WWE Raw TV report - Punk vs. Jericho; Bruno video with Vince Sr. on TV

WWE Monday Night Raw

February 4, 2013

Atlanta, GA

Rob McCarron

Tonight is the night!

- CM Punk is here, but Rock isn't.

- Paul Heyman joins MizTV.

- We find out, maybe, what Brock's motives for killing Vince are.

Video Open: Recap of Brock Lesnar destroying Vince McMahon.

Punk's Still Mad

CM Punk, sans Paul Heyman, is out to open tonight's show. He forced Justin Roberts to introduce him as "The People's Champion." The Rock, like the people in the audience, don't really know what it is like to be champion. He called Rock a cheat again, and the people losers. He brought up last week's revelation of Heyman paying off Brad Maddox. Punk, while not denying anything, went around ringside asking if anyone saw him in the video. He also said that if Heyman says he wasn't in the video, either, than Heyman wasn't in the video. He blames the people for believing everything Vince puts on TV. Punk said the video was doctored, and that it was CGI or Paul Giamatti in the video, not Paul Heyman. He dared anyone to come step in the ring with Punk, the real champion. He called the audience losers in life. So, yes, he's starting to repeat himself. He finished by promoting his rematch with Rock at Elimination Chamber.

Booker T interrupted Punk. Punk told him it wasn't his show, and to hit the bricks. Booker continued, however, and while flubbing his lines, said the WWE audience would decide Punk's fate on the show tonight. No longer #RAWactive, but #WWEactive tonight would be choosing Punk's opponent, who would be one of Punk's former WrestleMania opponents. Rey Mysterio, Randy Orton, and Chris Jericho were the choices. Crowd cheered loudest for Orton, although a Y2J chant did break out for Jericho.

Michael Cole, with his AT&T iPhone 5, showed the audience close up how to download the WWE App to vote for Punk's opponent.

Atlanta Meets Ryback

Ryback pinned Antonio Cesaro. Lot of talk on commentary about Cesaro's diet featuring a lack of sweets. A longer than usual Ryback match tonight. They did a long countout spot where Ryback made it in just before ten, as Cesaro thought he'd win. Ryback hit his meathook clothesline, but Cesaro bailed from the ring. Ryback chased, Cesaro managed to hit a boot, but Ryback came back and hit another meathook clothesline. Cesaro was squashed by Shellshock for the Ryback win in our opening contest. Ryback was met with a lot of Goldberg chants early, but won the crowd over by the end.

Video recap: John Cena picks his WrestleMania opponent, and gets attacked by the Shield.

Video recap: The Shield's debut and subsequent reign of terror in WWE.

Backstage, John Cena was watching the recap in Vickie's office. Vickie asked if Cena had a death wish, as he's going out to the ring to call out The Shield later. John effectively said no, he does not have a death wish. He's going to stop the Shield... tonight.

WWE Hall of Fame 2013 replay of Trish Stratus' induction announcement.

Santino & Swagger Return to Raw

Jack Swagger dominated and submitted Santino in his return to Raw. Booker T joined commentary to talk about the Smackdown Elimination Chamber match. He confirmed that Orton and Mysterio will be in the Chamber. An aggressive, bearded, longer haired Swagger dominated the match and then tapped Santino with the Patriot Act, his new name for the ankle lock. Swagger went to the commentary table afterwards to make his play to Booker for entry into the Smackdown chamber match.

Alberto Del Rio came to the ring. Ricardo was missing in action, as he is recovering from last week's beatings at the hands of The Big Show. His opponent tonight, Cody Rhodes, clad in his new shirt available at WWEShop.com, came out next. Cole mentioned how Cody Rhodes and Damien Sandow dissolved their tag team last week on Smackdown.

Newly single Cody Rhodes vs Alberto Del Rio

Del Rio taps Cody with the cross armbreaker. Del Rio pounded on Cody with several kicks and punches early, but Cody got his own offense in throughout the short battle, also. Cody managed to counter Del Rio's first attempt at the armbar, and hit the disaster kick. Cody stalled a bit, then went for Cross Rhodes, but Del Rio reversed into the armbar for the win. Del Rio grabbed a mic afterwards and said he's a different person. He basically said he's a babyface now. He fights for the struggling, the bullied, and people everywhere. Big Show showed up on the tron, from a hotel room. Del Rio called Show a coward. Show laughed it off, and asked for a rematch at Elimination Chamber. He told Del Rio to signed the contract, then it would be delivered to his hotel for Show's signature. Show closed by telling Del Rio not to come looking for him. Ha, don't count on that.

Michael Cole said the WWE App had been overwhelmed by the vote, and they had to re-route traffic to WWE.com.

Jerry Lawler announced the winner of the #WWEactive poll: Chris Jericho, with 57% of the vote. Orton was second, Mysterio third.

Smackdown Recap: Mysterio & Sin Cara beat the tag champs on Smackdown.

Backstage, Daniel Bryan berated Kane for losing last week on Smackdown. Kane was disappointed in Bryan. Daniel told Kane to stay away from his match tonight.

Daniel Bryan vs Rey Mysterio

Both men are trying to impress Smackdown GM Booker T to gain entry into the Smackdown Elimination Chamber. Bryan worked as the heel, and had control of most of the match. Bryan was also the slow, methodical grappler to Mysterio's high flying and swift attacker. Bryan caught a 619 into the No Lock late, but Mysterio countered that into a near fall forcing Bryan to break the hold. Mysterio his his second 619 attempt, but Bryan moved as Mysterio went for his splash. Bryan applied the No Lock after Rey's miss for the submission victory. Three submission wins in a row tonight. After the match...

Somebody Gonna Get Their Ass Kicked

Mark Henry returned. Bryan tried to cut Henry off on the ramp, but that attempt failed. Henry briefly beat up Bryan, with Kane nowhere to make the save as Bryan told him to stay away. Henry then went in the ring and destroyed Rey. Sin Cara tried to make the save, but he ate a World's Strongest Slam for his troubles. Henry finished off Rey with his middle rope Vader splash. I missed evil Mark Henry.

Backstage, Daniel Bryan asked where Kane was last segment. Kane reminded Bryan of what Daniel said, but Daniel was still angry. Bryan asked for an apology, and got one. When Bryan asked if Kane meant it, he said, "Hell no!" Lawler laughed, then Cole sullenly said Sin Cara and Rey were hurt badly by Henry. Lawler quickly had to change his demeanor for that announcement.

Video recap: Heyman - Vince - Lesnar from last week's Raw.

Hotel room, Big Show asked Booker via phone if Del Rio signed the title rematch contract. A knock on the door caused Show to hang up. It was room service. The waiter delivered Show's food, asked for a tip, but Show just said, "Next time, get a better job." The crowd laughed.

Sheamus vs Kane

I think this match will break our submission victory streak. Yep, Sheamus won with the Brogue kick. The two had each gone for their finishers, with each reversing until finally Kane hit a DDT. He was setting up for a chokeslam when Daniel Bryan rushed to the ring. Kane told Bryan to go away, and turned around into the kick from Sheamus. Bryan smirked at the result.

MizTV w/ Paul Heyman

A clean shaven, tanner Paul Heyman started by offering his best wishes to Vince McMahon. Heyman said he had no idea Brock was in Vegas last week for Raw. Miz didn't believe this, and question Heyman's involvement with the Shield and Brad Maddox. Heyman questioned Miz on whether he agrees that CM Punk was screwed out of the WWE title. Miz called Paul out on changing the subject. Vickie Guerrero came out. Even though she's been much more babyface lately, she still gets booed loudly. Well, she was less babyface here. She confirmed that Paul had nothing to do with Lesnar last week. Vickie was the one who negotiated Brock's return, keeping it quiet incase Brock backed out. Really. Vickie says that Brock's return was her way of trying to impress Vince so that she could be made permanent GM of Raw. Well, that backfired. Vickie started to cry over what happened to Mr. McMahon. Paul consoled her. Paul asked the crowd for a moment of silence for Vince. Vickie had a better idea... a prayer for Vince. The two bowed their heads. Miz asked, "Really?" What a dick to interrupt a prayer. Vickie reminded Miz that she was his boss. Miz asked for how long, as when Vince gets back he's going to fire both Vickie and Paul.

Brock showed up. Don't take this the wrong way, but I look forward to seeing Brock shirtless. You see, he looks much more toned than his UFC run and latest WWE run. I think he may have spent some time getting into "WWE shape." Brock and Miz stared off at eachother while Paul looked on from the apron. Paul screamed for Miz to back down, but Miz instead threw the first punch. Brock immediately clotheslined Miz and tossed him from the ring. Lesnar then destroyed the set, as Miz tried to make a comeback. That failed. Brock beat up Miz some more, ending with an F5 to Miz. Paul rushed in and covered Miz's beaten body, telling Brock that Miz was sorry.

Randy Orton vs Wade Barrett

Orton won clean with the RKO. Bo Dallas had one of the worst in-set promos of Raw history before this match. It looked like he was literally reading his lines off of cue cards under the camera. As for the match, it was about the same as the two's last match a few weeks ago on Raw. Wade won that match, but not this one. During the bout, Cole told a story about Wade's shoulder scar that he got from his surgery last year. However, Cole explained the scar came from a bare knuckle fight several years ago. Okay, then.

What have we learned tonight? The US Champion and Intercontinental Champion are still losers and not to be taken seriously, yet.

Vignette: Fandango. This time, we got Fandango shirtless, and not dancing. I guess he's coming soon? Maybe?

CM Punk vs Chris Jericho

Punk beat Jericho after a GTS in a long, really good match. Justin Roberts forgot to introduce Punk as "The People's Champion" this time, and Michael Cole called him out on it. He also called this the #RAWactive match instead of the new #WWEactive term. The crowd came alive during this match, peaking with dueling 'CM Punk' and 'Y2J' chants. This was the best match of the night. Punk and Jericho went back and forth, as you'd have to in a longer match. I mentioned the crowd came alive during this one, but they were also completely silent at parts. Couldn't tell if they were just tired, bored, or anticipating what would happen. The final minutes saw Punk go for his Savage elbow, but Jericho moved. Jericho followed that up with his lionsault, but sold an inured arm in the landing. Jericho went to pick Punk up, but Punk managed to hit a head kick sending Jericho to the mat. Punk followed up with the Anaconda Vise, but broke it after Jericho fought for to the ropes. Punk went for the GTS for the second time in the match, but again was countered into a Liontamer attempt. Jericho locked it in this time, and it was Punk's turn to claw to the ropes. Punk made it. Both were slow to their feet as they were spent. Jericho got up first, walked towards Punk, but Punk tried to lift Y2J into a GTS. He couldn't lift Jericho up, though, due to the bad back from the Liontamer. So CM Punk sent Jericho face first into the turnbuckle, then shoulder first into the corner post, and was finally able to lift Jericho for the GTS this time for the pinfall victory.

WWE Hall of Fame 2013 welcomes Bruno Sammartino.

Backstage, Matt Striker bothered CM Punk. He wanted to know where Punk's head is at. Punk is mad that the Rock stole the WWE Championship BELT.

We got a video of the Rock winning the title and some of the media fallout.

Backstage, Josh Mathews asked why Cena is calling out the Shield, alone, tonight. He better get to it. It's 11pm right now.

Holy cow this show is running long. In the hotel, in a story I pretty much completely forgot about, Show answered the door to get the WWE title match contract. The delivery guy was nervous, and kept trying to tell Show something. Show cut him off each time. Well, he was trying to alert Show about Del Rio being right behind the door. Who saw that coming!? Del Rio and Show brawled in the hotel room, then in the hallway. Here's a new one. Big Show dominated Del Rio, beating him up all through the hallway. Show told Del Rio he wasn't afraid of him. Show broke the leg off of a table in the hallway, but while doing so, Del Rio found a fire extinguisher and unloaded in Show's face. While Show was blinded, Del Rio nailed him with the tank to lay him out. The elevator in the hall opened, and some dudes were there. Del Rio explained that Show had some bad Mexican food, and told them to keep walking. It's 11:05 now.

John Cena Calls Out The Shield...has been canceled.

Brad Maddox was in the ring, and reminded the crowd that he was manipulated by Paul Heyman. This crowd didn't care. Maddox claimed he was the hero of this story, and the WWE Universe hero. Maddox says he, not John Cena, was going to call out the Shield. He said this in a voice that I believe was supposed to imitate Bane from 'The Dark Knight Rises.' Yep, it certainly was. Maddox got his wish, as the Shield made their way to the ring. Each member cut a promo on Maddox on their way down. Reigns and Rollins intimidated Maddox, calling him a fame hungry geek. The three got in the ring and pounced on Maddox, quickly giving him the triple team powerbomb.

Cena finally made his way down, but he came down through the crowd just as The Shield had done. Then, Ryback also came down through the crowd. Following him was Sheamus. The three were giving The Shield a taste of their own medicine. Before the stars could get to the group, the trio bailed. However, the entire locker room came out to stop Shield from escaping. The Shield and Cena, Ryback, and Sheamus brawled. Again, stop the shaking and constant zooming. Christ, you can't even watch the damn thing with this camera work.

After a minute of brawling, the Shield managed to escape the ring and jumped over the dashers to escape the ring. This was kind of lame. The lead up to the brawl was very good, but the brawl was weak and went nowhere. It wasn't officially made, but I'd guess Shield vs Cena, Sheamus, and Ryback is a lock for Elimination Chamber now.

No Dolph Ziggler or AJ on the show.

The four minute Sammartino video was the best thing on the show, followed by Punk vs Jericho and Brock's beatdown of Miz.