World Wrestling Entertainment brought its unique brand of sports entertainment to Lexington's Rupp Arena for a live taping of Monday Night Raw, delighting fans with the likes of hero John Cena, angering them with appearances by his nemesis, the Nexus group, and presenting a lengthy bout between main eventers Edge and Randy Orton for fans who crave a good wrestling match.
The event also featured an appearance by former Brady Bunch mom Florence Henderson, who was the "guest host" a la Saturday Night Live. That's a concept WWE has utilized during the past year as it looks to distance itself from its professional wrestling roots and establish itself as a more mainstream entertainment company.
Sure, it's all fake, but think of it as a form of sports theater.
Shades of that philosophy highlighted the Monday Night Raw telecast, the final Raw before this Sunday's Money in the Bank pay-per-view event. The show presented six wrestling matches — which might sound like a lot, but not when you consider it amounted to only 27 minutes of grappling during the two-hour-plus telecast.
Three of the matches didn't last longer than three minutes. What they did do, though, was advance the storylines for Sunday's pay-per-view.
The much-hyped selling point of Money in the Bank is its namesake, the Money in the Bank ladder match. The match revolves around a briefcase suspended above the ring that holds a contract for a championship bout. The wrestlers vie to use the ladder to grab the briefcase and eventually cash in the contract to potentially become champion. WWE's two brands, Raw and SmackDown, each have eight-man Money in the Bank ladder matches on the pay-per-view. The SmackDown brand was to set up its final storylines during a taping Tuesday in Louisville's Freedom Hall of its program, which airs Friday nights on MyNetworkTV affiliates, including MyTVQ2 (digital channel 36.2) in Lexington.
In Rupp Arena on Monday, the writers weaved together subplots for the Money in the Bank match. Edge and Orton squared off in a 12-minute match that saw each counter the other's intended finisher only to have Edge win after interference by fellow Money in the Bank participant Chris Jericho.
Another wrestler in Sunday's match, Evan Bourne, came in afterward and attempted to attack Orton to no avail. John Morrison and Ted DiBiase faced off in a war of words as the latter continued the rebranding of his father's "Million Dollar Man" gimmick from years past.
And WWE unveiled the final participant in the bout, Mark Henry, after competitor The Miz injured previous entrant R-Truth. Henry was treated to a beatdown by The Miz that included a massive trash can being emptied upon him.
The highlights of the night for the crowd were appearances by former WWE Champion Cena, for whom they were bedecked in orange everything (that is his signature color). Cena squares off against WWE Champion Sheamus, the "Celtic Warrior," whom Cena has referred to as a twin of a jar of mayonnaise because of his über-fair complexion. The two became unlikely allies Monday, though, as Sheamus came to the rescue of Cena as he was beat down by the Nexus, a group of rookies from WWE's NXT show on Syfy who have ganged up on wrestlers in recent weeks. Cena pleaded with his colleagues for help in weeks past, but Sheamus ignored those until he was confronted by the Nexus backstage Monday.
But while he wielded a chair to assist Cena in Rupp, he'll be using a different kind of steel to hurt him Sunday as fans cheer on their cage bout at the pay-per-view.
