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WWE Raw Recap & Review
July 11th, 2011
By: Chris Cash for WrestleZone.com
Opening Segment: CM Punk/John Cena Promo
Live mic given to CM Punk to start the show. It wasn’t as good as two weeks ago, but it still proves that Vince McMahon is an idiot if he allows Punk to be given this much creative freedom for the three weeks before he’s set to leave the company. I, personally, don’t think Vince is an idiot. I think the CM Punk’s contract has been signed, sealed in iron clad, locked in a vault and buried 10 feet under somewhere in South Africa.
John Cena comes down and ruins it a bit for me, but hey, they still have a PPV match to promote, right? The crowd was very pro-Punk at times, but Cena is "still" John Cena. As good as CM Punk has been (specifically now, but always really), John Cena is still the biggest draw the company has right now. You do have to protect him. You just don’t have to protect him as much as WWE thinks they do.
General Manager chimes in and says that John Cena must compete in a handicap match since it could be his last night on Raw.
Otunga/McGuillicutty vs John Cena
Good match..honestly. Punk and Cena did a great job firing the crowd up early and with the live contract negotiation beween McMahon and Punk forthcoming, I think the fans will stay that way. Back to the match…here’s my problem. I’m pretty sure that David and Michael are the tag team Champions, right? Couldn’t they have picked another duo to lose clean to Cena? It’s beating a dead horse these days constantly talking about the lack of credibility damn near every other Champion has outside of the two Hvywt. title holders, but wow! WWE doesn’t have to make it "that" blatant week in and week out. WWE.com still states that the WWE Tag Team Championships is considered one of the most pretigious championships in tag team history. That’s simply laughable.
Backstage segment with Dolph Ziggler, McIntyre and Vickie making fun of Vince McMahon was…fun. Afterward, that backstage interviewer guy (who I still have no idea where he came from) asked Vince that the whole world wanted to know what was going to happen between the live contract negotiation. Vince said that the whole world could "go to Hell" and all I could think of…this must be the "Attitude" of the PG era. As sarcastic as that may have sounded, it wasn’t. It’s working. Punk is getting over without the use of cuss words, middle fingers and beer cans. Give the guy a live mic and a megaphone and he can be edge and entertaining with plenty to spare. Maybe WWE will realize that now, regardless what happens with Punk after Sunday.
Kelly Kelly vs Melina
Kelly’s hot, Kelly’s hot, Kelly’s hot.
Oh…and Melina must have some SERIOUS heat backstage these days. She’s a bonafied jobber.
The Bella twins get in the ring and I guess everyone is shooting these days as they call out Kelly Kelly for having acne underneath all that make-up. Yes, the woman WWE bills as the current face of the Divas is being ridiculed for having blemishes on her face. Punk has started what could become an epidemic. Look out!
MITB Participant Promos
Seven men…six promos. Went a little long, but everyone, with the exception of Evan Bourne (love ya Kid, but please stop talking), were entertaining on the stick. I’m really looking forward to this year’s Raw MITB match. I fully expect Del Rio to win it, but I think it should be a lot of fun. Poor Bourne probably gets the brunt of the hard spots with Shelton Benjamin being gone. Raw GM sets up a six man tag match for all of them but Del Rio.
Alex Riley/Evan Bourne/Kofi Kingston vs The Miz/R-Truth/Jack Swagger
Typical "go home" style match for MITB with most of the participants in the match and the favorite getting the better of the rest at the end as Del Rio came in to clean house with a ladder. It left a lot to be desired and that’s exactly what I’m going to do…desire more from this Sunday’s match. I fully expect these guys to leave everything out there on Sunday and put on a potential show stealer. Yes, big spots will be a part of that.
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It’s crazy (but not really) to see how quickly Truth is back in that same old spot. He’s still entertaining, but not near as believable of a true contender as he was a month ago. Sad to see, but if I have to choose between him and Punk, I guess it’s not that sad after all.
Big Show vs Drew McIntyre/Dolph Ziggler
The match was nothing to write home about, but the stage spot with Mark Henry was pretty cool, even if it did look fake. They might as well have had a trampoline on the side of the stage. Well, for Big Show and Henry anyway. However, Drew McIntyre took a SICK bump. More like a crash off the side of the stage. Crazy! I hope he’s seriously okay. That looked bad.
I have really enjoyed the back-and-forth between Big Show and the WSM. Henry is acting like a beast right now and Show can turn that on as well. While the match is surely to be a let down in terms of a mat classic, if both men go out there with the same intensity they’ve had over the past month, it should be an enjoyable big man match.
Closing Segment: Punk/Vince/Cena
Ok, I sat back and simply enjoyed that. Let’s see what we had there:
– A "We Want Wrestling" chant. Way to go Lagana..I guess Mark Madden can suck on that, eh?
– ANOTHER Colt Cabana reference.
– A "Colt Cabana" chant!
– A reference (and subsequent trending Twitter topic) to WWE Ice Cream Bars
– Vince acknowledging and pointing at a Zack Ryder sign
That last one simply says it all, doesn’t it? It seemed to get a little "too deep" with Punk making reference to Cena now being what he’s always hated in dynasties. "John Cena..you’re the New York Yankies" and then BLAMO!…Cena punches him? You could tell the crowd wasn’t ready for that because they hardly reacted.
However, everything "before" and "after" that one minute span was absolutely amazing and exciting to watch. It was honestly historic. Sean Waltman said on Twitter tonight that he wishes people realized how big it really was. He claimed Vince hated being apart of it, but he’s too smart not to capitalize on it. I’m surprised to hear that Vince hated being in the middle of that, but either way, he definitely made tonight’s segment match up to what Punk did on his own just two weeks ago.
In closing: I believe Vince is smart enough to capitalize on all of this. One step further and even more importantly: I don’t think Vince is stupid enough to allow Punk "all" of this when a contract isn’t locked down TIGHT.
Punk may take a month or two off – to appease GLAAD and to further the storyline – but he will be back sooner, rather than later. And maybe…juuust maybe (Ahricky Boobie), Punk leaves with the title this Sunday at MITB.
One can only hope, right?
You email me Chris Cash at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @wzchriscash.
