TV Review: WWE Monday Night Raw – 9.19.11

The Episode: Monday Night Raw – 9/19/11

The aftermath of Night of Champions unfolds.  John Cena is the new WWE cChamp (surprise!), Mark Henry is the new (and still bitter) World heavyweight Champ, and Triple H is still COO.  But after all the shenanigans of NOC, somebody’s getting fired.

Guy’s Take:

Opening Segment with CM Punk, Triple H, John Laurinaitis

Pretty much as expected.  Punk and Triple H are beat up.  Punk admits that they’re being played and there’s a conspiracy afoot.  Laurinaitis comes out and rasps his way through his bit.  He denies he’s behind any power grab attempt or conspiracy.  He tries to fire Punk, but Triple H won’t let him.  He says by the end of the night he’s going to fire someone himself.

David Otunga, Wade Barrett, Christian and Michael McGillicutty vs. Sheamus, Kofi Kingston, Evan Bourne and Justin Gabriel

Standrard eight-man tag match to give some guys some face time.  Nothing to further any tag team action around Air Boom, though.  Sheamus destroys everybody again, Celtic Cross on Otunga for the win.

Alberto Del Rio vs. John Morrison

Del Rio had words with Triple H backstage about his dispeasure in having to do a Triple Threat match an Hell In A Cell.  So he’s not a happy camper when he gets to the ring.  So a question regarding this match: did John Morrison piss off somebody in booking again?  Because this was a pathetic squash match.  Not even two minutes.  If TNA wasn’t such a hot mess, I’d advise Morrison to go there when his contract is up, because he’s getting zero love right now.  This was some bush league, Barry Horowitz / Brooklyn Brawler jabroni bullshit he had to endure tonight.

Segment: Hugh Jackman, Dolph Ziggler, Vicki Guerrero

Jackman is out to hawk Real Steel.  Dolph and Vicki come out to give him a hard time.  Some botched dialogue in the exchange.  Jackman says, like his character in the movie, he’s going to go backstage to get an underdog and coach him to victory ofver Dolph.

Sin Cara vs. Cody Rhodes

Cody Rhodes had to dress for action, but really, he got the night off.  The Two Sin Caras angle plays out as they do some back and forth Luchador action.  No real opinion on this until I see a match.  This is still the feeling out stage.

Segment: Jim Ross Interviews new World Heavyweight Champion Mark Henry

Henry berates the haters, of which Jim Ross was one.  He muscles JR to the mat before The King interferes and receives a beatdown.  World’s Strongest Slam through the announce table.  I’m liking the new badass Mark Henry.  Hope it lasts beyond two weeks and his Hell in a Cell rematch with Orton.

Kelly Kelly and Eve Torres vs. Beth Phoenix and Natalya

The match was only OK.  Kelly Kelly continues to get the best of Natalya and Beth.  No clue how it’s going to play out right now, since Beth has jobbed to Kelly twice at the last two PPVs, including in her hometown of Buffalo (total side note, how about them Bills lately?  Wow).  Eve gets the roll up on Natalya.  Looks like this feud may fizzle out soon and then I wonder if Eve is going to challenge Kelly for the title.  And where on Earth are all the other Divas lately?  Ain’t seen ‘em.

Zack Ryder vs. Dolph Ziggler

Jackman’s underdog turns out to be Long Island Iced Z, who gets the win after a sucker punch from Jackman on Dolph.  Jackman said it’s always been a dream for him to be in a wrestling ring.  Dude’s big enough.  Wouldn’t be averse to seeing Wolverine getting back in the ring.  Hope Dolph doesn’t hit him in the balls.  Somebody put in a call to Liev Schreiber for a tag match.

The Miz and R-Truth vs. CM Punk and John Cena

Good tag match.  Miz and Truth got to the arena and had to suck Triple H’s ass to not fire them for their actions the previous night (they assaulted a referee and interfered in the main event).  Punk gets the win on Miz with the GTS.  Still a little lingering issue between Punk and Cena before and after the match, but Cena raises Punk’s arm in victory.  Afterwards, Triple H comes out and congratulates Punk on the match.  He then fires Miz and Truth.  They’re shocked and outraged and jump Triple H backstage in a short but entertaining brawl.  I dug it.  Next week should be pretty interesting.

End Credit:

Following up my Night of Champions pics:

WWE Title Match: John Cena vs. Alberto Del Rio

9/12: Del Rio pulls out the win, maybe via DQ or Ricardo Rodriguez interference. Cena chases him through the fall…because he can’t ever be out of the title pic. That is unless they finally give Cena some R&R via an “injury” by Del Rio’s cross arm breaker. Then Cena comes back and chases him or the current WWE champ…because he can’t ever be out of the title pic…

9/19: I guess WWE decided to skip the “Cena chases Del Rio for the title” shtick and just bottom-lined the whole thing.  Cena gets the clean win and Del Rio gets clowned.  Shocking (i.e. Jesus Christ…)

World Heavyweight Title Match: Mark Henry vs. Randy Orton

9/12: I think Orton will probably get the win. Although they’ve been building up Henry as virtually unstoppable the last few months after years of neglect. If he did win, it would definitely come at the expense of an Orton “injury”. Don’t see that though. However, if they do, look for a Sheamus vs. Henry feud rekindling with Sheamus eventually getting the title. As hard as they’ve been pushing Henry as the heel, they’ve been pushing Sheamus the face even harder. He’s second only to Orton on Smackdown in terms of popularity.

9/19: OK, WWE: nice.  I didn’t get this right but I’m happy to be wrong.  Henry finally grabs the brass ring, and it’s a clean pin.  This might turn into just a short reign, as Orton, if he doesn’t get some time off, will certainly be chasing Henry, even maybe getting the return match at Hell in a Cell.  Henry’s not great on the mic, but he has been nicely built into a force of nature.  Would be very nice if he holds onto it for longer than a hiccup like Christian did both times this summer.

WWE Tag Team Title Match: The Miz & R-Truth vs. Kofi Kingston & Evan Bourne

9/12: Air Boom for the win. Although I think Awesome Truth chases them down for the belts within a month.

9/19: Correct, but not the way I thought, as Awesome Truth gets the DQ for roughing up the ref and pushing the conspiracy thing.  Then they turn the Triple H / Punk main event into a fatal five way of sorts with Nash.  Don’t pretend to know how this will play out, but WWE would do well to keep some heat on this Air Boom /Awesome Truth feud.

WWE Divas Title Match: Beth Phoenix vs. Kelly Kelly

9/12: Tough to call. Can see Phoenix trying to put Kelly Kelly away but being unable and Natalya having to intervene for the Glamazon victory.

9/19: Phoenix jobs in her hometown.  Crowd not happy I hear.  I would probably have been negative on WWE for this, but they’re doing what I suggested earlier and building some heat (finally) on the Diva’s title and Kelly Kelly by keeping this Kelly / Beth + Natalya thing going.  I’ll give ‘em props on that.  They can really cap it with a Diva HIAC match at the next PPV.  That’d be a first.

WWE United States Title Fatal Four Way: Jack Swagger vs. Alex Riley vs. John Morrison vs. Dolph Ziggler

9/12: Ziggler holds onto the belt, probably by snatching a victory after Morrison or Riley land a finisher on Swagger.  Bickering continues between Ziggler and Swagger. Fan interest wanes even further.

9/19: I’d claim credit on this, but that’s how these Fatal Four Ways usually go with a heel champion, so it’s not that big a leap to call.  Switch out Morrison for Swagger in the above prediction and you have your result.  Swagger vs. Ziggler is going to continue.  Yay?

No DQ Match: CM Punk vs. Triple H (If Punk wins, Triple H must resign as COO.)

9/12: My lock for NOC: Nash costs Triple H the match per Laurinaitis, who grabs power in the aftermath.

9/19: Right on the Nash run-in part, not so much so on the outcome.  I should have known that Triple H would have gotten the win, because Punk is genuinely right in his work/shoot interviews about Triple H and how he books himself and has for years.  Don’t know how the Miz / Truth connection will play out on this if at all.  Don’t think that Punk’s push is over though.  It took three Pedigrees and a Jacknife to keep him down.  I think he’s the Cam Newton of Night of Champions: he looked good in a loss.

Rating:  6.8 out of 10