7/11/11 RAW

Ratings:
John Cena vs. David Otunga & Michael McGillicutty: *1/4

Kelly Kelly vs. Melina: DUD

The Miz, Jack Swagger, & R-Truth vs. Kofi Kingston, Alex Riley, & Evan Bourne: **

Big Show vs. Dolph Ziggler & Drew McIntyre: N/A
_________________

Reviews/Thoughts:
We're in Boston! Loved it when Punk started the show with the megaphone in hand. Man, the fans really were going nuts for Punk. A live contract negotiation in the ring? A CM Punk Kiss My Ass club? Brilliant! Punk even brought up Cena getting "fired" a few months back when he was forced to join Nexus. Yeah, I loved this.

Not too often that you see a Cena match start off the show nowadays. Cena was doing a lot more wrestling in this match than in just about all of his previous matches. A bit of chain wrestling early on, which really went along with Punk saying he was the best wrestler in the world. Basically sent a message to Punk that Cena can do this too. Vintage Cena dropkick!

Big Show and Henry at MITB? Sure.

Vickie, Dolph, and Drew all making fun of Vince. Vince shows up behind Vickie. Vince makes a handicap match: Dolph & Drew vs. Big Show. Ahahahaha.

Bellas on commentary for the divas match. Yeah, that wasn't much of a match. Bellas make fun of Kelly, Kelly attacks one of the Bellas, both Bellas get the upper hand. Eve comes down and also gets taken out. Yup, sounds about right.

Basically almost all of the MITB participants cut their promos. Leads to a six-man tag. Alberto and Rey aren't in this match, apparently, for some reason. Tag match was OK for what it was.

Big Show will be on Burn Notice this Thursday. Looks good man. Speaking of which, his handicap match was really just to further his storyline with Mark Henry. That was a cool spot with Henry spearing Big Show off the stage. Henry, Show, and Drew all went overboard. Damn. Cameras stay on both Show and Henry, but at least a ref looks like he's checking on Drew.

Contract negotiation time. Loved that Vince called Punk "Phil" (Punk's real first name). God, this is so good I'd watch it over and over again. It does remind me a little of how Austin toyed with Vince during the Attitude era. I laughed pretty hard when Punk wanted the WWE ice cream bars back. That was just genius. Chaperone 2! Perfect knock on HHH. Great job on mentioning Rock. Punk mentioned all his friends that got a chance in WWE (Colt Cabana, Luke Gallows, etc.) that got a chance but got released by Vince. "We want ice cream" chants! Yes! This show may not have had good in-ring action, but the Punk promos were gold. "Colt Cabana" chants!

Cena came out and took his own shot at Rock while going after Punk. It just got better when Punk and Cena jawjacked back and forth. Punk was absolutely amazing, calling Cena the dynasty and the WWE's version of the New York Yankees. Of course, you gotta say that in Boston -- where Cena grew up. One of the best damn worked shoot storylines I've ever seen, period.

If Punk sticks around in WWE, it would be as an Austin-like babyface. I would so love to see that.