9/24/12 RAW

Ratings:
Dolph Ziggler vs. Kofi Kingston: ***1/2

Titus O'Neil & Darren Young vs. Santino Marella & Zack Ryder: 3/4*

Ryback vs. Miz: *

Wade Barrett vs. Tyson Kidd: *

Sheamus, Rey Mysterio, & Sin Cara vs. Alberto Del Rio, David Otunga, & Ricardo Rodriguez: **

Eve Torres & Beth Phoenix vs. Layla & Alicia Fox: DUD

Brodus Clay vs. Tensai: N/A
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Reviews/Thoughts:
Heyman and Punk at the top of the show, holding the show hostage after the "injustice" that happened last week. Ref Brad Maddox summoned to the ring. Berating of Maddox and AJ from Heyman and Punk. AJ to the ring. Yup, we see the whole AJ proposal rejection again. But hell, Heyman with a marriage proposal? Somehow, I woulda loved to see an AJ/Heyman power trip. But it's a vintage slap here.

AJ with her two-faced happy-mentally unstable persona on Maddox. Yeah, watch Brad screw up again eventually.

Kofi and Ziggler first. Truth throws water in Vickie's face, or maybe that was Little Jimmy's fault. Truth and Vickie (and Little Jimmy) are ejected. Cole's been using the term "glancing blow" a lot lately. Tremendous match between Kofi and Dolph that makes me wonder how the hell these two are still basically in upper midcard at best. Extremely exciting in the last few minutes. Tons of athleticism. Crowd ate it all up.

Criss Angel is the social media ambassador tonight. Yeah, whatever.

Cena's love on RAW later despite his elbow surgery that likely will prevent him from wrestling at Hell in a Cell. You can bet the farm he'll be there in some capacity anyway if that's the case. Cena is a crazy fast healer, though. Not to mention that WWE's doing the "Rise Above Cancer" deal with Cena as the poster boy.

Tag match between Primetime Players and Santino/Ryder. Basic match here. Blind tag allows Titus to hit his sitdown powerbomb on Santino for three.

Mick Foley time! Nice pop for the hardcore legend. Promo on Punk, which prompts the champ's presence. Foley with the question for Punk that many want to know: why Punk aligned himself with Paul Heyman. Foley doesn't actually bash Heyman, but notes Paul does things for himself and that Punk can get much further on his own. Plus, Punk doesn't need the mouthpiece. Foley references the epic 1998 HIAC match with Taker. Long story short, it's an epic confrontation between Foley and Punk. Does Punk want to be a statistic or a legend? Punk goes face to face with Cena later tonight.

Ryback destroyed the Miz TV set last week, impressive. So Ryback faces Miz. Vince has finally pulled the trigger for Ryback to face more quality opponents. Fans still chant "Gold-berg." Fan storms the ring near the end of the match, JR and Cole ignore it. Ryback with a convincing win. Shellshocked is the name of Ryback's finisher.

Daniel Bryan, Kane, and Mae Young(!!!!) with a spoof of the "When Harry Met Sally" classic segment. I'll have what they're having! YES!

Barrett and Kidd next. Wade obviously goes over here. Finisher is called The Souvenir. I don't think it's the greatest name, but it's not bad, either.

Cole conducts a satellite interview with Lawler. The silver lining here is that Cole's commentary has gotten so much better that he's dropped the overbearing heel act. He had great chemistry with JBL, and it's never a bad thing to be paired with Jim Ross.

Interesting that Lawler's last memory of that 9/10 RAW was the opening segment and he thought he was in Aruba with his girlfriend when he really was in the Montreal hospital. So he probably was on autopilot during his match that night. Just a feel-good moment for the WWE Universe. I hope that, when Lawler returns, Cole keeps the toned-down neutral stance he's had lately.

I only now realized Otunga grew his goatee back. Yeah, I'm so observant. Six-man tag next. Ricardo is legally in the match but still wearing his tux. At least RR knows the tag team wrestling basics. Otunga tags RR back in when avoiding the Brogue Kick, and it's basically all over for Ricardo. Huge chest blows, 619, and Sin Cara senton get the win. Otunga eats a Brogue Kick post-match. Ouch.

Identity therapy time! DB gets to eat pasta (spaghetti and meatballs?) and Kane eats salad. Walk a mile in the other's shoes. Kane with a loud belch (sound piped in) and DB hurls on Dr. Shelby. Check, please! LOL.

Twitter to determine tag name of DB and Kane. Choices are Team Teamwork, Team Hell No, or Team Friendship. Easily Team Friendship for me. But Team Hell No wins with 59%. At least Team Friendship got 38%. NO! Sad panda! Rhodes and Sandow with a quick ambush on the tag champs. Terminus (something like that) was likely the name of Sandow's finisher...? Team Rhodes Scholars? I love it. Oh yeah, and Sandow also has ditched the pink tights because pink = Cena now.

Tag division has really boosted lately. You can thank HHH for that one.

Eve and Beth team up for divas tag action. Beth's still rumored to be leaving the company next month, which would bea huge blow to an already-depleted divas division. Crowd not into this at all. Eve with the blind tag so she can basically pick the bones on a weakened Alicia -- not to mention that it wouldn't do any good to have someone on the way out of the company get the pin anyway. Yawn.

Kaitlyn says her attacker was a blonde. So it's point-the-finger time at Beth. Eve takes Beth out. WTF. Makes no sense to me from a storyline standpoint. It didn't help Eve gain any cheers, and frankly wouldn't have done so anyway. If that was a way to get Beth out of the company, they could have handled it much better than that.

I'd look for the "real" attacker to either be Natalya or some other diva wearing a wig (whether it's Eve herself or some other person). With the divas division in desperate need of a strong worker, I'd lean toward bringing Sara Del Rey in as a dominant face ASAP if I had it my way. SDR would be the one taking Beth out, then Natalya. Why? They are former Divas/Women's champs. Heck, I'd have SDR even defeat all the divas not named Eve Torres to send a strong message. Eve's not bad in the ring and does well as a heel. I'm not opposed to her title reign, but working with a solid in-ring indy star could make Eve's matches better and possibly resurrect at least a little life into this division.

Brodus and Tensai this week in a battle of super heavyweights. Or not. Big Show comes down and KOs both guys. Match thrown out. Missed seeing Show on TV. Sucks that Tensai had some good hype coming in, but any push got derailed early on.

Show and Orton on Smackdown this Friday.

Cena closes the show. Right arm in a sling. He plugs the whole breast cancer stuff and then gets down to Punk and his arm. Cena vows to walk into Hell in a Cell to fight. Only a matter of time before Punk and Heyman arrive. Punk gives Cena 'til five to leave. Cena has a lead pipe and decks Punk in the gut.

Punk kicks Foley in the gut backstage and then wants more. RYBACK! Really? That'd be one gigantic push. Probably gonna take place on a future RAW. While it'd be cool to give Ryback a win over the champ, it'll likely end up being some type of no-contest.