We opened the show with The Hot Rod Rowdy Roddy Piper coming out to do the Piper's Pit segment. He looked pretty healthy tonight as in comparison to recent years after his battle with cancer. The crowd showed their respect by chanting for him. Piper gave the crowd props for his lifetime of success. He told the WWE Universe when they cheered him he felt good but when they booed him he felt bad and did bad things.
He transitioned into his introduction for John Cena with that point.
Cena's music hit and he came out to his usual, deafining mix of boos and cheers.
Piper played name association with the crowd.
Stone Cold = Cheers.
Bret Hart = Cheers.
The Rock = Cheers.
John Cena = Long, loud mix of cheers and boos.
Piper told him he was trying to help him as the boos took over for Cena. He told John that when the crowd cheered for Rock to Rock Bottom him they came unglued. Crowd started a "Boots To Asses" chant. Cena responded by saying he knows the drill because he can't please everyone. Hot Rod handed Cena his Hall of Fame ring for some reason.
Roddy told John that he was the face of the WWE and the booing was getting louder. He told Cena that he was losing it and that he needs to man up and tell the crowd what he really thinks about them. Heel turn forthcoming hopefully. John ran down his list of events where he was treated poorly by the crowd.
John pointed out his shirt's slogan "Rise Above Hate" to Piper and told him that he was okay with what people think about him. He said he will beat the Rock at Wrestlemania. Piper then gave Cena his Hall of Fame ring and gave him a ton of credit for everything he does. John told him he was in a good place as Piper suggested he tap into his honest energy. John refused so Piper slapped him and told him to feel the energy. John gave him his ring back and walked away.
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Fall's Count Anywhere Match - John Morrison v.s. The Miz
Miz attacked Morrison from behind on the ramp during JoMo's entrance. He beat the living hell out of his leg with a pipe. The doctors came out to tend to John as he layed there clutching his leg in pain. After a minute or two, Morrison actually manned up and made it to the ring to have the match afterall. Miz worked on the injured leg during the match. They spilled outside and made their way up the ramp again as Morrison gained momentum using a kendo stick and basing the Miz.
Miz finished off the match by hitting the Skull Crushing Finale on the steel stage to pick up the win. And with that loss we can say goodbye to John Morrison since it is his last match. I still think that his star power potential is untapped and I hope to see him back in a WWE ring one day in the future. After the match, Miz got on the microphone and said that last week it was R-Truth, this week Morrison and next week we'll see. He finished by saying he is awesome.
Winner: The Miz
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Alicia Fox and Kelly Kelly v.s. The Bella Twins
The Bellas dedicated this match to Alberto Del Rio. We saw Beth Phoenix and Natalya come out, run around the ring and leave in an attempt to confuse the other divas. Alicia hit the axe kick to pick up the quick win for her team.
Winner: Kelly Kelly and Alicia Fox
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Backstage we saw Johnny Ace talking to Brodus Clay on the phone again. He said he would see him next week as David Otunga walked in and asked him why he keeps holding off the Clay debut. Ace said the longer he waits, the madder Brodus will be in the ring. Del Rio came in and Ace kissed his ass. Punk walked in and made jokes about putting all their names in Google searches and coming up with funny results. John made the title match a No DQ match.
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Dolph Ziggler (with Vickie Guerrero) v.s. Randy Orton
Wade Barrett did commentary during this match. Apparently Dolph is going by the new nickname "The Show Off" which I guess makes sense for his character going forward. Barrett bashed Orton throughout the match as you might expect. Randy hit Dolph with a clothesline so hard that it forced Ziggler to take a break outside the ring for a second to regain his composure. Dolph forced a short comeback and drilled Orton with a number of moves. Orton eventually found his footing though and started to hit his usual comeback moves such as the middle rope DDT and backbreaker. Barrett tried to interfere but Orton dropkicked him off the apron. Ziggler hit the Zig Zag while Orton was distracted and picked up the win. Dolph stood on his head outside the ring to show off after the match.
Winner: Dolph Ziggler
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We had a in-ring interview segment with Daniel Bryan and Michael Cole. Bryan corrected Cole immediately by telling him that he wasn't given a title match tomorrow night, he earned it. Bryan told Cole he was the worst announcer of all time and he should have earned a little bit of respect by now. Cole said that he can't respect him for being a hypocrite for not sticking to his word for cashing in his Money In The Bank briefcase at Wrestlemania like he promised.
Cole continued by telling him he would have suspended him for his conduct last week in trying to cash in on a weakened champion. He told him he was disgusted by him for being a hypocrite. Bryan responded by saying he was right, he was a hypocrite but things change. Daniel said the only thing on his mind now is becoming the World Heavyweight Champion.
Mark Henry came out and said he was still half way injured. He said it's okay though because he is the World's Strongest Man and one of the toughest men to ever compete in the WWE. Henry challenged Bryan to come up to the top of the ramp and fight him. Daniel walked right up to him and kicked him in the injured leg. He told him he would see him tomorrow night in the steel cage on the Tuesday night Smackdown special holiday show.
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Jack Swagger (with Vickie Guerrero) v.s. Zack Ryder
Long Island Iced Z got a great reaction while the All American American got the jobber intro. Crowd chanted "Let's Go Ryder" as Ryder was grounded by Jack's boring ground game. Zack hit the Rough Ryder and won the match after dodging Swagger's corner splash. The WWE Universe loved it.
Winner: Zack Ryder
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Mick Foley came out dressed as Santa and delivered a quick Christmas themed poem to hype tomorrow night's show.
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WWE Championship Match - Alberto Del Rio v.s. CM Punk (Champion)
The stipulation for this match is that if CM Punk is intentionally DQ'ed he will lose the WWE title. The announcers put over the rarity and importance of a WWE title match on Raw. Del Rio worked on the arm of Punk throughout the match in effort to soften him up for his patented Cross Armbreaker finisher. They tried to do an Eddie Guerrero finish where they tossed a chair into the other guys hands and fake it, make it look like they got hit. Ricardo kept messing with the ref on the apron as Punk hit the Go To Sleep on the exposed turnbuckle that Alberto untied earlier. Punk got the pin and retained. After the match Ricardo debated the decision and Punk hit him with a GTS as well to end the show.
Winner and STILL WWE Champion: CM Punk
