Raw - January 31, 2011 - Providence, RI

Raw started off with Alberto Del Rio celebrating his Royal Rumble victory last night with dancers & a Mexican band. As Alberto was about to decide on which title he would go for, WWE Champion The Miz & World Heavyweight Champion Edge came out to have their say on his decision. After a moment, Alberto chose to compete for the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania XXVII. Soon after, Alberto & Edge started brawling until Del Rio grabbed a guitar & smashed it on Edge's arm. This allowed Alberto to slap on his arm lock submission on Edge before leaving the ring.




For the WWE Tag Team Championship, Santino Marella & Vladimir Kozlov went up against Nexus members Husky Harris & Michael McGillicutty. Both teams wrestled a fairly evened match until Santino nailed Husky with the cobra after Kozlov knocked down McGillicutty. After Santino & Kozlov won the match to remain champions, Randy Orton ran down and RKO'd the two Nexus members. And just as Orton was about to kick Husky's head, CM Punk appeared & warned Orton that if he kicks Husky, there would be consquences. After a moment, Orton punted Husky's skull and ran up the stairs in the arena before the rest of Nexus could get to him.




After the commercial break, the Raw GM announced that there would be a 7-man Raw Rumble match later that night involving John Cena, Randy Orton, John Morrison, King Sheamus, R-Truth, Jerry "The King" Lawler", & CM Punk. Once the announcement was made, Ted DiBiase came down with Maryse to confront Lawler, stating that it was his time & demanded Lawler's spot in the match. With Michael Cole not making the situation better, Lawler stated that, in his 18 years in the WWE, he never got a WrestleMania match, and was not about to give up that chance. After DiBiase pushed him, Lawler was about to return the favor, but DiBiase put Maryse in front of him, of which she did not approve. Right after Maryse slapped DiBiase, Lawler followed through a punch of his own & was very tempted to give one to Michael Cole as well.




In a one-on-one match, United States Champion Daniel Bryan with Gail Kim in his corner fought Tyson Kidd. During the match, the Bella Twins were at ringside doing commentary. After Bryan won the match by submission with his Labelle Lock, the Bellas entered the ring and another catfight broke out between Gail & the Bellas.




In a rematch from last week, The Miz took on Edge in another champion vs. champion match, only this time, there had to be a winner. Just like last week, a very competitive match, until The Miz heard a voice from the upper levels of the arena, which happened to be John Cena. After the Miz was distracted, Edge took advantage & speared him for the three count. Later on that night, Vicki Guerrero announced that on SmackDown, the World Heavyweight Title would be defended in a unique manner: a 3-on-2 handicap match involving Edge & Kelly Kelly against Dolph Ziggler & Lay-Cool.




Speaking of Lay-Cool, they were involved in tag team action against Natalya & the new Divas champion Eve. The match was going well until McCool got in a cheap kick on Eve, long enough for Layla to perform a stunner-like move on her from the ropes & scored a victory.




The Usos were supposed to take on Mark Henry & The Great Khali, but the Raw GM changed the match into a dance-off. Even though both teams didn't display that much, Mark Henry & Khali made sure that they were the ones left standing.




The 7-man Raw Rumble was under way, where the winner would face The Miz for the WWE title in 3 weeks & the other 6 would compete in the Elimination Chamber match. Randy Orton, who drew #7, wasted no time in attacking & eliminating CM Punk, but a split second later, Randy was eliminated by R-Truth. As the match progressed, King Sheamus pushed Lawler into Cena for him to be eliminated. Then when Sheamus aimed for Lawler, The King ducked & Cena pulled the rope down for Sheamus to be eliminated, making Jerry "The King" Lawler the winner & earning a title match against The Miz at the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view.