On Monday, May 12, 2008 at 11:22 PM EST WWE RAW
May 12, 2008
Detroit, MI
Commentators: Jim Ross & Jerry “The King” Lawler
Reported By: Hunter Golden of WrestleView.com
We got a video package putting over last week’s events.
We head out to the arena and we’ve got another Royal Black out. They finally come up and King William Regal is in the middle of the ring while Lilian Garcia sings ‘God Saves the Queen’. Regal’s getting an ungodly amount of heat.
Regal told the crowd that they had better not disrespect him or his country. He said he could do whatever he wanted, even throw people out of the arena if need be. He said to prove he wasn’t bluffing, he’d set and example here. He pointed to two people in the crowd and asked that security toss them out of the ringside area. He said this is what happens when the King is disrespected.
Mickie James came running down to the ring and pleaded that he not throw her brother and his girlfriend out of the arena. Mickie kept on pleading with him before Regal told her he’d throw her out of the arena, too. Mickie persisted and Regal kept getting more and more angry.
Then John Cena’s music hit the ring and he came out to the ring. He escorted Mickie to the outside before addressing our king. Cena said he’s been gone a few weeks and usually he’s all fired up, but he needed to talk to Regal. He said he knew what Regal was going through and he was in a tough spot. He said he knew what it was like to try your hardest and have the people tell him he sucks, but he was going about it the wrong way.
Regal said ‘everyone’ wasn’t true. He said Vince McMahon endorsed him last week. Cena said McMahon was insane. Cena said he knew Regal would say that and read some emails to WWE.com. One called Regal’s action “WCW Thunder” bad. One even said Regal was like pooping in their mouth and calling it a Sunday.
Regal said if that was how they truly felt, he said tonight, he wouldn’t be turning out the lights in any matches. He said he knew Cena wasn’t in the ring the last two weeks because Randy Orton kicked him in the head at Backlash. Cena asked when he could expect JBL or someone /*. Regal said anyone who interfered in the match would be suspended. Regal said maybe that would earn him some respect.
Cena said that wasn’t all. He said Raw opened with “God Save the Queen” and they were in America. He said he’d better respect the fans. He didn’t care where he was from, he needed to know where he was at. This was Detroit. Cena asked Lilian Garcia to sing “Respect” and of course she did.
****Commercial****
Rowdy Roddy Piper made his way out to the ringside area to do a little commentary.
World Tag Team Championship
Cody Rhodes & Hardcore Holly v. Santino Marella & Carlito
Holly battered Santino Marella around the ring briefly before Carlito showed up and nailed a swinging beck breaker that allowed his partner to get a two count.
Carlito tagged in and stomped away on Holly on the mat before stalking him into the corner and smashing his head off the turnbuckle. Santino tagged in and laid some shoulders in before hitting an arm drag and planting an elbow into Holly’s arm. Marella missed a corner rush and quickly squirmed to his corner and tagged in Carlito.
Carlito cracked Holly across the back with some clubbing blows before getting laid out with a back suplex. Cody Rhodes came in and hit some right hands on Santino Marella and then got two near falls with a power slam and a cross body block.
Rhodes hit a bulldog for a two count before Santino hit a jaw breaker. Santino measured Rhodes before getting distracted by Piper. Rhodes waited for him and cracked him with a DDT for the win.
Winners and STILL World Tag Team Champions: Cody Rhodes & Hardcore Holly via pin fall
****Commercial****
Snitsky v. Mr. Kennedy
Snitsky went right for Kennedy and put a nice little beat down on Kennedy in the corner. He picked Kennedy up and slammed him to the mat before dropping an elbow for a two count. Snitsky slapped on a bear hug and squeezed away on the loud mouthed super star.
Kennedy fought back with rights to the forehead of Snitsky but was cut off in short order, as Snitsky slammed him to the mat. Snitsky whiffed big time with a leg drop and ate some rights to the face before Kennedy hit a chop block and then another, to the legs of Snitsky.
Kennedy followed up with a face wash and a drop kick for a two count. Kennedy kept going at the leg and hit the mic check for a three count and the win.
Winner: Mr. Kennedy via pin fall
****Commercial****
Santino was going crazy in the back over Piper costing him tag team gold. He said he’d get his revenge.
Mickie James asks John Cena out with her and her brother after the show. Cena said he’d be there.
****Commercial****
Beth Phoenix & Melina v. Mickie James & Maria
Melina and Maria locked horns and Maria took her adversary down. James and Maria double teamed Melina and Mickie made her eat a drop kick to the face for a two count. Beth protested but to no avail and got knocked off the apron.
Melina went for a roll up but only got a two count. She bullied Mickie to the corner before Beth just walked out on her. Mickie uncorked a neck breaker and that was that.
Winners: Maria & Mickie James via pin fall
****Commercial****
Chris Jericho’s music hit and he came out to the ring.
Chris Jericho took the mic and put over all the talk and controversy over his ‘injury’ at Backlash. Jericho said a lot of people believed that the injury was real. He said he didn’t buy it and he told everyone who’d listen that it was a sham, rouse, etc. He said not out of maliciousness, but rather be rewarded for a masterful performance. He said something happened last week that changed his mind.
Jericho said he came to a different conclusion, that Shawn Michaels really was hurt. He said for questioning his injury and his integrity, he wanted him to come out here that he could apologize to him. He said if Shawn had pride, he’d go and call off their match at Judgment Day because he wanted to wrestle Michaels at 100%.
HBK’s music hit and he came down to the ring.
Michaels told Jericho he didn’t have to apologize. He said the person who needed to apologize was him. Michaels said he faked the injury. He was right and he wasn’t hurt. Jericho looked at him baffled. Jericho laughed at him and said he’d been doing this for 17 years, and maybe that trickery worked on Batista, but it didn’t work on him.
HBK said he told everyone he’d do what it took to win. Jericho said he was right and he wasn’t hurt. Jericho said he was insulting his intelligence. He said the problem with HBK was that he thought he was smarter than everyone /*. Jericho said he knew he was hurt and then just ate sweet chin music. He was on the mat frozen. Michaels knelt over his body and promised him he wasn’t hurt. He hurdled over the top rope and waltzed off to the back.
****Commercial****
Jeff Hardy’s music hit and he came on down to the ring.
Hardy said he didn’t want to be away from any of the fans, but he made a mistake and he paid for it. He said now that he was back, he had a lot of things to do. He went to speak before the mic cut out and here comes our king William Regal. Regal said no one wanted to hear what was wrong with his mic, and they didn’t want to hear his apologies. He said he wanted a match right now.
Umaga time.
Umaga v. Jeff Hardy
Hardy went right at Umaga and launched himself over the top rope and into Umaga on the floor. Umaga cut him off before he could get anything going and launched him into the barricade.
Back in the ring, Umaga laid em in, whipping Hardy into the corner before gathering him and whipping him again. As Hardy rebounded, Umaga decked him with an uppercut and climbed to the second buckle. Umaga dropped a big head butt an smiled at the pile of mush that Jeff Hardy was, laying on the mat before him.
Umaga hit some hard rights and then backed off into the corner to set up the running bump butt. Hardy avoided the move and hit whisper in the wind and got a quick flash pin.
Winner: Jeff Hardy via pin fall
****Commercial****
Cryme Tyme v. Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch
Cade and JTG started us off and locked horns. Cade missed a clothesline and JTG went outside and stooged with the fans for a bit. Cade eventually took the advantage and hit a big back elbow before tagging in musical Trevor Murdoch.
JTG mounted a mini comeback and tagged in Shaad who hit a big shoulder block and a body slam followed by an elbow. He cleaned out the incoming Lance Cade before JTG hit a nifty double team roll up for a two count.
Murdoch bounced back and hit a boot to JTG’s mug before exchanging two quick tags with Cade. JTG went for a sunset flip and Murdoch sat out to get the win.
Winners: Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch via pin fall
After the match, Cade went over and made sure to grab a mic so Murdoch could sing. Singing = winning.
Oh good lord, it’s a victory song. That’s fantastic. It’s “Know When to Hold ‘em”. OH man, this is the best.
Then Lance Cade decked him out of nowhere. Murdoch crawled up his legs and Cade hit him one more time.
****Commercial****
Melina confronted Beth Phoenix. Beth said she left her off easy. Beth laid a BRUTAL beat down on Melina in the back.
Todd Grisham is in the back with #1 Contender Randy Orton. Randy Orton said Triple H called him the cerebral assassin. He asked Todd who won at Wrestlemania. He asked Todd who took advantage of him last week. Whose taken out more top stars? Triple H had a lucky night against him at Backlash.
He said Cena would learn all over again why he was the most physically gifted wrestler in the WWE as well as the smartest.
****Commercial****
Randy Orton v. John Cena
Orton’s come out to new music and it’s pretty badass.
The two locked up and went to the corner before Orton grabbed a quick headlock and wrestled Cena down to the mat. Cena eventually fought out and hit his wild looking bulldog for a quick one count, but that was about it.
Cena whipped Orton, hit a boot to the head and planted the former champion with a cradle suplex for the first near fall of the match. We got a brief cris cross before Orton hit Cena with a back elbow. The two traded shots before Orton wrapped him up and hit his back breaker for a two count.
Orton laid Cena out with some right hands before soaking up some sick crowd heat. The crowd is NUTS for this match. Orton went to lay the boots to Cena on the mat but Cena blocked it and fought off the foot and flipped him up and over the top rope to the floor.
****Commercial****
Orton was ripping Cena’s head off with a big head lock. Cena STRUGGLED out of the hold and hit a knee to Orton’s gut but was cut off big time with a big time power slam for a two count before Orton went right back to the side headlock. Everything he’s doing is making Cena expend energy.
Cena fought out and came leaping with a shoulder block but Orton laid out and avoided it. Orton went for an RKO but Cena tossed him off and hit the flipping neck breaker. Cena went to the top rope and hit the flying leg drop. Orton staggered and bumbled to the outside.
All of a sudden, JBL showed up in a referee’s outfit with William Regal and said he was the new referee. Cena decked JBL immediately before fighting Orton off. Cena loaded up an RKO but ate a big boot from JBL who fast counted Cena and Orton wins.
Winner: Randy Orton via pin fall
Cena jumped JBL after the match before JBL and Orton began slugging away on Cena. The WWE Champion Triple H’s music hit and he came running down to the ring.
Triple H cleaned out JBL and all hell has broken loose. Cena and JBL fought into the crowd while Orton lined Triple H up for something not so friendly. Orton hammered away at Triple H on the mat before the crowd pops as A STEEL FREAKING CAGE IS LOWERING!
Triple H countered back with a spine buster and slammed Orton into the cage and he dropped to the floor through the apron. Triple H pointed down at Orton as the #1 contender looked up.RAW THOUGHTSShow Thoughts-- Really, just a solid show. Raw works best when they spin off some sort of central figure and William Regal being the sinister ruler has really been great the past couple of weeks and added a ton of structure to a show that was beginning to need it. He added heat to every segment he was a part of and even Cena got an overwhelmingly positive reaction with him. Good stuff from Regal.
The show from an in ring standpoint was pretty good. Cena and Orton are the most money combination of guys in the company followed by Umaga and Hardy and we got both tonight and both produced really fun, well worked, short matches. Really with combos like that every week, you can’t miss.
Jericho-HBK is interesting because they seem to be teasing turns for both, almost testing the waters for reactions.. I’m eagerly anticipating the second major installment between these two, as the first match at Wrestlemania XIX was really great stuff. I don’t know if this’ll be quite as good as that match, but it should deliver the goods.
There seems to be a lot going on right now and the WWE really seems to be going to the extra mile to try and keep people guessing. From the Kennedy turn to the possible Melina turn, everything is pretty interesting right now and we might be in the middle of a transition period creatively. With every match looking strong heading into Judgment Day, which looks as strong if not stronger than a Wrestlemania card, you can’t go wrong.
While not as many people are watching, this is as long a period I can remember that the WWE has been as consistently good as it’s been in the last year and a half. Let’s hope it keeps up.
Overall Grade: B
Quick Results
Cody Rhodes & Hardcore Holly def. Santino Marella & Carlito
Mr. Kennedy def. Snitsky
Mickie James & Maria def. Melina & Beth Phoenix
Jeff Hardy def. Umaga
Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch def. Crime Tyme
Randy Orton def. John Cena
Who’s Hot, Who’s Not?
Biggest Pops
1. Jeff Hardy
2. Triple H
3. John Cena
4. Shawn Michaels
Most Heat
1. William Regal
2. Randy Orton
3. JBL
4. Umaga
Match of the Night: John Cena v. Randy Orton **1/2
Power Rankings5 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
WWE Champion: Triple H 10-6, 20pts.(Last Week: WWE Champion) --Quiet night for Triple H for the most part, but coming out on top the show before the pay per view is rarely a good thing.
Intercontinental Champion: Chris Jericho 9-8, 19pts. (Last Week: IC Champion)-- Embroiled in probably the most interesting feud on the show right now doesn’t hurt. Of all the matches at Judgment Day, I’m looking forward to the one with Michaels the most. The winner could be in line for a title shot at Night of the Champions.
1. Shawn Michaels 14-2, 17pts. (Last Week: 1) -- I like the surly, grumpy Michaels a lot better than run of the mill baby face. He’s the most interesting he’s been in eons.
2. Randy Orton 9-7-2, 19pts. (Last Week: 2) -- This guy has gotten so good it’s scary. He’s quickly catching Cena in my book and I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s probably impossible for those two to have a bad match with each other.
3. JBL 7-9, 14 points (Last Week: 3)-- He seems to be the fourth wheel in the main event scene, but if he wins the match against Cena on Sunday, I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see him face Triple H is the Game walks out with the belt.
4. John Cena 8-6, 11 points. (Last Week: 4) -- Cena drops another one tonight and has a sure-bet fun brawl with JBL waiting on Sunday. Still sort of in a cooling stage, I expect him to be back in the forefront by the end of the summer. But for now, he’s where he should be.
5. Umaga 5-8, 10 points (Last Week: 5) -- Sensational in a short but super fun TV match with Jeff Hardy. They say he’s headed to Smack down and once he’s there, I’m sure I’ll die from joy.
6. William Regal 3-2, 6 points (Last Week: 8)--Really, if you think about it, he’s the focal point of the show right now. He’s influencing every feud and is by far the most over pure heel right NOW on the show. Everything the guy is associated with gets heat.
9. Ken Kennedy 6-6, 13pts. (Last Week: 9)-- He seems to be a full blown baby face now and I’m kind of relieved. With JBL and Orton just being untouchable in the heel world and Jericho or Michaels potentially turning soon, there isn’t much room for him to move up. A face turn is a wise move right now.
10. Jeff Hardy 6-5, 11pts. (Last Week: 10)-- Back and looking pretty good. Got a great reaction and looked pretty great for a guy who hasn’t wrestled in 60 days. Let’s see if he can get back on track.
6. Carlito 8-5, 12 pts. (Last Week: 6) -- In a shocking turn of events, I thought he was by far the best man in the ring tonight in the tag match. Yes, I said it.
7. Santino Marella 4-3, 4 points (Last Week: 7) -- Enjoyable tonight, but really floundering despite the good reactions.
OTHERS :
Paul London 3-3, 3 points(Last Week: NR)--
Cody Rhodes 3-3, 3 points (Last Week: NR)
Jerry Lawler 0-1, 0 points (Last Week: NR)
Lance Cade 0-5, 0 points (Last Week: NR)
Hardcore Holly 4-4, 4pts. (Last Week: NR)
Brian Kendrick, 3-7, 3 points (Last Week: NR)
Trevor Murdoch 0-7, 0 points (Last Week: NR)
Super Crazy 0-3, 0 points (Last Week: NR)
Paul Birch all 3-0, 6 points (Last Week: 10)
Harry Smith 0-1, 0 points (Last Week: NR)
Jim Duggan 0-1, 0 points (Last Week: NR)
Rory 0-2, 0 points (Last Week: NR)
Charlie Haas 0-1, 0 points (Last Week: NR)
Robbie 0-2, 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 1-5, 2 points (Last Week: NR)
JTG 1-1, 3 points (Last Week: NR)
Big Shaad 1-1, 1 point (Last Week: NR)