This week on Raw, Randy Orton and Jerry Lawler claimed a decisive victory over The Miz and his apprentice Alex Riley.
Raw kicked off this week with what looked set to be WWE Tag Team Match as current champions Vladmir Kozlov and Santino Marella with Tamina took to the ring to face unnamed opponents.
However, before their opponents were announced, The Nexus along with CM Punk ambushed the fan favourites. As Punk directed traffic, The Nexus firmly disposed of the Tag Team Champions, sending both Marella and Kozlov crashing out of the ring.
Punk then took to the mic and informed each member of Nexus that they must undergo an initiation ritual to prove themselves worthy of the yellow and black armband. Punk also announced that he would make the sacrifice later in the show to initiate himself as the new leader of the new Nexus.
To establish his devotion, Michael McGillicutty was first up and was forced to endure the finishing move of each of his cohorts. The third-generation competitor reluctantly agreed, and by the time Punk delivered the final punishing manoeuvre, a GTS, McGillicutty was nothing more than a broken and battered individual.
Victorious
In a rematch from last week, R-Truth took to the ring to face Alberto Del Rio. This time around, the result stayed the same as Del Rio emerged victorious once again, this time via count out.
After some back and forth between the two, Del Rio and Truth ended up fighting on the outside when Ricardo Rodriguez started shouting at Truth on the mic. Truth went after Rodriguez while Del Rio rolled back into the ring for the count out.
After the match, the Mexican once again berated the American audience and vowed that he would win the upcoming Royal Rumble match at the end of the month and go on to headline WrestleMania.
In the second Nexus initiation of the night, Husky Harris had to endure a series of strap lashings from the other members of Nexus. Harris' ordeal finally ended at Punk's discretion, after he had deemed Harris worthy enough to remain in the group.
The second match of the night saw Mark Henry and United States Champion Daniel Bryan team up to defeat Tyson Kidd and Ted DiBiase. This one was decided when The World's Strongest Man delivered The World's Strongest Slam on Kidd for the one, two, three.
Next up, The Big Show came over from SmackDown to brag to fans that it would be he who was going to prevail at this month's Royal Rumble Match. During his speech, however, The Nexus interrupted.
David Otunga, in pursuit of carrying out his initiation, hesitantly stepped into the ring, faced The World's Largest Athlete and slapped him in the face. Waiting for a reaction, Otunga then endured the wrath of The World's Largest Athlete. Show went on to execute a choke slam followed by a Knockout punch to leave Otunga in a sorry state on the canvas.
Superplex
In the third match of the night, John Morrison took on and defeated King Sheamus. Initially, Morrison appeared to be on the back foot as The Celtic Warrior seized control. However, Morrison flipped the script on the Irishman deep in the match. As Sheamus went for a superplex, Morrison dropped his head on the post and then struck the shining wizard for the win.
More Nexus initiating now and this one was certainly interesting. When CM Punk insisted that Heath Slater and Justin Gabriel batter each other with kendo sticks in order to prove themselves worthy of the group, the two original members clearly couldn't bring themselves to carry out Punk's orders. Although the two circled one another ominously, both men eventually laid down their kendo sticks and left the locker room.
Shawn Michaels was announced as the first inductee into the 2011 WWE Hall of Fame. A tremendous video package was shown which highlighted Michaels' career, after which, HBK himself came out to the ring to a standing ovation.
As chants of one more match began to fill the Bridgestone Arena, Alberto Del Rio interrupted. Del Rio claimed that he is the present and future of the WWE while Michaels is just history. Del Rio claimed that he will be the new Mr. WrestleMania, to which Michaels replied with a firm dose of sweet chin music.
Michael Cole was in the middle of the ring set to introduce John Cena when CM Punk appeared at the top of the Titan Tron. Punk said that Otunga, Harris and McGillicutty had proven themselves to be strong enough for the new Nexus. He then claimed he was about to do the same.
Punk acted like he was going to jump off the Titan Tron to his death, however, the former Straight Edge leader then said he wasn't going to jump at all and revealed he had a harness on.
After gloating, Punk then bragged about his supposed superiority, that's when Cena flashed onto the Titan Tron. The 2010 WWE Superstar of the Year appeared live via satellite and promised to be at Raw next week. Cena then challenged Punk to a match next Monday Night, a challenge which the Nexus leader accepted.
With just three weeks until the WWE Title Match at Royal Rumble, Miz teamed with Riley in a tag team match against his Rumble opponent Randy Orton and Jerry "The King" Lawler.
Although The Viper has demonstrated how dangerous he can be, Miz has also been unable to pin Lawler as well. As a result, Riley saw a lot of action - and Orton took full advantage.
WWE's Apex Predator laid out Riley with an RKO, but before he would cover, he offered The "Cleveland Screamer" a chance to rescue his partner. The Miz, however, simply walked away and permitted Orton and Lawler the easy pin.
Next week, RAW emanates from the Verizon Arena in Little Rock, Arkansas. Follow the action live next Monday Night at 2am on Sky Sports 3.
