Complete Raw Report, Flair, Dreamer, HHH, Mean Gene, Billy Gunn, Big E Langston and more

WWE Monday Night Raw

December 17, 2012

Philadelphia, PA

Rob McCarron

Tonight is the night for the Slammy Awards~!

Raw opened with a recap of the events of last night's TLC event, followed by the entrance of Mr. 619. John Layfield joins King and Cole for commentary tonight, with all three dressed to impress.

Match: Rey Mysterio w/ Sin Cara vs Damien Sandow w/ Cody Rhodes

Mysterio won clean with the 619 and the splash. Basic match, with no real interference. Sin Cara was out in full gear, hobbling to the ring. Surprised to see the tag team #1 contenders suffer a loss, albeit singles, the night after their big win over this very team last night. It is fitting, however, as tonight really won't be about the matches.

Slammy Awards: Tell Me I Did Not Just See That! (Shocking Moment) - Kofi Kingston's Royal Rumble Save

Booker T introduced the award, and after he ran off the nominees, wouldn't ya know it - The Boogeyman came out. Yup. Boogeyman brought us to commercial. Brad Maddox's Low Blow on Ryback, Sheamus' 18 Second win over Daniel Bryan, CM Punk's attack on the Rock, and Kofi Kingston's Royal Rumble handstand were the nominees. When Booker was about to read the winner, Brad Maddox came out, assuming he'd win. He didn't.

Match: Eve vs Kaitlyn

Kaitlyn won in two minutes. She won with a fireman's carry into a gut buster. Cole and JBL put it over as a huge upset. Kaitlyn mocked Eve's celebration as she posed next to the prone Eve for a picture.

Slammy Awards: Comeback of the Year - Jerry "The King" Lawler

Road Dogg and Billy Gunn were the award presenters. Road Dogg didn't censor "Bad Ass" this time in his opening routine. Lawler beat out Brock Lesnar's return, Chris Jericho's return, and the DX reunion on Raw 1000. Lawler won and ran from the commentary table to the awards podium on the stage, then joked about how he might have another heart attack.

Match: Tensai vs Kofi Kingston

Remember when Tensai debuted and beat John Cena shortly thereafter? Kofi won in a minute with Trouble in Paradise. Tensai ran into the corner for a splash, but Kofi escaped then hit his kick for the win in just over a minute. After the match, Wade Barrett ran down as attacked Kofi. Wade hit his bullhammer elbow on Kofi after a brief attack, smiled, and left.

Slammy Awards: Kiss of the Year - AJ & John Cena

Vickie Guerrero introduced the award to a barrage of boos. The nominees were AJ & Daniel Bryan, AJ & Kane, AJ & CM Punk, and AJ & John Cena. Comedy. Moral here is that AJ was a massive...well, she gets around. AJ skipped out to accept her award as Cole reminded us that AJ turned on Cena last night. AJ made it clear she's a full on heel, as she turned on the fans and said she doesn't care what anyone thinks of her anymore. The two began arguing, which brought out Dolph Ziggler to break it up. AJ said that she may have one Kiss of the Year, but that was nothing compared to this... With that line, AJ jumped on Dolph and the two made out as Vickie screamed in horror. AJ skipped around Dolph as he looked on in shock.

Match: Great Khali w/ Natalia vs David Otunga

Khali won here with the chop. JBL was telling jokes here! Surprise. The announcers also put over Khali's new twitter account, which surely must be great. Natty and Khali danced together in the ring after the match.

Slammy Awards: Superstar of the Year - John Cena

If you thought Boogeyman's return was big, then how about this one: Ric Flair returned. Flair introduced this award, which featured the following nominees: Big Show, John Cena, CM Punk, and Sheamus. Great to see Flair back on TV after several years! As you would suspect, Flair received a standing ovation. Cena received an ovation not quite as welcoming, to say the least. I suppose beating Brock Lesnar but losing to Tensai is better than defending the WWE Championship successfully all year long. This crowd was loud, and wouldn't let Cena speak without drowning him out. When he finally did speak, he put out a basic Cena babyface speech. Cena said that out of respect, the true Superstar of the Year should be Ric Flair. Flair said "Cena is too much, I don't know why you guys don't like him more." That was fun. Punk cut off Flair as he said that, obviously upset at the lack of respect. Punk called the fans stupid. He then ran off all the reasons why Cena is a loser, and shouldn't have won, including his loss to Rock and his MITB contract losses. Punk had massive intensity here, and even did the "Woooo" in front of Flair. Flair said Punk can't even walk, and needs to go. Punk was classic here, in his fire and words chosen. These two built up a Flair vs Punk match better than any other match this year. Flair took off his suit jacket and challenged Punk to settle their vebal battle. Flair walked to the ring, and did his strut as we went to commercial.

Back, we see Punk in the ring. A loud "ECDub" chant had broken out. Punk made the first move as he attacked Ric with his crutch, followed by mocking the Flair strut. Flair made a comeback with a thumb to the eye, and Punk bailed. Then, Flair hooked Paul Heyman in a Figure 4. Heyman was great tapping and sreaming in pain.

"And I just came, to have a good time." Flair took the mic after his disposal of Punk and Heyman with that line, and then said "I love you, buddy" to Lawler. He said the world won't ever lose he and Lawler. Flair talked about his love of Philly when THE SHIELD~! came down through the crowd. Did Paul Heyman lay out this segment? This has been the best thing so far on Raw in a while. As the Shield came down, we have another commercial break.

Back from break, The Shield is battling with Team Hell No and Flair. Ambrose decked Flair, then helped out his stable mates to take care of Hell No. As they had the advantage and threatened a triple team powerbomb on Flair, The Ryback made his presence felt. Ryback destroyed The Shield as Kane and Bryan came back into the picture. Ryback press slammed Rollins onto the announce table, but it didn't break. Ryback, Flair, Bryan, and Kane celebrated their brawl victory in the ring to end what has been the best half hour in recent Raw memory. By a large margin.

Backstage, Flair was thanking Kane and Bryan for their help. Flair began repeating "Woo" as Bryan chanted "No!" and Kane "Yes!" Ron Simmons entered with his "Damn!"

Match: Brodus Clay vs JTG

How many times are we going to see this match before one of them gets released? Brodus won a quick squash match with his running splash.

Slammy Awards: LOL Moment of the Year - The Rock

Um, you'll just have to watch this. Santino and Tensai were the presenters. Tensai tripped as he walked out, and had an ice pack bandaged to his head. He looked so crestfallen, which added to the intentional comedy. Dude is killed dead. Santino said Tensai in English means "Fat Albert." Santino blamed the words on the teleprompter, but Albert said there is no teleprompter. I think those were his first words spoken on TV since his return. Anyway, the nominees were The Rock for his Cena bashing, Team Hell No at anger management, Randy Orton pouring food on Ricardo, and Vickie Guerrero dancing. The Rock won, but was not here. Santino accepted, but Daniel Bryan came out saying it should be his Slammy. Kane dragged him out. This was supposed to be funny, but it was not. No biggie.

Match: Sin Cara vs Cody Rhodes

The yellow and blue lighting is back. Cody got the cleanly with the Cross Rhodes, so we're even. Sin Cara launched himself into Cody but got caught, leading to Cody hitting his finish. Damien and Rey were at ringside backing their tag partners but again did not interfere.

Slammy Awards: Trending Now # of the Year - #FeedMeMore

Zack Ryder and Layla were the presenters. Layla did most of the talking. The nominees were: #FeedMeMore, #PeoplePower (Oh please let this win), #LittleJimmy, #WWWYKI. Ryback did not come out to accept the award, as it was explained he has a match coming up.

 

Big Show came out with his oversized chair, and spoke about his win last night. He said he did what he told everyone he would do, which was win to keep his title. Sheamus came out and said Fella a few times. Sheamus offered his hand to Big Show in good faith, and Show shook. As Sheamus was leaving, Big Show just had to talk some trash. This caused Sheamus to attack Show, including whacking him a few times with the big steel chair. Sheamus ended it with the Brogue Kick. So, this  fued must continue!

BUT WAIT A MINUTE!

Dolph Ziggler ran out with a referee. This crowd erupted at the possibility of Ziggler winning. However, John Cena had to ruin it. He attacked Ziggs to massive boos. Cena threw Ziggler into the dasher boards a few times, then left. Dolph's contract was never cashed in, so he lives to cash in at another time.

Backstage, after break, Dolph complained to Vickie about Cena's actions. Dolph claimed no prior knowledge of AJ's actions. He then officially broke up his relationship with Vickie. Vickie made Cena & herself vs Dolph & AJ.

Match: 3MB vs Alberto Del Rio & The Miz & Tommy Dreamer

I thought the face turn would have been a perfect time to ditch the car gimmick, but they haven't. The crowd didn't really know how to react to Ricardo and Del Rio at first, but the crowd loved the duo when Tommy Dreamer was announced as the tag team partner for this 6-man rematch from last night. As the match went to a commercial, Dreamer landed an axe handle on 3MB from the top rope to the outside. The crowd was really into this because of Dreamer. This match went a long while, finishing with Del Rio going for the armbreaker on Heath, but stopping to tag in Dreamer. Dreamer then hit his DDT for the pin.

Slammy Awards: Newcomer of the Year - The Ryback

Sheamus came out to present a Slammy while the babyface trio were still celebrating in the ring. This meant the crowd didn't care at all about Sheamus. They were still busy chanting ECW, so Sheamus had to pause. When he finally continued, he ran off the nominees for Newcomer of the Year: Antonio Cesaro, Damien Sandow, Brodus Clay, and The Ryback. The Ryback quoted Owen Hart in his short speech, then walked to the ring for the following match.

Match: Ryback vs Antonio Cesaro

Cesaro took it to Ryback early, but that didn't last too long. After a few minutes of back and forth, Ryback was going for his meat hook clothesline, but Cesaro bailed. Cesaro grabbed his US belt and walked off leading to a count out victory for The Ryback. A fine match before the finish, which is a cop out. But again, that's okay. No one is remembering these matches after tonight.

Slammy Awards: Match of the Year - Triple H vs Undertaker (End of an Era)

Jim Ross, Mean Gene, and Ricky Steamboat were presenting the Match of the Year. They took forever to start talking, which brought about jokes from Cole and JBL. The nominees: John Cena vs Rock, Undertaker vs Triple H, Brock Lesnar vs John Cena, Big Show vs Sheamus at HIAC. Triple H accepted the award, debuting his short haircut on Raw. The crowd cut off HHH's speech with a "We Want Taker" chant. HHH paused, but didn't acknowledge it with words. He put over his match with Taker as magical. The boss paused again when a "Thank You, Hunter" chant broke out. HHH then said we haven't seen the last of the Undertaker.

Backstage, The Shield were beating down Tommy Dreamer. Ricardo ran in trying to save, but he was easily disposed of. The dastardly trip left the building.

Main Event: AJ Lee & Dolph Ziggler vs John Cena & Vickie Guerrero

As AJ was in the ring, she demanded some stage hands bring a ladder into the ring. AJ climbed the massive ladder as we went to break. Back, AJ spoke atop the ladder about John Cena. This was heel AJ that fans have loved on the indies and briefly on FCW TV. She's great. AJ was about to tell why she turned on Cena when Vickie came out. The two male superstars entered last, and we had some brief wrestling before an ANGLE occurred.

AJ left the match after a few minutes, while Dolph and Cena wrestled in and outside the ring. Then, Vickie left. So it was one on one for a bit. AJ returned as John had Dolph in the STFU, but she wasn't alone! She walked down to the ring with NXT Champion Big E Langston. Langston charged at Cena, and dominated him with some power moves. AJ was cheering it at ringside. Dolph looked confused in the corner. Big E posed over Cena's prone body as AJ skipped around him to close the show.

This show was the most fun Raw in quite some time. One hell of a thirty+ minute segment that has to be seen, and new stars rising up leading into WrestleMania season. This was a win leading into the holidays.