WWE RAW
June 8, 2009
Lafayette, LA
Commentators: Michael Cole & Jerry ?The King? Lawler
Reported By: Hunter Golden of WrestleView.com
WWE Champion Batista’s music hit and he came out to the ring to celebrate his big title win. He said he knew there was a sixteen time champion watching, and he wanted to let us know he loved him and he did this for him. Batista said he did it for everyone sick and tired of Randy Orton. He said as much as he was enjoying this moment, he had to say it was only the beginning. He said Randy Orton has hurt a lot of people, and he would be hurting him back. He said this would be the start. He said he was going to take his pride…..
Randy Orton’s music hit and he came out to the ramp. Orton made his way down to the ring hesitantly before the Legacy eventually pounced. Batista was able to fight them off initially, the numbers game came into play. Batista went to deliver a Batista bomb to Orton, only to eat a chair shot to the arm. Orton and company stomped Batista’s arm to pieces using a chair, before Orton stretched it until it broke. Batista writhed in pain on the mat before Orton picked up the WWE Championship belt and walked away.
****Commercial****
Batista was being attended to by the paramedics. Batista said he couldn’t feel his arm and that he thought it was broken. They placed him in the ambulance and it sped off.
Kofi Kingston v. Willliam Regal
Kingston floored Regal with a drop kick and went to the top rope right off the bat, only to eat a big right hand to the gut. Regal went on the attack, hitting a big suplex followed up by a huge knee to the gut. Regal hit a hard Irish whip before the two started to exchange strikes in the middle of the ring.
Kofi won the exchange with a wheel kick and punctuated the comeback with the boom boom leg drop. Regal came back on his own and after hitting a big forearm to Kofi’s face, came back in to go for the running knee. Kofi side stepped the move and hit trouble in paradise for the win.
Winner: Kofi Kingston via pin fall
Joey Matthews wants a word with Randy Orton. Orton said the only thing they need to know is that he’s down and done for good. Orton says he’s invoking his rematch clause tonight. One way or the other, he’d be walking out WWE Champion. Either Batista faces him tonight, or Orton wins the title by forfeit.
****Commercial****
WWE Divas Championship
Maryse v. Kelly Kelly
Maryse and Kelly grappled to a draw, before Kelly gained the advantage due to Maryse jaw jacking with someone in the crowd. Maryse quickly came back, hitting a lariat and then hitting a choke on the bottom rope. Maryse hit a tilt a whirl back breaker for a two count.
Kelly came blazing back with another big comeback hitting a hurricanranna for a two count and hitting a running big boot to the face. Maryse countered a right hand and sent Kelly into the ropes before hitting a knee to the back of the head. She reeled Kelly around and planted her with a DDT for the win.
Winner and STILL Divas Champion: Maryse via pin fall
After the match, Maryse threw the win in Kelly’s face a bit before heading off back to the locker room when Mickie James entered the ring to protect Kelly.
****Commercial****
Vickie Guerrero is with Josh Matthews. She says the title match between Randy Orton and Batista is on tonight. If Batista doesn’t show up, he loses his belt. She also said she’s got an announcement that’ll change the face of Raw forever.
Maryse and the Miz are in the back. She says while Miz might think he’s great, he’s never actually defeated Cena in a match. Until he does, there’ll be nothing between them..
****Commercial****
Santino Marella, Festus & Goldust v. Brian Kendrick, Chavo Guerrero & Jamie Noble
Festus went right after Kendrick, flooring him with a clothesline and sitting out on his chest. Santino only tagged in momentarily before Goldust came into the match. After an initially strong exchange with Chavo, he was double teamed and his momentum cut off.
Goldust used the crowd to launch a rally, but Chavo took out his legs and tagged in Jamie Noble. Noble hit a series of knees and clubbing blows to the back of Goldust before slapping on a chicken win on the mat. Goldust tried to rally again and hit an inverted atomic drop on Noble, before making the hot tag to Santino.
Santino hit a series of punches before all hell broke loose, and we ended up with Hornswoggle being thrown into the ring by Kendrick. Noble went to take care of him only for Hornswoggle to kick him in the shin and hit a tope on Kendrick. Santino connected with a roll up and earned the win.
Winners: Santino Marella, Goldust & Festus via pin fall
****Commercial****
John Cena v. The Miz
The match never got going as the Big Show came down to the ring. Cena fought off Miz but quickly got hammered with a Big Show choke slam. That led to Big Show putting him in the back clutch, before Miz ran in with a steel chair and beat the Big Show back with a steel chair. He decked Cena afterwards before bolting once the Big Show came too. He looked as his own chair approvingly.
****Commercial****
MVP v. Matt Hardy
MVP hit some knees to the gut before whipping Hardy into the ropes and rolling him up for a two count. Hardy cut MVP off in the corner, ripping him off the second rope for a two count. He hit some kicks to the gut before choking him out on the top rope.
Hardy hit a running leg to the back of the head before covering his foe for a two count. Matt moved into a front facelock as MVP tried to get the crowd to rally him. Porter stood up and hit some strikes to the cut before eating a forearm to the back, finding himself quickly ensnared in a bow and arrow. MVP again fought out, hitting a jaw breaker to free himself.
Porter hit some lefts and rights before flooring Matt with a right hand. He connected with the ballin’ elbow for a two count and then decided to load up an Irish whip. He looked for the Chono boot in the corner but whiffed, only to get hit with an inverted neck breaker for a two count. Hardy mounted MVP in the corner and went for some punches, only for MVP to wiggle out and drop him down on the buckle arm first. MVP loaded him up for the play maker and connected for the win.
Winner: MVP via pin fall
****Commercial****
Raw GM Vickie Guerrero came out to the ring and announced that she was officially making sure the match between Orton & Batista would be on no matter what. She cut a great promo about not being respected by the roster and the Raw fans and promptly announced she was quitting. Edge’s music hit an he came out, and announced that he wanted a divorce. He said now that she couldn’t make title matches for him, she was of no use to him. He left Vickie in the ring beside herself.
*****Commercial****
John Cena cut a promo on the Miz, saying he’d see him soon enough and we’d see just how ‘awesome’ he really was.
****Commercial****
Cody Rhodes & Ted Dibiase v. The Colons
Carlito hit a series of standing drop kicks before Cody fought back with some head butts to the mid section. Carlito hit a right hand to the face, but Dibiase interfered, allowing Rhodes to take advantage. Dibiase tagged into the match and hit a string of stomps and fist drops before connecting with a drop kick of his own for a two count.
Dibiase locked on a chin lock in the middle of the ring, as the crowd attempted to rally Carlito. Dibiase countered a running knee attempt and flipped Carlito over and cut off Primo before tagging in Cody. Primo got frustrated, allowing Rhodes & Dibiase to double team Carlito before stomping on his head. Rhodes hit a knee drop to the face for a two count.
The two continued to work over Carlito with double teams before jaw jacking with him on the mat. Cody finally locked a chin lock on Carlito which Carlito was able to counter. Primo caught the hot tag and came in to meet Dibiase. He connected with a drop kick for a two count, only for Dibiase to try and roll him up for a two count. Rhodes was able to hang Primo’s neck off the top rope enabling Dibiase to hit dream street for the win.
Winners: Cody Rhodes & Ted Dibiase via pin fall
****Commercial****
WWE Championship
Batista v. Randy Orton
Orton cut a promo recapping the events of the night up to now. They introduced Orton as the challenger, and then Batista as champion. Batista’s music hit but he never came out. The bell rang as the referee began his count. A scene where the ambulance was in the back, having returned from the hospital.
Triple H’s face popped up on the titan tron and he made his way to the ring, sledge hammer in tow. He showed up on the entrance ramp before taking out the on-rushing Rhodes & Dibiase. He dropped his hammer and took off his shirt before climbing into the ring. The two went right at it as Triple H expelled Orton to the outside of the ring. They fought around the ringside area. Triple H eventually gained the advantage, slamming his head off the announcers table and pounding him on the ground. The two fought into the crowd and back into the ringside area as Orton tried desperately to escape. The two stared each other down and as Orton charged him chair in hand, Triple H nailed him with a spine buster.
Triple H picked up the chair and then hammered him with a vicious chair shot. Triple H began hammering away on him with the chair hitting him everywhere possible with the weapon. He stepped on Orton’s head and delivered a chair shot to the back of the neck. The fans chanted for a pedigree, and Triple H loaded Orton up for the move onto the steel chair. Triple H posed dramatically over the carcass of Orton as we went off the air.
Show Thoughts— For weeks, the WWE’s more or less been in foundation-building mode, and this week they finally reaped the benefits.
I was really skeptical of the decision to take the WWE title off Randy Orton last night, but again, you always want to give these things time to play out, and I’d be confident in saying that there’s a lot more buzz around Orton and the title in general heading into next week then there was with him walking in (or possibly out of ) to Extreme rules with the title in hand. From the Batista arm-breaking segment, which was executed fantastically, to the very strong Triple H brawling segment in the end, I thought Orton looked really good.
A lot of people seem to be down on the fact that he’s not booked as this super-heel who dominates people and I think they’re kind of missing the point. The thing about Orton that makes him such an interesting character is that he REALL IS like a serial killer. Serial killers are usually highly intelligent people, but with that strong intellect, comes a strong degree of hubris. Their intellect is what makes them such profoundly efficient killers, yet it also vulnerable to being exposed and taken down themselves because of their inability to not be in love with themselves. The sadistic pseudo beauty of that Orton character showed through tonight, not just in the efficiency of his attack on Batista, but his plotting and planning as the show wore on. The final Triple H really paid off well, as Orton didn’t look as weak as he did more caught off guard, unprepared. That lack of preparedness was caused by his hubris. Again, everything that makes Orton so detestable was on full display tonight, and I feel non-verbally that they communicated the essence of that this character is all about far better than they have in the past and hopefully people can more easily read between the lines having seen it.
With Vickie Guerrero giving her notice, she’s done. Its kind of too bad because she was easily one of the most over heels in the company and rapidly improving. She went out on a strong note, with this being by far her best in ring promo she’s cut since being heavily used in the company. She’s got that Stephanie like charisma, which is a good thing. The old saying amongst Summer camp counselors is that you end activities when they’re at ‘peak fun’ or their most over, so that they don’t overstay their welcome. That way, if you ever go back to it, the energy is still very positive towards that activity. That directly applies here with Vickie as she started to waver a bit and they pulled the plug with a good promo and angle so that should she choose to come back and do her thing, they can easily plug her back in and have it work. While I know a lot of people liked to get on Vickie for her delivery issues, she really was someone who improved leaps and bounds in two and a half years. She went from someone who really couldn’t even get a sentence out on the air, to being at one time, the most over heel in the company. She most certainly deserves a tip of the cap for her efforts, and desire to improve her character and give fans a lot of really fun memories, including but not limited to riding a see-saw with Edge, bringing back the hog pen match and heck, ?Excuse Me? has been the most effective catch phrase used in the WWE in the last several years. Its a fun resume she compiled in a relatively short time, and I’d welcome her back on my television screen any time. She was very much like her late husband, just a lot of fun.
The other really big tip of the cap this week goes to the Miz, who seems to justify his push more and more each week. Of the two, Miz thus far has proven In my view, that he’s the stronger and more complete wrestler of the two right now. The ring work is pretty decent and will only improve over time, but its his ability to time himself on camera and deliver effective promos solo and with a wide variety of talents that make him such a cool character to watch unfold. While Smackdown’s John Morrison likely has the higher ceiling or overall potential, its the Miz whose flat out the better act right now, and a guy who seemingly looks better and better every week, thus giving some of his critics a reason to pause and take a second look. You know you’re getting over when people are booking you to not just look better than the Big Show, but John Cena as well. I’m really praying they make something out of this little side deal with Maryse, who herself possesses and uncanny degree of natural charisma, so they can evolve these two together. They’ve obviously got a lot of on screen chemistry.
Right now, you’d be hard pressed to say the company, creatively speaking, could be in a much better position in its usually quiet Summer months. They have a lot of cliffhanging going on with the title, and heck, there isn’t even someone to make a decision as to what to do with it should there be some sort of change. The mid card is in full swing, with MVP and The Miz showing a lot of promise, and the company’s seeming desire to do something productive with Kofi Kingston, whose been the essence of ‘back burner’ for much of his time on Raw. Everyone down to the lower mid card is being used and used effectively, which is all you can really ask. ECW on Sci Fi is great television every week, and Smackdown is also on the cusp of some really interesting stuff right now. So all in all, when you finish up a pay per view or booking period, you want to ask yourself what you want the perception of certain guys to be, and then just simply move forward in a positive way from that, and I think the WWE has certainly done a good job of foundation laying to a point where they can now actually push these guys in a logical, well thought out way. This was easily the best television show from an excitement level, that they’ve done since before Wrestlemania. A job well done on all accounts tonight.
Overall Grade: A-
Quick Results
Kofi Kingston def. William Regal
Maryse def. Kelly Kelly to RETAIN the WWE Divas Championship
Santino Marella, Goldust & Festus def. Brian Kendrick, Jamie Noble & Chavo Guererro
MVP def. Matt Hardy
Cody Rhodes & Ted Dibiase def. The Colons
Who’s Hot, Who’s Not?
Biggest Pops
1. Triple H
2. Batista
3. John Cena
4. Santino Marella
Most Heat
1. Randy Orton
2. Vickie Guerrero
3. Big Show
4. Maryse
Match of the Night: Ric Flair v. Randy Orton Unsanctioned Fight ***
Points
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
1. WWE Champion: Batista 8-4, 16 Points (Last Week: 2)— A week of highs and lows for the Batista character, winning his first WWE Championship and also looking like he’s going to have to forfeit it the very next night. It looks like the big man may have to go on the shelf for a little while, but he’ll have plenty of strong motivation coming back.
United States Champion: Kofi Kingston 13-3, 24 points (Last Week: US Champion)— Easily the strongest booked wrestler on the brand right now, as his record more or less speaks for itself. He still looks all over the place in the ring, but a few go-rounds with William Regal should really do him some good.
1. Randy Orton 7-7-3, 17 pts. (Last Week: WWE Champion)— A pretty good week for Orton all and all. The opening segment was strong and he looked both cunning and sinister being able to take down Batista the way he did. The second segment with Triple H worked as well, as they walked the line of Orton looking more caught off guard than weak.
2. John Cena 13-7-3, 30 points. (Last Week: 1)— Cena seems to have dropped off a bit in the ring of late, especially with the finishes in his matches. While the Show program has been strong in a lot of ways, Cena seems a bit too content to just stick to the hard selling stuff and be less attentive to it later in matches. I’d like to see both him AND Show push themselves a little bit to mix things up a bit to end this program on a good note.
3. MVP 4-3-1, 7 Points (Last Week: 3)— Seems to be the guy whose likely to be in line for a decent program once one of the big four are freed up (Cena, Big Show, Orton and Triple H).
4. Cody Rhodes 8-5-1, 10 points (Last Week: 4) — These two come off far better than The Colons right now, and really are the right choice to succeed them as champions. They’re over and if they want to brand hop these two, it’d be good for whomever they’d face. Their high level of exposure would likely be good for the belts, so its not a bad idea for now.
5.Ted Dibiase, Jr. 8-3-2, 9 Points (Last Week: 5)— See Cody.
6. Big Show 2-4-0, 3 Points (Last Week: 6)— I really think Big Show needs a win right now. Losing to Cena isn’t exactly career threatening or anything, and the match up is pretty good, but its been problematic in the sense that Show’s momentum, which was really strong at the beginning of the spring, appears to be wanning a bit. He doesn’t need to win all the time, but picking one up over Cena as they break them away from each other would be wise. It’ll at least enable him to get going again once the program’s over.
7. The Miz 1-2-2, 1 Points (Last Week: 10)— While Matt Hardy might be the most dissapointing act to many, The Miz, for a lot of folks, has been the suprise out of all of this. His mic work has been sensational, they have a nice side bar storyline going with Maryse and his work as the third wheel with the Cena/Big Show stuff has made him look anything BUT a third wheel. Right now, he’s looking to be the stronger of the two in the MizMo duo.
8. Triple H 1-2-0, 1 Point (Last Week: NR)— Makes a comeback in a big way and in a long program that’s produced a lot of really fun segments, tonight’s was right up there. It looks like they may be headed towards blowing this one off soon.
9. Matt Hardy 3-8-0, 4 Points (Last Week: 8) – – Of all the Raw draftees from this year, Hardy’s been the guy whose perhaps been the most disappointing act on the group. His record has been pretty paltry and he’s gone from one of the most consistently strong acts on the card to just sort of being ‘there’. Not everyone can get pushed though, and it appears that for now, Hardy’s going to be milling around the mid card.
10. Santino Marella 4-2, 9 points (Last Week:NR)— One of the most consistently entertaining acts on the card, Santino finally breaks back into the top 10. It’ll be interesting to see if they actually go the distance with him and start pushing him outside of comedy matches, but for now, everything’s going ok for him.
OTHERS
Shawn Michaels 6-3, 10 pts. (Last Week: NR)
Carlito Colon 4-2-0, 5 Points (Last Week: NR)
Primo Colon 3-1-0, 3 Points (Last Week: NR)
William Regal, 3-10, 4 points (Last Week: NR )
Brian Kendrick 1-4-0, 2 Points (Last Week: NR)
Sim Snuka 1-0, 1 Point (Last Week: NR)
Mr. Kennedy 1-0-0, 1 Points (Last Week: RELEASED)
Hornswaggle 1-0-0, 1 Points (Last Week: NR)
Jerry Lawler 1-0, 1 points (Last Week: NR)
Goldust 2-1-0, 2 Points (Last Week: NR)
Festus 1-1-0, 1 Points (Last Week: NR)
Chavo Guererro 1-5-0, 1 Points (Last Week: NR)
Jamie Noble 0-3, 0 Points (Last Week: NR)
Jim Duggan 0-0, 0 points (Last Week: NR)
Kane 7-7, 12 Points DRAFTED TO SMACKDOWN
Mike Knox 3-3 4 points (Last Week: DRAFTED TO SMACKDOWN)
JTG 2-4, 2 points (Last Week: DRAFTED TO SMACKDOWN)
Big Shaad 2-3 2 points (Last Week: DRAFTED TO SMACKDOWN)
Charlie Haas 0-0, 0 points (Last Week: DRAFTED TO SMACKDOWN)
Dolph Ziggler 0-3, 0 Points (Last Week: DRAFTED TO SMACKDOWN)
CM Punk 9-7, 17 Points DRAFTED TO SMACKDOWN
Rey Mysterio 11-6, 22 Points DRAFTED TO SMACKDOWN
Chris Jericho 6-6 13 pts. DRAFTED TO SMACKDOWN
JBL 1-6, 4 points (Last Week: 7) RETIRED