Positively Raw 05.17.11: Never Give Up

Welcome once again to the most positive of all the Raw columns on 411mania, this is Positively Raw!

Making Cena Quit

For most, this Sunday’s WWE championship ‘I Quit’ match is a foregone conclusion. John Cena has competed in three of these matches previously against JBL, Randy Orton, and Batista respectively, and has won every time. The guy even has ‘Never Give Up’ plastered across his many coloured t-shirts! So as soon as what will most likely be the final title match for a while between The Miz and John Cena was announced as the type of match that favours Cena, many were speculating that The Miz was most definitely going to lose – Hell, even I at first thought that there was no chance that The Awesome One was regaining the Gold. On Raw, The Miz claimed that he has a million ways in which he could force Cena to utter those two dreaded words. I myself haven’t been able to think of a million ways, but I’ve got a few realistic methods that I’d like to try out:

1. The good old fashioned way
Beating Cena to a pulp and stretching his body to the absolute limit, leaving him with no choice but to surrender. I know it seems out of Cena’s character to quit like that, but in the end this is a competition, and The Miz has proven how dastardly he can be over the years. We must also remember that a few years back, Chavo Guerrero managed to beat other kids’ favourite Rey Mysterio in this very match, so it’s not outside of the realms of possibility.

2. Tape recording
We’ve seen this one before, but that was over a decade ago now – During the match, The Miz manages to turn the tide on Cena, and holds him in a brutal submission. The problem is that Cena just won’t quit and would rather just be tortured that lose his Hustle, Loyalty and Respect. Still holding Cena captive, The Miz barks some orders to Alex Riley, who disappears into the back. The Miz’s Vice President of Corporate Communication would then head into the production truck and play a two-second audio bite of Cena saying the words ‘I Quit’ from one of his promos about the match. The referee hears this, and rings the bell.

Royal Rumble 1999 The Rock vs Mankind ‘I Quit’… by undividedlankey

Royal Rumble 1999 The Rock vs Mankind ‘I Quit’… by undividedlankey

3. Holding somebody else in peril
Who says The Miz even needs to hurt Cena to get the win? The Miz even told us on Raw that he won’t need to use any of the tradition weapons. What’s to say that The Miz and Riley capture someone else, someone special to Cena – perhaps his wife, or maybe John Cena Senior who we’ve all met before? Miz and Riley would hold said person captive, threatening to cause them harm until Cena has no choice but to quit the match to save someone else. And if a bit of kidnapping seems slightly unrealistic in today’s WWE, then have it be a (planted) kid from the audience. Cena would never want any harm to come to one of his loyal, young fan base, and an act as dastardly as that would cement The Miz as the ultimate heel in the PG world of today.

What do you all think? Let me know in the comments section below!

Never Give Up!

1. Rey Mysterio vs. The Truth

Rey Mysterio came down to the ring this week on Raw to call out R-Truth. This was regarding Truth’s actions from the end of last week’s broadcast that saw Truth attack Rey from behind. Rey said that he knows what it’s like to be passed up on, and to not be given chances, but that unlike Truth, Rey deals with his business like a man. Rey waited for Truth during the course of a whole commercial break, and when the show was back on, he didn’t get Truth, but rather Alberto Del Rio… but you already know that!

Rey and Del Rio would have a match, and a good one at that. Del Rio worked over the arm and shoulder as has become custom for an Alberto Del Rio match in a bid to make his Cross Arm-Breaker finisher more lethal. Just as Rey looked to have the upper hand, R-Truth’s voice was heard, proclaiming Rey Mysterio to be a thief, and imploring people to stop him and call the cops. It was revealed that Truth was up on the upper tier of the arena, and the distraction nearly cost Rey, as Alberto was able to get back up. Mysterio was able to fight back though, and set up for his 619 finisher. Ricardo Rodriguez had other ideas though, and jumped up on the apron, blocking Mysterio’s patented move and causing the disqualification in the process. Del Rio would then get the last laugh, taking Mysterio down once more before leaving. Rey would find his way up to his feet, but would be attacked from behind yet again by R-Truth. Truth then went on to cut a promo questioning how Rey challenged him, when it should always be Truth that challenges him. Truth finishes by telling Rey that this Sunday, Rey will ‘get got’!

The Positive – For a feud that began a week ago and has been rushed onto PPV due to the untimely injury of John Morrison, Rey and Truth have done a pretty fine job in building this one up considering the circumstances. Truth’s promos have been awesome, and I personally am digging the fact that he literally seems to have flipped out, and has gone completely insane. Rey’s promo work was also well done, in that it sticks to his no nonsense character, and the match that we got between Rey and Del Rio was nothing to scoff at, even if it was there to build towards something else. All in all, this Sunday’s showdown between these two should be pretty interesting, not least due to that it could either be the end of a very short, if not intense – on the part of Truth – feud, or it could be just the beginning.

– On a side note, I’m also wondering at this point whether Truth will be entering to any music on Sunday, as he seems to have done away with it completely.

2. Cole sticks his foot in it

Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler will have one more match at Over the Limit this Sunday, and Jerry Lawler’s Hall of Fame Ring will be on the line. The official contract signing took place on Raw this week, and Jack Swagger stood behind Michael Cole across the table from Jerry Lawler during the proceedings. Michael asked Lawler to clarify what he was putting at stake on Sunday, and Jerry sure enough gave confirmation of what he stood to lose. ‘The King’ then wasted no time in signing to the glee and delight of Michael Cole. Cole told Lawler that he was a stupid as everyone in the crowd – cheap heat baby – and that he hadn’t read what he’d signed. Cole revealed that this Sunday was in fact a Kiss My Foot match, and showed footage from the King of the Ring 1995 event, in which Lawler was forced to kiss the foot of Bret Hart. Cole showed off his athletes foot, before Lawler retorted with the fact that that was indeed Bret Hart, and that Michael Cole is NO Bret Hart, and is not even a Jack Swagger. Lawler continued by showing his outrage over how a former World Champion in Swagger had been reduced to nothing more than Cole’s sidekick. Michael Cole, then rather stupidly, argued back that no one even remembers Swagger as a World Champion, and that the All American-American wouldn’t have even been on the show at Wrestlemania if it wasn’t for him. Swagger took exception to this disrespect though, and the cracks finally caused the window to smash in the relationship between the two, as Swagger told Cole that he was done, and wished him all the best for Sunday before leaving. Cole, realising that he’d lost his only ally, assured Lawler that it was all a joke, and that they should just call it off. King however just smiled back, letting Cole know that he would be kissing his foot come Sunday.

The Positive – Yes, this feud was dragged out for way longer than it should have been – even I can appreciate that. But, with this Sunday’s match being the third in the Lawler/Cole trilogy, it seems that Cole will FINALLY be getting his comeuppance at the hand foot of Jerry Lawler. Swagger was well written out of this storyline here too, as it was referenced prominently for the first time in a while that Jack Swagger is a former World Champion, thus reminding the World of that very fact. This means that neither Swagger, nor anyone else will be interfering on behalf of Cole at Over the Limit, meaning that Lawler can essentially squash then man. The only person that really has any reason to get involved is Good Ol’ JR, who also deserves a measure of revenge against Cole.

Of course the best part about this segment was that it pushes Jack Swagger up and away from this feud and into potentially bigger and better things…

3. The Miz’s Choice

Raw began this week with the Champ himself, John Cena. Mr Never-Give-Up didn’t get to say a whole word though before being interrupted by Alex Riley. Riley introduced The Miz, and both men made their way down to the ring. The Miz stood in silence while Riley and Cena did all the talking, with Cena claiming that he could see the fear in Miz’s eyes. The Raw GM then chimed in, and Cole announced that as Cena had gotten to choose the match stipulation for Over the Limit, that The Miz would be allowed to decide Cena’s opponent and match type for Raw.

Throughout the night, The Miz was seen backstage talking to a variety of different superstars, from Punk and Mason Ryan, to Kane and thee Big Show, adding to the speculation of just who would be chosen as Cena’s opponent for the night. Once main event time came around, Cena headed past Zack Ryder, picking up the t-shirt, on his way to the ring. The Miz and Riley then took to the stage, and standing either side of the entrance ramp, forcing Cena to walk between the two of them. Cena kept an eye on them, but it would be Jack Swagger that took advantage, attacking Cena from behing, starting the No Holds Barred match between the two of them. Swagger took Cena to his limit, almost defeating the current WWE champion on several occasions; however Cena would regain control and force Swagger to quit by tapping out.

The Miz congratulated Cena, but then told of the million ways in which he had to defeat Cena on Sunday, and declared that although he wouldn’t use any weapons such as the pipe come Sunday, that he could well use it now. Miz and Riley then jumped Cena, with Miz getting a few pipe shots in on his foe. Cena was able to fight back though, and chased Miz from the ring once he managed to get his hands on the pipe. Cena then ended the show by telling Miz to bring his million ways, and bring a million more, for at Over the Limit, he’ll be able to say ‘Because I’m The Miz, and I Quit’.

The Positive – The first major positive is that Zack Ryder got some airtime with the Champ for the second week in a row – this time shilling the t-shirt. Another positive is that Jack Swagger moved up from being Cole’s lackey to being a main event player on Raw in the space of an hour. Now, I know Swagger lost by tapping out to Cena, but the fact is that Swagger more than held his own, and dominated the Champion (who needed to win ahead of the high-profile match Sunday) for much of the contest. Swagger looked like he belonged and reminded us of just why he is a former champion, and that he can get it done in the ring. Let’s hope Swagger’s rise continues so that he can get a guaranteed spot without the help of Michael Cole come Wrestlemania 28.

The main positive comes in the build up to Sunday’s ‘I Quit’ match. Colour me excited for this match now, as there is now a sliver of a chance that The Miz is actually winning this thing, meaning that the match just received and injection of unpredictability that it needed to thrive. Kurt Angle has integrity, intensity, and intelligence – The Miz is intelligent, conniving, and ruthless. In what has been a very short build, I’d say that all involved have done a swell job of making this match one to watch.

That’s all for another week, let me know you’re positives for Raw this week below!

#StayPositive