WWE TV Reports 2/11 WWE Raw Live Coverage: Hardy pins Michaels, Jericho beats JBL, incest angle debuts By Jason Powell Feb 11, 2008 - 08:00 PM Email This Article | Printer Friendly Page Send Us News & Results | Back to Main Listing WWE Raw on the USA Network Taped Feb. 4 in Austin, Texas [Q1] Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler introduced the show while Hornswoggle walked to the ring for his match... Um, in case you’re wondering, a crawler at the bottom of the screen noted that the dog show is airing on CNBC... 1. Hornswoggle pinned Vince McMahon in a No DQ match at 5:38. Vince’s arms are as big as ever. He shoved Horny down, then got on his knees and invited Horny to take a swing. Horny hesitated a few times, but wound up and slapped Vince, who responded by removing his belt. Finlay ran out chased Vince out of the ring momentarily. Vince returned with a mic and warned him that he’s about to throw his entire career away. Vince warned Finlay to get out of his ring. “Finlay, you’re...” Vince stopped when Finlay took a step back. Vince told Horny that Finlay is a coward. That didn’t sit well with Finlay, who struck Vince with a shillelagh. Horny hit the Tadpole Splash for the win... [C] Powell’s POV: Five-star classic. No, not really. They never actually locked up, not that I’m complaining. Finlay is definitely more over as a babyface in this role. As I noted earlier today, my guess is that he will face Vince in some fashion at WrestleMania. Backstage, trainers tended to Vince’s neck. William Regal entered the scene and asked if there was anything he could do. Vince said they were going to fire Finlay tonight... [Q2] 2. Chris Jericho beat JBL at 13:51. Ross hyped the Shawn Michaels vs. Jeff Hardy match as the show’s main event. At 4:40, JBL stood on the ring apron. Jericho ran to the corner and springboarded himself into JBL’s foot. I’m not sure which offensive move we were supposed to think Jericho was going for. [C] At 13:00, JBL went for a fallaway slam, but Jericho slipped out and DDT’d him for a good nearfall. A short time later, Jericho hit his new finisher for the win. [Q3] After the match, Umaga ran in and hit Jericho with the Samoan Spike. Just as Ross was pointing out that JBL had hired Umaga to protect him during the Elimination Chamber match, Umaga spiked JBL. Ross noted that it would be every man for himself at the Rumble... [C] Powell’s POV: Jericho’s entrance video looks great in HD. However, it didn’t look so great this week because USA Network decided to air the dog show crawler during his entrance. The match didn’t look so good either because I have Comcast, which apparently hasn’t worked out the bugs with some of the HD feeds yet. Wait, are they advertising on the site? If so, then the picture is so good that I felt like I was in the ring with JBL and Jericho. Seriously, this was a good, back and forth television match. Was anyone else who didn’t read the spoilers surprised to get a clean finish? Mike Adamle stood in the crowd and introduced a lengthy video package on the Randy Orton vs. John Cena match... Backstage, Regal brought Finlay’s retirement papers to Vince, who decided not to fire him. Rather, Vince said Finlay would have to watch next week when he takes on Hornswoggle inside a steel cage... [C] [Q4] A John Cena video aired and concluded with the words “World Wrestling Entertainment: There are no shortcuts to your goals.” Uh, well, yeah. I speechless... 3. Paul Burchill (w/Katie Lea) pinned Brian Kendrick at 2:54. Before the match, Katie said the only thing that’s ever made her happy is watching her brother inflict pain on his opponents. Paul took the mic and said every guy wants to make his little sister happy. “So whatever Katie wants, Katie gets.” Late in the match, Kendrick was lying face down on the mat. Burchill grabbed his arms from behind, placed his foot behind Kendrick’s head, and slammed him face-first in the mat. The crowd was impressed. He followed up with a neckbreaker for the win... A shot aired of John Cena walking backstage... [C] Powell’s POV Burchill has a good look and is very good in the ring. His last two moves were especially impressive. So why did this guy have to play a role in an incest angle just to get back on the main roster? A video package recapped last week’s Cena vs. Mark Henry arm wrestling contest and the post-contest angle with Randy Orton... Orton walked to the ring dressed in street clothes and joined the commentators at their table. Ring introductions took place for the next match... [Q5] 4. John Cena beat Mark Henry via submission at 2:51. Short match. Cena locked in the STFU for the win. Afterward, he exited the ring and approached Orton at the announcers’ table and picked up a mic. “You don’t have to look at me,” Cena said. “You don’t even have to stand up, but I would advise you to shut the hell up and listen to what I have to say. I am a hundred percent.” Cena said he’s stronger and more focussed than he’s ever been in his entire life because, “For once, I’m not the hunted, you are the hunted.” He concluded by saying that on Sunday, “For you, Randy, there is no way out.” Good promo... [C] Powell’s POV: It’s been easy to notice that the live crowd is drained after sitting through last week’s live Raw before this taping took place. They haven’t been completely dead, but they aren’t as lively as they were last week. At least until Cena showed came out. This was definitely a pro-Cena crowd. A WrestleMania ad aired... Mr. Kennedy came out wearing street clothes and said it would be a good time for Ric Flair to give him an answer regarding his previous challenge for a match. Flair came out and stood face to face with Kennedy. He said he wrestled twice on Saturday and twice on Sunday “so someone like you could come along and work 100 dates and make a lot of money.” Flair said Kennedy wanted him to walk out and forfeit, but the answer was no. “I’ve been your world champion 16 times,” said Flair. “I know you respect that because that’s what you want to be once. I know you’ve got a great future, but it’s not going to be at the expense of the Nature Boy.” [Q6] Flair vowed to walk the aisle at No Way Out and to live to fight another day. Kennedy kicked Flair in his bad left knee and left him lying. Very good exchange. Flair was especially good tonight... [C] Highlights aired from earlier in the show of the Finlay-Vince angle. The announcers hyped next week’s cage match between Vince and Horny... 5. Melina (w/Jillian Hall) beat Maria at 2:43. Santino joined the announcers on commentary. This should be good. Maria may have hit the softest clothesline in the history of women’s wrestling at 2:00. Jillian walked over to Santino and kissed him. Maria was distracted, which enabled Melina to roll up Maria for the pin. After the match, Santino grabbed the mic and said “That’s what you get when you associate yourself with the Playboy.” He said he needed to know, “Is it Playboy or Santino.” He gave her one week to make up her mind. He said he’s the one who really loves her. Then he planted a big kiss on her lips... Powell’s POV: Pretty tame segment comedy-wise. Santino is generally so funny that I smile in anticipation of what he’s going say the second I see him. [Q7] [C] A video segment showed behind the scenes footage from Cena’s NASCAR commercial, which airs during the Daytona 500. It looks like it’s well done... The announcers ran through the pay-per-view lineup... A video showcased Triple H’s history in the Elimination Chamber... [C] A video teased the return of Candice Michelle to Raw... 6. Jeff Hardy pinned Shawn Michaels at 19:50. Michaels and Hardy set the tone early by exchanging hard slaps. [Q8] Michaels caught Hardy with a clothesline. The camera showed a close-up of Jeff’s mouth and it appeared he was bleeding from the spot where his lip is pierced. [C] At 12:00, Michaels caught Hardy in a half-crab. At 16:30, Hardy hit the Whisper in the Wind for a great nearfall. “I want to stand up myself,” Ross said. “My God what a main event!” Michaels came back a minute later with a top rope elbow drop. The crowd was split in their cheers, but didn’t boo either man. HBK set up Hardy for Sweet Chin Music, but Hardy ducked. Michaels came back with a leg lock, but Hardy reached the ropes. “But what is the status of Hardy’s leg?” Ross asked. Hardy answered that question by kicking Michaels off him twice. He stood up and hit the Twist of Fate, followed up with a Swanton Bomb, and scored the pin. Wow. Hardy celebrated the win while Michaels rolled over to his side and stared ahead as the show came to a close... Powell’s POV: A really fun match with great nearfalls down the stretch and action throughout. It did seem a little odd for Hardy to pop right back up from the leg lock, but it’s hard to knock this match. A great television main event. By the way, I take back what I said earlier about the crowd being burned out. They were actually very vocal given the circumstances. They were unusually quiet during the Vince vs. Hornswoggle match and were pretty low key in some of the other slow segments. Still, they were loud whenever WWE gave them something to cheer about, particularly during the hot main event. 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