Clay does a bunch of gyrating and hits an exploder suplex. A King Kong Bundy Avalance and a cross body block later, and Brodus gets the three count in his relaunch. He dances with the Funkettes again post match.
Winner: Brodus Clay
Loser: Any Chance Brodus Clay Ever Had of Being a Draw
Zack Ryder is brushing his teeth backstage and congratulating himself on getting a date with Eve. He gets scared of something that I apparently completely missed and runs out of the room. Okay then.
Miz is trying to get the Colons to be his backup, but they don't take the deal. CM Punk walks by and laughs.
CM Punk vs. Jack Swagger w/ Vickie Guerrero & Dolph Ziggler
They're playing this up as Swagger, who is Dolph's stablemate, softening up Punk for Ziggler's title match at the Royal Rumble. Before Punk even finishes his entrance, Johnny Ace interrupts. He says that, in order to prove to Punk that he can be a fair man, he's adding a stipulation to tonight's match: If Punk wins tonight, Swagger and Vickie will be barred from ringside at the Rumble. Ace also books Ziggler in a match tonight against John Cena since Punk has to wrestle tonight.
The two engage in some basic mat wrestling early, but then they wind up in the corner and start kicking each other. Punk wins the exchange and slams Swagger, then heading up to the top for the Randy Savage elbow. Jack runs off and rolls out of the ring before Punk leaps, taking a bit of a breather. When he reenters the ring, he gets the upper hand thanks to some forearms the to back. Punk ducks a clothesline and hits a cross body, following up with a clothesline of his own. The All American takes back over by going to the WWE Champ's leg, and then he applies a double chicken wing submission. Punk powers out of it, but Swagger quickly grabs him again and applies a waistlock. Swagger throws Punk from the ring when it looks like he's going to recover, and Johnny Ace actually prevents Ziggler from interfering. As soon as Punk gets back into the ring, he clotheslines Swagger out, setting up a tope suicida and a commercial break.
When we come back, Punk is dishing out some forearms, but Swagger cuts him off with a big blow and gets a two count. Swagger continues to dish out some fairly basic offense, but Punk responds with kneelifts and a Shake, Rattle, 'n' Roll. The big knee in the corner also hits, but Swagger throws Punk off when he tries the bulldog and immediately hits his Vader Bomb. That was a pretty good idea for a sequence. Swagger starts yelling at Punk to stay down (even though he never pins anybody with that move), and Punk catches him in the face with a boot when he tries another Vader Bomb. The champ looks for his slingshot clothesline, but Swagger catches him and hits a powerslam. Swagger and Punk both tease the finishers, culminating in Swagger hitting a belly-to-belly for two. Swags places the Chicagoan on the top rope for a suplerplex, but Punk fights him off and shoves him down to the mat. The Savage elbow connects, and the finish is royally screwed up, as Swagger kicks out before three but the ref still calls for the bell and declares Punk the winner.
On the replay, you could tell that, as soon as Swagger's shoulder popped up, Punk was grabbing at his arm to pull him into an Anaconda Vice, possibly for an improvised finish, but the ref just called for the bell anyway.
CM Punk does not look happy AT ALL. Finish aside, this was a pretty fun little TV match, albeit one that moved at a slower pace than what we're used to from Punk and Ziggler when they lock it up.
Zack Ryder and John Cena are backstage again, and Ryder says he's feeling "weirded out." Cena points out that Zack is now one of the five most-followed WWE wrestlers on Twitter. Yeehaw. Ryder acts paranoid again.
After a commercial, Ricardo Rodriguez is talking to the Bella Twins, who apparently called him here so that he could take a message back to Alberto Del Rio in Mexico. Miz interrupts and tells Ricardo that he wants him to go to the ring and call out R-Truth. Initially the young ring announcer refuses, but Miz intimidates him into doing it. "Andele," says Miz. Wow, not a good night for that sort of thing between this and the turban talk earlier.
We get another Hall of Fame inductee, and it is . . . THE FOUR HORSEMEN. Specifically, the name J.J. Dillon, Arn Anderson, Ric Flair, Tully Blanchard, and Barry Windham. No mention of original member Ole Anderson, though that shouldn't come as much of a surprise. Also, before the comment section says it, no Paul Roma. NO PAUL ROMA. I have no idea whether TNA and WWE will work something out that allows Flair to appear at the ceremony or whether it'll just be the crew without the Nature Boy.
Ricardo is in the ring after the video package, halfheartedly insulting R-Truth. Truth, of course, comes out, and his first line is "Lucy, I'm home!" Jesus. Truth says he doesn't understand why Ricardo would want to pick a fight with him, so apparently he wasn't watching the show five minutes ago. Truth asks Little Jimmy if he should let Rodriguez go, and the crowd responds positively. Truth calls Ricardo a cockroach and makes him sing "La Cucaracha." They better pray that whatever the Latino equivalent of GLAAD is doesn't have anybody watching the show. Eventually Ricardo just slaps Truth across the face for no reason, leading to Truth attacking Ricardo and Miz attacking Truth. However, before he can get too far, Truth thumbs him in the eyes and double legs him, causing Miz to run away. Least. Effective. Heel. Ever.
More commercials.
Chris Jericho and his jacket are back when we come back. He does the same over-enthusiastic faux babyface routine that he did last week, though this time he goes a bit farther with being "teared up" by the crowd's reaction. Speaking of the crowd's reaction, it is almost exactly what it was last week, as they've big into the "Y2J" chants at first but... (Continues on next page)
Reporter's Link:
What Happened *AFTER* RAW Ended - HUGE SEGMENT!!!!.....
