12-10-12 Raw results and thoughts

Coverage and thoughts on the December 10, 2012 episode of Raw

My apologies for this going up later than usual, but my computer has been giving me a hard time.

The show starts with Dolph Ziggler in the ring standing on top of a ladder. He talks about how he will face and beat Cena at TLC. He will put the lump of coal in Cena’s stocking. Then out comes Sheamus. He says that Dolph shouldn’t worry about cashing in on Big Show. Sheamus says he will beat Big Show and become World Champion. Then he says that for Dolph to cash in MITB he has to win against Cena. Sheamus doesn’t think that will happen. Sheamus believes that it will be him vs. Cena for the World Title. Then out comes Big Show. He says that both Sheamus & Dolph are delusional. Then he says he’d love to smear Sheamus’ face all over his fist, but because of the no contact clause he can’t do that. Then Sheamus says just because he can’t touch Big Show but he can’t do something to some one else. Then he pushes Dolph off the ladder to the floor.

Kofi Kingston & Antonio Cesaro are on commentary.

Wade Barrett is in the ring and out comes Vince McMahon and announces that Big Show will face Cena in tonight’s main event. Then he brings out Vickie Guerrero. He says 2 main events would be better than 1. Vince suggests Sheamus be in a match. Vickie thinks about who Sheamus should face and realizes that Vince was referring to Dolph. Vince says they should have a third main event. Vickie mentions having AJ in a handicap match. Vince thinks about for awhile, the fans chant Vickie. Then Vince books AJ vs. Vickie for tonight. Vince says that’s the truth. Then R-Truth comes to the ring for his match with Wade Barrett. This was idiotic. I really hope they don’t’ have this bit with Vince & Vickie every week. Also why was this happening while Wade Barrett was in the ring?

R-Truth vs. Wade Barrett. Truth gets the pin. This was a short match. I’m not sure why they had Barrett lose in such a short match. Afterwards Truth gets in Cesaro’s face. Then Kofi Kingston gives Barrett a high cross body off the top rope. The post match stuff was alright. They did a decent job building up to the 2 secondary title matches. Too bad it was at Wade Barrett’s expense.

AJ is all thrilled about being in a match with Vickie. She walks up to Aksana and then Kaitlyn all psyched. Kaitlyn says something I couldn’t make out. Then AJ goes into the guy’s locker room and jumps into Cena’s arms. He says they should go to someplace besides the men’s locker room. This was odd.

The Usos vs. Primo & Epico vs. The Primetime Players vs. Rhodes Scholars in a 4 way elimination tag team match. The winners will face Sin Cara & Rey Mysterio in a tables match at TLC. The winners of the TLC match will challenge Kane & Daniel Bryan for the WWE Tag Team Titles. Why isn’t this a number 1 contender’s match? Also Cody returned like nothing happened. I thought that was a bit underwhelming. * Primo & Epico are eliminated when an Uso pins 1 of them. * During the commercial break An Uso pinned Darren Young (Why was the elimination during a break)? * Cody pins Jimmy Uso. This was a decent match but I though the eliminations were too fast. The tag titles really have no meaning. I was actually kind of surprised the had this match at all. Winners – Rhodes Scholars

Alicia Fox vs. Divas Champion Eve Torres. I actually missed this match but I read Eve won. My apologies for missing the match. Then afterwards Eve wanted photographers to take pics of her standing of Alicia. I missed that too but I read about it. Sorry about that.

CM Punk & Paul Heyman come out. Punk is on crutches. Punk says it’s come his & Heyman’s attention that there are more than a few fans that think his injury is fake. They think his surgery never happened. Some fans think this is a scheme to duck out of another match with Ryback. He says this is real life. Injures happen and wrestling is a tough sport. Punk says he’s been champion for 388 days without slowing down. Injuries will happen. Then they replay Ryback attacking Punk at the end of Raw last week. Heyman hates to be the bearer of bad news but the fans are ticking him off. How dare the fans chant feed me more at Punk 6 days after he had emergency surgery? Punk is a legitimate champion. For 388 days Punk has been WWE Champion and last week he got injured to the point where he needed surgery. He didn’t have a stunt double like The Rock. Punk isn’t complaining. He’s standing out here like the great champion that he is. He is standing before the fans tonight unlike The Rock. Rock just shows up when he gets a title match. Ryback is no longer a concern for Punk. Punk will remain WWE Champion and is the best in the world. Punk then talks about the vocal minority who think he should be stripped of the title. He says Ryback isn’t smart enough to keep Punk healthy. Cena, Big Show, Dolph, Del Rio, Miz, Kane, Daniel Bryan, Jericho and probably many others couldn’t take the title. Ryback had 2 chances and blew it both times. Rock has 1 shot and he will fail. Unlike any other person, he will not be at home healing up with an ice pack. He will be at TLC this Sunday and watch The Shield do to Ryback what Ryback did to him last week. This was a good segment. Punk & Heyman cut great promos as usual. I’m hoping Punk heals up soon!

Sheamus vs. Dolph Ziggler. Sheamus wins by DQ when Dolph uses a chair. Afterwards Dolph hit Sheamus in the back with the chair. Then he was going to hit Sheamus a second time but Sheamus Brogue Kicked the chair into Dolph. This was a good match and I knew there wouldn’t be a clean finish. I wasn’t into Dolph getting Brogue Kicked however. They continue to make Dolph look like a jobber.

Khali & Hornswoggle are helping Vickie stretch. Vince comes in and says he thought this was supposed to be a family show. Vickie screams and Khali & Hornswoggle walk out. This was typical WWE comedy.

They replay The Shield video from Smackdown. That was a good video.

Zack Ryder vs. Alberto Del Rio. Del Rio wins by submission. This was a solid match. Ryder got in some offense before tapping to the arm breaker.

After AJ & Vickie came to the ring for their match, Vickie asked where the referee is. Out came Brad Maddox.

AJ Lee vs. Vickie Guerrero. Vickie gets the pin. This was lame. AJ covered Vickie and wouldn’t make the count. Then AJ got in his face. Then Vickie rolled AJ up for the win. That was very predictable. Then AJ flips out and throws a chair and a pushes a ladder down. Then she slaps Justin Roberts. Then she storms to the back.


AJ is backstage flipping out still. Cena comes by and says she’s wrecking the place. He tells her to calm down and AJ cries. Cena tells her she’ll be ok. This was weak.

Antonio Cesaro comes out for his match with Kofi Kingston. He says as U.S. Champion he travels this once proud country every week. The truth is America has gone rotten. Especially in New Jersey. They need him to be U.S. Champion more than anybody. At TLC R-Truth will learn the hard way that the truth hurts.

Intercontinental Champion Kofi Kingston vs. U.S. Champion Antonio Cesaro. Cesaro gets the pin. This was a really good match.

Miz comes out for Miz TV. The set it on the stage this time. His guests are Rhodes Scholars, or as he likes to call them the beardo and the weirdo. Out come Cody & Sandow. Sandow says the only thing worse than Miz having his own show are the idiot fans that watch it. He says it’s his honor to reintroduce everyone to his best friend. He tells the fans to remain silent for the new and improved Cody Rhodes. Cody thanks Sandow. Cody then says that he & Sandow are a revelation. He calls the New Jersey fans morons. Miz asks if Cody grew that moustache on his lip or did Damien’s beard rub off on it. Sandow says that it is ironic that someone who used to be the star if a reality show has lost touch with reality. Miz finds it ironic that they’ll become tag team champions, when he doesn’t think they’ll win at TLC. Sandow says Miz isn’t a good host. He says he finds Miz’s questions to be repugnant. Miz asks Cody how it felt that Sandow never visited him when he was rehabilitating his shoulder. He says that Sandow said that Cody is Marty Jannetty and he is Shawn Michaels. Miz asks how it feels to always be overshadowed by someone. Cody says maybe the current slump Miz is in by hosting this show has to do with the fact that he has become 1 of these people. Cody says they’re not gonna take this trash anymore. This interview is over. They walk out. Then Miz says he has a new name for Team Rhodes Scholars. The pink and the stink. That was corny. This segment was idiotic.

Cena is backstage and AJ comes by. She wants to be at ringside to support Cena. Cena tries to talk her out of it. She wants to be there. Cena says if anything were to happen to AJ he would feel responsible. AJ reluctantly agrees to remain backstage.

Dolph Ziggler is on commentary.

John Cena vs. World Champion Big Show. Cena wins by DQ when Seth Rollins comes in. Afterwards Ambrose & Reigns come in and they attack Cena. They bring a table into the ring and set it up in the corner. Then Kane’s pyro goes off and out come Kane & Daniel Bryan. They brawl with The Shield. Then Dolph goes after Cena. Then Big Show head butts Cena. Then Sheamus comes to the ring and goes after Dolph. Then Cena spears Show through the table. The Shield stomp on Kane. I think Cena got tossed over the guardrail. Then Ryback comes out. He throws a ladder at the shield. Then he gets in the ring and goes after them. Ryback, Kane & Daniel brawl with The Shield to end the show. This was good. I liked the match and the post match brawling was really entertaining.

I thought this week’s show was good over all. The Cena-Dolph-Big Show segment at the start was ok. I thought Cena-Big Show was solid and I enjoyed the brawl at the end. Punk & Heyman both cut good promos as usual too. The 4 way elimination tag match was decent but not having the winners challenge the champions made no sense. They could’ve had a tag team turmoil number 1 contender match with the 4 teams plus Sin Cara & Rey Mysterio and Justin Gabriel & Tyson Kidd. The Miz TV bit with Rhodes Scholars was idiotic. Miz as a face just doesn’t seem to click. Sheamus-Dolph was good but I knew there wasn’t going to be a clean finish. Truth-Barrett was too short to be much of anything. I don’t know why they had Vince & Vickie doing their bit before that match either. Kofi-Cesaro was really good. That was my favorite part of the night. On the whole I thought this was a good show this week. The final hype for TLC was good. The brawl at the end really had a "what's going to happen at TLC" feel to it.