If you want to do a show and do a show right you need to factor in several things that happened tonight on “Raw.” This wasn’t a perfect show, but it was yet another good show in a string of solid shows. D’Lo Brown debuted. The Intercontinental Championship played a role in the show. The World Tag Team Champions were part of the show and the World Heavyweight Championship was defended.I mentioned earlier that the show wasn’t perfect, and while I won’t dwell on them I will mention the few things that went down tonight that weren’t worth watching. There was a Bati promo, another Santino job, though I’m not that down on those since it’s going with his character, but sooner than later I’d love to see Santino pick up a W.
I’ve noticed that unless the champions name is Triple H or John Cena he isn’t guaranteed to open the show. He may come out in the first segment, but the World Champion is the face of your brand, and if you aren’t opening the show with a match his music should be the first music you hear behind “To Be Loved,” and he should be the first person you see.
Batista in the production truck was enough of a question mark then he got the mic. When Bati-boy gets the mic chances are that it isn’t going to be good. There have been exceptions but this was not one of them. Why would you mention Kane, never change the subject, take a breath and say that you’re going to go back to talking about Kane?
As much as I appreciate JBL’s work both in the ring and out I’m already over him calling himself the boss. He is not Bruce Springsteen and I don’t think it achieves anything for him to constantly try and put himself over as the boss. He did a nice job of covering up his Kane/Cena/CM Punk tongue twisting fiasco, and the spot where his mic was cut off was brilliant.
When CM Punk finally came to the ring I thought they set up William Regal’s return perfectly, they just didn’t use it. If you will remember William Regal was the King of the Ring and the General Manager so both angles are set up perfectly. JBL mentioned the law of the Jungle, and Punk said that because of that he is the King, though I’m sure Monty Brown would have something to say about that.
The fact that Punk continues to compete in title matches and non-title matches alike keeps him in the eye of the people and in their minds builds him as a fighting champion. What I don’t like is the term of “transitional champion” being thrown around. There’s no need for that. It makes the guy who lost it look bad, and it makes the guy who is the current champion look bad.
The asterisk comment doesn’t bother me as much because it continues to build as if it’s leading somewhere, and in some way so could the term transitional champion, but it doesn’t sound that way. With JBL being the only true heel on the “Raw” roster in the main event spot though it doesn’t really matter what he says.
The Jericho/Cade/Michaels/London angle continued tonight and it was one of the most over things of the night. When Jericho was giving his promo the crowd was into it like wild. I couldn’t help but O for the grown ass man in the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers tee booing Jericho standing up with both thumbs down. Here’s a guy who has seen at least ten Star Trek conventions.
DiBiase and Rhodes interruption of the Hacksaw Jim Duggan and Jerry Lawler promo was great. It went nicely and I loved the references to history. When the Andy Kaufman incident was brought up I couldn’t help but think Lawler was going to smack someone and he did and that will break away from their angle with JBL and Cryme Tyme and lead to their first legend killing.
Another thing that goes hand in hand with the Andy Kaufman reference is the fact that Saturday Night’s Main Event will be returning soon. Jenny McCarthy alongside Jim Carey who played Andy Kaufman in ‘Man on the moon” will be heavily involved with SNME and the Generation Rescue ‘Fight Autism’ campaign and while I don’t know if it will equal ratings, and it is a good cause, so I’m down.
Santino’s pre-match promo wasn’t as good as it usually was, but once D’Lo made his re-debut I was ok with that. Beth Phoenix hasn’t had much to do lately other than beat Kelly Kelly’s ass so what better way to keep her relevant than start some kind of relationship with Santino? The best part of that segment however was the pop it got from the crowd.
The Kane angle is entering week three and is progressing at a nice pace. It didn’t blow its load in the first two weeks which was nice, because usually in the E angles don’t last that long. His story with Batista sort of came out of left field and tonight was no different. He came out and handled Bati until Punk made the save. What I’m wondering though is with Kane kicking cameramen, and chasing them down are the “scars” coming back?
The World Heavyweight championship match went down anyway and there was a huge free for all at the conclusion of the match. There were five total involved in the main event, but what needs to go down is Taker or someone else get involved because all the making are in place for an Elimination Chamber at SummerSlam or Unforgiven.
I personally would rather see Punk go one on one with JBL and come out on top at SummerSlam, but I do see a multi-man match in the near future. Two nights in a row now Punk has put on a solid showing and got nothing in the end except knocked out of the ring. I don’t like how they’re booking Punk, but I do appreciate that he is still the World Champion, I just hope his reign doesn’t end up like Mysterio’s.
Tha Results…
*Lance Cade def. Paul London
*Beth Phoenix def. Kelly Kelly
*CTC def. JBL-Rhodes-Dibiase
*Katie Lea & Paul Burchill def. Kofi & Mickie James
*D’Lo Brown def. Santino Marella
*Batista def. CM Punk via Disqualification
8 comments: on "Tha Raw Report"
Right now, I would actually compare Punk's title run to the first title run of Edge. They both won the belt under similar circumstances, and both are being portrayed as possible transitional champions who won on a fluke. The only problem is, Edge was a chickenshit heel, so that fit his character perfectly, while Punk is supposed to be a face and a fighting champion, so it makes him look about as believable as Dan-e-o in a dark skin contest.
However, based on the fact that I just compared Punk to Edge, keep in mind that Edge has had a great deal of success after that squeak of a first title run, so hopefully the same will ultimately be said of Punk.
once again they leave c.m punk without a good finish, i'm really hoping he get's to finish a match clean, i really liked the way they set up batista and john cena they may not be the best workers in the business, but i'm looking foward to it.d'lo didnt get a big a pop as i was hoping, but he looked good in the match, he should get a decent run this time around.
I was at this show last night. Jericho and cade got a whole lot of heat. I havnt watched this on tv yet, so i dont know if this was during a commercial or what, but they came out once, and got so much heat that cade said they would leave if the crowd didnt shut up. They left, then came out a minute later. Y2J got th emost heat of the night, but his shirts were the first ones sold out, which didnt make sense.
Debiase and Rhodes are doing really well in their roles. It seems like its only fitting that Orton will join them when he comes back.
Santino's whole segment was great. Biggest pop of hte night from me was D-Lo's return, but the crowd didnn't respond as well. It's probably been too long, and most dont remember him. The facial expressions on beth and santino after the match were spot on, and came across as such.
The ending just felt like a big clusterfuck to me, and I thought it was the worst raw ending i can remember in awhile.
As far as Kane goes, Your damn right the scars are comin back!, go check my comments on Raw from last week, I said it's the mask in that bag and I'm damn well stickin with it!!
I reckon it's a great angle and I can't wait to see the old Kane back. I hope he goes right back to the single sleeve body suit and the long hair!!
Dudes, Kelly Kelly is becoming a pro wrestler, the kid is showing some skills...and she's hot. This is what I mean when I say WWE needs to make sure all the skinny white blonds aren't exactly the same, and Kelly Kelly is separating herself from the pack, I like that.
Santino/Beth thing was so elementary, I liked it, lol.
I think I'm the only one not really minding how Punk is being used as champ, because for one, it is his first run, he may have plenty to come. Secondly, there isn't any main eventers on RAW (unless Cena went heel) that I feel Punk should be beating clean. A face Batista is probably at the top of the list of guys he shouldn't be pinning straight up. I don't put much whine or complaint into his title run, because if WWE is serious about going in a new direction, Punk will have many more reigns ahead of him.
Someone else mentioned it, but after Rhodes/Dibease beat Lawler/Duggan it positions them as "Legend Killers", which can position them as part of an Orton heel stable. I got the feeling the E wants to bring back stables. With the whole focus on the 90's (Which had a lot of stables), plus Edge's group, it seems like the logical step. Only thing missing is a face stable...
The Kane storyline is so money they don't even know it. Finally they're letting an angle slow burn instead of prematurely ejaculating. I think the bag has something of the Undertaker's in it...
Santino and Beth?! I love it. I wonder if they'll play it up like Santino wants a women who can beat him up, kind of a s&m thing.
Bad ending to Raw. Cena hitting Batista was interesting though. Especially after Batista pushed Punk before there match. Heel turn coming soon. Gotta be. Raw needs top heels.
It makes me wonder. Are the same people who bitch about Santino's lot in the WWE the exact same people who are e-mailing this very website trying to get Marty Garner signed to the Fed?
Personally I'd like to see him get signed by a federation that would actually use him correctly. I'd like to say send Garner to TNA, but #1 he's been there, and #2 TNA went from being a viable alternative to WWE to being a copycat promotion around the time the six sided ring debuted and Wednesday PPVs went by the wayside.
Garner in the Fed. I can see creative's lack of ideas now. "Well he's from North Carolina, let's call him the Tar Heel".. And garner comes out as a bad guy covered in tar. No wait that requires too much thought for WWE creative.
I quite literally fell asleep during the main event of RAW. While the ending wasn't as bad as last week's John Cena road pizza incident, the Fed /REALLY/ overuses the run in. Honestly, aren't you shocked these days when a match in the Fed runs from beginning to end cleanly, no run ins, no ref bumps, no outside interference.
It's almost criminal with the roster, money, and behind the scenes people the WWE has that they haven't been able to put together a decent consistent television product since the Monday Night Wars.
Kane has to be carrying the mask in that bag.
Was it just me or did Mickie look extra peppy monday night?
I've actually been impressed with these last two in-ring performances between Punk and Batista (and the promos haven't been that bad either). Dave catches more shit than I think he deserves, in that obviously when he's working with a good worker he can help create some damn good matches.
The one thing that he isn't given credit for is the moments when he actually starts calling the shots (I'd call it maybe a 35/65 or 45/55 ratio with Punk). If you watched closely you could see that him and Punk were actually working TOGETHER both sunday and monday nights, as opposed to the theory that Punk was the fulltime "general".
The biggest shame is, he'll never reach is potential due to his age.
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