Raw Report (04/10/10): John Cena Is Nexus... Or Fired!

Nexus Induct John Cena into the Nexus / Cena & Tarver vs. Evan Bourne & Mark Henry
I loved how they opened the show with this and went straight into introducing John Cena as the newest member of the Nexus. Barrett stated that Mike McGillicutty and Husky Harris were not members of the Nexus. Cena came out to no music or run. Making him read out the statement was great. When I saw Cena turn away from Tarver and subsequently attack Tarver, I thought they’d ruined the story already. But by having the GM then state he had to comply with Barrett or he’d be fired was good.

It ended the possibility of “Why doesn’t he just attack them”. The crowd could not have been better throughout, from booing Nexus to chanting Cena’s “Never Give Up” slogan at him when he realised he had to indeed stay in the Nexus was just amazing. Great TV this feud and we’re only one segment into it.

Natalya vs. Alicia Fox
Neither Diva got an entrance and then Natayla won with a Sharpshooter, this sentence is longer than the match was but keeping the Diva’s to a minimum is best. I’m not being sexist, its just the Diva’s division is so dead right now nobody wants to watch it.

Johnny Knoxville and Zack Ryder backstage
Already after watching this I was happy with Knoxville as guest host. I like him and Jackass but hate the guest host concept. But the fact that he could clearly say Ryder’s name and also say “Woo, woo, woo, you know it!”, so he knew what he was talking about and didn’t make a fool of himself or wrestling. Despite knocking Zack Ryder over with a giant hand.

John Cena with the Nexus
I liked how they had McGillicutty and Harris lead Cena to the Nexus but yet have them walk away to show that they will help the Nexus but aren’t strictly members of the group. Not yet anyway.

Sheamus vs. Daniel Bryan
I don’t know why they booked this match, because no man would benefit from a loss after last night. Bryan needed to maintain his momentum and Sheamus couldn’t look weak again after falling to Randy Orton for the second time in two weeks but having Sheamus attack Bryan before the match made Sheamus look like a badass and Bryan look unfortunate for being attacked pre-match so he didn’t come off looking as bad a possible.

Edge / General Manager / The Miz Promo
They made the right choice of not having the Microsoft Sam voice speak for the GM this week and have Cole read out what the GM says. Booking a 20-man Battle Royal was a great addition to an already excellent episode of Monday Night Raw! Then screwing Edge over by trading him for Smackdown, it seems quick to end the Edge/GM feud but I think it was created just to turn him face and send him to Smackdown to build up the show now it’s on SyFy so job done! With the Miz interfering and attacking Edge its just begging for each man to captain their respective brand in the Raw vs. Smackdown tag match at Bragging Rights. Could be good!

Barrett tells Cena of his plans / Tarver gone from Nexus
Having Barrett inform Cena he can’t win the match is great, builds up the battle royal straight away. Barrett’s wording also implied that Michael Tarver was now gone from the Nexus. I’m happy they’re willing to eliminate members.

The Bella Twins vs. LayCool
It’s it wrong that I like LayCool’s in ring microphones? It’s new and annoying which will get them fantastic heel heat! The match itself was forgettable.

Johnny Knoxville with Maryse and Ted DiBiase / Goldust
I actually laughed that both Ted and Maryse fell to the same prank that Ryder did earlier, leading them to chase Knoxville out to the ring only to be interrupted by Goldust revealing himself to be the person stalking Maryse and Ted recently. I love this, Goldust is a fantastic worker and it’s so great to see that he’ll be used in an angle on RAW instead of having matches on Superstars each week. Not only did they reestablish Ted DiBiase and Goldust but also the Million Dollar Championship. Really looking forward to this feud.

20 Man Battle Royal to determine #1 Contender for Bragging Rights
John Morrison, R-Truth, Sheamus, Santino Marella, Vladimir Kozlov, John Cena, Wade Barrett, Heath Slater, Justin Gabriel, David Otunga, Tyson Kidd, DH Smith, Mark Henry, Evan Bourne, William Regal, Ted DiBiase, The Miz, Zack Ryder, Primo, Darren Young.
Having John Cena’s music play before he came out with the Nexus theme was great. It showed that he wasn’t using his as opposed to just tagging along with Nexus. The beginning was just eliminations everywhere. I liked how mid match John Cena helped Barrett stay in and then eliminated Otunga as Barrett’s orders were to help him win not anybody else. It was obvious it would come down to Cena and Barrett, which means Sheamus will probably end up on Team RAW at the pay-per-view. I’m really glad Cena left by leaving himself at Barrett’s orders, just seeing it happen was so surreal it was great. They could of had him let Barrett eliminate him but I don’t think it would of been as effective. Really showed how powerless Cena now is.

The crowd tonight were instrumental in the Cena/Nexus angle, booing Nexus from the beginning and being so pro Cena. It was as if Vince paid each of them off to chant, it really made it look special and with that excellent episode of RAW I cannot wait for next Monday.