WWE RAW
February 23, 2009
Nashville, TN
Commentators: Michael Cole & Jerry ?The King? Lawler
Reported By: Hunter Golden of WrestleView.com
Smackdown GM Vickie Guererro is in the ring. She said due to what happened to the McMahons, she has been appointed interim General Manager of Raw as well. She went on to talk about how much she loved being GM and yadda yadda.
John Cena’s music hit and he came out and was remis about the choice of the WWE board to put her in charge. Cena asked her to have some pride in the product and not lie to us. He said he knew that she didn’t care about the McMahons or anyone else and all that she DID care about was her husband being World Champion. John Cena said he figured he’d let her know he’s got a rematch clause, and he was cashing it in tonight.
World Champion Edge’s music hit and he and the Big Show came out to the ring. Edge said he couldn’t intimidate his wife like he was Randy Orton. Edge said it was time for Cena to be intimidated. Cena asked him straight up to be a champion and defend his belt. Edge said Cena was trying too hard to be Austin, Hogan or Sammartino. He said that was impossible. He said John Cena couldn’t happen because he existed in the same era as him. He said he was tougher, smarter and better than anyone who ever held that title before. While he exists, Cena could never be that man.
He said its a shame. Because Cena was a beacon of hope in tough times. But he said maybe Cena should stretch this thing out as long as he could because when he got beat by him, they’d have nothing. Cena said thanks for the speech but he knew Edge wouldn’t be talking the way he is if Big Show wasn’t there. Which brought him to why Big Show was there to begin with. After some back and forth Vickie Guererro stepped in and said she made her decision for tonight. Edge was her family. BigShow was her friend. Tonight, he’d face ‘friend’ or ‘family’.
The Legacy is getting out of the car with Randy Orton all secret service-like.
****Commercial****
Money in the Bank Qualifying Match
CM Punk v. The Miz v. John Morrison
Cena began by fighting the two off and looking for a quick roll up on the Miz but Morrison broke it up. The two hit some double team moves, first hitting the double gut buster and then both laying fists and boots to the Intercontinental Champion. Punk leap frogged a whip attempt by Miz only to get nailed by Morrison f rom behind.
Punk fought both off again and looked for a quick Go 2 Sleep on Miz, but he grabbed the top rope and took himself out to the apron. Punk connected with a boot to the side of the head, sending Miz clattering to the floor. Morrison quickly followed up f rom behind with a clothesline and the momentum took both him and his opponent to the floor. All three men are laid out around the ring side area.
****Commercial****
We came back to Morrison working a headlock on Punk in the middle of the ring. Miz had some mishaps over the break and is out of it on the floor. Punk whipped Morrison off the ropes and hit a leg lariat before slamming him to the mat. Punk laid in some kicks and Muy Thai knees before whipping the tag champ into the buckles and hitting him with a running high knee.
The Miz intercepted the bulldog attempt and went for a cover but Punk kicked out. Miz slapped on a head vice f rom behind as the crowd attempted to rally Punk. Punk fought out of the hold and was able to catch the oncoming Morrison and hit a side headlock, body scissors take down on both. Punk hit his bulldog on the Miz and hit a clothesline on Miz. After a running power slam, Punk went for the near fall only to get a two count.
Punk went for some Hurricanranna deal on Miz, but Morrison hit his springboard kick to cold cock Punk and earn him a one count. Miz and Morrison stared each other down only for the two to duke it out in the middle of the ring. Miz was able to monkey flip Morrison into the ring, but Punk caught him on his shoulders and then used Morrison to boot Miz out of the ring. He connected with the GTS and that’s all she wrote.
Winner: CM Punk via pin fall
****Commercial****
A video aired putting over the Triple H interview on Smackdown last week where he disclosed his relationship to the McMahon family.
Todd Grisham is looking for Randy Orton. Instead Cody Rhodes and Ted Dibaise come out of the locker room. They say Orton was in now way responsible for what happened. They said life was about choices. Shane wanted to face Randy. Not the other way around. Stephanie decided to interject herself into the incident and she made her decision. They said Randy would address us all later. And if Triple H decided to show up, so be it.
Santino Marella, Rosa Mendez and Beth Phoenix are on their way to the ring and they’ve met up with Dolph Ziggler. Everyone’s introduced, we get some funnies and that’s that.
****Commercial****
Melina & Cryme Tyme v. Beth Phoenix, Santino Marella & Dolph Ziggler
Melina and Beth started things off and after some frustrating back for Beth, Dolph and JTG were tagged into the match. Both had some back and forth of their own before Ziggler gained control, hitting a move out of an Irish whip segment. Santino tagged into the ring after some stooging and back and forth with his teammates, he lost track of JTG who made the hot tag to Shaad. Chaos ensues and we’re left with just Santino and Shaad in the ring. Shaad hits a modified STO for the pin fall.
Winners: Melina & Cryme Tyme via pin fall
****Commercial****
A video putting over John Cena’s new movie ?12 Rounds? aired.
JBL v. Shawn Michaels
The two locked up and the two exchanged blows before Michaels was able to get a few licks in before JBL hit him with a shoulder block. JBL went on the attack and went to d rop some elbows, but Michaels avoided it and hit a chop to the chest before JBL responded with a kick to the face.
JBL hit some stomps before hitting some huge right hands in the corner. Michaels countered a back body d rop with a kick and then a series of chops that backed JBL up. After some forearms, JBL was able to push Michaels back and roared back with shots of his own, hitting a back elbow that floored Michaels. JBL laid in some knees in the corner and successfully whipped Michaels to the opposite set of buckles, but ended up walking into a big boot.
Michaels charged JBL only for the Texas millionaire to hit a big boot and knock Michaels to the outside. The two grappled on the outside and ran into the ring post and were laid out on the concrete. Both barely beat the ref’s count as we went to break.
****Commercial****
We came back to JBL pounding away on a perched Shawn Michaels. JBL climbed to the second rope and looked for a super plex, but HBK pushed him off. JBL laid in with a big boot to the skull and knocked Michaels all the way down to the outside.
Once back in the ring. JBL hammered away at Michael’s Back before laying in with an abdominal stretch. Michaels slammed away on JBL’s knee to free himself and then laid in with some chops. He ducked under a JBL clothesline and then went into his victory sequence. He went to the top rope and connected with the elbow before tuning up the band. JBL tried to shoot back with a clothesline f rom hell only for HBK to duck under. They had some fun working some Irish whips before JBL tried to send HBK to the outside, only for Michaels to skin the cat. JBL hit a big boot and set up the clothesline f rom hell, only for Michaels to hit sweet chin music for the pin fall.
Winner: Shawn Michaels via pin fall
****Commercial****
Mike Knox v. Jamie Noble
Noble came at Knox and after surviving more than 10 seconds, Noble got splattered with a Knox power slam
Winner: Mike Knox via pin fall
Ricky Steamboat will be the next inductee to the hall of fame.
****Commercial****
Ricky Steamboat came out to the ramp to thank the fans and after a nice little speech, Chris Jericho’s music hit and he came out to the ramp. Jericho ran down Micky Rourke for being a loser last night and he was a washed up loser, just like Ricky Steamboat. He said before he worked for the WWE, he was nothing, a glorified Karate Kid who fed into stereotypes, selling himself out. He said he even spat fire like a circus freak. He said when Steamer retired, he was just like everyone else, broken down, dysfunctional family, but instead of being a real man, he’s a life long sell out, as he took the back door and took a job here. He said just because Steamboat was dressed up in a suit didn’t make him less of a loser.
Steamboat shot back at Jericho, saying that he remembered Jericho getting an autograph f rom him as a kid, calling him his hero in his autobiography. Steamboat went on for a while, talking about how he was a real man of his word, not a hypocrite like Jericho was, how he never, not once, turned his back on the fans. He said he was something Jericho would never be, and that was a ‘real’ hall of famer.
Jericho hauled off and decked Steamboat before slamming him into the set head first. He left Steamboat in a heap as he sauntered off to the back.
****Commercial****
The Legacy is here, but Triple H thus far, isn’t. Todd Grisham said he’ll let us know when he gets here.
John Cena v. Chavo Guererro
Chavo came at Cena with some kicks, but Cena immediately decked him with a shoulder block and a five knuckle shuffle. He loaded Chavo up forth the attitude adjustment and hit it before having Chavo tap to the STFU for the quick squash win.
Winner: John Cena via pin fall
****Commercial****
Randy Orton showed up with the Legacy and a sledge hammer. He said if Triple H wanted to show up and try to get his revenge, then he’d prove he was like a McMahon; out of touch, pompous and stupid. Orton said he was the victim here, not the McMahons. He said they just wouldn’t get out of the way of his career advancement. He said McMahon verbally assaulted his family so he kicked him in the head. He said Shane couldn’t stop pushing, and when he pushed back, he ended up in the hospital. Then, there was Stephanie.. the last time she got in his face, she slapped him. She thinks she can do whatever she wants or pleases because of her last name. But then when she got in his face one more time, despite letting it slide last time, she needed to be taught her place. He said the people in the crowd judge him and have no idea what he goes through. He said they had no idea what it was like to be at the top of their profession. He does things only the dream and fantasize about.
Orton said he hoped Triple H’s children were watching last week so they could learn f rom their mother’s mistakes. Triple H popped up on the titan tron, on his way to the ring with a sledge hammer. The heels awaited his arrival.
Triple H walked down to the ring enraged. Orton said someone would get hurt. He said there was three of them, one of him. They ditched the sledge hammer and they deal with it like men. Orton and Triple H both let the sledge hammers go and squared off. Triple H removed his jacket and stared down the three members of the Legacy. As they got close to each other, Triple H pulled a sledge out of his pants and nailed Cody. Ted and Randy leaped out of the ring and fled to the back. They ended up stuck in a back room and had to stack up furniture to keep Triple H f rom getting at them. Triple H hammered the lock off the door and nailed Ted with the butt of the hammer. He had Randy cornered in front of a mirror and threw the hammer at his head and missed as the hammer went through the glass. Randy gathered Ted and they rushed down the hall with the Game in hot pursuit. They got in the car in the nick of time as Triple H was only able to smash out one of their windows. Triple H was seething in the garage as we went off the air.
Show Thoughts— Tonight’s show was an interesting one to say the least.
On one hand, I felt like they got A LOT accomplished, but on the other hand, its almost like they tried to do TOO much and things probably didn’t have the effect they probably could have had, had everything not been so crammed. I don’t want to use the word ‘rushed’ as that wasn’t really the case. ?Crammed’ seems way more appropriate.
The Triple H-Legacy angle worked for me. The best thing about it was that they gave a strong sense of retribution of sorts without ever giving people the benefit of Triple H getting his HANDS on Randy Orton and extracting revenge. They also capitalized on the tension of the moment and didn’t do the usual WWE token stare down to big brawl thing in five minutes they usually pull. I really thought they hit it well tonight.
The Cena-Edge stuff was pretty good for the most part as well, with this one being Cena’s best promo in a long time. My biggest issue is whether people REALLY are going to buy into Cena’s quest for the rematch he’s supposedly owed. I don’t know if that hook will do it. With Vickie being more or less a heat magnet these days though, and that usually being a ‘workable’ storyline in that they can throw a lot of new mini-spins in there, they should have enough to make it interesting at least.
It’ll be interesting to see where Jericho’s shtick goes f rom here. Could be Austin. Could be Rourke. I thought tonight would’ve probably been the night to pull the trigger on Mickey, although they could wait a week. Its hard to say either way, but the good news is that this angle is pretty transparent (much like the Cena ? Edge angle) and they have a lot of options considering how they want to work it.
So while everything was more or less ‘good’ tonight it felt pretty smooshed together. Steamboat’s promo with Jericho seemed to run over a bit so maybe that’s what did it, but seemed like a lot for people to take in, all in a short period of time, especially going back to back to back with the big three angles at the end of the show. Nonetheless though, a strong show heading forward. One thing people forget is that the WWE rarely has this much time to work with leading into a pay per view, so its going to to take some figuring out on their part in terms of pacing their shows f rom here until Mania. A good show overall though.
Overall Grade: B+
Quick Results
CM Punk def. The Miz and John Morrison to qualify for Money in the Bank
Melina & Cryme Tyme def. Beth Phoenix, Dolph Ziggler & Santino Marella
Shawn Michaels def. JBL
Mike Knox def. Jamie Noble
John Cena def. Chavo Guererro
Who’s Hot, Who’s Not?
Biggest Pops
1. Triple H
2. John Cena
3. Shawn Michaels
4. CM Punk
Most Heat
1. Vickie Guererro
2. Randy Orton
3. Chris Jericho
4. Edge
Match of the Night: CM Punk v. John Morrison v. The Miz **1/4
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
Intercontinental Champion: CM Punk 4-4, 9 Points (Last Week: Intercontinental Champion) — In another fun showcase match that also helped advance money in the bank. Punk looks again in a fun multi-man match.
1. Randy Orton 4-2, 9 pts. (Last Week: 1)— They did a good job making sure Triple H never actually got his hands on Orton tonight. So far, so good.
2. John Cena 4-3, 11 points. (Last Week: 2) — Good promo to open up the show and Cena was probably as funny as I’ve ever heard him (legitimately). I’m a little at a loss as to where this’ll all go and whether it’ll have the draw to it that it had a few years ago, but so far, things have been ok.
3. Shawn Michaels 4-2, 7 pts. (Last Week: 3) — A very paint by the numbers performance f rom Michaels tonight, but advances us past JBL I suppose.
4. Chris Jericho 2-3 3 pts. (Last Week: 4)— Another very fantastic heel promo f rom Jericho tonight. Where this is leading is still up in the air, but with the last few weeks, they’ve left the angle open enough to the point where they can go in a bunch of different directions.
5. Rey Mysterio 4-4, 8 Points (Last Week: 5) — Not in action.
6. JBL 0-3, 2 points (Last Week: 6)- – JBL’s always been streaky in terms of how he’s booked. I’d expect this slide to continue on through Mania but once the early spring sets in, expect ‘business to pick up’ so to speak.
7. Cody Rhodes 4-0, 4 points (Last Week: 7) — I loved the ‘secret service’ vibe these two had going on the whole night. They played a good job as the stooges and blocker pads for Orton.
8.Ted Dibiase, Jr. 3-0, 3 Points (Last Week: 8)— See Cody.
9. Kane 3-2, 3 Points (Last Week: 9) — Not in action.
10.Mike Knox 3-3 4 points (Last Week: 10) — Quickie squash match, but a win is a win and Knox moves into the top 10.
OTHERS:
William Regal, 3-4, 4 points (Last Week: 10)
Kofi Kingston 1-3, 2 points (Last Week: NR)
Batista 0-0, 0 Points (Last Week: NR)
Santino Marella 0-1, 0 points (Last Week:NR)
Sim Snuka 1-0, 1 Point (Last Week: NR)
JTG 2-4, 2 points (Last Week: NR)
Big Shaad 2-3 2 points (Last Week: NR)
Jamie Noble 0-2, 0 Points (Last Week: NR)
Charlie Haas 0-0, 0 points (Last Week: NR)
Dolph Ziggler 0-1, 0 Points (Last Week: NR)
Jerry Lawler 0-0, 0 points (Last Week: NR)
Jim Duggan 0-0, 0 points (Last Week: NR)