On Monday, July 14, 2008 at 11:56 PM EST WWE RAW
July 14, 2008
Raleigh, NC
Commentators: Michael Cole & Jerry “The King” Lawler
Reported By: Hunter Golden of WrestleView.com
Shane and Stephanie McMahon are again making pleas to the Raw Superstars to behave and work together while Vince is out. They said if things continue on this way, they will be forced to take action.
We immediately showed up to Shawn Michaels and Chris Jericho brawling at ringside. Michaels was all over Jericho and eventually chased Jericho off to the back. Cole and Lawler began to try and make sense of what was going on before Kane’s pyro hit and he came down with a satchel in hand. Kane came up to Cole and Lawler and said he was sorry before inexplicably walking off to the back.
Oh and by the way, Michaels and Jericho are still going at it in the back. Good lord, this is rather chaotic.
Mickie James v. Katie Lea Burchill
The two locked up before Katie grabbed a full nelson. Mickie countered out with a roll up for a quick count before Katie popped out with a kick to the boot and a roll up of her own. Katie whipped Mickie to the buckles before almost getting caught in a head scissors, but she countered out, dodged the shoulder thrust attempt from the champion and dragged her back into the ring by the hair.
Katie slapped on the rear chin lock much to the crowd’s disdain. She broke the hold and after curtailing a James comeback attempt, hit a nifty hip toss before slamming James and slapping on another rear chin lock. James eventually threw her off, but found her self bullied into the corner. Katie placed Mickie on the top buckle and after a struggle, Katie tried to rip her off only to get booted back and clocked with a head scissors.
Mickie was feeling pretty ducky and leapt to the top rope and hit a Lou Thesz press. Katie got rolled up in the hold and was unable to get her shoulders off the mat in time, and Mickie got the pin fall.
Winner: Mickie James via pin fall
After the match Katie Lea attacked James from behind. She and Burchill began double teaming her, slapping her around and whatnot. Intercontinental Champion Kofi Kingston came zipping down to the ring and made the save though.
As he and Burchill jaw jacked at each other, Kingston laid his belt down on the mat, saying if Burchill wanted him, he could have him right now. Looks like an IC Championship match.
****Commercial****
Intercontinental Championship
Kofi Kingston v. Paul Burchill
We came back to a criss cross in which Kingston hit a flying back elbow and then a shoulder block in the corner. Burchill fought out with a kick to the mid section before going for suplex only to be rolled up for a two count. Kingston grabbed an arm bar and yanked Burchill back down to the mat.
Kingston countered and Irish whip attempt before hitting a hip toss and going straight back to the arm bar. Burchill fought to his feet and flat backed Kingston with a right, but ate a standing drop kick from the champion shortly thereafter. Kingston slapped on a nice top wrist lock before Burchill again fought to his feet back backed Kingston up.
Kingston looked for a counter but Burchill flipped him up in the air and literally punted out of the air~! For a two count. The challenger wasted no time laying the boots in on the mid section of the champion before slapping on a good old bear hug. Kofi let the crowd rally him back into the match and fought out with some back elbows but got quickly thwarted thanks to a Burchill knee to the chest.
Burchill hit a release German suplex before hitting a release overhead belly to belly suplex for another two count. He went back to the Bear hug and again the crowd rallied Kingston, who got a leg up on the whip attempt. Kingston fought back with all sorts of strikes before drop kicking the challenger to the mat.
Kingston went for and connected with the boom boom leg drop before Katie Lea popped up on the apron looking to interject herself. Mickie James intercepted her on the outside allowing Kingston to connect with the thunder clap for the win.
Winner and STILL Intercontinental Champion: Kofi Kingston via pin fall
Santino Marella is in the back and said he has an open challenge to anyone in the locker room tonight, and after he beat that person up, they’d forget what happened to him at the hands of Rey Mysterio last week. He turned around to come face to face with Kane. Kane wants to know where World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk is. Marella says he’s in the locker. Kane storms off and Marella eats some TUMS.
****Commercial****
Kane has CM Punk cornered in the locker room. Kane challenges Punk to a match. He puts over their being tag partners before, but he NEEDED to face him one on one tonight. Kane’s not a heel. Kane’s not a face. Kane’s just crazy. Punk said he’s insane to think he’s going to do that six days before the biggest match of his career, but if he needed it, he could have it. He asked what was up with Kane’s bag. Kane just laughed.
John Cena is with JBL putting over the NYC Parking lot brawl. He said this Sunday they wouldn’t be finding out about who the best athlete was. They would be finding out if careers would be cut short or not. He said it wasn’t about what the match was about, it was about why he’d take the match. He says he’s taking the match because he hates JBL. He said the Bash would be the ideal place to take a supposedly ‘great American’ and bash his head through car windows and bashing his skull in with car doors. He said he looked forward to seeing the fear in JBL. He said he didn’t pick a fight with just another dude. Cena said he was one angry son of a b!tch. He said he wouldn’t stop fighting until JBL would never ever forget the name John Cena. Cryme Tyme showed up and Cena dropped the challenge to JBL to find two partners and face them in a six man tag team match.
****Commercial****
Thank you, Josh Hamilton, you’ve ruined my recap for me.
Beth Phoenix v. Santino Marella
Santino charged only to clatter into the buckles. Beth rolled him up shortly thereafter and got the win.
Winner: Beth Phoenix via pin fall
****Commercial****
Kelly Kelly is in the ring as the World Tag Team Champions Cody Rhodes and Ted Dibiase come out to the ring and kick her out.
Rhodes said people had been criticizing them for ‘going bad’. He said they weren’t bad, they were realistic. They weren’t their fathers. They were better. He said when your this talented, you just don’t pay dues. Dibiase took the mic and said in ten years, they’d just be entering their primes.
A big ‘ho’ sounded out and Jim Duggan came slamming down to the ring. Duggan said he came out to talk from the heart. He said he knew them since they were kids. He said he teamed up with Rhodes and competed with Ted Dibiase. He said they were like him. Old School. He said unlike these fellas, they respected and appreciated the people who paved the way. He said Cody and Ted were right. They were very talented. Even at a whole other level. As people though, they had a lot of growing up to do.
Rhodes held him up and said he made some valid points. He said maybe they were right. But he said ‘growing up’ also reminded him of 60 year old men coming out in gym shorts pretending to live their glory years. He said Duggan didn’t even have days that were that glorious to begin with.
Dibiase said Steve Austin said, if you want to be in the WWE, you need to have what it takes to be a champion. They asked Duggan what titles he won. What he had ever done. Why he came out here desperately trying to prove that he was still something, and even to be as arrogant to think he was something great to begin with. Dibiase said “Jim, if you’re looking for people to grow up, man. You need to look in the mirror.” Duggan looked destroyed.
The two walked out of the ring and up to the ramp before JBL popped up on the monitor. He said the two were right, they don’t need to pay dues. In fact, they could main event tonight. With him. The two eagerly accepted.
****Commercial****
CM Punk v. Kane
Punk looked for some strikes early on before Kane missed with a haymaker. The two dodged and ducked each other until Punk began laying it in with the big strikes. He came off the ropes and went to baseball slide through Kane’s legs only to get grabbed by the hair on the way though, brought to his feet and decked to the mat.
Kane backed the World Champion up into the corner and went for a whip after some choking. Punk came back with some strikes and eventually knocked him out of the ring and to the floor. Kane went to flip out and after some cool down time, headed back towards the ring and dodged the incoming CM Punk and completely clocked him with a right hand.
Kane put the boots to Punk in the ring and laid him out with a big clothesline. He went for a cover but Punk kicked out in time. Kane hit a body slam and cute low-end drop kick to Punk’s face for a two count. Kane looks good tonight. The Big Red Machine slapped on the cravat as the champion squirmed and tried fruitlessly to break free.
When Punk eventually did, he just ate a huge big boot to the grill before getting placed back into the rear chin lock. Punk fought out of the hold and looked for a sunset flip, but Kane caught him and choked him to his feet. Kane fought out with strikes and kicks before nailing the big knee and added a second before going for the bulldog, but Kane tossed him off.
Punk hit some forearms and dropkicked the big man’s legs out from under him before completely KO-ing him with a kick to the head for a two count. Punk went to the top rope and hit a cross body but Kane kicked out yet again. Punk looked for GTS, but Kane fought out and went for a choke slam. Punk landed a huge kick to the temple that rocked Kane. He went to the apron and tried to vault into the ring but was intercepted mid leap and decked to the outside.
The two brawled on the outside and eventually hit a bulldog on the outside and crawled into the ring before the count hit ten.
Winner: CM Punk via count out
Kane totally flipped after the match tossing chairs into the ring. He caught the Champion before he could flee and went to do the old folding chair on the throat thing before Batista came running out to make the save. Punk went to shake his hand and Batista refused. He said he wasn’t here to be his friend. He wanted his title and was protecting his ‘investment’. Punk didn’t like that and shoved Batista back only to get spine-bustered out of his boots. Batista laughed at Punk and began walking to the back as the Champion looked on.
****Commercial****
Chris Jericho (w/ Lance Cade) v. Paul London
Jericho bullied London to the corner. London fought out only to take a brutal elbow to the temple. Jericho hit a big boot to the grill before chucking the smaller London to the outside. Jericho stomped away on London before ripping away at the retaining wall and slamming the Michaels-Student off it.
Back in the ring, Jericho stalked London to the corner and choked him out on the middle rope. London fired back with a few forearms and managed a nice standing drop kick. London hit a kick but totally whiffed on a springboard clothesline attempt and quickly bought a knee to the face. Jericho hit a double under hook back breaker before asking where HBK was.
London slapped on the Walls of Jericho and that’s all she wrote.
Winner: Chris Jericho via submission
Jericho got on the mic. He said London needed to figure out which road he wanted to take in his career. He said he could follow HBK’s path and stay where he was. Or he could follow his and become something. Michaels’ music hit and he came out to the ramp. Michaels stared Jericho down from the ramp as Cade protected him with a steel chair.
HBK said he knew he couldn’t change Jericho’s mind and he could change his. He said he might have taken the path of righteousness and truth, but he doesn’t know the meaning of those two words. He said the two did agree on one thing. He said this Sunday, the worst was truly yet to come.
****Commercial****
Jamie Noble is literally propositioning Layla in the back. She said she doesn’t date short men. He said he was the average height of a male in the US. He was above average in other areas. He said he was going to trash the next guy that showed up. Snitsky showed up and this is going to be a debacle. Noble put his foot in his mouth pretty quickly.
Layla mocked him a bit before Noble gathered up the courage to challenge the big man. Layla tried to get him not to do that, but Noble wasn’t listening.
Noble started off ok but Snitsky began to put a beat down and hit a huge irish whip. Noble got on the second rope and told Layla that ‘this one’s for her. He flew off the rope only to get crushed with a Snitsky running boot. Like Josh Hamilton v. Baseball like running boot. So anyways, pump handle slam later and this is over. Layla looks worried.
****Commercial****
A replay of Shane and Stephanie McMahon’s announcement from earlier in the night aired.
****Commercial****
JBL, Cody Rhodes & Ted Dibiase v. John Cena & Cryme Tyme
Cena had the crowd in a total frenzy and was manhandling Cody Rhodes to get it going in the early on. He kept on staring at JBL while laying in huge right hands, teaching the youngster a lesson.
Big Shaad tagged in and floored Cody before going for a Guerilla Press, only for Rhodes to shimmy out and whack him from behind. Dibiase tagged in and quickly ate a shoulder block before getting chucked clear across the ring with a double under hook suplex. Shaad hit a big slam before loading his partner up for a big splash for a two count.
JTG and Rhodes went at it until Rhodes got some help from Dibiase on the outside. JBL tagged in and began laying it in on JTG, stomping on his hands and booting the hell out of him. Dibiase tagged in and laid in some boots of his own before slamming JTG to the mat and tagging in Rhodes.
Rhodes stooged a bit and nailed JTG flat in the junk. Oh man. Dibiase tagged in and they worked over JTG’s leg very efficiently ripping and tearing with a toe hold as JTG writhed in pain.
****Commercial****
We came back to Shaad this time getting a big beat down. JBL tagged in and began laying in bombs before antagonizing Cena who wants in bad. JBL dropped a flurry of elbows before gathering Shaad and tagging in Rhodes who came sailing in with a flying elbow.
Rhodes slapped on a spinning toe hold and was kicked off but Rhodes recovered. Rhodes went for a flying bulldog but got pushed off. The crowd was going nuts for the hot tag and Cena almost got it but was knocked to the floor by Rhodes. Rhodes got a tag from Dibiase who went for a quick cover attempt. The two traded punches before Dibiase gained the advantage and tagged Rhodes right back in.
Rhodes stalked Shaad around the ring and slammed him off the corner buckle but totally whiffed on the moonsault attempt. The crowd is MOLTEN for Shaad to get the hot tag.
Cena got it to an explosion from the fans and Cena began cleaning house. Cena hit a five knuckle shuffle before loading up Dibiase for the FU. He connected big time and then hit a flipping throwback on Rhodes. He ascended the top rope and hit the flying leg drop. He slapped on the STFU on Rhodes who almost tapped but JBL caused the blatant DQ interfering.
Winners: John Cena & Cryme Tyme via DQ
JBL goaded Cena from the aisle and motioned for him to follow him outside. Cena obliged without any objection and here we go. Cena chased him throughout the back garage before losing him. He stopped at the door before taking a big breath and heading outside. Cena cautiously prowled the exterior of the arena looking for Bradshaw. After some tense moments, Cena turned around before getting blindsided. JBL nailed him with a lead pipe and dragged him and placed him up against a car. JBL got in a car and drove it clean into Cena. Good lord. He looked around at the wreck as we went off the air.RAW THOUGHTSShow Thoughts-- Man, what a show tonight. This is the most reminiscent of the attitude era Raw’s been in a long, long time. Unpredictable, out of control, lots of angles.. You can’t complain. The matches were pretty darn great, too.
The first place to stop off would probably be the CM Punk-Batista mini-program which I felt came off about as well as you could’ve hoped for. Punk should unquestionably look like the under dog in this match and the way Batista treated him, with total disregard, really added to it. These sorts of angles are risky, but when executed well can pay huge dividends. This one was well executed and I’m hugely excited for the match on Sunday.
Jericho-Michaels ended on a pretty good note all things considered. A fun brawl and a shot but sweet promo between the two leaves us in a good spot. This feud has been so well done that I’m really hard pressed to say that it needs anything /*. Jericho could lose and be TOTALLY fine. Everyone’s a winner here. They could drag it out a month, which would be great and give us a gimmick match at Summerslam. They could just end it after Sunday. Either way, I walk away feeling pretty satisfied with what we got. Just a great, great program and perhaps one of the most eagerly anticipated matches of the year.
The Cena-JBL thing was weird. I don’t object to the angle, I just think the timing has been poor with it. This angle was about two weeks too late, but in any event, I guess it’s better late than never as spraying ‘JBL eats Poopy’ isn’t really grounds for a big street fight like they’re supposed to have. In any event, I’m still looking forward to the match, as both men excel in this sort of an environment, but there’s no doubt this was just an odd program.
The mid card is just absolutely tearing the house down these days with the Rhodes/Dibiase team being great, Kingston being boat loads of fun and Paul Burchill and Katie Lea proving to be a great tandem. Santino as the uber-stooge is enjoyable as well. You can’t complain with the performances we’ve been getting.
Kane, oddly enough, is turning out to be quite interesting. He’s not really a heel. Not really a face. He’s just insane. He seems totally rejuvenated with this new push he’s getting and lemme tell you, he hasn’t looked this good in about four years now. So when Kane’s great, you know the show’s on a roll.
The overall theme of chaos and alliances of necessity is something totally fresh and fun as well. I’d probably deem this episode the “Dr. Phil edition’. Kane’s insane. Jericho’s insane and trying to build a mini-cult. JBL’s committing homicide while Mickie James is with a new dude every night. We’ve got Jericho and Cade, Rhodes and Dibiase, Cryme Tyme and Cena, Burchill and Katie Lea.. Everyone’s got someone. Makes things interesting for sure.
But in sum, an incredibly strong Raw that hasn’t had that awesome of a feel to it in forever.
Overall Grade: A-
Quick Results
Mickie James def. Katie Lea Burchill
Kofi Kingston def. Paul Burchill
Beth Phoenix def. Santino Marella
CM Punk def. Kane
Chris Jericho def. Paul London
John Cena & Cryme Tyme def. JBL, Cody Rhodes & Ted Dibiase
Who’s Hot, Who’s Not?
Biggest Pops
1. John Cena
2. Batista
3. CM Punk
4. Shawn Michaels
Most Heat
1. Chris Jericho
2. JBL
3. Kane
4. Cody Rhodes & Ted Dibiase
Match of the Night: Batista v. JBL, Cody Rhodes & Ted Dibiase v. John Cena & Cryme Tyme **3/4
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
World Heavyweight Champion: CM Punk 4-0, 13 Points (Last Week: World Heavyweight Champion) -- Sure, he took a beating tonight, but what a glorious beating it was, REALLY establishing him as the underdog heading into this Sunday’s pay per view. He looked plucky, but credible all while maintaining a great sense of vulnerability. Good week.
Intercontinental Champion: Kofi Kingston 4-0, 11 points (Last Week: IC Champion) -- Helped punctuate a really great opening segment. A way better than expected match with Burchill that got a good reaction. Good night for Kingston.
1. John Cena 15-9, 26 points. (Last Week: 1) -- Tonight’s reactions are the types of reactions creative is looking to get for him every week. And man oh man, was he on tonight. Great punches, outstanding psychology, it was like 2007 Cena all over again. Probably his best TV performance this year.
2. Shawn Michaels 15-3-1, 20pts. (Last Week: 1) -- Keeps it short but sweet with Jericho tonight with a fun opening slug fest to a simple but very effective promo to cap the feud off before big match time this Sunday.
3. Chris Jericho 11-13-1, 23pts. (Last Week: IC Champion)-- Really, it doesn’t matter who wins this Sunday. Both guys got the job done in this feud and it’s the kind of feud that no matter who wins, both guys are in excellent spots after it. If the feud keeps going, great, if not, I won’t be disappointed.
4. Batista 1-1-0, 2 Points (Last Week: 8)-- Man, his spot with Punk tonight was great. Just the whole demeanor he had tonight was outstanding. He probably won’t walk away with the belt on Sunday, but it won’t matter. The beating will be legendary.
5. JBL 9-15, 16 points (Last Week: 5)-- The feud needed a big angle and I don’t know if they were really effective with the segment tonight. It seems a few weeks too late, but irregardless, I guess it’s better late than never. He and Cena absolutely own these big brawl gimmick matches, so I’m expecting big things Sunday.
6. Paul Burchill 4-2, 5 points (Last Week: 5)-- Slips a bit this weekend, but despite that, he’s in a better spot. He and Katie look like a great duo and have really done a fantastic job thus far of supplementing the mid card.
7. Rey Mysterio 1-0, 3 Points (Last Week: 8) --Oddly enough, NOT IN ACTION.
8. Ted Dibiase, Jr. 1-1, 4 Points (Last Week: 8)-- Holy smokes, that promo was just awesome. Just great stuff. And the work in the main event was top notch, too. No complaints here. Despite the loss, they stay put.
9. Cody Rhodes 7-6, 7 points (Last Week: 19)-- See Dibiase.
10. Kane 0-3, 0 Points (Last Week: 10)--Despite taking another loss, he’s the most interesting thing on Raw enough and looked as good as I’ve seen him in the ring in forever. He seems to be rejuvenated. That’s a good thing.
OTHERS :
Santino Marella 5-8, 5 points (Last Week: NR)
Jamie Noble 0-0, 0 Points (Last Week: NR)
Deuce 0-0, 0 Points (Last Week: NR)
Chuck Palumbo 0-0, 0 Points (Last Week: NR)
Matt Striker 0-0, 0 Points (Last Week: NR
Randy Orton 10-9-2, 20pts. (Last Week: INJURED)
William Regal, 3-4, 9 points (Last Week: NR)
Paul London 3-5, 3 points(Last Week: NR)
Jerry Lawler 0-1, 0 points (Last Week: NR)
Lance Cade 1-5, 2 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 2-6, 3 points (Last Week: NR)
JTG 3-2, 5 points (Last Week: NR)
Big Shaad 3-2, 3 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)