Raw Fusion: Rated Retirement

by Firefly on 12th April 2011

The 11th April 2011 episode of Monday Night Raw starts with John Cena making his way to the ring and talking about how last week a match was made that is so big that it needs a whole year for the WWE Universe to digest it – The Rock vs. John Cena at WrestleMania XXVIII (28).

 

To take things further however, Cena says that the match will not just be two competitors fighting each other for bragging rights, but will be for the WWE Championship. He says that this leads him to tonight as for the match to be for the WWE Championship, the guy who fights every week has to win the WWE Championship, so he challenges The Miz to fight him tonight (ignoring the fact that last week he said that he wouldn’t want to face The Miz again).

 

Randy Orton’s music hits and he makes his way to the ring to interject himself into the title picture, and he reminds Cena that he lost, so he should step aside and give somebody else the opportunity, someone who actually won their match at WrestleMania.

 

Cena starts to respond but he is interrupted by John Morrison’s music hitting and him making his way to the ring too, Morrison says that he can see where this is headed and he has seen the show before, as we all have, and though it’s a good show, it’s not as good as it’s going to be now that he’s involved – so if there’s a discussion about who is going to face The Miz, he should be involved.

 

Vickie Guerrero interrupts asking to be excused and she makes her way to the ring with Dolph Ziggler, she reminds Morrison that a few weeks ago she pinned Morrison, so if anyone should be the number one contender it should be her – or failing that, Dolph Ziggler.

 

Ziggler proclaims himself to be the most talented Superstar in the ring and says that he has never faced The Miz for the WWE Championship, so until then the line should start there. He promises that once he is the champion, they will all get their chance to face him.

 

Another interruption sees R-Truth making his way to the ring before asking the crowd what’s up and saying that the “Gospel Truth” is that he has never gotten a one-on-one WWE Championship match on any show, he says that is the truth and that’s what’s up.

 

Michael Cole receives an email from the Anonymous Raw General Manager on his pad, which says that they all make compelling arguments as to who should have a championship match with The Miz, so they are going to get a chance to earn that opportunity.

 

They will face each other in a 5-Man Gauntlet match, with 2 Superstars starting at random, with the winner facing the next random Superstar, which continues until all five have been in the match, and the winner at the end will face The Miz at Extreme Rules for the WWE Championship.

 

After an odd video teasing the debut Amazing Kong (formerly known as Awesome Kong in TNA) with her flicking the head off a doll, Brice Bella (accompanied by Nikki) takes on Eve Torres for the Divas Championship.

 

Though they attempt “Twin Magic” towards the end of the match, the referee realises after a few moments and makes Nikki stay out of the ring, but the distraction does the job as it allows Brie time to recover and hit Eve with the sit-out facebuster for the 3-count to become the new Divas Champion.

 

Going backstage, Eve is approached by Gail Kim who says that she’s sorry about what happened to her, but Eve doesn’t want to hear any of as she says that nobody in the Divas locker room cares about anybody else, that they only want their shot at the Divas Championship, and as she leaves she tells the approaching Natalya to save it as all the Divas are the same.

 

Back in the arena, Sin Cara is pitted against Primo in a match which sees Primo slip and botch the setup to the upcoming move, but Cara saves it by taking a tumble to the outside before getting back in, hitting and enzuiguri, and trying it again – this time successfully as he hits Primo with a flip-over bottom from the top rope for the 3-count and the victory.

 

After a video recapping the events involving John Cena, The Rock, and The Corre on last week’s Raw, The Corre are shown in the ring. Wade Barrett says that last week Cena and The Rock made history when they made a match for WrestleMania XXVII, so The Corre decided that they would go and attack Cena and The Rock, but to no avail – which he adds is through no fault of his own.

 

He says that he used to see the other members as equals, but if they are not going to hold up their end of the bargain, he doesn’t see any point in continuing any further. Justin Gabriel grabs the microphone from Barrett and reminds him that his 450-Splash has taken out more guys on the roster than anybody else, and he says that he is a three-time Tag Team Champion.

 

Slater interrupts to say that they (he and Gabriel) are three-time Tag Team Champions, and that nobody is going to take that success from them, not Barrett, The Nexus, The Corre, or anybody. Ezekiel Jackson grabs the microphone and tells Barrett that he knows that he isn’t talking about him, as he made The Corre credible by slamming a five-hundred pound giant and is the most dominant person Barrett has ever met.

 

Santino Marella’s music hits and he walks out onto the stage with Mark Henry, Evan Bourne, and Daniel Bryan. He says that if they are The Corre, then he’d like to introduce his own team as The APPLE – with “APPLE” standing for “Allied People Powered by Loathing Everything that they stand for”.

 

He says that Team Apple challenges them in the name of Vladimir Kozlov, before yelling “Apple powers, unite!” and them then making their way to the ring. APPLE goes against against The Corre in an 8-Man Tag Team match which sees Slater capitalise on Gabriel’s boot to the back of Marella’s head, by hitting Marella with the reverse-DDT for the 3-count.

 

Next up, Jim Ross makes his way down in anticipation of the upcoming match between Jerry “The King” Lawler and Michael Cole, but is insulted by Cole most of the way down and continuing when J.R stands in front of the Cole Mine. J.R seems to have had enough of the comments as he tries to enter the Cole Mine, only to find that the door is locked – that doesn’t stop him from causing what trouble he can however, as he starts rocking the Cole Mine back and forth.

 

Swagger makes his way down but is intercepted by Lawler, and quickly afterwards a swarm of referees separate everyone. Lawler takes on Swagger with J.R and Cole in their corners respectively, in a match which sees Lawler take advantage of the distraction provided by Swagger trying to grab J.R, as he rolls up Swagger for the 3-count, which means that Lawler gets a rematch with Cole at Extreme Rules.

 

Swagger’s eyes are wide at the loss and Cole has a look of disbelief, before he gets angry at Swagger and ends up insulting him and slapping him before exiting the ring and backing up the ramp. Swagger is understandably angry at this, but Lawler reminds everyone that he is still there as he says that they should talk about Extreme Rules.

 

He says that he decides the match and its stipulation, so he has a really good idea which is to make it a tag team match – Lawler and Jim Ross against Cole and his former friend Jack Swagger, and to further annoy Cole, Lawler asks Swagger what he thinks of Cole now.

 

After a video recapping the WrestleMania XXVII (27) match between Triple H and The Undertaker, featuring comments from Superstars and Triple H’s promise that he’ll be waiting when The Undertaker comes back, Edge’s music hits and he makes his way to the ring.

 

Edge talks about how many people think that what they do in the WWE doesn’t hurt and that it’s all smoke and mirrors, but anybody in the locker room or has ever stepped in the ring and laced up the boots knows that isn’t the case.

 

He talks about breaking his neck eight years ago and has surgery, but he knew he was on borrowed time, but fast forwarding to today, he has been in pain recently and losing feeling in his arms. Edge says that he passed strength tests and made it through WrestleMania, but the WWE wanted him to go through more tests, which he says thankfully he did, and the MRI shows that he has to retire.

 

He says that it’s not his choice, but that the Doctors told him that he has no choice, but he says he’s thankful that they found out as he’s not going to end up in a wheelchair now. Edge gets a standing ovation from the crowd and a “Thank You Edge” chant, before he talks about how it has been a roller coaster of a week and he felt sorry for himself until he talked to Christian.

 

Edge says that for those who don’t know, Christian has been his best friend for 27 years, and he says that he was angry at himself and his body and felt like he was letting those in the company who depend upon him down, as well as the fans.

 

He says that he didn’t think he felt like he was ending it on his own terms, until Christian reminded him that his whole career has been on his own terms. He says that like the WWE Universe, he is still a huge fan of the WWE, and he talks about how he and Christian would go to watch events and him say at one point that he’d do this one day, and fast forwarding a bunch of years he was in the Main Event at WrestleMania against The Undertaker.

 

Edge says that there is no way that he would believe it if he’d been told it when he was 11 years old, or the fact that he has won more championships than anyone else in the company, or that his last match would be defending the World Heavyweight Championship in one of the Main Events at WrestleMania and he’d be retiring as champion, which he says he can’t think of a better way to go out.

 

He talks about how he has been doing it for 19 years, with 14 of those in the WWE, and he feels that he has grown up in front of the WWE Universe as he has made a lot of mistakes and learned from them and become a man.

 

Edge talks about his career over the years and says that he hopes through it all that has earned the respect of all those in the locker room and the WWE Universe, as no matter what, he gave everything he had every single night, and in turn the WWE Universe gave it all back to him, so he’s going to miss it all.

 

He says that he doesn’t have to wear tights tomorrow, so he’s going to eat a lot of ice-cream tonight, but if you asked him if he’d do it all again, all the way back from getting hired by J.R, despite all it entails, he says he would do it again in a heartbeat.

 

Edge thanks the crowd and is then subjected to another standing ovation and “Thank You Edge” chant as he looks around at the crowd and then leaves, but not before pausing at the top of the stage to throw up his hands in the “rock” pose that he’s known for.

 

Now, after a video showing the ovation and respect shown to Edge in the back by the Superstars and Divas, The Miz makes his way to ringside and joins commentary for the upcoming 5-Man Gauntlet match to determine the number one contender to face The Miz at Extreme Rules.

 

The two starting participants are Randy Orton and Dolph Ziggler, which sees Ziggler rolls up Orton for the 3-count to advance on, thanks to the distraction provided by The New Nexus members David Otunga, Michael McGillicutty, and Mason Ryan. Afterwards, the three members attack Orton and leaving him down in the ring after a powerbomb as they taunt him.

 

The next participant is R-Truth, who advances when he eliminates Ziggler when he hits him with a jumping reverse STO (also known as “paydirt” and formerly used by Shelton Benjamin, MVP, and most recently Heath Slater) for the 3-count.

 

John Morrison is next, but R-Truth advances once more as he avoids Morrison’s attempt at Starship Pain and then hits him with the jumping reverse STO for the 3-count. The final participant is John Cena, but it ends in a double disqualification as The Miz and Alex Riley end up hitting the ring and attacking both Cena and Truth.

 

The Miz gloats that it means that there is no number one contender, but it appears that the Anonymous Raw General Manager has something to say about it as Lawler receives an email. He says that The Miz is right that there is not a number one contender – instead there are two, as The Miz will face R-Truth and John Cena in a Triple Threat match for the WWE Championship at Extreme Rules.

 

Afterwards, Cena and Truth throw The Miz and Alex Riley when they try to attack them, and Cena and Truth then hug in the ring and exchange friendly slaps on the back. That is until it seems to escalate and almost go too far when Cena pushes Truth, but Truth smiles and exits the ring and backs up towards the ramp.

 

Both men keep an eye on and gesture to each other 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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