February 15, 2011
by From Parts Unknown
On this episode of Raw, CM Punk would again try to give himself an advantage over his fellow Elimination Chamber participants. John Morrison would let out some aggression over being nearly blinded last week. Khali’s Kiss Cam would be awkward and funny. Natalya got a rematch for the Divas title. Finally, after a week of waiting, the Wrestlemania guest host would be announced. Match results are directly below, details after the break.
Match Results
CM Punk def. John Cena by pinfall.
Lumbjill match for the Divas title: Eve(c) def. Natalya by pinfall.
The Miz def. Daniel Bryan by pinfall.
R-Truth & John Morrison def. Michael McGillicutty & David Otunga by pinfall.
Randy Orton def. King Sheamus by pinfall.
CM Punk def. John Cena by pinfall.
Before the show began, the Raw GM had announced that each of the Elimination Chamber participants would be in singles matches. Before the match, Cena spoke to the crowd, playfully mocking the couples in the crowd for being at a WWE event. Cena also speculated about who the host for Wrestlemania would be. Cena mentioned a few names, but then took the opportunity to mock Michael Cole. Cena then gets serious and says that after the year he’s had, he needs to be the one to win. Punk interrupts Cena. Punk tells Cena that he doesn’t need anything because he is a good person. Also reminding him that he is 2 and 0 against him. At the end of a pretty good match, Punk was tossed to the outside. An unidentified Nexus member under the ring gave Punk a chair, which Punk tossed into the ring. That same Nexus member gave Punk a wrench. As the ref took care of the chair, Cena went over to Punk, and was hit with the wrench. Punk then hit Cena with the GTS to get the pinfall.
Alberto Del Rio and Edge in-ring.
Alberto Del Rio is going on about how it’s his destiny to win at Wrestlemania. Edge comes out and tells him that he hadn’t forgotten about getting attacked two weeks ago. Edge says that he too has a destiny, and attacks Del Rio. Edge is setting himself up for the Spear, but Del Rio’s ring announcer distracts him. Vicki Guerrero comes out, and introduces the new World Heavyweight champion, Dolph Ziggler. After a replay of the title match from Smackdown, Vicki tells Edge that she had promised that there would be consequences if Edge used the Spear. Since he did, he would no longer be the champion, and Ziggler’s official coronation would be on Friday. Vicki also tells Edge that he’s about to lose his job because she has proof that he attacked Teddy Long.
Lumberjill match for the Divas title: Eve(c) def. Natalya by pinfall.
For some reason, Cole got on Josh Matthews for telling Sheamus that Mark Henry said things about him last week. Natalya got thrown out once and was attacked by The Bellas, Maryse, Alicia Fox, and Melina. Tamina and Gail Kim came to her help. Eve then took out the heel divas. The match had a weird ending with Eve countering a pinning attempt by Natalya into one of her own.
The Bellas confront Eve.
After the match, The Bellas were talking smack with Eve, then attacked her. Gail Kim and Natalya came to help. The brawl was broken up by refs, most notably, The Nature Boy Charles Robinson.
Mark Henry attacked.
As Mark Henry was making his way down the ring, Sheamus attacked him. Sheamus then told everyone that this is to be a reminder of what he is capable of.
The Miz def. Daniel Bryan by pinfall.
Alex Riley provided guest commentary for the match. Right before a commercial break, there was what looked to me like a pretty sick bump. Not because it was particularly big, but the way Bryan took it. Miz had him between the top two ropes, and did a neckbreaker. Bryan’s head landed on the edge of the ring and falls on down to the outside. After a pretty good match, The Miz is able to hit Bryan with the Skull-Crushing Finale and get the pinfall. Post-match, The Miz said a few words about his match against Jerry Lawler at Elimination Chamber.
R-Truth & John Morrison def. Michael McGillicutty & David Otunga by pinfall.
R-Truth and Morrison were initially announced as having a match, but apparently during a commercial break, the GM changed his/her mind. Mason Ryan was at ringside, and did interfere in the match. When Morrison, who they were saying may have vision impairment from last week’s attack and had the area around his eyes red, got in the ring, he was viciously attacking everyone. In the end, Morrison got the pinfall.
Khali Kiss Cam.
Ariel Winter, of Modern Family and The Chaperone, introduced The Great Khali. The Kiss Cam then went around the arena and backstage. Backstage got Santino Marella and Tamina, Vicki Guerrero and Dolph Ziggler, Maryse and Ted DiBiase but Maryse put a hand in Ted’s face and then kissed Yoshi Tatsu, William Regal and Zach Ryder with Regal kissing Ryder’s who was not aware of what was going on. Segment ended with Hornswoggle bringing a box of chocolates to Ariel, and she kissed him on the cheek.
Randy Orton def. King Sheamus by pinfall.
A short, but good match. After Sheamus hit Orton with a Superplex off the top rope, Orton surprised him with an RKO to get the pinfall. After the match, CM Punk and the Nexus (minus Husky Harris) came in and attacked Orton. Morrison and R-Truth ran out but were handled by Nexus. Cena came out, and him and Orton cleared the ring of Nexus members.
Wrestlemania guest host announcement.
Before a commercial break, a limo was shown pulling up backstage. The camera was positioned on the ground, and only showed a woman getting out of the car. Back from commercial, Josh Roberts introduced the guest host. The lights went out bit by bit, the screens went out, then they came back on showing some weird lightning and smoke, then they went off again, then The Rock’s music played and The Rock came out. The Rock came to the ring, said his bits, and contemplated who he was going to layeth the smackdown upon at Wrestlemania. After mentioning The Miz, the Rock was going to say who he really wanted to see at Wrestlemania when the alert from the GM came in. As Cole was going to read the e-mail, The Rock stopped him and used some more of his old catch phrases. The Rock continues on that he wants to see someone that came in after he left, and has been talking trash about The Rock. That person is John Cena. Rock laments about how far the WWE has fallen from Austin 3:16 to “If you smell” to the pathetic “you can’t see me.”
Last Word
So, yeah, The Rock returned to the WWE. Not sure how involved he’ll be, but it was certainly good to see him back. What was surprising to me about his appearance wasn’t that he returned and wasn’t that he was still good on the mic. It was that he went after John Cena, the current face of the company, using a lot of his old language, which isn’t exactly PG. They did actually bleep out one “ass,” but then didn’t bleep out the others. Maybe the first one came before 11pm, if that matters. But anyways, it was entertaining to watch, and I definitely want to know how this all plays out. I can’t imagine that there won’t be a response from Cena on the next show, which just so happens to be 2/21/11. Hey doesn’t that date sound familiar?
Speaking of which, on the teaser, they actually showed the Undertaker. Sure, you can speculate that someone else is in the promo as well, but why bother. Just sit back, watch, and see what happens.
The 1/8th Nelson 
What does a serious John Cena injury mean for WWE?
January 5, 2011 by Masked Marvel Leave a comment
But last week, WWE.com used a term I had never seen before when reporting an injury to John Cena suffered in a house show match against Wade Barrett. “Day-to-day.” That term is used in other sports when the injury may or may not be overly serious and the athlete is evaluated daily to see if they can get back into action. In pro wrestling, that’s not a term that gets used. If an injury is reported, it’s either worked into the storyline or the person vanishes.
But this happening with John Cena is quite different. Love him or hate him, it cannot be argued that John Cena is the biggest draw in the WWE right now. In the kid-friendly PG-rated realm of World Wrestling Entertainment, John Cena is the all around good guy that the kids can get behind. He fights the bad guys. He says funny things. He salutes the troops. He is a huge draw for the Make A Wish Foundation. He pulls off jean shorts. When I attended Raw live last month, the entire arena chanted his name when a commercial of him appeared. His involvement made the Nexus a legitimate heel stable, despite having the likes of Heath Slater and Michael Tarver in it.
An injury to Cena is a huge deal for the WWE, especially if it’s one that keeps him out of action for an extended amount of time. WWE has offered refunds for shows that would have had Cena in action. Storylines had to be shuffled a bit to work around the matter, which is unfortunate since a major one – CM Punk leading the Nexus – was built around him. It was announced that Cena would appear on Raw next week, so hopefully the injury isn’t as severe as feared, or at least is one that he can continue appearing on TV for – much like CM Punk’s injury that landed him at Raw’s commentary table.
But what would an extended injury to Cena requiring recovery time mean for Raw? What would it mean for the WWE altogether – especially heading into the road from the Royal Rumble to WrestleMania? After the jump, we’ll take a look at the whole picture and even compare it to big star injuries of the past.
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Filed under Commentary, Raw, WWE Tagged with CM Punk, injuries, John Cena, Nexus