Off-Camera WWE RAW Notes: Post-Show Dark Match, Orton Vs. Bryan, Miz Booed, Robinson
Thanks to WrestlingINC.com readers Joseph Gerard and Roland for sending in these notes from last night's RAW:
* I was one of the early arrivals, and Charles Robinson was at ringside wearing a blue hoodie sprinkling water onto the floor near ringside. I shouted out "What's up Little Naitch?". He acknowledged me by waving back.
* Even though it wasn't used on TV, they did have Fandango's "Lite Brite" silhouette hanging above the ring. I wonder if there was a malfunction with it. They also had the Tons of Funk disco ball hanging with the "Lite Brite" Fandango sign and the MizTV logo, even though none of the Tons of Funk members even made it out to ringside.
* Speaking of MizTV, even though The Miz himself got a small pop, he was booed whenever they showed the highlights of him being beaten by Randy Orton and mentioned it was in his hometown of Cleveland. I guess Pittsburghers still hate Cleveland. LOL.
* It looks as if The Shield have a Cerberus-like logo now that is displayed on the HD set. It is a three-headed dog with the caption "The Hounds of Justice."
* The Royal Rumble pre-sale code was announced, it is RUMBLE.
* The dark match was between Daniel Bryan and Randy Orton. After Bryan asked the fans if he should wear Triple H's jacket in the match (everyone shouted "YES!"), he said he had to take it off despite wanting to listen to the fans, then proceeded to throw the jacket at Orton as the bell rang. The match was rather quick, as The Shield came down to attack Bryan, causing a disqualification. This caused R-Truth, Kofi Kingston, Goldust, and Cody Rhodes to run down to chase off the heels. Orton and Bryan proceeded to wrestle even though the referee had ended the match, and was actually arguing with JBL while Bryan and Orton were trying to pin each other. The referee finally got back into the ring to count a pinfall on Orton, giving Bryan a "second" dark match victory. After the dark match ended, while many people started to leave, there appeared to be some confusion as it was only 11:15 and Justin Roberts hadn't made an official announcement yet that the show was over. I guess people were expecting either a second dark match or the Bryan-Orton match to last longer. Eventually, Roberts made the announcement.