January 17 , 2011 Monday Night RAW results The January 17 , 2011 Edition of RAW is a Professional wrestling television show of the WWE ' s RAW brand , which took place on January 17 , 2011 at Verizon Arena in Little Rock , Arkansas . Summary . John Cena is back ! After two weeks of rehabilitation due to an injury suffered at the hands of CM Punk and the “ new ” Nexus , Cena rocked the rafters with his homecoming as 2011 ’ s WWE Superstar of the Year vowed to overcome his injuries to win Royal Rumble in two weeks and go on to win the WWE Title at WrestleMania . The current champion , The Miz , took issue . The “ Cleveland Screamer ” whined – again – about not being appreciated and informed Cena that the odds are against him winning the Rumble since there will now be 40 entrants as opposed to the usual 30 . Steepening the odds further , CM Punk approached to announce that he and the entire “ new ” Nexus will also participate in the Rumble and aim to secure the win for The Second City Savior . As if to demonstrate , Punk and his Nexus minions surrounded the ring . Before they could attack , however , WWE Tag Team Champions Santino Marella & Vladimir Kozlov joined forces with Cena . Retaliating for a Nexus ambush , Santino & Vlad were all too happy to stand with Cena . Before the situation could devolve further , the Raw General Manager altered the scheduled main event match pitting Cena against Punk , stipulating that if any Nexus members interfered , they would be eliminated from Rumble competition . After lending John Cena an assist against the “ new ” Nexus , WWE Tag Team Champions Santino Marella & Vladimir Kozlov were forced to defend their titles against The Usos . Although Jimmy & Jey came out swinging with Samoan swagger and offered an exemplary effort , the siblings still could not surmount the offense of the Italian Stallion & The Moscow Mauler . It was The Shaman of Sexy against the Bella magnet when John Morrison tangled with United States Champion Daniel Bryan in a non - title match . Bryan certainly showcased a series of amazing maneuvers , but it would be Morrison ’ s athleticism that would triumph in the end . Afterward , Morrison ’ s rival , King Sheamus , emerged to bestow a royal proclamation upon the WWE Universe : Although Bryan , Morrison and he were all entrants in the Royal Rumble , it will be The Celtic Warrior who emerges victorious . WWE Champion The Miz isn ’ t taking any chances . Randy Orton and Dolph Ziggler , No . 1 contenders for the WWE Title and World Heavyweight Title respectively , clashed in an intense , rapid - fire contest that finally saw Orton prevail with an RKO . After , the WWE Champion and his lackey , Alex Riley , not only waylayed The Viper , they also attacked Miz critic and Raw announcer Jerry “ The King ” Lawler . Later in the evening , it was revealed that on Raw next week , Miz will be forced to square off in a battle of champions he battles World Heavyweight Champion Edge . Natalya continues to steamroll the competition . This week , Maryse proved the latest to get flattened by the Divas Champion as Eve and Nattie ’ s nemesis , Melina , observed from ringside . In the wake of her loss , Maryse demonstrated her frustration by pouting in a corner . She was soon joined by her boyfriend Ted DiBiase , who bore the brunt of her anger . After the bombastic blond blamed DiBiase ’ s losing streak for her own poor performance , The “ Fortunate Son ” threw out an Over - the - Top Rope Challenge for any Superstar on the roster . Unfortunately for him , Mark Henry answered the call . For the love of a good woman – or in this case , a really bad one – Ted DiBiase issued an Over - the - Top Rope Challenge . And Mark Henry was there to answer the call . In fact , during the contest , the two were joined by nine other Superstars , including King Sheamus , R - Truth , David Hart Smith , Darren Young , Yoshi Tatsu , Zack Ryder , Primo , William Regal and Tyson Kidd . Despite the crowded field of fellow Rumble competitors , The World ’ s Strongest Man flipped his final opponent over the top rope to claim victory . The Second City Savior is going to need a larger house of worship . The main event pitted CM Punk against John Cena when a nameless colossus charged the ring and distracted the Cenation Commander - in - Chief . It would prove a costly diversion . Punk took advantage and hit his opponent with a punishing maneuver . Before Cena could recover , Punk stood before the interloper and sacrificed himself , allowing the oversized stranger to level him . As a result , the leader of the “ new ” Nexus won the match by disqualification . When the remaining members of the group charged the ring , though , Punk waved them off . Instead , he pulled out a Nexus armband and slipped it onto the mystery man , who proceeded to genuflect before The Second City Savior .