WWE Raw, 6/20/11: The Fallout of Capitol Punishment

It was Power to the People tonight on WWE Raw as CM Punk called himself the best wrestler in the world and said he wanted a shot at the WWE title. 

Oh no, Punk used the term “wrestler” instead of “entertainer.”  I wonder if he’ll be fined for that. 

The general manager chimed in and eventually made a triple threat match featuring Punk, Alberto Del Rio, and Rey Mysterio.  The winner would face John Cena at Money in the Bank. 

The segment served its purpose.  The main event was made, and that’s all Raw was needed for.

Our first match of the night was a title match.  Brie Bella defended her Divas Title against Kelly Kelly.  The fans chose her over Eve and Beth Phoenix. 

With Kelly’s popularity with the audience and the International Wrestling Cartel, it looks like this fan voting may be legit.  Before the match started, Michael Cole called Kelly a former champion.  Maybe he should get his facts straight, because she has never held the Divas or Women’s Title. 

That is until tonight, as she defeated Brie with a rollup to capture the WWE Divas Title.  This was your standard Divas match, but was better than recent ones we’ve seen. 

As far as Kelly winning the title goes, it’s about time!  She’s been with WWE since 2006 and has worked her butt off.  Out of all the models WWE has hired over the years, Kelly has been the one to improve the most.  She deserves the title and I’m glad she has it! Match rating: two out of five stars.

The next Power to the People match saw Evan Bourne take on the fan-voted Mason Ryan.  Mason Ryan, really?  I figured the fans would have picked Sin Cara. 

At any rate, Ryan won with his Rock Bottom-like move.  This was more or less a squash match.  Bourne got in bits of offense here and there, but the match was mostly just Ryan showcasing his typical big-man power moves. 

Bourne was absolutely wasted here. 

The sole purpose of this match was to show that Ryan is a monster, which leads me to believe that the fan voting isn’t completely legit.  It’s a shame; Bourne vs. Sin Cara would have been a great, fast-paced match. Match rating: one-and-a-half out of five stars.

Mark Henry took on Kane next.  It wasn’t just any kind of match, though.  The fans voted it to be an arm wrestling match.  We got your typical heel pulling away multiple times before the thing finally got started.  Henry punched Kane, so Kane won by disqualification.  Henry then beat him down and delivered a World's Strongest Slam through the announcers table. 

This was a complete waste of time. 

It served no purpose other than to show that Henry is a force to be reckoned with.  Of course, he’s always marketed like that so WWE just told us something we already knew. Match rating: no stars.

In the ring, R-Truth did what all heels do best, complained.  He complained that the fans were in charge tonight and that Little Jimmy screwed him at Capitol Punishment. 

Christian then headed to the ring.  He also complained about losing at the PPV since his foot was under the rope.  Like clockwork, another heel came out to complain about losing.  This time it was the Miz. 

Teddy Long came out and made the main event.  It’ll be a six-man tag team match between the heels in the ring and their respective opponents at the PPV. 

At first, the segment bored me.  It was your typical “heel comes out to cry about losing” angle.  Then all three had an exchange of catchphrases, mostly Miz’s “Really,” that was actually quite funny.

The next match of the night was another title match.  This time Dolph Ziggler would defend his United States Title against Kofi Kingston in a rematch from Capitol Punishment.  The fans voted this to be a two-out-of-three falls match and that got me quite excited.  You don’t see that type of match in WWE too often. 

Fall No. 1 would go to Ziggler after a Zig Zag, the second fall to Kofi after the SOS and the third fall also went to Kofi as Ziggler got himself DQ’d.  Since he was DQ’d, though, Dolph would retain the US Title. 

This was a good match.  Kofi was in control early on and was very physical.  Whoever was in control before each fall tended to lose that fall, though.  Before the final fall happened, we got some nice back-and-forth action. 

These two wrestlers are great talents inside the ring and they showed that here.  It looks like this feud has only just begun.  Match rating: three out of five stars.

It was time to determine who would challenge Cena for the WWE Title next as we saw Alberto Del Rio vs. CM Punk vs. Rey Mysterio.  The match, as voted by the fans, was a falls-count-anywhere match. 

Before it all started, though, Del Rio got on the mic.  We got his catchphrase, which is getting really old, and he gave us his usual speech about his destiny.  Money in the Bank wouldn’t be a part of his destiny, though, as CM Punk picked up the victory over him after Mysterio hit the 619 and a top rope splash. 

This was a great back-and-forth match.  We got some nice action and spots throughout the whole thing.  This was definitely the best match on Raw in recent memory.  Match rating: five out of five stars. 

Afterward, Punk revealed that his contract was up on the same day as Money in the Bank and that he was leaving the company right after he won the WWE Title, which he was taking with him.  Could WWE make this match more predictable than they just made it?

Match No. 6 featured Daniel Bryan vs. Cody Rhodes in a no-count-out match.  The other choices for the match were a paper bag on a pole and a collegiate wrestling match.  Could WWE have given us worse choices then this?  Well, at least it’s better than a Judy Bagwell on a pole match. 

Anyway, Bryan won after he reversed Cody’s small package into his own.  Cody tried to attack him afterward, but Bryan locked in the Labelle Lock.  Ted DiBiase then made the save and Cody hit Crossroads. 

This was a good back-and-forth match between two great talents.  I’m glad to see Rhodes and DiBiase back together.  Cody is on a role and Ted was going nowhere.  Putting him back with Cody is definitely a step in the right direction.  Match rating: three-and-a-half out of five stars.

Next up was a dance competition between Vickie Guerrero and Michael Cole, who the fans voted for.  This was a waste of time so I won’t waste yours.  Cole won because he got the most boos, though there were some cheers mixed in.

Main event time as John Cena, Randy Orton and Alex Riley took on R-Truth, Christian and Miz.  The fans voted this to be an elimination match.  Riley wast eliminated first as he was pinned by Christian after Miz hit him with a Skull Crushing Finale.  

From there, Cena became the face in peril, which is a strange site to see.  Cena managed to hit Miz with an Attitude Adjustment to eliminate him.  A hot tag to Orton saw the elimination of Truth with an RKO, but almost immediately Orton was taken out by a Christian spear. 

Christian was eliminated just as quickly as he was RKO’d when the referee was distracted by Cena.  Cena locked in the STF for the win.  Anyone else surprised that Cena got the win?  I didn’t think so.  This was your standard six-man tag match, but a good one.  The faces stood tall afterward, which should have surprised no one.  Match rating: three out of five stars.

Overall, the three-hour Power to the People edition of Raw was much better than last week’s All-Star Raw.  The first hour started out a bit slow, but picked up later on with some good matches. 

Next week, we get another gimmick-driven Raw with the return of Raw Roulette and an appearance from Shawn Michaels.  Desperate for ratings much, Mr. McMahon?  Show rating: three-and-a-half out of five stars.