WWE Raw Review - 12/09/11 - CM Punk Floors Triple H, Bret Hart Wrestles!

THE BIG NEWS: Final Raw show before Night of Champions saw CM Punk blast Triple H with a microphone following a heated verbal confrontation. Meanwhile Mark Henry gave Randy Orton another beat-down and John Cena teamed up with home nation legend Bret Hart to take down Alberto Del Rio and Ricardo Rodriguez in tag team action. Live from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Alberto Del Rio was in the ring to start the show. He said that he could handle boos but he couldn't tolerate being disrespected by John Cena who had made fun of him and taken him down with an Attitude Adjustment the previous week. Del Rio said that this treatment was not deserving of a man who had sidelined Rey Mysterio, forced Edge into retirement and defeated CM Punk at SummerSlam. He then labelled himself as €œthe greatest of the greatest€ only to be interrupted by WWE hall of fame legend Bret Hart who received a thunderous ovation from his home crowd. Bret fumbled over nearly all of his words but managed to get across the point that when he sees Del Rio he doesn't see a Champion because a Champion is the kind of guy who fights his heart out each and every night and leaves everything inside the ring. Rather he sees Del Rio as a man with all style and no substance. Del Rio responded by making fun of his clothes and dyed hair and said that Bret looks like one of those illegal Canadians who he hires to clean his house. That was a great line. He then told Bret that he was going to make an example of him only for John Cena to make the predictable interference. Cena proceeded to channel his inner talk show host persona as he went completely over the top in praising Bret, insulting Del Rio and telling the champion that he should go home and enjoy his final six days with the title. Del Rio told Cena however that he didn't want to wait and wanted to give everyone the match they wanted to see, that match being John Cena vs Ricardo Rodriguez. He then pushed his terrified ring announcer in front of John Cena claiming that Ricardo owed him some revenge over the punch Cena had given him a couple of weeks ago. Cena then went insane in calling himself an €œideas man€ and came up with the idea that Alberto Del Rio should defend his title tonight against Bret Hart. A suggestion that both buried the champion and made Cena look like a delusional imbecile. Thankfully John Laurentis came out and instead ordered that a tag match would take place pitting Bret Hart and John Cena against Alberto Del Rio and Ricardo Rodriguez. Del Rio started this segment well but it pretty much descended into a convoluted mess and once again was not at all befitting of an angle that is supposed to be building towards a World Title match... Match: John Morrison and Alex Riley defeated Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger via pinfall Morrison and Ziggler engaged in a quality but brief opening exchange with JOMo countering a shoulder block into an arm drag and catching Dolph after a dropkick attempt and slingshotting him into the rope corner. Dolph fired back with a neckbreaker and an elbow before turning to Jack Swagger and bad mouthing him. This distraction allowed Morrison to connect with a kick to Ziggler's face as both men crawled to their respective corners to make fresh tags. Riley proceeded to run wild on Swagger with clotheslines and a spinebuster. Finish then saw Riley counter out of Swagger's submission and send his opponent flying into Dolph who was planted on the apron before nailing Swagger with a neckbreaker for the pinfall. Meanwhile Dolph just watched on not even making an attempt to break the count. * 1/2 Post-match Swagger watched the replay and looked pissed off at Dolph for not helping him out. Miz and R-Truth cut a horribly scripted promo on the way to the ring in which they insulted Hunter via ridiculous wordplay. What a waste of two fine verbal talents. Inside the ring they then insisted that at Night of Champions they would become the new tag team champions before borrowing each others catchphrases to drive the point home. Match: The Miz defeated Kofi Kingston via pinfall (MATCH OF THE NIGHT) Highly entertaining but patchy encounter. Back and forth action showcased Kofi's dazzling athleticism and the charismatic intensity of The Miz. Opening exchange saw both men land to the outside before Miz got the upper hand back inside the ring with a DDT for the near fall. Miz then set up Kofi in the corner and went for his running dive spot but Kofi rolled out and took Miz to the ground with some stomps. Kofi then landed a cross body, Miz hit back with some vicious boots but Kofi countered another boot attempt into a cradle. Miz then connected with a neckbreaker for the near fall before landing a sick looking neckbreaker from the top rope and then taking Kofi down with the skull crushing finale for the pinfall. ** ½ Backstage Teddy Long told Vickie Guerrero that he had booked a Fatal Four Way Match at Night of Champions with United States Champion Dolph Ziggler defending his title against Jack Swagger, John Morrison and Alex Riley. Vickie was annoyed and then found herself caught up in a verbal altercation with Kelly Kelly who she called a ditzy barbie doll that Beth would have no problem in defeating this Sunday. She then made the rookie mistake of saying that even she could beat Kelly Kelly leading of course to Long booking that exact match for later on in the show. Jerry Lawler was set to face Otunga and McGillicutty again with another mystery partner. Before his announcement Otunga and McGillicutty tried to get themselves over with McGillicutty saying that he was the son of a legend and Otunga putting himself as a Harvard trained lawyer. Lawler insulted these claims before announcing that his mystery partner this week was a man brimming with personality and that man was Sheamus. Tag Match: Sheamus and Jerry Lawler defeated David Otunga and Michael McGillicutty The heels worked over Lawler before The King found an opening to make the hot tag to Sheamus. Sheamus then just destroyed both opponents with a ruthless ass kicking culminating in a Celtic Cross on McGillicutty for the pinfall. * As much fun as it is watching Sheamus go on a rampage, these sort of burials just serve no purpose whatsoever. Either give these guys a chance to improve or get rid of them. The middle ground of humiliation is just pointless and wastes valuable tv time. Backstage we were greeted with the hilarious visual of Ricardo Rodriguez performing push ups and drinking a glass of some odd looking substance. Del Rio wanted to know what the hell his tag partner was playing at to which Rodgriguez replied that it was an aphrodisiac before continuing his workout. Vince appears to be obsessed with awful sexual related jokes and puns. Tag Match: Bret Hart and John Cena defeated Alberto Del Rio and Ricardo Rodriguez via pinfall Humorous opening with Del Rio ordering Rodriguez to start and then Cena parodying a bull charging routine by throwing his shirt over Rodriguez as the little man tried to run towards him. Cena then took Ricardo down with an enormous back body drop before his scared opponent ran towards Del Rio to make a desperate tag. Del Rio didn't want to enter however and so proceeded to run around the ring with Rodriguez in tow and Cena chasing them behind. This might as well have been an old school episode of Batman by this point. Del Rio then entered the ring and took down Cena with a kick to the face as he was following him in. Del Rio threw Cena into the corner but Cena fired back with clotheslines and a dropkick. He then tried to set up the Attitude Adjustment but Del Rio grabbed the ropes whilst Rodriguez tried to tighten the grip with his hand. The ref then insisted that this counted as a tag and Rodriguez was forced to reluctantly step inside the ring again where he was quickly dropped to the ground and hammered with the five knuckle shuffle. At this point Del Rio had made his way up the ramp as Cena tagged in Bret Hart who locked Rodriguez in the sharpshooter for the pinfall. * 1/2 Post-match John Cena grabbed the mic and told Del Rio that this Sunday his destiny will change when he becomes the new world champion. Del Rio did his classic mocked scared routine with his hands whilst Cena celebrated inside the ring with Bret. Match: Kelly Kelly defeated Vickie Guerrero via pinfall Kelly took down Guerrero with the Thesz press and a horribly botched bulldog before doing her ass smack and stink face routine. Swagger rushed down for support and got into a heated argument with Dolph who he ended up punching as Kelly got the pinfall victory inside the ring. An utter shambles. DUD Post-match Beth Phoenix arrived to attack Kelly but the Divas Champion managed to take her down with a kick before getting out of dodge. Backstage Mark Henry cut a great promo saying that his recent path of destruction has been the result of fifteen years in which he has been overlooked, fifteen years in which he has been disrespected and fifteen years in which he has never been the number one contender. Technically Mark Henry fought Kurt Angle for the WorldTitle at the Royal Rumble in 2006 but regardless this half minute speech effectively got across a man's anger at being underutilised and perfecty explained how his dominance had taken him to his current position of being on the verge of holding a world championship. Match: Cody Rhodes defeated Randy Orton via pinfall More of an extended angle than a match but it worked despite its questionable victor. Orton was on top early but found himself distracted by the sudden appearance of Mark Henry. With Smackdown's beating still fresh in his mind Orton went to grab a chair but the world's strongest man scampered. Later however Henry reappeared with a chair of his own as he sat down to watch Orton who was forced to keep a watchful eye on Henry whilst also concentrating on his match. Finishing sequence then saw Orton distracted by Henry's appearance near the ropes and when he turned around he was hit by Cody's face mask and his cross Rhodes finisher for the pinfall. Considering that the two men had already had a toughly fought battle on Smackdown it didn't matter that the focus here was on Mark Henry and his presence played well into the psychology of the match especially when he brought out a chair to sit on, the weapon of course which he had suffocated Orton with on the previous show. ** Post-match Henry attacked Orton with a chair, held the title in the air and bad mouthed the fallen champion. THE FINAL PRE-MATCH FACE/OFF BETWEEN CM PUNK AND TRIPLE H Roughly two thirds of the way through this segment Triple H told CM Punk that €œI think we're going around in circles here.€ He was right. The two men had spent ten minutes delving into excruciating detail about the inner workings of the business and the politics that get in the way of a guy who looks like CM Punk being handed the same opportunities as a superstar who looks like Triple H. It was long, tedious, rambling and repetitive and did nothing to promote the match between the pair at Night of Champions. Then however Hunter changed tact and brought up the personal heat between the two men and a failure of a angle suddenly transformed into a complete knockout. It started with Triple H delivering perhaps his all time greatest speech as he told CM Punk that he had made business personal and that now he wasn't going to step in the ring with a COO or a cerebal assassin but just a man. A man who Punk had deeply insulted and the same man who was going to kick his ass. The material and delivery was filled with venomous passion and Hunter's explosive facials only made it all the more compelling. It was in fact a mighty tough act to follow for Punk but he tried his best anyway as he agreed that Hunter probably would kick his ass but that he too was going to kick some ass back and that at the end of the match, CM Punk, the best in the world would be the man getting the pinfall. Punk then wanted to say something to his rival as Phil Brooks talking to Paul Levesque only for his mic to be cut off as he started talking. Punk blamed Hunter for this but Hunter just responded by telling Punk that if he wanted to say something then he could say it to his face, the audience didn't have to hear it. Finally Hunter handed Punk a microphone and instead of attempting to speak into it Punk blasted the instrument right into the COO's face and then mockingly told his fallen his rival that he could €œsuck it€ before departing the ring. This five minute home stretch was high calibre drama which felt both highly charged and real but which most importantly was effective in accessibly conveying the pumped up hatred emnating between these two individuals. It was in short a true watercooler moment which left you wanting more. VERDICT: This was a poor show saved somewhat by the final two go home angles. Mark Henry effectively showed that he has got both the psychological and physical advantage over Randy Orton in the build up to their title clash whilst wwe casuals and hardcore fans alike are going to be super excited to see how Triple H reacts this Sunday to being blasted by a microphone by his upcoming opponent CM Punk. Both these rivalries effectively left a lasting image of intense hatred and emotion which is a lot more than can be said for the dire Cena/Del Rio exploits on this edition of Raw. It's all very well having a tag match with a former legend which sends the fans home happy on a random live offering but this is supposed to be the final build towards a world title match. Instead we saw the champion running away like a coward, Cena making his usual jokes and the whole affair becoming reminiscent of a pantomime. With Bret Hart there for the night though, it was the perfect opportunity for Del Rio to attack him and get some valuable heat (especially amongst Bret's adoring Canadian fans) with Cena then having an even greater incentive to not only beat Del Rio for the title this Sunday but also beat some respect into him by avenging the beat-down of his friend. All the other angles were largely forgettable with a United States Title match being haphazardly booked six days before the PPV and Truth and Miz being forced to recite god awful comedy instead of being allowed to use this valuable time valuable their mic skills to promote their upcoming tag titles encounter. SUPERSTAR OF THE NIGHT: Triple H €“ Maybe his finest hour on the microphone as he convincingly conveyed how insulted he feels by Punk's personal jibes and how badly he wants to thrash him as a consequence. MOMENT OF THE NIGHT: The first real physical blow in the rivalry is dealt as Punk takes Hunter down with a microphone shot thus sky rocketing the anticipation for their match-up.