Wrestling

John Cena did wrestle on tonight's show, working the dark match main event teaming with Alberto Del Rio over Jack Swagger & Ryback.

Ryback comes out of the back of an ambulance after it pulls into the arena. He announces that he will face John Cena at Payback in an ambulance match and then goes off on a rant. ^This was Ryback’s best promo thus far, but that isn’t saying much. I’m looking forward to their rematch. Good opening. It’s announced that Paul Heyman will reveal his newest client tonight. ^PLEASE tell me that Rob Van Dam is coming back! Do I sound like a mark there? Only a bit… Chris Jericho and The Miz defeat Wade Barrett and Fandango. Fandango dances on the outside with Summer Rae while Jericho finishes off Barrett and Miz applies the figure four for the victory. ^Good tag tag team match. It’s the first time we’ve seen Fandango join forces with anyone, and my guess is that it will probably be the last time he teams with Wade Barrett. I liked the scenario here because it shows that Fandango is an equal opportunity heel who doesn’t care about anybody. I like the creativity here for the tag match, but I’d like it even more if it meant Wade Barrett is going to have a serious rivalry with the IC Title involved. Jericho dances with Summer Rae after and spins her in for a kiss, but then pushes her away and mocks her. ^This was typical Jericho being Jericho. I loved it! Summer Rae also sold it well; that girl has a bright looking future in WWE! Fans get to vote on who Jack Swagger will face tonight: R-Truth, Khali, or Randy Orton. Thanks Vickie for the tough choice! Kane and Dbry are arguing backstage about losing the tag titles. Kofi tries to calm them down. ^Another six man match? Oh hell yeah! Dbry and Kane need to split sooner rather than later, but I’m not sure what WWE would do with them if they did. Sheamus defeats Titus O’Neil in a one on one match. ^Nice to see Sheamus get another win here. I’m surprised his feud with Mark Henry didn’t carry over tonight. Decent match, but Titus O’Neil could be doing more in the mid card if WWE cared about those titles a bit more. Paul Heyman introduces his newest client, Michael McGillicutty, but he’s been repackaged as Curtis Axel(a spin off both Curt and Larry the Axe Hennig’s names). Triple H interrupts.and has words for Heyman. Axel mouths off and Hunter knocks him down. Hunter says he will face Axel tonight and kick Heyman’s ass afterwards. ^How do I describe my excitement right now for the repackaging and push of Joe Hennig? I can’t, so I’ll just tell you how THRILLED I am to be witnessing the push of younger talent on WWE TV right now! Great segment, and nice to see Hunter’s willingness to step in the ring with the young buck. Big E. Langston defeats Alberto Del Rio after a distraction by AJ Lee. ^Big E. continues to impress. Good match, and good finish for the heel. Something tells me Langston will be a strong candidate for winning Money In The Bank this year. How the hell does this guy get over so easily? Well, the simple answer is that he was partnered with Dolph Ziggler and AJ Lee, and thus being in top storylines made him relevant. Perhaps WWE should’ve done this with other guys like Antonio Cesaro. Del Rio losing doesn’t hurt because AJ helped, and I’m anxious to see what sort of match he and Ziggler put on for the World Title. Layla goes one on one with AJ Lee. AJ wins the short match. ^AJ is great. This one was too short to matter much, but I still expect to see her holding the Divas Championship in the near future. Cody Rhodes defeats Zack Ryder in a short match. ^Good for Rhodes! This guy has been almost buried lately, so any win he gets is worth something to me. Part of me wonders if his last name is why he gets held back so much. After getting the big rub from Booker T in late 2011, he’s done almost nothing in terms of being booked. What’s up with that? Ryback attacks Zack Ryder after the match and tosses him in the ambulance. The ambulance pulls away. ^Nice preview of Ryback dominating an ambulance match, but I still don’t think he’ll be able to take the WWE Title from John Cena this y

- WWE announced that Kofi Kingston will get his United States Title rematch on this Friday’s SmackDown against Dean Ambrose. - After Monday’s episode of RAW went off the air, trainers continued to check up on Triple H. Triple H was asked if he remembered anything from the match and he said his entrance was it. The trainers asked him if he knew what day it was and he didn’t reply. They then picked Triple H up and escorted him to the backstage area. Paul Heyman and Curtis Axel left the ring once trainers started checking on him. After Triple H made his way to the back, John Cena teamed with Alberto Del Rio to face Ryback and Jack Swagger. Cena got the pin on Swagger to win the match. What’s Next for Dean Ambrose, Possible Feud for Randy Orton Next, More

I know I said this on the Raw Live thread earlier, but I wanted to be first to do this fanpost. Sorry Ryder, I like you a lot Broski, but you have been asking for this for a while. Well, what do you, the rest of you cagesiders think? Was a message being sent to Ryder directly to quite whining or was he on the short straw of talent to get fed to Ryback tonight? http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=21uB2Pqoo0o#t=132s I know I said this on the Raw Live thread earlier, but I wanted to be first to do this fanpost. Sorry Ryder, I like you a lot Broski, but you have been asking for this for a while. Well, what do you, the rest of you cagesiders think? Was a message being sent to Ryder directly to quite whining or was he on the short straw of talent to get fed to Ryback tonight? http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=21uB2Pqoo0o#t=132s

The tornado that hit the Oklahonma City area came close to the residence of WWE announcer Jim Ross.  The actual tornado missed his home by about five miles.  There are a lot of tragic situations in the area that he lives today.

An Ambulance just rushing into the Arena & drives to the stage with Ryback getting out of it. He gets on top of it & starts talking about how he didn’t lose the match. “Cena didn’t walk away he was carried away”. Ryback announces that there next match will be an ambulance match at the Payback PPV in June  He bad mouths the live crowd about how there fat & how dare they worships John Cena. He says he will take Cena to the morgue. The Miz & Chris Jericho Vs. Fandango & Wade Barrett CJ & Wade lock up with a knockdown by Wade but a drop kick by chris out of nowhere. Some chops to the chest by Chris but an elbow by Wade that allows Fandango to get the quick attack off the tag. A Irish wipe in the corner followed by a uppercut then pounces on him for shots. Fandango clubs him in the corner but here comes Chris but ends up walking into a big boot. Wade gets tagged in as we go to break with Jericho bleeding it looks. Back from break with Wade having Miz in a headlock but miz fights out of it with punches then miz with a knee then a boot followed by the figure four leg lock but Fandango gets on the microphone saying his name then he & summer Rae start dancing. Wade starts yelling at him then Chris gets the tag & attacks him. off the top rope wiht a double handle, Bull dog & the lion sal. Jericho nails the code breaker then miz is in for the figure four leg lock to finish this one off. Winner: Jericho & Miz After the match Jericho dances with Rae but ends up leaving her. Vickie Guerrero comes out & starts talking about How Jack Swagger will be in a match tonight. You can vote on the WWE APP which the 3 guys are. Khail, R Truth or Randy Orton. We have a backstage segment with Team Hell No talking about losing the Tag Team Titles. Sheamus Vs. Titus O’Neal They lock up then a shoulder block from Sheamus. Titus with a headlock & shoulder block right back. Sheamus throws Titus over the top rope but grabs him on the apron to start up the clubbing shots. Back in the ring with Titus suplex Sheamus for a count of 2. Titus with right hands but here comes Sheamus with punches but a knock down by Titus. Titus locks in a shoulder submission until Sheamus fights out. Titus with another shoulder lock but here comes sheamus, He puts a big boot up then some clothesline goes for white noise but blocked. When he goes for the shoulder block Darren holds his foot. Titus misses the clothesline in the corner & Sheamus nails white noise followed by the Probe Kick for the win. Winner: Sheamus Paul Heyman comes out to announce his newest client, He talks about How Brock Lesnar Defeated HHH at Extreme Rules. Heyman says its time for something different & announces his new client which is Curtis Axel AKA Micheal McGillicutty from NXT. Lesnar compared him to a Brock Lesnar or A Cm Punk Future. Heyman says keeps saying his name but HHH comes out. HHH says that Curtis needs to back off & the Adults are talking. HHH says he isn’t embarrassed about last night & he was in a war. HHH says he would love to beat the crap out of Heyman but Axel keeps getting in the way & Axel says the time has changed around there. HHH slaps Axel then Announces he will have a match with Axel tonight. Big E. Langston Vs. Alberto Del Rio  They lock up with ADR getting the better of the each change but Langston misses the spear in the corner then ADR locks in the arm bar but Langston picks him up & slams him. Langston gets the ropes then when he goes for the outside ADR locks it in again but Langston slams him on the floor. Back in the ring with a cover of 2, Langston with a power slam on his knee followed by a back submission but ADR fights out of it. Langston quick takes momentum but Langston gets kicked in the face followed by a DDT off the top rope by ADR. ADR with some punches & a clothesline followed by a back stabber. ADR nails the super kick for a count of 2. ADR call for the Arm bar but Langston blocks it by throwing him out of the ring. Back in the

CM Punk has the theme song titled "Cult of Personality," but if there's anyone in the company who embodies that term, as artificial as it is in his case, it's Triple H. The buzz before the show was whom Paul Heyman selected as his third client. After Michael McGillicutty was rechristened Curtis Axel (a brilliant rebrand, if you ask me), out came Trips to slap him down, literally. Then the match happened, and in what should have been a moment to put Axel over hard by having him fell Trips, the attention hound had to have the cameras on him with the doctors tending to him rather than as the result of a Perfect Plex. He's Poochie, which I can only hope that this is the part of the arc where he dies en route to his home planet. I'm not holding my breath.Other than that, RAW tonight was actually outstanding. All the wrestling got time to breathe and unfold. Even the short matches, like Layla/AJ Lee and especially Big E. Langston/Alberto del Rio, felt like complete stories were told in them. I completely dug Ryback's opening promo as well. The former Skip Sheffield seems to be the perfectly polarizing wrestler. I know there are some people out there who are lukewarm on him, but they seem to be a silent group. Most of the reactions I see migrate into either extreme. He's either awesome and one of the best things going, or he's a pox who should be sold for scrap. I personally think he's more the best than dirt worst. I still think it was awful timing in turning him heel, but I don't think it's fair to say he's not holding up his end of the bargain.But yeah, the best part of this RAW, by far, was the trios match. The Shield could go in there against Great Khali, Jabba the Hutt, and Mr. Game 'n Watch, and it would be a passable match at the very least. With the best wrestler in the world and two cromulent WWE superstars on the other side, it's going to be magic. The match lived up to every expectation and then some, and it's a good thing too. With the way RAW ended, there needed to be a strong positive force in it to cancel out the Triple H Ego Parade.Think about it though. It's 2013. Part-time COO Triple H is still making it all about himself, years after his expiration date had passed as a prime in-ring competitor. Yet, here he is, making it all about him at the expense of a dude right on the night of his rebrand (replete with a totally rad remix of his pops' theme music too). You stay classy, Triple H, and by "stay classy," I mean "please coat yourself in honey and run around Yellowstone, thanks."

WWE Monday Night Raw May 20, 2013 Kansas City, MO Rob McCarron They did it. They kept John Cena off the show. The Ryback Challenges The Champion Ryback came out in an ambulance, looking none the worse for wear after his big title match last night. Ryback said that Cena refused to go in an ambulance last night, but at WWE Payback, he won't have a choice. Ryback proposed a title match at Payback, Cena vs Ryback in an ambulance match. Y2J & Miz vs FANDANGO & Wade Barrett Wade, the IC Champion, lost again, this time in a tag match. Jericho has been in WWE for 14 years, and has had one theme song. Wade has been in WWE for 3 years, and debuted like his 6th or 7th theme already. During the match, while Wade and Jericho were in, FANDANGO grabbed a mic and pronounced his name. Then, his music hit and he began to dance with Summer Rae, leaving Wade confused. Jericho took advantage and hit Wade with the codebreaker before giving way to Miz who locked in a Figure 4 for the submission win. After the match, Miz and Jericho cornered the dancing FANDANGO so he bailed through the crowd. Summer Rae was left by herself. Jericho gazed at her, and reached out for her hand. Summer took it, and Jericho dipped her. They were close, face to face, but Jericho gave her the hand and walked off, leaving Summer angry. Vickie Guerrero came out. She made Jack Swagger vs TBD for later. The WWE Universe would pick the opponent through the WWE App, with choices: Randy Orton, R-Truth, or Great Khali. Backstage, Daniel Bryan was angry. Kane was distraught. Kane was trying, still, to cheer up Bryan. The two started arguing until Kofi came in to break it up. Sheamus vs Titus O'Neil This match came about, apparently, because Titus O'Neil was critical of Sheamus on the WWE Extreme Rules Post-Show last night. Longer match than you may have thought, as Darren Young got involved to allow Titus to have the advantage for much of the match. Eventually Titus was no match for Sheamus, who hit White Noise and the brogue kick for the pinfall victory. Paul Heyman's New Client Paul bragged about Brock's win last night for a while before debuting his new client, Curt Axel. Axel is the former Michael McGuillicutty. Axel's theme music is a remixed version of his father's, Curt Hennig, music. Paul Heyman sold huge the pedigree and name origin of Kurt An...sorry, Curtis Axel. He wondered why Axel hadn't already been a main eventer, but Paul says the new brand will allow him to carve out his own niche. By the way, Axel's TRON has it 'Curt Axel', but Paul kept calling him Curtis. Triple H interrupted, and came to the ring to stand face to face with the third generation WWE Superstar. Triple H began to speak, and Axel tried to cut him off but he was basically "Shh"'d by HHH. Weak. HHH said Brock didn't walk away from the battle last night, he limped away. Triple H threatened to beat up Paul, but Curt again spoke up. Curt is taller than HHH in the ring, which helps him. Curt said to get to Paul, you go through Curt. Triple H slapped Curt. He then made a match between himself and Curt Axel for tonight. Tonight!? Big E Langston vs Alberto Del Rio Big E's theme music is pretty cool. During the match, early, the announcers were discussing Curtis Axel. JBL put Paul Heyman over as a man who makes stars, bringing up Undertaker and Steve Austin in WCW and Brock in WWE. So, anyway, something happened here. Big E... won. During the match, AJ Lee grabbed Ricardo's bucket and threw it in the ring. While the ref was distracted, Big E gouged Alberto's eyes and hit the Big Ending for the win. AJ Lee vs Layla El AJ Lee beat Layla via submission with the Black Widow. Cody Rhodes vs Zack Ryder Cody's Moustache beat Ryder's hair with the disaster kick in a fine short match. After the match, The Ryback paced to the ring and destroyed the beaten Zack Ryder with the meat hook clothesline and Shellshock. Ryback then carried the broken Ryder and put him into the am

- WWE taped the following matches tonight in Kansas City to air on WWE Superstars: * Tensai, Brodus Clay, Cameron and Naomi vs. The Bella Twins and The Usos * Damien Sandow vs. Alex Riley. - To open tonight’s RAW, Ryback challenged John Cena to an Ambulance Match for the WWE Title at WWE’s Payback pay-per-view. Michael Cole later said the match was official. - WWE has announced that Sin Cara will face Wade Barrett for the WWE Intercontinental Title on this week’s Main Event. Cara defeated Barrett in a non-title match last week. - Michael McGillicutty made his return to RAW tonight as the newest client of Paul Heyman. Heyman called it a moment that we will look back on in 10 years. His new ring name is Curtis Axel, which pays homage to Larry “The Ax” Hennig and Curt Hennig. Big Spoiler on What Happens to Lesnar and Punk, Plans for The Shield’s Title Reign, More Scoops…

Extreme Rules is in the books and the landscape of the WWE definitely took a left turn after that show. Welcome to Kansas City! My most sincere prayers go out to those in the middle of our great country that are dealing with horrific weather. Am ambulance drove into the arena. The siren was almost as annoying as Scott Steiner’s old entrance music. Ryback got out of the ambulance. The announcers talked about the wild battle between Ryback and John Cena. Ryback wasn’t happy that the match ended up a “No Contest”. Ryback said Cena left as the champion but he didn’t walk out holding the belt. A video showed Cena wearing a neck brace. Cena refused medical attention, last night. Ryback talked trash about the fans. Ryback wanted an Ambulance Match at WWE Payback (next Pay-Per-View). Ryback was certain that he could put Cena into the ambulance. Ryback went back to trash talking the fans, calling them fat and weak. Ryback called them all “Lost Souls”. Ryback knew that John Cena was the fans’ hero, which he thought was pathetic. Ryback said he would take John Cena and the fans to the morgue. He bellowed “Ryback Rules!” Paul Heyman said he was going to announce his newest client, later in the night. Who could it be? Michael Cole pushed the new Sonic shakes. I am so getting one of those when I go to Fallon on Tuesday. Fandango and Wade Barrett vs Chris Jericho and The Miz Wade has some kickin’ new theme music. Fandango has the best tights in the business, today. His vest even matches, which is a trick. Summer Rae was at ringside. Jericho and Wade to open things up. They locked up and Wade took a Side Headlock. Shoulder Tackled by Wade. Dropkick by Jericho. Knife Edge Chops by Jericho. Back Elbow by Jericho. Tag to Fandango. Fanny with Top Mount Punches. Fanny stomped away and sent Y2J into the corner with a Hammer Throw. Jericho started to punch across the ring. Road Dogg was in the back. Tag to Wade. The two were having issues so Raw went to break. Side Headlock by Wade on Miz. Fanny was on the floor with Summer Rae. Miz started punching away. Kitchen Sink by Miz. Miz threatened the Figure Four but Fandango took the house microphone and started dancing. Wade took out Miz as the couple danced. Wade ordered Fandango to get to the corner and help him. Tag to Jericho. Jericho with Shoulder Tackles. Wade pitched Jericho over the ropes. Ax Bomber into the Lionsault by Jericho. Code Breaker! Miz tagged back in and locked in the Figure Four. Wade tapped out! Your Winners: The Miz and Chris Jericho Raw Ranking: 3.0 Miz and Jericho came around to confront Fandango. Fanny took off into the crowd, leaving Summer in his wake. Jericho stared at her and she smiled. He offered his hand for a dance. He spun her into a deep clutch and dip. Jericho then dissed her by rejecting her. Vickie Guerrero shrieked her “Excuse Me” Catchphrase to the disdain of the fans. Vickie said Jack Swagger will face: 1. Great Khali 2. R-Truth 3. Randy Orton The fans will get to vote, later on. I’m thinking Orton. The announcer then talked about The Shield taking the US title and the tag belts at Extreme Rules. Daniel Bryan was livid in the locker room. Kane walked up to him. Daniel said the reality of no longer being the tag champions had finally sunk in. Daniel was angry at Kane about he loss. Kane told Daniel to be confident in their rematch. Daniel thought Kane was calling him the weak link of the team. Kofi Kingston came in to try and play peacemaker. Sheamus vs Titus O’Neil After the Strap Match, last night, Mark Henry said he was going home. Darren Young was in Titus’ corner. The two battlers locked up and moved around the ring. Side Headlock by Sheamus. Shoulder Tackle by Sheamus. Kneelift and Side Headlock by Titus. Shoulder Tackle by Titus. Sheamus pitched Titus out of the ring. Forearm shot by Sheamus. Crossfaces by the Irishman. Sheamus then kicked Titus in the knee. Sheamus then went out and took out Darren. Titus with a Clothesline, on the floor. Bac