Reported by Hunter Golden of WrestleView.com
On Monday, September 1, 2008 at 11:42 PM EST

WWE RAW
September 1, 2008
St. Louis, MO
Commentators: Michael Cole & Jerry “The King” Lawler
Report by: Hunter Golden of WrestleView.com

HOUR 2 - HOT TAG FROM ADAM MARTIN GO!

Santino ran down Randy Orton. He said he’d prove Orton wrong and become the greatest intercontinental champion in history. The HONKEY METER IS ON!!! YES! Santino is comparing himself to Honkey Tonk man as Honkey is considered the best IC Champ of them all. He began comparing statistics before D-Lo Brown’s Music hit and he came out for a match.

Santino Marella v. D-Lo Brown

Santino started pounding away on brown with rights and lefts before attempting a shoulder block but quickly ate a wheel kick. D-Lo hit an irish whip and a clothesline to follow up for a two count. Brown bounded off the ropes and after avoiding a Marella drop kick, Brown hit the shining wizard.

Brown went for the frog splash and completely whiffed, allowing Marella to cover him for the win.

Winner: Santino Marella via pin fall

Santino’s march to history keeps moving along.

HBK is in the back staring into space. Contract signing later on!

****Commercial****

John Morrison & The Miz v. Cryme Tyme

Morrison and Miz danced for Cryme Tyme before all heck broke loose. Before you know it, Ted Dibiase and Cody Rhodes are back on the scene and completely pearl harbored the #1 contenders. Rhodes DDT’d JTG off one of the belts before reclaiming their belts and walking off.

Winners: NO CONTEST

****Commercial****

Dibiase & Rhodes show off their haul to Randy Orton, who looked on approvingly.

Mickie James is talking about health care at the RNC. Kennedy’s there, too, but Kennedy’s don’t speak at Republican conventions.

Todd Grisham is with Batistia in the back. He asks what was on Batista’s mind heading into Unforgiven. Batista said his game plan was to destroy everyone. That’s nice.

Cole & Lawler run down the Unforgiven card. Now it’s battle royal time.

****Commercial****

Battle Royal
CM Punk v. Batista v. JBL v. Rey Mysterio v. Kane

Everyone went at it at the beginning with Batista taking both JBL and Kane down to the mat. Batista went into some big spots, hitting the spine buster on Kane and eventually a spear on JBL. He went to work on the world champion, but Punk tossed him off before eating a big spine buster. Punk took advantage of one Kane shoulder block and used it to dump Batista to the outside. JBL rushed at Punk and punk dumped JBL to boot.

That leaves Kane and CM Punk. Punk hit some strikes before Kane decked him with an upper cut and flung him into the top turnbuckle. Kane whipped the champion and mauled him with a follow up clothesline. Kane perched Punk on the top rope only for the champion to battle back and stay in the match. Kane hit a big boot that floored Punk before picking him up and hitting a side slam.

Kane hit another whip and missed the follow up which allow Punk to scrape and claw his way back into the match. He hit his kicks and punches before connecting with the high knee in the corner. He went for the bulldog, but Kane pushed him off and leveled him with another big boot. The action went back and forth before Punker went for a big spring board lariat but was caught in mid air. Kane backed him up and dumped him over the top rope and to the floor.

Winner: Kane

After the match Randy Orton mocked CM Punk. Punk got in his face and after the two exchanged words, Punk took Orton’s water and threw it in his face. Orton’s punked out.

As that was going on, Rey Mysterio’s music hit and he came out to the ring to a huge pop and went right at it with Kane. The two brawled around the ring before Mysterio eventually hit a hurricanranna that sent Kane reeling over the barricade and into the crowd.

****Commercial****

Jerry Lawler is in the ring and he’s the moderator for all this fun and the official signing for the non-sanctioned match. GM Mike Adamle says if there’s any physicality between the two, the match would be called off. Jericho came out first followed by HBK. Jericho didn’t even look Michaels in the face while HBK can’t keep his eyes off Jericho.

All there is to do is sign documents. The two sign the documents and we’re on. Jericho told Lawler ‘enough’ before asking HBK why he needs all the security. Michaels said it wasn’t his security. If it was his way, it’d just be the two of them. Jericho said he didn’t feel the need to be monitored so once HBK gave the ‘ok’, he dismissed the security and Lawler. It’s just HBK and Jericho.

Jericho said he did something he’d never do for him. He said he sat his wife and kids down and told them he wouldn’t be a lying, manipulative ego maniac like Shawn Michaels. He forbade them from watching Unforgiven because he didn’t want them seeing the brutality he was capable of. He said he wouldn’t go easy on him because he hit his wife in the face… he was going to end his career and show people what happened to people who lived life like he does.

He said just like he told Ric Flair, he was going to put him out of his misery. He said he wasn’t sorry for any of what he’d done to him and was proud of what he did. He said he’d finish him off for good. He said when he was a forgotten memory in this business, he’d only have himself to blame.

Michaels said he took comfort in the fact that Jericho’s family wouldn’t be watching, because his wouldn’t be, either. He said some day he’d tell them about this. He’d tell them about how sometimes it’s good to turn the other cheek, but sometimes it’s good to stare evil in the face and spit in it. He said he’d show Jericho no remorse at Unforgiven and would never apologize for who he is. He said at Unforgiven, it was an appropriate name. He vowed to never forgive Jericho for what he had done to him. He just hoped God would forgive him.

Lance Cade jumped him from behind but HBK caught him and sent him to the mat before putting a pretty mean beat down on him. Jericho attempted to interfere, but Michaels lunged and that was enough to scare him off. The two stared each other down as the show went off the air.

---

RAW THOUGHTS
Show Thoughts-- So all in all another pretty solid episode of Raw. Bad episodes seem to be mostly few and far between these days.

Thing that should jump off the page to everyone is the return of Randy Orton and man, what an amazingly different dynamic his presence brings to the show when he’s there. He’s the heel who the heels hate. He’s the center of the show’s universe in a way it seemed. Everyone reacted to his presence. A good wrestling show molds most of it’s characters in the shape of it’s top baby face. It spins it’s storylines off the evil madman at the center of it all. Axis v. Allies.

I’ve been saying for weeks Santino Marella is Honkey Man part 2 and really, now the WWE just quit masking it altogether. I often laugh when I hear all this nonsense about how the IC title gets hurt when people who aren’t ‘credible’ hold the belt, but sometimes the best champions are the ones who maybe shouldn’t be champions. Honkey’s illegitimacy is what made his reign so great. Beating Steamboat for the belt. Defending against HUGELY over fan favorites like Tito Santana, Randy Savage and even Brutis Beefcake just drove fans nuts. The reign wasn’t about who’d beat Honkey, it became about which cockamamie way he’d come up with to KEEP it. It was part of the entertainment. More often than not, it was good comedy. Santino’s got all the tools to pull off a Honkey Tonk type reign well. It’s a good move.

The HBK-Jericho thing got all the build it needed and even with Michaels injured, here’s to hoping we get a match worthy of the build. Should be a total blood bath.

The Rest of the show was mostly solid stuff. It’s fantastic to see Candice back in the fold. With her in the mix and hopefully a returning Melina, the women’s division should be very interesting this fall. Oh yeah, Gail Kim’s going to be back soon as well.

Overall Grade: B

Quick Results
Kofi Kingston def. Charlie Haas
Mark Henry won the ECW Scramble Battle Royal
Jamie Noble def. William Regal
Candice Michelle, Mickie James & Kelly Kelly def. Beth Phoenix, Jillian Hall & Katie Lea
Santino Marella def. D-Lo Brown
Kane won the RAW Scramble Battle Royal

Who’s Hot, Who’s Not?

Biggest Pops
1. CM Punk
2. Batista
3. Shawn Michaels
4. Rey Mysterio

Most Heat
1. Randy Orton
2. Chris Jericho
3. Cody Rhodes & Ted Dibiase
4. Kane

Match of the Night: Six Diva Tag match **1/4

Power Rankings

5 Points= Title Win
4 Points= World Title defense/win
3 Points= Singles PPV Win
2 Points= Tag PPV Win
2 Points= TV Singles Win
1 Point= TV Tag Win
0 Points= Loss

World Heavyweight Champion: CM Punk 7-4-2, 21 Points (Last Week: World Heavyweight Champion) -- Every week it seems Punker is more and more comfortable in his spot as champion. Loved the teasing of Orton later on down the line. Great stuff.

Intercontinental Champion: Santino Marella 10-10, 16 points (Last Week: Intercontinental Champion)--Honkey Meter. That is all.

1. Chris Jericho 14-14-1, 30 pts. (Last Week: 1)-- Another sensational promo, another sensational segment. He’s going to have to bring the working boots on Sunday to carry the injured Michaels.

2. Batista 6-3-2, 14 Points (Last Week: 2)-- Keeps on rolling forward for sure, but I can’t help but feel he’s a bit directionless right now. I’m very interested to see where he heads once this scramble thing is resolved.

3. John Cena 19-13, 34 points. (Last Week: 2) -- Get HBK and Cena a hospital bed together…

4. Shawn Michaels 15-4-1, 20pts. (Last Week: 5) -- Another sensational segment from these two, but is this guy the most unlucky jerk in the whole company? Best built feud in eons and we’ve got a triceps tear. You’ve got to be kidding me.

5. JBL 13-20, 24 points (Last Week: 4)-- Another quiet, if not sort of dull week from JBL. He’s getting a little redundant. I’d almost wish we’d see some of the other guys in that scramble get in on some mic time.

6. Kofi Kingston 7-3, 17 points (Last Week: 8) -- Another win to sort of get Kingston back on track, but it’ll be interesting to see what direction they head with him from here on out. I’d assume he’d still be sniffing around the IC title belt for the immediate future.

7. Kane 2-6, 4 Points (Last Week: 9)-- Finally starting to bring the wins. I’m hoping they keep the train going. It’s going to be sort of a weird dynamic with him, Batista and Rey in there, but here’s to hoping they move forward in whatever direction they’re headed with him.

8. Ted Dibiase, Jr. 4-4, 11 Points (Last Week: 6)-- God if these guys end up with Randy Orton in some sort of stable, I’ll be a happy dude. A really happy dude.

9. Cody Rhodes 9-9, 14 points (Last Week: 7)-- See Dibiase.

10. Rey Mysterio 1-0, 3 Points (Last Week: 10)--Kind of a lackluster return for Mysterio. I hate these comebacks where baby faces come back and get everything in on the bad guy in the first run in. Why not just chase him off or get in a few licks and get creamed? I dunno, sure I don’t expect a guy like Kane to run from a guy like Mysterio, but still. Humor me, here.

OTHERS :
Paul Burchill 5-4, 7 points (Last Week: 10)
Primo Colon 1-0, 2 Points (Last Week: NR)
D-Lo Brown 2-2, 4 points (Last Week: NR)
Jamie Noble 1-3, 2 Points (Last Week: NR)
Deuce 0-0, 0 Points (Last Week: NR)
Chuck Palumbo 0-0, 0 Points (Last Week: NR)
Matt Striker 0-1, 0 Points (Last Week: NR)
Randy Orton 10-9-2, 20pts. (Last Week: INJURED)
William Regal, 4-6, 11 points (Last Week: NR)
Paul London 3-6, 3 points(Last Week: NR)
Jerry Lawler 0-1, 0 points (Last Week: NR)
Lance Cade 2-5, 4 points (Last Week: NR)
Jim Duggan 0-1, 0 points (Last Week: NR)
Rory 0-2, 0 points (Last Week: NR)
Charlie Haas 0-2, 0 points (Last Week: NR)
Robbie 0-3, 0 points (Last Week: NR)
Mick Foley 1-0, 1 point (Last Week: NR)
Sgt. Slaughter 0-0. 0 pts. (Last Week: NR)
Val Venis 0-1 0pts. (Last Week: NR)
Snitsky 2-6, 3 points (Last Week: NR)
JTG 5-2, 7 points (Last Week: NR)
Big Shaad 5-2, 5 points (Last Week: NR)
Ken Kennedy 10-7, 22pts. (DRAFTED TO SMACKDOWN)
Carlito 9-9, 13 pts. (Last Week: DRAFTED TO SMACKDOWN)
Brian Kendrick, 3-8, 3 points (Last Week: DRAFTED TO SMACKDOWN)
Trevor Murdoch 0-8, 0 points (Last Week: DRAFTED TO SMACKDOWN)
Super Crazy 0-3, 0 points (Last Week: DRAFTED TO ECW)
Harry Smith 0-1, 0 points (DRAFTED TO SMACKDOWN)