WWE Raw Review 24/10/11 - Kevin Nash Sledgehammers Triple H

The Big News: In something of a game changer it was established that Rock and Cena would now face Miz and Truth in a standard tag bout at Survivor Series. Meanwhile Punk vs Del Rio was teased for the WWE title and Kevin Nash hospitalised Triple H with a couple of brutal sledgehammer shots. Live from The University of Texas The announcers put over the ring collapsing from Mark Henry and Big Show's superbly orchestrated Vengeance match whilst also covering some other major incidents from the PPV. Trips came out to start the show. He said it was a tough business but that he had learnt back from his early days under the tutelage of trainer Killer Kowalski that in the wrestling industry you could either make money or make friends. He thought that he had been lucky however because it seemed that for a long time he had been able to effectively balance both. He had come to understand though that during his position of power certain friends were just there for a reason and he had seen the changes that money and power had made to Kevin Nash. He told Nash that he hadn't just nearly broken his neck the previous night but he had also broken his heart and that now he wanted some retribution. Subsequently he called out his former friend insisting that he was somewhere in the building. Instead however John Laurenitis interfered. He strongly suspected that Nash was at home but Hunter was having none of it. He reminded Laurenitis that he was still COO and ordered him to find Nash, offer him a lucrative contract and bring him to the ring so that he could kick his ass. Hunter walked up the ramp whilst Laurenitis told him that he was being unreasonable. A distracted Hunter was then blindsided by Nash who hit him in the back with a sledgehammer as Laurenitis asked Nash what he was playing at. A series of backstage cutaways then showed Nash leaving the arena and Hunter being helped towards the parking lot and fainting. We then cut backstage again a few moments later as Nash picked Hunter up to his feet whilst on a stretcher and launched another sledgehammer shot into his face. Not a bad segment though it would have made more sense and been more dramatic if Nash had just attacked Hunter whilst he was making his entrance. I know they're trying to gradually establish Laurenitis as a fully fledged heel but the big words should be saved for when the stakes have been raised. Instead a twenty minute segment developing a feud between a has been and an established legend is pretty uncalled for no matter how dramatic. Tag Team Match: Randy Orton and Sheamus defeated Christian and Cody Rhodes via pinfall Super fun topsy turvy bout with very well timed twists and turns towards the well received finish. Orton and Sheamus outpowered and outmanoeuvred Christian and Rhodes to startbut an overambitious Sheamus took his eye off Rhodes to execute a shoulderblock on Christian from the apron to the outside only to be taken out by Cody on his return. Christian and Rhodes proceeded to ground Sheamus for a while before Sheamus made the hot tag to Orton who ran wild on Christian with some clotheslines, a powerbomb and a superbly applied variation of the neckbreaker. Orton then planted Christian with the mid rope DDT following a near fall and called for the RKO. Rhodes ran in to make the save only to be almost taken to the mat by the finisher himself before scampering. The distraction was enough for Christian to capitalise as the heels took it in turn to ground Orton. Christian took to the top rope but Orton turned the tables with a mid air dropkick and then got the hot tag to Sheamus. Both fallen men made tags with Sheamus running wild on Rhodes until Christian caused the distraction that enabled Rhodes to hit Sheamus with his mid rope high kick which he likes to call the beautiful disaster. Christian then pasted Sheamus with a a sphere but Orton broke the count and hit Christian with an RKO before sending him to the outside. Sheamus then ducked another beautiful disaster attempt and took out Rhodes legs with his Brogue Kick and got the pinfall following a Celtic Cross. *** Rhodes and Christian are continually being made to look inferior to their two rivals but at least this match got plenty of time and it's good to see that they are actually really pushing Sheamus instead of adopting the usual stop start formula that comes from booking on the fly. Backstage John Laurenitis was on the phone to Stephanie saying that he was not to blame for the assault on Hunter. Otunga attempted to comfort him before Cena arrived, told Otunga to scamper and got in John's face about some of his own problems regarding Miz and R-Truth. In response Laurenitis booked a tag match for later on in the show pitting Miz and Truth against Cena and a partner that he would hand-pick himself. Match: Dolph Ziggler defeated Santino via pinfall Santino caught Dolph off guard with a surprise takedown before Ziggler quickly re-established his authority with a hard right and a dropkick. Santino then dodged a Ziggler clothesline, hit the splits and landed a headbutt before calling for the cobra but he was distracted by Swagger on the apron and then taken out with the Zig Zag for the pinfall. ½ * Utterly pointless match, the time of which would have been much better served in letting Dolph cut a promo about how he had successfully defended his Unites States Title at Vengeance despite being exhausted from the tag team titles bout that had gone just before it. Post-match Swagger got Santino in the Ankle Lock before Mason Ryan arrived to make the save. Ryan and Ziggler physically teased a future match-up which I don't like the sound of. Backstage the Bella Twins were discussing the Triple H incident in a rather ditzy fashion before Zak Ryder emerged celebrating the fact that Laurenitis had chosen him as Cena's tag partner. Alberto Del Rio was out to cut his victory speech. He said that everyone thought that Cena was going to win at Vengeance but he had prevailed as the last man standing. He then said that he was done with Cena and wanted fresh challengers. The problem of course he continued is that no-one in the WWE is better than Alberto Del Rio and thus everyone was just going to have get used to seeing him as champion for a very long time. This brought out CM Punk. Punk put over the fact that Del Rio was tough but he said that he had already beaten him on multiple occasions and also still hadn't received a one on one title shot since Del Rio had cashed in on him at Summerslam. Del Rio was having none of this however and told Punk that he was a loser who hadn't even won his match at Vengeance and was therefore going to have to get to the back of the line. He said that Punk could come and see him when he actually earns himself a few victories to which Punk replied that if Del Rio wasn't going to give him a title shot then he might just put him to sleep anyway. At this point Laurenitis emerged. He was happy to make the match official for Survivor Series but first wanted to hear Punk say that he respected him. Punk responded by saying that he respected the fact that a man with so little had done so much. Laurenitis wasn't too overjoyed with that declaration and aborted the world title opportunity until he had another week to think things over. Punk then gave him something else to think about as he attacked Del Rio and then took out Ricardo Rodriguez with the GTS after Del Rio's unfortunate right hand man had made the save. A bit plodding but I did like the initial confrontation between Punk and Del Rio and trust that the pair could have some good verbal sparring in the build up to a likely clash at Survivor Series. Match: Alicia Fox defeated Natalya via pinfall Natalya dominated with power and submission strength but in the final sequence Alicia managed to reverse a turnbuckle body press into a sunset flip for the pinfall. Not much too it though I guess the idea is that they want to remind everyone that there are actually more than four active Divas in the company. * Backstage Kelly Kelly and Eve were smiling at Alicia€™s win but Alicia€™s own celebration was cut short when she was attacked by Beth and Natalya who proceeded to take her to the mat before Fox managed to make the escape. Match: Wade Barrett defeated John Morrison via pinfall Mostly a well worked bout though lacking the energy that Morrison usually use to elevate each and every match up he participates in. Barrett was slow and calculated with his offence whilst Morrison tried to pick up the pace with his fast moving style resulting in a clearly botched finish in which Barrett was supposed to catch Morrison off the ropes and plant him with the Barrier Wasteland but there was some sort of slip up and Morrison tumbled to the mat instead. In an awkward spot Barrett then simply had to pick up his opponent and land his finisher second time of asking. ** Michael Cole aired ludicrous pictures of JR on the tiatron which he claimed that JR had drunkenly tweeted himself. He then wanted JR to accept the Michael Cole challenge next week with the stipulation being that if Cole lost JR could have his old chair back as he would quit the company. More important air time for the announcers and another ludicrous firing angle that no-one cares about with two men who aren't active performers. What an epic fail. Zak Ryder gave a backstage interview talking about how happy he was to be competing in the Raw main event only to be taken out of the equation by Miz and Truth. Miz and Truth then walked to the ring cutting a promo about how this just the beginning of their revolution and that none of Cena's motivational catch phrases would be enough for him to rise above them. Justin Roberts then announced that the proposed main event tag match would operate as a handicap bout instead. Handicap Tag Match: John Cena defeated Miz and R-Truth via DQ Cena hammered away at Truth and Miz in turn but the numbers game caught up to him and he suffered the usual lengthy beat-down before eventually making his heroic comeback after avoiding the Miz's running turnbuckle clothesline. Cena then had Miz set up for the Attitude Adjustment only for Truth to cause the dq by charging in to attack the babyface with €........... a waterbottle. Lame finish to a pretty lame contest. * Post-match Miz and Truth continued the assault and were about to get some chairs involved until Laurenitis once again interfered (talk about overkill). The interim manager said that Miz and Truth had disrespected him and ordered officials to escort them out of the building. He then told the pair that at Survivor Series they would have to compete against John Cena and a partner or his own choosing. A recovered John Cena then chose The Rock, a startling revelation considering the fact that for months now posters have been advertising them both as Survivor Series partners. Verdict: So the big news then is that as is stands The Rock and Cena will take on Miz and Truth in a straightforward tag match at Survivor Series. This should be okay though has nowhere near the same appeal as the likes of Rock, Cena, Punk and Triple H all lining on the same team in a multi-man match that would serve to give us glimpses of The Rock inside the ring in anticipation of wrestlemania as opposed to a normal tag match where he will be required to have a key presence between the ropes. On the bright side the new match could give Miz and Truth a good rub as their sole opponents and Del Rio and Punk could steal the show if they wind up in a separate world title match. As for this edition of Raw itself I have to say that it was pretty uninspiring. The positives were that we had a really good tag match and a nice bit of mic work between Del Rio and Punk and might miraculously now witness both Orton and Cena out of the world title picture at Survivor Series. The bad however far outweighed the good on this show. They're still pushing the whole unsafe work environment issue which couldn't make the company look any more contradictory and phoney. Meanwhile almost a quarter of the show is dedicated to what is looking like a Hunter/Nash bout, two men who already feuded back in this very same company some ten years ago. And it was not a good night for the rising stars either. Because so much of their material is centred around jokes it's hard to suddenly take Miz and Truth seriously which means it's hard to care about them as major heels no matter how air time they receive. If they continue to run amok in the weeks leading to Survivor Series however there might be some hope that the Survivor Series tag match will actually have some good heat as opposed to just being sold on the intrigue of two megastars partnering one another. No excuse whatsoever though for Dolph Ziggler being forced to compete against a comedy performer one night after working has boots off for the company. The backstage motto is that you get yourself over but when Ziggler has five minutes of screen time and Triple H twenty they don't exactly give these men much room to practice what is preached. Also the fact that the WWE seem to need to rely on regular feuds between announcers these days proves that the faith in the overall roster must be at an all time low.