Thanks for the Fish

Bourne looks like a male cheerleader when he plays the crowd - pumps his fist in the air and gives a "yeah" while smiling for ear to ear.

I know why they made the new ECW belt so big - to cover Henry's junk when he walks to the ring. Atlas' hiring never made any sense. Mark Henry is 10x better on the mic than his spokesman/manager...

I remember reading there was tons of heat on Josh Matthews a few years ago (or whenever it was) when he was working as an announcer and was doing some wrestling as part of an angle and thus was emboldened to ask for a wrestler contract, and he was basically smacked down for the gall of even asking.

I want another NTI debut tonight. We had two before it seemed to be dropped (of course they now claim Bourne was an NTI debut but he wasn't). Either that or I want Elijah Burke back under his new gimmick/look. Hell give me both.

He had a great interview for the job or kissed the right persons ass. Maybe he and Vince are drinking buddies. How does inept douchebags get promoted at workplaces all across America - office politics or nepotism. Maybe he was the only person that applied for the job.

JR said in his blog that it's going to be Todd Grisham joining Tazz. Jack Korpella and Josh Matthews passed over again.

I'm not sold that the Batista/Cena match will actually happen at Summer Slam. I think we could see other players added yet. IF it does happen I think it could be a mistake, or Cena and Batista could trade wins, and have the tie breaker match at WM, or HHH/Cena can have their tie-breaker match at WM. Summer Slam is one of wwe's Big Four, and Cena vs Batista there isn't a big stretch. I mean they gave Edge vs HHH away at GAB. From a business standpoint WM sells itself, the rest of the PPV's need help. I don't know what they're going to do with Punk. I would hope for a Jericho/Punk program that would then lead to HBK returning, to give Punk another screwy finish or something. Punk vs JBL, or Punk vs Kane or any combination of the two in a multi-wrestler match is not the way to go here. HBK might be stale overall, but he's still one of the best wrestlers on the roster. This HBK vs Jericho feud is compelling shit.

I too, was very puzzled by this when it happened. I was thinking "what, they couldn't just have Hacksaw job in the ring? Cause Lord knows he has to be protected or something", then it turned out to be something brilliant with Adamle forcing Michael Cole to get beat down. I don't think Adamle is going to be a evil mastermind at all as GM. If he was going to, they wouldn't have hyped the anarchy style of the show in commercials. He's most likely going to be the GM that Shane picked to restore order to Raw, but he won't be able to control anything. After all, it is Mike Adamle! Its his gimmick that he's inept. I mean, who would want to see an intelligent Adamle? I think he very well could be inept, but he'll also have power to control. He'll think he's making great decisions that are ridiculous, telling jokes nobody else laughs at though totally oblivious to the fact. Basically he's going to be the inept manager that was promoted because the boss likes them, rather than because they are qualified. Everybody has had one of those in their careers. He'll power trip a bit as well - that's always part of the inept douchebag manager package.

Adamle can go one of two ways = he can be the Roger "Verbal" Kint/Keyser Soze evil genius or he can be the inept sycophant who gets promoted over deserving people that everybody hates. The latter was played by Coachman, but I don't know if Adamle could pull off the former. Another possibility I thought of is that Adamle could be the front, and somebody else is pulling his strings. If you want an evil genius out of this angle, it could be the player behind the scenes who's using Adamle. It would be a helluva a heel turn for Punk down the line if he was the mastermind. On the whole I thhought Raw was top notch last night, from beginning to end. The Cena/Batista opening was solid in it established the two working together and it is a big money match. Their interactions together all night were effective. I'm not a fan of D'Lo Brown, but he's a solid midcarder if nothing else. I love Santino and his trumpet celebration is great no matter how many times I see it. I don't like the Beth/Santino pairing, but if it leads to some wins for Santino I can live with it. I just think it hurts the Phoenix character. Why can't there ever just be a girl there for the competition? The tag match didn't make much sense at the time, but it was definitely laying the ground work for the rest of the night. I don't know if I like Lawler holding his own against the tag champs, but if it gets Rhodes and Dibiase some identity and heat then so be it. I sorta liked the no-announcer aspect - too bad you can't mute the announcers without losing the croed reactions and ref/wrestler and crowd interactions. I could see Randy Orton coming back and forming a faction with Dibiase and Rhodes. I wish Noble and Kingston was given more time, however fans don't care enough about them (yet) to stay interested. MOTN goes to Punk vs Regal - I could watch those two work together every night. I'd love to see a Regal vs HBK feud before either hang up their boots. That one and Punk vs HBK are two must see feuds for me right now. Punk did look a little ridiculous in the post match with JBL and Kane, it was like he was an afterthought to build the ME. Jericho's highlight reel was compelling, but even as a big Jericho fan it was too bloody long. Katie Lea is my favorite Diva at the moment. Mickie can work, but she is sometimes out of control in the ring. I want to see Katie work with any other experienced Diva, but Mickie is the only face diva at the moment, well Kelly Kelly, but she's still green as hell.

Hell, I like it. 100x better than Vince. Nobody thought Vickie would work (myself included). Adamle is going to be a heat magnet come next week. I don't think his screw ups were gimmicked though, but they could pretend that was the case. It would be brilliant if it was gimmicked and he could call a perfect match. The zero pop/heat ending was perfect as well. Adamle there "Hey guys"...

Keyser Soze

(yeah I wasn't serious)

I can't think of who the GM can be if it's not Vince, Shane, Regal or Bischoff...

So are they going to swap out JR and Cole given the happenings of tonight? Or have a three man booth for all three brand shows?

Even Linda McMahon? Yes. Even Linda. Raw has been so much better without Vince and Linda won't hog camera time.

Anybody but Vince for GM, PULLEEAAZZEEEE!

Raw upper card is stacked right now - Punk, Cena, Batista, JBL, Regal, Jericho, HBK, Orton

TOOOOOOOO LOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNGGG

Regal is badass - he could have a good match with a broomstick. He and Punk have good chemistry in the ring. JBL actually was decent when he focused on the match - he was my favorite PBP guy and I still believe that's where he is most needed still.

Hey JBL, didn't you bitch out Morrison and Miz for ignoring the in-ring action and putting themselves over?

What in the hell is Regal wearing? And is his KOTR win forgotten?

Makes him look taller...

Mike Adamle is the evil GM!!

Duggan should have went on commentary...

I'm not feeling the Santino/Beth kissing deal , but Santino's trumpet celebration is hilarious every time I see it.