4-2-12 Raw results and thoughts

Coverage and thoughts on the April 2, 2012 night after WrestleMania episode of Raw

The show starts with the whole roster backstage and Johnny Ace & David Otunga are standing before them. Ace talks about becoming GM of both shows last night. He then says that he will not abuse his power and says that he will give the fans what they want. He tells Santino Marella that he will defend the U.S. Title against Jack Swagger & Dolph Ziggler. The CM Punk comes in and says that he speaks for everyone when he says that Ace is still considered to be a giant tool box. Then Ace tells Punk that he will defend the WWE Title against Mark Henry. Then he welcomes everyone to the era of “People Power.” This was a decent start to the show. Punk cut a good promo as usual.

The Rock comes to the ring and does his usual posing and the fans chant his name. Then Rock says that 14 months ago, but he before he can say anything the fans chant, “You still got it” and Rock thanks them. He mentions how he returned to WWE 14 months ago and says how he electrified the fans everywhere. Then he says that last night was a history making record breaking crowd at WrestleMania. Then he says that he has finally come back home. He says that there is one man he has to thank and that is John Cena. The fans boo that and chant Cena sucks. Rocks says that last night Cena brought to him like never before. He mentions that when Cena was putting a beating on him he was thinking, “Somebody get this guy off me.” Then he says that at the end of the day it was an honor to be in the ring with Cena and that they made history for the fans. Rock then thanks his family and then the fans. He does the, “millions of fans” bit. Then he says that in 1999 he was cut from the Canadian Football League. He thanks the Miami fans that he stands before them as the People’s Champion. He says that this not the end but it is just the beginning. The fans go nuts and chant, “Thank you Rocky.” Rocks says that after last night he’s had this vision. He says that he was celebrating and then he had a vision and he told people about it and they said it was impossible but The Rock wipes a monkey’s ass with that word. Then he asks the fans if they want to hear his vision. He says that the vision is that one day he will walk down that aisle once again as WWE Champion. The fans do the Daniel Bryan yes chant. Rock thanks the fans and says that vision will come true. Then he does the if ya smell bit. Great Rock promo! This guy is the greatest talker ever!

They show a clip of a John Cena promo from last month. Then they say that Cena we will hear from Cena later tonight.

U.S. Champion Santino Marella vs. Jack Swagger vs. Dolph Ziggler for the Title. Santino wins when he pins Swagger. This was a solid match. Afterwards they attack Santino but Santino bails. They chase him up the ramp and then Brodus Clay comes out. Clay lays out Dolph. Then He & Santino stare down Swagger and the funkettes come out and time for Brodus & Santino to call their mommas. This was typical Funkasauras idiocy.

Time for the debut of Lord Tensai. A Japanese guy comes out and throws salt and then “Albert” Tensai comes out. He comes out with a robe and mask. His victim will be Alex Riley. Tensai takes the mask off and the crowd reacted a bit. Cole and Lawler act like they never saw him before, which I found to be dumb.

Alex Riley vs. Lord Tensai. Tensai wins when the referee stops the match. This was a squash. Tensai pounded Riley the whole match.  Afterwards Tensai locks Riley in a claw on his head.

They show CM Punk backstage and he will defend his Title against Mark Henry next.

They show the empty arena John Cena promo when said that no one remembers second place.

WWE Champion CM Punk vs. Mark Henry. Henry wins by count out. This was a good match.

Afterwards Henry gives Punk the World’s Strongest Slam on the floor. Then Johnny Ace comes out and says that Punk will defend the Title more often.

Then Chris Jericho comes out through the crowd and says that they had a classic match last night and that they should celebrate with a drink. Then he talks about Punk being straight edge and says that he will be the reason Punk starts drinking just like his dad. Then Jericho pours “booze” on punk and attacks him. Then Jericho gets another bottle and says that it’s Punk’s blood to be a drinker. Then he says he shouldn’t drink too much because it will go straight to his head. Then he breaks the bottle over Punk’s head. This was good stuff. Jericho’s promos are really awesome. It looks like the Punk-Jericho feud will continue but I’d also like to see Punk in a feud with Mark Henry.

The new World Champion Sheamus comes to the ring and holds up the belt. He was about to speak but then Alberto Del Rio makes his return. Alberto mentions Sheamus winning the title in 18 seconds but no one will remember in a month. He says that Sheamus has a new challenger and Ricardo announces Del Rio’s name again. Then Sheamus says it’s great to see him. Then he says that the fans want to see Sheamus brogue kick someone in the face. He says that he will get to show the fans something they will never forget. Then Del Rio says that Johnny Ace has made Sheamus vs. Del Rio for Smackdown. He then says that when he wins he will get a World Title match. Del Rio kept speaking but the mic went out. As he was going to get a second one, Sheamus gives him a Brogue Kick. This was good segment. Del Rio cut a good promo and the match on Smackdown should be good. They show Daniel Bryan & AJ watching backstage on a monitor and then Josh Mathews comes in and mentions Daniel losing the title in 18 seconds. Daniel has no comment.    

Kofi Kingston vs. Cody Rhodes. Kofi gets the pin. Big Show comes out and says that he has something he wants to show Cody. Then they show the still shots of Big Show punching Cody out last night. This allowed Kofi hit Cody with the Trouble in Paradise for the pin. This was decent. It was more of continuing the Big Show-Cody Rhodes storyline than a match.

They show Cena’s promo from last Monday when he told Rock he needed to win at WrestleMania.

Mark Henry is backstage and throws down a luggage back. Then Abraham Washington comes in and says that he would like to represent Henry. He gives Henry his card and tells him to think about it.

Eve Torres comes out on the stage and says that everyone wants to have their WrestleMania moment and last night she got hers. She says that she easily manipulated Zack Ryder. Then she says that she could do that to any guy except Johnny Ace because powerful guys can’t be manipulated. She says that if her actions helped Ace then so be it. Whatever. This was terrible!

Zack Ryder vs. The Miz. Miz gets the pin. This was short and meaningless match. Poor Zack. They really yanked away any chance he had of getting over.

They announce that Randy Orton will face Kane on Smackdown and that Sheamus will face Alberto Del Rio.

John Cena comes to the ring and the fans boo. He says that he never thought of losing but that it’s happened the only thing to do is to do it right. He says that we all take defeats in life. He then says that he’s talked a lot and says that he meant everything that he said. He says throughout the whole year he didn’t think he was going to lose because if he had he would have already lost. He talks about how people sometimes lose. Then he mentions that there was talk of how he would react to losing. The fans chant you’re a loser. Cena asks if this is the day he finally lashes out at the fans. They chant yes, but he says that won’t happen. He says that as a man he will admit defeat. He says that this will not be the final moment of his career. Then he thanks the fans who supported him. Then he points out the MGK guy and the fans boo. He then apologizes for letting the fans down and says that he will try to be the best he can be. Then he says that he & Rock have been calling each other for a year and they settled it last night. Then the fans chant we want Lesnar. Cena says that he would like to invite The Rock to come back to the ring. He says that Dwayne is a guy who earned his respect and wants everyone to know that he considers Rock a champion. He says there should be 1 more moment of celebration for Rock. Then he talks about how crazy the past year has been. The fans chant we want Lesnar again. Cena says that he put his heart and soul into last night and that The Rock was the better man. Cena acknowledges the yes chants from the crowd and he says that Daniel Bryan owes him one. Then he says that he respects Rock and the fans chant Daniel Bryan. Cena says again that he wants to congratulate Rock on his win. Then Brock Lesnar’s music plays and he comes to a massive pop. He walks around the ring looking at Cena. Then he gets in the ring and poses and the fans cheer and chant his name. Then Lesnar gives Cena the F5. Lesnar stands over Cena for a bit and then poses on the turnbuckle to end the show. Cena’s promo was decent, but I thought he talked too much about losing in life. Lesnar coming out and giving Cena the F5 was a cool moment.

I thought this was a good show overall this week. The Rock cut his usual great promo at the start of the show and the Cena promo was ok. Lesnar coming out got a huge pop from the fans. It was kinda cool to see him back actually. CM Punk & Mark Henry had a good match too and Chris Jericho’s promo was really good too. He really knows how to play the role of the slimy heal. I also liked the Sheamus-Del Rio face off. Nice to see Alberto back and hopefully he and Sheamus will have a good feud. Ryder-Miz was not much. They’ve completely made both guys look like jabrones. Eve’s promo was awful also. They start of the show with Johnny Ace talking to the roster was kinda dull but Punk’s part of the segment was good. The Santino-Swagger-Dolph was decent but predictable. I knew that Jack & Dolph would turn on each other and that would allow Santino to win and that’s just what happened. It looks like they’ll be having Santino team up with Brodus Clay. Who cares? The Kofi Kingston-Cody Rhodes match wasn’t much either. This was more about Big Show giving Cody the same treatment Cody had been giving him for weeks. On the whole I thought this was a decent show and a good follow up to WrestleMania.