Survivor Series Hangover on Raw

Gotta love technology, I finish my Raw recap and my WiFi goes out and I lose it all.  But I'll be a trooper and finish this or else I'll have me a restless time trying to sleep.  I certainly don't plan on reviewing any Raw, but if I feel there is a special occasion then I shall do so.  This is one of those occasions.

Raw kicks off with Wade Barrett and the rest of the Nexus.  He is generating more heat in Orlando than their cross state rival, bad pun intended.  By the way, the Heat lost to the Pacers in a blowout.  Anyways, he says that John Cena gets one last chance say bye to the fans.  The Apple GM, has something to say. Wade will get another shot at Orton and it will be tonight on Raw.  Well maybe Barrett should reconsider letting Cena be on TV tonight, don't you think?

Michael Cole announces a third member of the Raw broadcast team and it's the injured CM Punk.  I was anxious that it would be JR, but this is just fine in my book.

Next week we have another 3 hour Raw dedicated to a King of the Ring tournament.  Sweet! In order to compete you have to qualify and they kick it off with Sheamus and R-Truth.  Truth is coming back out to his old theme, I guess the time for getting "buck" is over.  Eve still comes out with him too.  The Celtic Warrior takes the win and opens up the road to becoming the Celtic King.

We get some backstage riff raff and then our next KOTR qualifier.  It's the Big Zeke vs. The Miz... wait it's Alex Riley.  I guess the Miz has a case of the limber tail and doesn't want to fight.  So we get a match and a conclusion of who will be before it starts.  Zeke wins easily.

John Cena comes out for his farewell.  He gets an HBK like treatment, I suppose to make it seem legit.  He gives a speech that has some genuine emotion.  He then separates the crowd between women and children and men over 18 to have a classic dueling Cena chant.  That was pretty funny.  I was hoping that he made a veiled joke about considering finding work at a certain wrestling fed in the Orlando area, but no free shill for Dixie.  Cena leaves the arena to applause from his peers.

Back to business we are treated to a rematch of last night's opener between Ted and Bryan. This time a KOTR spot is on the line.  Bryan is followed to the ring by a Bella and she cheers him on to a victory over Ted.  The other Bella comes out and they fight over DB if you want to call it that.  He has them hug it out and he walks away.  Remember when Lance Storm and Dean Malenko were given the ladies man gimmick.  Yes, I'm sure they don't want to remember that either.

Natalya comes out as champ for the first time and gets a match with Alicia Fox.  Punk awards Fox a 9.8/10, leaving off 0.2 due to her horrid outfit.  Nattie makes quick work of her and makes her tap from Uncle Bret's move.

John Morrison and Melina are backstage chatting, perhaps they are laughing about Joey Mercury.  JoMo has a match with the fresh heel Tyson Kidd.  Two great performers going at it, Kidd is given the generic heel music.  Morrison wins and completes the Raw side of KOTR.  Tyson certainly has the talent to be a solo performer but does he have the tools, in reference to Winston Zeddemore.

Main event time and Orton makes his way out, but the Nexus have a trick up their sleeve and it's simply beat the hell out of Randy before the match.  Orton is selling a knee injury and Wade waits patiently.  The champ doesn't go down easy to the Nexus leader but he nails the wasteland.  Cena evens the odds and gets payback for his newly acquired pink slip by costing Barrett the win.  The rest of the Nexus chase him away.  As things stabilize we are treated with a Diamond Cutter from Randy Dallas Page.  The match is over but the clock says 9:57, connect that to the sold knee injury, the Miz's refusal to wrestle earlier pretty much keeping himself out of the KOTR and we can paint this picture.  AWESOME!! 

Out runs the Miz and Orton has a that "you gotta be kidding me look".  The Viper is cornered and injured, but still can be deadly.  The Miz works the knee, but has a brief battle with Orton, he tries to connect and RKO.  Not this time, the Miz counters it with the Skull Crushing Finale.  NEW WWE CHAMPION!!

It's always nice to see someone win the title for the first time.  There is some little girl in the crowd who is pissed and doesn't feel the same way as I do.  She also became a meme within the IWC thanks to the people in the truck focusing on her.  The Miz deserves it, it's up to debate if it's too soon or not.  I don't think so, he worked his ass off.  From arguing with Coral on MTV to fighting in a Dixie Dogfight, he's come a far way.  I mean really far.  One thing that's better than being on the Real World is being WWE Champion, and he's the only person on the planet who can verify that.  The Miz joins a list that includes Hulk Hogan, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, Steve Austin, and The Rock.  He's literally living the dream.  A pretty cool edition of Raw, but until next week I wish you all a happy Thanksgiving.