By Luke Parks on August 19th, 2008
Pre-Show Notes:
I’ll be brief in my notes on Summerslam. They put on an excellent show and proved why they’re the major league brand. The only thing that bothered me was the ECW title match. The stuff with HBK & Jericho was absolutely perfect. I mean, perfect. The World title match was good in it seemed JBL came out ready to put on a good show. The WWE title match was decent and if 15,000 people chanting “You Can’t Wrestle” at Khali won’t wake Vince up, I don’t know what will. The Hell in a Cell match was awesome. They pulled out all of the stops including new moves from each guy and even cool weapons spots. If Cena would include a new move every now and then, people might not hate him as much.
Now, let’s get to RAW is Blogged!!!
RAW is Blogged:
RAW is live from Chicago, Illinois…the hometown of CM Punk!!!
Opening Segment: Chris Jericho
Jericho made his way down to the ring and immediately said he wasn’t there to apologize. So for those waiting on an apology, keep waiting. Jericho then blamed it on the fans and said they were the cause of what happened to HBK’s wife. He said that HBK’s last memory in the ring will be cradling his wife’s head. He said HBK was responsible and it would tarnish his legacy forever. I smell a rematch! This was a great follow up from the perfect angle at Summerslam!
Match #1: Batista vs. Paul Burchill
Batista came out to a ruckus ovation and crushed Paul Burchill. I don’t know what’s going on with the Burchills but they were cooking and all of a sudden, Santino & Beth got their spot. Not good news for the Brits.
Winner: Batista
Backstage, Mike Adamle introduced Primo Colon, the brother of Carlito as the newest member of RAW. Before Primo could say anything, Adamle ran off to talk to John Cena. I feel Primo will pull the “I’m not respected” deal out here. But hey, why get a guy over before you bury him? Meanwhile, Adamle tried to tell Cena he would be in a handicap match but Cena didn’t want to hear it. He met Batista and told him they had a great match last night but that was last night.
Match #2: Jillian Hall & Katie Lea Burchill vs. Mickie James & Kelly Kelly
The match was mainly about Katie keeping her pants pulled up and thong covered. Either way, sloppy offense from Kelly and marginal offense from the heels. Mickie was once again spot on with everything. I guess there’s no other Diva that can team with Mickie right now and she’s stuck with Kelly. Fun but sloppy match with Mickie hitting the Implant DDT for the win.
Winner: Mickie James & Kelly Kelly
Before the next match, the Did You Know? type graphic was shown talking about how RAW beat Monday Night Football in the ratings last week. You know, that’s such a ridiculous thing to brag about. I mean, that’s just retarded. “Like, we beat a pre-season NFL game!” Call me when RAW beats the MNF opener with Minnesota & Green Bay or one of the other top Monday Night Football games.
Match #3: JBL vs. Jamie Noble
JBL essentially dominated Noble the entire match. Utter domination. He then beat the hell out of Noble some more before the referee stopped the match. Lillian Garcia announced the winner as JBL, however I believe Noble would be the winner since the ref stopped it.
Winner: JBL
After the match, JBL stared Noble down as we were told Shane & Stephanie McMahon had a blockbuster announcement. During the commercial, we were told that Smackdown had a new home on MyNetworkTV. Too bad I don’t get that channel.
In-Ring Segment: Mike Adamle
Adamle announced that later in the night, Chicago’s own CM Punk would take on Chris Jericho. He said the newest championship concept would take place at Unforgiven. In the concept, five Superstars will compete in a 20-minute match. Anybody can score a pinfall or submission on anybody else. Whoever is the champion at the end of the time limit will remain the champion. So essentially it’s a scramble-type match and seems somewhat wacky in my opinion. The participants will be CM Punk, Kane, Batista, JBL, and John Cena. They need to make the match longer unless you want it to be complete crap. It reminds me of the Hardcore Championship match at Wrestlemania 18, I believe, where the title was on the line the entire night and it changed hands multiple times. I guess they want to pad some people’s title stats with this and just devalue the belt. I think it screams “TNA” above anything else. The match seems too gimmicky. If you think I’m being too rough on them then you need to study your wrestling some more.
Match #4: The Priceless Dream vs. John Cena
Cody Rhodes & Ted DiBiase came out for their handicap match against John Cena. Let’s see: these two got a double FU from Cena a few weeks back so it shouldn’t be much of a challenge for Cena. Before anything could happen, Cryme Tyme came out and stole the tag titles! The heels worked over Cena for most of the match until Super Cena arrived and took care of business. It wasn’t long before Cena slapped on the STFU to Cody Rhodes for the win. Well, that officially takes care of the tag team chumps, doesn’t it?
Winner: John Cena
RAW will be on SciFi next Monday in case you haven’t heard.
WWE.com Exclusive: Shawn Michaels
They recapped the stuff between Michaels, Jericho and Michaels’ wife. They then showed a backstage clip of Michael Cole trying to get a comment from Michaels & his wife while they were leaving. HBK said he would go home and comfort his wife & kids and then…..
Backstage, lead ECW announcer Todd Grisham was with CM Punk. He commented on Jericho to build up their match for later in the match. He said in Chicago, they deal with people like Chris Jericho. He said he would get revenge on Jericho, Chicago-style. Does that mean they’ll break his kneecaps or kill him?
Match #5: Intercontinental Championship - Santino Marella vs. D’Lo Brown
Glamerella came out with their newly won titles prior to the commercial break. Another one of Chicago’s own, D’Lo Brown, would be his opponent, furthering my suspicion that you don’t have to do anything anymore to get a title shot! Kofi Kingston came out after D’Lo to do commentary. I wondered if he would brag about fellow Jamaican Usain Bolt destroying the field during the 100m at the Olympics this past weekend. Before the match could build any momentum, Beth got in D’Lo’s way and then slapped him.
Winner: D’Lo Brown by DQ
In-Ring Segment: Kane
Kane came out to cut an excellent heel promo, equipped with new, darker theme music. He called Rey Mysterio slime and talked about how he took him out six weeks ago. He said he’s physically alive but his spirit is dead. He talked about HOW he hated Rey but never really said WHY. Maybe because Rey’s still got a mask and Kane doesn’t? This can work wonders for Kane in the long run though. Batista ended up coming out and fighting with Kane. Why? Well, the announcers never really said but I would think it was because of Mysterio & Batista’s friendship and tag title run.
Main Event: Chris Jericho vs. CM Punk
Punk got a huge ovation with his Chicago Cubs-esque ring gear. They had a good, quick-paced match and I just earned for these two to begin a program. Maybe Wrestlemania? Towards the end, Lance “I don’t wrestle” Cade distracted Punk and ended up getting knocked off the apron. In turn, Jericho hit the Code Breaker for the win.
Winner: Chris Jericho
I give this RAW:
2 out of 4 ring posts
This show was odd. If it wasn’t the finishes of matches that were weird, it was the unnecessarily burying of people that were being built up. Why Punk loses clean to a guy that didn’t even have a match the previous night after he retains his title is beyond me. Jericho-HBK is the best thing going on RAW right now. None of the other feuds can even come close to competing with them.
“RAW is Blogged” Power Rankings
1. CM Punk
2. Triple H
3. Mark Henry
4. Batista
5. The Undertaker NEW
6. MVP NEW
7. Santino Marella NEW
8. Chris Jericho NEW
9. Beth Phoenix NEW
10. Kane NEW
Honorable Mention:
Hawkins & Ryder
“RAW is Blogged” Match of the Week
WrestleMania XV
WWE Championship
The Rock vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin
“RAW is Blogged” YouTube Clip of the Week
Stone Cold Drives the Zamboni - http://youtube.com/watch?v=HAgZDZWwgRI
RAW - Mondays at 9PM on USA Network
Unforgiven - September 7 - 8PM - Only on PPV!
Tags: Chris Jericho, Match of the Week, Power Rankings, Shawn Michaels, SummerSlam, YouTube Clip of the Week
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August 19th, 2008 at 10:08 am
THe hardcore event you’re thinking of took place at WrestlMania 2000. At X-* it just changed a shit load of times.
I turned Raw off as soon as Cena beat Pricelss Dream. THAT IS BULLSHIT. Even my brother, who’s a mark, has noticed that the new World Tag Team Champs are being used more but it’s not in the right way. I’m sick and tired of Cena overcoming the odds. I dont know if anyone noticed but Cena failed to sell a couple of kicks to the back throughout the match.
August 19th, 2008 at 10:11 am
Sorry to comment twice but he also missed the Five Knuckle Shuffle.
August 19th, 2008 at 10:18 am
pppoop
August 19th, 2008 at 10:19 am
Why did Batista attack and fight with Kane? Mmmm… I know,like you said Batista respects Rey Mysterio and they became friends while on smackdown,even capturing the tag belts. Oh! and before I forget,they are both involved in the championship match at Unforgiven.
Congratulations Luke,now say D’oh.
August 19th, 2008 at 10:24 am
I can see right through the title match at Unforgiven. The title is going to change hands on numerous occasions but at the end of it the new champ will be … CM Punk. Think about it.
As for RAW, I thought it was kind of strange.
Jericho being quiet got him more heat than when he spoke. Interesting. WWE could do something with that.
The Divas have took note of the Knockouts. Just about every woman on the RAW roster can actually wrestle now. I enjoyed the womens match from a wrestling point of view from Katie Lee’s thong.
Only thing that was missing was Beth Phoenix.
JBL and Jamie Noble got no crowd reaction at all. Wasn’t Jamie doing something with Layla or Regal?
The Rock said it perfectly once in his Just Bring It DVD, “I could only watch Suoerman for so long until I was begging for someone to come and punch him in the mouth. And let me see him in danger just like I do”. Cena, you’re a really hard worker and yes I would want you carrying my company’s flag but you have enough stroke in the company, tell creative that you don’t want to be superman anymore.
Kane is golden on the mic. I love the laugh. His new music seems a little boring, I liked Slow Chemical better.
Santino doesn’t sit right for me as IC champion. But he is good at what he does so I’ll sit through it.
The main event for wasn’t anything special, and for that reason I give RAW a firm 7/10.
August 19th, 2008 at 10:25 am
Anthony, Luke’s right, it was at wrestlemania 18.
August 19th, 2008 at 10:33 am
Nice Blog Luke, funny spot about the “Chicago Style”.
Honestly, I think that at Unforgiven the title will change hand numerous amount of times and Cena will wind up being a 6 time champion by the end of the night. If he ever winds up getting more championships won than Austin, I’m done with wrestling.
August 19th, 2008 at 10:41 am
Actually Richard, Anthony is right. On wrestlemania 18, the rule was that the Hardcore title can be defended any time and any place. That was the reason for all of those people getting pinned backstage.
On Wrestlemania 16, they had a Hardcore Battle Royal for the Hardcore Championship where at the end of the 15 min., the person who was the champion will be the champion. In that match, many superstars became Hardcore champion such as, Tazz, Viscera, Funaki, Thrasher, all won the Hardcore Championship for a short amount of time.
August 19th, 2008 at 10:45 am
It seemed as if, Rhodes and Dibiase were more likely overcoming the odds of beating Cena. Not the other way around.
August 19th, 2008 at 11:11 am
Wanna bet?
August 19th, 2008 at 11:13 am
Last comment on this blog I SWEAR:
WM 2000: http://www.wwe.com/shows/wrestlemania/history/wm16/results/
WM 18: http://www.wwe.com/shows/wrestlemania/history/wm18/results/
August 19th, 2008 at 11:17 am
I always enjoy your blogs Luke. We usually share the same feelings on RAW. I agree it wasn’t a great show but I just want to point out some mistakes on your half. Michael Cole announced Santino’s match as an IC title match but King corrected him. And the announcers did say that Batista was fighting Kane b/c of the friendship he shares with Rey. That’s that.
I truly think that the Championship Scramble is WWE’s way of trying to solidify Punk as champion. I expect him to come out with the belt. I hate the concept though. Better if it was like 30 mins but they can legitimize Punk as champ if they didn’t let the guy lose as often as they make him (in his own hometown too?). Atleast we finally saw the champ in the main event slot again.
Finally, as a Jamaican myself, Usain Bolt is the mothaf’n man. He’ll take the 200m as well.
August 19th, 2008 at 11:19 am
I have to admit, I turned off my TV about halfway through RAW this week. As soon as I saw super-Cena come out to face the tag champs, I just couldn’t bring myself to watch anymore, and after reading the results, I’m not too heartbroken over anything that I missed.
Can anyone tell me why Jericho went over clean on RAW? Actually, can someone tell me why put your World Champion in a match with Chris Jericho, and then leave Jericho out of the Championship scramble at Unforgiven? I know this means the program between Jericho and Michaels is coming sooner rather than later, I just feel like if your champion is going to lose, at least let him lose to someone who he’s going to be facing at the next pay-per-view. Punk v. Jericho is an amazing program waiting to happen, put those two against each other for the title, and I would be hard-pressed to turn off the TV like I did last night.
Also, Kingston is from Ghana, I realize his gimmick is Jamaican, but he probably hasn’t been going out of his way to see how the Jamaican runners are doing. Also, WWE wouldn’t want to even mention the Olympics right now, especially on a show as bad as last night’s.
Let’s hope WWE starts putting on some better shows soon. Summerslam left a wide open door for some amazing matches at Unforgiven, I just hope WWE creative doesn’t drop the ball on this one.
August 19th, 2008 at 11:22 am
actually it was at Wrestlemania 2000 (16). It was pretty the same match, but it was for the Hardcore Championship
August 19th, 2008 at 11:25 am
I flat out love the new music for Kane. It a great mix of his original theme (and yes I marked out when the old organ started his theme last night). Making Kane more like his former Attitude Era self is a great move. (and Luke, Kane said he hated Rey because Rey hid behind a mask, and I remember Cole saying that Batista was out there because Rey was a good friend of his).
I agree completely with everyone concerning Super Cena. Nice job to completely de-value your tag titles.
And I was very disappointed with the Chicago crowd. They sold out. They gave Cena a huge face pop when just 3 years ago at WM 22 back when HHH was the biggest heel and Cena the biggest face, they booed the heck out of Cena and cheered loudly for HHH.
August 19th, 2008 at 11:26 am
raw was ok this week it could have been better though. i want to see the jaime regal feud to go on.jamie could be a great intercontinental champion.divas match was boring. kane segment was pretty cool. main event like richard said nothing special.
August 19th, 2008 at 11:27 am
by the way, go watch Cena’s entrance from WM 22 and you can clearly see CM Punk playing the gangster hanging on the car that is closest to the camera
August 19th, 2008 at 11:30 am
Kofi isn’t actually from Jamacia, he’s from Ghana.
August 19th, 2008 at 11:45 am
Wrestlemania X8 had the Hardcore belt defended at random points throughout the night.
Wrestlemania 2000 was the one where they had the 15 minute stipulation and superstars fought and whoever was the champion at the end of it, won the title.
Maybe Wrestlemania 2000 is what Luke is thinking?
August 19th, 2008 at 11:48 am
The championship scramble isn’t going to pad anyone’s title stats. It’s not like the WWE title history is going to have every change in the match. It’ll be the overall winner.
The match is gimmicky but if Punk comes out the victor then maybe it’ll get him over with the crowd. Either that or it’s a way to get the title off of him with no real feud going into it.
August 19th, 2008 at 11:51 am
Wrestlemania 2000 had it change hands 10 times in 15 minutes.
Wrestlemania X8 had it change multiple times under the 24/7 rules.
So everybody is somewhat correct. I just think stuff like that devalues a title.
Sorry for missing some of the Kane details. I was just in aww (as gay as that sounds) of the promo he was cutting. I don’t though remember Cole saying Batista & Rey were buddies. Maybe because it was a “what the f*ck” momemnt. When RAW has a bunch of WTF Moments, something’s wrong.
August 19th, 2008 at 11:53 am
According to Adamle, the title can change hands multiple times. Whoever scores a pin or submission will be the champion for the time being. Whoever is the champ at the end of the match will keep the belt.
Or is this like King of the Mountain where if you get a pin or submission, you get a CHANCE to hand the belt.
Either way, it’s pretty shitty.
August 19th, 2008 at 11:56 am
Here’s how I understand the scramble. Whoever gets a pin or submission will be the figurative champ. However, whoever is “champ” at the end of the twenty minutes will be the actual champion. Therefore, in the record books, the title will only change once that night. Or, not at all, if Punk comes out champ.
Is it just me, or would no other GM put up with getting blown off the way Cena did Adamle?
The Divas match wasn’t that bad. Kelly is definitely getting better in the ring. Divas side note here:God, what an ass Trish has!
By the way, the Hardcore title match was at WM X8. They did, however, have a Hardcore Battle Royal for the Hardcore Title at WM 2000.
August 19th, 2008 at 11:58 am
Also, is it just me, or is WWE stealing storylines from TNA? This seems eerily simlar to the Roode/Booker storyline from a few months back.
August 19th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
If the title changes six times during the match, then there would have been six champions in a twenty minute timeslot. If Kane Pins Batista he is the new Champion, if Batista then pins Cena, he is the new champ, and it will add towards their career overall total.
August 19th, 2008 at 12:54 pm
The exact wording on wwe.com is, “Once the clock starts, it’s every man for himself. If any of the Superstars scores a pinfall or submission on any of their competitors, they become the current champion. But that’s not nearly the end of it.”
“The championship can change hands several times throughout the 20 minute time frame. Whoever the champion is when the clock stops will officially be recognized as the World Heavyweight Champion.”
Therefore, like I said, the title will only officially change hands once that night. Or not at all, if Punk is champ when time ends.
August 19th, 2008 at 1:15 pm
Am I the ONLY one who keeps getting major homoerotic overtones from the whole Cena/Batista confrontations? And don’t tell me its a Bromance thing, cause they aren’t friends. If you don’t believe me, go watch it again. Its like Cena and Batista are a couple of guys trying to pick each other up in a bar.
August 19th, 2008 at 2:19 pm
in regards to Sean and Joe, I know Kofi isn’t really Jamaican. WWE just felt more people would get behind a Jamaican character than a Ghana one. Which means, I can still be the first “actual” Jamaican-born wrestler in the E. Lol
August 19th, 2008 at 2:43 pm
Well, another weird episode of Monday Nitraw. Let’s see here. Great episode for storyline progression, horrible episode when actual wrestling is taken into consideration.
We saw Paul Burchill get buried. Tag champs getting buried and having their belts stolen by Cryme Tyme (Yeah, that Cena sure is a role-model for young fans!) and Jamie Noble…getting buried. Hell, we were even lucky enough to see Santino getting buried! The Divas match was actually the one with the most balanced offense, and that’s a sad thought.
The Chris Jericho promo, was as per usual, excellent. He’s reinvented himself, and is rapidly becoming the company’s #2 heel. Just something about his emotionless face coupled with the unshaven beard and suit. THIS guy should be in a title match.
The Kane promo also kicked ass. I got chills when I heard the remix of his old theme…he really needed to get rid of that crappy Finger Eleven song. He’s beginning to find that momentum he had before he lost his mask and his career.
The main event was pretty good, and Punk is slightly improving. A couple of more years and he’ll actually be worthy of holding a World Heavyweight Championship. Well, that or a heel turn. Surprised to see Jericho go over, especially in Punk’s hometown. But I guess one clean win equals having to do five job matches…
___________________________
Not much to say about this week’s Raw. No particularly memorable matches, but the promos and storyline progression worked well.
7/10
August 19th, 2008 at 3:25 pm
I’ll admit when I’m wrong. I really thought Luke was talking about wrestlemania 18
August 19th, 2008 at 3:36 pm
I liked most of Raw last night. I didn’t care for the tag team champs vs Cena, since Im kinda getting tired of those guys getting beat by Cena, and I don’t like those 2 anyways all that much, but when Cryme tyme came and stole the belts, i thought it was cool and a feud between them would be great.
I like that 20 minute wwe title match between those 5 guys, I think the match will be exciting especially the last few minutes. I would have prefered Jericho and Regal over JBL and Kane, but thats just an opinion.
I don’t think that it will devalue the belt too too much, i mean all 5 guys have held the belt atleast once, 2 of them has had it multiple times, and 3 of them has had atleast one long reign with it. so all 5 are pretty much credible and im sure its gonna make for great wrestling.
August 19th, 2008 at 6:47 pm
The title match at Unforgiven is in the game Smackdown Shut Your Mouth. Its a hardcore time limit match.
August 19th, 2008 at 7:08 pm
I didnt think raw was good at all last night. For starters this Cena/Batista feud is getting very old very quickly i think it’s because the E didn’t do a good job at building it. This Championship Scramble at Unforgiven is going to suck. And am I the only one who liked the Jamie Noble/Layla angle I hope they pick it back up (its probably because i just like to see Layla). However I love this Kane angle and the Jericho/HBK angle. Good blog Luke!
August 19th, 2008 at 7:22 pm
I’m so tired of belts being stolen. I don’t like it in TNA, and i don’t like it in WWE. It makes the champ look stupid for holding on to his belt, and it makes the belt itself seem more important than being the champ. The belt is just a symbol to identify the champ, it could just as easily be a ring or a hat. By taking the belt, you accomplish nothing, nobody will recognize you as champ…
August 19th, 2008 at 7:23 pm
i meant: It makes the champ look stupid for NOT holding on to his belt
August 19th, 2008 at 9:26 pm
RAW was better than last week, but not by much. Squash matches. Tag champs being beat by Cena. Santino looking worse than Punk as unworthy champ.
Jericho cuts a nice promo and it didn’t take forever at least.
Jericho winning clean over Punk in his own hometown? Just when Punk gets a big win to try and legitimize his title reign. They dash it all with Punk losing clean.
August 19th, 2008 at 11:00 pm
One thing I do not understand is that both John Cena and JBL are in this “scramble” and yet both of them lost at Summerslam. What sense does that make?
Kane I can somewhat understand but how do you get championship opportunities from losing??
According to the Smackdown spoilers, there qualifying matches. Why not go that route and do that rather than just name people off who lost?
August 19th, 2008 at 11:11 pm
Cena really hasn’t done much this year in way of wins so I don’t know where all this Cena complaining is still coming from, he’s having a major turn around year as opposed to last year. He won the rumble coming in at 30 and Punked out the Tag Champs a few times this year, other than that what has he done that would get him a high ranking on anybodys score card this year, so that unstoppable Cena crap is over and just getting boring to hear. Didn’t win the title at NWO or WM24, lost a fun title match to HHH, beat JBL on one PPV only to lose to him at the next one, then to Batista. Who would argue that his record is amazing so far this year? Atleast he’s beating 2 guys that really havn’t paid there dues yet in the bussiness. And remember the Tag Champs won the belts under wack terms both times they’ve got them, a double cross everybody saw coming from miles away and a distracted quick roll up.
I would already say Jericho is the WWE’s number 2 heel, I mean who else could it be right now?
JBL? Mark Henry? MVP? He’s in 1 of the 2 best fueds in the WWE right now.
I guess the whole scramble match rules have been cleaned up so people don’t have to complain about people “winning” the title a bunch of times in the match. Prediction for the end of the match is everybody gets knocked out at the end with a series of finishers only for the last guy to land on somebody and get the last second fluke pin.
So the title won’t be devalued and passed around like a drunk chick at a frat party, so people can stop bitching about that.
And for all of those saddened with Punk losing in his hometown, I recommend you all read the dark match main event where you see he got to leave as a winner.
In reguards to Batista and Kane going at it do the announcers really have to tell us why everything happens? Maybe Batista just got upset about the way Kane cuts his hair and wanted to fight him. Could be a number of things but I don’t think I need to use the Bat Computer to spit out the reason is Rey and Batista are friends, and Big Dave got pissed.
Whats next? A needed explaination of why the Hardy boys would run in to help each other if in trouble?
August 20th, 2008 at 6:52 am
That Trish flashback brought tears to my eyes. Shes so damn hot.
Dont think Jericho was ment 2 hit HBKS wife that hard, her lip swelled up pretty nice.
August 20th, 2008 at 11:20 am
Of COurse Jericho meant to hit her that hard. HBK sold it to her like this. “Honey you see this house, these cars, all the money in the bank, that is because of WWE. Now go get punched in the face.” : )
August 20th, 2008 at 12:52 pm
I can’t be bothered to check if anyone else pointed this out already but Adamle said the person who gained the last fall before the time limit would be officially recognised as the World Champion so I’m guessing like say if Cena got 2 falls in the match he wouldn’t get 2 more recognised title reigns.
August 20th, 2008 at 3:12 pm
I thought RAW wasn’t as bad as everyones been complaining it was this week. It had its highlights and its ups and downs. Of course it DID have its odd moments. Some that confused me.
- The opening segment was awesome. This rivalry just keeps on getting better. If I were in creative I would save this for WM 25. Have Michaels return later on at the Rumble and interfere to screw over Jericho.
- Batista vs Paul Burchill made no friking sense at all. I don’t think that a guy like Burchill should be in squash matches. What does this mean? Will he end up like Charlie Haas? Hopefully not. Maybe Burchill and Regal could make a damn good tag team. Anyway the match itself was decent but what I don’t get why Batista never cut a promo about his victory last night. It was somewhat odd.
- Ok so this segment confused the shit outta me. Primo Colon only says like 3 words and Adamle cuts him off and runs over to Cena. The whole thing was pretty retarded if you ask me. Hopefully they can make some sort of disrespect angle for Primo Colon. Maybe Carlito can get involved as well.
- Nothing much to say about the Divas match except that it was a solid effort IMO. And Mickie is f**kin hot and gets hotter every week. BTW what happened with the Mickie/Cena angle?
- JBL vs Noble showed JBLs brutality and I’ll tell you no matter what people think of JBLs skill he definetely has an awesome brawling style. It fits his gimmick as well. I was impressed at how well Noble sold the clothesline from hell. Noble doesn’t deserve to get buried but I guess I could live through this segment as it wasn’t by any means terrible. Just a squash displaying Bradshaws brutality.
- I don’t get why people are so pissed at the WHC title scramble for Unforgiven. It doesn’t even sound that gimmicky. I personally liked the concept and I thought it was actually a good idea. It’s nothing compared to TNA’s gimmick filled PPV matche’s.
- Side note: Although Adamle has done a solid job as a GM he shows little charisma and doesn’t really fit the face or heel categories.
- D’lo vs Santino was pretty short and nothing really happened except the progession towards Kofi and Santinos rivalry. As much as I enjoy seeing Santino and love his comdedic abilities I do not see why a guy who has jobbed pretty much the whole year maybe more than Noble gets the IC title. It makes no logical sense. Kofi actually deserves the title. Nonetheless I enjoy Glamerella I just doesn’t make sense to see Santino as IC champ. Glamerella is still entertaining as hell though.
- I friking marked out when I heard the beginning of Kanes new theme. His new theme is awesome and really suits his character now. Although I will miss his previous entrance theme this one still owns. Kane is definetely golden on the mic and I love his creep laugh he gives out. Btw WTF was up with the brocolli on his teeth? I still don’t completely understand the Kane/Mysterio angle but it definetely looks interesting. Batista coming out made complete sense as Batista said he would always have Rey’s back. Anyone notice how crappy the chokeslam to Batista was? Great segment all in all.
- Like kinaj said I don’t see why people still boo Cena. The handicap match was good in terms of quality and I can understand why people hated the outcome but come on not like Cena was gonna lose right? He has lost in the past 3 PPVs so it made sense to me for him to get back with some momentum going into his title match at Unforgiven. Besides the priceless Dream hasn’t really done anything worth mentioning in the tag team match department ever since they won those titles (not counting the win from last week cuz I’m talking NOC). I still enjoy seeing them though.
- Y2J/Punk was a great match and Punk didn’t lose clean. He lost due to outside interference from Cade. But I bet this result may lead to something next week like Jericho may come out and demand himself to be in the title match since he defeated Punk the previous week. And Y2J deserves to be in the title picture more than anyone else.
So RAW wasn’t really that bad and there wasn’t any terrible mindboggling booking because IMO it made sense. Punk doesn’t look weak at all like I said before.
The show gets a 7.9/10
August 20th, 2008 at 4:28 pm
wow HM, long review there. one question though: how the hell u come up with a 7.9? Just a weird ass number to end up at.
August 20th, 2008 at 4:59 pm
well an 8 is too much but a 7 or a 7.5 seems to be too little imo so i chose 7.9. i go by .1s in my ratings so yeah.
August 20th, 2008 at 7:15 pm
Its not necessarily Cena but just anybody who loses. How do they deserve a championship shot?
-The Great Khali was in the Royal Rumble a total of 90 seconds and then at No Way Out gets a chance to win a title shot?
-JBL loses to Cena at Judgment Day and the next night on RAW is given the chance at the Intercontinental Championship?
Also, it is not that I keep hating on Cena so much…but I get this feeling that it is the proverbial “calm before the storm”. I get this hunch that we are in store for another long ass Cena reign but this time with the World Heavyweight Championship. They are just trying to regain the image before letting loose and having him dominate.
Honestly, that is why I continue to knock on Cena. Batista, you can tell that his course has been ran. However, with Cena, it is inevitable that it is going to happen again… :-/
August 20th, 2008 at 8:02 pm
Kayfabe: Remember part of being at the top is your past performance. If you show a good outing but lose a match you can always show more in your loss say than in a shitty win by somebody else.
Cena has to have another 5 or 6 runs hes like 10 years younger than Batista. Batista is around the age of HHH and HBK and I don’t really see that many people going full on and actually winning like Flair and Taker into there 50s. Taker is on his way out thats why he has a break every year, and we all know that HBKs body has been messed up for years. HHHs knees/quads will probably give out on him again sometime in the future.
Hes proven himself at the top and carried the company for a year, not that many people can make that claim to fame.
More on Johnny C- So women cheer for Cena cause they think he hot, so what, guys cheer for Maria because of her lack of wrestling ability? No, but because they find her attractive. If Maria has a match with Victoria who is going to be over more even though Victoria is a very accomplished and one of the best female wrestlers in the company.
Maria cause for some reason a majority of males think shes hot.
August 20th, 2008 at 11:37 pm
ok this has absolutely nothing to do witht he blog ( good blog by the way luke) i was just wondering is anybody here has a wwe replica belt?
I was thinking of purchasing one but i want to know peoples opinion on them. Are they worth the money??
August 20th, 2008 at 11:37 pm
(spoiler alert question)
Here’s my thing why is WWE having 2 Championship scrammble matches at Unforgiven ? Dosen’t make sense to me.
August 21st, 2008 at 7:51 am
This came to me a while ago why so many people loved guys like Stone Cold and The Rock so much was because they were chasing the belt rather than holding it for two centuries.
While it is an impressive accomplishment to say that a superstar has held the title for an extensive period of time, it gets a little frustrating when you can predict something. (I keep thinking it must be fun to do what Richard Gray does but at the same time, take him out of the whole thing all together)
Anyways, I know that Cena has 5 to 6 championship title runs in him. I am not necessarily arguing that point. If he would have a few titles reigns split up rather than one long reign then I do not think people would have such a problem with him. (Looking at it from the perspective of a mark)
When Stone Cold or The Rock won the title, they never kept it for a LONG time. The Rock has seven title reigns but I believe they are less than a hundred days long. As a fan, I want to believe that a person is indestructible but at the same time has flaws. If there is that threat that the champion is going to lose then I am going to invest time into that. Everybody wants to see the champion win but not all the time. People eventually just tire of it and becomes repetitious.
William - Yeah, it doesn’t make sense but at least on the Smackdown front, they had qualifying matches to make it somewhat reasonable.
Also, they do not have enough contenders to take Triple H on right now. I believe they want to test the waters with the guys that they have and see what can stem from there.
Sometimes, I wish people from RAW would challenge for a title on Smackdown and vice versa…
August 21st, 2008 at 8:02 am
all you need to know about why people cant stand Cena.
Shawn Michaels, HHH, Austin, The Rock, Mick Foley, all feuded for years for lower titles and worked their way up and earned the main event status. Cena was given the main event status without having to earn it.
And people really hate Vince for this, they take it out on Cena. Vince has developed a bad habit for doing this and has been burned a lot on it (see Lashley, Lesnar)
August 21st, 2008 at 11:37 am
Well…I wouldn’t really say all that. I still believe his heel performance is his best character and had some great feuds with Angle and Undertaker. He was just rushed into the title scene too fast. That and around the next few months his character already got stale.
Wrestling Buff, I don’t necessarily agree with that first part. I think Austin and Rock were somewhat better when they were being chased for their title. The Rock seemed to be at his funniest as The Corporate Champion and Austin had great run as WWE Champion. Remember that great Austin/Undertaker feud a decade ago this month? I never got tired of Rock/Austin/HHH having LONG reigns because their characters were so good that it didn’t matter. They made the title reign seem interesting.
I really hate 2 Championship Scramble idead. Qualifying matches or not, at least change one of them into a 6 Pack Challenge Match and let the other brand keep the idea. It’s the same thing when the “Beat the Clock” idea was turned into the “SmackDown Sprint.”
August 21st, 2008 at 12:36 pm
The real problem with Cena, and lots of the guys on roster, lies with Creative. They’ve stopped doing character development over the last few years. If you didn’t have a gimmck before 2005, you don’t get one. Cena’s really the only main-eventer that I can think of that they’ve done like this. They dropped his gimmick not long after he came to RAW and made him the “official” face of the Family Era.
August 21st, 2008 at 1:29 pm
Jack of all Trades - I agree with you but their reigns and loses counteracted each other.
It is like we wanted to see them win the title and keep it forever but then when they lost it, that is what kept us intrigued so to speak. When The Rock or Stone Cold got screwed out of a title, it made us want to cheer for them even more.
One theory that I came up with behind Cena’s long title reign was that WWE wanted to get rid of other superstars title reigns that were longer than anybody of the modern era of wrestling. All of the superstars who held it close to a year were guys who are not in good graces with WWE anymore and I felt that Vince wanted to wipe that away by having Cena have the title for as long as he did.
Ex. Randy Savage 371 days
Hulk Hogan 364 days
Diesel 358 days
“Superstar” Billy Graham 296 days
Ultimate Warrior 293 days
Yokozuna 280 days
With the exception of Yokozuna, all of those guys are no longer in good graces with Vince and I felt he wanted a new guys, Cena, to wipe that clean.
August 21st, 2008 at 1:52 pm
this is for mr.kevo yes i do own a wwe replica belt actually i own 3 (the spinning WWE Belt, The WHC Belt and the IC Belt). They are worth the money as long as you use them as display and not to where them around the house lol.
August 21st, 2008 at 5:36 pm
I think having to many short bullshit title runs is crap, look at HHH. He was Champ for what an hour and a half at No Mercy? People always used to complain back in the attitude era about guys losing the belt at every ppv and WCW changing the belt around every week. I think its good for the champ to hold the belt for an extended period of time. Cena is actually better as Champ rather than chasing it, because the WWE built him up as the underdog champ in most of his matches but he still won.
And Wrestlingbuff, Punk just did that a few months ago and remember?
I’d rather see a champ win unlike what happened to Rey and his run, I mean they put the belt on him so he could have it but we all know how it went after that.
And I dare say that the mid card was more popular back in the day so HBK and Bret Hart could sit at the mid card level and still be very interesting. Now your lucky if the IC or US title is on the ppv card or even being defended. Back then you could make a name for yourself and actually matter now its hard unless your a primetime player and the WWE knows it needs some new primetime players here in the next few years, so people like Cena, Batista and Orton got that big push to the next level really quickly.
The last reall good fued over the IC title was between Jeff Hardy and Johnny Nitro, they had great singles matches, a ladder match and a cage match. That was like 2 years ago since then what has really happened with the belt? Same with MVP he had a good fued with Hardy but it got put on break cause Hardy got hurt but after that nobody looked like they could take the title from MVP.
MVP has a very good chance of being the best mid card guy on either roster if you ask me. Yes better than Jeff Hardy, Kofi, Umaga, and whoever else you want to name. Can work the mic, wrestle different style of matches, and has his own thing going on that could last for quite sometime.
August 21st, 2008 at 5:58 pm
kinaj - Trust me, I remember Punk losing so damn much last year. I kept wondering the same thing.
I guess what it comes down to is the type of talent you have then. Obviously, ECW did not have any major title challengers which is why they kept going for Punk vs. Morrison time and time again.
That is the problem I have with WWE sometimes, they constantly use the same people in the same title scenarios. Now I am not going to argue that WWE has not created talent and utilized some of them effectively but at the same time, they do not give superstars the risk of trying a title match.
Now if they had Smackdown Sprints or even the RAW “Rumbler” then I really couldn’t say much about who they select. I mean on the Smackdown side, they at least make it somewhat convincing in having qualifying matches. I think that is what erks me the most is just giving opportunities to people. Now if the Cena vs. Priceless Dream handicap match had been a qualifying match then maybe I would not say much.
It seems like RAW is stacked with superstar talent yet they keep using the same talent over and over again.
August 21st, 2008 at 11:48 pm
Punk vs Morrison didn’t bother me. I could watch that feud for a good year. It’s certainly better than the shit they have on ECW now. It’s not bad, but when ECW was ruled by the Morrison and Punk feud, it was still good. Morrison should be competing for a higher title. Sucks that he’s STILL on ECW. I’d like to see Morrison have one more ECW reign before he gets traded.
RAW has ALWAYS been stacked with Main Event talent. So stacked that you don’t really care about most people anymore because they get lost in the fold so to speak. I used to like JBL, but among the masses of Cena, Batista, Jericho, Punk, Kane, etc., his character is fading fast and becoming less interesting.
SmackDown has it right. It has 3 Top Main Eventers in Undertaker, HHH, and Edge and building up mid-carders like MVP and Jeff Hardy into Main Eventers. Hell, I think MVP and Jeff Hardy ARE Main Event competitors.
SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!!!
Even count Brian “The Kendrick” in there since he’s going to be competing for the WWE Championship along with MVP. Good for The Kendrick. I really like his new gimmick.
Kinaj, I agree and disgaree with some things.
I agree about the short title runs. Having the belt for a long while really develops the character and shows that they’re a fighting champion. Orton’s reign is a great example. Orton faced new talent seemingly every ppv. HHH at No Mercy, HBK at Survivor Series, Jericho at Armageddon and that great match he had with Jeff Hardy at The Royal Rumble, and holding on to his belt at WrestleMania. Now, that really made Orton’s character. Going through each superstar and still being WWE Champion really makes that superstar look strong. Much like it did for HHH’s First heel reign with the WWE Title.
Now, as far as Cena is concerned. I DO NOT think he is better as the WWE Champion. When he won the belt at WrestleMania, I was not fine with it because he was given the belt too early. If anything he should’ve won it at Judgment Day in the I Quit match. Having the face rebound from losing at WrestleMania and making the heel champion say “I Quit” is good storyline material. Anyway, I was NOT fine with how long Cena held the belt. He should’ve been dropped it by the time he feuded with Kurt Angle. It was just bull shit after that. When Cena feuded with Edge when EDGE WAS CHAMPION. I enjoyed it because this Cena wasn’t kissing Edge’s ass and attacked Edge more than he made promos. That is the Cena I want to see. Bring me the Cena who won’t kiss people’s ass and act like Stone Cold Steve Austin where he beats people first and talks rarely.
Short title reigns in the Attitude Era didn’t bother me because, well…. it was the ATTITUDE ERA. BEST ERA OF WRESTLING!!!
August 22nd, 2008 at 12:26 am
Well the short title reigns during the attitude era seemed to bother alot of people, but atleast it wasn’t as bad as WCW people losing titles on Thunder win them back 1 week later at a ppv to only lose on Nitro.
I was on my forced break from wrestling that first Cena title run but I thought in his second run from unforgiven 06 till unforgiven 07 he wasn’t doing that bad of a job.
With your idea of having just 3 main eventers on SD not everybody will agree because, on SD for the last 2 years Batista/Taker/Edge have been in the picture the whole time. After awhile it gets rather stale. I know I was very tired of Batista going for the gold every month, even if he did have a nice fued with Taker.
I’m in agreement with you that Jeff and MVP could be main eventing since they are over with the crowd. I would say let MVP go up before Jeff because with MVP your going to get a phat promo about how he is the best. I think they kept Morrison on ECW cause they know they have a good thing with the In Crowd and for once didn’t break up a entertaining tag team. And yes I would like to see the Shaman of Sexy deny Matt Hardy entrance into the Palace of Wisdom. And good job for The Kendrick, somebody got a make over and it actually matters.
August 22nd, 2008 at 12:29 pm
“good job for The Kendrick, somebody got a make over and it actually matters.”
Yeah I can see Kendrick getting a shot at the U.S. Title maybe at the end of this year(depending on how the Hardy/MVP/Benjamin feud pans out) or maybe in early 2009. I think if kendrick was on RAW he would make a good IC champion too.