Raw is live for the first time ever from Liverpool, England. This means that the show will have great potential. Anytime a show takes place in England the WWE is forced to feature a lot of in ring wrestling. If they don’t they get constant “We want wrestling” chants all night long. The WWE tour of Europe is currently only using the Raw roster, so this show does not feature any Smackdown guys. Did Raw live up to it’s past European hype?

WWE Monday Night Raw Results 11/7/11

John Cena comes out to start the show to some major boos. The crowd is very very hot tonight. These are some of the loudest Cena boos I’ve ever heard. Cena puts over next week’s 3 hour Monday Night Raw and an appearance by The Rock. He says tonight it’s going to be The Miz and R-Truth taking on Cena and a future WWE Hall of Famer. At that time Awesome Truth comes out. The Miz starts with his “Really?” Which gets a huge crowd echoing response. The Miz talks about how he beat Cena at Wrestlemania last year. He says Cena embarrassed them last week and apparently that won’t ever happen again. R-Truth talks about “little Jimmys” and says Cena’s partner will “get got.” The Miz and R-Truth corner Cena. Future WWE Hall of Famer Zack Ryder’s music hits. Ryder runs in for the save. He hits the Rough Ryder on Truth and then fist pumps with Cena. Nice opening segment. I applaud John Cena for taking the time out to put Zack Ryder over. I’m not sure if any other main event guy in the WWE dressing room would put a young talent over the way that Cena does. For that, Cena gets all the respect in the world. It’s now crystal clear that the WWE realizes how many people want to see Zack Ryder and are finally using him the right way. It truly shows the power social media has on society.

Dolph Ziggler w/ Vickie Guerrero vs. John Morrison- Vickie is wearing a weird Avril Lavigne-like white button down shirt with a black untied tie. Is this supposed to have something to do with England or The Beatles??? It’s weird. Michael Cole mentions that John Morrison hasn’t won a match since August. I’ve talked in recent weeks about how Morrison’s contract would soon be expiring and how WWE has been burying him. They were angry at him for bringing his girlfriend Melina backstage after she was released by the company. Will Morrison stay in the dog house? Or is Michael Cole’s mention a predecessor to a new storyline? Read on please. This match starts off very slowly and is pretty boring for awhile. We see chain wrestling off the top with some tie ups, chin locks, and plenty of elbows from Ziggler. Ziggler charges Morrison, but Morrison slides under his legs to the apron and hits a shining wizard kick from the outside. Nice spot. Ziggler gets up quickly and hits Morrison with a nasty aerial clothesline. Ziggler stays in control and hits what was probably the 6th elbow shot of the match. Surprisingly boring and repetitive match for two guys that should put on a nice match against one another. The problem with the match was the story. Because Morrison has been on such a long losing streak he struggles to gain control throughout this match. Because Ziggler was on offense the majority of the match it was boring. Ziggler has a very limited wrestling arsenal. Morrison on the other hand is an offensive guy. He has flashy exciting moves. So when he spends the entire match getting beat down it becomes a snoozer. After a dropkick and a kip up from Ziggler, Morrison gets frustrated and charges him into the corner. In what is the turning point of the match Morrison starts to become more aggressive and is nearly disqualified. Ziggler responds to this with an elbow shot. Shocker. Morrison continues to try to get the upper hand but is constantly countered. Finally Morrison gains momentum with a catapult, clotheslines, and a hurricane DDT. Morrison goes for Starship Pain off the ropes, Ziggler moves out of the way, but Morrison lands on his feet like a cat. Ziggler goes for a sunset flip but it’s only a 2 count. Morrison goes for his running knee to the face, but Ziggler ducks and hits a Fame-Asser. Another near fall. Ziggler goes for the Zig Zag but Morrison holds onto the ropes like Ryder did last week against Ziggler. Morrison hits a springboard kick and goes for the pinfall but Vickie Guerrero jumps up onto the apron for the distraction. As Morrison goes after Vickie, Ziggler hits a rollup. Morrison reverses the rollup and gets the 3 count for the win. Vickie screams in shock. After months of being buried Morrison finally gets a win. Does this mean Morrison and the WWE have finally come to an agreement on a contract? For some reason they have decided to start pushing him again. Which they should because Morrison is the most athletic wrestler on their roster. I look forward to seeing Morrison in longer and more competitive matches in the near future.

We see a graphic of a traditional 5 on 5 elimination style match that will happen at the Survivor Series PPV. The match will feature Randy Orton, Sheamus, Sin Cara, Kofi Kingston, and Mason Ryan vs. Wade Barrett, Christian, Hunico, Jack Swagger, and Cody Rhodes. I love these traditional style matches and always hope that the WWE will feature at least one every year at the Survivor Series PPV. Although the card for this upcoming PPV is already pretty exciting, it still wouldn’t have been the same without one of these matches.

Mason Ryan vs. JTG- We get a highlight video before the match putting Mason Ryan over. First of all, I forgot JTG still had a job. When is the last time he was on Raw? It has to be at least 6 months. The match starts with Ryan pushing JTG down multiple times. JTG tries to continually take Ryan off his feet but he can’t knock him down. Ryan dead weights JTG off the mat into a backbreaker submission on his shoulders. Ryan manhandles him a little more with clotheslines and tosses. JTG fights back but is hit with a big boot. Ryan uses a press slam and a full nelson, which he turns into a full nelson slam. That move gets him the win. A complete squash. This match reminded me of many of Batista’s squash matches early in his career. After the match JTG is officially trending on Twitter with many people saying that they forgot about JTG.

In the back The Bella Twins are talking. Zack Ryder comes running up excited. He says he’s not going to get jumped this time and that tonight is his night. The Bella’s say “woo woo woo you know it” with him.

Back from commercial break Michael Cole says that the Michael Cole Challenge that was cancelled last week, also won’t happen tonight. He says Jim Ross was retained at an airport for being over the legal BBQ sauce limit. He says it will take place next week in Boston. I don’t even know what to say about this. Is this intentional now? They might as well keep pushing this back until it happens at Survivor Series. If the plan is to keep intentionally pushing this back because things keep apparently happening to JR, then I’m all for it. That’s pretty funny. The excuses for JR should continue to get funnier and funnier each week. If they are pushing it back because they are mismanaging time every week, then this is pretty stupid.

WWE Champion Alberto Del Rio vs. Kofi Kingston- I just want to point out that we are now 1 hour into the show and everything so far has been wrestling. Although the matches have not been amazing, I’m still very very happy to see this. The more wrestling the better. The less talk the better. This match has major potential as it features two amazing athletes. The match starts very quickly. Kofi dropkicks Del Rio sending him to the outside. Kofi misses a suicide dive and Del Rio punts him in the side on the ground. Del Rio is very aggressive in the early going. He tosses Kofi back in the ring and works his arm aggressively. He hits a series of viscous headbutts. Del Rio charges at Kofi in the corner but Kofi flips through the ropes and catches him with two boots to the head. Kofi goes to the top rope and hits a frog splash cross body drop. Kofi goes for Trouble In Paradise, but misses, and gets thrown hard shoulder first into the turnbuckle post. Del Rio hits the cross arm breaker submission and Kofi taps out. This match was solid but really could have been longer. I was into this mach more than any other match the entire night. Why must it have been cut so short? After the bell Del Rio hits another cross arm breaker on Kofi. CM Punk’s music hits and Del Rio relinquishes the hold. Commerical.

Alberto Del Rio is in the ring rambling on and on to CM Punk about him not being worthy of a WWE Title shot. The crowd begins huge CM Punk chants. Extremely loud chants. Punk is super over tonight. Del Rio says that England doesn’t matter and that the people are pathetic and ugly. Such simple and effective heel heat. Good stuff. Punk looks on very bored as Del Rio talks. Del Rio tells Punk to cancel their title match or that he would force him to. Punk tells Del Rio that last week he did what Del Rio normally does to people. Punk calls Del Rio a one dimensional wrestler with bad mic skills. He says that when people watch Del Rio on their DVR’s they fast forward when Del Rio speaks and don’t miss a damn thing. Punk says after he wins the title he will make the WWE Championship interesting again. Del Rio says that he is truly the best in the world because he is the champion. He asks Punk one last time to cancel the match. Punk thinks about it for awhile. He scratches his beard and really really has to contemplate the situation (sarcasm.) Of course Punk says no and Del Rio attacks him. Del Rio goes for the cross arm breaker but Punk counters it into the Anaconda Vice. Ricardo Rodriguez jumps on top of Punk to break it up. Del Rio flees to the back as Punk hits Go To Sleep on Ricardo. This is the second consecutive week that Ricardo has sacrificed himself for Del Rio. It’s starting to get pretty funny. I like watching Ricardo Rodriguez and I like to see him get beat around. I hope the trend continues. At this point in the night Kofi Kingston is now trending on Twitter.

Jack Swagger w/ Vickie Guerrero vs. Santino Marella- We see an “earlier today” video where Swagger says that last week he lost to a Muppet. I’ve always liked the little video promos that guys filmed earlier in the day as they make their way out to the ring. It’s a quick way to put the current storyline over without wasting time by using the guy in two different segments that night. So we now get to see a rematch of the terrible match that happened last week. Swagger dominates early and schools Santino with chain wrestling and an Oklahoma roll. Michael Cole talks about how Swagger went to Oklahoma University. Jerry Lawler says “Good thing Swagger didn’t go to Penn State, those guys are about to go to State Penn.” Haha. Swagger continues to dominate this terrible match. You know what could have replaced this match? More time for the Del Rio/Kingston match. Swagger puts on the ankle lock and Santino taps out for the win. Swagger does a victory lap. Yaaaaaawwwwnnnn.

Jerry Lawler introduces Kelly Kelly. He says she will have the honor of being on the next cover of Maxim magazine. Kelly gives a heartfelt speech until Beth Phoenix and Natalya interrupt and mock her. They make fun of Kelly and call her a Barbie doll. Natalya says she is thankful for her boyfriend Ken and sister Skipper. I’m sure zero people out there who are reading this know who the hell Skipper is. 5% of wrestling fans probably do. I’m assuming it’s another doll. Let me Google it real quick…..Yup, it looks like a little sister. The more you know. Anways, Kelly makes a terrible comeback by saying she wouldn’t interrupt Beth if she was on the cover of National Geographic. Get it? It’s like Beth is an animal. Because animals are on National Geographic and Beth is an animal. I get it. It’s not funny but I get it. Beth says that Kelly is a false impression of what it takes to be a WWE Diva. Diva’s should be more than just pretty faces. They corner Kelly just like Miz and Truth did to Cena earlier in the night. And just like earlier in the night we get a run in for the save! Hooray! This time it’s Eve and Alicia Fox. And just like earlier in the night the heels flee up the entrance way. What original and unique booking we have tonight! Eve says this is Kelly’s special moment and they unveil the cover on a giant stand that is in the middle of the ring. Kelly is sitting on a car, fake weaves and all. You know what would have been better than this segment? More time for Del Rio vs Kofi!! Commercial break. And it’s a commercial for Adam Sandler’s new movie Jack and Jill!! Do me a favor. If you plan on actually seeing this movie please never speak to me.

John Laurinaitis comes out to to introduce his newest signee, Kevin Nash. After 4 straight wrestling matches to start the show we were doing soooo good. Now we have to sit through a second straight talking segment. Nash comes out to his old NWO music with a 1980’s leather jacket and a horribly dyed goatee. He actually delivers a pretty solid promo. As much as I don’t really care about him and don’t really want to see him I have to respect the good promo he delivered tonight. He says that in 1995 he watched Triple H walk into the WWE locker room for the first time and shadow Killer Kowalski. He said he should have buried him back then but Shawn Michaels really saw something in him. So Nash left Triple H into “his Kliq.” He said Triple H really won him over and he was proud to be his friend and be at his wedding. Then at the Royal Rumble last year when Nash made his first WWE appearance in many years he got the biggest pop of the entire night. So he called Triple H to get the band back together, but he never even got a response from him. Nash says he was disrespected when he got his “has-been legend’s contract.” He says he could still win the WWE Title on any given night. So he took Triple H out with his own sledgehammer and that’s “how you play the game.” Well said. You know what else was well said? WWE announcer Scott Stanford on Twitter. @scottstanford1 said “Kevin Nash’s promo tonight on Raw brought to you by Just For Men.” (I did say he had a horribly dyed goatee.) Kelly Kelly is now trending on Twitter.

We see another Brodus Clay promo.

John Laurinaitis is in the back with David Otunga. Otunga asks “wasn’t Brodus Clay supposed to debut tonight.” Laurinaitis says that Brodus is a special talent and deserved to debut in America in front of better fans. So it appears to me that once again the WWE mismanaged their time and had to leave something else out of the show. This has been going on a lot lately. I’m not really liking how they promote something and then take it away each week. I really don’t care about seeing Brodus Clay, but that’s not the point. First the Michael Cole Challenge doesn’t happen two weeks in a row and now this? CM Punk walks up to the two of them to argue with Laurinaitis. Otunga says that the WWE Champion shouldn’t look like someone who works at a gas station. Punk raises one fist and says “sir would you like regular”, then raises the other fist and says “or unleaded?” Then he nails Otunga in the face. Alberto Del rio blindsides Punk from behind and throws him through a table. There is popcorn spilled all over the floor!!!!!!

The Miz and R-Truth vs. Zack Ryder and John Cena- No “You Suck” song from Awesome Truth. Cena comes out to major boos again. Finally after a year of Zack Ryder trying to get himself over online, working extremely hard, and me complaining every single week, Ryder is main eventing Monday Night Raw for the first time ever. Cena and R-Truth start the match. Cena hits a shoulder bump on Truth. Truth tags in The Miz. Cena hits a single leg takedown, followed by an Irish Whip into the corner, a splash, and a clothesline. The crowd begins a very loud “We want Ryder” chant. R-Truth is tagged back in. Cena tags Ryder. The crowd starts chanting “woo woo woo.” The first spot between Ryder and Truth is botched as both men bump on the shoulder bump. They both jump back up and Ryder throws Truth to the outside. The back of his head hits the floor very hard. I wouldn’t be surprised if R-Truth has a minor injury because of that spot. They show replays of him hitting the floor over and over. Ryder hits two hiptosses and a dropkick on The Miz as we come back from commercial. Cena is tagged in and the two hit a double hiptoss. As soon as Ryder exits the ring the crowd chants “We want Ryder.” I love it!! Such smart fans. Wow what a great audience. The Miz counters Cena and stomps away at him. Truth comes back in and hits his sit out slam on Cena. Another tag to Miz as he rubs his forearm in Cena’s face while he is against the ropes. Great aggression by The Miz. That’s why he is great. Miz hits his running big boot to the face while Cena is sitting up. Huge “Cena Sucks” chants from the crowd. Miz and Truth continue to work Cena until he finally hits the hot tag to Ryder. Ryder takes both The Miz and R-Truth out. Cena puts on Ryder’s sunglasses and the two fist pump together while saying “woo woo woo.” They hit a double Samoa Joe face buster in the corner, one on each guy. The Miz gets back up and gains control on Ryder. My favorite chant from last week returns as half the crowd chants “Let’s go Ryder” and the other half of the crowd chants “woo woo woo.” Miz and Truth continue to take turns beating on Ryder. Miz hits his flying clothesline into the corner. Miz and Truth do a nice double big boot combo. I’m really liking the psychology in this match. It makes a lot of sense for the established tag team to eventually wear down their opponents and take control on both guys. That’s the advantage that they have as an experienced tag team. It’s harder for Cena and Ryder to take control because it is their first time teaming together. I expect the same thing to happen at Survivor Series when Cena teams up with The Rock. But in that match the two will probably work against each other at certain times and will probably slap each other instead of tagging each other in. Ryder eventually gets the hot tag to Cena. Cena takes out both Miz and R-Truth. Cena and Ryder at the same time do the “You can’t see me” 5 knuckle shuffle. I really liked that double spot where both men helped the other do one of their signature moves. Good stuff. Cena goes for the Attitude Adjustment on Miz but Miz counters. Miz hits another running big boot to the face. He goes for the pinfall and R-Truth holds down Cena’s legs from the outside. Cena can’t kick out and Miz gets the 3 count. The Miz and R-Truth win. It looks like Cena “got got.”

My thoughts- Mediocre show. I like their effort to put on more wrestling. They really didn’t have a choice in England. If they didn’t put on wrestling they would have heard about it all night long. I love how Ryder was used and I love how Ryder was in the main event. Aside from CM Punk he is probably the most over wrestler in the company. I really didn’t mind not seeing the Smackdown guys tonight because that means I didn’t have to see Mark Henry. Plus it gave guys like John Morrison and Kofi Kingston the chance to finally have longer one on one matches. Although Kofi’s wasn’t really long enough. I know it doesn’t help Kofi that Evan Bourn has been suspended for drugs. There did seem to be a lack of big names tonight without the Smackdown roster though. While looking over the Raw roster I realized how thin it is. With Triple H, Rey Mysterio, and Evan Bourn out it really slims down their roster. The only other regular roster guys that weren’t used were Alex Riley, David Otunga, Drew McIntyre, and Michael McGillicutty. Plus there is Primo, Tyler Reks, and Curt Hawkins if you call them regular roster guys. The roster is so thin that they actually had to use JTG! Maybe the supershows are a better idea than I thought. The only people on the Smackdown roster that appeared on the show tonight were Natalya and Alicia Fox. It makes sense for Natalya to be wherever Beth is. I like that Alicia is finally being used. So where does Raw go from here? Next week is a special 3 hour edition and The Rock will be live in the middle of the ring. I’m sure that will be highly entertaining. There will be plenty of tension between him and Cena. Plus we will finally get to see The Rock and The Miz interact live for the first time. The Miz kept calling him out all through the road to Wrestlemania, but The Rock was so occupied with Cena that he never responded to The Miz. Those two should have amazing chemistry together and should put on a hilarious promo. Until next week….take care, spike your hair?

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