Swagger Jagger (RAW Episode 974 Reviewed)

Monday Night Raw would begin with the hardcore legend Mick Foley coming down to the ring. He did his usual shenanigans and announced that he wanted to be one of the 30 men in the Royal Rumble. Dolph Ziggler would come down accompanied with Vikkie. Dolph would insult Mick Foley getting up in his face and demand he go away. This would lead CM Punk to come down and stick up for Mick, saying he would love to compete against Mick at Wrestlemania because he would defeat Dolph at Royal Rumble despite Lauranaitis being the referee for the championship match. This queued Mr Lauranaitis to announce that Mick Foley would not be in the Royal Rumble. This would leave Vikkie to cackle at Mick Foley and rub in the fact he would not be in the Rumble.

Air Boom would face PeR (Primo, Epico and Rosa the Mexican MnM) in a title rematch as PeR won the tag team championship at a WWE live event. The match featured multiple high flying moves from Evan Bourne and Epico, until Primo and Epico took control. A hot tag was set up after a frankenstiener delivered from Bourne sending Epico into Primo. Kofi began building momentum landing trouble in paridise on Epico,and tagging Evan for Air-Bourne, Primo would distract Bourne by throwing Kofi into the ring post, which allowed Epico to set up Bourne for the backstabber to win.

Zack Ryder would defend his US title against Jack Swagger. Zack had injured ribs from a chokeslam last week. Jack would dominate and reverse Zack by focusing on the lower back of Ryder. He would try to finish the match by a Gutwrench PowerBomb, however Ryder would kick out. Jack would hit another Gutwrench Powerbomb, but Ryder would kick out again. Swagger would land various elbows to the back, before hitting a third Gutwrench Powerbomb to win the championship. Backstage John Lauranaitis said that he apologized to Zack for letting him competing, Eve would bark out the flaw Lauranaitis made, But John would assert his role as an authority figure. Backstage John Cena came into Lauranaitis’s office upset over the match. John told John (Cena) that he should be more concerned about the Rumble, as he would face Kane one on one. However he and Swagger would compete that night.

John Cena vs Jack Swagger. John would just unload on Swagger , beating down on him bashing him into the ring post and announce table, Kicking Swagger while he was down, tossing him into steel stairs repeatedly. Cena would then intend on hitting a steel constairto (Conchairto lol), but Kane’s entrance went off, taking Cena’s attention of Swagger. Kane mearly said that Cena was embracing the hate and before they meet at the Rumble, Cena will have embraced the hate.

Celebrity blogger, Perez Hilton, would be the special guest ring announcer for the divas tag team match between Kelly Kelly & Alicia Fox vs The Bella twins.  The Bellas would gain the upper hand and attempt to use Twin magic, however Perez prevented this which caused the Bellas to lose. Post-match the Bellas would express how upset they were with Perez pushing him over. Kelly and Alicia would stand up for Perez, leaving the Bella’s to retereat.

R-Truth would come down to the ring for a promo, before he could say anything, Wade Barrett would interrupt. He again announced that he would be winning the Royal Rumble, he insulted R-Truth as a mental patient. R-Truth would return with his unique mic skills. Talking about Disney Land, showing a slide show of him with Disney characters such as Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Pinocchio. This allowed Miz to attack Truth from behind. Barrett would help Miz in attacking Miz, but this was a short attack as Sheamus would come down to clear the ring of the pair. Teddy Long would make this a match, an over the top rope battle royal.

The match began with the two sets of rivals, Miz and Truth, Sheamus and Barrett exchanging rights and stomping. Truth aided Sheamus in eliminating Barrett, Miz came along and helped him eliminate Barrett. Sheamus and R-Truth would both unload on Miz leaving him in the corner, while Sheamus and R-Truth would battle. Miz would then take advantage, throwing Truth over the rope, but landing on the apron. Sheamus would then dominate Miz setting him up for the Irish Hand Grenades. Sheamus would then attempt to eliminate Miz via the Brogue kick, missing and almost eliminating himself, Sheamus then caught Miz and attempted to throw Miz over the ropes, Truth would rush in and eliminate both Sheamus and Miz. Miz would be upset, yelling at Truth from outside. Sheamus would give Miz the Brogue Kick he deserved.

Funkasaurus Brodus Clay would have another jobber match against JTG but not before sporting down to the ring with his funky dance.He would play with JTG, shouting out Should I get him, Suplex, My Bad! He would end the match with his running Cross body. According to Michael Cole the running Cross body is called Ah Funky. He would conclude with a victory dance.

Backstage Chris Jericho would be announced as a participant in the 6 man tag team match main event match between CM Punk & Daniel Bryan vs David Otunga, Mark Henry & Dolph Ziggler.

Next we would hear from World Heavyweight Champion Daniel Bryan about the condition of AJ, who suffered an injury from Big Show. Daniel stated that AJ was traumatized and would never be the same. He would insult show, before saying that he would make him pay if he showed his face on Smackdown again.

This lead to the main event Jericho would high five people and lap the ring numerous times before CM Punk came down to begin the match. The WWE Champion and his challenger would start off, CM Punk would gain the upper hand over Dolph, followed by tagging in to Daniel Bryan. Dolph would gain control with a Botch from D-Bry.  The team of Dolph, Henry and Otunga would make quick tags focusing on the leg that Daniel “injured” (to cover the botch). Daniel would finally tag back to CM Punk who would regain control of the match, until Otunga countered and tagged to Dolph would begin to dominate the champion.  CM Punk would set up a hot tag for Jericho, however was denied by Ziggler who dragged Punk back to his corner, where Otunga took control. CM Punk would counter a superplex from Otunga and followed up with a diving elbow for a hot tag, Jericho would be tagged in, he would pump the crowd up, and tag in D-Bry, and walk out of the arena, making the match a handicap match. D-Bry would set up another hot tag with Punk , who would build up some momentum on Ziggler, Mark Henry would break the cover up, and turn his attentions to D-Bry attacking him outside after D-Bry had angered him. Mick Foley would come down to the ring, as he would be CM Punks tag team partner. Ziggler would dominate Punk with high impact moves. CM Punk would then set up a hot tag with Foley who would unload on David Otunga, before hitting a double arm wrench DDT. Foley would then pull out Mr socko, and win the match via the mandible claw.

John Lauranaitis would come to the ring post-match, saying that he had not put Mick Foley in the match. He then reversed the decision announcing the winners being Dolph, Henry and Otunga. Punk would grab the mic and say that John sucked as a wrestler and that he was never as good as his brother who was one half of the road warriors, and that he ways jealous of Punk, and would screw Punk at Royal Rumble. He then proceeded to fake punch John, who would cower, then saying he was pathetic. Mick would rub it in, giving John a thumbs up. Lauranaitis would pick up the mic and say that he would soon be the permanent GM of RAW. Mick would interrupt him, asking him to admit to his intentions of screwing Punk and called him a suck up. John then announced he would screw CM Punk and then begin to say that he was sick and tired of being bullied and sick and tired of being unappreciated, he followed up by nailing Foley with the Mic to conclude RAW.

Overview:

I really enjoyed the main event, as Jericho left after being tagged LOL. Will. Foley came down and interfered, which was great, the only thing that ruined it was D-Bry botching a leapfrog. Tsk Tsk, D-By come on, been wrestling for over 10 years, bad.

The Divas match was just a promotion tool for Perez Hilton, the only thing good was The Bella’s hot attire.

Zack Ryder would lose his championship, I saw this coming as WWE needs more heel champions, and now they do. They have Swagger as US, this can be a great opportunity for WWE to make Swagger into a great heel, please don’t mess it up WWE, please use this to your advantage.(BTW did anyone hear after Jack screamed What’s my name? a kid replied douchbag lol.)

The second Heel champions are PeR, they are amazing in the ring as they combine cruiser-weight with tag team, which Air Boom do as well. A great ending as well, as I was shocked with the turnout. I assumed that PeR would win, but didn’t see that way.

Brodus is growing on me, a good gimmick, but does reinforce the PG.

I knew WWE would have Kane vs Cena at Royal Rumble, and now Cena is going a long like, embracing the hate. Can’t wait to Wrestlemania.

I am kinda happy with WWE, as they are promoting the Rumble like crazy, with numerous past match clips and matchs and segments. This will be a good one this year, I do wish that Foley was in the Rumble, I am having doubts about Barrett winning, as he has a lot of heat on him, but as do Sheamus, and now that D-Bry is heel, looks like Sheamus might be a better opponent.

I also enjoyed John Lauranaitis’s hissy fit at the end of RAW, LOL. He is getting better at being a GM, still stutters a bit on the mic, but this is the first time I believe that WWE has announced a screw via special referee, even though it was plainly obvious from the start, I wonder where this may be heading.

Overall I would rate this week’s episode 8/10

1 (Foley on RAW)

2 (Jericho on RAW)

3 (Hot Bella’s Attire)

4(Decent main event wrestling)

5(Swagger as Champion)

6(John Lauranaitis’s hissy fit)

7(What’s my name? Douchbag)

8(Funkasaurus on RAW)