Monday Night Raw Live

[Father Dougal McGuire]

Punk was absolutely fantastic there!!

[RussellV1]

Total non stop catchphrases

[DeadStar]

The Rock really is shite these days.

Unfair sticking him on after Punk's superb promo.

[forehead7]

Ugly tattoos, what's that fucking horrendous shite on his left shoulder/arm?

[Parscelona]

Already miles better than Rock/Cena.

[RB-Scotland]

Class. Some of Rock's comedy schtick fell a little bit short because of the awesomeness that was surrounding it, but everything else, brilliant. That is how you sell a pay-per-view.

[forehead7]

Punk was on fire there!

Rock was decent outwith the catchphrase overload. Straight edge scrotum was fantastic. Couldn't touch Punk though, especially when they went right up, face to face.

Can't wait till they get into it every week, tit for tat. I hope the Rock has cleared the month.

[Thistle_do_nicely]

Really, really torn.

On the one hand, Punk was on good form, laying into just about everybody. Shitting on the commercial break was a nice touch.

On the other, I still can't help but be a mark for Rock. Straight-edge scrotum was great.

Looking forward to the Rumble. Maddox interference to cost Punk?

[TheScarf]

Re Ziggler - his nose looked broken on last weeks RAW. Possibly explains the black eye.

[Dindeleux]

I'm going to follow the crowd here and agree that Punk got one over on the Rock last night on the mic. I would also say though that Punk didn't do the Rock any favours by basically shredding the Rocks promo style to shreds before the Rock even really started.

For me, the Rock seems to have lost the ability for one liners and thinking quick during a promo. He seems to repeat a lot of his lines to give him time to think of the next one.

No major complaints from me though, it's going to be great.

[Quitongo's Left Peg]

Decent Raw, even if the Punk/Ryback match was bizarre. WWE/Ryback fucked things up with the whole Shield appearance. Ryback was at the top of the ladder with his hands clearly on the belt, then the lights went out. But why would Goldberg Ryback not just unfasten it anyway?! Made no sense whatsoever.

My opinions on Cena are pretty clear, but his cheerleading for the Rock at the start made me cringe. Had they forgotten that Cena had a pretty big feud with Rock last year when they scripted him to lick his balls in the opening segment?

I agree with everyone else re: Punk/Rock. Rock gave some substandard (by his usual standard) digs and then Punk delivered the best line of the night -

"Your little jabs and your insults are just kiddie games ... Your arms are just too short to box with GOD!"

[DA Baracus]

Punk's promo was fucking immense. Best one in all of wrestling since his 'pipe bomb'. The delivery was just spot on.

Rock will always be great. He just has so much charisma that he can spew any old shite and it will be great. He delivered though. This match should be tremendous.

Both showed just how fucking terrible, lazy and shite Cena is on the mic. He was beyond dire. His promo to open the show was one of the worst I've ever heard. It was that bad.

Overall it was a pretty good Raw. The opening package made it feel like a PPV, and the crowd throughout made it feel like a PPV. Ziggler was fantastic as usual but as usual Cena dragged him down, like he does to everyone. I really can't stand Cena. As pointed out, when someone interferes like Big E did, it's so that the heel can pick up the win whilst letting the face stay strong, yet not Cena. No, with Cena, he has to batter everyone and smash out of everyone's finishing moves multiple times. w**k, total w**k.

Orton and Sheamus got massive reactions and despite being massively jobbed to bits throughout the show, 3MB were decent. The tag match was decent. The TLC match was brilliant and really felt like a PPV main event. Punk took some brutal bumps and Ryback looks greatly improved. I actually thought that Ryback had it won. It was very well done.

Finally, they really need to get rid of that fucking dreadful spinner belt. That they haven't tells us all who will be holding the title come Raw on the 8th of April.

Edited January 8, 2013 by DA Baracus

[Sherrif John Bunnell]

The Rock hires adolescent dimwit as personal joke writer

Professional wrestler and Hollywood star Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has reportedly hired 14-year-old Dylan Grange — a pubescent dimwit — to be his personal comedy writer during the lead up to WWE’s Royal Rumble and WrestleMania events.

Johnson reportedly hired Grange shortly before his much-hyped appearance on last night’s edition of Monday Night Raw, and paid the boy an undisclosed sum to “write some comedy gold.”

Grange, drawing upon his vast experience of smoking pot and lighting farts with buddies in his parents’ basement, got straight to work, crafting “jokes” primarily about male genitalia.

Johnson was reportedly delighted with the material Grange provided, including a zinger about CM Punk’s “straight-edge scrotum” and something called “Cookiepuss.”

He was so fond of the “Cookiepuss” line, in fact, that he didn’t even need to write it on his wrist to remember it.

According to backstage sources, Johnson plans to collect more comedic material from high school bathroom stalls.

http://www.kayfabenews.com/the-rock-hires-adolescent-dimwit-as-personal-joke-writer/

[EdgarusQPFC]

Punk's promo was fucking immense. Best one in all of wrestling since his 'pipe bomb'. The delivery was just spot on.

Rock will always be great. He just has so much charisma that he can spew any old shite and it will be great. He delivered though. This match should be tremendous.

Both showed just how fucking terrible, lazy and shite Cena is on the mic. He was beyond dire. His promo to open the show was one of the worst I've ever heard. It was that bad.

Overall it was a pretty good Raw. The opening package made it feel like a PPV, and the crowd throughout made it feel like a PPV. Ziggler was fantastic as usual but as usual Cena dragged him down, like he does to everyone. I really can't stand Cena. As pointed out, when someone interferes like Big E did, it's so that the heel can pick up the win whilst letting the face stay strong, yet not Cena. No, with Cena, he has to batter everyone and smash out of everyone's finishing moves multiple times. w**k, total w**k.

Orton and Sheamus got massive reactions and despite being massively jobbed to bits throughout the show, 3MB were decent. The tag match was decent. The TLC match was brilliant and really felt like a PPV main event. Punk took some brutal bumps and Ryback looks greatly improved. I actually thought that Ryback had it won. It was very well done.

Finally, they really need to get rid of that fucking dreadful spinner belt. That they haven't tells us all who will be holding the title come Raw on the 8th of April.

Absolutely spot on mate, couldn't have said it better. Looking forward to this year's rumble, should be a good one.

[J_Stewart]

CM Punk, in that kind of form, is quite simply untouchable. Great match with Ryback, even better promo. With a microphone in his hand and that kind of righteous indignation he is absolutely phenomenal.

Pretty damn good Raw last night all round, will be interesting to see who gets brought back for the big one next week. Hopefully we'll see the return of the Undertaker!

[LAGer]

Punk's promo was fucking immense. Best one in all of wrestling since his 'pipe bomb'. The delivery was just spot on.

Rock will always be great. He just has so much charisma that he can spew any old shite and it will be great. He delivered though. This match should be tremendous.

Both showed just how fucking terrible, lazy and shite Cena is on the mic. He was beyond dire. His promo to open the show was one of the worst I've ever heard. It was that bad.

Overall it was a pretty good Raw. The opening package made it feel like a PPV, and the crowd throughout made it feel like a PPV. Ziggler was fantastic as usual but as usual Cena dragged him down, like he does to everyone. I really can't stand Cena. As pointed out, when someone interferes like Big E did, it's so that the heel can pick up the win whilst letting the face stay strong, yet not Cena. No, with Cena, he has to batter everyone and smash out of everyone's finishing moves multiple times. w**k, total w**k.

Orton and Sheamus got massive reactions and despite being massively jobbed to bits throughout the show, 3MB were decent. The tag match was decent. The TLC match was brilliant and really felt like a PPV main event. Punk took some brutal bumps and Ryback looks greatly improved. I actually thought that Ryback had it won. It was very well done.

Finally, they really need to get rid of that fucking dreadful spinner belt. That they haven't tells us all who will be holding the title come Raw on the 8th of April.

Have to agree with most of that. First time I've enjoyed an episode of Raw this much for a while, so I didn't want to complain too much but all my complaints are really aimed in the direction of John Cena. I hated the promo at the start and the booking of the match with Ziggler really wound me up. It made Ziggler look like a total jobber, hitting him with everything, including Big E, and still not being able to put him away. Cena hits him with the AA once and its over.

In saying that, I'm glad that Cena's terrible promo was totally overshadowed by the sheer excellence of CM Punk. Him & Ryback served up a pretty good TLC match with a couple of nice spots in it before the promo with the Rock. Having the two of them face to face trading insults was as good as anything I've seen on Raw for months and it really hyped up the excitement for the Royal Rumble. While the Rock maybe isn't the same he still carries himself brilliantly but Punk was just outstanding. The "pipe-bomb" stuff was brilliant and I agreed with all of it. Cena's multiple title shots, Little Jimmy being booked better than Tyson Kidd etc etc. The bit where the fans started to agree with him and he got tore into them for that as well. Excellent stuff from Punk, hopefully persevering with the shows over the last few months for a lot of people is going to pay-off from now until Wrestlemania.

[Tamdunk]

I just watched from the rumble to mania a couple years ago, watched it all last year and it got well shit after WM. The TLC ppv was good though, and it was fun to see Cena lose a few times. Raw was classic Cena though, a quality match, but a terrible finish, ref bump, interference, all things that benefit the heel, actually benefit cena. Ridiculous. Thought Ziggler was good, but shouldn't be lumped with AJ. I thought he was excellent when he tore into her (ooh err), now they're all over each other.

Punk was good, both the match and promo, but the audience seemed pretty dead. Rock was just Rock, nothing new, buit effective. It would be interesting to see if this feud develops into something more than just some comedy schtick from rock and to see if Punk gets inside his head. Cant see anything other than a rock win, but I'd like the title reign to continue, I'd be surprised if it was ever matched again, might as well run with it.

[GiGi]

Punk definitely came off better. There's a much darker and more interesting angle to this feud than Rock v Cena last year. I think Punk will retain actually and Super fucking Cena will overcome all the odds to win the Rumble and beat Punk at 'mania.

Hopefully though Rock will win the title, get rid of the belt and Daniel Bryan will win the Rumble and revive the YES.

[Shuggie_Murray7]

I can seen Punk somehow retaining at RR and The Rock winning the Elimination Chamber.

[J_Stewart]

I can seen Punk somehow retaining at RR and The Rock winning the Elimination Chamber.

It's purely what I'd like to see, but it's on the basis of the rumoured possible Mania matches, so I'll spoiler it just in case.

As the top two matches rumoured are Rock v Cena II for the title and Punk v Taker, I'd like to see Punk retain at the Rumble through some sort of devious means, maybe the Shield or Maddox interfering or something. Cena wins the Rumble later on. Then have Punk constantly make "there's not a man alive or dead that's laced up the boots that could beat me, I'm the best ever" type promos disparaging the likes of Sammartino, Flair, Hogan, 'Taker, Austin, Rock, etc and claiming his title reign is the most incredible thing in wrestling history, including the streak, etc for the next few weeks while the build to elimination chamber happens with a wee tournament for entrants.

Couple of weeks before EC, have the lights go out during one of Punk's promos, but have no reveal, do that every week until the EC, pissing off/freaking out Punk. Get the last two in the Chamber down to Punk v Rock, have Punk cheat again in some way, make it look like he's just about to win and then have the lights go out, put them back on with Punk in position for a tombstone at the hands of the deadman, allowing Rock to win the title. 'Taker has his motive of being disrespected, Punk obviously has his and challenges 'Taker for the streak, boom, job done, you have yourself your top two 'Mania matches.