WWE RAW Results (1/26/2009) – McMahon vs. Orton, More!

Event: WWE Monday Night RAW
Airdate: Monday, January 26th, 2009 (USA Network)
Location: The Wolstein Center in Cleveland, Ohio
Results by 411Mania.com

-Live from the Wolstein Center in Cleveland, OH

-Hosted by Michael Cole & Jerry “The King” Lawler

-The same video package that played to open the Rumble opens tonight’s show. Words can’t describe how truly epic this package is. Interspersing the footage of the main event promo with Orton’s theme. This was absolutely beautifully done.

-No intro, we go straight to the ring where Lillian introduces the 2009 Royal Rumble winner Randy Orton. The Legacy accompanies Randy to the ring along with three men in suits who are presumably Randy’s legal team. Orton helps the three people in the crowd who don’t know who he is by introducing himself. He introduces the three men as being his lawyers and his therapist. Orton goes over his history by saying he is third generation and the WWE is in his blood. Randy says in addition to the WWE being a part of him something else is a part of him. Orton says he suffers from IED. Intermittent Explosive Disorder. Orton reads a prepared statement saying that it effects 16 million Americans. When a person is provoked they suffer outbursts of physical violence. Orton states that after being slapped by Stephanie and having termination threatened he had become sufficiently provoked. Orton states he was not responsible for his actions. Orton states his therapist will confirm that the WWE knew of condition and did nothing about it. Therefore if Stephanie tries to fire him, he will sue WWE. He states there would also be a second lawsuit. Since he won the Royal Rumble he will sue for breach of contract if he is not allowed to compete in the main event at Wrestlemania. He also says Dibiase and Rhodes will walk if he is fired. Orton says with the three of them gone there will be no superstars left. Orton states he has one more piece of business to attend to. Another prepared statement is given to him by his attorney. This one states that he apologizes for the trauma that befell Mr. McMahon. He also apologizes for the trauma that the family is suffering. Orton hopes that they can put this ugly incident behind them and move forward. Orton successfully turns the crowd against him with this statement which is quite the feat for a guy that is getting massive face pops at this point. Orton says he is a man of honor and offers sincerest apologies to Mr. McMahon, his family, and to the fans. Orton thanks the fans. Brilliantly played by Orton all around doing the whole thing with a smug look on his face to convey that he really doesn’t mean any of it. This guy on a role like we haven’t seen anyone on in many years. He really has put it all together. Phenomenal job all around.

-We see Stephanie watching from her office with an evil glare. She says nothing.

The World Tag Team Title match is up NEXT!

World Tag Team Championship: Cryme Tyme vs. John Morrison & The Miz (c)
Well we’re starting out with a bang as the straps are on the line right off the bat. JTG and Miz start off. JTG hits a face plant quickly out of the corner for two. JTG charges to the corner, but gets backdropped onto the apron. Morrison provides the distraction allowing Miz to hit a drop toehold on the outside. Two count results and Morrison is tagged in. Morrison stomps away in the corner and mounts with some forearms. Cover gets two as Morrison grabs a chinlock. JTG counters a suplex and is able to scoot over to tag in Shad. Shad knocks Miz off the apron and biels Morrison out of the corner. Powerslam coming out of the corner for Shad gets a two count. Morrison is able to regain control with a fist and goes for a Moonlight Drive and Shad goes for the STO. It connects and Miz breaks up the count. Miz is on the apron but gets booted off by Shad. Morrison connects from behind with a kick and this time the Moonlight Drive connects and Miz and Morrison retain with that.
Winners: STILL World Tag Team Champions: John Morrison & The Miz (Morrison pins Shad-Moonlight Drive **)

-Lawler introduces a video package for The Elimination Chamber at No Way Out. Another great video package showing highlights from the past Chamber matches. This year both World Titles will be defended in the Elimination Chamber at No Way Out.

-JBL is out to announce a special qualifying match for the Elimination Chamber. His employee Shawn Michaels will compete on his behalf. If Shawn wins JBL is in the Chamber. Shawn’s opponent will be the man he defeated two weeks ago, John Cena. A qualifying match with the guy who is already in the match defending the belt? That doesn’t make much sense, but hey its Cena-Shawn again so I can’t complain.

Elimination Chamber Qualifying Match: Kofi Kingston vs. Kane
I’m not sure I like Kofi’s chances in this one. Kofi starts with the kicks but is caught on a crossbody attempt and slammed. Dropkick to a seated Kofi allows Kane to take control. Kane pounds away in the corner and drives Kofi into the buckle. A whip to the corner is followed up with a clothesline getting a two count. Kane whips to the corner again, but a charge this time is unsuccessful as Kofi moves. Kofi turns around and runs right into a boot though. Kane comes off the top with a flying clothesline. Kane calls for the chokeslam but Kofi fights it off with a spinning kick. Kane goes for another chokeslam, but Kofi reverses into a sunset flip which picks up the win!?!?! Well I’ll be damned. Should be fun to see what Kofi can do in the chamber.
Winner: Kofi Kingston (Pinfall-Sunset Flip *3/4)

-Recap of the punt heard ’round the world is shown AGAIN. It was an awesome moment, but its getting to be overkill at this point.

-Chris Jericho is out to state that everyone is raving about the film The Wrestler starring Mickey Rourke. A video package on the movie is shown. Same one from Smackdown. Jericho states one of the people who gave the film a glowing review is Ric Flair. Jericho says even though Flair is retired he has to stay in the spotlight, and him and Rourke have become friends. He says Flair may have given him some bad advice. Jericho brings up the footage of Mickey Rourke last night saying Jericho better get in shape. Jericho says Rourke is out of line. Its one thing to play a wrestler in a movie and its another to be one in real life. He says the last thing Rourke or Flair would want to do is offend Jericho. Oh dear god…they’re really gonna do Rourke vs. Jericho at Wrestlemania aren’t they?

-JBL is with Shawn in the locker room. Shawn asks if he really has to go through with this stating he did everything he could last night. JBL says superkicking him was part of his plan? Brilliant. Shawn says he had to get Cena to lower his guard. Shawn says he put JBL on top, and got another referee. He states he did everything humanly possible, he assumed that would be enough. JBL says he assumed someone was watching his money and thats why he’s working for him. JBL says he would fire him right now, but there’s still business to be done. JBL says there’s business to be taken care of. JBL says this is Shawn’s last chance.

Elimination Chamber Qualifying Match: Shawn Michaels vs. John Cena
Not sure how this works if Cena wins since he’s in the match regardless. They took my advice (well I’d like to at least think they did) by having Shawn come out to JBL’s music. Decidedly pro Cena crowd tonight. No handshake this time as they trade blows in the middle. Shawn gets the better of it and delivers a few chops. Cena goes for a bulldog but its countered by Shawn. Shawn smacks Cena in the face which is answered by a right hand. Cena goes for the move formerly known as the FU, but Shawn bails to the floor. That sends us to commercial.

Back from break and Shawn kicks out of a pin attempt. Shawn locks in a figure four which Cena quickly turns over. Belly to belly by Cena gets a two count. Cena grabs a side headlock. To their feet and Shawn fights out of the hold. Shawn hits the ropes and runs into a backdrop from Cena. Irish whip to the corner by Cena puts down Shawn again. Another backdrop attempt by Cena is blocked by a kick from Shawn. Shawn hits the ropes and comes off with a flying forearm. Inverted atomic drop is followed up by a pair of bodyslams from Shawn. Shawn goes to the outside to go for the elbow, but Cena is back up. Back inside Cena goes for the STF, but Shawn counters out. Pair of shoulderblocks and a protoplex from Cena sets up the five knuckle shuffle. Awesome counter by Shawn as Cena waving the hand in Shawn’s face finally backfires as Cena grabs the hand and turns it into a crossface. Cena starts to fade but a second wind allows him tou counter into an FU attempt. Shawn is able to block by reaching the ropes. Shawn charges but runs into a drop toe hold into the STF. Shawn claws towards the ropes and reaches them to break the hold. Back to their feet Cena sets up for an FU attempt, but Shawn counters into a sunset flip for two. Shawn chops Cena and sends him to the buckle. That is followed by another chop from Shawn. Shawn gets whipped to the corner, but comes back out with a clothesline as both men are down. Shawn is to his feet first and gets a bodyslam on Cena. Shawn goes to the outside, but JBL comes over to yell at him. JBL asks Shawn to superkick him, but Shawn says he’ll do it his way. JBL climbs onto the apron to stop Shawn from going to the top. That backfires as Cena pushes JBL into Shawn knocking him off the top rope. From there Cena hits the FU to pick up the victory. JBL will not be in the elimination chamber. Another fantastic effort from these two. Not on the level of the match in Sioux City, but still fantastic and the series is tied at two. I’ll be damned if I don’t want a rubber match. Screwy ending aside, this was fantastic. After the match JBL stands over the fallen Shawn looking down in disgust.
Winner: John Cena (Pinfall-FU ***1/2)

-Yet another recap of the punt is shown, followed by a recap of the opening promo. Okay, seriously, we get it. He kicked Vince.

-Todd Grisham is with Stephanie McMahon. Stephanie says there will be action, but she will do it publicly and to Randy’s face.

Melina & Kelly Kelly vs. Beth Phoenix & Jillian Hall (w. Santino Marella)
Santino joins the commentary team, and immediately brings the awesome by telling Cole “you look fantastic, have you been working out? I almost didn’t recognize you JR.” Beth and Melina start and Beth powers Melina into the corner but runs into a double boot. Off the second rope comes Melina with a seated splash. Beth whips Melina into the corner, but misses a charge. Beth elbows her off and tags in Jillian. Melina grabs control and tags in Kelly who comes in with a sunset flip getting two. Jillian grabs a wrist lock, but Kelly hits a nice springboard takeover counter. Kelly gets whipped into the corner but goes to the apron. A distraction from Beth allows Jillian to shoulder her to the floor. Jillian throws Kelly back in and tags in Beth. Kelly gets her face driven into the mat, but moves out of the way of an elbow. Kelly tries to fight to the corner for the tag, but Jillian provides a distraction. The ref distraction allows Rosa Mendez to run out and slam Melina off the apron. From there Beth hits the Glam Slam which picks up the win. Beth doesn’t look too pleased at that turn of events, but seems happy to take the victory.
Winner: Beth Phoenix & Jillian Hall (Phoenix pins Kelly-Glam Slam *3/4)

-Wrestlemania Rewind is a recap of Wrestlemania 21. We get a little bit of everything including some of the movie trailers. The rewind focuses on the first Money in the Bank match.

Elimination Chamber Qualifying Match: Rey Mysterio vs. William Regal (w. Layla)
Well this is certainly a clash of styles. Rey grabs a sideheadlock, but gets thrown to the corner. Regal runs into a kick, and then Mysterio comes off the top with a springboard seated splash. Mysterio tries for a hurracanrana, but Regal counters it into a face plant. Regal takes control pounding away in the corner and European upper cut gets a two count. Half nelson crossface is locked in by Regal. Rey punches loose, and hits a kick to the face. Off the ropes Regal counters into a face plant and a series of near fall attempts. A knee to the face gets another two count for Regal. In the corner Regal pounds away with the forearm, and then whips Rey into the buckle. Coming out of the corner another forearm connects picking up two. Rey fires back with some kicks, but runs into a knee to the gut from Regal. Regal tries for a butterfly suplex, but that is countered by Rey into an armdrag. Kick to the head connects by Rey, but Regal quickly hits a throw getting two. Rey again fires back with a monkeyflip into the ropes which sets up a 619. Springboard splash finishes from there as Regal continues his slow slip towards irrelevance and Rey moves on to the chamber. So far we have Cena vs. Rey vs. Kofi. They’re not even going for the illusion that Cena might lose are they?
Winner: Rey Mysterio (Pinfall-Springboard Splash **)

-Rosa and Santino are in the back. Rosa says she hopes she did the right thing. She says she had to do something because the way the title was stolen from Beth she had to take a stand for women everywhere. Beth shows up, and stares her down before looking at Santino and saying “we can keep her.” Santino and Rosa celebrate. Phenomenal.

-World Premier of the Trailer for “12 Rounds” Starring John Cena. The Marine is back, and this time he’s a cop! The villian says “What can I say, I just like to play the game.” Sounds to me like they cast the wrong superstar.

Elimination Chamber Qualifying Match: CM Punk vs. Chris Jericho
First we get HBK-Cena, and now Jericho-Punk? Color me pleased. Gutwrench suplex gets a one count for Punk right away. He fires Jericho into the buckle. Punk is whipped into the corner, but Jericho runs into a boot. Punk goes to the second rope, but Jericho takes his legs out from underneath him to take control. Jericho delivers a few kicks and locks in a half nelson crossface. Punk comes up and sends Jericho into the ropes hitting a spin kick. Into the corner Punk hits the high knee and follows with a bulldog. Springboard to the top sees Punk hit Jericho with a flying clothesline for two. Punk sets Jericho up on the top rope and hit a top rope hurracanrana for two. Punk calls for the GTS, but Jericho counters out into a sunset flip. They trade a series of near falls all getting two. Jericho goes for the Walls, but Punk counters out. Jacknife cover by Punk gets two. Jericho goes for a backslide which is blocked by Punk. Jericho quickly hits the codebreaker out of that to pick up the win. Well that was underwhelming. While they were going it was awesome, but they just didn’t have enough time to do anything substantial.
Winner: Chris Jericho (Pinfall-Codebreaker **)

-Say did you know Orton punted Vince last week? Well if you didn’t see it they showed it again for roughly the 712th time tonight.

-Stephanie is shown walking to the ring….

-We return and the General Manager is shown walking to the ring. Stephanie McMahon says she’s ready to react to Orton. She said she will not be intimidated by any lawsuit threats. She tells Orton to come to the ring. Orton’s music hits and out he comes with the rest of Legacy and his lawyers. Orton takes to the mic and says before Stephanie says another word, he wants her to ask herself a question: do you wanna go through with this? If she fires him here tonight, she’ll be subjecting herself to a nightmare. He’ll be gone, Cody and Ted will be gone, the star power in the RAW locker room will be crippled. One of Orton’s lawyers takes to the mic. He gets in Stephanie’s face and says his IED condition is real. He said his client is not going to get on his knees and apologize. If she wants to fire him, there will be extreme consequences. Stephanie quickly asks if that’s some kind of threat. She said Orton kicked her father in the head last week and he has the nerve to threaten her and this company. Orton says that’s right, he’s got a right to a main event at WrestleMania due to winning the Royal Rumble. He said if she fires him he will file an injuction to where there will be no WrestleMania this year. He will shut this company down. He asks Stephanie what she’s gonna do about that. Out comes the entire RAW roster up to the top of the stage. Orton tells the entire RAW staff to stop looking at him. He says you think I care if you guys have a WrestleMania this year. He says he’ll take all of them down with him. He yells at everyone to fire him and says he is begging them to fire him. He says go ahead and cancel WrestleMania and put these ingrates out of work – “fire me, fire me!” He said go ahead Stephanie and finish saying the words your father was trying to say to me before I kicked him in the skull. Stephanie says firing you would be too easy. We’ve got bigger plans. Shane McMahon’s music hits. The RAW roster splits in half to allow Shane to walk through. Shane stops and takes his jacket off. He continues walking down the ramp as he takes his watch off. He enters the ring as the crowd chants “Shane McMahon, Shane McMahon.” He stares down Orton and The Legacy. He then charges at Orton and attacks him. But it’s three against one. Shane breaks through and gets to Orton again. The Legacy is slowly stopping Shane and get the better of him. Cody Rhodes restrains Shane as Orton recovers. Shane breaks free and punches out Orton. Rhodes comes back and Shane is giving it to Cody Rhodes now. Orton from the outside pulls out Rhodes and they run up the ramp to escape. Shane doesn’t stop there as he charges up the ramp to attack Orton some more. The rest of the RAW roster are splitting the two up at the top of the ramp. The shoe goes off the air with Shane yelling for Orton to come get some more.

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