Tha Raw Report

Hmm. I'm not actually sure what to say. The decision to make Mike Adamle the new General Manager of "Raw" is one that has some sort of upside to it, I'm sure. I suppose I can at least credit them for managing to cleverly have Adamle in attendance so that viewers didn't suspect anything, but still. I'm really lukewarm on this idea, I'm going to need to see that he can actually do this job without screwing up before I say it was a good move.

I wanted to touch on that topic first and foremost because I feel that for as fizzled out as the ending to "Raw" was, the rest of the show was top to bottom solid, including the build that was put into the ending.

Batista and John Cena should be headlining WrestleMania? That's news to me. I'm normally the last person to ever give Cena credit (partly because he usually doesn't deserve it), but both he and Batista cut decent promos last night. Not a Stone Cold/Rock level promo, but it did its job in creating a segue for Shane McMahon to come out and announce the coming of a new GM.

Take notice, O-sters. Santino Marella is not a piece of meat. He is, however, great at acting like a smitten middle school-aged kid around Beth Phoenix. Great acting job by both Phoenix and Marella. I'd say that I want to see where this goes, but after a year in WWE, I've given up on thinking that WWE will ever give a payoff for any feud that Santino is involved in. In the meantime, fuck, is this guy ever funny.

Recently, on Tha O Show, Big Daddy Donnie mentioned that WWE often will have people show up without any explanation. With that being said, I suppose I should have suspected something was up when they did give a legitimate reason for Adamle being on "Raw". Michael Cole being put in the place of Jim Duggan to team with Jerry Lawler against Simply Priceless, and ultimately getting knocked out, not only served as a plausible reason for Adamle to be in attendance, but also made for great heel heat for the tag team champs.

It seems that Santino isn't the only funny man on "Raw" these days, as Jamie Noble keeps getting comedically squashed week in and week out. He even stole Marella's gimmick of getting the names wrong, as he challenged "Coffee" Kingston last night. Another good showing by Kingston, even though we had to again listen to Adamle say "Jamaican Me Crazy". Adamle, you're "Ghana" make us all crazy if you keep that shit up.

CM Punk is still in the midcard. And he's still the champion. And he was wrestling a guy who's probably guaranteed himself a lifetime of jobbing out in William Regal. I'll probably get heat for saying this, but screw it. While I'm not hot on the idea of Adamle as GM, WWE was right to not give Regal that spot back. Regal has two strikes on him, and more importantly, has given the impression that he isn't serious about cleaning up his act. Should he manage to keep his nose clean for a certain length of time, then, by all means, push him again, but don't take a guy who just was in trouble and put the spotlight on him. Wait until you're sure that he won't cause trouble again.

Mickie James made short work of Jillian last night, but more importantly, was jumped by Katie Lea Burchill after the match. It's no secret that not many women in WWE can work, so it's good to see that there's a title feud being built around two workers rather than around a girl who posed in Playboy and a girl who spread her legs in front of the right people backstage.

Chris Jericho's final Highlight Reel was last night. Over the past month, I believe Jericho has made great strides in establishing himself as a legitimate heel instead of a cartoon character. Last night was the pinnacle of this, in which he openly stated that he was tired of being a comedy act. On a show that's dying for top heels, this is good. A serious Jericho can be a helpful addition to the main event on Monday nights.

The main event featured John Cena and Batista vs. JBL and Kane. Nothing spectacular, but given the first team, what did you expect? Of course, after the match, Shane McMahon came out again and announced that Mike Adamle was the new "Raw" General Manager. Adamle then immediately announced John Cena vs. Batista for SummerSlam. Looks like Bathroom Break will triumph again that night of August 17th at Dante Ross' pad.

My biggest hope for next week is that Adamle still can't keep anything straight. Him not knowing shit about the product and then botching call after call on live television is over with me. I look forward to Adamle addressing superstars like MM Punk, Bradshaw John Layfield, and, of course, Doug Batista.

Tha Results:
*Santino Marella & Beth Phoenix def. D-Lo Brown & Kelly Kelly.
*Cody Rhodes & Ted DiBiase def. Jerry “The King” Lawler & Michael Cole to retain World Tag Team Championship.
*Kofi Kingston def. Jamie Noble.
*CM Punk def. William Regal.
*Mickie James def. Jillian.
*John Cena & Batista def. JBL & Kane.

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