WWE Raw Results (10-4) - Cena Joins Nexus, 20 Man Battle Royal

Welcome to WWE programming.

Burn it to the Ground plays and the pyrotechnic show is on. Cole and Lawler welcome us to Raw in Wichita, Kansas.

The Nexus head to the ring and Barrett grabs a microphone. A loud "You suck" chant erupts from the crowd. Barrett says before he introduces Cena he needs to address a few issues
Issue 1: He says the men who attacked Cena last night were Husky Harris and McGillicuddy. He states he did not ask or need their help and those 2 are not members of Nexus.
Issue 2: He chastises Otunga for hatching a plan and bringing the Nexus to the ring possibly costing him the match at Hell in the Cell. They will resolve that internally.

He introduces Cena and John heads to the ring slowly with no salute and no music. Barrett says while he knows Cena is unhappy, he also knows he is a man of his word and will come to realize joining the Nexus is the best thing that has happened to him. Tarver grabs a microphone and begins yelling at Cena. He says he has a gift for Cena and hands him a Nexus armband. John takes it, slowly removes his Cenation wristband and puts on the N. Slater is on the microphone now and he hands Cena a prepared statement that Cena must read to his legion of fans. John grabs the paper and reads; "I, John Cena, hereby acknowledge I am officially a member of Nexus. An enemy of Nexus is an enemy of mine. As for my fans, I hope you stand by me because the fact of the matter is your either Nexus or against us." Barrett says Cena will have his first official Nexus match against Mark Henry and Evan Bourne and John can pick his partner. Cena picks Tarver. Henry and Bourne head to ring.

John Cena and Michael Tarver vs. Mark Henry and Evan Bourne.

Cena and Bourne begin and John shakes Evan's hand much to the chagrin of Tarver. Cena implores Tarver to show him how it is done and tags him in. Tarver takes the early control and we head to break.

We are back and Henry is all over Tarver. Bourne with a double leg drop on Tarver' arm and they are focusing on his arm and shoulder. Big kick to the back by Bourne and Tarver is down in the corner. Tarver goes for a tag and Cena backs off and removes his hand. Choke by Henry followed by a slam and a nice standing moonsault by Bourne and they get the 2 count. Tarver hits a great belly to belly and again tries to tag Cena. This time Cena drops off the ring apron and begins signing autographs. Tarver is incredulous and he turns around into the World's Strongest Slam. It is all over.

Winners: Evan Bourne and Mark Henry.

Cena is smirking and he grabs a microphone. He wants to make his own statement: "I, John Cena, as the newest member of Nexus, plan on doing one thing and that is destroying Nexus from the inside." He then kicks Tarver to the outside. John nails Tarver with a clothesline and them body slams him into the ring steps. The crowd is loud and chants "one more time." Cena obliges and slams him again before rolling him into the ring. Another loud chant, this time for the STF. Ever the babyface, Cena locks it in and Tarver is tapping. We have an email from the GM.

Cole is up and I quote, "The stipulation at Hell in the Cell stated that John Cena must join Nexus. Since the orders for the Nexus come from Barrett, Cena must do what Wade says. If Cena does not comply, the GM will have no choice but to terminate his contract. No one man is bigger than the WWE and if Cena does not fall in line he will be fired." Cena slowly heads to the back.

The crowd was loud the whole time and this was as good a 30 minutes of Raw as I have seen in months.

Match 2: Natalya vs. Alicia Fox.

Alicia hits a quick move and Natalya reverses control and locks in the sharpshooter for the win.
Your winner by submission is Natalya. What a waste of 1 minute, no point, no storyline, just a squash.

Commercial.

We are back and Johnny Knoxville is talking to Gail Kim and Melina. Zak Ryder comes out and goes to high five Knoxville and is nailed by a big hand.

Josh Matthews is interviewing Cena in back to get reaction from the GM's ultimatum. Cena says he cannot leave WWE and he runs into the Nexus locker room. Harris and Mcgillicuddy are there and Barrett says he has big plans for Cena.

Commercial.

Daniel Bryan is in the ring and his opponent is Sheamus.

Sheamus vs. Daniel Bryan.

Sheamus takes the early advantage and works over Bryan in the corner. Bryan is being pummeled by knees in the corner and the referee rings the bell. Celtic Cross by Sheamus.

Daniel Bryan wins by DQ. This match was a waste of time. I understand that Sheamus needs to be a heel and get his aggression out, but why Bryan was sacrificial lamb is odd.

Edge is in the back and we learn he must apologize to the GM. We head to a break.

We return and Cole and Lawler are recapping the previous events with Cena and Nexus.

Cole is in the ring with the GM, I mean laptop. The Raw GM will no longer be communicating with a bad voice, but will do it through Cole, the voice of the WWE. We review Edge's beatdown of the laptop. Edge heads to the ring and says he will not apologize and says he is on personal crusade to stop anything that is stupid, like Michael Cole and the Raw GM. And I quote, "Tonight we will determine #1 contender for WWE championship with a 20 man battle royal. Winner will face Randy Orton and Bragging Rights. Edge will not be in battle royal because he disrespected the GM and Edge has been traded to Smackdown. The crowd chants "Spear." Edge says this is a good thing because now he doesn't have to deal with Cole or the GM. I think Cole called the fans "Coalminers" and said Edge needs to treat him with respect. Edge threatens to spear Cole. "Awesome". Here come The Miz and he calls Cole a visionary for seeing Miz's awesomeness. Edge calls Miz an Edge wannabe. Alex Riley tells Edge that Miz is the future of WWE and is awesome. Riley also compliments Edge on his pouty lips. Edge tells Miz he is awesome at tapping out to Daniel Bryan. Miz says at Bragging Rights he will either be fighting for the title or leading his Raw team to a victory over the Smackdown team. He tells Edge to leave and go to SyFy with the losers. Edge knocks Miz, Riley, and the GM down. Spear to Riley. Miz hits the skull crushing finale on Edge. A program with edge and Miz would be offer some good wrestling, but it seems unlikely until the PPV.

We are in the back with Cena and Barrett where Wade actually thanks John for getting rid of Tarver. Barrett orders Cena to help him win the battle royal. Otunga cuts in and says Cena must help all of Nexus. Not so fast and Barrett explains that Cena will help him and if any member of Nexus gets in the way they will be fired. Interesting twist.

We return from commercial with The Bellas in the ring. Here comes LayCool.

The Bellas vs. LayCool.

Micelle starts and Layla has a microphone and she is doing commentary. Drop kick by Nikki to Michelle in the ring and Layla on the apron. Layla attacks her and Nikki is down. Brie rolls Nikki out of the ring with a switcheroo and she pins Michelle.

The Bellas win in an awful match. Another 2 minutes of my life I will never get back.

Maryse is in the back accusing Knoxville of sending the letters to Ted. Ted runs at Knoxville and the big hand rocks Ted. Maryse comes to his rescue and she gets planted. The only plus was a little upskirt shot of Maryse.

We are back and Knoxville is in the ring and he pimps Jackass 3D, thanks the crowd and prepares to leave. Not so fast as Ted and Maryse come to the ring. Knoxville tries to apologize but Ted is not happy. A few jokes about Ted's manhood and Ted is mad and he punches Knoxville and locks in Dream Street. The lights go down and Goldust is in the ring. He slams Ted and tells both Ted and Maryse that he doesn't want either of them. He is salivating over the Million Dollar Belt and that is clearly his obsession. Just a weird segment and I guess Ted has been relegated to mid card status in a program with Goldust.

Otunga meets Cena in the back and says the Nexus is not all bad. Yes, Wade can be an egomaniac but it will work out. Otunga says if Cena ever needs to talk, he is there for him. This Nexus angle is very interesting and could go a number of ways.

We replay the punt to Jericho's head by Orton.

We begin the 20 man Battle Royal.

John Morrison is out first. R-Truth is next, followed by Sheamus. Cena's music hits, but he is nowhere to be found. The Nexus music and all the members come out, including Cena.

All the members of Raw are out staring at Nexus. We begin and D.H. Smith is eliminated. Cena eliminates William Regal. Santino is eliminated and Mark Henry tosses Ryder out of the ring. He does the same to Primo. Cena saves Wade Barrett from elimination and watches the Nexus eliminate Henry. The Nexus berate Cena for not helping and John tosses Otunga out. Wade and the boys are in Cena's face as we head to break.

We are back and the ring is a little less full. Barrett eliminated Kozlov and the Nexus kicked their former member Darren Young to the curb. Cena is standing guard protecting Wade Barrett. Morrison takes out Heath Slater. Morrison and R-Truth have Barrett up and Cena makes the save. Tyson Kidd is eliminated by Morrison, who is having a great showing. The Miz crushes Morrison in the corner and Dibiase works over R-Truth. The Miz tries to throw Morrison over, but a great counter by the Monday Night Delight and he eliminates Miz. Sheamus has Barrett down, but Cena makes the save again. Truth was a huge kick and he eliminates Justin Gabriel. He goes after Dibiase and misses. Goodbye R-Truth. The next competitor out is Dibiase. We are down to four with Barrett and Morrison on one side and Sheamus and Cena on the other. Morrison is on the ring apron and barrett charges. Morrison hits him with a big kick but his momentum drops him out, and then there were 3. Cena is all over Sheamus with shoulder blocks and the 5 knuckle shuffle. Sheamus reverses, hits a backbreaker, goes for the big kick and misses. Cena eliminates Sheamus and we are down to Cena and Barrett. Barrett tells Cena to eliminate himself and we are reminded that is Cena does not comply, he will be fired. It is a stalemate and Cena hesitates. Cena eliminates himself and Barrett wins.

Winner and new number 1 contender: Wade Barrett.

Randy Orton's music hits and he heads to the ring. He gets in Barrett's face and raises his belt.