Ratings:
Big Show vs. Daniel Bryan: *
Alberto Del Rio vs. Brodus Clay: 1/2*
Titus O'Neil & Darren Young vs. Zack Ryder & Santino Marella: 1/2*
Ryback vs. Dolph Ziggler & David Otunga: N/A (squash)
Antonio Cesaro vs. Justin Gabriel: *1/2
Kane vs. Matt Striker: N/A
Sheamus vs. Wade Barrett: **1/2
Eve Torres vs. Layla (Divas Title): 1/2*
Cody Rhodes & Damien Sandow vs. Primo & Epico: *1/4
Kofi Kingston vs. Miz: *
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Reviews/Thoughts:
Cole and Ross announce RAW in Nashville. They mention Punk's tweet where he made his decision and will reveal it on the show.
Show promo on how Sheamus should fear his Brogue Kick. Crowd chants "45 seconds." Show wants Daniel Bryan in a match to erase all that. DB says NO, everyone in the back says YES. Yup. We have goat face masks now. Wow. Show's spear is lethal. DB with kicks but Show catches DB in a chokeslam coming off the top. Show gets three and keeps getting booked strong. Kane comes out to make sure Show doesn't deck Daniel with the WMD.
Paul Heyman introduces Punk. Punk's got the devilish look for the HIAC poster. Punk says he's an angel and names his two choices the devils. Punk says he has his choice underneath the easel. Punk then says he'll take more time to think about it. Nope, says Vince McMahon. Vince says Punk blew it and now he'll be making the decision later.
Moving video package on Layla, whose mom battled breast cancer three times before succumbing.
Alberto Del Rio and Brodus square off. No on-camera intros. One thing I like about ADR is how his offense sets up that cross armbreaker move. Not everyone does that, and it's real effective stuff. Short match as Brodus misses a corner splash and ADR locks on the cross armbreaker for three. Orton and Del Rio official for HIAC; this sends a message to the Viper.
Punk wants Heyman to tell Vince that the champ wants the chairman in a match tonight for the right to name Punk's HIAC opponent.
More tag team action with Team CoBro against Primetime Players. Again, Primetime Players without the tag title shot that they may have gotten had AW not been fired. Another real short match here. Broski Boot to Titus. Darren takes out Santino, Ryder takes out D-Young, and Titus hits his finisher for the win.
Slater, McIntyre, and Jinder storm the ring. I about fell out of my chair seeing McIntyre. The hair's free-flowing now, with a bandanna. Matching jackets, glasses, and jeans for all three. Official name is the 3MB.
Ziggler promo all pissed that he had to earn his MITB title shot and Ryback may just get a title shot thanks to some monster push. Ziggler wants to face Punk (hey, I'm all for it) and then win the World Title with his MITB briefcase to become dual champ in one night. Sounds cool to me, but of course, that won't happen. Otunga comes out he wants the title shot. Don't make me laugh, Harvard law grad. Delusional? AJ's here, too. Handicap match! Ryback vs. Otunga and Ziggler.
"Feed me more!" echoes throughout the arena. Big lariat to Ziggler, and from there, Otunga's screwed. To protect Ziggler, Otunga basically does the jobbing tonight.
Punk's pitch (delivered via Paul Heyman) didn't work. And Matt Striker said "crazy" around AJ, so the teacher faces Kane. Oops.
Cesaro faces Gabriel in a battle of international stars. Typical taped heel promo from Cesaro about how the U.S. needs him. Does Gabriel really want to do that 120,000-foot skydive Felix Baumgartner did yesterday? That skydive was SICK. Effective impactful moveset from Cesaro. Gabriel does that AJ Styles-moonsault into reverse DDT spot. Not the cleanest-hit 450 splash. Finally saw on replay that Cesaro did indeed get the shoulder up a bit into Gabriel's midsection. Cesaro also got his foot on the ropes. Springboard right into the Euro uppercut, then Neutralizer for three.
Striker tries to get out of facing Kane. Kane wants to hug it out. And then a chokeslam for three. Nice interview by Kane. Even JR with the Tebowing reference. Next!
Miz TV with guest Kofi Kingston. Miz says Kofi will always be the "B" player. Kofi wants Miz later tonight and Miz accepts. Kofi fires the first shot.
Sheamus and Barrett in another hard-hitting affair. Show comes out with a chair. Show sits on the ramp for now. Watch that back kick from Barrett. Sheamus with a punishing comeback. Nice use of counters, especially on Barrett's old finisher (Wasteland). Cloverleaf on Barrett and Show storms down the ramp. Show with the low bridge and ref calls for the DQ. Pretty good match here, really. Brogue Kick to Barrett, then Sheamus knocks Show out of the ring.
Cena doesn't explicitly tell Vince he's medically cleared, just that it's Vince's decision.
Divas Title on the line; Layla finally gets her rematch. Eve with a bunch of submission holds and rest holds. Layla's offense is still too basic here. Kicks, springboard crossbody, seen that. Controversial finish again; Cole and Ross say the ref blew the call (and he did). So does this mean there will be yet another match between the two? I mean, the divas roster is pretty damn depleted right now anyway. Kinda sucks they don't use people like Natalya more.
More NO and YES from Kane and DB. Guess Kane faces Show next week.
Ryback tells Vince to feed him Punk. Big Hungry's starving.
3MB is invading Nashville to sing, with Slater and Jinder leading the charge. They get kicked out before they can start. Ha.
Primo and Epico face Team Rhodes Scholars. Primo isolated for most of the match. That whole "Three Amigos" stuff now shown in side suplex form by Epico. Sandow's straitjacket neckbreaker gets a name: Terminus (Latin for "end"). Cool name.
(NOTE: The tag title tournament finals was postponed to next week because Mysterio had the flu and stomach virus. Dave Meltzer reports it's a bad virus, so we'll see if Mysterio can go next week.)
Back from break with Miz and Kofi in singles action. Remember, they face each other for the IC Title on Main Event on Wednesday. Good counters on finishers, then Kofi just nails Miz right in the face (no time to cover up) with Trouble in Paradise. Doc tended to Miz right after the match. Could be a legit broken nose and concussion. Miz should ultimately be fine. Initially, I'm concerned if that means he retains on Wednesday's title match -- if there's even one at all.
Vince closes the show. He has a black folder in hand with the WWE Title match contract. Punk introduced first, then Ryback and Cena. No arm brace thing for Cena tonight. Punk immediately signs the contract first and is tired of hearing Vince talk. Before Vince can say who he picked, Cena says Punk needs to get his ass kicked, and Ryback's basically the man for the job. Ryback signs the contract and Shellshocks Punk. Crowd firmly behind Ryback.
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Not a great show for wrestling. Seems like things were very rushed, a bunch of real short matches. Main point of RAW was to name Punk's opponent for Hell in a Cell. So now we know that Cena wasn't gonna be medically cleared in time for Hell in a Cell. I'm now wondering if Cena could still end up being a special guest ref. We'll see what happens next week.
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