Ratings:
Randy Orton vs. Dolph Ziggler: ***1/4
Brodus Clay vs. Tyler Reks: N/A (squash)
Daniel Bryan vs. CM Punk: ****
Kofi Kingston vs. The Miz: *3/4
Beth Phoenix vs. Eve Torres (Divas Title): N/A (WTF?!)
___________________
Reviews/Thoughts:
John Laurinaitis comes out and slaps fives and shakes hands with people. Why? Because his job's on the line, duh. Johnny sucks up to HHH. RAW Elimination Chamber match for WWE Title announced. Punk, Kofi, Dolph, Miz, R-Truth, and Jericho. Good choices. Will take place on Feb. 19.
Did he just say Punk and Bryan would have a match?! Joygasm!!!! Punk comes out to do the "na na na hey goodbye" dealie. Johnny's apparently found out a way to "suck and blow at the same time." ROFL. Punk rules.
Daniel Bryan time! Woohoo! The IWC all had collective joygams just now. "Punk vs. Bryan" trending on Twitter! Wow, DB has found a way to bring his "vegan" lifestyle in all this. Let them fight! Let them go for three hours! They shook hands at the end of the segment...that would be awesome for a screengrab.
Sheamus now? Will be interesting to see who he'd pick to face for the title. Didn't know Johnny would wear lace-covered undies. Nice one, Sheamus. That was good for a laugh.
What the...Dolph wearing a hoodie almost like what Cody would wear? What is it with hoodies? Barrett is on commentary again, but he's in a skybox with Josh Mathews. Weird. Anyway, Ziggler went about 20 minutes in the Rumble -- and that was after he had a war with Punk. Big time props. Vickie plays her manager role very well. Need more like her. Nice big superplex for two. A lot of counters and near falls. Crowd really loved this, and so did I. Very solid.
Brodus squash time! Someone call his momma! Tyler Reks gets no intro, like it matters. Reks probably got the most offense in of any Brodus opponent to date.
Punk and Bryan next. Loved the backstage talk they had. Simple, civil, and to the point. Match was awesome. Very physical. Wow, huge collision on the double crossbody KO spot. Why did they have to take the commercial dammit?! OW. Punk got contorted on that pin. Whoa, Punk hurricanrana! Nice smart move by Punk to switch the arms when delivering the bulldog. The little things like that really make a match that much better and more believable. Just amazing back-and-forth stuff. Damn. They got time and delivered. Jericho-ference ends this in a DQ win for DB.
I wish Jericho interfered AFTER the match was over, but it made sense for DB to continue getting those cheap wins. And now we finally get Punk and Jericho feuding! Oh man, this was a damn good teaser match for when Punk and DB really go at it in the future. It has to be a guarantee. When exactly, I'm not sure. But come on, that was terrific stuff. One of the few times where a match ending in a DQ will get four stars from me. Well deserved.
Mike Tyson is getting inducted in the WWE Hall of Fame! Woohoo! Genius move from Vince to get Tyson for WM XIV. Should be awesome.
R-Truth for commentary! Kofi comes out for his match. Damn, he stole the Rumble spotlight with his handstand on the floor to avoid elimination. Good stuff again between Kofi and Miz. Solid win for Kofi.
Divas Title contested on RAW as well? They really stacked this show. Eve's more concerned with Ryder and staying away from Kane, though. This didn't even last 30 seconds. A pointless match.
But this isn't! Kane on the Titantron! I'm liking the way WWE's going about getting Cena to be more of the clear heel against Rock. Whoa, Kane appeared behind Eve. Cool. Fight goes all over ringside. Cena's using the steps! Love the aggressive Cena. AA on the announce table?! Nope, Kane retreats. Cena's snapping and this is a great way to keep him face for the time being.
Laurinaitis comes out to plead his case. Here comes HHH! I have to admit, Johnny's gotten some great heat for this. ROFL, HHH pulls out the "Kiss My Ass" club stuff! I was absolutely on the floor here. "On your knees!" ROFL! HHH fakes everyone out. Classic. He's about to fire Johnny.
*gong*
O_O WTF?! Undertaker?! Crowd's going bonkers. Remember, his last match was WM 27 last year. Epic staredown. No words spoken. Taker looks at HHH, then the WM 28 logo, then throat slash to HHH. HHH walks away while Taker still looks at the Mania sign. Will they do a third installment of this series? I guess so. If they do, people are saying HBK would be a special ref or something. It would have to be different somehow, the final encounter. In all likelihood, this is Taker's last Mania to get to 20-0 before retiring.
Phenomenal RAW. Obviously the best of this short year, and likely will be the best of 2012. If I put my star rating on this one, it'd easily be ****1/2, perhaps ****3/4.
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