On Tuesday, November 18, 2008 at 12:54 AM EST WWE RAW
November 17, 2008
Atlanta, GA
Commentators: Michael Cole & Jerry “The King” Lawler
Report by: Hunter Golden of WrestleView.com
Stephanie McMahon came out to the ramp to address some of the questions from the Raw Superstars, who were all in the ring. Of course, Randy Orton stepped up to the plate. Orton wanted to know why John Cena was getting getting the title shot on Sunday, not him. Stephanie said he was a three time champion and a top contender before he was injured. Orton turned to the rest of the roster and let them know that whomever won that match, that he'd be next.
Cody Rhodes has a question now. He wants to know why Orton was named the captain of a tag team at Survivor Series and why he was on that team after his partner was punted by Orton. Stephanie said she knew Orton would be responsible for his actions.
Santino is up next and he's preoccupied by Acorn in the crowd. He's going to give us a rap song about losing his belt. And holy smokes, Regal was served, not even in a restaurant. Stephanie is trying not to laugh. He told Acorn to go get his privates gnawed on by a squirrel or something.
JBL's popped up and he wants to know where Vince is. JBL said he had a problem with someone who Vince has a history with, that being Shawn Michaels. Michaels popped out of the crowd and talked about JBL and how he'd like to get his revenge. Stephanie told him he'd have to have patience. HBK said that was a quality he just didn't have and jumped JBL. The ring cleared while HBK danced around with the cowboy hat on.
****Commercial****
Kelly Kelly v. Victoria
Victoria went right after Kelly and whipped her to the buckles only to find herself hit with a hurricanranna and then a drop kick. Kelly hit a handspring elbow before getting chucked off on the back drop attempt. Victoria laid her out with a big back breaker before picking the blond up and sticking her in a shoulder back breaker for a two count.
Victoria whipped Kelly to the buckle and went for another back breaker, but Kelly rolled around and caught a roll up for the three count.
Winner: Kelly Kelly via pin fall
After the match Victoria jumped Kelly and began trying to lay a beat down in on her. However, the Raw Divas popped up a few seconds later and chased Victoria off. While Victoria was backing up the ramp, Beth Phoenix blind sided her. After a double hip toss from Jillian and Candice, Beth laid Victoria out with the face buster.
****Commercial****
Batista v. Manu
Manu was snared in a headlock at first before Manu connected with an uppercut. After pounding away on Batista along the ropes, he got picked looking for a back drop. Batista Immediately went for the bomb, but Manu countered with a Samoan drop. After an elbow drop, Manu got a two count.
Manu kept up the pressure with a whip to the buckles and a toss into the ring post. Manu locked right in on the shoulder with a vice grip and bore down on the Animal. Manu kept up the pressure, hitting an Irish whip and a big splash for a two count. Manu looked for yet another big spot, hitting a leaping head butt
Manu got lazy though and walked straight into a Batista big boot. Batista went into his victory sequence right off the bat and hit a spine buster. He went for the Batista Bomb, but Manu again escaped it. Manu whipped Batista, but the former champion speared him to the mat. One Batista bomb later, this one's over.
Winner: Batista via pin fall
Batista got on the mic afterwards. He said for three years he had to hear Orton run his mouth about him and Evolution. For three years, he wanted to whoop his a$$. He said he needed to stop whining about Cena and start worrying about him at Survivor Series.
****Commercial****
Orton is telling Cody he should go to Stephanie and get kicked off his team. He gave him a speech about what he'd do to CM Punk before Cody interrupted. Cody said Orton should keep talking. Because right now, it was about the only thing he did well.
Evan Bourne is getting interviewed on the stage in his crutches. Mike Knox came out to interrupt the proceedings and then just walked away after a long silence.
HBK and Rey Mysterio are in the back doing the 'walk'. HBK stopped everything because he's nervous doing the walk despite years of doing it. Rey calmed him down and helped him along. Dolph Ziggler went to introduce himself, but HBK introduced HIMSELF instead. Strange.
****Commercial****
The Miz & Morrison v. Rey Mysterio & Shawn Michaels
HBK and Morrison exchanged blows before HBK grabbed the advantage and tagged in Rey. Rey immediately hit a hurricanranna before looking for a 619. Miz grabbed his boots, tripping him up. HBK wouldn't take it and hit a splash onto Miz on the outside. Not to be outdone, Rey hits a tope of his own through the middle ropes to the outside onto Morrison.
****Commercial****
We came back to HBK escaping Miz and tagging Rey Mysterio. Rey hit a big hurricanranna before being back dropped to the apron. He fought off Morrison before turning into a big Miz right forearm. Morrison came back to capitalize on the situation and yanked Mysterio to the ring post.
Morrison tagged in and hit some strikes on the mat before tagging Miz back in and hitting the double gut buster. Miz slapped on a bow and arrow that Rey fought out of, but thanks to a Morrison knee to the back, wasn't able to get a tag to his partner. Morrison tagged in and hit an Irish whip and a body slam before going right back to the abdominal stretch.
The crowd rallied Rey, who tried to get out of the hold but was unable to. Morrison hit a tilt a whirl gut buster for a two count before tagging Miz in. Miz tagged in and hit a lariat for a two count before tagging Morrison right back into the match. He raked Mysterio's eyes and slammed him. He went looking for something off the top rope but Rey drilled him with a boot to the face.
HBK go the hot tag and began cleaning house. He went into victory sequence against Miz, hitting the inverted atomic drop, forearm and body slam. Michaels connected with the flying elbow drop and he began to tune up the band. Miz backed off of the Sweet Chin Music and was able to escape a submission hold attempt. He countered a whip in the corner and hit one of his own, only to eat a Michaels lariat on the way out.
Mysterio leapt into the ring and monkey flipped Miz into the ropes and connected with the 619. Michaels hit sweet chin music only for Morrison to pop up out of nowhere and hit his OWN version of the crescent kick. He took out Rey and laid Miz across Michaels for the win.
Winners: John Morrison & The Miz via pin fall
A comeback video for John Cena aired.
World Heavyweight Champion Chris Jericho is with Stephanie McMahon in the back. She said his equal time was now. Jericho said she'd better hope he retains the world title at Survivor Series. Cena would be a disruptive force in the locker room, especially as champion. He said deep down, Stephanie was hoping he'd remain champion.
****Commercial****
CM Punk said the past couple of weeks have been frustrating. He put over his match with Orton as his opportunity to get 'pay back'.
****Commercial****
JBL & Kane vs. Cryme Tyme
JTG and JBL started things out before Shad tagged in and allowed himself to be whipped right into the Texas millionaire in the corner. Shad whipped JBL and caught the blind tag from JTG who shot himself into the ring into JBL. Shad tagged right back in and hit a big boot for a two count before JTG hit the leap frog arm breaker.
JTG went for a back drop but JBL booted him in the face. Kane tagged in and hit a power slam and a big boot before hammering away on JTG in the corner. Kane hit a sidewalk slam and a big boot on Shad before heading to the top rope. He swooped off an nailed JTG with a lariat. Kane looked for the choke slam, but JBL tagged him from behind and nailed the clothesline from hell on JTG for the win.
Winners: JBL & Kane via pin fall
Kofi Kingston was with Evan Bourne in the back wishing him well. All of a sudden, Mike Knox showed up and chucked Kofi into the garage door. He knocked Bourne down and nailed him in the ankle with the crutch. Ouch.
****Commercial****
William Regal put over how a rap star getting more of a reaction than him spoke volumes about this country. It was why Britain was more respected than us across the world. He symbolized dignity, which was something he knew was foreign to all of us.
William Regal v. Matt Hardy
The two tussled as Hardy looked for a roll up and then a backslide both for one counts. Regal kicked out and shoved Hardy to the outside and hit him with a boot on his way back into the ring. Hardy responded by pulling him out of the ring off the ring apron. Regal returned the favor and the two really went at it on the outside, however, neither could get in the ring in time and were counted out.
Winner: DOUBLE COUNT OUT
Chris Jericho is on his way to the ring to speak at us all.
****Commercial****
World Champion Chris Jericho came out to the ring. He said we had a month of the heart warming John Cena story, but he wanted to discuss a better story: his story. He replayed his title wins over the Rock and Austin at Vengeance 2001 and that it superseded anything Cena's done. He recounted his title win at Unforgiven this year. And while Cena was at home, Jericho had achieved greatness time and time again. He beat CM Punk in a cage match to retain his title and then defeated Shawn Michaels in a ladder match. Then he put over his win over Batista in another cage match to become champion yet again. He has defeated every top superstar and achieved more than any champion in history. Yet still, the pomp and circumstance was all saved for John Cena.
He said every sad story had resulted in a happy one, with him holding his title aloft over their heads. He refused to let Cena waltz into the ring and take what he worked so hard for. The centerpiece of Raw was not John Cena, it was the world champion and now, that was him. He said at Survivor Series he would end the phenomenon that was John Cena. Only until then, would Raw truly be saved.
****Commercial****
Lumberjack Match
Randy Orton v. CM Punk
The two locked it up to a stalemate to start things off. Punk grabbed a side headlock and then a drop toe hold as Orton countered into a hammer lock. More rolling and here we are with another stalemate. Orton hit a boot to the gut and chucked Punk to the outside but Punk rolled back in quickly before anyone could do anything. Orton looked peeved at the lumberjacks.
The two locked up again and Punk grabbed a go behind. Orton elbowed out and hit a shoulder block but Punk popped up and hit a heel kick that knocked Orton to the outside. Orton was quickly tossed back in and got caught in two roll ups both for a one count. Punk hit a martial arts kick that sent Orton back to the outside and after some pummeling, he was allowed back in the ring.
Punk whipped Orton and hit a spear in the corner before loading up and trying another one. This time, there was no Orton there and Punk clattered into the ring post and into the arms of Mark Henry, who battered him around a bit and then placed Punk back in the ring.
Orton got Punk back on the inside and methodically began to stomp away on Punk's limbs. Punk fought back a bit only to eat the Orton standing drop kick for a two count. Orton grabbed Punk and booted him n the gut before dropping a nasty knee to the back of Punk's head for another near fall.
Orton slapped on the rear chin lock and wrenched it in deeply on the former champion Punk. Punk began to fight to his feet and elbowed out of the hold and hit some knees to Orton's mid section, but Orton decked him with a right and whipped him. Punk hit a boot on the oncoming Orton and took off into the ropes, but Orton nailed him with a running powerslam. Orton hit some cross faces before slapping Punk back into the chin lock.
Punk again battled back only for Orton to whip him to the buckles. Orton missed another follow up though and CM Punk capitalized with a swinging neck breaker. Both struggled to their feet before trading blows in the middle of the ring. Punk hit a grizzly back kick and then some HUGELY stiff strikes to the head for a GREAT near fall.
Punk whipped Orton and hit a running knee and then the knee lift in the corner. Punk hit the bulldog for a near fall. Batista distracted Orton long enough for Punk to almost connect with Go 2 Sleep, but Orton rolled out and hit an inverted back breaker. Orton looked for the RKO but got tossed to the outside instead. Punk launched himself into the crowd, knocking back all the lumber jacks. He went to fire up inside the ring with the lumberjacks distracted. William Regal however, was left dangling on the apron and distracted Punk just long enough for Orton to pop up and connect with a big RKO and the pin fall victory.
Winner: Randy Orton via pin fall
After the match Orton went for the punt only for Batista to cut him off with a spear. All hell broke loose from there on out and the superstars brawled all over the ringside area as we went off the air.RAW THOUGHTSShow Thoughts-- Pretty decent Raw all things considered tonight. Still, I was kind of shocked to see how little build Survivor Series got this year, but all things considered, they're in an ok place I suppose.
First off, the Orton-Punk match was REALLY good. Orton does everything so well these days, it's hard NOT to like his matches, but this was an exceptional effort, especially considering this is his first REAL match in forever. He totally ate Punk's offense and made it look good. His own offense was off the charts. They built to both guy's big moves as major transition points. They worked in the lumberjacks without making them too much of a distraction. It was a great finish to boot. Absolute WWE match of the year candidate there. Top notch stuff.
The second really great segment was the tag match, which was really fun stuff. Watching Morrison cold cock HBK with his own move is pretty great stuff and with how protected Michaels is, it's pretty shocking stuff. Think of the clean HBK losses we've seen in the last year.. and ... yeah.
They did an excellent job putting a little more heat behind Manu tonight as well. For weeks he's been the 'other guy' with Priceless, so Batista letting him get in so much offense was a good thing. Nice when the two have family ties. Great job by Cole and Lawler tonight as well. Putting over the Samoans, Putting over Manu, etc..
On the segment front, it was a pretty solid night all things considered. Jericho cut a great promo on John Cena tonight, and the opening forum was a lot of fun to boot, especially with Santino Marella's mocking of 'Acorn'. The JBL-Kane interaction was great stuff and the Mike Knox intimidation and assault on Evan Bourne was good stuff, too.
All in all, it was a pretty good night. Lots of great promos, two really top-flight matches makes for a good night. What was missing though, was a little more hard sell stuff on Survivor Series. They've just sort of waltzed into a show with a TON of really fantastic match ups on it and I can't help but feel like if they gave another two weeks of builds, they could've gotten a lot more bang for the buck though.
Overall Grade: B
Quick Results
Kelly Kelly def. Victoria
Batista def. Manu
The Miz & Morrison def. Shawn Michaels & Rey Mysterio
Kane & JBL def. Cryme Tyme
William Regal v. Matt Hardy ended in a double count out
Randy Orton def. CM Punk
Who’s Hot, Who’s Not?
Biggest Pops
1. Shawn Michaels
2. Batista
3. Rey Mysterio
4. CM Punk
Most Heat
1. Randy Orton
2. Chris Jericho
3. Cody Rhodes
4. JBL
Match of the Night: Randy Orton v. CM Punk ***1/2
Power RankingsPoints
5= 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 21-19-1, 52 pts. (Last Week: World Heavyweight Champion)-- Another fantastic promo night for Jericho. Sets up the Survivor Series match well. We'll see if he's here next week.
Intercontinental Champion:William Regal, 7-6-1, 19 points (Last Week: Intercontinental Champion) -- Great stick work tonight. It's a shame they didn't let the Hardy match go a little longer, but they're probably going to save it for another time.
1. Batista 14-7-3, 33 Points (Last Week: 1) -- Pretty decent night. Really helped Manu get a little heat by giving him a TON of offense tonight and helped build up the Orton issue some more. I'm definitely hoping for a single's match between the two.
2. Shawn Michaels 21-8-2, 28pts. (Last Week: 2) -- Pedestrian stuff from Michaels tonight. Some cute promos but didn't really seem all that into his match or anything. Kudos for eating the super kick from Morrison though.
3. CM Punk 11-8-2, 32 Points (Last Week: 3) -- Totally great performance in a losing effort tonight. Really held his own with Orton tonight. Wasn't about getting wins or any of that. For Punk in a literal sense, it's still proving he's a main event caliber guy. Another notch on his belt tonight.
4. Kane 9-10, 13 Points (Last Week: 5) -- Kane's becoming one of the most entertaining promos every week. He's got a red light that follows him, he talks sarcastically and even mentioned what he does with genitals tonight. And he won his match tonight. Good night for Kane. And the red light.
5. JBL 19-26, 33 points (Last Week: 6)- - A pretty subdued performance tonight from JBL. It was effective though. He gets the win and some momentum headed into Survivor Series.
6. Rey Mysterio 7-7, 16 Points (Last Week: 4) -- Drops a bit this week due to the tag loss. With Orton cranking on all cylinders, Mysterio's going to need to get some momentum back on his side to get going again.
7. Randy Orton 11-10-2, 22pts. (Last Week: NR)-- Fantastic match with Punk now and he begins his shot back to the top. It's great to have this dude back.
8.Santino Marella 12-13-1, 19 points (Last Week:7)-- Good enough for a promo in the midst of Orton and JBL. It's going to be interesting to see where they go from here with him. I expect we'll see a lot more of the same from him. A lot of promos on TV and working longer matches to get some working experience in on house shows.
9. Kofi Kingston 8-9, 22 points (Last Week: 8) -- Not in action.
10. Cody Rhodes 13-12, 21 points (Last Week: 9) -- Decent stuff from Cody tonight. The Priceless-Orton story remains the most interesting thing going on week to week. Cody's showing some gumption now.
OTHERS:
John Cena 19-13, 34 points. (Last Week: NR)
Ted Dibiase, Jr. 9-5, 19 Points (Last Week: 9)
Mike Knox 1-0-0. 2 points (Last Week: NR)
Paul Burchill 5-5, 7 points (Last Week: NR)
JTG 6-8, 8 points (Last Week: NR)
Big Shaad 6-7, 7 points (Last Week: NR)
Paul London 3-6, 3 points(Last Week: RELEASED)
Lance Cade 3-7, 5 points (Last Week: NR)
Jamie Noble 2-5, 4 Points (Last Week: NR)
Primo Colon 1-0, 2 Points (Last Week: NR)
D-Lo Brown 2-3, 4 points (Last Week: NR)
Snitsky 2-6, 3 points (Last Week: NR)
Manu 2-1, 2 Points (Last Week: NR)
Charlie Haas 2-5-1, 4 points (Last Week: NR)
Deuce 0-2, 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