WWE Raw Review 16/4/12 - Lord Tensai vs John Cena in the UK

The Big News: CM Punk defended his title against Mark Henry in a No DQ, No Count-outs match and learnt that at Extreme Rules he will face off against Chris Jericho in a Chicago Street Fight. Meanwhile Lord Tensai defeated John Cena in an Extreme Rules match thanks to the distractions from David Otunga and an impressive Brock Lesnar video package reminded everyone of the further trials awaiting Cena in two weeks time. In a Nutshell: The WWE seem torn between remaining PG and trying to infiltrate attitude thus making for an uneven product. Live from the O2 Arena, London, England 1.) CM Punk defeated Mark Henry via pinfall to defend his WWE title in a No DQ, No Countouts match This was Henry's brute force colliding with Punk's athletic cunning and it made for a gripping contest assisted by the great atmosphere provided by the crowd. Henry kicked Punk out of the ring early on and tried to follow him out at which point Punk quickly rolled back inside and came running off the ropes to meet Henry back on the outside with a suicide dive. Punk then attempted to launch Henry into the steel post but Henry reversed the move to lend his opponent the cruel fate instead. Henry then tried to charge at Punk but Punk thwarted him with some high kicks to the tune of the returning €œyes€ chants from the always smarky English crowds before running along the barricade and chopping Henry down with a bulldog in an awesome spot. It was then Henry's turn to play possum however as Punk took forever trying to lift his carcass only for Henry to make a sudden recovery as he kicked Punk in the gut and sent him flying into the barricade. Story in the second half of the match was that Punk had brought in a chair which both men subsequently battered one another with before Henry set the weapon up in the middle of a turnbuckle and then tried but failed to launch Punk in its direction. After more tense back and forth which included Punk trying to wear the world's strongest man down with a variety of quick impact manoeuvres and Henry trying to squeeze the fight out of Punk with a bear hug, it was the positioning of the chair that came back to haunt Henry as he hit the steel headfirst after mistiming a charge and then found himself taken out with a chair assisted elbow drop which gave Punk the hard earnt pinfall victory. Great booking here as Punk came off looking like a real star and Henry still looked like a monster in defeat. **** Post-match Chris Jericho emerged on the big screen sitting in a prop bar. After teasing Punk about the drink fuelled beat-downs he had given them over the past couple of weeks he told his rival that he would be facing him in a Chicago Street Fight in two weeks time at Extreme Rules. Punk said that he couldn't wait to beat up Jericho in front of his family and friends including his father, mother and sister. Jericho told Punk to make sure that he turned up sober and then showed footage of Punk going to a pub just hours earlier. Punk said he was just there to meet up with friends but Jericho argued that this was just an excuse and that straight edge was now just a façade. He said that Punk was losing out to alcohol and that at Extreme Rules he would be losing his world heavyweight championship. The big screen then switched off before Punk could respond. These two men continue to bring it on the mic but the crowd don't really seem to care about this alcohol related storyline no matter how hard they try to bring emotion into it. If they had gone with a €œPunk must drink if he loses the title€ stipulation it would have at least raised the intensity of these verbal duels. Having said that, the match itself promises to be quite the treat. 2.) Santino defeated David Otunga via pinfall to defend the United States Championship Prior to the match, Santino came out wearing several football shirts taking one off each time to split reactions from the crowd before satisfying them all by showing off an England top. Santino got in his comedy punches to start but Otunga telegraphed his splits and then simply kicked Santino in the head whilst he was in pain on the ground in a hilarious spot. Otunga then pasted Santino with a spinebuster and the ref counted three only to notice Santino's leg on the ropes. Otunga then argued with the ref which was cue for Santino to get the cobra ready which he hit Otunga with when his opponent turned around. Fun filler. * Lord Tensai cut an odd promo backstage talking about how people fear the unknown and he knows what we should fear. He also mixed in some Japanese. They aired a Brock Lesnar video package which impeccably edited together footage of a sit down interview with the former UFC heavyweight champion whilst splicing in images to lend evidence to his career dominance. He reiterated that he was not a superstar but an ass kicker and said that there wasn't anybody in the WWE past or present who shared his accolades as they showed footage of him wrestling in high school, college, WWE and then becoming champ in UFC against all the odds. He then talked about how he wasn't returning to the WWE as part of a feel good moment or because he missed coming through the curtain and hearing the the buzz from the fans, all he cared about was Brock Lesnar and his return was strictly business because he needs to be the man to help legitimatise the company. €œwe're all tired of Cena's bullcrap€ he said as they showed him taking Cena to the mat with an F-5 and then argued that the only reason that John Cena was in the spot that he's in is because he left.. He then brought up busting open Cena's mouth as he told us €œthis is real.€ He said that he didn't care about what was running through John Cena's mind because what was more important was what was running down his leg; €œPiss, the guy is scared, he's shitting his pants is what the guy is doing.€ Turning his attention to their bout, he described how this wasn't a wrestling match but an extreme rules contest as we saw clips of Lesnar kicking ass in the gym and saying that his one objective was €œutter freakin chaos.€ He said that he was coming for a fight and that John Cena just been given a little appetizer of what was to come. The consistently brilliant WWE production team took it to another level with this one. The editing of Brock's curt, no nonsense trash talk ran fluidly with emphatic footage that was made more striking through the brooding soundtrack that played throughout the clip. It established Lesnar's background, it told the story of why exactly he was coming back to target Cena and it promoted the fact that he is an opponent unlike any Cena has faced before further driving home the point that Cena has found himself in a situation where he is going to be a genuine underdog within a perilous environment. Lesnar meanwhile only made himself more intimidating through his calm, authentic verbiage, something that really strikes a chord when all the other heels are busy grimacing and playing up to the crowd. 3.) Kane vs Zack Ryder resulted in a no contest Before the bell could be rung, Kane booted Ryder off the apron and sent him crashing headfirst into the announce desk. Kane then chokeslammed Ryder and cut an unconvincing promo on Orton to the chorus of €œwhat€ chants from the uninterested crowd. Backstage Kofi was trying to cheer up a miserable looking AJ only for Bryan to emerge and ask him to back off. He said that just because he didn't want her anymore doesn't mean that it's open season. Bryan then started talking about putting Kofi in the labell lock only to change tact and decide that he was now going to call it the YES lock and yelled €œyes€ repeatedly in Kofi's face. Bryan was tremendously obnoxious here though Kofi looked kind of stupid as just stood there letting Bryan taunt him. John Cena came out to address the crowd. It should surprise no-one that he immediately shouted into the camera thus already diluting the impact of Lesnar having decimated him the previous week. Then speaking in fluent, untroubled tones he brought up John Laurinaitis who he said was now the most powerful man in the company and talked about how the end of an era wrestlemania theme may well come to haunt him with Laurinaitis in charge. Cena then talked about the monster Laurinaitis had brought in to legitimatise the company, Brock Lesnar. He said that Lesnar represented destruction and that he wasn't just coming to beat him, he was intent on replacing him as the face of the company. Cena then got passionate and said that he wasn't afraid and was going to fight at Extreme Rules even if meant getting his ass kicked in the process. At this point he was interrupted by John Laurinatis who informed John Cena that he would be engaged in a contract signing with Brock Lesnar next week on Raw and that he would also compete later in the night in an extreme rules match but refused to mention the opponent for the sake of excitement. Despite Cena facing the most intimidating opponent he has ever faced, this promo felt no more serious or intense than when he was feuding with the likes of the Miz or Alberto Del Rio. Doing an impression of Laurinaitis and pulling off a goofy smile as he walked down to the ramp was completely inappropriate when contrasted with the full on seriousness of the Lesnar video package from earlier on and helped to shatter the illusion that Cena might genuinely dislike his rival. This is the reason why a programme with Cena is usually so detrimental to those feuding with him because nine times out of ten his character is so robotic that it becomes impossible to care about any conflict. Cena's response here either needed to be of the Mick Foley mould where he talked about enjoying Lesnar's taste of pain and declaring that he couldn't wait to offer his own response or just a flat out, no nonsense retort where he put over Lesnar's destruction but then actually promoted his own strength, talked about his own dominance and said that if Lesnar tried to hit him like that again then he was going to hit him twice as hard. In short, it needed to feel angry, authentic, passion fuelled and important and this promo was unfortunately unconvincing on all those counts. 4.) Daniel Bryan defeated Kofi Kingston via submission Bryan was over huge in London with thunderous €œyes€ chants filling the arena whenever he gained the advantage in the match. Bryan himself added to the pandemonium by also yelling out his catchphrase on occasions when he had the upper hand. In what amounted to a captivating back and forth tussle, it was refreshing to see Kofi get in way more offence than perhaps anyone expected as he managed to take Bryan out with a neat crossbody to the outside and earnt a near fall after countering the YES! Lock into an SOS. Near the end however, another crossbody attempt from Kofi cost him as Bryan dodged out of the way and and managed to lock Kofi in his submission again with the fans screaming €œYes€ in anticipation of Kofi tapping which he did so moments later. *** Post-match Bryan trapped Kofi in the hold once more but Sheamus sprinted down to make the save. Bryan however ducked a Brogue kick attempt and scampered the scene with a grin. 5.) Brodus Clay defeated Dolph Ziggler via disqualification Fans adored Clay with several dancing along to his shtick in the crowd. Match wasn't much with Swagger getting himself involved for the DQ after Clay had easily taken Dolph to ground. Brodus then headbutted Swagger as the ref rang for the bell. After the match Vickie tried to get involved but was pushed to the ground by Naomi before walking away in a huff. Clay then entertained the fans by dancing again. DUD Backstage Laurinaitis was busy telling Otunga that if he focused as hard on his in ring career as he did on all his other tasks he does for him then the sky could be the limit. Eve then interrupted Laurinaitis and reminded him of that one on one talk he had promised her. Lauirnaiits called in Otunga as well as the three of them walked into the office to discuss some serious business. A touching tribute was aired for Chief Jay Strongbow. 6.) Tag Match: Big Show and Khali defeated Epico and Primo via pinfall Utter domination from the giants. At one point Epico and Primo tried to grab their titles and evacuate the premises but Show threw them back inside where they were chopped down by the barely mobile Khali. Show and Khali then both hit their finishing moves for the double pinfall victory. Your tag team champions everybody. DUD 7.) Lord Tensai defeated John Cena via pinfall in an Extreme Rules match This was far from extreme but was nonetheless quite an engaging tussle with Tensai hitting Cena with an array of power moves and standing up fresh from Cena's supplex attempt to further pummel his opponent with a clothesline. On the outside Tensai then threw Cena into the steel steps but Cena recovered to impressively backbodydrop Tensai. Cena continued the assault by picking up one of the steel steps and launching it in Tensai's direction and rolling Tensai back into the ring as Tensai's manager Sakamoto emerged to target Cena's legs with some kicks. Otunga then got involved by throwing Cena back into the ring where Tensai had recovered in time to punish Cena with a butterfly supplex. Tensai then missed his corner avalanche which enabled Cena to recover with some of his trademark manoeuvres but Albert telegraphed the five knuckle shuffle and stood up to chop Cena to the mat before throwing all his body weight on top of him to earn a near fall. Tensai then locked Cena in an armbar but Cena countered into an STF with Otunga breaking the hold. Cena then hit Otunga with an FU but when he turned around he had green mist spat in his face from Tensai who went on to hit the Baldo bomb for the win. ** ½ This felt nowhere near as ruthless as the Punk/Henry match from earlier but I thought these two combined well together inside the ring and it was good to see Cena actually selling the intimidating nature of his opponent and acting suitably focused on the task throughout. Meanwhile it seems like a big win for Tensai but the reality is that despite this cool little character he's been handed, he's still being mocked with €œAlbert€ chants which doesn't bode well for his immediate future. Verdict: Despite a five star Brock Lesnar video package this week actually saw a setback in the Cena / Lesnar feud because the remainder of the show instead turned its attention to grounding Cena in a cartoonish feud with John Laurinaitis. The big problem with having Laurinaitis involved in this storyline and also trying to promote the animosity between Lesnar and Cena as legitimate is that Laurinaitis has the presence of nothing more than a goofy, mid card heel who whilst amusing and effective in short bursts effectively makes main event storylines appear phoney and unsubstantial whenever he is given a large role to play. So, whilst Lesnar appears suitably threatening and ruthless in both his words and actions his unhinged, striking behaviour is being undermined by a Cena vs the boss storyline that just doesn't fit in with the authentic direction they've taken with Brock. I am still intrigued by next week's contract signing and I'm still expecting tension and a sense of unpredictability when they cross paths between the ropes but the involvement of Laurinaitis seems to be holding this feud back from reaching its true potential. Punk and Jericho on the other hand appear to be struggling to get crowds to invest themselves in their storyline and whilst their promos together are at best phenomenal and at their worse still gripping, one must question given Punk's obvious popularity, whether or not Jericho has lost his heat as a main event heel or if this is just a case of audiences not resonating with the subject matter. Either way, this feud with Jericho, whilst giving us some knockout angles and a great (though disturbingly quiet) match at Wrestlemania, has not done as much for Punk as many would have perhaps expected it to given Jericho's excellent track record of eliciting severe hatred in rivalries with the likes of Shawn Michaels and Rey Mysterio. On the positive note, in spite of several useless bouts, we were also treated to some really good wrestling on this week's Raw with Mark Henry and CM Punk stealing the show in an excellent opening tussle that promoted the bravery and superior intelligence of the WWE champion, Daniel Bryan and Kofi being given good time to have a match that for once didn't bury the guy lower down the card and Lord Tensai being allowed to maintain his momentum despite facing the notorious momentum killer John Cena. The London crowd were also vocal throughout and added a keen sense of fun to the show particularly through the manner in which they reacted to both Daniel Bryan and Brodus Clay.