The IC Title tournament continues with The Miz vs. Rey Mysterio and Finlay vs. John Morrison By Rich Twilling Dec 1, 2008 - 10:01 PM Email This Article | Printer Friendly Page Send Us News & Results | Back to Main Listing WWE Raw on the USA Network Live from Washington D.C. [Q1] Footage was shown of John Cena winning the title at Survivor Series, followed by last week's number one contender's triple threat match between Batista, Randy Orton, and eventual winner Chris Jericho. The footage continued and showed John Cena kicking the absolute shit out of Jericho at the end of the show... Shown live, Chris Jericho read the words "Hustle, loyalty, respect" from the new Cena shirt at the concession stand. Jericho walked through the crowd with a security team and entered the ring. On his way, he made it clear that the fans would not touch him. Jericho said one Cena fan was worth saving and that was his son. Jericho recalled Cena beating him a few years ago in a match that resulted in Jericho being fired. He said his son was two years old and did not know what was going on. However, in the three years Jericho was away, his son watched Raw and became a John Cena fan. He said his son would repeat Cena's catchphrases and it made him sick. Jericho forbade his son from watching Raw after this. However, he said he would allow his son to watch Armageddon so he could see his dad, his real hero, win back the World Heavyweight Championship... Twill's Two Cents: Nice promo; the idea was creative and Jericho delivered. The opening video aired and fireworks lit up the stage. Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler welcomed us to the show. They plugged Cena vs. Kane as well as the two Intercontinental Championship tournament matches... Rey Mysterio made his ring entrance but Mike Knox was waiting for him at the bottom of the ramp. Mysterio attacked Knox and Knox threw him backwards. Rey awkwardly tripped onto the side of the ramp. Mysterio was holding his arm going into the break... [C] [Q2] Backstage, Todd Grisham asked Stephanie McMahon about Rey's condition. She said he tore ligaments in his elbow. Steph moved onto to Layla, who, on behalf of William Regal, said Rey should be out of the tournament if he was not able to compete. Stephanie agreed with her... 1. C.M. Punk and Kofi Kingston defeated Manu and Cody Rhodes in a non-title match in 10:23. Not much happened in the first couple of minutes. The heels gained the advantage when they double teamed Kofi on the floor while the referee was distracted... [C] Punk had the offensive advantage on Cody coming back from commercial. Priceless gained the advantage and Punk had trouble making the tag. Cody and Manu continued with some decent offense while making multiple tags. Punk finally made the tag and Kofi cleaned house impressively with several high flying moves. [Q3] Kofi went for the cover but Manu broke it up. Punk took out Manu with a bulldog. Cody tried to roll up Kofi but it was countered into Trouble in Paradise (spinning front kick) for the win. After the match, Randy Orton was shown watching stoically on a monitor... Twill's Two Cents: Do not hold your breath if you are hoping Punk will be booked stronger. He did nothing in this match. The match itself was decent but nothing to write home about. I am glad the champs actually worked a match together because most people probably forgot they were a team. DX cut a merchandise promo backstage. They were plugging the new Elimination Chamber play set. HBK was funny in describing how hard it would be for a father to put together all forty pieces in time to satisfy his children... Twill's Two Cents: That was funny. The "Christmas-like" DX music in the background is great stuff. Cody Rhodes and Manu ran into Randy Orton backstage. Cody was upset, but Orton finally pulled the trigger and said he recognized the potential they all had as a unit. He said if Cody and Manu wanted to explore anything, they could come see him in his locker room... Chris Jericho approached Kane in his weird-ass locker room. He tried to manipulate the situation by saying the locker room thought Kane would tap out like a bitch tonight to Cena. Kane said he would take care of Cena, not for Jericho, but for the fans. "The fans love me and I love them." ... [C] Twill's Two Cents: Two for two on backstage segments. Kane expressing his love for the fans was hilarious. Stephanie McMahon was named one of the twenty people to watch in all of cable... Twill's Two Cents: I have DirecTV and they always say they are not cable. So, does that mean this Stephanie poll does not apply to me? [Q4] 2. Melina defeated Jillian in 2:49. After Melina's entrance, Santino Marella and Beth Phoenix came out to the ring. They sat at ringside and Santino said, "How you doin'? Pleasure for you to have us?" Hilarious. Melina hit the Last Call (jumping sunset flip powerbomb) for the win after a solid three minute match... Twill's Two Cents: Looks like Melina is next in line. After the match, Santino grabbed the mic and said anyone could do Melina's entrance. He tried it and fell to the floor. Melina said while Beth is the Glamazon, she does not know how to be glamorous. She did the splits and mocked Glamorella... Twill's Two Cents: Melina was gassed; she needs to get her wind back. JBL was shown walking through the backstage area... [C] Backstage, Santino was icing his balls. A mysterious blonde started to massage him and it turned out to be Goldust. Santino ran off... JBL made his ring entrance walking down the aisle in his suit. Lillian announced the upcoming match as a street fight. JBL grabbed a mic and said he made an offer to HBK last week that he did not respond to yet. He made another offer and challenged him to a street fight tonight. After a short delay, Michaels came out to the ring... Twill's Two Cents: That was disappointing; I was hoping they would be working together. Stay tuned? [Q5] JBL told Michaels that only his wife knew how to invest a year ago and Michaels lost everything. JBL offered Michaels a job because Michaels could no longer afford to send his children to college. He said Michaels could end up being one of those guys wrestling in high school gyms bragging about their glory days. JBL asked for an answer. He then offered him a free shot to kick him in the face. JBL said though if Michaels kicked him, the offer was off the table forever. Michaels considered it and decided against it. He left the ring. The fans booed Michaels. "Looking forward to doing business with you Shawn," JBL said. Michaels stopped, pondered, and continued walking to the back... Twill's Two Cents: Intriguing, but it is also insulting to think Shawn Michaels is having any kind of monetary problems and if he is, that is his own damn fault. 3. Batista defeated Dolph Ziggler in 3:05. Ziggler introduced himself after he was already announced. He then did the same to Batista after the bell rang and followed it up with a slap to the face. [Q6] Dolph ran around and was able to get Batista to chase him. From the floor and with Batista coming out after him, he jumped to the apron and hit a crescent kick in one motion. Impressive. Back in the ring, Ziggler hit a couple of moves for a nearfall. Batista caught Ziggler from the middle rope to hit a spinebuster. He then hit the Batista Bomb for the win... Randy Orton's cool music hit and he came out to the stage. Orton congratulated Batista and said one day, it would be the two of them one on one. Batista said he talked to Stephanie today and at Armageddon, it will be Batista vs. Orton. Orton said he was waiting four years for this match... [C] Twill's Two Cents: Solid debut for Ziggler because they can say at least that he hung tough with Batista in his "first" match. I would rather see Orton vs. Batista at Wrestlemania rather than Batista vs. Cena, but this should be very good too. Backstage, Chris Jericho approached Randy Orton and offered him the chance to beat up Cena together. Orton said he would take care of Batista and then the world champion, regardless of who that is. Jericho asked Orton if he was okay with nobody remembering Orton pinning Cena at Wrestlemania. He followed by asking if he was bothered by Cena's comeback overshadowing Orton's comeback from injury. He told him to think about it... [Q7] 4. John Morrison defeated Finlay (with Hornswoggle) in an Intercontinental Championship tournament match in 4:16. Layla was shown backstage on the phone talking to William Regal about her conversation with Stephanie earlier in the show. Morrison worked on the head and neck of Finlay early on, but Finlay used his aggressive, clubbing style to ground Morrison. Finlay knocked Morrison to the floor. Hornswoggle approached Morrison for no good reason and was shoved away for his troubles. Finlay reentered the ring, but he was too distracted to focus. Morrison hit the springboard Shining Wizard to the back of Finlay's head for the clean win... After the match, the camera shots on Finlay and Hornswoggle teased possible dissention between the two as Morrison celebrated his victory... [C] Twill's Two Cents: Nice win for Morrison. I'll say it now; if Finlay turns on Hornswoggle and absolutely obliterates him, he would have unimaginable heel heat. Stephanie McPalin came out to the stage. She plugged the Slammy Awards for next week. She named the nominees for Superstar of the Year. They are: Edge, Batista, Jeff Hardy, Triple H, Chris Jericho, and John Cena. She announced three matches for next week. John Cena will face Edge, Triple H will go one on one with Batista, and Jeff Hardy will meet Chris Jericho... Twill's Two Cents: Nice. Lillian butchered the announcement for the tournament and The Miz made his entrance... [C] [Q8] 5. Rey Mysterio defeated The Miz in an Intercontinental Championship tournament match in 3:29. Rey went for the win right away but Miz countered worked on the arm. Rey scored the pin out of nowhere after countering the Reality Check... Twill's Two Cents: Very good match for such a short one. I'm upset Miz is out of the tournament but I'd love to see these two go again in the future. Kane was shown backstage... [C] [Overrun] 6. John Cena defeated Kane in a non-title match in 4:25. After Cena locked in a STFU, Chris Jericho came to the ring. Cena tried to attack him, which allowed Kane to take a brief advantage. However, Cena hit the FU for the relatively quick victory... After the match, Cena beat Jericho to side of the entrance ramp. Manu and Cody Rhodes hit the scene and attacked Cena. Randy Orton then came in and hit a DDT from the ramp to the concrete floor. Jericho locked in the real Walls of Jericho (not a Boston Crab) as the show went off the air... Twill's Two Cents: Disappointing main event but I was glad to see that Cena did not beat up two huge stars and two future stars on his own. What did you think of the show? Let me know by sending an email to dotnetrich@gmail.com. HELP SUPPORT DOT NET! BECOME A MEMBER AT OUR CHARTER RATE OF JUST $5 A MONTH - GET THE FIRST LOOK AT EXCLUSIVE INSIDER DOT NET NEWS, TONS OF EXCLUSIVE AUDIO SHOWS, MESSAGE BOARD ACCESS, START YOUR OWN BLOG, AD-FREE MAIN LISTING: SIGN ME UP (or MORE INFO) GOT AN IPHONE OR IPOD TOUCH? THEN BE SURE TO DOWNLOAD OUR NEW FREE iPhone APP: (click here!) 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