WWE RAW
November 9, 2009
Sheffield, UK
Commentators: Michael Cole & Jerry ?The King? Lawler
Report by: Hunter Golden of WrestleView.com
Ricky Hatton was introduced to the crowd and he came down to the ring and greeted the Sheffield fans. Hatton said he was a man of the people and was thrilled to be here. Chris Jericho & Big Show’s music hit and they came down. Big Show said it wasn?t any big deal that he knocked people out, because he knocked people out every day. He said he?d better step aside or he?d make a memory out of him. Hatton said he loved Show and enjoyed watching him get knocked out.
He said he?d give Hatton the same chance he gave Mayweather. Hatton made a wise-crack before Show got on his knees and invited Hatton to hit him. Hatton wound up but Jericho stepped in and began talking down to Show telling him that he doesn?t want him to get embarrassed by a low life boxer again. Show took exception and got into a back and forth with his partner. Hatton stepped in letting them know he called the shots around here, and they weren?t going to take over his show. He said they?d face DX tonight.
Show and Jericho turned their frustration on Hatton and backed him into the corner. DX’s music hit to a monster pop and they came out to assist Hatton. Michaels popped Jericho and the three cornered Big Show. Show got ready to fight the three before rolling his sleeves up and leaving. DX and Hatton gave us a big ‘suck it? and that was that.
****Commercial****
Alicia Foxx vs. Kelly Kelly
Alicia mugged Kelly who thesz pressed her to the mat. Alicia lured her to the corner and slammed her face off the mat before dropping an elbow for a two count. She dragged her to the middle of the ring and hit a stomp before eating some shots to the gut. Alicia cut off Kelly with a monster lariat and then slammed her floor off the mat yet again before wrapping up Kelly in a rear chin lock.
The crowd rallied Kelly who fought out of the hold and hit a hand spring back elbow in the corner. Kelly hit her fame-asser but Alicia kicked out. Alicia hit a stun gun and a scissor kick to the back of the neck for the three count.
Winner: Alicia Foxx via pin fall
John Cena and Ricky Hatton have chat in the back.
****Commercial****
Seamus vs. Job Guy
Seamus cut a promo talking about him doing what the Irish have always done, and that was walk into England and beat the crap out of Englishmen. Seamus hit a huge boot to the face and a big lariat before dropping a series of elbows.
Seamus hit his one handed back breaker before hitting his jumping big boot followed by a razor’s edge for the win.
Winner: Seamus via pin fall
****Commercial****
Ricky Hatton’s in the back with the Bella Twins. He’s shooting the breeze with them until Santino walks in. He’s dressed as ?Ricky Fatton?. Why? No idea. Chavo walks in and claims he can beat Hatton at darts. That doesn?t happen. Chavo says he wants Santino in a match tonight. Hatton says he?ll have a match tonight for sure? against him.
The Miz is cutting a promo about how great he is when Swagger interrupts and they have a back and forth. Swagger vs. Bourne is next.
****Commercial****
Jack Swagger vs. Evan Bourne
Swagger hit a big take down before hitting a quick Vader bomb. Swagger slapped on a bow and arrow before picking Bourne up in a Tiger clutch and tossing him to the corner. Swagger hit a running spear in the corner and went for a second, only to get caught with a knee to the face. Bourne hit a splash for a two count before attempting a roll up and getting a similar result.
Bourne made the mistake of getting into a strike exchange with Swagger before hitting a set of double knees. The Miz’s music hit and he came down to the ring, distracting Swagger. Swagger hit a belly to belly that resulted in Bourne rolling out to the apron. Swagger told Miz to look at he attempted a vertical suplex. Bourne hit a knee to the head and then a vicious back kick to the head that cold-cocked Swagger. He climbed to the top rope and hit the SSP for the win.
Winner: Evan Bourne via pin fall
After the match, the Miz resumed his speech from the back where it left off when Swagger interrupted him.
****Commercial****
VIP Lounge
Mark Henry and MVP introduced Kofi Kingston as their guest tonight. Kofi said Team Orton would have no idea what was going to hit them. They went to toast Kofi for being team captain before Randy Orton’s music hit and he came down to the ring with the Legacy in tow.
Orton said the three were just a bunch of low-class street thugs. He said Henry stole a video last week. He said MVP was just a common criminal. He said Kofi should be in jail for what he did to Orton’s car. Rhodes said MVP looked VIP, but he was surrounded by some ?not-so-VIP’s?. Orton said he and his colleagues belonged here. He said the only place where Kofi and his clowns belonged, was the hood. He told them to go back from where they came from.
****Commercial****
Mark Henry vs. Randy Orton
Henry tossed Orton to the corner before shoulder tackling him hard to the mat. Orton tripped up Henry in the corner and began stomping on his knees. He mounted Henry and began laying in punches, but Henry picked him up and brought him down hard with a lariat for a two count.
Orton began stomping away on Henry on the mat after hitting a low blow. Orton connected with a knee to the head before going for a pin fall that only got him a one count. Orton hit a DDT for a two count before going back to knee-ing the head. Orton hit a kick to the gut and locked on a rear chin lock to try and keep the big man on the mat.
Henry rallied out of the hold and hit a nice running power slam for a two count. Orton fired back with a right hand, only to eat a monster head butt. Henry hit a big splash in the corner before laying the former champion out with a series of Head butts. Orton dropped to the mat and looked for a sunset flip, only for Henry to rip him up to his feet. As he brought Orton up though, Orton dodged to his left and hit a big RKO for the win.
Winner: Randy Orton via pin fall
After the match, Orton slapped Kofi, but got chased off.
****Commercial****
Ricky Hatton vs. Chavo Guerrero
Hatton pawed at Chavo who bailed on the boxer twice. Hatton went to the body this time, causing Chavo to bail to the outside of the ring. Chavo grabbed a go-behind and took Hatton down before Hatton escaped. Chavo hit a cheap shot kick to the gut and decked Hatton with a right hand. He grabbed another go-behind only for Hatton to roll out and land a crushing right hook to Chavo’s head. So much for Chavo.
Winner: Ricky Hatton via KO
****Commercial****
John Cena is confronting Hornswoggle about his behavior of late. He hears DX coming and tells him to go and hide. DX comes in and say something’s up. Hornswoggle comes in in John Cena garb. This was just weird. I?m not getting it.
****Commercial****
D-Generation X vs. Chris Jericho & the Big Show
Jericho and Michaels locked things up and Jericho laid him out with a shoulder block. Jericho ducked under an elbow but ate a chop. Triple H tagged in and whipped Jericho to the corner only to eat a big boot to the grill. Triple H mounted a mini-comeback and dumped Jericho to the outside as we went to break.
****Commercial****
Jericho caught hit a knee on HBK before tagging in Big Show. Jericho and Triple H ended up back in the ring and Jericho caught a running knee for a two count. He dragged Triple H to the corner and tagged in Big Show. Show came in and slapped on a bear hug before laying Triple H out with body shots and heabutts to the face.
Jericho tagged back in to pick the bones. Triple H ducked a clothesline and hit a spine buster before crawling and getting a hot tag to HBK. Michaels scaled the top rope and hit an elbow drop before going for Sweet Chin music. Jericho countered trying the walls but HBK threw him off. HBK rushed Jericho to the corner only for Big Show to come and splash both. He wound up the over hand right to clock HBK, but Michaels ducked under and he clocked Jericho instead. Big Show stood stunned before Triple H clotheslined him to the floor. HBK hit a sweet chin music on Jericho, and that’s all she wrote.
Winners: DX via pin fall
Show Thoughts– After a month or so of mostly solid shows, I suppose Raw was due for a clunker.
I don?t know if it was jet lag or what, but this whole show tonight was incredibly boring. The WWE has piped in crowd noise a lot on their shows in the past, enough to the point where it doesn?t throw me off kilter when I hear it.
Tonight’s audio editing though, was awful. The pops and boos were nonsensical in their placement and to be honest, the show really had a B-level feel to it. It pretty much murdered the lion’s share of the segments.
It hurt the main event, where there was zero reaction to the finish because the crowd was muted. Cena’s audio levels were messed up to boot. It hurt Henry-Orton. At one point, Henry hit four head butts in succession. The crowd popped for the third but not the other ones. They played a clip of a crowd going bananas for one Big Show body blow. It was just odd and sloppy. It greatly affected the feel and energy of the show, which in turn, affected the show as a whole.
But that wasn?t the only thing. The booking was even bizarre. They?ve done a good job ?hyping? this triple threat title match for Survivor Series, but I have no clue why each one is actually taking place. The Cena-HBK-Triple H stuff has absolutely no story arch to it whatsoever. It’s LITERALLY thrown together.
Speaking of feuds lacking story-arch, does anyone even know what the Miz-Swagger feud is even about? I liked the Eve Torres thing. Evan Bourne’s beaten them both, so why isn?t he involved? Why don?t they like each other again? Why are they booked against each other to begin with?
Despite all that, there was some positive stuff to point to. Orton-Henry was a pretty decent match and the two seem to have some good charisma going on. I?m looking forward to the Survivor Series match and Kofi’s coming off more and more like a star every week. I don?t know how into the ?race war? storyline they?re going for though. Unlike some, I?m not entirely opposed to the idea of there being a black-white race-based feud. I understand the heat there and while there’s a lot of negative connotations behind it, it CAN make for a compelling story when it’s handled right. But I?m not sure this is the feud to be doing this with. Mark Henry’s a former Olympian, MVP carries around about 10 lbs of Diamonds every week and Kofi’s decked out in Prada. It’s hard for me to buy the whole ?you people? thing. Usually race angles aren?t really race angles as much as they?re socio-economic contrasts. The baby face afro-American usually ?comes from a rough place? and didn?t have money or made a star of themselves from nothing. Good underdog kind of stuff. This was three white guys confronting three black guys who were sitting in a ?VIP Lounge.? It just didn?t have that feel.
Oh and am I the only one that thinks it’s odd that they chose to run a race angle in one of the more racially tolerant places in the world? Run that in the south. Run it in Boston. Run it in Chicago or even LA. Places where it?ll strike a chord and actually get heat. But Sheffield, England? And what about the white dudes on Kofi’s team? Where does that leave them?
The Ricky Hatton stuff was OK for the most part and to be truthful, I like the general direction of Seamus. There was some solid stuff to build off of and it certainly wasn?t all bad. Overall though, it was just a strange show that suffered from some really strange booking decisions and embarrassing editing, which is something the WWE is usually lights-out with.
Overall Grade: C-
Quick Results
Alicia Foxx def. Kelly Kelly
Seamus def. Job Guy
Evan Bourne def. Jack Swagger
Randy Orton def. Mark Henry
Ricky Hatton def. Chavo Guererro
DX def. Chris Jericho & Big Show
Who’s Hot, Who’s Not?
Biggest Pops
1. DX
2. John Cena
3. Kofi Kingston
4. Ricky Hatton
Most Heat
1. Randy Orton
2. Big Show
3. The Miz
4. The Legacy
Match of the Night: Randy Orton vs. Mark Henry **
Points
4 Points= World Title defense/win
3 Points= Singles PPV Win
2 Points= Tag PPV Win
2 Points= TV Singles Win
1 Point= TV Tag Win
0 Points= Loss
WWE Champion John Cena 22-17-5, 51 points. (Last Week: WWE Champion) — Another weird week for Cena. He did a great job hyping the main event for the pay per view in a few weeks, but other than that has really been off in the background.
United States Champion: The Miz 12-11-2, 23 Points (Last Week: US Champion)— As much as I?ve enjoyed this guy over the past couple of months, this storyline with Swagger is weird. It’s almost like it completely lacks any kind of storyline arch.
1. Triple H 11-8-4, 20 Points (Last Week: 1)– It’s been really hard to get into this title match at Survivor Series. The promos and what not aren?t helping much.
2. Randy Orton 17-17-5, 44 pts. (Last Week: 2)– I ?get? the whole race-war thing and the heat they can generate with it, but I really wish the WWE would get out of this ?one-size fits all? booking of black guys. Sorry, but a guy who runs around with 10 pound of diamonds, a former Olympian and a guy in Prada don?t fit the ?you people? thing. Just saying?
3. Kofi Kingston 24-7-2, 46 points (Last Week: 3)–After more or less being on a role the last few weeks, they kind of put Kofi on ice tonight. I dunno if that was the wisest move, either.
4. Shawn Michaels (Last Week: 5)–See Triple H.
5. Big Show 13-16-1, 21 Points (Last Week: 5)— Just not at all interesting tonight. The Floyd Mayweather re-hashing wasn?t very interesting and he seemed to really be coasting in the tag match tonight. Blah night for Show.
6. Mark Henry, 14-6, 22 Points (Last Week: 6)— Good match from Henry tonight, but holy smokes the crowd editing threw this thing all off kilter. I?m still completely undecided as to whether Orton’s offense dragged, Henry’s selling was boring or if the crowd editing just made everything seem screwy. I?m not sure.
7. Cody Rhodes 15-17-3, 21 points (Last Week: 7)–OK with the mic work tonight, but other than that, a quiet night for Cody and Ted.
8. Ted Dibiase, Jr. 12-15-3, 14 Points (Last Week: 8)–See Cody.
9. Jack Swagger, 8-9-2, 14 Points (Last Week: 9) — So much for the winning streak I guess. I wasn?t a big fan of them ending this streak tonight. I?m kind of at a loss as to where this thing with Miz is going. I?m not understanding the beef.
10. Evan Bourne, 6-10, 10 Points (Last Week: NR) —A pretty good win for Bourne this week. This should likely put him in the mix for the US title. We?ll see what happens after Survivor Series. If he’s not paired with the Miz, put money on something between him and Seamus.
OTHERS
MVP 15-11-2, 23 Points (Last Week: 10)
Chris Masters 1-4-1, 1 Point (Last Week: NR)
Santino Marella 5-4, 10 points (Last Week: NR)
Seamus 2-0-0, 4 Points (Last Week: ECW)
Carlito Colon 5-10-1, 7 Points (Last Week: NR)
Primo Colon 4-10-1, 4 Points (Last Week: NR)
Brian Kendrick 1-6-0, 2 Points (Last Week: NR)
Hornswaggle 7-1-0, 10 Points (Last Week: NR)
Jerry Lawler 1-0, 1 points (Last Week: NR)
Festus 1-1-0, 1 Points (Last Week: NR)
Chavo Guerrero 2-19-0, 2 Points (Last Week: NR)
Jamie Noble 0-5, 0 Points (Last Week: NR)
Jim Duggan 0-0, 0 points (Last Week: NR)
Eugene 0-1-0, 0 Points (Last Week: RELEASED)
Batista 9-4, 18 Points (Last Week: MOVED TO SMACKDOWN)
Matt Hardy 3-8-0, 4 Points (Last Week: TRADED TO SMACKDOWN)
William Regal, 3-10, 4 points (Last Week: TRADED TO ECW )
Goldust 2-1-0, 2 Points (Last Week: TRADED TO ECW)
Kane 7-7, 12 Points DRAFTED TO SMACKDOWN
Mike Knox 3-3 4 points (Last Week: DRAFTED TO SMACKDOWN)
JTG 2-4, 2 points (Last Week: DRAFTED TO SMACKDOWN)
Big Shaad 2-3 2 points (Last Week: DRAFTED TO SMACKDOWN)
Charlie Haas 0-0, 0 points (Last Week: DRAFTED TO SMACKDOWN)
Dolph Ziggler 0-3, 0 Points (Last Week: DRAFTED TO SMACKDOWN)
CM Punk 9-7, 17 Points DRAFTED TO SMACKDOWN
Rey Mysterio 11-6, 22 Points DRAFTED TO SMACKDOWN
Chris Jericho 6-7 13 pts. DRAFTED TO SMACKDOWN
JBL 1-6, 4 points (Last Week: 7) RETIRED
Mr. Kennedy 1-0-0, 1 Points (Last Week: RELEASED)
Sim Snuka 1-0, 1 Point (Last Week: RELEASED)
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