On Tuesday, September 16, 2008 at 12:12 AM EST WWE Raw
September 15, 2008
Memphis, TN
Commentators: Michael Cole and Jerry “The King” Lawler
Reported By: Hunter Golden of WrestleView.com
World Heavyweight Championship — Steel Cage Match
Chris Jericho v. CM Punk
Punk started off as a ball of fire, going right at Jericho taking him down and absolutely tearing apart his midsection, keeping with the theme of Jerich’s weakened mid section through the last couple of weeks.
Punk whipped Jericho to the corner hard before landing some knees. He whipped Jericho again, who attempted to scurry up the cage to escape. Punk caught him and knocked him off the top rope and he, himself attempted to climb over the top but was thwarted by the champion.
The two plopped down to the ring where Punk continued to absolutely punish Jericho with strikes before taking his head off with two particularly surly moves, a wheel kick and the knee-bulldog combo.
Punk went for GTS but Jericho held onto the top rope. Punk eventually gave up on trying to hit his finisher and instead elected to dump the champion into the cage. Jericho bounced off the cage and lay in a heap on the ring apron as Punk checked his face.
****Commercial****
We can back to Jericho being in control, gaining the momentum by spiking Punk’s knee on the mat over the break. Jericho slapped on an ankle lock before Punk spun out with a big enziguiri. Punk was favoring his leg at first but then started dishing out some big kicks. He bounded off the ropes, only for Jericho to catch him coming in by the legs, rolling him over into the Walls of Jericho.
Punk writhed in pain as he inched towards the door. Punk actually got halfway out the door and this is a fantastic ‘near fall’ for a cage match. Punk got one leg free only for Jericho to slam the cage door shut on his face. Jericho dragged him back to the middle of the ring and got a two count for his efforts.
The World Champion worked Punk over on the mat, going back to the leg, which helped him gain the advantage in the first place. He hammered away at Punk’s face with some punches before hot dogging for the crowd a little bit. The stalling cost him, as he was met with Punk’s knees when he went for the lion sault.
Punk leapt to his feet and began laying in some super-mean looking kicks. Punk bounded towards Jericho in the corner, but Jericho side stepped him and sent him reeling into the corner of the cage. The commentators are putting over the concussion Punk received at the hands of Randy Orton a few weeks ago.
Jericho began to ascend the cage and got to the top but Punk caught him by the ankle. Punk laid Jericho across the top of the cage and went for a TOP OF THE CAGE GTS, but Jericho elbowed out. The two battled it out on the top rope before sending each other crashing to the mat.
Punk crawled towards Jericho and hooked the leg but only got a two count. Jericho fought back and sent the challenger hurling into the cage again leaving him out on his feet. Jericho again attempted to escape, and again, Punk caught him. Punk perched Jericho on his shoulders and fell back into a thunderous electric chair drop and both men are out.
Jericho crawled for the cage door but Punk dragged him back and leapt over him and attempted to escape himself. The two tussled at the door before Jericho rammed into Punk’s head and fell back out the entrance and to the floor. Right place at the right time yet again.
Winner and STILL World Heavyweight Champion: Chris Jericho
Batista is watching Chris Jericho back stage and looks less than impressed.
Kane will face off against Rey Mysterio later tonight!
****Commercial****
Raw GM is in the back with Kelly Kelly. Dal Singer (sp?) walked up and introduced himself before Jericho walked in. Mike told him not to rest on his laurels as he needed to get ready for No Mercy. Jericho said Mike needed to learn how to take care of his champion. Adamle said that was fair enough and they walked off.
Kane’s got the old mask on. He said years ago, he was in a position where he was forced to remove his mask. He said the truth was, that no one forces him to do anything and he took it off for all of us, so he would finally be accepted, but that didn’t happen. He said everywhere he went, he saw people pointing at him. He didn’t like it and knew people were repulsed by him, and he was repulsed by them. He saw a man like Rey Mysterio, a man who didn’t have the courage to do what he did. He said the people loved him and why, because the people hid behind their own masks of self-righteousness. Deep down he knew they were scared to let us know who they really were. When he attacked Mysterio, he was attacking each and every one of them.
Evan Bourne walked in. He said he couldn’t wait to watch Rey beat him tonight. Kane laughed at him and Bourne walked off.
Jillian’s singing us some Elvis and it’s brutal. Up next, Candice will take her on.
****Commercial****
Good lord, she’s still going.
Jillian Hall v. Candice Michelle
Beth followed Candice down to the ring and for her efforts got a booby shot.
The two locked horns in the middle of the ring and Candice grabbed a side headlock take down. Jillian threw her off momentarily only to get stuck again before eating a shoulder block and a kick to the mouth. She leapt off the ropes with a wheel kick for a two count. She attempted a crucifix but got slammed to the mat for a quick cover attempt.
Jillian heeled it up with some hair yanking and cheap shots before tossing her into the corner and choking her out on the bottom rope with her boot. Jillian kept up the pressure with a throw and a full nelson, but Candice kicked out of it. Jillian hit a snap mare before slapping on another full nelson. Candice hit a kick to the grill before the two exchanged some strikes. Candice took Jillian down a few times before hitting a drop kick and attempted to psyche a dead crowd up a bit.
Candice dodged her in the corner and hit a take down for a two count. Jillian rolled out of a headlock attempt and hit a back suplex before pounding away with forearms that backed Candice into the corner.
Jillian cape flying in and went for the cartwheel elbow but Candice caught both arms on the way in and hit the candy wrapper for the win.
Winner: Candice Michelle via pin fall
Candice invited Beth into the ring for a little scuffling fun but Beth doesn’t seem too eager. Candice caught her with a drop kick on her way into the ring and knocked her out before she could get in. Beth’s none to pleased and Candice is walkin’ tall.
****Commercial****
JBL’s in a bad mood and it looks like he’s going to take it out on Tommy Dreamer.
JBL v. Tommy Dreamer
The two locked horns before JBL took an immediate advantage, landing a series of rights before ramming Dreamer into the corner and hitting a hard body slam. JBL capped off the onslaught with a boot to Dreamer’s face.
Dreamer avoided him in the corner and hit some right hands before dishing out a swinging neck breaker for a two count. The two cris crossed in the ropes before JBL absolutely decapitated him with a clothesline from hell. That’s all folks.
Winner: JBL via pin fall
JBL’s ticked about the stock market (so am I) and gathered a steel chair. He unfolded it and sat down in it watching Dreamer squirm out of the ring and asked for a mic. He says he’s not leaving the ring until Mike Adamle makes him the #1 contender right now.
****Commercial****
JBL is rambling in the ring. He demands Adamle make the right decision before Randy Orton’s music hits and he gets TREMENDOUS heat before making his way down to the ring. JBL looks shocked.
Orton said a few weeks ago he gave his evaluation of Raw and that was the reason he made sure CM Punk didn’t keep his championship. He said JBL wasn’t much of an improvement. He said the Age of Orton was halted by injury but when it resumed, it didn’t matter who was champion on Raw, because he’d win his title back. He said finally, there’ll be a champion on Raw who actually has some credibility. He said he didn’t care.....
Intercontinental Champion Santino Marella’s music hit and he came down to the ring with Women’s Champion Beth Phoenix and they don’t look happy. This is going to be sensational.
Marella asked him who he thought he was. He said unlike Randy Orton, they WERE champions. Unlike him, they were healthy. He said he was always injured just like his Dad. He put over Orton’s Dad having a cast on his arm for years. His dad was healthy and although he had ‘the herpes’, he managed it well. He said they represented a new age of champions unlike Orton. He demanded an apology.
Orton asked if he expected him to respond to that. He blathered on before JBL interrupted and demand he apologize... not to anyone... to him. He said Orton and his shoulder were irrelevant. He said he did something Orton couldn’t do, and with one clothesline from hell, he knocked out Batista. He said tonight was his time and he’d be here until he got his title shot. He told him to take the bass out of his eye balls before he gets hurt yet again.
Batista’s music hit and he came sauntering out to the ring. He cackled and said this was the most pathetic site he’d ever seen, making a bunch of promises they couldn’t keep like politicians. HE said you could put lipstick on a pig.. and looked at Beth.
Batista proposed he take on JBL for a shot at the title. He said after he beat Jericho, he would beat guys and keep beating them until Orton came back and put the cherry on top. Santino asked him if he was forgetting someone. Batista said he was sorry and said if Beth wanted a shot, she could have one, too. Batista said he was tired of talking, and egged JBL on.
Mike Adamle popped up on the screen. He said he’d take into consideration their thoughts as well as World Champion Jericho’s considerations as to who the #1 contender should be. He said for now, he was just going to wait until he made the official announcement later tonight. Batista said he was pleading his case right now. He jumped JBL and Santino attempted to interject himself only to eat a spine buster.
HOLY CRAP STAREDOWN BETH PHOENIX - BATISTA! She slapped Batista across the face a couple of times before he spin bustered her on top of Marella. Both are dead and JBL’s already fled.
Randy Orton walks past the priceless crew in the back and they exchange a stare.
****Commercial****
Manu, Cody Rhodes & Ted Dibiase v. Kofi Kingston, Jerry Lawler and Charlie Haas (who thinks he’s JR)
Manu powered Kofi Kingston around the ring for a little while. Cody is working over King on the mat while Charlie’s putting over Stone Cold on pay per view... Jesus JH is in the ring landing big left hands and a big boomer sooner right hand followed by a drop kick. The gut is flopping and he hits thesz press and lines it up for a boomer sooner big splash for a near fall.
Rhodes is getting PUNCHED~ but Lawler and Kofi’s taken out Manu, but Dibiase hits a leg sweep take down after Charlie tried a Oklahoma Stampede, for the win. What a fun little match.
Winners: Ted Dibiase, Cody Rhodes & Manu via pin fall
The Smackdown rebound aired.
JBL approached Chris Jericho in the locker room. He said he knew they weren’t the best of friends... Jericho cut him off. He said he knew what JBL was all about. He remembered when he cost him the title deliberately last year. He said Adamle valued his opinion for one reason, because he was the champion. He said just like the stock market, JBL’s chances of a title shot were crashing down. JBL laughed and said ‘we’ll see’.
****Commercial****
Jamie Noble v. Paul Burchill
Noble went right at Burchill with strikes and kicks, knocking the large Englishman to the mat and connecting with a host of strikes and stomps. Noble kept at it with some head butts before he ate a knee to the gut that tossed him back.
Burchill went at Noble and whipped him to the ropes only to miss on the follow through. Noble hit a springboard roll up into a nasty looking arm bar and Burchill taps out!
Winner: Jamie Noble via submission
Leyla interrupted and says last week was a difficult decision and situation for her. She apologized that it took this long to get rid of him. Where was he going to take her? TO the local waffle house? It was over. She found a man who was worthy of her and here comes William Regal.
Regal took the mic and said it wasn’t noble she wanted, it was nobility. He gazed into her eyes and escorted her to the back. Noble is crushed.
Batista stormed into Mike Adamle’s office and asked him if he was #1 contender. Lance Cade asked him what made him think he was #1 contender. Batista slammed him up against the door and said he didn’t remember asking him his opinion on anything. He set him down gently and straightened him up before walking off.
Rey v. Kane is next!
****Commercial****
Kane v. Rey Mysterio
Mysterio stuck and moved in the opening moments, looking to use his speed to his advantage. Kane quickly caught him though and whapped him in the mouth with a big right hand before Rey caught him with a boot and followed up with a hurricanranna attempt but Kane blocked it. Rey pounded him to the mat and hit a drop kick to keep Kane off balance but quickly ate a HUGE right hand in the teeth.
Kane kept up the punishment, hitting a series of boots to the head. Kane tossed him to the outside before running around, baiting Kane. Kane’s frustrated.
****Commercial****
Mysterio fought out of a rear chin lock only to get slammed to the mat with one arm. Kane missed an elbow drop before Mysterio pounded away at him in the corner. Rey just isn’t able to keep it up for a long enough period of time. Kane tossed Rey right into the ring post and he’s in control for sure now.
Kane stomped away on Rey in the corner before whipping him clean off his feet into the corner. Kane dug his knee into Rey’s back, before picking him up and hitting a crippling back breaker. Kane stretched Mysterio out over his knee as the crowd tried to rally to Mysterio’s aid.
Rey tried to battle back only for Kane to quickly regain his bearings and begin laying a beat down on him in the corner. Kane missed another follow through enabling Mysterio one more opportunity. He hit a bulldog and neck breaker for a one and a half count.
Rey hit a hurricanranna into the corner and set up for something off the top rope. He climbed to the top rope and went for a body press, but Kane caught him. Rey wiggled out and hit an ezeguiri and Kane’s in la la land on the ropes. Rey went for the 619 but Kane turned around and absolutely smashed him to pieces with a lariat.
Kane hit some more stomps in the corner and isn’t stopping. The referee is trying to step in but Kane doesn’t care. He just keeps stomping. Rey’s defenseless.
Winner: Kane via ref stoppage
Kane tried to rip Mysterio’s mask off before Evan Bourne showed up and tried to make a go of chopping the big man down. Bourne to the rescue.
Del Singley is introducing himself to Chris Jericho and Lance Cade in the back. Jericho’s in suit and on his way to learn who his #1 contender is when we come back.
****Commercial****
Jericho thanked Mike Adamle for his consideration and taking his recommendations. He said it wasn’t something that should be taken lightly. In his opinion, neither JBL or Batista were worthy of a shot at his title. He suggest that the two face each other one on one before facing him immediately afterwards.
The fans say it might not be fair, but Jericho said that both times he won the belt, he had to wrestle twice. He was the best in the world and deserved his title. He suggested Mike do the right thing and make his input actually happen at No Mercy.
Mike Adamle said he heard him out. He said it was more than fair. He said JBL & Batista would face each other for the #1 contender’s spot. However, he didn’t think they should face each other twice in the same night. He said the winner would face the champion, but not on that night. He said he entertained everyone /*’s opinion but had settled on someone /* to face Jericho. Adamle walked off as we waited for his opponent for the title.
Shawn Michaels.
Jericho looks baffled. Michaels is sort of laughing. He said that he knew what Chris was thinking. That they’ve already fought in regular and unsanctioned matches, at Wrestlemania, everywhere. Michaels there was only one other match that could allow him to permanently disfigure him in only ways he could imagine. He said there was a match some people say he put on the map. He said it was a match that he revolutionized. He wants Jericho, for the title, in a ladder match.
Michaels stared menacingly down at Jericho in the ring as we headed off the air.RAW THOUGHTSShow Thoughts- Tonight was a pretty good offering all around. In fact, this was one of my favorite shows of the year. Everything just seemed to ‘hit’ with me.
The opening championship match was really good stuff. Punk was exceptionally sultry and rightfully so tonight. I liked the fact that both he and Jericho wrestled with an actual memory, which is something that’s sort of lacking these days, but oh so necessary when you’re wrestling in a place like Memphis. Working Punk’s concussion and Jericho’s damaged mid section were nice, but I dunno, I don’t feel like they quite had the impact maybe they could have. Nothing they did really had much of a ‘put away’ or feeling of eminent danger for either guy. The end was a little weird for some, but all things considered, it works with the whole ‘undeserving’ angle they’re going at with Jericho. Definitely a solid title match.
The other match I just really liked a lot was the Kane-Mysterio match. The crowd was definitely hot for it, and both guys just stuck with stuff that really highlighted their differences, most notably the power-speed thing. I think we’re just beginning what’s going to be a corny, but awesomely corny feud. Kane’s doing some of his best mic work ever these days.
The mid card on Raw is just so much fun right now. Between Glamarella to Charlie Haas doing his impressions of someone knew every week, there’s sort of something for everyone. The Noble-Regal issue has been fantastically simple but effective television while the “Priceless” trio is shaping itself into the WWE’s version of Generation Next. Everything is just a ton of fun.
Overall, this show just ‘felt’ good to me tonight. Punk-Jericho was good and so was Mysterio-Kane. The mid card matches were all fun. The angles are excellent and we even got a little swerve in the end with Michaels being named the #1 contender. Right now it’s definitely good to be a fan of the Raw brand.
Overall Grade: A-
Quick Results
Chris Jericho def. CM Punk to RETAIN the World Championship
Candice Michelle def. Jillian Hall
JBL def. Tommy Dreamer
Cody Rhodes, Ted Dibiase & Manu def. Charlie “Good Ole JH” Haas, Jerry Lawler & Kofi Kingston
Jamie Noble def. Paul Burchill
Kane def. Rey Mysterio
Who’s Hot, Who’s Not?
Biggest pops
1. Batista
2. Rey Mysterio
3. CM Punk
4. Jerry Lawler
Most Heat
1. Randy Orton
2. Chris Jericho
3. JBL
4. Kane
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: Chris Jericho 17-15-1, 40 pts. (Last Week: 1)-- A super solid first title defense for Jericho tonight and what’s setting up to get a fun one at No Mercy against HBK, where I expect him to get his big win over Michaels.
Intercontinental Champion: Santino Marella 10-10, 16 points (Last Week: Intercontinental Champion) -- Santino’s such a breath of fresh air as he’s a guy who looks his best when he’s at his weakest. More fun stuff from Marella in his little cameo in the Batista-JBL-Orton love fest.
1. Shawn Michaels 16-4-1, 23pts. (Last Week: 1) -- To me, it’s really hard to argue against Michaels being the defacto #1 guy to face Jericho at the moment. He’s over, he’s got the wins and it just makes a lot of sense for him to be the guy to take Jericho on in a pay per view match. Most importantly though, he’ll be the guy to give Jericho the biggest boost as champion.
2. Batista 6-5-2, 14 Points (Last Week: 3) -- JBL makes sense I guess, but I’m still tepid on this. These guys have been like oil and water in the past. Batista however, is greatly improved from where he was at in 2005, so here’s to hoping they can pull off a decent brawl.
3. CM Punk 7-5-2, 21 Points (Last Week: 2) -- Punk falls a spot after losing his title and being unsuccessful in his attempt to regain the strap. Nonetheless, it was a super-strong outing for him tonight in his losing effort.
4. Ted Dibiase, Jr. 7-4, 16 Points (Last Week: 4) -- Priceless get the big win over the home town hero in Jerry Lawler this week, so that’s a positive. But for now, they’re staying here.
5. Cody Rhodes 12-9, 20 points (Last Week: 5) -- See Dibiase.
6. JBL 15-22, 27 points (Last Week: 7)- - Looked like a super killer in his match tonight, and finally gets back on track with a win. It’s not going to vault him back into the top five, but he looked better. One must learn to walk again before they can run.
7. Kane 3-7, 6 Points (Last Week: 8) -- God, what a promo from him tonight. I’m glad we’re back to the gloom and doom and not the downright creepy. He was shockingly fantastic in his match with Rey Rey tonight.
8. Rey Mysterio 2-2, 4 Points (Last Week: 6) -- Rey looked ‘game’ tonight, which I thought was important. If he won tonight, it’d have killed the feud before it ever really got going. This deal with Evan Bourne is interesting and hopefully they keep them together as a go to tag team. I’d die to see these two face off against Priceless.
9. William Regal, 5-6, 13 points (Last Week: 10) -- If there’s any question as to just how talented this guy is, then you go out and name one other guy who could go out and drop ONE LINE and get as over as he did tonight.
10. Kofi Kingston 7-5, 17 points (Last Week: 9) -- Kofi’s in a pretty significant slide these days. Only saving grace this week was that no one behind him was really doing much.
OTHERS:
John Cena 19-13, 34 points. (Last Week: NR)
Randy Orton 10-9-2, 20pts. (Last Week: NR)
Paul Burchill 5-4, 7 points (Last Week: NR)
JTG 5-4, 7 points (Last Week: NR)
Big Shaad 5-4, 5 points (Last Week: NR)
Paul London 3-6, 3 points(Last Week: NR)
Lance Cade 2-5, 4 points (Last Week: NR)
Jamie Noble 1-4, 2 Points (Last Week: NR)
Primo Colon 1-0, 2 Points (Last Week: NR)
D-Lo Brown 2-2, 4 points (Last Week: NR)
Snitsky 2-6, 3 points (Last Week: NR)
Manu 2-0, 2 Points (Last Week: NR)
Charlie Haas 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)
Jerry Lawler 0-2, 0 points (Last Week: NR)
Jim Duggan 0-2, 0 points (Last Week: NR)
Rory 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