1/17/11 Raw Recap

– We open Raw with a tribute to Martin Luther King.

– John Cena is out to a huge ovation. They show footage of the new Nexus attacking him three weeks ago. Cena says that was last year and says he is going on to win the Royal Rumble and win back the WWE Title at Wrestlemania. Miz is out with Riley. Miz says that Cena is played out and no one wants to see that. He calls himself the most must see champion in WWE history. Miz says the odds are against Cena as there will be 40 men in this year’s Rumble instead of 30. Cena is doing some lame comedy as usual. He calls Miz Ivan Drago and starts acting like Rocky. CM Punk and Nexus are out. Punk talks about the Rumble match and says with he and Nexus all in that Cena’s odds of winning have gone from slim to a big fat zero. Nexus attacks Cena but Kozlov and Santino make the save. I have no idea where Miz and Riley went. The GM has chimed in. Nexus is barred from ringside when Punk takes on Cena later tonight and if anyone of them gets involved they are out of the Rumble match.

– Randy Orton vs Dolph Ziggler is announced for later tonight.

(1) WWE Tag Team Title Match. Vladimir Kozlov & Santino Marella (c) vs The Usos. Nothing to this at all. Santino gets the win with the Cobra. This only went like two minutes.

(2) Daniel Bryan vs John Morrison. Morrison wins the knee to the face. Another short match.

– Sheamus is out after the match. He says he made Morrison and can destroy him. He says no one is in his league and  he will win the Rumble.

– Backstage the Bella’s are alone and make a bet on which one will be “Bryan’s first”.

(3) Randy Orton vs Dolph Ziggler. Pretty decent match. Orton wins the the RKO.

– Miz and Riley are out after the match to attack Orton. They run him into the steps. Miz is clearing the announce table but Lawler stops him. Miz grabs Lawler and tosses him into the crowd. Miz rams Orton into the ring post. Miz and Riley pick up Orton and toss him through the retaining wall.

(4) Natalya vs Maryse. Melina and Eve are on commentary for this. Melina isn’t saying anything at all. Natalya wins quick with the Sharpshooter.

– Maryse snaps after the match and starts tossing stuff around. She is yelling at Michael Cole. Dibiase is out and Maryse says he can’t win the Rumble and calls him a loser. Dibiase says he can throw anyone over the top rope and issues an open challenge right now.

(5) Over the Top Rope Challenge. Ted Dibiase vs Mark Henry. Henry wins in like 20 seconds. A bunch of the Raw roster is out and Henry tosses them all over the top one by one. Sheamus is out and after going back and forth Henry tosses him over the top rope. Alberto Del Rio is now out. He says winning the Rumble is is destiny but refuses to get into the ring and fight Henry.

– Edge vs Miz is announced for next weeks show.

(6) John Cena vs CM Punk. Best match of the show by far. This has a ton of crowd heat. Mason Ryan from FCW is out and kicks Punk causing a DQ. Nexus comes out to go after him but Punk holds them back. Mason gets down on his knees and salutes Punk who puts a Nexus arm band on him.