Raw Fusion: Boots To Asses
The 14th November 2011 episode of Monday Night Raw starts with Michael Cole introducing us to the “Michael Cole Challenge”, before then introducing his opponent “Good Ol’ J.R” Jim Ross.
The challenge is comprised of an arm-wrestling match that J.R easily wins, followed by a dance competition judged by the crowd that J.R also wins, and finally a weigh-in which Cole wins as he weighs less than J.R.
Cole celebrates his supposed victory until CM Punk’s music hits and he makes his way to the ring, with Cole complaining that it is his show, moment, and challenge, and that Punk has no business being out there.
CM Punk tells Cole that his time is up and says that once it became painfully obvious that Cole wasn’t going to give a legitimate shot to J.R at getting his job back, this whole thing became a giant waste of time – except for Jim Ross dancing, which he says was awesome.
He says that the whole challenge is a waste of his and the audience’s time, and now Cole’s time is up, and he then says he wants him to leave. Punk comments that when he becomes champion, he will do anything it takes to give the WWE Universe what they want, but first he is going to take the spotlight away from Cole.
Vice President of Talent Relations and Interim Raw General Manager John Laurinaitis makes his presence known and says that he is disappointed as he says that his followers didn’t want to see the competition broken up, so he’s going to give them and the WWE Universe what they want to see, so later on in this episode of Raw, Punk will team with The Big Show to take on Alberto Del Rio and Mark Henry.
Michael Cole finds this funny and demands an apology for what Punk said to him, but Punk headbutts him and applies the Anaconda Vise while yelling an apology, much to the approval of the crowd.
Backstage, Matt Striker is standing by as a limo pulls up that Striker believes contains The Rock, but the person to step out is actually Mick Foley. Foley says that he wouldn’t miss The Rock’s return for anything and has spared no expense to make sure that this is a night that neither The Rock nor John Cena will ever forget, and says that it is great to be back right there in Boston, Massachusetts.
Back in the arena, Sin Cara and Kofi Kingston take on Cody Rhodes (who is no longer wearing a mask, and now sports a new version of his Smoke & Mirrors theme) and Hunico in a match which sees Rhodes get the victory for his team, when he hits Kingston with Cross-Rhodes for the 3-count.
After an interaction between Santino Marella and Zack Ryder backstage about WWE ’12, The Rock’s return to Raw, and the tag team match involving The Rock and John Cena at Survivor Series, Vickie Guerrero informs us in the arena that Christian is no competing on Wade Barrett’s team at Survivor Series due to injury.
She starts to say that she is happy to announce something, but is interrupted by Dolph Ziggler who says that he is happy to announce that he will be Christian’s replacement. He says that it is funny that it is called Team Barrett as he is the one who is the champion amongst other things, but as for this episode of Raw, he says that he will be facing Mason Ryan, who will get a taste of what Randy Orton’s team has to look forward to at Survivor Series.
Mason Ryan is pitted against Dolph Ziggler in a match which sees Ryan get the victory as a result of Ziggler getting disqualified, when Vickie slaps Ryan in full view of the referee. John Morrison makes his way out before Ziggler can leave however, and rolls Ziggler back into the ring, where Ryan hits Ziggler with a full-nelson slam.
After an interaction between Mick Foley and Zack Ryder in the hallways backstage, Mick Foley makes his way to the ring where he talks about how good it is to be back and about The Rock and John Cena’s tag team match at Survivor Series.
He says that though people are saying that it will never happen again, he’d like to think that it could happen in future, perhaps with both men forming “The Rock and Cena Connection”. Foley says that he is going to do what he does best, and starts by introducing John Cena.
What follows is a “This Is Your Life” tribute to Cena, which sees appearances by others that make Cena look bad, such as his coach, Bull Buchanan, his father John Cena Sr., and finally an unscheduled appearance by The Rock who decides to end this by making his way to the ring, hitting Mick Foley with a Rock Bottom, and then leaving again, without his music even stopping.
Next, Sheamus goes against Jack Swagger (accompanied by Vickie Guerrero) in a match which sees Sheamus get the victory, when he hits Swagger with the Brogue Kick for the 3-count.
After an interaction backstage involving Alberto Del Rio, Ricardo Rodriguez, The Bella Twins, and Zack Ryder, and a video promoting Kelly Kelly’s appearance in Maxim, Natalya (accompanied by Beth Phoenix) takes on Kelly Kelly (accompanied by Eve Torres and Alicia Fox) in a match which sees Kelly get the victory, when she counters the Sharpshooter attempt by rolling Natalya up in a small package for the 3-count.
After an interaction between Alberto Del Rio and John Laurinaitis in which Del Rio comments that he doesn’t think Punk will even make it to Survivor Series, and Matt Striker attempts to interview The Awesome Truth (R-Truth and The Miz) but gets no response, CM Punk is shown walking through the halls when he is then attacked by Alberto Del Rio, until the referees manage to pull Del Rio away.
Now, Alberto Del Rio and Mark Henry are pitted against Mark Henry and CM Punk (the latter clearly showing signs of the backstage attack by Del Rio) in a match which sees Del Rio get the victory, when Henry hits Punk with the World’s Strongest Slam and Del Rio makes the pin for the 3-count.
Next up, Santino Marella makes his way to the ring and talks about how Boston is known for various things, but will in future be known as the place that he put his career back on track, as he vows to be a champion the next time he returns.
He is interrupted from saying anything more, as the nWo theme music hits and Kevin Nash makes his way to the ring, where he suckers Marella into demonstrating the trombone, until he then hits him with a big boot.
Nash talks about how he was in the Royal Rumble and blew the roof off the place, but how Triple H stabbed him in the back as he never did anything about it, and Nash then hits Marella with the jackknife powerbomb before once again leaving.
After promoting that Jonah Hill will be the Guest Star of Raw next week and a video recapping the match between Wade Barrett and Randy Orton last week on SmackDown! (click here for our SmackDown! report), Wade Barrett (accompanied by the rest of his Survivor Series team) goes against Randy Orton (who is also accompanied by the rest of his own Survivor Series team).
Before the match takes place however, Barrett talks about how proved on SmackDown! that Orton is the past and he himself is the future, and he says that he will once again lead by example by devenomising “The Viper”.
The match ends up devolving into chaos when Cody Rhodes attacks Randy Orton when he appears to be getting ready to hit an RKO, and the rest of both teams follow suit and end up fighting between themselves, but it is Randy Orton’s team that is left standing tall in the ring, as Wade Barrett’s team stands on the ramp.
Next up, The Rock makes his way to the ring and talks about his morning and his tag team match with John Cena against The Awesome Truth (R-Truth and The Miz) at Survivor Series, but comments that it is not right now, and says that “right now” is what drives him.
The Awesome Truth make their way to the ring and say that if The Rock thinks for a second that he will be doing anything to them, he is the most delusional man in entertainment or “Twittertainment”.
They say that they don’t care about his day or what he makes trend on Twitter, but what they care about is leaving The Rock a broken and quivering mess, which they could do right now. But The Miz says that won’t happen right now, as they don’t care what The Rock wants, and they especially don’t care what the crowd want, as it is all about what they want, which is to make history at the biggest Survivor Series of all time.
The Awesome Truth say that on this episode “Raw Gets Rocked”, but on Sunday, The Rock gets beaten, and that’s the truth. The crowd chant “boots to asses”, and then John Cena decides to make his own presence known as he makes his way to the ring.
The Rock and John Cena snipe at each other in front of The Awesome Truth, until The Miz says that they are sick of “The Rock and Cena Show”, but he also says that when they are done with them, it will never be forgotten.
R-Truth says that “Little Jimmy” and “Little Rocky” want to have fun for all the “Little Jimmy’s”, and to have a blast, as they will see them on Sunday. Before they can leave however (and the crowd can once again be heard chanting “boots to asses”), The Rock and John Cena attack The Awesome Truth.
The Rock hits R-Truth with a Rock Bottom, and Cena is then about to hit The Miz with an Attitude Adjustment, but it seems The Rock manages to grab enough that it allows The Miz to get free, turning straight to The Rock who hits him with a Rock Bottom too, before leaving with his music playing, having gotten one up on Cena with those actions.
The Rock mocks John Cena’s “You Can’t See Me” taunt as Raw goes off the air.