Raw Fusion: Riot Rumble

by Firefly on 25th January 2011

The 14th January 2011 episode of Monday Night Raw starts with Edge making his way to the ring and grabbing a microphone. Addressing The Miz, he tells him that he doesn’t feel like waiting, listing various reasons he doesn’t like waiting including one insulting Michael Cole, before he calls The Miz out for their match.

The lights flash and the sound plays, as Michael Cole informs everyone that he has received an email from the Anonymous Raw General Manager. He says that the match between Edge and The Miz is scheduled for later on, but as he hasn’t forgotten the disrespect shown to him when he was a member of the Raw roster, there will be an exhibition match right now, with the person who throws Edge over the top rope earning the number 40 spot in Sunday’s Royal Rumble match.

The other three participants rush to the ring and we find that it is Tyson Kidd, Drew McIntyre, and Jack Swagger. Unfortunately for those three men, Edge manages to throw all of them over the top rope to eliminate them, and thus none of them get the coveted spot.

Afterwards, Edge thanks the General Manager for getting his juices flowing, and says that he’ll go back to get ready for the match with The Miz, but first he’d like to do something. Something that he did the last time on the show, as he asks who would like to see a smashed laptop.

Edge approaches the laptop, but Cole stands in front of it trying to dissuade him until The Nexus’ music hits and they make their way to the ring. Grabbing a microphone, CM Punk says that in this world only the strong survive, and the strong survive not just from being strong or sheer willpower, but because they evolve.

He says that last week it was announced that the Royal Rumble match would have 40 participants, making it the biggest Royal Rumble match in history. So as he sees his surroundings change, he adapts because he is strong; he sees the Royal Rumble expand so the new Nexus evolves.

He mentions that last week The New Nexus expanded with the inclusion of a person hand-picked by himself, from Cardiff in Wales, Mason Ryan. Ryan says that he’s only got one thing to say – Faith.

Punk says that he doesn’t think that he could have said it more eloquently, and says that the men in the ring are bonded by faith, and that unlike John Cena, and the poor-man’s Nexus The Corre, their faith will be rewarded on Sunday when CM Punk becomes the winner of the 2011 Royal Rumble match. He says that not only will he go on to main event WrestleMania, but The New Nexus will become the most powerful group that the WWE Universe has ever laid their eyes on.

The Corre’s music hits and they make their presence known as they make their way to the ring. Wade Barrett says that the only “poor-man’s Nexus” is the shower of rubbish stood in front of him, because The Corre is nothing like The Nexus; it’s not a brainwashing dictatorship but is about four equals.

Ezekiel Jackson says that is why at the Royal Rumble they will win the match for themselves, but will unite to make sure they eliminate CM Punk. As both groups stare each other down, Cole receives another email which says that if he’s going to give SmackDown! Superstars an open invitation to Monday Night Raw, they’ll have to play by his rules.

He says that as Teddy Long is unfortunately sidelined, he alone has the authority to make this match, therefore Wade Barrett will face CM Punk with the stipulation being that the loser will be out of the Royal Rumble match, along with their group – not only that, but the Special Guest Referee is a person that they are both familiar with; John Cena.

After a Slam Of The Week video recapping the events of last week’s Raw in which Mark Henry won the impromptu Over-The-Top Battle Royal and Alberto Del Rio announcing that it is his destiny to win the Royal Rumble, John Morrison and Mark Henry take on Alberto Del Rio and Sheamus in a Tag Team match.

The match ends with Del Rio getting the victory for his team after he forces Henry to tap out to the Cross-Armbreaker.

Next, Melina is pitted against Natalya for the Divas Championship in a match which sees Natalya applying the Sharpshooter and leaning back, leaving Melina no choice but to tap out and mean that Natalya retains the title.

Before Natalya can celebrate for long however, Lay-Cool’s music hits and they make their way onto the stage. They announce that in six days Natalya is finally going to lose some weight, and after insulting her clarify that the weight that she will lose is the weight of the Divas title, as they will be using their rematch so that the title once again goes from Classless to Flawless.

After a video recapping the events of last week’s match between Punk and Cena in which Mason Ryan made his début and in the process helped Punk win as a result of a disqualification, we see Husky Harris, David Otunga, and Michael McGillicutty talking about how if Punk doesn’t win the match later on, none of them will be in the match.

Punk interrupts with Ryan and says that he’s sensing a lot of negative energy in the room and he doesn’t like it. He talks about they all made a sacrifice, and that on Sunday they will all sacrifice their chance to win the Royal Rumble match to make sure that Punk wins, which will mean that all of their lives will change.

Punk pauses and asks Harris if he has anything to share with the group, and gets the response asking what would happen if Punk was the first out in the match, and no Nexus members were to come out until number 20, by which time he might have already been eliminated.

Ryan says that Punk will not be eliminated (twice, the first time in Welsh), as Punk agrees and says that he wants them to make sure that they contain The Corre. McGillicutty asks what about Cena, but Punk responds that Cena has no choice but to let the better man win, which will be him – besides, Barrett was the one who made his life a hell, not him. Afterwards, he tells them all to have faith and then gets them all to kneel and put out their arms to the middle.

Elsewhere backstage, Josh Mathews introduces his guest John Cena, and he asks him what his mindset will be the referee for the match later on. Cena says that as a distinguished and decorated WWE official, he’s always been known for doing the right thing and later on will not be any different.

He says that he doesn’t know what will happen, but if Punk should win, he has faith that he will personally eliminate every member of The New Nexus, and if Barrett should win, then he’ll have to deal with The Corre.

As The Miz interrupts with Alex Riley, Cena says that he found out that the extra ‘r’ stands for “rectum”, which is completely appropriate right now. The Miz and Riley do a fake laugh before The Miz says that he can’t believe his attitude regarding the Royal Rumble match.

He says that what they all need to realise is that winning the Royal Rumble match could be the worst thing that’s ever happened to them, should they choose to face him. The Miz talks about how he gave the worst beating of his life to Randy Orton last week, just like he will in a few moments to Edge.

Cena tells him to try to give him the worst beating of his life, but The Miz says not yet, causing Cena to fire back that if The Miz loses at the Royal Rumble, it means that Orton is the WWE Champion, he loses his rematch, and he won’t appear at WrestleMania, and that they must find their way to a shower as they smell like raw sewage.

The Miz asks Mathews if he thinks that he is going to lose at the Royal Rumble, before cutting him off and saying that he doesn’t care, then tells him to get out. Addressing the crowd, he asks whether they think he will lose to Orton, he then turns to Riley and asks if “it” is ready, who confirms that it is and says to roll the footage of “the most must-see champion in WWE history”, then showing the footage of The Miz and Riley’s attack on Orton last week.

Now, The Miz goes against Edge in a match which also has Dolph Ziggler and Vickie Guerrero joining Jerry “The King” Lawler and Michael Cole on Commentary. The match ends with the referee ringing the bell when Ziggler interferes to attack Edge.

Afterwards, Orton runs down and enters the ring to attack The Miz, though Orton doesn’t manage to get at The Miz, he does give Ziggler and Riley an RKO each, with Orton tall in the ring as he stares at The Miz who doesn’t look as in good shape on the stage.

Going backstage again, Mathews interviews Barrett and asks him what he thinks the difference is between The Nexus and The Corre. Barrett says that when he started The Nexus, he talked about how each individual should put their goals to one side for the common good of the group, but over time he got closer to the WWE Championship and obsessed with humiliating Cena, so because of that he lost The Nexus.

He says that every cloud has a silver lining and now he is a member of The Corre, which he says has no issues that Cena is the referee, and there isn’t even any leadership issues as there is no leader – they are all equals.

Mathews mentions Teddy Long being found unconscious in his office and starts to ask if they had anything to do with it, but Barrett says that he won’t even dignify that with a response and says that he hopes that Long makes a full and speedy recovery.

He says that as for today’s order of business for The Corre, their common goal is to make sure that Punk and his misfit followers don’t make it as far as the Royal Rumble match. As for Cena, he acknowledges that Cena is never going to like him, but he hopes that maybe he can come to respect him, just like he respects Cena.

Back in the arena, Daniel Bryan and The Bella Twins take on Ted DiBiase, Maryse, and Alicia Fox, in a match which sees Maryse roll up one of the Bellas for the victory, thanks to the distraction of the other Bella trying to kiss Bryan on the ring apron.

Next up, The Bella Twins are arguing with each other about what happened and which of them Bryan would prefer to console. They say that there is only one way to find out, so enter his room to a sight that shocks them; Bryan kissing Gail Kim.

Bryan introduces Gail as his girlfriend and says that they have been going out for six months but have been trying to keep it quiet. This leads to a funny line as The Bellas say that they thought he was a “you know”, to which he responds “a vegan? Oh, absolutely, I don’t eat any meat. None whatsoever.”

Gail tells them that the only reason Bryan has been hanging out with them for so long is because he was feeling sorry for them, as because there’s no Guest Stars around, they don’t really have anything to do.

The Bella Twins aren’t happy about this and call Gail an afterthought, causing her to retaliate with a slap the leads referees and Bryan having to break them all up.

Now, Harris and McGillicutty (accompanied by Otunga and Ryan) take on Santino Marella and Vladimir Kozlov (accompanied by Tamina) in a match which sees Harris get the victory for his team with a Reverse STO.

Afterwards, the four member of The New Nexus stand tall in the ring, before Otunga introduces the man who he says they will sacrifice themselves for for him to win the Royal Rumble match; CM Punk.

The match between Barrett and Punk with Cena as referee and the stipulations mentioned earlier, sees Cena start it off by sending the other members of The New Nexus to the locker room, followed by the same to the other members of The Corre.

The match ends with Cena calling for the bell to ring after both Punk and Barrett knock each other down with a clothesline, and he tells Justin Roberts that they are both disqualified for use of excessive profanity on a PG show, and that both teams are out of the Royal Rumble match.

Cena starts to walk up the ramp, happy with what he did, but Cole receives another email. He says that what we just witnessed was a blatant abuse of power, and that although he can’t change the referee’s decision, he can change the consequences.

Therefore, he says that both teams will compete in the Royal Rumble match on Sunday, and in addition, if Cena does not enter the ring and apologise to Barrett and Punk right now, he will be the one out of the match.

Cena does so, but immediately starts attacking both of them afterwards, until he is forced to bail out when The Corre and The New Nexus enter the ring. A few members from both groups go after Cena, but The Big Show’s music hits and a number of the participants in Sunday’s Royal Rumble match run down to the ring, erupting in a free-for-all as Raw goes off the air.

About the Author: Firefly

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Discovering WCW Monday Nitro in the 1990s, he has been hooked on wrestling ever since, later going on to also discover WWF (now WWE), and even later numerous independent promotions, TNA and now the very captivating challenger known as AEW.

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