WWE Raw (6/30/2008)

[hyperchord24 0]

There was one thing I didn't like about Cody Rhodes' promo. Being a world tag champ within 6 months of being called up is paying your dues?

 

He should've just said he did it for the money and play up his heritage. Turning on Holly didn't get him the tag belts. He had them already, so it's not like his position on the card changed any.

[Thanks for the Fish 0]

Jamie Noble was awesome, someone said it fell flat, but I liked it. As for the whole of Raw, its the first one in a while I haven't skimmed through to find an interesting segment. Watched it from start to finish, found it interesting and 'well built up' in a 2 hour kind of way. Only thing that concerns me is that people were chanting for Cena during CM Punk's match, before Cena came out, which showed little interest in backing up CM Punk. Also, when CM Punk went to finish the match everyone was watching Cena and Cryme Tyme attack the security.

 

 

There was an audible CM Punk chant later in the match. As has been mentioned, I think the crowd was chanting Cena to take out the security goons and/or make sure Punk didn't drop the title to JBL. And while the crowd might have been watching the ringside brawl initially, they did pop for the three count, so they knew what was going on in the ring. Cena is one of the top names in the company, if the wwe is expecting Punk to out-pop Cena then they are just setting him up for failure.

 

 

[Silence 0]

Unless they have plans for Spanky and/or London as singles, they probably should have kept them together on Raw. Of course both probably deserve a singles opportunity and their tag run was stale always losing since moving to Raw, but Raw is really hurting for tag teams right now.

 

I'm not sure what London's going to do on Raw without Kendrick, and Kingston is the IC Champion. Either a heel turn to feud with Kingston for the belt, gets another tag team partner, or still not used much except to job.

[cabbageboy 0]

I think we'll get a Kofi/Cade IC title feud. It only makes sense with Jericho/HBK as a feud and that doesn't need the IC belt involved. Use it to elevate some newer guys.

 

Batista definitely should be the first challenger for Punk. I think that he'll come up short or something bizarre will happen (DQ or whatever), but Punk will somehow retain there. If they want to be ballsy as hell, have Punk win it clean.

[haVoc 0]

I really enjoyed Raw last night which probably means it will do a 2.7 rating and we'll be back to everything revolving around Vince and Cena next week.

 

Get ready for the "Poor Punk" quotes.

[bob_barron 0]

I really enjoyed Raw last night which probably means it will do a 2.7 rating and we'll be back to everything revolving around Vince and Cena next week.

 

Get ready for the "Poor Punk" quotes.

 

The important thing is whether the show grew throughout the show.

[cabbageboy 0]

We'll know more about the ratings for what happened in next week's rating. I think this rating will be fairly strong due to the post draft and post PPV intrigue.

 

By the way, for those badmouthing the Jericho/Kofi DQ finish, I do recall a precedent for such a "pulling the tights" finish. Remember a brief time in late 1992 when Slaughter was the commish of the WWF and was cracking down on anything heelish? There was a match on Prime Time Wrestling with Rick Martel vs. Max Moon and Slaughter had Martel DQed for pulling Moon's tights. So it has happened before.

[bob_barron 0]

The finish to Jericho-Kofi was supposed to be bad, so Jericho could play up frequently being screwed

[sluggo 0]

Edge's entrance during the JR segment was kickass as well. He steps through the smoke and a step or two behind him his jackals emerge wearing the same clothing. That had to be my favorite "little thing" on Raw last night.

 

That happens every week on Smackdown.

[DerangedHermit 0]

The finish to Jericho-Kofi was supposed to be bad, so Jericho could play up frequently being screwed

Calling Jericho cursing up a storm and pushing over a wheelchair bound Vince in a half dismantled cage

[PILLS! PILLS! PILLS! 0]

Why can't he just abduct McMahon and wheel him down a flight of steps instead?

[Banter 0]

I love how everyone here suddenly loves WWE and wants to suck Vince McMahon's dick.

 

Have fun when Batista slaughters him at Great American Bash.

 

I think it's cool to actually enjoy a show. Don't be a killjoy.

[GCWPatrick 0]

Someone mentioned the irony of Edge living by MITB and dying by MITB...don't forget the other irony of the title change: It happened on Raw where his darling Vickie couldn't do a damn thing about it like order an immediate rematch in a 17-on-1 handicap match with Chavo as referee where Punk could only win if Edge spontaneously combusted or something like that.

[cabbageboy 0]

Patrick, this begs the question: Why exactly would Edge show up on Raw? Was making fun of JR really such a high priority that he would risk somehow losing the world title? Cause when he first showed up on Raw the first thing I said to my brother was "There is no way Edge is leaving with the belt tonight."

[ChrisMWaters 0]

Patrick, this begs the question: Why exactly would Edge show up on Raw? Was making fun of JR really such a high priority that he would risk somehow losing the world title? Cause when he first showed up on Raw the first thing I said to my brother was "There is no way Edge is leaving with the belt tonight."

Ross was just there.

 

The big deal was gloating about Smackdown being better than Raw, because it's HIS show.

 

Though he forgot about who was on Raw at the time...

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

Batista getting the first PPV title shot vs Punk would be appropriate since its the same damned title he's wrestled for a million times before on SD. Im willing to bet that Batista doesn't win and then they do Punk/Cena at Summerslam with Cena winning the belt back finally.

 

I can't figure out who Bob Holly gets as a new tag partner that he would mesh with enough to be a legit team. My first guess was Charlie Haas based off of the WGTT portion of his career but do we really want to see Holly/Haas wrestle for the tag belts..no

 

IC belt will probably end up being Kingston vs Cade

[Hawk 34 0]

Holly should get another long tenured veteran who has been pushed aside. I'm talking about Val Venis. Yes, Val Venis.

[TheFranchise 0]

Holly should get another long tenured veteran who has been pushed aside. I'm talking about Val Venis. Yes, Val Venis.

Not Hardcore Holly~!

[Exslade ZX 0]

Batista getting the first PPV title shot vs Punk would be appropriate since its the same damned title he's wrestled for a million times before on SD. Im willing to bet that Batista doesn't win and then they do Punk/Cena at Summerslam with Cena winning the belt back finally.

 

I can't figure out who Bob Holly gets as a new tag partner that he would mesh with enough to be a legit team. My first guess was Charlie Haas based off of the WGTT portion of his career but do we really want to see Holly/Haas wrestle for the tag belts..no

 

IC belt will probably end up being Kingston vs Cade

Well I'm pretty sure we have before. Although I guess want too is a different story.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

Holly should get another long tenured veteran who has been pushed aside. I'm talking about Val Venis. Yes, Val Venis.

Or *shudders* Jim Duggan

[Hawk 34 0]

I actually mean that. The Next Generation stable should align to take out all the older guys like Holly, Kane, Venis, Haas, and Duggan. I'm not suggesting to make it an long extended angle but it would be a decent starting point for those next generation guys to eliminate the past.

[PILLS! PILLS! PILLS! 0]

Enter D. Lo...

[Maztinho 0]

Enter D. Lo...

 

 

SWEET MERCIFUL CRAP MAKE IT SO!

 

I could actually see D'lo and Holly working well as team and having their styles mesh.

[GCWPatrick 0]

That WAS one of my main thoughts...Edge was an idiot to even show up on Raw, especially a night after royally screwing over Batista to "get rid of him for good". Heels do tend to do stupid things in the name of self-glorification, I suppose...just like faces do stupid things in the name of fair play. It's all part of RASSLIN.

 

I guess an underlying theme was that Edge felt insulted that JR was upset about going to Smackdown...

[luke-o 0]

I went into work today and my boss told me, "when you get home, watch RAW. Seriously. Watch RAW."

 

So I did.

 

HO-LY SHIT!

 

For the first 20 minutes, the rest of the show was pretty lame and I still hate Cole on commentary.

 

Does anyone else think this is more of a shove than a push?

 

But who cares? CM FREAKIN' PUNK IS HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION!

[Hawk 34 0]

I would be curious about when they decided to do this. Was the failure of the McMahon's Millions a breaking point for them to seriously put someone else on the top for a change?

[The Niggardly King 0]

Wow, they really did everything to make sure Punk got the best reaction possible. JR getting his farewell address stopped by the best heel at the moment, Edge. The hot Batista segment that lead to Bats getting his payback for now. And then it happened... his music hits with a small pop and then Bats just has the you gotta be kidding me look. I really thought they should have had Batista give his usual smirk whenever a "surprise" happens, adds to more of his laid back tweener act he's doing. Then the rest of the crowd about 6 or 7 seconds into this finally realize what is going on and they go crazy. Punk is going crazy as he realizes this moment, and it happens. Crowd explodes, Punk really gets his moment in the sun.

 

Then they have JBL be the first top guy who tries to seize the moment. It's a shame JBL is still messed up and can't really go like he used to. The man just draws heat in any situation and is a great side-foil for a main event level face.

 

Everybody that matters on RAW now is coming out for their segments and the first thing they mention is Punk and putting him over. Good stuff here, and Cena gets the Attitude era segment.

 

The match comes, JBL's security actually acts like security... making the drama of when they play a factor to the match that much better. Cena and Cryme Tyme finally get together, crazy brawl outside, fans are apeshit, GTS, victory, celebration by beating down the goons. RAW ended hot.

 

Like I said, the most interesting thing that I thought they would never do... is to put the belts on all the young guys. I'm actually interested in this right now. A great start to something I hope they go through with... hopefully the ratings met their expectations, fuck... hopefully they surpassed them.

[cd213 0]

Let's not talk about the TNA WORLD Title. It has no relevance to the discussion.

 

You are correct that it has no relevance to the discussion, but to try to insinuate that it isn't a "true" World title is rediculous (sp?), especially since it's not like it's put on line line around the World, like in Japan or England, or anything like that to make it a true World Title.

 

Back on the subject, that was an entertaining RAW last night. I was interested in it the entire time since I didn't know what was going to happen. I think it's a good thing to have someone new on the top, if nothing else to at least test the waters to see how the fans react to him. The rest of the show was ok, but it started at such a high mark that it would have taken something huge for it to come down too much. they did just enough to keep it interesting through the evening. I really hope that Jamie gets the comedy skits over Santino, as he has not grown on me yet. He says a few funny things, but with that horrible accent, it's hard to understand him most of the time. Cena and Cryme Time was pretty cool, and I hope they go somewhere with that.

[Perfection 0]

Everybody that matters on RAW now is coming out for their segments and the first thing they mention is Punk and putting him over. Good stuff here, and Cena gets the Attitude era segment.

 

 

 

Like I said, the most interesting thing that I thought they would never do... is to put the belts on all the young guys. I'm actually interested in this right now. A great start to something I hope they go through with... hopefully the ratings met their expectations, fuck... hopefully they surpassed them.

 

I liked the fact also that there were several guys who mentioned and congratulated punk on his win and putting him over and i'm glad others noticed it. It was a good move and Cena's promo especially had me hopeful that punk would in fact keep the title against jbl but I could not help but worry since the wwe really is not known for taking a chance like they are doing with the world title on someone like punk.

 

It's hard to believe the tag titles, the Ic title and the world title are all around very young and upcoming stars. Hopefully wwe will see where it goes by keeping the titles all around the youngsters with the vets chasing them instead of the other way around.

[RedJed 0]

Just a few quick comments here.....

 

I'm thinking Batista v. Punk (which certainly is inevitable) will headline SummerSlam, and Cena may be interjected into the mix there too in making it a three way. Punk v. Edge should happen at GAB though to further give Punk some credibility of some sort, in beating Edge more handily than how he did last night. I also don't think Punk is just going to be a transitional champ to give it back to Batista or Cena anytime soon. I think in due time, maybe around the end of the year or beginning of next, he will be doing the job, likely to a heel Batista, which will then segway to Batista/Cena at Mania XV for the WHC. And after he loses the belt, I could see a Punk heel turn out of all of this, as I think he will fare well enough staying as a face as champ for now, but thats all up to how the booking treats him down the road here. But for one night so far, he was put over strong (most in thanks to JBL).

 

Batista, I am thinking, will go heel whenever Orton returns, and I could see them possibly aligning with Jericho and Cade as well. Otherwise, Orton could easily lead a faction of DiBiase, Rhodes, and ???? (another second or third gen wrestler of some sort) if they want Batista staying face. But I think within the next few months, they might as well finally pull the trigger on Batista going heel, probably precipitated by going back to feud with Michaels and snapping on him. The heel turn will also be based from his frustration on Punk beating Edge when he was the one who took Edge out himself.

 

I'm betting Haas and Holly will re-form their tag team. Back when they were feuding with MNM a few years back, they were actually pretty decent.