7/14 Twilling's WWE Raw Live Coverage: Will Kane reveal who "he" is? Countdown to Punk vs. Batista, Michaels vs. Jericho, and JBL vs. Cena

WWE Raw on the USA Network
Live from Raleigh, NC

[Q1] A video recap of last week’s fatal fourway match aired with Batista winning the coveted number one contender spot and Kane snapping on Michael Cole. We heard “Is he alive or dead?” many times. Jerry Lawler made the save and paid for it...

Stephanie and Shane McMahon appeared in a pretaped interview regurgitating what they have said in weeks past. They said they were not at the show but they may have to show up and take action in the future if things continue as they have been. Stephanie told us to have a great show…

Immediately and abruptly, Shawn Michaels and Chris Jericho were brawling at ringside. Lance Cade came out to aid Jericho as security separated them. Kane’s music hit and he came out to ringside holding a small bag.

After running off the crew, he approached the announce table and screamed, “Sorry. I am sorry.” He then walked away. Backstage, Michaels and Jericho continued to brawl. Mickie James’ music hit and she made her ring entrance…

Twill’s Two Cents: Wow, a lot went on there in a short period of time. The Jericho and Michaels feud continues to progress perfectly. Shouldn’t Linda McMahon send somebody to run the show? I wonder what Kane will do next.

1. Mickie James defeated Katie Lea (with Paul Burchill) in non-title match in 3:21. At about two minutes, Katie locked in a neck vice and the camera panned in on Mickie’s head, which was right at Katie’s boobs. I am sure some people liked that shot.

Mickie attempted a tornado DDT from the top but Katie countered. Mickie was able to apply a head scissors and hit a hurricarana. She went to the top and hit a flying Thesz Press for the win…

Immediately following the match, Paul held Mickie so Katie could attack her. Kofi Kingston made the save and challenged Burchill to an Intercontinental Championship match… [C]

Twill’s Two Cents: Decent match, but I expected a Katie Lea victory to lead to another title match.

[Q2] 2. Kofi Kingston (with Mickie James) defeated Paul Burchill (with Katie Lea) to retain the Intercontinental Championship in approximately 5:43. The match was in progress when the show came back from commercial. Kofi hit some high flying offense and scored a nearfall with a dropkick at the two minute mark. Kofi then slowed things down with some mat work.

Burchill worked on Kofi’s ribs and even scored a nearfall at four minutes. He hit a belly to back suplex, fully rotating Kofi in midair. Kofi turned the tides with punches, kicks, dropkicks, and a Russian Leg Sweep. After hitting the double leg drop, Katie jumped up on the apron. Mickie intercepted her, Kofi hit the Trouble in Paradise and retained the title…

Twill’s Two Cents: Bad night for the brother and sister duo. They both lost clean, which is odd, but I bet they will still be challenging for the titles.

Backstage, Santino Marella told Matt Striker he sent an open challenge to the locker room and after he beat someone up, people would forget what Rey Mysterio did to him last week. Kane approached Santino and asked him where C.M. Punk was. Santino asked if he checked the Pepsi machine. Santino pointed Kane into another direction and took some Tums… [C]

Twill’s Two Cents: The Pepsi machine line was classic.

Back from commercial, Kane and Punk were backstage in the locker room. Kane told Punk he knew deep down he was dead. Punk asked Kane who he was talking about. Kane said he needed Punk one on one in the ring tonight. Punk said the biggest match of his life was in six days but he needed to prove the naysayers wrong, so he told Kane he was on. He asked Kane what the deal with the bag was. Kane laughed and walked away…

Cole and King promoted tonight’s text message poll. Which champion is most likely to lose their title at the PPV, C.M. Punk, Triple H, or Mark Henry?...

[Q3] Todd Grisham interviewed John Cena backstage and asked him to explain the rules of the New York City parking lot brawl match with JBL at the PPV. Cena put over the destruction of the match. He said he wanted to break the bones of a “Great American” and would take pleasure in doing so. Cena called himself a battle hungry, war hardened, angry son of a bitch.

Cena brought Cryme Tyme into the picture and challenged JBL and two partners of his choosing to a six man tag team match. He told JBL in a serious tone, “You want some, come get some.”… [C]

Twill’s Two Cents: Cena’s promo seemed more like a movie audition, and it was corny. His fire and intensity was fantastic, but after weeks of “poopy” jokes, I found it awfully difficult to take him seriously here. Also, he should never say anything about being “war tested.” He hasn’t a clue what that means.

Santino stood in the middle of the ring and told whoever was going to accept his challenge that they are, “death meat.” Beth Phoenix’s music hit and she came out to the ring…

3. Beth Phoenix defeated Santino Marella in 1:25. Phoenix hit a few power moves. Santino irish whipped Beth into the corner and charged at her. Beth sidestepped him and applied a schoolboy for the win…

Twill’s Two Cents: Welcome back Beth. This was a nice example of how much heel heat Santino gets. I think Beth was just successfully turned babyface in 1:25, if they want to go that route.

Kelly Kelly was shown stretching backstage in preparation for her match… [C]

[Q4] Kelly Kelly made her ring entrance and while waiting for her opponent, the World Tag Team Champions Ted Dibiase and Cody Rhodes came out to the ring. Dibiase sent Kelly on her way. At least I got to see her in those “pants.”

Rhodes said he and Dibiase were not their fathers, they were better. Ted said they were still ten years away from their primes. Hacksaw Jim Duggan’s music hit and he came out to approach the champions. He told them he wanted to speak from his heart. He said he competed with and against Dusty Rhodes and Ted Dibiase.

Duggan said Rhodes and Dibiase were at a high level as performers but as people, they needed to grow up. Rhodes said Duggan needed to grow up because he was a 54 year old man trying to relive his glory days, which were not all that glorious to begin with. Dibiase echoed a statement made by Steve Austin. “If you are not in WWE to be a champion, you should not be here at all.” He said Duggan was pathetic.

On their way up the ramp, JBL appeared on the Titantron and offered Rhodes and Dibiase a chance to main event tonight’s show by teaming with him. He said it was their call and could be the first of many main events for them…

Cole and King plugged Punk vs. Kane for later in the show… [C]

Twill’s Two Cents: Austin always said, “If you weren’t there to win the championship…” meaning the world title, but close enough. I love this team of Dibiase and Rhodes and I imagine their first title defense will be against Duggan and Holly. Speaking of Holly, why the hell hasn’t he confronted Rhodes yet?

[Q5] 4. C.M. Punk defeated Kane (with a miniature burlap sack) by countout in a non-title match in 6:23. Cole and King referenced Kane’s apology. King said there is something wrong inside Kane’s head. Thank you Captain Obvious. King said he voted for Punk to lose his title in the text poll.

Punk went after Kane with body kicks early in the match. Punk threw Kane to the outside. Kane eyeballed a fan and considered picking up a chair. Punk tried a baseball slide but Kane moved and hit a right uppercut. He threw Punk back into the ring and continued on the offensive. He scored a nearfall at 2:37 after a dropkick to a sitting Punk.

Punk hit a bunch of Muay Thai strikes before hitting the corner knee. Punk scored just a one count with a kick to the head. Kane elbowed out of a GTS and went for a chokeslam, which was countered by a Punk kick to the head.

Both men fought to the outside. Punk hit a flying bulldog but it looked botched. Punk was able to slide into the ring before the referee reached the count of ten. Kane snapped and started throwing chairs into the ring. He put Punk’s head and neck into the folding part of the chair before heading to the top rope.

Batista’s music hit and he made the save. He speared Kane and hit him with a chairshot. He helped Punk to his feet, who tried to shake his hand. Batista refused and said, “I am not you friend; I saved your ass.” He then gave him an obligatory pat on the face and smiled at him. Punk shoved Batista and told Batista to never put his hands on him again. Batista gave Punk a spinebuster before leaving the ring. Punk looked on from the ring with his title…[C]

Twill’s Two Cents: Decent match, excellent post match segment. I am tired of guys being friendly with each other just because they are all faces or heels. I was also tired of Punk being treated as the guy who deserved to be champion but would only hold the title until someone like Batista wanted to come and win it. I like that Punk got aggressive with Batista here.

[Q6] Chris Jericho made his entrance and the big screen said “save me” instead of “save us.”…

5. Chris Jericho (with Lance Cade) defeated Paul London in 2:58. London was in his same ring gear. Jericho almost immediately threw London to the floor. Back in the ring, Jericho hit a running punt to London’s stomach. Cade walked around with a chair to keep his eye out for Michaels.

Jericho hit a double underhook backbreaker and yelled for Michaels. Jericho locked in the Walls of Jericho like he used to in WCW, when it was a cool looking move and not just a Boston Crab. London tapped out…

Jericho took the mic and told London to take this loss and choose one of two paths. He said Chris Jericho’s path was one of integrity while Shawn Michaels’ path was one of pain and disgrace. Michaels’ music hit and he came out to the stage.

Michaels told Jericho he did not even know the meaning of the words integrity and righteousness. However, Michaels said he and Jericho agreed on one thing: at The Great American Bash, the worst was yet to come… [C]

Twill’s Two Cents: I hope London joins forces with Jericho. If they let him work and gave him some TV time, he could be a star. I liked the quickness of Michaels’ promo; it was effective.

[Q7] Backstage, Jamie Noble told Layla that they could be Raw’s power couple with the McMahons out of action. Layla said she does not date short men. Noble said he would prove his manhood by challenging and defeating the next person who came up to him.

Snitsky walked up and Noble was friendly at first, but he then called Snitsky out. Layla tried to protect Noble but he would not be denied. He said Snitsky had a one way ticket on the pain train to Noblesville…

Noble and Layla came out to the ring with Snitsky in tow. Noble and Snitsky engaged in a brief physical altercation with Snitsky coming out on top. After he left the ring, Layla looked on with mild concern before exiting herself… [C]

Twill’s Two Cents: Noble is hilarious and hopefully they find a niche for him so I can see him on TV every week.

During the break, a commercial aired with John Cena and Vince McMahon talking about the advantages of a five blade razor. McMahon lied down over five chairs. Cena pulled out two of them. McMahon called Cena a “meathead.” Cena hit Vince in the sternum with a chair…

The video of Shane and Stephanie from earlier in the show aired again. They aired the results of the text poll and 55% of the people voted for Punk. Cole and King ran down the PPV card…

JBL, Cody Rhodes, and Ted Dibiase made their ring entrance on foot… [C]

[Q8] Cryme Tyme and Cena made separate entrances. Cole said “CTC” stood for “Cryme Tyme Cena.” That is not very creative…

6. John Cena and Cryme Tyme defeated JBL, Cody Rhodes, and Ted Dibiase by disqualification in 14:43. Cena and Rhodes began the match. Cena controlled the offense and stared down JBL after each and every move. Shad tagged in but Rhodes was able to wrestle him into their corner. Dibiase tagged in but Shad showed off his power with a nice double underhook belly to belly released suplex.

Rhodes and Dibiase showed great continuity while working on JTG. JTG scored a nearfall with a quasi swinging neckbreaker, but distractions by the heel team allowed them to keep the advantage. JBL finally tagged in and spent minimal time in the ring. Rhodes and Dibiase continued to isolate JTG with multiple tags… [C]

JBL hit big Shad with multiple elbows. Cena tried but could get into the ring to face off with JBL. Cody tagged in and tried a bulldog but Shad threw him halfway across the ring. As Shad crawled over to attempt a tag, Cody knocked Cena from the apron and pulled Shad back to his corner. Nicely done.

[Overrun] Cody tried a blind moonsault but Shad moved and tagged Cena, who hit Rhodes with multiple shoulder blocks. Dibiase came in illegally but Cena kicked his ass too. He went after JBL, but he retreated to the floor. He hit the FU on Dibiase and the top rope legdrop on Rhodes. He locked in the STFU and JBL broke it up, causing the referee to call for the bell (!)…

JBL retreated to the back as Cena stupidly gave chase. Cena went through the back door. He looked around and chose his next move carefully. After about twenty different camera shots, JBL finally knocked Cena out with a pipe. He set Cena up against a car and drove another car into him. Upon impact, it was obvious that no one was there and Cena was reinserted later. JBL looked on at what he had done…

Twill’s Two Cents: First of all, why is the referee calling for the bell for someone breaking up a pinfall or submission? They need some consistency with the rules here. As for the post match attack, it was corny but good. We have not seen something like this in awhile and it was done with a tongue in cheek attitude. Cena looked around as if to say, “I know I am going to be attacked, so I should probably stop.” However, like a fool, he kept going. The problem with doing something like this is that Cena will still wrestle at the PPV even though he should feel lucky to be alive. Randy Orton punts someone in the head and they are out for multiple weeks. Oh well, this was a decent show.

Did you enjoy the show? Let me know. I can be reached at dotnetrich@gmail.com.