WWE Raw 2/7/11 Recap

wwe raw 2 7 11 recap

The founder of the WWE returned to Raw on the February 7 episode, but the show was dominated by CM Punk’s new Nexus. Its members faced one-one-one matches with each of the Raw Elimination Chamber contenders, but Punk had a plan to dominate the opposition and injure his opponents in advance of the event.

Vince McMahon made an appearance and Randy Orton challenged The Nexus

The show kicked off with Vince McMahon making his first appearance in close to a year. He spoke about how WrestleMania is an even bigger event than the Super Bowl, and said this year’s guest host would be announced on next week’s Raw.

He was followed by Randy Orton, who came to the ring and said he’d only just gotten started attacking The Nexus with his recent assault on Husky Harris. His speech was interrupted by Punk, and an explanation of why Punk cost Orton the title at the Royal Rumble. Punk showed footage from Unforgiven in 2008, where an attack by Orton and his friends left Punk in such bad shape he had to forfeit his match to retain the WWE Championship.

Punk said he would take Orton out right there, and the rest of The Nexus (minus the still-injured Harris) joined him. While Orton knocked a couple of them down when they entered the ring and fought back against Punk enough to leave him with a badly bleeding nose – a rare sight on Raw in WWE’s PG era – he proved no match for their pack mentality.

The Nexus had to face CM Punk’s Elimination Chamber opponents one on one

The anonymous Raw GM attempted to rein in that savage approach with an e-mail during the commercial break, recapped by Michael Cole as the show resumed. He said each member of The Nexus would have to face an Elimination Chamber participant in a one-on-one match tonight, and that the other members were forbidden from interfering in the matches.

But Punk already had a strategy that didn’t require interference: each member of The Nexus would aim to injure their opponents, with winning or losing a secondary consideration. This strategy paid immediate dividends in the first match, between Mason Ryan and R-Truth.

Mason Ryan attacked R-Truth brutally during and after their match

Ryan dominated the match, focusing on R-Truth’s injured knee by slamming it repeatedly into the ropes. But he continued to punish R-Truth even after he tapped out of a submission hold and the match ended. His behavior led the referee to reverse the decision, disqualifying Ryan and giving R-Truth the victory.

But as a backstage segment with The Nexus clarified, the point was to injure R-Truth and the other Elimination Chamber contestants enough that they would be easy prey for Punk. David Otunga expressed concern about his ability to take out Sheamus, but Punk assured him he had a plan for everything.

The Divas match was disappointing and made poor use of Gail Kim

The next match was an improbable Divas tag team contest pitting Eve, Gail Kim and Tamina against Melina and the Bella Twins. What made it improbable was the way the Bellas beat up on Kim at the start of the match. Fortunately, her team won the match when Eve pinned Melina, and Kim did at least have the chance to knock one of the Bellas out of the ring to stop her from interfering (Tamina dealt with the other). But like most Divas matches these days, it barely qualified as wrestling.

CM Punk took action to disable John Morrison himself

Punk’s master plan ran into a snag with the next contest, between John Morrison and Mike McGillicutty. While McGillicutty tried to injure Morrison’s left arm by placing it between the steel steps and the mat and then ramming into the steps, Morrison evaded the assault and took McGillicutty down easily to win the match.

But as Morrison moved up the ramp to leave, Punk emerged and sprayed him with a can of mace. Morrison went down clutching his face in pain, and Punk succeeded in hobbling yet another of his Elimination Chamber competitors.

Jerry “The King” Lawler and Daniel Bryan took on The Miz and Ted DiBiase

The match was followed by The Miz and Alex Riley walking to the ring to “congratulate” Jerry “The King” Lawler on becoming the #1 Contender for the WWE Championship. Lawler didn’t think much of The Miz’s claims that he’d patterned his career on Lawler’s, retorting that he was an original and didn’t model his career on anyone else.

Their conflict turned into an all-out brawl. Lawler was able to take The Miz and Riley down without difficulty, but then DiBiase came out to get revenge. He was in turn stopped by Daniel Bryan, and another e-mail from the GM arrived and declared a tag team match with Lawler and Bryan facing The Miz and DiBiase.

Lawler dominated the match, tossing The Miz over his shoulder and slamming him to the mat twice, and while he got tossed out momentarily, he was able to take control again towards the end of the match (and Bryan held his own in the meantime). He even survived an effort by The Miz and DiBiase to double-team him, ultimately pinning DiBiase for the win.

Sheamus found himself facing an unexpected opponent: Mark Henry

As Sheamus walked to the ring for his match with David Otunga, an interviewer rushed up and asked him about statements allegedly made by Mark Henry earlier in the evening. Henry supposedly said Sheamus didn’t deserve to be in the Elimination Chamber match and should give his slot to Henry. Sheamus replied by belittling Henry and making insulting comments about his size.

It was an obvious ploy instigated by The Nexus to cause trouble, and that became more obvious when Henry himself rushed to the ring in response to Sheamus‘ comments. Otunga never even had an opportunity to do anything, as Henry pummeled Sheamus and left him flat on the canvas. Punk’s plan worked out precisely as he intended.

Santino Marella lost to Alberto del Rio, and John Cena made fun of Vicki Guerrero and Dolph Ziggler

The next match found Santino Marella trying to exact revenge on Alberto del Rio for tossing him out of the ring at the Royal Rumble. To no one’s surprise, things did not go well for Marella, and despite a few lucky dodges that sent del Rio flying out of the ring, he succumbed to del Rio’s submission hold.

After the break, Vicki Guerrero and Dolph Ziggler arrived to brag that Ziggler would win the World Heavyweight Championship from Edge on Friday’s SmackDown. John Cena interrupted their celebration and said Guerrero and Ziggler’s display was “more offensive than Christina Aguilera butchering the National Anthem”.

John Cena received an assist from Jerry “The King” Lawler against The Nexus

Cena’s taunting drove them from the ring, and he then spoke about Punk’s efforts to disable his Elimination Chamber opponents. This was the lead-in to the match between the two, and Punk dominated the early part of the match. Distracted by concerns that the rest of The Nexus might appear, Cena found himself battered by Punk’s relentless assault.

But Cena was able to reverse a drop attempt by Punk, and was disqualified after dealing Punk a blow to the groin. The rest of The Nexus rushed to Punk’s defense, and Lawler gave Cena a steel chair to deal with the approach of Otunga and McGillicutty. The show ended with Cena glaring at the injured Punk, who was reduced to tears by Cena’s devastating blow.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *