Whenever Raw opens with Stone Cold Steve Austin and Vince McMahon in the ring, you know things are going to be interesting. Last night was no exception. After crowning Andy Leavine the winner of Tough Enough, Vince extended his hand as a welcome. Rather than a handshake, WWE’s newest Superstar received a slap in the face from the Chairman. Austin then congratulated Big Andy with a Stunner. Just as the chaos was winding down, R-Truth made his way to the ring.
Dressed as a confederate soldier, Truth continued rambling about conspiracies and little Jimmies. As he marched around the ring offering a history lesson to McMahon and Austin, the Miz showed up using the opportunity to plead his case for another title shot. As you could expect, Miz’s former protege Alex Riley interrupted, joining the already crowded ring. Not to be left out, Cena decided to come out as well. Cena brought the crowd to their feet and silence to the ring. He gave us amusing cliff notes on each person in the ring, most notably reminding us that R-Turh is “out of his mind” and Austin is “almost out of beer”.
As things were starting to heat up, the Anonymous Raw GM sent an email. Not one to take orders, Mr. McMahon told Cole to take a seat and took it upon himself to set-up the main event: Cena and A-Ry vs. The Miz and R-Truth…with Stone Cold Steve Austin as the special guest referee. Complete results after the jump…
- Following the opening segment, Raw’s in-ring action got underway with an interesting match up: Santino Marella vs. Michael McGillicutty. Each competitor had their respective partner in their corner with action going back and forth through. For all the silliness surrounding Santino’s persona, he’s a great competitor in the ring. David Otunga was a factor only briefly before being clobbered by Vladimir Kozlov. In the the end, Santino and his cobra prevailed. One has to wonder if this is the beginning of another quest for the tag titles for Vlad and ‘Tino’s. I can only hope.
- A Divas tag match was next on the card with Kelly Kelly and Beth Phoenix taking on the Bella Twins. The match was solid and mostly botch free. It’s great to see the skills of these beautiful women progress from week to week. The Glamazon helped her team pick up the victory with a Glam Slam on one of the Bellas.
- CM Punk and Rey Mysterio had a rematch from their match last week. While Punk and Rey have fought dozens of times in a WWE ring, this match was surprisingly fresh and enjoyable. Rey learned from his mistakes last week and avoided a kick from Punk after a distraction by Mason Ryan. After dodging Punk, Rey hit a spinning aerial DDT, kicking Ryan off the apron in the process. It was a great finish to a decent match with Rey evening the score at 1-1 in his renewed feud with Punk. It’s no secret that we’re big Punk fans here at ProRasslin and it’s hard not to be. His indie circuit roots are apparent and appreciated as he consistently finds ways to make his matches interesting and unique. Rey and Punk will most likely meet again next week, perhaps in a tag match, with their series of singles bouts continuing or cumulating at Capital Punishment.
- Cole and Lawler offered up another Capital Punishment dream sequence featuring President Barack Obama. This time R-Truth appeared as a reporter and was his usual self. A few weeks ago, I could care less about Truth but his new heel persona is beyond entertaining to me. If you find yourself hating him, he’s doing his job well. In a 2005 interview, AJ Styles spoke very highly of R-Truth saying he was “amazing”. At the time I felt that was overstated. Now I get it and I’m starting to agree…
- Alberto Del Rio came out to once again to taunt the Big Show. After clearing his name of any wrong doing in the Show’s accident, he invited him to the ring. For a moment it appeared as though we’d see the Big Show but instead Ricardo Rodriguez entered wearing a stunningly accurate Big Show costume (photo above). Ricardo’s increased involvement with Del Rio has been a welcomed addition to Raw. Upon Show’s return, Del Rio and him will engage in their first big feud since being drafted to the red brand. I’m looking forward to it.
- WWE is really trying to peak interest in the talented, yet one dimensional Kofi Kingston with their latest video package highlighting his work in recent weeks. Kofi is very impressive but they added little to his credibility as he was matched up against Zack Ryder. The internet darling evoked a less than expected reaction from the crowd. Kingston would pick up the W. The most important storyline in the match was Dolph Ziggler sitting in on commentary. With Vickie Guerrero by his side, Dolph revealed that he’s been studying Kingston, really selling his quest and desire for the US Title. Ziggler and Kingston…coming soon.
- Following a confrontation backstage with Jack Swagger, Booker T. returned to action for the first time since the Royal Rumble in January. It was great to see Booker donning his in-ring attire, but a win for him would do nothing to add to his character and a loss would make his return pointless. A happy medium was found when Swagger rolled out of the ring, refusing to get back in. After a count-out victory for Booker, Swagger was ambushed by Evan Bourne. Seeing Bourne and Swagger in a quasi-feud makes me happy because both are tremendous athletes. At some point, they’ll engage in a David vs Goliath type match that should showcase their respective talents.
- Cena and A-Ry vs. The Miz and R-Truth closed the show. A-Ry spent a majority of the time as the legal man being isolated by Truth and Miz. The build up of a Miz-Riley collision course in the ring came to anti-climatic end when we returned from commercial break with Riley in a Miz sleeper. As expected, Cena eventually got in and cleared house. Riley’s brief case made it’s return and A-Ry teased a heel turn. Thankfully he came to his senses and hit the Miz with it. In the end it was a Stunner/Attitude Adjustment combo that finished off Miz. After the match Austin grabbed beers for the victors. Riley didn’t stick around to celebrate but Austin tossed him a few cans for the road. The celebration was cut short when the Raw GM decided to reverse the outcome of the match based on Austin’s interference. The GM also invited Austin to be the special GM for next week’s 3-hour All-Star Raw. A bitter sweet end became more sweet than bitter when Austin wrecked the GM podium and tossed Michael Cole in the ring. Cole was greeted by a Stunner/Attitude Adjustment followed by a beer shower. Cena and Austin toasted as Raw went off the air.
In the opening segment, Vince and Austin took a step back allowing the current faces of the WWE to do their thing, but the sheer presence of the VKM and SCSA made the segment feel important and was a great way to kick off Raw. Something about last night’s show felt fresh and that’s exciting. From a solid undercard match early in the show to the appearance of some legends, you start to get the feeling that WWE programming is getting out of their slump. Wrestlemania was considered a disappointment by most and I think steps are being taken to make sure WWE’s next tentpole PPV, Summerslam in August, has more interesting stories and a better quality of matches. Time will tell….
The only real downer is the report that in after Raw action the Miz hurt his leg and had to be taken out by paramedics.