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Raw Report for Feb. 18 - Rock Unveils New Championship Title

Sean Balfour / February 19, 2013 - 12:30pm

Raw begins with a very serious toned recap of The Elimination Chamber and the notion that tonight is the next very important night on the road to Wrestlemania.  The match is official between Cena and The Rock.

Cena comes out fresh from his team’s loss to the Shield last night.  He puts over New Orleans (the site of next year’s show) and quickly emphasises that The Mania card for this year is taking shape.  He mentions that Swagger will face Del Rio for the world title and he will challenge The Rock for the WWE title (in case you missed it the 3 time’s it was mentioned in the first 3 minutes)

CM Punk interrupts and calmly yet angrily walks to the ring with Paul Heyman at his side.  Punk gets right in Cena’s face and questions Cena’s decision to face The Rock for the WWE title.  Punk clarifies that the Rock beat him fair and square last night; only to retract by saying that Rock basically cheated.  He says that Rock beat Cena last year, and furthermore Cena never beat Punk.  He says that he dominated for 400+ days and Cena one some lucky match (basically burying the Royal Rumble match).  He tells Cena to just walk away and get out of his life and leave the WWE.  Cena teases it (fooling nobody) before telling Punk no.  Cena gives Punk credit for being intelligent and besting him in the past.  Cena says that he has a lot of critics he would like to shut up.  He offers Punk a chance to earn a golden ticket to Wrestlemania!  Punk vs. Cena right here right now, if Punk can beat him he’ll give him his Mania shot! Punk calls Cena stupid and accepts the offer, but not for tonight.  He accepts the match for next week. (Something tells me that Taker is out of Mania and this title match could become a 3-way…either that or this is all just a rating’s grab and a hold over for a Taker return next week.  Either way, I can’t imagine the dead man showing up tonight anymore)

In the back, Sheamus talks about letting everyone down last night as Ryback paces around frantically.  Sheamus and Ryback get into a shoving match as their tempers flare up regarding their loss.  Chris Jericho comes in and gives the two men a pep talk; saying that he loves WWE and the three of them should work together to stop the Shield and save the company from their wrath.  He suggests going to Vickie for a 6 man tag match tonight.  I would LOVE it if Jericho turned and joined the Shield (I’m not saying the Shield need’s to grow but one veteran leader couldn’t hurt) I don’t know why, but I get that feeling from watching this promo…probably because Jericho’s too smart to be buddying up with these two dumb baby faces.

MATCH # 1 SIN CARA vs. MARK HENRY

I would have booked Cara against Swagger, but what are you gonna do?  Despite being triple teamed last night, Henry was dominating in the chamber before he was eliminated.  He continues his hall of pain by stepping on Cara in the corner.  Cara tries some offence off the rope but Henry turns it into a running power slam.  He hits the W.S.S. for the quick win.

Winner – Mark Henry

Henry wants to continue the beat down, but Khali comes out and after about 17 minutes he gets to the ring to make the save.  Henry bails and mocks Khali’s dancing, and laughs at a man who has become a joke.  I think we just found a show stealer for Mania!

Fan-dango-o-o-o-o

MATCH # 2 ANTONIO CESARO vs. THE MIZ

Coming off the heels of a controversial finish last night, this match is a no DQ match.  Miz is still taped up as he takes the fight right off the apron and to the outside.  Cesaro gets back in it by ramming Miz’s shoulder into the post.  He grabs two chairs and a kendo stick.  He corks Miz a couple of times and wedges the injured arm in the chair. Miz gets a neck breaker but he’s rammed into a steel chair wedged in the corner.  He comes back with a drop toe hold onto the other chair and slaps on a figure four for a very surprising tap out victory.

Winner – The Miz

A promo which can be seen on YouTube is shown with Zeb Colter and an even scruffier looking Jack Swagger standing in front of a wooden fence with a “Don’t tread on me” sign tacked on it plays. Zeb preaches against immigration as Swagger mostly stands silent except to emphasise a few words.  They are going full blown crazy south now!

In the back, Kane and Bryan are bickering as always. They agree to go solo tonight.  Orton was apparently just hanging around as he overhears Kane going off on a tangent about his hatred of snakes.  Orton tells Kane that there was a time when he would have been afraid of him, but since all his group therapy and hugging he’s really just like Barney the dinosaur (apparently the writers couldn’t think of a kids character in the past 10 years); Bryan is amused.

Vickie on her phone is interrupted by Heyman.  Vicky had called him in just to rub in Punk’s loss despite getting his way with the stipulations.  Vickie tells Heyman that she has some big news that is going to affect his whole career.  She tells him he’ll have to wait to find out what it is later in the ring.

MATCH # 3 DOLPH ZIGGLER vs. ALBERTO DEL RIO

Del Rio hits an enziguiri to knock Ziggler off the apron.  Ziggler regains control, thanks to some help from Big E behind the ref’s back.  He hits a famouser and gets a near fall.  Del Rio hits a reverse suplex off the top rope, causing Ziggler to land face first.  Del Rio hits a tilt a whirl suplex and a super kick.  He calls for the cross arm breaker and leads the “si” chant before getting reversed into a neck breaker.  Langston hits the apron but Del Rio dropkicks him off and fends off Ziggler who tries to capitalize on the distraction.  He applies the arm breaker for the tap out.

Winner – Alberto Del Rio

Langston goes on the attack after the match and hits Del Rio with the front drop after the match.  Ziggler realizes his opportunity and attempts to cash in his contract.  Ricardo temporarily steals the briefcase before being chased out of the arena by Big E.  AJ retrieves the contract but Del Rio foils the attempt with a kick to the head.  Ziggler did not cash in, so he still has the case.  The funny thing is that I completely forgot about Ziggler’s contract…I have basically given up on guessing when it will come.

In the ring, Wade Barrett cuts a promo basically plugging his new movie.  He airs a trailer for the movie, starring Colin Farrell, called “Dead Man Down”.  To be honest I don’t think I saw Wade in the trailer.  Sheamus shows up echo’s that thought by pointing out that he doesn’t even have a speaking part.  He buries the Barrett barrage and cuts off Barrett’s special moment.

Lawler and Cole do a live commercial for WWE’s new action figures that hook together and have seizures…

MATCH # 4 BRODUS & TENSAI & NAOMI vs. PRIMO & EPICO & ROSA

Naomi starts out and hits a pretty nice cross body off the top rope.  Tensai comes in and does nothing nice.  He and Brodus hit dueling head butts and splashes for the easy win.

Winners – Team fat funk

Up next is the state of the union address from Zeb Colter and Jack Swagger.  Swagger credits his win last night as a win for dignity, and he says that he puts the weight of his nation on his shoulders.  He gives the podium to Zeb, who thanks the founding fathers for the bill of rights.  He begins by saying that the state of the union is pathetic, and the blame is on the illegal immigrants who take their jobs and medical care.  He is worse than racist now, he’s republican.  He says that the match at Mania is more than just a world title match; it’s a fight for the nation.  They are very careful about not crossing any lines so far, and I think it’s safe to say that they are on the right track with building strong heat that isn’t just blatant racism.

MATCH # 5 DANIEL BRYAN vs. JACK SWAGGER

Bryan connects with some kicks and reverses a backdrop into a surfboard.  Swagger powers out of it but gets taken back down.  Swagger takes Bryan over the top rope and rams him into the barricade.  He tosses Bryan into the corner and hits a running knee.  He hits a swagger bomb for a near fall.  Bryan gets a comeback going with takedown and a tope to the outside.  He hits a dropkick off the top for another near fall.  Swagger catches one of Bryans kicks and turns it into a gut wrench. Bryan applies a No lock but Swagger gets to the ropes.  He follows up with a chop block and executes the Patriot Lock (not patriot act anymore?)

Winner – Jack Swagger.

Love the new music by the way.  It really adds a serious tone to the character.

Vickie and Heyman are in the ring together after the break.  She squeals out her introduction and says that she will be naming a new assistant to herself.  It’s none other than Brad Maddox!  Maddox comes out and says that his new job is a reward for exposing the truth about Heyman and the Shield.  He argues semantics with Vickie about his job title, much to Heymans disgust.  Heyman is about to bail on the segment before being greeted by Vince McMahon live via Satellite.  Heyman tries to suck up but Vince, who confirms that he did in fact grant Heyman his stipulation.  He reminds Heyman that he agreed to do anything for the stip, and he even put it in writing.  Vince teases firing him, but instead he tells him that next week he’ll meet Heyman in the ring for a fight.

MATCH # 6 CHRIS JERICHO & SHEAMUS & RYBACK vs. THE SHIELD

Ryback starts off with Rollins.  He lunges into him as Jericho pulls him back to try to control his temper.  I guess my heel turn idea is out the window because Jericho takes the fight right to Ambrose.  He hits a cross body off the rope and tags in Sheamus, who squares off with Roman Reigns.  Sheamus hits a running knee and the white noise.  He calls for the brogue kick but Reigns is pulled to safety.  Ambrose gets hit with the Brogue kick off the apron.  Sheamus and Reigns trade shots until Ambrose and Rollins hit some quick attacks to gain control.  The Crowd chant for some feeding, and Sheamus gives it to them with a hot tag to Ryback.  Ryback launches Rollins and hits a spine buster followed by the meat hook.  He sets up for the shellshock but while Jericho is having words with the ref Reigns spears Ryback (something seems fishy with Jericho).  The crowd chant for Y2J as Ryback is gobbled up in the Shields corner and triple teamed (legally) with quick tags.  Ryback ducks Reigns and tries to get to the corner for a tag.  He gets to Jericho who cleans house with a running bulldog and a lionsault.  He knocks Rollins off the apron with a dropkick and attempts the walls of Jericho.  He gets Ambrose locked in and Sheamus fends off Reigns.  Rollins is able to make the save with a jump off the top rope and Ambrose actually pins Jericho.

Winners – The Shield

MATCH # 7 DAMIEN SANDOW vs. KOFI KINGSTON

Sandow speaks to the nitwits and talks about his family’s political linage.  He more or less says the same thing as always about saving us…blah blah blah.

He attacks Kofi without warning, before the bell.  He tosses him into the steel post and continues his attack before being confronted by a returning R Truth.  Truth hits an axe kick and tosses Sandow to the outside.

Winner – No Contest

I didn’t notice if Little Jimmy was back as well or not.

Some actors from GI JOE set up a movie trailer.  Then the commercial break brings us a trailer for “Snitch” which is just one vowel away from a great movie.

Fan-dang-o-o-o-o-o

MATCH # 8 RANDY ORTON vs. KANE

Orton mounts some offence from atop the turnbuckle but Kane knocks him off to the outside. He follows up with a big boot.  Orton comes back with a drop kick.  He falls into a side slam, but ducks as Kane tries coming off the top rope.  Kane reverses Orton’s Draping DDT and is greeted by Daniel Bryan.  Orton hits an RKO after Kane is distracted by his partner’s presence.

Winner – Randy Orton

The Louisiana University Marching band fills the entrance way for a massive introduction to the entrance of the great one.  They play along to the drum beat of Rocks music (sounds very cool…a much better into than Flo Rida)

Rock starts out by burying CM Punk, by saying that despite being spit on last night he beat his punk ass for the second straight month. He says that he will be walking in to Wrestlemania as champion, but not with the title he’s currently holding.  He says that when the belt was introduced 8 years ago by a certain superstar (Cena) it worked.  He says that for him, the title should never look like a toy and definitely never spin (I didn’t know it still did that).  This is a moment I have been waiting for for a long time.  Rock says that the championchip title should inspire you when you see it.  He puts over the names of the greats who have held the title and unveils a very awesome looking title.  It’s gold with silver (or possibly diamond) lining and a large WWE symbol and a smaller brahma bull plate.  It’s a very nice looking title.  He calls the belt timeless, prestigious and flat out bad ass. He addresses the situation regarding Punk and Cena.  Rock says that there is one man that brings out the very best in the Rock.  He is cut off however by John Cena.

Cena stands at the top of the ramp, smiling.  He is attacked from behind by CM Punk who is wielding the spinner belt.  He points at Rock and his new title belt.  Raw comes to a close with Cena laid out and Rock looking on with concern (kind of).

After the year that Punk has had it would be hard to see him in any other program other than a title match or the equally prestigious Undertaker streak match.  If Taker is in fact out then I would put my money on either a triple threat or perhaps some weird WM 10 redo with two matches (they are already mimicking WM 7 for the world title).  It will be interesting to see how this develops and if nothing is cleanly resolved next week then I think we will have our answer.  It probably looks like next week will be the set up for HHH and Brock.  I was happy to see the Shield in a match tonight and I really look at them as a legitimate draw.  It’s exciting and fresh even when they are in a match, and despite my crazy daydreaming regarding Jericho, they are a great three man unit.  Some of the matches tonight were time wasters, but the non-wrestling component I thought was pretty strong.  Rock really looks like a champion with that new belt…great move.

And now for some odds!

Odds that there is anyone named Zeb that isn’t a little racist 9-1
Odds that Daniel Bryan has Pete Rose in his corner if he has a match with Kane at Mania 15-1
Odds that you can name the IC champion in 3 seconds…2-1 (be honest…could you?)
Over under on how long that new belt will last  - 48 days
Odds that getting rid of the spinner belt was one of Bruno’s stips 3-1
Who’s most likely to turn (face or heel) next?  Orton 2-1 Daniel Bryan 2-1 Jericho 3-1 Ziggler 5-1
Odds that Fandago is headlining WM 30 in a year 120-1
Odds that he even debuts by then 2-1