By Luke Parks on November 11th, 2008
Pre-Show Notes:
With the current economics crisis, roster cuts are inevitable. So far, Lena Yada, Kenny Dykstra, Elijah Burke, Paul London, Chuck Palumbo, and Super Crazy have all been released. There is talk that more rosters cuts will be happening in the near future. Now, I don’t advocate for a lot of people to lose their jobs. But, if creative’s got nothing for you or you suck, there’s the door.
I don’t care about Lena Yada being released. I mean, what did she really accomplish? Kenny Dykstra’s a different story. I heard nothing but good things about him, except his crappy name. Elijah Burke was another one of my favorite I wish hadn’t gotten released. Paul London could put on an aerial show but I’m sure he had heat with somebody. Chuck Palumbo…imitated the Undertaker’s American Bad Ass gimmick…that’s about it. Super Crazy had heat so I can understand that one. But while we’re at it, how about we cut some more people?
First up, Deuce. Unless he’s got something new in the next week or two, see ya! Hardcore Holly…where are you? Unless you show up in the next week or two, see ya! Mike Adamle…you’re still around? LEAVE ALREADY!!! Snitsky…make sure you get in the car with Adamle, please! Mike Knox…my tires need rotating. Once that’s done, pack your sh*t and get out of here. Boogeyman, make sure you’re with him!
That should do it. I figure if we’re cutting guys, we might as well cut the useless ones while we’re at it.
Enough of the jimmy’s & joe’s let’s get to the pro’s who still have a job!
RAW is Blogged:
We are live from Manchester in the United Kingdom for RAW!!!
Opening Segment: Batista, Stephanie McMahon, Randy Orton
Batista came out to a mixed reaction before demanding a title shot. Damn, that title shot is like a door knob, everybody gets a turn. Stephanie McMahon made her presence felt in saying that Jericho would defend the title against John Cena at Survivor Series. She mentioned Mike Adamle’s resignation as RAW GM. She said they would break away from the past and start a new era. Is she stealing Obama’s speeches? Stephanie then said that she & her brother Shane wanted to place a stamp of “finality” on some issues on RAW. She then made a match between Rey Mysterio & Kane and a Last Man Standing match between Chris Jericho & Shawn Michaels. Randy Orton then came out. I love this guy…in a non-gay way of course. Batista needed to wait his turn because after Cena gets his shot, it will be his turn. He blamed Batista for getting kicked out of Evolution. Batista blabbered some before he challenged Orton to a match before they “moved on.” Batista tossed Orton his mic before trying to nail a Batista Bomb, which Orton escaped. The crowd was over for Orton but booing Batista.
After the break, we took a look back to last week’s battle royal that ended with William Regal winning and gaining a title shot at Santino Marella.
Match #1 - Intercontinental Championship: Santino Marella vs. William Regal
Santino got on the mic and said he did away with the Honk-a-Meter. He said that he did that because he was so confident he would remain IC champ, he brought out the Honk-a-Perfect Mountie Meter, which was at 123 weeks and he had 13 down. He said the tea-drinking, Jonas brother haircut William Regal wouldn’t beat him because he was from the best country in Europe, Italy. Most of Europe sucks anyway (no offense to our European readers). They stated that Layla was from England. Yeah, and I’m the Pope. Lillian gave them the big-time introductions. Regal got an understandable decent pop. It was a quick match with Regal winning, thus devaluing the title some more in my opinion.
Winner: William Regal
Afterwards, Michael Cole got in the ring to interview Regal. He cut a promo about carrying the spirit of an Englishman around the world. No love for us Scots? WTF!?
Backstage, Kane talked about the McMahons being back on RAW. He talked some more jargon about fighting Rey Mysterio and did his sadistic laugh.
Match #2: Mike Knox vs. D’Lo Brown
D’Lo was already in the ring when they came back live. D’Lo got a nice pop for being one of the longest reigning European Championships. They need to bring that title back. Quick squash match. For those of you that have missed Mr. Knox, his beard’s just gotten longer and he’s still uglier than my ass cheeks.
Winner: Mike Knox
They recapped Wrestlemania tickets going on sale this past weekend in Houston. Somebody they interviewed said that Wrestlemania was bigger than the Super Bowl. Please, take that guy to have his head examined.
Meanwhile backstage, Santino Marella griped about defending his title against Regal. He said Shane McMahon was mad and he informed Beth Phoenix that she’ll defend her Women’s Championship against Mickie James. Beth didn’t like this and threw Santino’s phone against the wall, which I found hilarious.
After the break, they recapped John Cena coming to RAW or as I like to call it, the darkest day in sports entertainment history. As much as I miss Cena, giving him a title shot right off the bat is stupid as hell. I might add that these promos where everybody deep throat’s Cena doesn’t do anything to get the 18-24, or whatever the age is, male demographic on his side. By doing this, it will increase the boos he gets.
Interview Segment: Chris Jericho
Chris Jericho came out to talk about John Cena. He said that Batista had beaten Cena and that he had beaten Batista. So, if you go with that “so & so beat so & so, so they’ll beat so & so” Jericho will defeat Cena. He called HBK’s fans hypocrites and he had a message for Cena, that not every story has a happy ending.
Match #3 - No Disqualification Match: Rey Mysterio vs. Kane
Please. End. This. Now. Before. I. Turn. Off. The. TV. For. Good. This was actually a better match considering their past matches. The action was all over the place and as much as I like Mysterio, I just couldn’t get into this match. Rey botched a senton for the pin.
Winner: Rey Mysterio
Backstage, the Second Generation Sons (minus DiBiase) & Randy Orton were chatting. Orton told them they weren’t in his league which brought out a slap from Rhodes. They stared each other down as Manu stepped in between them.
Match #4: Cody Rhodes vs. Batista
Before this match can get started, Cody Rhodes tells everybody he can beat Batista. Batista then promptly disposed of Rhodes & Manu as Orton heads backstage.
Winner: Batista
Well, the Second Generation Sons are longer a formidable group, since they’re getting destroyed single handedly by Main event guys. First, it was Rhodes & DiBiase getting destroyed by Cena. Now, it’s Rhodes & Manu getting destroyed by Batista. Great.
Match #5 - Women’s Championship: Beth Phoenix vs. Mickie James
Mickie was on offense the entire time, trying to get a quick pin which doesn’t exactly build a credible face opponent. Santino distracted Mickie as Beth rammed her head into a post to pick up the win.
Winner: Beth Phoenix
After the match, Santino put Beth on his shoulder’s to celebrate. Santino is pure comedy.
Main Event - Last Man Standing Match: Chris Jericho vs. Shawn Michaels
They aired a video package that reviewed this feud. This match was excellent. They had a cool spot where Jericho applied the Walls of Jericho on top of a car. Michaels hit Jericho with a camera crane but Jericho got up at an 8-count. They found their way back to the ring where Jericho brought out a ladder. Michaels ended up hitting Jericho with an elbow drop through the announcer’s table. Jericho hit Michaels with the title belt but Michaels answered the count. He then hit Jericho with Sweet Chin Music as JBL hit Michaels with a chair. Jericho answered the count while Michaels laid there, thus giving Jericho the victory.
Winner: Chris Jericho
I give this RAW:
3 out of 4 ring posts
Overall, this show was more enjoyable than last week. I didn’t care too much for the IC title switch, mainly because I wanted Santino to beat Honky Tonk Man’s record. The Last Man Standing match was excellent. It did a lot as far as saving the show. As of RAW, I don’t know where the angles are headed as far as Survivor Series is concerned other than the non-earned title shot that John Cena gets against Jericho and JBL-HBK. This isn’t a good thing considering that Survivor Series is in 2 weeks. I like having some new feuds started but if you’re going to bury some guys, bury guys who aren’t going to have an impact on the show. Where was Punk? Where was Kingston?
I’ll be back later this week with the return of UFC Uncut to preview UFC 91: Couture vs. Lesnar.
“RAW is Blogged” Power Rankings
1. Triple H
2. Matt Hardy
3. Chris Jericho
4. Batista
5. The Big Show
6. Vladimir Kozlov NEW
7. Jeff Hardy
8. William Regal NEW
9. Rey Mysterio
10. Shawn Michaels NEW
Honorable Mention:
JBL, Charlie Haas
“RAW is Blogged” Match of the Week
Survivor Series 2007
World Heavyweight Championship
Hell in a Cell
The Undertaker vs. Batista
“RAW is Blogged” YouTube Clip of the Week
The Rock Previews Hell in a Cell - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dJwKLKm-9I
RAW - Mondays at 9PM on USA Network
Survivor Series - November 23 - 8PM - Only on PPV!
Tags: Jericho-HBK, Match of the Week, Power Rankings, Roster Cuts, Survivor Series, YouTube Clip of the Week
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November 11th, 2008 at 1:16 pm
I thought you were Irish Luke? Good blog been a while since i commented.
November 11th, 2008 at 1:20 pm
Sorry Luke I stand up for you and everything but saying that Regal winning the strap is devaluing it? What are you smoking?
As for everything else I agree with you. LMS was one of the best TV matches in awhile.
I was disappointed by the lack of weapons in the Rey-Kane match. Hopefully SS is the end of this.
Raw was better than it has been. Couldve been better though if they did away with beard and it’s Mike Knox and also let Orton duel with Tista.
November 11th, 2008 at 1:24 pm
i enjoyed the show, best match of the night was knox squash IMO… i agree, take stinksky and GTFO! adamle is already out, and crazy asked for his release, there is no heat on him.
November 11th, 2008 at 2:02 pm
Regal adds VALUE to the tittle. Did you notice santinos reign ended in a fast match like honkys did?
November 11th, 2008 at 2:16 pm
I enjoyed Raw this week Glad to see a end to the Kane/Mysterio fued and the Jericho/Shawn Michaels feud. granted the Jericho/Shawn matches have been great but it all so was draging on to long.
Nice to see Jericho a strong heel this week which is better campared to what he had been doing.
YEAH!!! Santino lost the Belt about time, Regal will be much better as IC champ and make the Belt Mean something once again.
Beth Phoenix vs. Mickie James was good, Beth was sure mad at Santino lol, guess she remembered last time she lost the belt to Micki James when they were over seas.
I look forward to Cena comeing back but I all so agree I don’t think he should get a title shot right away. that is just not right.
I’m suprised Mike Knox is still around.
A weak slap to Orton by Rhode, let alone him getting destoryed by Batista. Luke’s right they are makeing the tag champs look weak.
All in all not bad.
November 11th, 2008 at 3:05 pm
I don’t mind Santino losing the strap because he’s still popular as hell. Looks like there won’t be an IC or US title match at the Series since both were defended on tv.
How appropriate is it that the botched of an angle between Mysterio and Kane ended with a botched finisher?
LMS was wonderful.
November 11th, 2008 at 3:30 pm
“A weak slap to Orton by Rhode, let alone him getting destoryed by Batista. Luke’s right they are makeing the tag champs look weak.” what do punk and KK have to do with this?
November 11th, 2008 at 4:37 pm
“I might add that these promos where everybody deep throat’s Cena doesn’t do anything to get the 18-24, or whatever the age is, male demographic on his side. By doing this, it will increase the boos he gets.”
First — That cracked me up
Second — One can only hope this is the intention. Maybe bring Cena back and turn him heel? I know that would assume ceative to have a brain, but hell … one can hope!
Good blog this week by the way. I don’t know about anyone else but I thought you brought some good humor this week.
November 11th, 2008 at 4:58 pm
Great recap. I agree that Raw was better than last week
Just to clarify, Layla is from London. She was born and raised there.
November 11th, 2008 at 5:44 pm
i dont understand why orton is taking a back seat to cena for the title match. honestly, raw started with the two guys that beat cena clean. orton pinned cena at wm24 and batista beat cena at summerslam. so because of neck injury sympathy and hometown nostalgia cena gets the shot? what happened to beating top contenders to earn your way to the title? batista got his shot, won it, then lost it. so hes out.
since cena has to be in the picture. here would be the ultimate survivor series. do it like wrestlemania 10. have orton wrestle cm punk(the one who never lost the belt). then have cena wrestle jericho. the winners wrestle for the title in the main event. thats a survivor series i would buy.
did the ic title match accomplish what they wanted? i didnt hear to much of a pop for the title change. the regal chant was lame. and his promo was gay. if i was english, i would feel like the wwe is insulting my intelligence. all the ic title is good for now is giving someone a cheap pop in their home country when they win the belt out of nowhere, i.e. santinos first title win. santino, even with the burn on the english, still seemed more over than regal.
can someone tell me why jbl has a hardon for shawn michaels? theres no history between these two, except that they are two of the biggest a-holes in the business. and the chair shot to end the last man standing was lame. yeah shawn, id stay down for the 10 count,too, if my hands were stinging.
one more thing, i said last week that bret is over the screwjob. i was wrong. i guess i should’ve read all of his book before making that comment(i was half way through it last week). it may be behind him, but the way it affected his family, i dont see how he could really be over it.
November 11th, 2008 at 6:02 pm
i forgot to say that im truly disappointed that elijah burke was released. ryan braddock, braden walker, and even atlas dabone deserve more air time than burke? c’mon man. jack swagger vs. elijah, thats a great young ecw feud we’ll never see. what a shame. now i see how far a vince mcmahon endorsement on national tv gets you in the business.
November 11th, 2008 at 6:35 pm
Ttupid comment, but then again your a Bret Hart fan.
I hate negative people.
November 11th, 2008 at 6:36 pm
stupid
November 11th, 2008 at 8:12 pm
Ok so I made a slight mistake I should have said they are making Priceless look weak loseing to guys like Cena and Batista.
November 11th, 2008 at 9:13 pm
What the WWE needs is jobbers on tv. Back in the day you would never see Hulk Hogan or The Ultimate Warrior dispose of the Nasty Boys or The Natural Disasters single handily. Let the former tag team champs look tough.
November 11th, 2008 at 9:36 pm
I’m glad WWE took the belt off of Santino the guy is boring and I think his gimmick should be repackaged I mean for crying out loud how can someone take him seriously?
November 11th, 2008 at 10:26 pm
I agree William, Santino is boring and not funny at all, he is not my favorite and I can’t stand him. I’m glad he lost the IC belt, Regal will be much better as IC Champ and hopefully bring the much needed Value to the belt it has lost over the years and make it once again a important title.
Back in the Day it used to be the most important belt next to the World Heavyweight Title and at times more so.
It was the belt to have on your way up the ladder to the World Heavywieght and being the number one contender to get a shot at the World Heavywieght belt.
It’s a shame how they have treated the IC title over the years.
November 11th, 2008 at 10:37 pm
rvd, stupid is assuming that im a bret hart fan because im reading his book and im negative. granted my comments may be on the negative side. but honestly, do we as fans of wrestling have very much to be positive about these days? but i appreciate your feed back on my comment. but if you hate negative people, i bet you have a hard time looking at yourself in the mirror with love. dont be Ttupid, oh im sorry, stupid. in the words of helms, im just sayin.
November 12th, 2008 at 1:16 am
Patrick I totally agree with your statements I hate the fact that WWE doesn’t put very much value into the IC Title anymore or for that matter the US Title.
And it makes me wonder that this used to be a title that helped push superstars career enroute to winning the WWF/E Championship like Randy Savage, Stone Cold, Bret Hart, The Rock, Randy Orton, RVD, etc.
November 13th, 2008 at 9:54 am
the reason the IC title is so devalued theses days is because the ECW title is holding the “second-most-important title”… title, so the IC title became a mid-card title. same goes for US, except it had less prestige to begin with
November 13th, 2008 at 8:06 pm
WRESTLEMANIA is alot bigger than the boring superbowl, if you dont think so why bother doing this blog, that guy was right WRESTLEMANIA is bigger in a wrestling fans eyes!
November 13th, 2008 at 9:38 pm
All i have to say is that i am disappointed that Paul Burchall and katie Lea were never featured in the u.k, I feel that the two of them have really good potential and are drastically unused! but i guess that stems from people stating that they were being pushed too quickly! Also I am glad that they acknowledged layla as an English diva ( with african decent ). it is so common in the u.s that aussies, britts and kiwis ( new zealanders) are made to use american accents to get ahead in their career. Whether she was made to do so because of her stint with miami heat or she chose to do it, or has been there too long and started to develop one naturally is another question. my thoughts for now.
November 13th, 2008 at 10:20 pm
The other thing i wanna say, is that if Santino is gonna wax, she could atleast do her eyebrows aswell !