WWE Raw (7/14/2008)

[Hawk 34 0]

You know, this was a really good show tonight up until they decided to go into Hummer Angle or "Austin gets run over by the limo" territory. The whole point of such angles is that it's kind of a mystery who did it, whereas tonight JBL was obviously the guy and should certainly be arrested (even in fake wrestling terms). What's silly is that the level of hate in this feud doesn't warrant all this, nor would JBL as a character do something this stupid. He might hire it done, but I can't see him literally driving a car into someone in a murder attempt. Why the hell did Cena even bother chasing him after a certain point? It's not like he isn't getting the guy in a violent brawl on PPV in 6 days anyway.

 

The rest of the show was great. I'm digging the Kofi/Burchill stuff, Jericho/Michaels is also clicking and I wonder if London will be more involved since I think he's also a Michaels student. The Kane/Punk/Batista angle was cool as well. I even liked the main event up until the postmatch nonsense. I'm still wrapping my head around why JBL breaking up the STFU is any sort of DQ when he's well within his rights to do so before the 5 count. You're telling me Cody Rhodes can't job in a 6 man tag to friggin CENA?

 

London wasn't a Michaels' student. That was Brian Kendrick but that probably won't be the issue. Just that London was a fan of Shawn as well and patterned himself after him.

[Lazarus 0]

My biggest complaint about the show is that we never found out what was in Kane's bag and we also didn't have any sort of explanation for his breakdown last week.

 

[bob_barron 0]

GFYM

 

Joeybagadonuts just got served.

 

Hopefully with a bag of donuts.

 

[RedJed 0]

That show was fun to watch and I'll even give the benefit of the doubt with the ending angle......it will easily get the kids to DEMAND to get their parents to order the Bash to see if Cena lived or something silly like that. I'm sure wwe.com will "break" the news that Cena narrowly escaped the attempt at killing him in no time here too. So that means Cena/JBL is going to be, in theory, more violent in a finish at the ppv so I wouldn't at all be shocked to have Bradshaw do some crazy stunt and be taken off TV for awhile, since I keep hearing his back is bad again. Oh and I have to admit I thought the Cena promo from the back was not bad for what it was, and the main event got a little time to build and showcase Dibiase/Rhodes too. As the entire end angle went.....well, I kind of felt like I was watching some initial camera tests for a scene in a movie or something, just without music playing in the background. Must have been the watching it in HD effect or something, it just came across really goofy, borderline B movie cheesy in execution.

 

Ha, well sure enough in the Raw results on the website, this:

 

"Luckily, John Cena managed to escape at the last minute and was only grazed, meaning that Cena vs. JBL will still take place on Sunday night."

 

Punk/Kane was good, I'm at a loss what's up with Kane at this point with where they are going with the character, still thinking its all about Vince, though. Also thought the Michaels/Jericho stuff was all pretty solid.

[RedJed 0]

My biggest complaint about the show is that we never found out what was in Kane's bag and we also didn't have any sort of explanation for his breakdown last week.

 

It's meant to slowly build, keep the focus probably more on the ppv that he's not a part of, really. But I wouldn't be at all shocked to find out what is in that bag at the Bash, Kane doing a run-in during Batista/Punk isn't out of the question after tonight.

[cabbageboy 0]

Thing is, Vince is clearly not dead...he's just injured and recuperating. So why would Kane be up in arms ranting "Is he alive or dead???" about Vince?

 

Lost in all of this is the thought that Kane is likely going to run in at the PPV and cost Batista this match. Then they can move Kane and Batista into a hoss feud, while Punk can face the Jericho/Michaels winner perhaps.

[RedJed 0]

Courtesy of prowrestling.net....

 

"Batista squashed C.M. Punk in a non-title dark match main event held after Raw on Monday in Raleigh, N.C. A Dot Net reader who was at the show reports that Batista finished off Punk with a spinebuster in roughly one minute. "I think the C.M. Punk experiment has officially ended," said our correspondent. "

 

-Odd they would throw that out there, and book it as a squash like that.

[Chazz 0]

I find it funny that when TNA books an Impact like this,(especially the opening 15-20 minutes), a lot of people criticize it as "too much happening at once", and "nothing sinking in", while when WWE basically does it, it's cool, and a really good show. Nevertheless, I'm loving what they've been doing for the past few weeks, and am hoping that if they get a G.M. or some type of authority figure soon, they won't use it as an excuse to go back to the same boring, paint by numbers program we have seen for so long.

[ChrisMWaters 0]

Eh, the Batista squashing Punk thing may have just been because they figured since Punk was tired and Batista didn't have a match, it'd make sense.

 

On another subject: a west-coast friend of mine is wondering something, and would like your opinion:

 

Beth's actions here: one shot thing, or could she use this in the future to either

A)gloat over the rest of the women's division she beat a man

 

or

 

B)become a MUCH sexier Chyna?

[Hasbeen2 0]

Part of the problem with TNA in the quick moving segments, all at once segments is that even though it might be entertaining it doesn't add a lot in the long run or just doesn't make a lot of sense. From what I've seen in the WWE most all of it has been happening for a reason and everything is building to a conclusion or transition at least.

 

It's a good thing it's 1 in the mornng or the Punk squash post would crash this board.

[Lazarus 0]

On another subject: a west-coast friend of mine is wondering something, and would like your opinion:

 

Beth's actions here: one shot thing, or could she use this in the future to either

A)gloat over the rest of the women's division she beat a man

 

or

 

B)become a MUCH sexier Chyna?

 

I could see both of that happening.

 

I missed Raw last week, but I don't remember seeing her on tv for a couple weeks before that and I think that after the Melina feud she hasn't gotten much tv time (if any). This might be their way of giving her a big push again.

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

I was so let down to see such an awful angle end what was turning into what I thought was a really, really good Raw. I understand the idea is to build heat for the feud AND serve to be an act so dastardly and out of control that Shane HAS to take action on Raw next week to pay off the chaos angle, and that's fine under two conditions:

 

1. They admit JBL missed and Cena moved (since clearly no one was there)

 

Or

 

2. Cena was there, is seriously injured, and the advertised Bash match is off until SummerSlam. JBL is also in some sort of legal trouble.

 

Sadly I believe we'll see the following:

 

3. Cena fights on Sunday with a piece of gauze around his rib cage.

[Lazarus 0]

DrVenkman, I think that someone said this already but on wwe.com they are reporting that Cena dodged and was only grazed, thus Sunday's match will continue as scheduled. As a consequence, I suspect that 3 will happen... perhaps without the gauze.

 

Aside from that, I wouldn't be surprised if this is how they bring back Regal. Given the chaos they might want be desperate to bring someone in, and given that the family is "busy" with the Vince stuff, they could say that their only other option was to rehire their last GM.

[haws bah gawd 0]

It's a good thing it's 1 in the mornng or the Punk squash post would crash this board.

 

Shit, that would've crashed the internet. I still think we see a rehash of Bret beating Diesel at the PPV. Wonder if Punk will have to eat 5(?) Batista Bomb's after the match, similar to Bret?

 

Speaking of Cena, if you think he isn't going to "overcome the odds" yet again, you're kidding yourself.

[Chazz 0]

The thing I hated most about that segment was the fact they had the one camera angle with JBL coming right toward the camera, then cut away to the camera angle that would've captured whether or not he ended up hitting Cena right after JBL crashed into the car. I understand why they did that,(kayfabe wise), but it ended up looking really, really dumb, thus they shouldn't have done it in the first place. Just a case of the writers attempting a "can you top this?" segment among themselves to end a loaded show.

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

Does anyone REALLY care about a dark match main event? Seriously?

 

HHH, HBK, and Cena squashed Orton, Umaga, and JBL at the last Raw I was at. Big deal.

 

Thanks for the WWE.com update Lazarus, I was hoping they would immediatley clarify the situation. Oddly enough, them saying JBL missed makes everything cool in my book (more or less).

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

Because I enjoyed Raw so much, I'm going to go segment by segment tonight:

 

Opening video package: Someone said they used this music on SD too, but I missed the opening of that show (I was either watching ALF or heating up some dinner). At any rate, while they've probably used that background music several times in the past decade, it tends to immediately remind of "The Master Plan" video package from Breakdown 98, which happened to be during the Attitude era. A good sign.

 

Opening business: The segue between Stephanie and Shane's comments and a wild brawl between HBK and Jericho was damn brilliant and really set the tone. As was stated in the thread, it was very reminiscent of the opening to Spike's very first episode of Impact with Joe kicking Daniels. Those were the days, eh? Then Kane came out carrying what I initally thought were the remains of Damien (revealing Kane was concerned about Jake Robert's pet snake from 17 years ago) but that mystery remains unsolved. Anyhow they even managed to fit a match into this craziness, putting them +1 matches over last week's show in the same timeframe. I naturally enjoyed the match because A. It wasn't bad and B. If you've been following my random comments thrown about the forums you know Katie is my 2nd favourite Diva right now. Good start, and it actually set up a second match.

 

Kofi vs. Burchill: Because the opening promo last week ended up going 28 minutes or so (and I did think the Vicki stuff last week was great), I think we were +2 matches over the previous week now (Marvin seemed to think it was only +1). God bless this crowd because at this point I wanted every Raw to come from Raleigh.

 

Apparently because I was laughing too hard at the Pepsi machine comment (sorry Spiff, I really do find Santino funny) I missed Kane saying that he knows whatever he was talking about is dead. I also thought the Cena promo was good (and hardly "being gay") - it was nice to see him cut a serious promo to underline the bad blood in his feud with JBL. Not a big show note, but the fact the backdrop this week appeared to be a big tapr kept distracting me - I kept thinking he was going to pull it down and reveal a circle of cars in the background or that someone or something was going to crash through it.

 

Beth (who is actually my favourite Diva right now) beating Santino amused me because instead of it being an annoying bitch like Chyna going over people like Chris Jericho or Jeff Jarrett, it's someone I think is awesome betting a comedy act. And again, I loved Raleigh. I've also been asking (silently, to myself) where Beth was every week and was always sad when she did not appear on TV, so I was happy to see her. In retrosepct I actually think this was a BAD idea because by the end of Raw, Katie Lea became the only heel women on Raw so unless there are changes coming or some new women are on the way in, this was an odd decision. I liked it live though, and again, welcome back to TV Beth!

 

I'm glad some of you people aren't on the WWE writing team because if you were, it sounds like you'd make the mistake WWE often does themselves - give up on an act you haven't given people enough time to care about one way or the other. The deal with Rhodes and DiBiase giving Duggan the verbal business instead of a cliche beatdown was good character building and hopefully it results in them getting heat in the near future. Their alliance with JBL is a good one too. I really did feel bad for poor Duggan in this segment (and I actually felt, for what it's worth, he looked even older than usual out there tonight). Say what you will about ol Hacksaw but I'm glad WWE gave him a job. Whenever he's hosting something on 24/7 he sounds so excited that you can't help but feel good, and the people went nuts for his act at the Raw I was at in May. He has no business in main events or anything, but he's harmless. Lay off Duggan, people! I guess it's worth noting Kelly looked pretty good tonight too but I was glad the heels saved us from having her wrestle (and wrestle who? Layla didn't appear to be in wrestling gear later in the evening).

 

Kane vs Punk - ok, we hate count outs, but they were pretty much booked into a corner with this match. Do you job out the guy who is holding the belt or job out the guy you're supposed to be giving a new heel push too? The answer, of course, is neither, so they (in theory) Punk gained credibility by holding his own and winning by count out while Kane didn't get pinned. Punk shoving Batista was nice too and the post match spinebuster would indicate Punk gets to retain.

 

Jericho vs London annoyed me, actually. Why didn't they acknowledge London as a student of HBK? I don't care if he looked up to him as a kid and when you have Lance Cade out there, make this meaningful! I also didn't care for London's sneakers - did he find out he was wrestling 10 minutes before showtime? The post match angle this set up could be good though.

 

Noble's character is amusing, I had no problem with his deal with Snitsky. Gives Layla something to do too, I guess, but like I said earlier it seemed this dynamic made her a face and she was the last heel except for Katie (and Jillian, who I totally forgot about - I guess that would have been Kelly's opponent too).

 

The main event was well worked (though fairly basic) and enjoyable. It's good to see some young elevation going on. The ending was a bit weird (and the really funny part was Cole and Lawler saying they didn't know what JBL was up to - uh, trying to save his partner from a submission hold? It was if they pulled a Tony and forgot he was actually a participant in the match) but maybe it's part of a new angle where running into the ring without tags and pulling the tights gets you DQd (I doubt it).

 

The post match angle was silly and you had to know something was coming when they had all those slick cuts to different exterior cameras. Since it's not a cliffhanger about whether Cena will live or die, it's not horrible, so I'll let it slide as a crazy pro wrestling angle.

[Obi Chris Kenobi 0]

Up until the last five minutes I really enjoyed it, even the faster 'Priceless' music haha. Spotted more signs that normally would be removed, most notably this week...

 

"CENA IS A TOOL" clear as day in the middle of the screen, especially during the Santino match. CHAOS WITHOUT McMAHON!

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

The best sign was "SANTINO FEARS LUIGI", complete with a picture of Luigi from the SMB Supershow. I believe that was on the barricade the entire match.

[Obi Chris Kenobi 0]

hahaha shit yeah, just rewatched it and saw it! No McMahon = Awesome signs That's one of the major things about the Attitude I miss, some cool signs. *runs for the exit*

[Hawk 34 0]

Jericho vs London annoyed me, actually. Why didn't they acknowledge London as a student of HBK? I don't care if he looked up to him as a kid and when you have Lance Cade out there, make this meaningful! I also didn't care for London's sneakers - did he find out he was wrestling 10 minutes before showtime? The post match angle this set up could be good though.

 

They didn't mention it because London isn't a student of Shawn. It doesn't matter in the feud itself, if they want to say it, they can. Most people believe that is the case anyways.

[TheFranchise 0]

After being trained at the Texas Wrestling Academy, London began competing for Ring of Honor, where although he never won a title, began popular amongst the fans due to his high risk offensive moves. He later competed for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, Pro Wrestling ZERO-ONE, and various independent promotions, winning numerous championships and won the ECWA Super 8 Tournament in 2003

 

-- Wiki

 

In a way, he was trained by Michaels, even if it wasn't his main form of training.

[Papacita 0]

I'm watching a bit of Raw on Dailymotion...as bad as the ending was, I fucking love the way the opening was handled, especially with the sudden cuts to the Michaels/Jericho brawl. Really drove home the sense of chaos without McMahon.

[Thanks for the Fish 0]

London trained as TWA, but I believe it was under Rudy Boy Gonzalez. Now if they sent London to SD! and kept Kendrick on Raw they could have pulled this same angle, with Kendrick training under HBK, in the same class as Cade and Bryan Danielson (and Shooter Shultz wherever you may be). However the angle/match served it's purpose anyways.

 

I'm saying this as a big Punk fan, but he wasn't ready for the title. I think he would be much better off in Kofi's position right now as IC champ taking on all mid-card comers and winning.

 

I really think we need to see the Deisel/Hart finish to their GAB match - it's just a perfect fit, though I would wonder if Batista destroying him after the roll-up would just elicit more cheers for "The Animal" as Punk isn't even over enough as a face.

[dubq 0]

I love how Shane & Stephanie mention all of the stuff that's gone down without Vince there.. like that shit wouldn't have happened anyway? Isn't the point of a wrestling show called "Raw" is that it's not all order and organized.. it's chaos and carnage?

 

Anyway, something random.. I really don't think Cody Rhodes is ready to be on the main roster, let alone a World Tag Team Champion.. yeah I think it's cool that he likes Zelda and has Tri-Force boots, but otherwise the guy is a glorified toothpick.. there's no way I can believe him as the heel in control and beating on big Shad as face in peril.

[Black Lushus 0]

Punk's ready for the "Benoit Title Run" I.E. he toils around in the middle of the show as the champ while other programs main event. I just fear they're going to give him the Mysterio treatment. Guess we'll see how Sunday goes.

[Black Lushus 0]

Anyway, something random.. I really don't think Cody Rhodes is ready to be on the main roster, let alone a World Tag Team Champion.. yeah I think it's cool that he likes Zelda and has Tri-Force boots, but otherwise the guy is a glorified toothpick.. there's no way I can believe him as the heel in control and beating on big Shad as face in peril.

 

Yeah he's a small guy, but he's believable in his role...he's a good promo guy, can work a solid basic type match and is more entertaining as a sneaky heel than he is a blue chipper face. The problem is, the crowd doesn't really care about him at this point. I think he and Jr. would have worked better on Smackdown.

[dubq 0]

Oh, and I really hated the ending to the M/E tag match. WTF was that? As Cole said "a blatant disqualification" for breaking up a submission? That never happens.. they could've came up with something better than that. Like it'd be so bad for main event Cena to force rookie Rhodes to tap out?

 

 

[dubq 0]

Punk's ready for the "Benoit Title Run" I.E. he toils around in the middle of the show as the champ while other programs main event. I just fear they're going to give him the Mysterio treatment. Guess we'll see how Sunday goes.

 

Wouldn't surprise me. Guy can't even lift half the challengers for his title up for his own finisher.

[Wrestlefreak 0]

Santino's "did you check the Pepsi machine?" line to Kane was awesome.

 

Jericho's post-match speech to Paul London was cool.

 

I'm liking Batista's tweener gimmick ever since the HBK angle. Last night's spinebuster on Punk was a good way to build their match at GAB.