11-28-11 Raw results and thoughts

  Coverage and thoughts on the November 28, 2011 episode of Raw

The show starts with Roddy Piper coming out for the Piper’s Pit. Piper asks how a guy who never won the WWE Championship, never the biggest guy become a Hall of Famer. He says it was because of energy from the fans. He mentions that when the fans cheered him he did good things and when they booed him he did rotten things. He mentions that is was the fan’s energy that kept him going. He then says there’s a guy now who he’s not sure has the fan’s energy and he John Cena comes out to a mixed reaction. Piper does a word association with the fans. He mentions Austin, the fans cheer. Then Bret Hart, most cheered. Then The Rock, that got cheered. Finally he mentions Cena and he got the usual reaction and there was a “Cena” chant. Piper says he’s trying to help him out and before Cena can speak he lets the fans react. Piper says that when the fans were yelling to Rock to rock bottom Cena and after he did the fans became unglued. Cena says he’s been dealing with this his whole career. He says that he is loyal to his fans and he also knows that he can’t please everybody. He says that that is what makes WWE special because the fans can do what they want. Piper says Cena is the face of WWE and that the booing is getting louder and that Cena’s losing it and says that if he doesn’t start telling people what he thinks of them he will be the loser of the biggest WrestleMania in history. Cena says that Piper is going overboard and then mentions his reaction at WrestleMania 22, his MITB match with Punk and ECW One Night Stand. He says that the fans were excited to see The Rock and Rock had a great night. Cena then mentions that he met some fans before the show and mentions that the soldiers are having fun watching the show. Then he hands Piper something and he says that he believes in himself no matter how the fans react to him. Piper says that he came along way to have him on Piper’s Pit and that he is proud of Cena because when he passed the torch to Cena, he raised the bar (I’m not sure about that). Piper then gives him his Hall of Fame ring and calls Cena a future Hall of Famer. Then he mentions that he has to tell the fans what he thinks of them or he will lose at WrestleMania (which makes no sense at all) and then he slaps him and asks him if he feels the energy. Cena shakes Piper’s hand and walks out to the same mixed reaction. This was awful! It really felt like they were trying to tell the people who aren’t Cena fans to start cheering for him. This felt really forced.

They show John Morrison & Alex Riley talking backstage. Both of course were Miz’s partner.

 John Morrison vs. The Miz in a Falls Count Anywhere Match. Miz comes out and attacks Morrison’s leg with a pipe before the match starts. Referees and medics help Morrison up and he gets in the ring and the match starts. Miz wins when the referee stops the match after Morrison was unconscious on the stage after the Skull Crushing Finale. This was ok. It was mostly Miz clobbering Morrison. Afterwards the medics put Morrison on a stretcher and Miz gets in the ring with a mic as they take Morrison to the back. Miz then says that last week it was R-Truth and this week it was Morrison. He then says that we’ll see who it will be next week and that he is the only kind of star that can make this kind of impact/statement and that he can because he is awesome. This was a good heal promo from Miz. This has to be how they’re writing Morrison off the storylines since he’s leaving the company.  

Kelly Kelly & Alicia Fox vs. The Bella Twins. Beth Phoenix & Natalya come out and jog around the ring and then back up the stage. Kelly & Alicia win when Alicia gets the pin. This was quick and meaningless.

They show Johnny Ace backstage on his phone telling Brodus Clay he will see him next Monday. David Otunga then comes in and asks when he’s bring in Brodus and Ace says he’s going to keep putting it off to get Brodus angry. Del Rio comes in and they go back and forth and Del Rio says Survivor Series was a set back. CM Punk then comes in and rags on Ace calls Del Rio boring. Then he mentions that when he searched for Otunga Jennifer Hudson came up. Punk then says that the WWE Title isn’t going anywhere. Otunga then says that Punk will try to get himself DQ’d and Ace mentions that if he does he will lose the Title. This was idiotic too. Punk was the only good part of this segment.

Wade Barrett comes out to do commentary.

Randy Orton vs. U.S. Champion Dolph Ziggler. Before the match they show a Dolph promo saying that he admits that he’s a show off. He mentions how he took CM Punk to the limit last week and will beat Randy Orton tonight. Dolph gets the pin. This was a good back and forth match.

Michael Cole is in the ring to interview Daniel Bryan. Cole talks about the cage match tomorrow night. Bryan says that he earned the Title match by winning the 4 way. He says that everyone knows that Michael Cole is by far the worst announcer in WWE. He says that he hopes he earned Cole’s respect and Cole calls him a liar because he mentioned that he would cash in the case at WrestleMania. He then rags on Daniel AGAIN and they show the clip from Smackdown and Cole continues rambling. Cole then says that he found it funny that Bryan’s dreams were shattered. Then he says if he was the Smackdown GM he would strip him of the MITB case and suspend him and he says he hopes Mark Henry tears him apart. Daniel says that his plans changed when Henry tried to end his career and the case doesn’t guarantee anything and that he had an opportunity and he took it. Then he mentions that he has another opportunity tomorrow night and that being the World Champion means more to him than main eventing WrestleMania. Mark Henry then comes out and tells Daniel that he should be ashamed and so should Teddy Long for letting the match happen. Then he mentions the cage match and that Bryan can’t beat him. Bryan goes up the ramp and kicks Henry in the leg and walks to the back and says that he will see Henry tomorrow night. This was a mixed bag promo. Bryan & Henry cut good promos but Cole was his usual painful self.

Zack Ryder vs. Jack Swagger. Ryder gets the pin. This was a decent but short match.

Mick Foley comes out in a Santa costume. He then talks about tomorrow night’s Smackdown with a corny version of The Night Before Christmas. This was pointless.

CM Punk is backstage and Josh Mathews asks him how he feels about losing the Title if he gets DQ’d. Punk says that Johnny Ace is dealing from the bottom of the deck and he says that he can kiss his bottom. This was decent.

WWE Champion CM Punk vs. Alberto Del Rio for the Title. Punk gets the pin to retain the Title. This was a real good back and forth match. After the match Punk gives Ricardo the GTS. Punk poses with the WWE Title to end the show.

I thought that this was a decent show on the whole. The opener with Cena & Piper was idiotic and the Mick Foley bit was pointless. Daniel Bryan & Mark Henry did a good job plugging tomorrow night’s title match, I thought Miz cut a great promo too. The Orton-Dolph match was great and the main event was fun also. Overall I thought this show was decent.