9-26-11 Raw results and thoughts

    Coverage and thoughts on the September 26, 2011 episode of Raw

The show starts with Triple H coming to the ring (again). He says that Miz & Truth weren’t fired because of his ego “but because of this.” They show a video of them that they made at Night of Champions attacking the referees and they recap last week. HHH says that they were fired because of their own actions and came to him with a weak apology. He said that he used them to get one more main event out of them last Monday and mentions that Mark Henry will pay a $250,000 fine for attacking Jim Ross and slamming Jerry Lawler through the announce table and that no superstar is bigger than WWE. He talks some more and Vickie Guerrero and Dolph Ziggler come out and Vickie says that Dolph has something to say. Dolph says that he wants to know what he will do for him and talks about being punched by Hugh Jackman last week. He says that he can still compete but can’t eat solid food and asks again what Hunter plans on doing about this. HHH says he isn’t sure what he wants him to do and then says that he might get security for him when the Muppets are there Halloween night. Cody Rhodes then comes out and talks about Randy Orton hitting him with the bell on Smackdown and asks why Orton wasn’t fined. HHH says that a few years ago Orton cuffed him to the ropes and beat on Stephanie and he tells Cody to man up. Christian then comes out and says that what happened to him last week when Sheamus came out during his match was much worse then what happened to Dolph and Cody. HHH reminds him that it was a lumber jack match. Christian then says that they have had enough and asks Dolph and Cody to join him in filing the biggest lawsuit in WWE history. Christian then says he could change his mind if HHH gave him one more match. HHH says that he will give one more match against Sheamus at hell in a cell, one more match with Orton on Smackdown and a match with John Cena tonight. Christian asks if it’s for the Title. HHH says it’s not and Christian flips. He then tells Dolph that he will defend the U.S. Title tonight against Zack Ryder. Dolph flip and he and Vickie walk out. He then tells Cody that he’s giving him the night off and Cody tells HHH that he’s a crappy COO and that he should resign. HHH says that he will defend the IC Title tonight against the first 9 guys he finds and Cody will defend the IC Title in a 10 man Battle Royal. This was a decent opening segment. I’m tired of HHH starting the show every Monday and his promos are getting dull. The heels however cut some good promos.

10 Man Battle Royal for the Intercontinental Title. John Morrison, Sin Cara, Ezekiel Jackson, Sheamus, Daniel Bryan, Justin Gabriel, Alex Riley, Drew McIntyre and Champion Cody Rhodes. Cody slid out of the ring right away. McIntyre was eliminated first by Zeke. The other Sin Cara came out and took the other ones place and got eliminated by Daniel Bryan. The 2 Sin Caras then go at it for a bit and on Cara wants to get back in the ring, but the refs stop him. Sheamus then eliminates Gabriel. Zeke eliminated Daniel & Morrison. Cody eliminates Ted, then Cody eliminated Zeke. It’s down to Sheamus and Cody. Christian comes out and distracts Sheamus for a bit, but he goes back after Cody. Cody took his protective mask off and tried to hit Sheamus with it, but Sheamus blocked him then he booted Christian. Cody finally eliminated Sheamus to retain the IC Title. This was fun to watch. Battle Royals usually are. After the match Christian attacks Sheamus and Christian says that Sheamus cost him the World Title.

They show David Otunga complaining to Johnny Ace backstage and they talk about Otunga’s law degree. This was dumb. I’m not a fan of either guy. Are they going to have Otunga do a lawyer gimmick like Clarence Mason?

Beth Phoenix & Natalya are walking backstage.

They show a Kelly video package. This was useless.

Divas Champion Kelly Kelly & Eve Torres vs. Beth Phoenix & Natalya. Beth & Natalya win when Beth pins Kelly. This match was ok.

Mark Henry comes to the ring for a match.

Great Khali vs. World Champion Mark Henry. Henry hits him with the belt before the match starts and then gives Khali the World’s Strongest Slam. That was awesome! Henry then walks out and jaw jacks with the fans. Great stuff from Mark Henry.

They start to lower the cell and John Cena comes out. He talks about this Sunday saying that history will be made because this is the first triple threat cell match. He says that the WWE Title is surrounded by controversy and mentions Punk leaving with the Title, then Del Rio cashing in MITB and then him winning the Title for a record 10^th time. He says that Sunday the controversy will be over. He then talks about how brutal the cell structure is. He says that on Sunday he goes to hell and says that he has been through hell before and will not lose the Title Sunday. Alberto Del Rio then comes out and then CM Punk does and Cole says that they will be doing commentary. Punk came out with his announcer’s jacket. Christian then comes out for his match with Cena. They raised the cell. I get that they were trying to put over the cell by having it lower during Cena’s promo but I didn’t think they needed to.

WWE Champion John Cena vs. Christian. Cena clotheslined Christian over the announce table and Del Rio then goes after Punk. Cena and Christian then got back in the ring and was about to AA Christian but Del Rio came in and booted Cena, so Cena won by DQ. Alberto then says that on Sunday he will be WWE Champion again.

Zack Ryder vs. U.S. Champion Dolph Ziggler for the Title. Ziggler gets the pin to retain the Title when Jack Swagger gets involved while Vickie Guerrero had the ref’s attention. This was a decent but short match. After the match Ziggler & Swagger go to double team Ryder and Kofi Kingston & Evan Bourne come out and run the heals off. Teddy Long then comes out and tells Vickie that he will give her 3 minutes to find a third partner for Swagger & Ziggler for a 6 man with Ryder, Kofi & Bourne and that if she can’t find anyone it will be 3 on 2. Vickie then runs to the back.

Back from commercial and the 5 guys are in the ring and Swagger and Ziggler haven’t got a partner.

WWE Tag Team Champions Kofi Kingston & Evan Bourne and Zack Ryder vs. U.S. Champion Dolph Ziggler & Jack Swagger. Vickie comes back out with Mason Ryan for the match. So it’s now, Ryder, Kofi & Bourne vs. Ziggler, Swagger & Mason Ryan. Swagger tags Ryan in and he then attacks Ziggler and Swagger. Ryder then gets the pin on Dolph. Winners – Kofi Kingston, Evan Bourne & Zack Ryder.

They show David Otunga backstage talking to Ziggler, Cody & Christian saying that they need to protect themselves from HHH. He says that they need to be together if they go with the lawsuit. They all agree.

CM Punk vs. Alberto Del Rio. John Cena is on commentary. Punk gets the pin. This was a good back and forth match. After the match the cell starts to lower again and Cena tries to get but Ricardo tries to block him but the cell comes down and Ricardo is also locked inside. Punk gives Ricardo the GTS then Cena gives him the AA. Punk then tried to GTS Cena then Cena tried to AA Punk and then Alberto hit both guys with a chair. Del Rio then throws Punk into the turnbuckle where Alberto placed the chair. He then hits both Cena & Punk with chair one more time and stands tall while Punk & Cena were still on the mat. This ended the show.

I thought that this was a good show overall. I enjoyed the Punk-Del Rio match and the post match action. The opening promo was a mixed bag and I’m not sure where they’re going with Otunga leading the other heals with this “lawsuit”. Mark Henry slamming Khali was impressive too. The Battle Royal was fine for what it was also. The rest of the show had some decent matches but nothing memorable.