Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Monday Night Raw: The Good, the Bad, & the Ugly, 10/3/11

In the wake of the Hell in a Cell PPV, Monday Night Raw Supershow was presented from the Cajundome in Lafayette, Louisiana on Monday. The ending was one of the most bizarre in the history of the series.

The evening began with former World Champion Randy Orton disposing of Drew McIntyre after an RKO. McIntyre had the offense in the early part of the match, but became just another victim. Orton added a 2nd RKO post-match, just for emphasis. Before he could leave the ring, however, Orton was confronted by current champion Mark Henry, who'd bested Orton at the PPV. A short brawl ensued, and Orton eventually had to be escorted back to the dressing room. He would not return.

Henry then dismissed John Morrison rather quickly, kicking out of Morrison's finisher, Starship Pain (a split-legged corkscrew moonsault), then hitting his own finisher, the World's Strongest Slam. Henry added a 2nd slam post-match, but then declared in a promo that he was done with Orton----for now. Big Show will be activated from the disabled list and will be Henry's next challenger.

Next up, a small group of heels, led by US champ Dolph Ziggler and his manager, Vickie Guerrero, held an open forum, continuing their issue against COO Triple H. Ziggler, Guerrero, Jack Swagger, Christian, Cody Rhodes, David Otunga, and new WWE champ Alberto Del Rio, all aired their complaints, and Del Rio in particular was holding HHH responsible for the Miz & R-Truth, again circumventing their "firing" two weeks ago, attacking him, along with CM Punk, John Cena, and some officials, after the PPV main event had ended. Triple H came out, and made it clear that the whiners would have to "shut up and fight" in a 12-man tag later.

For the 3rd straight week, Kelly Kelly & Eve Torres were matched against Natalya Niedhart and Beth Phoenix, only this time with Phoenix having copped the divas title from Kelly at the PPV. The bout barely got off the ground before Kelly ended up on the floor and began brawling with Phoenix. The ref couldn't control it and called for the bell. Kelly was uncharacteristically angry over losing the title the way she did, since Niedhart had a little something to do with it, clocking her with a mic behind the ref's back.

Santino Marella returned from the DL to quickly defeat Jinder Mahal. Marella mocked Mahal's promo by speaking in complete gibberish. Marella had let his hair grow out and lost the unibrow that was his trademark. A cobra thrust ended Mahal's night in under a minute.

The 12-man tag saw Cena, Punk, Sheamus, Mason Ryan, and tag champs Kofi Kingston & Evan Bourne defeat the mutineers in a very long main event that lasted nearly a half hour thanks in large part to two commercial breaks during the match.

The finale of the evening saw the wrestlers and referees gathered at ringside as Triple H returned to hear their gripes. He'd told Executive VP/Talent Relations John Lauranitis to be there, but the former Johnny Ace was nowhere to be seen. Then again, Punk & Cena didn't return, and Orton was long gone. The basic theme was that the chaos over the last couple of months has created an unsafe working environment. Phoenix spoke for the women. Christian spoke for some, if not all, of the men. Head ref Mike Chioda, who has been with WWE for several years, represented the referees. Jerry Lawler returned and spoke his piece, but in the end, everyone voted for "no confidence" for the COO, and left him all alone with the audience to end the show.

Easily, one of the worst endings in the series' history. That's all that needs be said, really, and the blame lies with in absentia chairman Vince McMahon, who is manipulating the entire sitch in the shadows. You know he's going to be back, probably no later than next month. Where they go from here, no one knows. And that is the saddest part of it all.

No comments: