Raw October 1, 2012

This week’s raw started of with a look back into the CM Punk and Mick Foley’s segment of the previous RAW, John Cena attacking punk with a steel pipe at the end of the show and the confrontation of Ryback after Punk beats up Foley backstage is shown. The Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City hosted Raw this week and Michael Cole welcomes us to Raw after the usual pyro go off with the legendary hometown hero Jim Ross by his side.

As we get into the ring, the WWE Champion CM Punk comes out and despite WWE’s best efforts he still manages a great deal of following. He is followed by Paul Heyman who holds the WWE title who, as usual, generates a lot of heat (personally, it is a treat watching these two in the ring).

It is the Jim Ross Appreciation Night and Ross feels honored for the respect and appreciation shown to him. As we get nostalgic about Ross’s contribution to the WWE, Heyman raises the belt and Punk starts speaking. As expected, we see Punk talking about Cena’s attack with a pipe last week. He literally rips apart local Cena fans and calls Cena a coward which generates appreciable heat from fans. He then justifies his actions of beating Foley backstage and calls Foley a Coward too. Punk blames Foley for his actions as he gave him a very disrespectful gaze and called him names under his breath and Punk gave him just what he deserved. Punk then makes some comment about Mick learning manners from his wife and then makes a huge announcement that he will not be facing John Cena in Hell in a Cell.

After some private words, Punk and Heyman then shift to another unattended business. Heyman shows a footage of last week where his wedding proposal to RAW General Manager AJ went awry. He smartly points out that AJ did not reject his proposal (Hopefully we have a real nice story building up on this front) and mentions the edict from the WWE Board of Directors that AJ has violated. AJ did not have the authority to put her hands on any WWE star or official and expects her to be removed as the GM of RAW for her actions. Things get interesting as Vickie Gurrero comes out and starts complaining about AJ reminding people of how she had been a victim of AJ’s power abuse.

She then shows footage of how she pleaded to the board to remove AJ from the post which led AJ to attack her and beat her up for good (I really did enjoy that segment). Realizing that the entire topic of discussion was moving away, Heyman reminds Vickie that this is about Punk and not herself. Vickie disrespectfully introduces herself and Dolph. Heyman takes a dig at Ziggler and then hands it over to Punk. Ziggler then tries to make truce by the idea of making both Heyman and Vickie the co-GMs of RAW. As predicted, AJ steps in and mentions that she has been put on probation for her actions but mentions she doesn’t regret doing what she did to Heyman. She then says that she has been appointed a coach and out comes Daniel Bryan. Now that’s a shocker.

Undergoing an anger management course himself Bryan speaks about how AJ has lost her temper and has had mental issues since her break up. He seems to be quite impressed of this new post given to him and puts himself over and brags about him being a part of the tag team champions and guess who is in next? Well, that’s right the stage explodes and in comes Kane. Kane reminds everyone of what they have forgotten. He reminds people that AJ is a really good kisser. He also points out that everything Bryan said was true except for one thing: he is the tag team champion. They get into an argument and Punk yells lifting his title up while Ziggler lifts his briefcase. AJ has had enough of this and asks them all to stop. She announces a match between the team of Ziggler and Punk Vs Team Hell No which pops the crowd and then leaves.

Next we have the WWE Tag Team Title Tournament Match between Epico and Primo vs. Rey Mysterio and Sin Cara. This match was short and could have been a little longer, especially considering the athleticism available in the ring. However looking at the importance WWE has given to tag team division many people are glad that Teddy Long isn’t the only one promoting tag team. After a few high flying moves, Rey finishes the match with a top rope splash on Primo for the win. It was good to see the Prime Time Players watching the match on the outside of the ring reminding people of their existence.

The next match is what surprised me the most. The match between Brodus Clay and Antonio Cesaro was something I never expected to enjoy. To the amusement of many, Cesaro displayed his amazing strength by easily hitting the Neutralizer on Clay and finishing the match. This quick victory shows the amount of faith WWE has on Cesaro and we expect to see him as a future superstar for the organization.

There is a segment between Kaitlyn and AJ where AJ again shows her evil side by taking a dirty dig at her. She walks up with her coach Christopher J. Stephenson. This means Daniel Bryan isn’t really her coach.

After the break, Zack Ryder faces The Miz. It was a decent match between the two as they both can sell moves quite well. The match starts with Miz dominating things entirely and with later Ryder makes a comeback and tries to hit the Ruff Ryder which is blocked and converted to a powerbomb on the turnbuckle. The Miz then finishes things of with the Skull Crushing Finale.

Next we have the World Championship Debate with Smackdown General Manager Booker T. With the podiums set in the ring, Booker introduces Big Show and The World Heavyweight Champion Sheamus is next.

Frankly, this segment was a bit disappointing and boring thanks to both Show and Sheamus. While you cannot blame Show for the ridiculous script written by the creative WWE team, still there were a few things that didn’t go too well with me. However the crowd did show their liking for Sheamus and Show did manage to generate a lot of heat. Lastly, it has to be said that this was the best PG segment of the week. In the end, as Show started losing patience, both the wrestlers dropped their mics and stood face to face. Show then walked off getting a lot of boos from the crowd.

Returning from commercials we are ready for another heavyweight match between Tensai and Ryback. Both wrestlers highly acclaimed for their strength this was a match that many people were anticipating for a long time. Ryback did win the match quite easily but we did see a little droop in his strength. Ryback did struggle to lift Tensai off for the finisher but still managed to hit another huge clothesline for the victory. With Cesaro showing immense strength and Ryback failing in the same things do seem a little difficult for Ryback in the future.

Next we see Cody Rhodes and Damien Sandow making fun of the World Heavyweight Champion about his appearance in the debate. They insult him and call him a Neanderthal.

We then have a segment dealing with breast cancer survivors and families in the crowd with Justin Roberts in the ring talking about the partnership WWE has with Susan G. Komen.

Eve Torres then takes on Beth Phoenix where a cheap shot gives Eve the match. It was even-stevens for quite a while and Eve did show a lot of skill and class. Beth thrown out of the ring for a very near count out and she made it into the ring back at 9.

Santino Marella and Heath Slater then went on to face each other with Jinder Mahal and Drew Mcintyre at ringside to support Slater. The match was expected to be hilarious with these two wrestlers and the fans weren’t disappointed. After the initial beating Santino then started hitting Slater with his usual trademark moves. After the Cobra, Mahal and Mcintyre interrupt ending the match in a DQ favoring Santino.

The attack on Santino continues and Drew hits the Futureshock DDT. They then take the mic and Slater calls himself the one man band while Drew still considers himself the chosen one and the trio then start celebrating with Slater’s music in the background.

Now that Sheamus was insulted previously in the show, a match between Sandow and Sheamus is on next. Sheamus is waiting for Sandow to enter and out he comes with his partner Cody Rhodes.

Cody joins commentary and the match starts. This was without doubt the match of the night with the momentum shifting constantly from one person to the other. There were constant swings and the highlight of the match was the double brogue kick. WWE’s commitment to pushing Sandow as a top card is quite clearly seen and it is nice that WWE is pushing good technical wrestlers into the foray. While most of the other matches in the show this week were small this match proved otherwise. With both the members of the Rhodes Scholars put down by the Brogue kick this match was a complete entertainer and is without doubt the match to watch for the week. Despite the predictable result the end was quite theatrical and made the crowd pop a great deal.

Next it was time for the Jim Ross appreciation. Michael Cole is in the ring and he invites JR onto the stage. Before JR can speak CM Punk comes out with Heyman following him.

He disregards Cole and asks him to get out of the ring. Expectedly Punk generates some boos. He asks the fans to chant JR and the crowd gleefully responds. He appreciates JR and calls him the best announcer the industry has seen till date. But he then turns against the fans and tells them they have no idea of what respect is. He accuses the fans of twisting everything Punk says each week. He then gets back to his usual best and asks JR to tell everyone present there that he is the best in the world.

JR then responds by thanking Punk for his appreciation and his efforts of not embarrassing him. He however commends Punk by telling him he has done a good job of making a fool of himself. This upsets both Punk and Heyman and Punk gets to the face of JR. This is where the real fun starts and is without doubt the best part of the show. Punk is amused and wonders if Steve Austin will come to save JR but then rubbishes such thoughts. He says that no one be it Austin or Jerry Lawler can save him now. He mocks 3:16 and says it has now changed to the number of days he has held the title. I like what the WWE is trying to do here. Punk then continues to insult the legends and calls himself better than all the others. Finally he stomps JR’s hat and calls him a joke. As JR walks of the ramp, Ryback’s music hits and the crowd go ballistic.

Ryback brings back JR to the ring and stares down at Punk. As the crowd chants ‘feed me more’ Punk exits the ring and the crowd gets crazier. Punk however rises his WWE title and then calls him the best in the world. This was one hell of a segment that really made my day.

Next is the match between Alberto Del Rio and Kofi Kingston. A decent match with nothing new, Del Rio is sent out of the ring early with a clothesline and a commercial sees Del Rio gaining control again. With Ricardo in commentary there was a little entertainment in this match. Kofi then fights back with his usual moves and then misses the Trouble in Paradise and springboard splash to give Del Rio the opening for a cross arm breaker which gives him the win.

We then see AJ’s coach giving her advice and this pisses her off which makes her tell the coach to get out of her sight.

Finally we reach the main event. Team Hell No face off between the team of CM Punk and Dolph Ziggler.

The match is given an initial twist with AJ as the surprise guest referee. Again a pretty good match which had a lot of momentum shift. The match as expected was long and gave the crowd what they paid for. It maintained its stature as the main event as the team of Kane and Bryan played their part quite well. They maintained their own selves arguing and fighting each other to tag themselves in. Heyman and Vickie were seen arguing with each other at ringside most probably about the co-GM idea. With a little help from Heyman Punk evades the No Lock and Heyman is sent of from the ringside by AJ later Vickie is sent back too. Ziggler then abandons Punk after Vickie’s departure. After a dropkick from Bryan Punk is choke slammed by Kane for the victory.

RAW then goes off air as Kane and Bryan continue arguing as to who the real tag team champion is.