The 869th edition of WWE Monday Night RAW came to you, live, from the Thompson-Boling Arena at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, TN. Two of the stars of the upcoming movie, “When In Rome”, will serve as Guest Co-Hosts of RAW as Jon Heder, famous for his starring role in “Napoleon Dynamite” and “Blades of Glory”, will be joined by the star of the TV Series “Miami Vice” & “Nash Bridges”, Don Johnson, in running RAW. After their legendary match at last year’s WrestleMania, Shawn Michaels has challenged The Undertaker to a rematch at this year’s WrestleMania and The Undertaker would give his answer to the challenge, live, in a rare RAW appearance.
Match Results
- Non-Title: Sheamus def. Evan Bourne by pin following the Celtic Cross.
Randy Orton made his way to ringside and momentarily distracted Sheamus early on in the match.
- "All-American American" Over-The-Top Rope Challenge: Mark Henry def. Jack Swagger
Jack Swagger called out Santino Marella for the challenge, but Marella came out dressed as Guest Co-Host Don Johnson and introduced Mark Henry as his replacement in the match.
- John Cena & Kofi Kingston def. Legacy by Kofi Kingston pinning Cody Rhodes with a high cross body.
- Gail Kim & Eve Torres def. Maryse & Alicia Fox by Alicia Fox submitting to a modified arm bar by Eve Torres.
- Randy Orton def. Chris Masters by pin following the RKO.
After the match, Sheamus delivered his signature pump kick to the face of Randy Orton.
- 6-Man Tag: D-Generation X & Hornswoggle def. The Miz, Big Show, & Jon Heder by Hornswoggle pinning Jon Heder following the Tadpole Splash.
Match Quality
- Randy Orton Vs. Chris Masters
- Sheamus Vs. Evan Bourne
- John Cena & Kofi Kingston Vs. Legacy
- Mark Henry Vs. Jack Swagger
- 6-Man Tag
- Gail Kim & Eve Torres Vs. Maryse & Alicia Fox
Detailed Results
The show kicks off with WWE Chairman Mr. McMahon, who states that life is about “decisions” and he made the “decision” to kick Bret Hart two weeks ago and he made the “decision” to ban Bret from the WWE forever last week. The Chairman states that the fans need to remember who Bret “was”, not who he “is” and calls Bret an “apologetic, broken down, old warhorse” and states that he needs to be “put down”! McMahon states that it is his “decision” to “put down” Bret and states that Bret lost his “flavor”, before saying that, if he let Bret stay in the WWE, Bret would be like a “disease” to the WWE! The Chairman then stated that the fans made the “decision” to ban Bret Hart, not him. Mr. McMahon is then interrupted by the eerie arrival of the World Heavyweight Champion, The Undertaker! Undertaker tells the Chairman that, the way he sees it, it is “his time” now and says that he is out there to tell McMahon something that his “ego” will not allow him to admit! “The Deadman” states that he was one of the few who was in Montreal twelve years ago for the incident and says that he saw the “fear” in McMahon’s eyes then and he sees the “fear” in his eyes now! Undertaker tells McMahon that he “screwed” Bret, twice and says what the Chairman did was the act of a “coward”! Mr. McMahon politely says he “disagrees” before he quickly exits the ring!
The Undertaker then turned his attention to Shawn Michaels and states that, while HBK proved that he is “Mr. WrestleMania”, the streak still remained intact. Undertaker then states that he wants to deliver the answer to Shawn Michaels’ challenge “personally”. Shawn Michaels then comes out and states that he is “all ears” for Undertaker’s answer. Undertaker tells Michaels that HBK came closer than anyone last year, but he still “failed” and proclaims that he has “nothing to prove” before saying “no” to a WrestleMania Rematch! Undertaker then adds that, if HBK still thinks he can win, then he will face him on RAW! Michaels then delivers a “no” of his own before saying that, when he beats Undertaker, he wants it to be at WrestleMania! HBK then announces that he is going to enter and win the 30-Man Royal Rumble Match and he will challenge The Undertaker for the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania! Undertaker then tells HBK that the Royal Rumble Match is Michaels’ “only chance at salvation”! Michaels proclaims that, at WrestleMania, he will take Undertaker’s “title, streak, and soul”! Can Shawn Michaels outlast twenty-nine other Superstars to become a three-time Royal Rumble Match winner?
WWE Champion Sheamus was in action on RAW as “The Celtic Warrior” went one-on-one with Evan Bourne in a non-title match. As the match got underway, the #1 Contender for the WWE Title, Randy Orton, made his way to ringside. Despite a momentary distraction by Randy Orton, Sheamus was able to pick up a decisive victory over Evan Bourne! After the match, Orton came into the ring and came face-to-face with the WWE Champion! The two diabolical Superstars locked eyes and Sheamus held the WWE Title belt in the face of Orton before exiting the ring, where Orton continued to stare a whole through the champion. With two weeks to go until the Royal Rumble, what else will go down between Sheamus & Randy Orton before they square off with the WWE Title on the line?
“The All-American American” Jack Swagger was in action on RAW, but before his match, Swagger states that his loss to Santino Marella last week was a “fluke”, before proclaiming that he will throw anyone out of the Royal Rumble Match who gets in his way. Swagger then issues another “All-American American” Challenge and calls Santino out! Santino comes out dressed as Don Johnson and brings out Mark Henry to accept the challenge on his behalf! “The World’s Strongest Man” easily tosses Swagger over the top rope to win “The All-American American” Over-The-Top Rope Challenge! Losing his own over-the-top rope challenge for the last two weeks, will Swagger suffer a similar fate in the 30-Man Royal Rumble Match?
Guest Co-Hosts Jon Heder & Don Johnson come out and Don Johnson states that he knows what the fans want to see and announces that D-Generation X will be in action in the main event! Jon Heder says he wants something “new”, before introducing his “close, personal friend”, The Miz! The United States Champion comes out and states that it is nice to have “actual celebrities” as Guest Co-Hosts, before thanking Jon Heder for entering him into the 30-Man Royal Rumble Match! Miz then tells Don Johnson that MVP is the “Tubbs” of RAW, which prompts MVP to interrupt the United States Champion! MVP apologizes to Don Johnson for The Miz before revealing that he is also a participant in the 30-Man Royal Rumble Match! MVP then states that he is not going to wait until the Royal Rumble to throw The Miz over the top rope. As MVP & The Miz are set to go head-to-head, Big Show comes out and waylays MVP with a vicious right hand! Heder reveals that he struck an “insurance policy” in Big Show before announcing that Unified WWE Tag Team Champions D-Generation X will face the “brand new” team of Big Show & United States Champion The Miz! How will Miz & Big Show co-exist as a team? Can DX overcome this new team?
After Legacy cost them a shot at the WWE Championship at the Royal Rumble last week, John Cena & Kofi Kingston faced off with Cody Rhodes & Ted DiBiase. Cena & Kofi were able to work flawlessly as a team to earn their retribution over Rhodes & DiBiase as they picked up the win over Legacy! With all four of these Superstars in the 30-Man Royal Rumble Match, will alliances crumble when it is every man for himself with a title shot at WrestleMania on the line?
After a backstage confrontation with Hornswoggle, Guest Co-Host Jon Heder found himself added to the tag team main event as DX & Hornswoggle will face The Miz, Big Show, & Jon Heder in a 6-Man Tag Match!
The four Semi-Finalists in the Divas Tournament were in action on RAW as Maryse teamed up with Alicia Fox to face the team of Gail Kim & Eve Torres. Eve Torres was able to use a unique arm bar submission to force Alicia Fox to tap out and win the match for herself & Gail Kim! Which of these four Divas will survive the Divas Tournament to become the new Divas Champion?
The #1 Contender for the WWE Title was in action on RAW as Randy Orton went one-on-one with “The Masterpiece” Chris Masters. As soon as the bell rang for the match to begin, WWE Champion Sheamus came out and stood at ringside, just as Randy Orton had done earlier in the evening! In the end, Orton was able to survive the rigors of the Masterlock and hit the RKO on Masters to pick up the win! After the match, Sheamus entered the ring and delivered a vicious boot to the face of Orton, laying “The Viper” out! As the Royal Rumble draws near, things are heating up between the WWE Champion and the #1 Contender. Who will emerge from the Royal Rumble as the WWE Champion?
It was announced during RAW that, on next week’s show, the stars of the TV series “Psych”, James Roday & Dule Hill, will serve as the Guest Co-Hosts of RAW! What will the “Psych” stars have in store for RAW next week?
Then it was time for the 6-Man Tag main event as Unified WWE Tag Team Champions D-Generation X teamed with their “mascot”, Hornswoggle and joined by Don Johnson, to face the team of United States Champion The Miz, Big Show, & “The Flame” Jon Heder! The end of the chaotic contest came after Don Johnson threw Jon Heder back into the ring, which led to Heder getting knocked down by Triple H! Big Show was set to chokeslam Triple H when Shawn Michaels delivered Sweet Chin Music to “The World’s Largest Athlete”, followed by Sweet Chin Music to The Miz! Following Sweet Chin Music, Big Show fell on Heder and Hornswoggle delivered the Tadpole Splash onto Heder to pick up the win for himself and DX!
After the match, Triple H tells Shawn Michaels that he has something important to say to HBK. Triple H tells his partner that going after the championship is “not going to work out”! Before Triple H could elaborate, John Cena came to the ring and stated that, after two years, he is officially announcing that he will take part in the 30-Man Royal Rumble Match! Cena states that he will win the Royal Rumble Match again this year, like he did in 2008! Big Show makes his way back into the ring and announces that he will also take part in the 30-Man Royal Rumble Match! Show then states that he will show why he will win the Royal Rumble Match before attacking DX! Cena then attacks Show and sends Show out of the ring, but then DX sends Cena over the top rope! Triple H then throws his partner, Shawn Michaels over the top rope! After this surprising act by “The Game”, Triple H proclaims that “none” of them are going to win the Royal Rumble Match, because he will! In a match where partnerships are void and the winner gets a shot at either the WWE or World Heavyweight Title at WrestleMania, who will walk out of the Royal Rumble Match with a guaranteed title opportunity?