After an exciting, chaotic and controversial night at SummerSlam, the August 15th 2011 edition of RAW came to you live from the Balley View Casino in San Diego, CA, home of Rey Mysterio who was set to face the NEW Undisputed WWE Champion Alberto Del Rio after a successful money in the bank cash in. What went down on Monday? Here’s my recap, I hope you enjoy!

– The show started off with the COO Triple H making his way to the ring, who addressed the WWE Universe about the Kevin Nash situation after the CM Punk and John Cena match for the WWE title, which was refereed and enforced by HHH himself. HHH went on to state that a lot of people are “upset” about how things went at SummerSlam, he apoligizes to the fans and to John Cena for making a mistake during the match, which was the fact that he counted the pinfall for John Cena 1,2,3 while Cena’s foot was on the rope, thus causing the controversial finish to the match and having John Cena walk out of Summerslam upset.

He then puts his attention on the Kevin Nash situation and states that he had no involvement whatsoever, despite his friendship with him. He had “no idea” Nash planned to get involved, but that he did leave tickets for Nash to be at the event, and that was the last time he spoke to him. The COO then reveals to everyone that he has invited Kevin Nash to appear on RAW and explain his actions, as long as he is able to tell the truth. Talks about the Money In the bank cash in and says that’s just simply how Money In the bank works. After saying this, HHH goes on to introduce the new WWE Champion (Alberto Del Rio) to the ring.

The new champion states that he has been saying it for a long time, that it was his “destiny” to become the WWE Champion. Del Rio continues that he did not intend to cash in Money-in-the-Bank at SummerSlam, but “destiny” does whatever it wants and he “could not resist” cashing in at such an opportune time. Del Rio then proclaims that some people are just “born to be great” and he is the “greatest of the great”, adding that he wants to “represent” the fans with “honesty” and “passion”. Del Rio continues that he is going to be a champion for the fans, his “people” before reminding everyone that he will be making his first title defense against San Diego’s own Rey Mysterio, adding that they all “love” Rey Mysterio. Del Rio proclaims that he “loves” Rey Mysterio and he “loves beating” Mysterio, because he has made a career out of it, adding that he will beat the “little Chihuahua”, Rey Mysterio and after he beats Rey, the fans will have a “new hero” in Alberto Del Rio!

– My Fan Reaction

Good way to start the show, I think it would’ve been horrible had they started the show with Del Rio rather than HHH. Obviously everyone wanted to know why Nash was there, which was more important. So what better way to start it off than by having the boss address us? Good job.

As far as what HHH had to say goes, im not buying it. He clearly has something to do with this, CM Punk hates HHH and to me it seems like HHH hates CM Punk as well. What man would let another man talk trash about his wife? HHH surely isn’t going to let CM Punk slide on that one. Right now WWE is doing an excellent job with this storyline and im glad they teased us instead of revealing a lot of details all in one night, have this storyline go for awhile, maybe until Summerslam. It has potential to be this long depending on how well they execute it, so when I heard HHH deny his invovlement with the Nash rundown at SummerSlam, I was happy. Because I know this is going somewhere.

Then we get Alberto Del Rio, I will say this about him….he did a good job in getting massive heat. Everything he said was witty and smart, especially when he mocked San Diego’s hero Rey Mysterio and just taking little shots at him. This is good for WWE, that’s exactly what Del Rio must do. Get under the fans skin, so far hes doing a good job at it. If he can keep this up, he will easily be good for business in the future. WWE needs their main event to be refreshened, and right now it’s Del Rio’s job to keep that main event for RAW building. Do I think he becamse champion way too soon? Of course, everyone thinks that. But keep in mind that this guy is a veteran to the overall wrestling business, im sure he has experience and knows what he’s doing. So I won’t be one of the people to jump on the Internet bandwagon and bury Del Rio with hate comments.

– Falls Count Anywhere Match: John Morrison defeats R-Truth by pin on the outside of the ring after running knee to the fact.

My Fan Reaction: Great match, Morrison needed this victory. I know he won at Summerslam with his team consisting of Kingston and Mysterio, but that match wasn’t enough to make everyone think Morrison has finally beat R Truth. He had to be put over individually in order for his credibility and momentum to increase, and he did just that on RAW by beating Truth. As for the match, it was a great and exciting way to kick off the night. 2 very talented wrestlers going at it all over the arena, I love it. There were many counts, many highlights during the match, and that’s what a wrestling fan simply loves to see. Morrison is built for this match with his speed, high flying ability and power.

– Kelly Kelly and Eve defeat The Bella twins

Fan Reaction: Only highlight of this match was Eve basically, she’s the only one out of those 3 who can wrestle. She pulled out all of the spots, all of the moves. Simply put. I was impressed with Kelly at Summerslam as she put on a decent performance, but the follow up after the PPV was upsetting. Thought she would gain something off that performance, I guess not.

– Jack Swagger defeated Alex Riley with help of Vickie Guerrero

Fan Reaction: What the hell just happened? Dolph Ziggler and Vickie were at ringside watching the match, they were arguing the whole time. And out of no where….Vickie comes in to help Swagger. Um, WHAT? You’re telling me Vickie is moving on to ANOTHER wrestler to manage? This HAS to stop and I mean NOW. I mean don’t get me wrong it’s great for Ziggler if he’s going solo again but it’s bad for Swagger and this will now affect him even more. Managers are good and everything, but when you have a manager who is only there to fall in love with you, then there is no point in having one. I’m sick of all these love triangles, it’s old now WWE. Love triangles were cool 10 years ago, not anymore. If this means Ziggler is going face to feud with a heel Swagger and heel Vickie, then that will be interesting. But obviously Ziggler is going to be the one gaining something out of this, meanwhile Swagger will look more like a job.

It’s sad really, because I like Swagger. He’s one hell of a wrestler, oh well…..As far as the match goes, it was okay. But nothing to satisfy me.

– Non-Title Match: Kofi Kingston & Evan Bourne defeat Tag Champions David Otunga & Michael McGillicutty

Fan Reaction: Good match, it was very good. Saw some sick moves by both Kofi and Bourne, both going over the top with their finishers and other high flying moves. Loved the idea of pairing those 2 up, wouldn’t mind them forming a tag team to take the titles off Paint Dry. Kofi Kingston has nothing going for him, neither does Bourne. It’s about time WWE starts focusing on their smaller guys, these smaller guys maybe be small but they are more talented than half the big guys on the damn roster. If given the chance, those 2 could easily revolutionize the tag team division by going up against 2 other guys that should be used to their potential. ZACK RYDER and CURT HAWKINS! I’d bring them back, as well as bring back Big Show & Kane, they’re a decent tag team. Now you have 3 true tag teams, all you’d need is about 2 more and you have a tag division set. Is it that complicating WWE?

– Undisputed WWE Championship Match: Alberto Del Rio (v) defeats Rey Mysterio

Fan Reaction: So this was the main event of the night…..this closed out the show. Let me just say this, the match was decent but nothing special. Very predicable as well, who didn’t see Del Rio beating Rey for the thousandth time? I was dissappointed that WWE had to end the night this way. After the match, Del Rio kept assaulting Mysterio but then John Cena came down to the rescue and stopped Del Rio’s assault. This is how you end the show? Really? I thought we would see more of HHH/Kevin Nash/CM Punk, which I’ll get into after this….but still, REALLY?

I’m guessing John Cena is set to face Del Rio now at Night Of Champions, as he’ll be working a feud with him. I actually don’t mind it. What didn’t make sense to me though was how Cena out of no where went on a rant rampage about how Del Rio is a coward for doing what he did at Summerslam. NEWSFLASH Cena, EVERY Money In the Bank Winner has cashed in the same way! Did you lose your brain cells at Summerslam or something? Even YOU got your ass cashed in on. – But in all seriousness, WWE must’ve wanted Cena to do this so that the fans don’t lose all of their interest with Del Rio as champion now. They needed to heat things up for him so that the WWE title storyline just isn’t a waste of time. Well in order for this to be successful, Cena HAS to put over Del Rio.

WWE made the decision to put the belt on him so now it’s their job to make him look good. This is what I don’t get, WWE loves putting titles on new guys who they believe can draw money, right? But if that’s the case, why must they always be champion, only to lose to JOHN CENA? It just doesn’t make any sense at all. It happened with Sheamus, happened with Miz, and now it’ll most likely happen with Del Rio. They don’t seem to understand that by having their new fresh faces lose the title to the poster-boy, it makes them (the new guys( LOSE all credibility. Hence why WWE always gets fucked at the end, because they screw it up for everyone else. And then they wonder why the product or the ratings aren’t as good as before. I get it, John Cena makes money, he does bring in ratings. But your talent development is lacking big time, how can you expect your shows to be good, your shows to be watchable when you are only promoting one guy?

What ever happened to the Austin’s, the HHH’s, the Jericho’s, The Rocky’s, The Undertaker’s, The Big Show’s, I could go on and on….ALL of these men were being pushed at the same time during the attitude era. Now, there is barely any talent for us to consider “the best” or “the top favorite”. Time to focus on the future.

The only way WWE will make money off of Del Rio is by keeping the title on him and making him look good, otherwise he will be another Jack Swagger…..going from relevant to a joke.

Main Details Of The Night

During the show, there were several segments in continuation of the whole Kevin Nash situation. Eventually Kevin Nash did make his appearance known on RAW as he told everyone that what he did was simply due to business, and because had gotten a text message which asked him to “stick the winner” of the main event, regardless of who was champion. He went on to say that it was simply for business and that he and Hunter need to get on the same page.

CM Punk comes out, confronts Kevin Nash…makes a few snarky and hateful comments towards Nash, taking shots at his career, his friendship with Hunter, and more. It got so personal to the point where Kevin Nash called Punk an “indy-riffic little wannabe”, after the war of words was over….CM Punk and Kevin Nash were about to go at it in the ring, until security stopped Punk from going in the ring. They ran him to the back, and as he was going to the back, he says he’ll go ask Hunter and get some answers about all of this himself.

Backstage, Kevin Nash heads into the office of his friend and WWE COO Triple H, but while Nash did not find Triple H, he was confronted by the Executive Vice President of Talent Relations, John Laurinaitis. The EVP tells Nash that Triple H is in a meeting with CM Punk before saying that the way Punk spoke to him at SummerSlam and the way he spoke to Nash were “totally unacceptable”. Laurinaitis then invites Nash to talk with him in his office about “something important” before both men head to the EVP’s office.

Backstage, CM Punk enters Triple H’s office, but is disappointed to find Triple H’s wife, Stephanie McMahon as Stephanie tells Punk that she really is “sorry” for how Punk lost the WWE Title at SummerSlam, adding that “technically”, Punk did not win because John Cena’s foot was on the rope. Stephanie then tells Punk not to worry because everyone “gets what they deserve” before making her exit.

Fan Reaction: Excellent backstage segments, good way to spice up the storyline even more. Making everyone want to tune in to next week, I certainly am anxious to see what happens next. LOVED what Punk had to say as he competely delivered another pipe bomb, this time on Kevin Nash. The story behind CM Punk just keeps on getting better and better, and this is the most realistic thing WWE has ever done by FAR.

CM Punk is the hottest topic in wrestling right now, no doubt about it. He doesn’t need to be WWE Champion in order to prove that, the role he’s in right now is giving a hint to everyone that he is the modern day Stone Cold Steve Austin. But I’d also like to think that he is the modern day Bret Hart, who was screwed back in his WWE career as well, when he wanted to “leave.”

This is basically leaning towards more of a HHH/CM Punk match, which is what everyone is dying to see. And when it happens, it will be EPIC. More epic than Cena vs CM Punk at Money In The Bank, it’ll have more meaning to it…..there will be personal things at risk, (perhaps Hunter’s job, Punk’s career) – who knows? CM Punk has consistently week in and week out, continued to smacktalk the McMahon family. It’s clear that they don’t like each other one bit, and im loving every thing about it. CM Punk, HHH, Kevin Nash and Stephanie McMahon are all good workers who know how to handle a microphone, and know how to sell the meaning of a storyline. By far the greatest thing WWE has done since the PG Movement.

WWE needs to keep CM Punk at the position he is in with the company, in being the anti-hero babyface that simply likes to speak his mind. The fans are digging it, everyone is digging it. So I say why not? And HHH has the chance to be the BIGGEST heel in history. This would be incredible if the match does happen, maybe at SummerSlam? We’ll see.

– Until next time folks……that’s all the time we have for this week. Follow me on Twitter @LucasTheMenace and check out the site: http://themenacingmassacres.wordpress.com/

Peace!