12/27 WWE Raw in New York report: John Cena vs. Kane, C.M. Punk vs. The Miz in a cage match for the WWE Championship, Zack Ryder defends the U.S. Title against a battle royal winner, Jerry Lawler and Mick Foley appear

WWE Raw live event
New York, N.Y. at Madison Square Garden
Report By Dot Net reader Bill Dempsey

The show started right on time - lower bowl completely sold out, middle bowl completely empty, scattered seats sold in the upper deck. Probably about 60 - 65 percent full. The crowd was loud and very into the show and most of the talent.

The Miz started the show with a promo revealing that he would be in the main event against Punk in a steel cage for the title. Miz was getting ridiculous heat for a guy doing a cold open on a half full arena. He then started trash talking R-Truth, who attacked from the crowd to a face reaction. Miz took off, Truth started in with a promo and the crowd turned on him immediately with the "what" chants. He played into them like a heel. Laurinaitis interrupted and kicked Truth out of the ring, announcing a 12-man battle royal to start the show with the winner getting a U.S. Title shot.

1. Dolph Ziggler won a battle royal to earn a U.S. Title match. The Raw music played and the B-team plus Dolph Ziggler walked out en masse. The participants were Ziggler, Air Boom, Primo, Epico, Ryan, Reks, Santino, Hawkins, Riley, McGillicutty, and JTG. I can't remember the order of elimination, but Santino was insanely over and he eliminated like four or five guys. He tossed Ziggler through the ropes at one point. The crowd was not happy when he was eliminated. The final three were Kofi, Ryan and Ziggler, who was still on the floor. Kofi eliminated Ryan with Ziggler popping up immediately and dumping him for the win.

2. Beth Phoenix defeated Eve to retain the WWE Divas Championship. No Nattie. The match was much longer than the women are usually given and the crowd was surprisingly into it. Eve was actually pretty good. They actually did a spot that built off of the top rope Glam Slam from Survivor Series with Eve fighting out of it. One of the Bellas was the guest ref and screwed Eve out of the win, then did a fast count for Beth. Both Bellas attacked Eve afterwards and Kelly Kelly made the save.

3. Alex Riley beat a developmental wrestler. Probably the low point of the show. Terrible match. No idea who the enhancement guy was but he was billed from South Africa and was about Riley's size. Editor's Note: My guess is that it was Leo Kruger from developmental based on the South African listing, but that's just a guess.

Mick Foley was announced next as the special guest host. Decent pop. He did some mic work and was interrupted by Jack Swagger, who challenged Mick to a match. Mick begged off then introduced Jerry Lawler as Swagger's opponent.

4. Jerry Lawler defeated Jack Swagger. Lawler was a nice surprise. It was fun to see Jerry live. The match was exactly what you'd expect from their TV matches with another five minutes of slow stuff in the middle. Lawler won with a fist drop.

5. Santino Marella defeated Michael McGillicutty. Santino came out to another crazy pop. He's inexplicably over live. He fought McGillicutty in a pretty awful match, although Santino rehabbing a knee injury with a power walk was great. Santino won with The Cobra. Afterward, Dolph Ziggler pulled a Pearl Harbor job for no reason except to be awesome.

6. Zack Ryder defeated Dolph Ziggler (w/Vickie Guerrero) to retain the United States Championship. Vickie Guerrero delivered some mic work leading into the match. The crowd was absolutely ape for Zack. Fun match - pretty much their PPV standard. Dolph hit the Zig Zag for the false pin with Ryder's boot on the ropes. The restart saw Zack hit the Rough Rider for the win. Good match.

7. Air Boom defeated Epico and Primo (w/Rosa Mendes) to retain the WWE Tag Titles. Rosa is going to make Epico and Primo faces, which would be great because they are awesome. Most of the match was them working Bourne over before the hot tag to Kofi. Trouble in Paradise/Air Bourne finish. Bourne is great live and again, the heel team is tremendous. I hope they get a push.

8. John Cena defeated Kane by DQ. I've never seen anything like this match live. There wasn't a second where the crowd wasn't into dueling chants. I don't think anyone can say Cena is at the Austin/Rock level, but I don't even know if that is a valid comparison anymore. He's totally his own thing and everyone is there to see him one way or another. It's crazy. Very good match too. There was a cheap finish with Kane getting DQ'd for using a chair. He chokeslammed Cena afterwards, then came back for more and ate an AA. Again, I've never seen anything like the reaction Cena gets. 

9. C.M. Punk defeated The Miz in a cage match to retain the WWE Championship. After a break to set up the cage, Miz was announced. A small but noticeable portion of the crowd left after the Cena match. Punk got a good response. The match started slow and it seemed weird that there was a cage involved with no real feud, but it built nicely and the last five minutes made it the match of the night. Both guys went for the door, then went to the finish sequence with Punk kicking out of the Skull Crushing Finale, then hitting a GTS for the pin.