WWE Raw on the USA Network
Live from Minneapolis, Mn.

[Q1] The opening video aired and fireworks lit up the stage. Michael Cole and Jerry "The King" Lawler welcomed us to the show. Cole said the show had a "big fight" feel and told us to get ready for a "knockout" night...

Twill's Two Cents: Two fight puns in the first few seconds of the show. Here we go!

Justin Roberts called Mike Tyson "iconic" twice and brought him out to the ring. Tyson was met with a polite reception and the reaction for him got louder. He said it was great to be back on Monday Night Raw. He said the last time he was on the show, it was a memorable experience. Footage was shown of 1998 when Tyson and Steve Austin had to be pulled apart on Raw.

The video continued to show Tyson and Austin joining forces at WrestleMania XIV, Tyson knocking out Shawn Michaels, and JR's famous "Tyson Tyson Tyson, right hand! Down goes Michaels" quote was heard. Tyson said he was happy to be here. Sheamus' music hit and the WWE Champion came out to the ring.

Sheamus was stunned that Tyson was introduced as one of the most iconic sports figures of the 20th century. He said Tyson was not the baddest man on the planet and was nothing but a washed up former champion. He said he was the WWE Champion and that made him the baddest man on the planet. Tyson mocked punching Sheamus and Sheamus reacted. He dared Tyson to do that again.

Randy Orton's music hit as Sheamus and Tyson went nose to nose. Orton came to the ring and said he was not interested in creating a SportsCenter moment. He said Sheamus did not have an opponent at the Royal Rumble and Tyson should make Orton the number one contender right now. John Cena's music hit and he came out to the ring.

Cena said he was there for the WWE Championship, and made a pro Vikings and anti Packers comment. He botched it at first and the crowd booed for a moment. Cena said he had beat everyone in the ring, including Tyson. "I beat Glass Joe, King Hippo, Piston Honda twice..." Of course, he was talking about "Mike Tyson's Punchout."

Twill's Two Cents: If someone has a lead on an old school Nintendo and that particular game, shoot me an email. I'm interested.

Kofi Kingston's music hit and he came out to the ring. Orton said he beat Kofi last week and he has no business being there. Kofi argued that Cena and Orton have had numerous title reigns and opportunites, so he wanted his shot.

Twill's Two Cents: Nice logic Kofi. You don't need to actually win a big match, you should get a shot just because you haven't had a lot of chances. In that case, get everyone out there!

Sheamus said he was a better World Champion than Tyson ever was and he wanted the Rumble off. Tyson said he never ducked a fight. He booked a triple threat match between Orton, Kofi, and Cena with the winner facing Sheamus at the Rumble. Cena made another MTP reference...

Twill's Two Cents: Very good opening segment. Tyson was surprising comfortable and effective on the mic. Sheamus continues to get better in his promos. Cena and Orton were effective. Early prediction? Kofi wins and gets the shot.

Cole wondered out loud if there would be repercussions based on what happened between Vince McMahon and Bret Hart last week. Footage was shown of the kick in the stomach... [C]

[Q2] Did you know? Raw was the number one show on cable last week...

1. Alicia Fox defeated Kelly Kelly in a first round Divas Championship tournament match in 1:58. Kelly dumped Alicia to the floor and followed with a high cross body from the apron. She hit a spinning head scissors. She looked as though she was trying a hurricarana, but Alicia hit a powerbomb and bent Kelly over for the win...

Twill's Two Cents: Short but solid match between two improving workers. No surprise that Alicia won given that she is the #2 future champion in 2010 on WWE.com.

A graphic for tonight's triple threat main event was shown... [C]

Footage was shown of John Cena flipping the coin and being the Grand Marshall at last week's Fiesta Bowl...

Twill's Two Cents: Like him or not, the guy is a star.

The team of Legacy, Ted DiBiase and Cody Rhodes, came out to the ring. Cody said last year at the Royal Rumble, he, Ted, and Orton were three of the final four participants. He said last year it was Randy's turn, but that is not the case this year. Ted agreed and said it was his turn this year.

[Q3] He looked at Cody and asked if he disagreed. He said Dusty Rhodes always said Cody had movie star good looks, but Ted was actually a movie star. He plugged his movie and said it was superior to The Marine. Cody said his fifth grade graduation video was superior to The Marine. They argued before Mark Henry's music hit...

Twill's Two Cents: Nice tease there and nice memory from last year's event. By the way, who in the hell thinks Cody Rhodes is good looking? That must be a dad's opinion.

2. Ted DiBiase and Cody Rhodes defeated Mark Henry and Evan Bourne in 4:15. Legacy looked good and worked well together early in the match. Evan finally tagged in and Henry had set Cody up for Air Bourne, but Ted pulled him out of the way. After chaos ensued, Cody hit Cross Rhodes on Bourne for the win...

After the match, Cody and Ted shook hands and retreated up the ramp together.

Twill's Two Cents: I know these teams faced in singles matches last week, but there was no mention of MVP, which was odd. I like that they have direction with Rhodes and DiBiase and their split tease was well done.

Backstage, Triple H said to Shawn Michaels it was one thing to approach Bret Hart, but did he really want to do the same with Mike Tyson? Hunter said Tyson was insane. Michaels said he saw Tyson's documentary and felt Tyson was a changed man... [C]

Twill's Two Cents: Nice tease going into commercial. This is the moment I wanted to see and teasing it was smart.

The official Royal Rumble theme song is performed by Chris Jericho's band, Fozzy...

Shawn approached Tyson backstage. In the background, Fight Night Round 4 was on the television. There was a heavy bag there too, because apparently, Tyson plans to get a work out in tonight. Shawn said he forgave Tyson for knocking him out at WrestleMania XIV. Tyson said he love knocking out Michaels and would love to do it again.

Chris Jericho entered and revealed he had struck up a friendship with Tyson, with being misjudged by the masses being their common ground. Jericho said DX would have a match tonight and if they lost, Jericho could be on any show he wants for as long as he wants.

Michaels angrily asked Tyson what the match was. Tyson did the crotch chop and booked DX vs. Jericho, and "Mike Tyson, the baddest man on the planet," for tonight. Shawn said that was fine with him because he "owed Tyson one," and took off. Tyson and Jericho mocked DX...

Twill's Two Cents: I didn't call Tyson wrestling, but I did predict Jericho being back on Raw with Tyson's help. Of course, Tyson could be working Jericho, but if he isn't, that was a damn good television wrestling angle. I can't help but wonder if they should have somehow advertised in advance that Tyson would be wrestling tonight.

[Q4] Footage was shown of everything that took place last week between Bret Hart and Vince McMahon. A graphic of Vince standing over Bret with the question, "Retribution?" was shown. The triple threat match was hyped... [C]

Back from commercial, Jack Swagger was in the ring, and he had a news flash. He was going to win the Rumble and main event WrestleMania. He said it twice. Swagger said the Rumble was made for him. He made a challenge for anyone in the back to come out and attempt to throw him over the top rope.

Santino Marella came out and said he was going to issue "The all-Italian Italian" challenge. He wondered what they were going to do about it. He said he was going to drop Swagger "like a bicycle with no kickstand." He told the referee to ring the bell, so apparently, we have a match...

3. Santino Marella defeated Jack Swagger in an over the top rope challenge in :55. Swagger dominated and tried to throw Santino out, but Santino held on and Swagger fell to the floor...

Twill's Two Cents: Opportunity lost. Nobody believes Santino is going to win the Rumble. However, if Swagger did this challenge every week and was successful, he would have built some serious momentum going into the Rumble, and a great performance there could have catapulted him after the event.

Footage of Austin and Tyson was shown...

A tri-screen showed Cena, Kofi, and Orton walking through the backstage area... [C]

[Q5] 4. Randy Orton defeated Kofi Kingston and John Cena to become the number one contender for the WWE Championship at the Royal Rumble in 11:13. Orton went after both guys right away. Kofi and Cena double teamed Orton. Orton retreated to the floor. Cena grabbed him, brought him back into the ring, and they continued to work on him. They then threw Orton to the floor...

Twill's Two Cents: This would have been a good opportunity for Sheamus to be on commentary or at least present at ringside.

Kofi and Cena debated whether or not they would go toe to toe. Orton took the opportunity to attack both men. Sheamus was shown at the top of the stage (was he there the whole time?) and the show went to commercial... [C]

Back from commercial, Orton had the chinlock of doom applied to Orton. Cena took a tumble onto the announce table during the break. As Cena made his way back into the ring, Orton hit the middle rope hanging DDT. Kofi followed up and nearly pinned Orton.

Orton hit a backbreaker on Kofi, but Cena followed with a bulldog. Kofi nearly pinned Orton with the SOS. Cena locked in the STF on Kofi, but because he is a babyface, he would not tap out. After several moments, Orton broke up the move.

Kofi regained the advantage and hit all of his signature moves on Cena, including Trouble in Paradise. Cena was knocked to the floor. Cody Rhodes attacked Cena and distracted the referee. Ted DiBiase took out Kofi's leg. Orton hit the RKO on Kofi for the win...

Twill's Two Cents: Definitely not a fly by numbers triple threat match. No man enjoyed the offensive advantage for a long period of time and it was definitely very fast paced. Nice to see Legacy as a strong, united front, however, Kofi would have been a more interesting choice.

[Q6] Backstage, Josh Matthews was going to interview Tyson, but Hornswoggle interrupted. Tyson kneeled down to Horny and said he was going to tear out his intestines and jump rope with them. He was going to pull out his brain, smash it in the newspaper, and throw it against the wall like silly putty...

Twill's Two Cents: Promise!?!?

A graphic for the main event was shown... [C]

Footage was shown of MVP winning a shot at the United States Championship. The Miz was shown outside of a door that said, "WWE Superstars Locker Room." Cute. Miz said when he first came to WWE, nobody respected him. He said he was banned from the locker room for six months for spilling chicken crumbs into a referee's bag.

He walked through the hallway and told stories of how everyone hated him and wanted him to quit. He did a damn good impression of JBL mocking him. He kept walking and said he now has his own dressing room. The other dressing room was for the "Evan Bournes and MVPs." He walked out from the back and continued to badmouth MVP.

He said MVP did not deserve to be in the ring with him. He said MVP still deserved to be in jail. He does not believe in second chances. "Boo me and cheer him. Go ahead. I would rather you hate me for something I am than love me for something I'm not." Awesome line. He talked about MVP's bling. "You can put diamonds on a dog, but it is still a mutt." He said everyone will respect him and delivered his line...

Twill's Two Cents: Money promo. Absolute money.

MVP's music hit and he came out in a nice looking suit. He cut a very solid babyface promo about how he has never hidden his past from the fans and that he has worked hard to earned the respect of the WWE Universe. MVP stripped down to his wife beater, called himself a bengal tiger, and called Miz a "monkey flinging poo."

[Q7] MVP dropped a lot of animal puns. He invited him to open the cage and see how tame the tiger is. They dared each other. They stood face to face. Miz sort of charged at MVP and MVP kicked him. MVP hit the Driveby and knocked Miz to the floor. MVP posed with the U.S. Title...

Twill's Two Cents: Other than the ill-timed Bengal tiger reference, MVP brought it in this promo too. One well thought out segment like this and Miz, MVP, and the U.S. Championship were all elevated. Great stuff.

Footage was shown of last year's Hall of Fame ceremony. I couldn't help but notice Vince McMahon's quote, "The greatest superstar in WWE history" about Steve Austin. Perhaps that was a shot at Hogan. Perhaps I'm thinking too much...

Mike Tyson and Chris Jericho vs. DX was plugged...

The "Retribution?" graphic was shown and Cole said we would find out tonight... [C]

Maryse joined Cole and King at the announce booth. Maryse called Cole "a vintage nerd." She got on Cole for mispronouncing her name. Maryse is talking about someone else's pronunciation? Wow...

5. Eve defeated Katie Lea Burchill in a first round Divas Championship tournament match in 1:53. Katie was signed to Raw after she and Paul were banished from ECW. Eve won with a roll up. Maryse said the match was boring. King said Maryse smelled good...

Twill's Two Cents: Maryse was the star of a match she wasn't even in. Remember when Katie was challenging for the title on pay-per-view? I do, and it was a long ass time ago.

[Q8] Vintage (thanks for ruining that word Cole) Mike Tyson footage was shown...

Backstage, Carlito was hitting on Gail Kim. He'll get her because he dates everyone on camera. Vince McMahon walked by them with a stoic look on his face. You could see something that said "Piggy James" in the background... [C]

Twill's Two Cents: Coming up on the end of the show, is anyone else worried that Tyson knocks out Jericho, 1-2-3, and they all crotch chop together? Ugh if that is the case.

Did you know? 70% of Rumble winners have won the WWE (or World) Championship at WrestleMania...

Twill's Two Cents: Effective use of the DYK? Instead of patting themselves on the back, they could throw out PPV facts.

Vince McMahon's music hit and he came out to the ring as footage was shown of him kicking Bret Hart in the stomach...

Vince said he has not hired extra security to keep Bret Hart out of the building. He responded to a "We want Bret" chant. He said Bret was not in the building because he was intimidated. He said twelve years ago, Bret screwed Bret. However, last week, Vince said he screwed Bret. A couple of crowd members tried to start a "Boring" chant.

Vince said Bret wanted to play nice but Vince did not play nice. He said Bret wanted closure and Vince was going to give it to him. He said Bret would never, ever, be seen in a WWE ring again. His music played and he left the ring...

Twill's Two Cents: That was admittedly disappointing, but at the same time, there is a lot of television between now and WrestleMania, so they cannot give too much too fast. Good thing they decided to follow this up with the Tyson match. By the way, a Big Show cameo would have been nice and made sense, given his short boxing background.

Backstage, Tyson was punching mitts held by Jericho, although Jericho did not swing them at all. Even Tyson can still hit mitts that are perfectly still! Tyson said he felt good and Michaels was going to get it tonight... [C]

Don Johnson (Miami Vice) and Jon Heder (Napolean Dynamite) will be the guest hosts of Raw next week...

DX made their entrance. By the way, this is not a title match. Also, the number on the DX jerseys are "00" and no longer "69." The back says "Member," like that is their last name. We are truly in a PG WWE age folks. DX did their schtick...

[Overrun] Hunter asked Shawn if he was ready. Shawn said he was ready. He said he was ready for The Undertaker. He said he wanted Undertaker's answer to his challenge next week on Raw...

Twill's Two Cents: Nice hook for next week's show.

Jericho and Tyson made separate entrances. Tyson's music sounded like one of Mark Henry's old themes combined with porn. King said, "I have a feeling somebody is going to be knocked out." ...

6. Degeneration X (Shawn Michaels and Triple H) defeated Mike Tyson and Chris Jericho in a non-title match in 4:41.. Tyson began the match with Michaels and held his own. He obviously did a little backstage work. Shawn tagged out. Jericho tagged in and was successfully worked over by both members of DX. I think the crowd died. They are silent.

Jericho tried to apply the Walls, but Michaels countered. Jericho laid out Michaels and tagged in Tyson. Hornswoggle came out to his music. Tyson tagged Jericho in and everyone was in the ring. Jericho eyeballed DX with Tyson behind him. Tyson took an hour to take off his shirt to reveal a DX shirt. Jericho turned around, Tyson knocked him out, and Michaels pinned him...

After the match, DX and Tyson mocked Jericho. Tyson was laughing and crotch chopping his ass off. Tyson brought his son into the ring; he had a Cena hat on. They quickly got rid of it. They did the crotch chop to pyro and continued to celebrate. They did a pose from small to tall, Horny to Shawn to Tyson to Hunter...

Twill's Two Cents: Well, at least Shawn pinned Jericho and not Hunter! That was really predictable, but damn, it could have been pretty cool. They kept showing 1998 and if it would have been 1998, the entire angle would have been white hot. However, it is 2010 and it is a PG product. If we can accept that, it'll be easier to find the positives in the product.

What did you think of the show? Feel free to let me know by shooting an email to dotnetrich@gmail.com.

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