WWE RAW Results (11/29) - The 2010 King Of The Ring!
Event: WWE Monday Night RAW
Airdate: Monday, November 29th, 2010 (USA Network)
Location: The Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, PA.
Results by Thomas Hall of 411
"Yes, sir, we promised you a great main event?"
Tonight is a special three hour show and it's the King of the Ring. It's also the beginning of the Miz Era. I've got my money on Del Rio or Morrison winning this so let's see if I'm right. The show is starting now so let's get to it.
We open with a recap of the end of Raw last week which saw Barrett and Nexus jump Orton to injure his knee. Cena ran in and cost Barrett the title as Orton hit the RKO to retain. Miz ran in and won the title. Again notice that Orton had him beaten and Miz simply countered and won the title. That says a lot about him.
Cue theme song.
Miz is here tonight.
We see the King of the Ring stuff and get a quick history of it with them even mentioning the 1985 tournament.
Here's Alex Riley saying the Miz is WWE Champion. I'm not used to seeing him in a suit. Cole applauds which cracks me up. Riley runs down Punk's commentary and references not being afraid of a party which I think is a reference to his DUI. There's going to be a party for Miz. Punk directly says it was a DUI. Most interesting.
King of the Ring Quarter-Finals: Alberto Del Rio vs. Daniel Bryan
Rodriguez has a big old black eye due to Show drilling him on Friday. Punk is in an I heart Colt shirt which is an ROH shout out I guess. Here are the brackets.
Del Rio
Bryan
Morrison
Cody Rhodes
Jackson
McIntyre
Kingston
Sheamus
Not bad at all. This should be solid. Cole and Punk get into it almost already with Del Rio starting strong. The smart crowd in Philly is of course all behind Bryan. Cole asks Lawler again why he's a King. Apparently he was born one. Del Rio is from a kingly family so are they some kind of brothers? LeBell Lock is avoided as we take a break with Punk saying there are two kings and a queen on commentary. Well ok then.
Back with Del Rio holding Bryan down in a chinlock. King of the Ring winners have won a combined 62 world titles according to Cole which was told to him by the WWE's Chief Statistician: the Fink. Bryan fights out for a bit which gets him nowhere. An elbow misses and Bryan gets a crucifix for two.
They reverse standing switches and Bryan gets a German on the Mexican for two in the former capital of America. Bryan is all fired up and hits a running dropkick in the corner for two. Del Rip gets a German of his own for two. Suicide Dive to the floor by Bryan takes out Del Rip but he might have hurt his own shoulder. That tends to happen to him every time he does that move. Here's a hint: DON'T DO THAT ANYMORE!
He goes up but misses the dropkick and hurts the arm again. Del Rio gets his evil smile into the Cross Armbreaker and Bryan taps out to send Del Rio to the semi-finals. I'm right so far at about 6:00 shown of 9:30 (I assume 3:30 for a commercial to clear up any confusion there).
Rating: C+. This was a bit underwhelming but it wasn't bad. The shoulder played into the ending which is fine for basic psychology so there's that at least. This wasn't great at all and I'm not sure if it's smart to have the US Champion lose clean but it could have been worse.
We look at some former winners of the tournament including Edge, Austin, HHH, Bret and Brock (WOW. I didn't think I'd see him on WWE TV anymore).
Here's R-Truth for not a match apparently. More What's Up here but no Eve. Well at least we don't have to see bad dancing. White ropes tonight which I kind of like for some reason. He's here to talk about Cena and how he went out like a champ last week. The war hasn't started yet apparently. I have no idea what he's talking about. Ah it's a challenge to Nexus. He'll fight any member right now.
We throw it to Josh in the back at the Nexus locker room door. What a great coincidence that he was standing there. McGillicutty (just call him Joe Hennig already) accepts with a new Nexus shirt. On the way though he's jumped by someone in jean shorts but the camera goes down. They pick him up and give him what looks like an FU and with the Cena wristband does the You Can't See Me motion to the down camera. Cool.
Back with Cole FREAKING over Miz being champion here. They talk about what just happened a bit with Punk saying it's clearly Cena.
King of the Ring Quarter-Finals: Cody Rhodes vs. John Morrison
So there's more or less no way Rhodes wins here is there? It's a shame as I really like him. He plays his character as well as anyone else in the company right now. I need more grooming tips though. Punk says he was King of the Ring and won the 92 tournament in Rio De Janeiro. I think that was the same tournament where Buddy Rogers won the first WWWF Title. I think that's true.
Morrison gets a shot to the face and Cody hits the floor in anger. More stuff to the face as that's like a weakness in an SNES game. Cody in control now with a Russian leg sweep with a floatover for two. Punk talks about Bragging Rights for the brand that wins and I roll my eyes. There are so many good lines from him that I can't keep up with them all.
Morrison comes back with clotheslines and Cody is in a bit of trouble. The running knee misses though and we're back to about even. Both guys go for their springboard kicks at the same time but Morrison's hits, followed by the running knee to send him to face Alberto. I guess that's his new finisher. Match ran about 3:45.
Rating: C+. This was a bit better than the previous match due to the pacing of it. It's nothing great again but considering this is more or less a bonus to what we usually get from the show as this is an hour early. Not a bad match but just filling time before we get to the real meat of the show I think.
The new Miss USA is the guest star. That's news to me. Thanks for telling us that in the first 40 minutes.
King of the Ring Quarter-Finals: Drew McIntyre vs. Ezekiel Jackson
What in the world happened to Drew? He was supposed to be awesome and now he's going to get destroyed by the second coming of Ahmed Johnson. Hearing Punk do ads is just odd indeed. Both guys have good songs at least. Jackson destroys him with clotheslines and power to start. Drew might have gotten a turnbuckle pad off but only Punk sees it.
And apparently he's right as a single shot to it puts Jackson down for two. Punk says he's a wrestler but Cole corrects him by saying he's a Superstar. Well at least they admitted it. Drew in control now but both guys go to the floor. They fight up the aisle and I have a bad feeling about this. Drew jumps off the railing and takes down Jackson. Some ground and pound occurs both ways and it's a double countout at about 2:50.
Rating: N/A. This was too short to really get anything going and as a rule if a match doesn't go 3:00 I don't grade it. Both guys are eliminated so Sheamus or Kofi is going to the finals. This was ok but it wasn't anything special at all with the ending being seen a mile away once they hit the floor.
We're 52 minutes into the show and have three KOTR matches left.
The Bellas hit on Bryan again and Riley, wearing a Bluetooth, interrupts. They were supposed to get the 50 dancing girls and not talking to Bryan. Miz calls and gets on Riley for wasting time I guess. Riley fires the Bellas. I'm liking this so far.
Back and we see the same thing we saw earlier with the Nexus attack and Miz stealing the title. I guess this is the opening for the regular show in case you missed the first hour.
Here's The Miz. I love that song and have it on my Ipod. WOW that belt looks insane on him. Cole literally is jumping up and down in happiness. Miz is wearing what looks almost like a plaid suit. He says he's found something that sums up the feeling and it's the DEMON CHILD! Miz thanks her for reminding him of his struggle to get here.
He lists off all the people that have said he'd never do it. I still say he's the modern day Roddy Piper because he keeps proving people wrong. He calls out JBL, HHH and Cena. He says to them that he's WWE Champion! And now we get to the elephant in the room and it's Randy Orton. He's not here tonight due to his knee but Miz says it's Orton's pride that is hurt.
Finally he says if anyone ever tells you that you can't do something, believe them. All of you are nothing special but he's not like you. He's something special and is one in a billion. Miz calls out Piper, saying that Piper said in his day people made things happen. What did Piper ever make happen? He has Riley hold up the WWE Championship History book and calls out people that never won the world title like Steamboat, Perfect and Piper.
Of all people, Jerry Lawler interrupts him. He says his name is on the list of peopleMiz runs him down so Cole talks down Lawler and praises Miz. Lawler says you should give someone fresh a title shot. Somehow Lawler winds up getting a title match. Yeah this is going to make Miz look great. Lawler conned him into it more or less.
We get this interrupted by an E-Mail. This of course makes Lawler the official first challenger. Seriously, Jerry Lawler? That's the best they can do/ And it's not even in Memphis. There's more though and apparently it's a TLC match. Apparently it's Lawler's birthday. That makes it no better at all.
King of the Ring Quarter-Finals: Kofi Kingston vs. Sheamus
This is more or less a semi-final match. Sheamus destroys him to start with power moves and the Irish Curse for two. Punk points out that he carried Kofi to his first title in WWE. A graphic on the bottom says Kofi has his own PPV Special all December. He's that big of a deal already? Really? Kofi wakes up a bit I guess to advertise the PPV, hitting the Boom Drop for two.
High Cross is reversed and Kofi gets Trouble in Paradise. The Irishman lands under the ropes to buy time though like a true former champion. Pendulum Kick has Sheamus in trouble. Kofi jumps off the top right into the Brogue Kick and is more or less dead to end it in about 4:30.
Rating: B-. I liked this a good bit here as both guys had the chance to look good. Sheamus looked like he was thinking out there which is always the best thing you can ask for. This worked pretty well and it gives Sheamus a credible win. I can't imagine he'll get anyone but Morrison in the finals but odder things have happened.
Yoshi Tatsu/Mark Henry vs. Heath Slater/Justin Gabriel
This is non-title. Yoshi vs. Gabriel to start but Slater is in maybe 30 seconds in. And now back off to Gabriel. JOHN CENA shows up, ticket in hand. Cena has like five tickets in his hand. Justin Gabriel has a beard now. Henry comes in and does what he can. Slater goes up and yells at Cena but gets caught in the World's Strongest Slam at 2:30. Post match Cena jumps the barrier and hits an FU on Slater through the table. Punk: THIS ISN'T THE SPANISH ANNOUNCE TABLE! No rating as the vast majority was just Cena stuff.
How is this show only half over?
After a quick recap of what Cena has done tonight we see Harris, Gabriel (looking WEIRD with the beard) and Otunga saying they're sitting ducks. Barrett says there's nothing to worry about and this ends tonight. He's going to call out Cena tonight.
Lawler is getting ready and Arn Anderson comes in to talk to him. Lucky that Lawler has his gear with him tonight. Arn says TLC matches are dangerous. Nice to see us tapping into Anderson's experience in TLC matches.
King of the Ring Semi-Finals: John Morrison vs. Alberto Del Rio
Winner gets Sheamus in the finals. We take a break before Morrison's entrance.
Back with Morrison's entrance and the screaming girls' pop. Punk talks about why Regal isn't in this and apparently he's taking a sabbatical. We actually get a Mabel reference. Del Rio works on the arm as Punk and Cole argue. The Mexican Aristocrat controls with a running enziguri in the corner.
The car horn starts going off and it's Rey in the driver's seat. Morrison takes the distraction for the Flash Kick to end it and go to the finals at approximately 3:00 (I forgot to check the clock when it started).
Rating: C. This was just ok as nothing really had the chance to happen in it. The car thing was brilliant and the kick to the head was perfect as it caught Del Rio right in the face. Morrison vs. Sheamus as the final is fine as I had Morrison as the second best option for the winner. I like it.
Two Raw guys in the finals. Nice to see Smackdown getting a chance.
Raw Rebound is the ending of the WWE Title match (the first one) from last week.
Barrett comes out to call out Cena. So he's calling out fans now? He says he's the only person on the planet with the power to get him his job back. So he has a higher clearance than Vince? Barrett says there's no way he's going to get Barrett to reinstate him to get his job back. Cena pops up on the screen and says this in't business as usual. He appears to be outside.
He says he's going to take out each member of the Nexus which gets a huge pop. Barrett sends security to the parking lot to get him. Cena says that WWE security, the same security that Nexus beat the hell out of on their first night on Raw isn't going to be in a rush to help them.
Guys that look like Otunga, Harris and Gabriel come up to Cena and he gets scared. Ah it is them as they had their backs turned. He says he's not their only enemy, and the Raw roster of jobbers jump Nexus. Cena FUs Gabriel on a car hood. Cena says this does not stop until he gets his hands on everyone so he'll see you next week.
We come back with a recap of what just happened.
Maryse/Tamina/Alicia Fox vs. Gail Kim/Melina/Natalya
We see a clip of Tamina playing the ukulele and kissing Santino last week which is still very odd. Big sign a few rows back: I HATE MELINA. Melina gets beaten down for the most part as the announcers make fun of Tamina's odd choice in clothes. And here comes Santino with a microphone and a guitar to sing something that might be English. Yeah I think it is. Ah it's a Tiffany song.
The match just completely stops for this as Tamina kisses Santino again. Ok no she doesn't as she puts her arm around his head and walks him away. Melina finally makes a tag and Natlya destroys Alicia to end it WITH THE Sharpshooter in about three and a half minutes. No rating since the vast majority was the Santino bit. Gail was never in.
We get a video package on the career of Lawler. This is the perk of them owning EVERYTHING as they can throw together clips like these at the drop of a hat. We even get the Kaufmann feud.
Back from a break we see Ted DiBiase playing with a toy WWE Title when Maryse comes in. She yells at him and asks him what kind of a man he is. He FINALLY snaps on her and hits something before leaving.
Otunga and Harris are all scared about going anywhere. They don't find anything.
We go to Matthews in the back who has Morrison and Sheamus. The difference in their skin tone is striking. Sheamus talks about Morrison being slim pickings due to being all banged up. Morrison says nothing of note.
The finals are next.
King of the Ring: Sheamus vs. John Morrison
The Miss USA chick does the intros. Thanks for coming hon. Flash Kick is blocked early on. We take a break with Morrison on the floor holding his bad arm.
Back with Sheamus working away on the arm and Morrison is in big trouble. Punk's chair breaks so he makes fun of the company for not fixing anything.
After a decent little beating Morrison makes his comeback to hammer away but Sheamus just shrugs it off. That's a good monster heel. Brogue kick misses but a running double axe handle (Irish Hammer?) spins Morrison inside out for two. High Cross is blocked into a backslide attempt but Sheamus is too tall. Morrison gets a nice spinout DDT for two as Sheamus grabs the rope.
Running knee is blocked and Morrison may have a bad knee now. Morrison counters some more and goes up, only to get pulled down HARD by the bad arm for two. The kickout gets a nice pop. Fujiwara Armbar by Sheamus as Punk is in big trouble. No tap though as they get up again. Back to the armbar again with a nice counter but STILL no tap. Morrison flips forward and kicks Sheamus in the head to escape.
Another kick sends Sheamus down and Sheamus lands in position for Starship Pain. It eats knees and allegedly the arm which didn't exactly look like it hit to me. Brogue Kick hits and the High Cross kills Morrison dead to make Sheamus your 2010 King of the Ring at approximately 8:30 shown of 12:00.
Rating: B-. Sheamus winning works for me kind of as it keeps him in the spotlight and Morrison tries as hard as he can but just doesn't have it. This was a pretty decent match as these two continue to have good chemistry together. The replay shows the Starship Pain clearly hitting the left arm which is a nice touch. Decent match but not a classic.
Miss USA presents Sheamus with his King schwag. Sheamus says Long Live The King and throws off the robe for some reason.
We go to commercial.
We are back and the ladders, chairs, and tables are around the ring and the WWE Title belt is above the ring.
Match Number Nine: The Miz with Alex Riley and the briefcase . . . and the Spirit of Michael Cole versus Jerry 'The King' Lawler for the WWE Title in a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs Match and for the Sports Fandom Title of Cleveland
They lock up and Miz backs Lawler into the corner and he gives a clean break. Lawler punches Miz and then they circle each other. They lock up again and Miz slams Lawler. Lawler returns the favor with a slam of his own. Miz with a kick and punch followed by kicks and another punch to Lawler. Miz throws Lawler out of the ring and to the floor. Miz grabs a chair and he hits Lawler in the back with it. Lawler takes another chair shot to the back. Miz rolls Lawler back into the ring and he sets up a few chairs in the center of the ring. Miz punches Lawler and then he tries for a suplex onto the chairs but Lawler blocks it and Miz avoids the chairs as well. Miz with a neck breaker combination using the chair. Miz with kicks to the back as he tries to wear down Lawler.
Miz has his manservant bring a ladder into the ring but Miz doesn't see Lawler recover and he hits Miz repeatedly in the back with the chair. Riley tries to stop Lawler but Jerry punches Riley and then he brings a ladder into the ring but he fights over it with Miz and Lawler hits Miz in the chin with the ladder. Lawler brings the ladder into the ring and he misses Miz when he runs it into the corner. Miz with a forearm to the back and then they avoid the ladder in the corner until Lawler back body drops him onto the ladder. Riley with a clothesline to Lawler. Riley tries to suplex Lawler to the floor but Riley takes a punch from Lawler and he goes through a table.
Lawler sets up the ladder in the center of the ring and he starts to climb but Miz pushes him off. Miz with a boot to the head. Miz with a suplex onto the chair as he works on Lawler's back. Miz grabs the chair while Punk tells Miz to climb the ladder to win the match. Instead, Miz hits Lawler again with the chair. Miz goes to the top turnbuckle but Lawler crotches him and Lawler tries for a superplex but Miz with a head butt and Lawler goes to the mat. Lawler knocks Miz off the apron and Miz goes through a table.
Lawler is down in the ring but he is next to the ladder. Michael Cole gets up from the announce table and he tries to help Miz up. Lawler climbs the ladder and he is a few feet from the title. Michael Cole grabs Lawler's leg and Jerry wonders what the heck is going on. Lawler asks Cole and Cole says he didn't mean it. They circle the ladder and Cole wants to hug it out but Lawler punches Cole and who cares about the title when you can punch Michael Cole.
Miz climbs the ladder and Lawler stops him. They both have their hands on the title. Miz takes some punches from Lawler but Miz hits Lawler with the title belt and then Miz grabs the belt and wins the match.
Winner: The Miz
We go to credits.