5/14/12 RAW

Ratings:
CM Punk & Santino Marella vs. Daniel Bryan & Cody Rhodes: **1/4

Beth Phoenix vs. Alicia Fox: N/A (squash)

Kane vs. Big Show: *1/2

Kofi Kingston, R-Truth, & Brodus Clay vs. Dolph Ziggler, Jack Swagger, & Miz: *3/4

Chris Jericho vs. Randy Orton: **
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Reviews/Thoughts:
HHH starts the show off. Footage shown of Lesnar attacking HHH. High compliments for Brock on ability, but also mentions he quit. Enter Heyman and some guy to serve lawsuit papers. Brock's suing HHH. Oh how lovely. Heyman's great on the mic. HHH puts his hands on Heyman and tells Paul to tell Brock he'll get everything he deserves. Vintage assault and battery!

Punk comes out for a tag match w/Santino. They go against Daniel Bryan and Cody. Lots of "YES" chants even when DB just stays on the apron. Punk with the suicide dive, while Santino should never try that again. Santino worked over. Crowd very much into it. Santino dives to tag Punk and misses, but gets it on the second try. Punk a house of fire. DB gets away but Cody eats the GTS for three. I'd look for Punk to win this Sunday anyway against DB. Could be another epic Summer of Punk with these two.

Beth Phoenix no longer selling the ankle, and she faces Layla at Over the Limit. Layla watches on the ramp. Basically a Beth dominating performance here to make a statement. Layla then rushes the ring and makes her own statement. Layla should retain the title this time; she needs the title more.

Cena has over 11 million people liking his FB page. I'm not one of them.

Over the Limit pre-show will be shown on YouTube and all other social media. Ryder faces Kane. Sucks to be Zack.

I like Laurinaitis using Show to get major heel heat. People are saying Show turns heel on all this, and I hope he does. He's entertaining as a face, but just better as a heel to me. Kane with a crossbody?! Interesting. When was the last time Show even hit that Vader Bomb? Physical on the outside. Spear to Kane! Laurinaitis demands an apology mid-match. Kane delivers one of the worst chokeslams ever to get three.

Show cuts an emotional promo for his apology. Johnny keeps refusing to accept, stepping up the humiliation with each passing minute. Watch the segment. Listen to that crowd. They were totally drawn in. One of the best non-wrestling segments of the year. Johnny gets his heel heat, Show gets "fired." Not sure if this was meant as a vacation for Show, but he probably comes back a destructive force. Might be a heel run. We'll see.

Six-man tag time. Or is it seven guys with Little Jimmy? Seems like your usual six-man tag here. AW giving his clientele the royal treatment. Epico, Primo, and Rosa are all dressed up. Mason Ryan gets to show the muscles. Brodus blind tag, Trouble in Paradise and Brodus splash to Miz gets three.

Punk and...AJ? I dunno why yet, but I like it. Vintage instability!

Here we go with Orton and some guy with a light-up jacket. Sheamus on commentary. Good match here, with Jericho throwing Orton into Sheamus. Orton gets his hangman's DDT in. Sheamus nukes Jericho so Orton gets DQ'd. I like the booking here. They want to fight now, but a zillion officials separate the two. Through Eve's Twitter account, Sheamus and Orton are booked in a match for Smackdown.

Cena's back in a WWE ring. He'll be single again for the ladies soon enough, with all that divorce stuff he's going through. Desperation is such a stinky cologne. Cena makes fun of JL's voice. Cena's in a very joking mood tonight. LOSER for Laurinaitis. Hard for JL to not bust out laughing, you can tell. Lots of crowd response, awesome. Cheap pop for Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh Penguins in the house! Cena tells Johnny to go puck himself. HA.

Here comes Eve with some papers. Cena takes it -- accidentally ripping it in two -- and reads it. WWE Board of Directors. One on one. No superstar interference (or be fired), no special refs, pinfall or submission wins only. If Laurinaitis loses, he's fired. Huge stakes.

Now I have a feeling this is where Big Show "returns." After all, this is for business. If not at the PPV, it could be the next night. Any way you slice it, Laurinaitis is winning by evil means. Vintage slap to Cena closes the show.