WWE Raw Review 5/12/11 - John Cena Sacrifices Title Shot!

The Big News: The Miz and Alberto Del Rio both won number one contenders matches to face WWE champion CM Punk in a triple threat TLC match at the December PPV and were then laid out by Punk following a main event contract signing. Meanwhile under the pressure of John Laurinaitis, John Cena sacrificed his own WWE title opportunity so that Zack Ryder could have a shot at Mark Henry to become the number one contender for the US Title. Ryder subsequently won the match and will now face Dolph Ziggler at TLC. In a nutshell: WWE'S attempt to be creative backfired miserably in a convoluted mess of a show. A fifteen minute segment opened the show that felt more like fifty minutes in length. Cena came out and basically laughed off everything that had happened the previous week and again reiterated his freedom of speech spiel by saying that the audience were allowed to let their voices be heard either positive or negative as it was their vibe that made all the cogs in the company turn. He then turned his attention to CM Punk's championship win at Survivor Series and put himself over as a suitable number one contender before talking about how great it would be if his match with The Rock at Wrestlemania was for the WWE title. This in turn caused a number of other hopeful individuals to come out and argue their case for the title in that transparently rehearsed manner. Del Rio emerged first and talked about how he should be champion after Punk had illegally dropped his head on an exposed turnbuckle in their world title match the previous week. In response Cena performed some obnoxious comedy trying to convey to Del Rio that he had lost. "You lost" he said. Which one of those words don't you understand? The you or the lost?" This marked the point where I officially lost all faith again in the development of the Cena character. Next out was Dolph Ziggler who cut a good promo to further push his new show-off gimmick and presented the case that his victory over Orton and dominance with the US Title made him the most suitable candidate to be the next WWE title challenger. Miz then arrived and made fun of the other men by claiming that he had beat Cena, had a much longer reign than Del Rio and unlike Dolph didn't need the assistance of Vickie Guerrero in order to get a reaction. Finally John Laurinaitis came out and wanted to get creative in response to Punk's claims that he was just some dull executive head. He decided therefore that all four men would face a smackdown superstar of his choosing and whoever won their matches would be enterted into the WWE title match against CM Punk at the TLC PPV. He then said that Cena would not be in a match but rather involved in a social experiment that he wanted to discuss with him later in the show. The Miz defeated Randy Orton via countout to qualify for the WWE title match at TLC Orton won the power game early on but Miz got himself into the match when he telegraphed his opponents bodydrop attempt with a vicious boot to the head and then followed it through with some stomps and a lengthy chinlock. Orton wormed his way out of the hold with his trademark manoveurs but was bodydropped out of the ring by The Miz after attempting his mid rope DDT. Miz followed Orton outside the ring where he was hit with a scoop slam as soon as he got close. Ref then started counting as Wade Barrett came out to intefere. Orton chased him to the top of the ramp and then came back out aggrieved to see that he had been counted out. * 1/2 Post-match Orton came down to the ring to let off some steam against The Miz but he was laid out by a re-emerging Barrett who smirked and walked off. Orton could have suffered a squash and still not looked half as foolish as he did here. They aired a video package for the WWE network which promoted the legends house reality programme. Sounds great on paper but in a PG environment it's probably going to end up playing like an extended version of the kind of stuff that happens when a legend turns up on Raw for a backstage comedy skit. Backstage John Laurinaitis told Zack Ryder that he wasn't accepting his petition due to an official complaint from Dolph Ziggler. John Cena arrived dressed in Ryder merchandise and cut some more horrible comedy. I used to blame the material but when The Rock manages to make inane phrases like "fruity pebbles" and "boots to asses" catchy you realise that it's the singer and not the song and that Cena is just not a competent comic performer in any shape or form. John Laurinaitis informed Cena that he would be facing Ryder as part of his social experiment. Cena didn't want this match to happen because of their friendship but Laurinaitis convinced Ryder into thinking that the real reason Cena didn't want to face him was because he thought he was out of his league. This notion upset Ryder and so Cena tried to convince him that it wasn't true. John Laurinaitis then announced that if Cena won the match he would get a WWE title shot against CM Punk at TLC and if Ryder won he would get his US Title Shot against Dolph Ziggler at the same PPV. David Otunga informed Kevin Nash that he would be facing Triple H in a special ladder match at TLC in which a sledgehammer would be hanging above the ring and be made available to use for the first man who grabbed it. Ortunga then told Nash that he would be competing on Raw as well. Alberto Del Rio defeated Daniel Bryan via submission to qualify for the WWE title match at TLC Daniel Bryan was heavily bandaged up which at least didn't make this burial as bad as it would have usually been. Del Rio targeted the damaged area immediately with Bryan getting some respite by backflipping out of the corner following a whip and hitting Del Rio with a clothesline and some kicks to the chest before locking him in the guillotine choke. Del Rio got the ropes however and took Bryan to the ground with the crossarmbreaker to quickly make him tap. Should a so called submission expert really quit so easily when locked in a deadly submission? Surely a struggle would actually make the hold more memorable. * A pin up strong video package for Beth and Natalya transitioned into a "This Begins" promo and then reverted back again to the pin up package . Either this was a technical error or "This begins" is in actual fact promoting the return of Kharma. Kelly and Eve defeated Beth and Natalya via pinfall Beth and Eve manhandled Kelly at the start with a double Russian leg sweep. Beth then aggressively grounded her opponent before Kelly simply found the wherewithal to surprise her opponent with a sneaky roll up pin. Complete Waste of time. DUD Social Experiment: John Cena defeated Zack Ryder via pinfall to qualify for the WWE title match at TLC The opponents shook hands to start and traded takedown holds following a couple of fluid rope exchanges before Ryder got on top and earnt a couple of two counts from flapjack and a missile dropkick. Ryder then attempted to go to the top rope but Cena recovered and tried to get him in position for the AA which Ryder countered into a tornado DDT to the mat. Cena avoided the Rough Ryder however and landed all of his trademark manoveurs which built towards another AA attempt which Ryder blocked by holding on to the ropes. Cena then landed turnbuckle first after attempting to charge at Ryder which left him vulnerable for the Bro kick in the corner. Ryder called for his finisher again but as he was running towards his opponent, Cena used Ryder's momentum against him to plant him with an AA third time of asking. Not a clean match but they had good chemistry and there was sufficent crowd energy throughout. ** 1/2 Post-match Ryder acted like a pathetically sore loser by moaning to Cena about how the match he had just lost had presented his only opportunity at facing Ziggler for the US Championship. Instead of acting like a man the ever reliable pushover John Cena told Zack to hold his horses as he raced to the back and convinced John Laurinaitis to give Ryder another shot at the expense of sacrificing his own shot at the WWE title. Cena actually mentioned in this promo how he had already won the title like ten times as if it missing this current opportunity was kind of a bummer but not really a big deal in the grand scheme of things. Can you imagine a Bret Hart or a Ric Flair ever cutting a promo like this? Zack Ryder defeated Mark Henry in a no dq match to become the number one contender for the US Title Henry shoved Ryder to the mat. Ryder came back with some fists of fury but Henry swatted him away and then beat him back down to the mat. Ryder kicked at Henry's head to get back in the match though and landed the brogue kick to get some momentum before Henry shoved him away again after Ryder tried to lift him. John Cena then randomly appeared to give Henry an FU and draped Ryder's arm over Henry to gift his friend the pinfall victory. So Ryder was pissed off at Cena for beating him fairly earlier on but fine with Cena unfairly helping him become the number one contender? This was very peculiar babyface behaviour... 1/2 * Backstage Vickie told a disgruntled Dolph Ziggler that she wasn't able to make John Laurinaitis reverse the decision and that he would be facing Sheamus in his own number one contenders match. Kevin Nash defeated Santino via pinfall Nash won quickly with the jackknife powerbomb. NR Post-match Nash got the sledgehammer and held off hitting a helpless Santino. He enjoyed the sense of fear the weapon awoke in his opponent however and raised it high in the air before leaving the ring. Backstage Punk was having one of those conversations with Evan Bourne where they pretend to say something interesting in order to fool the fans who can't hear him. Sheamus defeated Dolph Ziggler via pinfall Ziggler ducked a couple of lock ups and vaingloriously laughed it up in a nice heel touch. Next lock up however Sheamus took him to the mat hard to wipe the smile off his face and proceeded to use his power advantage to wear his opponent down. Ziggler relied on his technical skills to get back into the match executing a neckbreaker and landing a fame asser for a near count. Ziggler then applied a simultaneous wrist/chin lock on his opponent but Sheamus worked out of it and took Ziggler to the mat with some axe handles and headbutts in the corner. Sheamus then attempted the celtic cross but Ziggler jumped over to safety and avoided Sheamus's charge to send the Irishman crashing into the unoccupied corner. Match was just getting good as Zak Ryder intefered to distract Dolph who was then planted with the Brogue Kick when he turned around. ** WWE Title Contract Signing A happy Laurinaitis said that exciting things are on the horizon such as Brodus Clay making his debut (sometime before 2013 I assume) and John Cena taking on Mark Henry on next week's edition of Raw (what could that match possibly hope to accomplish?). He also announced that Punk would defend his title in the first ever triple threat Tables, Ladders and Chairs Match at the PPV. The three men talked amongst one another with a lot of the segment involving Punk and Miz going back and forth with some amusing comedy which would be okay if comedy actually inspired anyone to buy PPV's which unfortunately it doesn't. Punk said that he was okay facing Miz and Del Rio because he was facing the guy who he has beaten before and the man who lost at Survivor Series. In response Miz put over his recent path of destruction in taking out Truth and Morrison and Del Rio argued that he was the best in the world and would take back the WWE title. Both men agreed that they would ensure that no matter what happened between them Punk would not be walking out with the gold. Punk asked if they could get to the fighting after they had all signed the contract but instead John Laurinaitis ordered a photo op for wwe.com. Punk was not happy about this however and let John Laurinaitis know about it before pasting Miz with his microphone and attacking Del Rio. Del Rio hit back with help from Ricardo's distraction but when Miz arrived back inside the ropes Punk hit a high knee to send Del Rio flying into Miz into the corner and then smashed Del Rio through the table with a bulldog and hit Miz with a GTS who landed on top of Del Rio after crumbling to the mat. Punk then celebrated with his title to end the show. Analysis: The Good: Despite the whole ordeal being horribly booked on this broadcast, it was still great to see Zack Ryder being given the requisite attention for a man who is comfortably inside the top ten when it comes to crowd reaction on both Raw and Smackdown. Ryder showed real character in his match with John Cena and came across as very genuine later on after he had earned his shot at Ziggler's championship. It was also sweet to see Dolph Ziggler cut his best promo yet whilst teasing Del Rio and Cena in the opening segment with some smoothly delivered insults that oozed self-confidence in a promo that promoted him as a star in a far more convincing manner than the two main eventers he was sharing the ring with. Let's hope 2012 really is the breakout year for this fine talent. We now have a United States Title match between Ziggler and Ryder that is the perfect clash considering the strides that both men are making in their roles as face and heel. For the first time in too long the crowd actually care about someone challenging for a midcard championship and I think that is credit to the fine work both men have put it into their characters over the past few months. Kevin Nash got the necesarry squash victory over Santino Marella and teased the sledgehammer to put it over as a dangerous weapon in the build to his ladder/sledgehammer match with Triple H at TLC. The Bad: Three important smackdown guys in Henry, Orton and Bryan were all made to look like goofs just so that three Raw guys could benefit with title shots. What little heat Miz and Del Rio got from these victories was then ruined however when CM Punk merely dismissed them as easy competition and left them laying to end the show to back up his words. What a fine way to create intrigue surrounding your next PPV main event. There was nearly forty minutes of bell to bell wrestling last week on a good show that made nearly everyone look good either in hard earned victory or defeat. This week we got seven rushed matches that didn't really make anyone look good due to nonsesical and lazy booking. The Ugly: It's hard to truly engage with the WWE when you can't warm to the number one guy in the company because that said individual usually dominates the storylines and determines the overall direction of the product. Last week however I was optimistic about the progression of the Cena character for the first time in months after he had received a slap from a legend he respected in Roddy Piper and left the ring with an air of uncertainty in a dramatic moment that effectively raised questions about his wellbeing. Well these questions were unfortunately answered this week in the form of an unwelcomed return to more horrible comedy, more obnoxious company pandering and even some physical comedy thrown in for good measure as the apparently troubled John Cena dressed up as his friend Zack Ryder just to let those dozen or so kids in the front row have a good old giggle. Later in the show, Cena then buried the WWE championship by giving up his shot to face Punk at TLC so that Ryder could have another shot to face Ziggler for the United States Championship in spite of his opening speech in which he had talked about how great it would be to face The Rock at Wrestlemania with the gold over his shoulder. In another horrible contradiction this apparently honorable superstar then cheated like a true heel to take out Mark Henry so that Ryder could pin the world's strongest man and get his own US Title shot. These are the behaviour traits of a a schizophrenic, not someone whose word is supposed to be his bond. Not to mention the convoluted manner in which these events transpired. For example if Cena really wanted to sacrifice his own ambitions for Ryder then why didn't he just walk out of the ring for a mid-match count out during their initial bout and then simply leave the arena thus continuing the intrigue about his state of mind. Instead he won the match against Ryder and was apparently devestated and shocked about the consequences of this victory despite knowing full well beforeand that beating Ryder would ruin his friends chance for a title shot. Well what did the numbskull expect to happen when he pinned him? It's like he lost his mind on this broadcast. Talking of losing ones mind. Could Randy Orton have looked any stupider suffering a count out loss against The Miz? Distracted by Wade Barrett on the outside he proceeded to run up the ramp to chase his rival despite being within earshot of a ref more than halfway through his count and then actually turned around at the top of the tiatron to pull a stunned expression when he realised that he had lost the match. Again for Orton, I reiterate, what did the numbskull expect to happen? Can no-one just fight normally in competitive matches anymore and if you want to protect Orton then don't put him in a match with the Miz who you want to look good in qualifying for a championship match. Those two wishes cancel out each other out and result in a messy whole that doesn't do any favours for either man involved. Finally John Laurinaitis has far too big a role on this programme. He is amusing in very small doses but his bumbling, sleep-inducing vocals and lack of physical presence make him a terrible fit for an everpresent general manager position. Verdict: A months run of gradually improving shows is unfortunately grounded to a halt with this headache inducing edition of Raw. *