By Jason Powell

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WWE Raw on the USA Network
Live from San Jose, Calif.

[Q1] The standard WWE opening includes a clip of Chris Jericho, which a reader pointed out is relatively new... Michael Cole welcomed viewers to Raw and then Triple H's music played. Hunter came to the ring wearing a suit and said SummerSlam will be one of those shows that changes the landscape of WWE.

Hunter focussed on the WWE Championship unification match and announced that he will be the special referee. He promised the fans that when the dust clears, there will be one undisputed champion. Hunter said the official contract signing for the SummerSlam main event will be tonight, and he said both men will compete on the show. He said Cena's match would take place now.

John Cena came to the ring came to the ring to the usual mix of cheers and boos. Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler checked in on commentary. Cena and Hunter exchanged words off-mic. It sounded like Hunter was justifying his role as the special referee for the SummerSlam main event... [C]

Powell's POV: An interesting development. I think a lot of us assumed that Edge was going to be named the special referee of the World Hvt. Championship match, but that never materialized. Instead, we're getting Hunter as the special referee of Punk vs. Cena, which leaves me assuming there will be some type of screwjob or at least a screwy finish.

Jack Swagger made his entrance. They aired footage of the Hunter and Cena conversation that was hard to make out. Cena implied that it was an ego thing, while Hunter defended himself...

1. John Cena defeated Jack Swagger in 5:25. The announcers spent time talking about the Hunter referee role. Cole said he agreed with Cena that it was an ego thing for Triple H and pointed out that he doesn't have much experience as a referee.

[Q2] Ross defended him and said Hunter only trusts himself to handle the match. Cena hit the Attitude Adjustment and got the clean pin... [C]

Powell's POV: Dot Net correspondent Joe Martinez said Swagger did a promo during the commercial break. He put down San Jose in an attempt to garner some heat, and presumably to help Cena get some cheers. The announcers are off to a better start. They are offering realistic opinions of the Hunter situation. Cole isn't going over the top at this point.

A SummerSlam flashback showed Bret Hart defeating Mr. Perfect...

Backstage, Scott Stanford was about to introduce Alberto Del Rio as the opponent for C.M. Punk, but Ricardo Rogriguez cut him off to make the announcement himself. Del Rio said Punk ran away from him when he tried to cash in the Money in the Bank contract in Chicago. He apparently called Punk a coward in Spanish...

The announcers spoke at ringside about the R-Truth and John Morrison feud... Backstage, Josh Mathews (minus the horrible glasses from last week) asked Truth why he would attack his friend. Truth went into crazy mode by talking about spiders and asking "why?" The crowd came back with "What?" chants. Truth spoke about spider stew and said the only person eating it was "Little Jimmy"...

The announcers hyped Rey Mysterio vs. The Miz...

Powell's POV: I am surprised they are going with Punk vs. Del Rio. I know they did at a house show over the weekend, but I didn't expect to see him working against a heel heading into the pay-per-view. Interesting. I pulled the Colt Cabana dark match story that was sent by a bogus correspondent. Feel free to email him at 1stgenalex@gmail.com since he has so much time on his hands.

[Q3] Cole hyped Cee Lo Green's performance for SummerSlam...

Rey Mysterio made his entrance. The announcers hyped that Mysterio will be getting another shot at the WWE Championship next week in San Diego. The Miz appeared behind Mysterio and attacked him. Miz rammed Mysterio into the WWE logo stand several times and then Miz headed to the ring.

Michael Cole entered the ring to ask Miz why he attacked Mysterio. Miz complained that he doesn't have a SummerSlam match despite appearing on talk shows and trending on Twitter. He demanded that a referee come out and declare him the winner via forfeit. A referee ran out and said something to Miz, who wasn't happy. The ref spoke with Justin Roberts, who announced that Miz would compete in a new match set up by Triple H...

Powell's POV: Mysterio suffered a knee injury at the house show on Friday and they've been doing injury angles with him ever since. There's no official word yet as to the severity of the injury. I liked the intensity that Miz showed during the attack and on the mic.

2. The Miz defeated Kofi Kingston in 10:05. Kofi was in control and had Miz down at ringside when the show cut to commercial. Cole defended Miz by saying he wasn't ready for the match. [C]

[Q4] Miz took control of the offense after the break. Cole quickly pointed out that Jack Swagger and R-Truth were trending on Twitter. Ooooohhhhhh!!! Big f'n deal. Kofi came back with a great cross body block for a good near fall. Kofi also hit a sunset flip into a powerbomb off the ropes for another good near fall.

Kofi did the "boom" routine in the corner, but Miz avoided the Trouble in Paradise kick. Kingston ended up on Miz's shoulders. Miz dropped Kofi on the top rope and followed up with the Skull Crushing Finale for the win...

Powell's POV: A good night for Miz. A vicious attack on Mysterio, a good intense promo compared to his usual mic work, and a clean win over Kingston. I assume he'll face Mysterio if Rey is healthy enough to work on Sunday. Either way, Miz has to be on the show.

Backstage, Mathews asked C.M. Punk about Hunter naming himself the special referee. He said it shouldn't surprise anyone because Hunter has a bigger ego than his father-in-law. He said Hunter should know that the best thing for business is Hunter keeping his nose out of the match, but Hunter can't help himself.

Punk said it's like Hunter is solar powered. Punk briefly hyped his match against Del Rio by saying he was going to show the world what would have happened if they had met at Money in the Bank... [C]

3. C.M. Punk defeated Alberto Del Rio (w/Ricardo Rodriguez) in 4:35. Punk got a strong reaction when he made his entrance.

[Q5] Cole reset the show and delivered the longest running episodic show on television line as the match continued. Del Rio did the spot where he missed a kick and slid through the ropes to the floor. Back inside the ring, Punk caught Del Rio with some knees to the head. In the end, Punk hit a big kick and followed up with the GTS for the clean pin... [C]

An ad aired for the WrestleMania special that airs on NBC on Saturday night...

Powell's POV: A lot of net fans would be griping if just about anyone other than Punk had defeated Del Rio clean. It looks like WWE officials felt that giving Punk momentum going into the pay-per-view by having him beat Del Rio was more important than protecting Del Rio at this point. Del Rio has definitely been on a downward spiral since MITB, but they can always erase that quickly by having him cash in successfully. Granted, I'd rather see him be a strong heel champion when the time comes, but Punk is in a much higher profile spot going into the pay-per-view than Del Rio.

Highlights aired of Beth Phoenix winning the Divas Battle Royal last week, and then beating up Kelly Kelly afterward...

4. Beth Phoenix defeated Eve Torres in 2:55. Neither Diva got much of a reaction during their entrances. Cole acknowledged that Natalya took out A.J. on Smackdown in a similar manner that Beth took out Kelly Kelly on Raw. Beth overpowered Eve and then took her to ringside and threw her into the wall, just as she did to Kelly.

[Q6] Back inside the ring, Eve got some offense in with a series of kicks. The crowd reached a bit to some of the offense, but it was still very quiet. Beth came back and hit the Glam Slam to get the clean pin.

Afterward, Beth took a mic and told Eve that she's sick of Divas like Eve and Kelly making a mockery of the division. "No more booty popping, no more splits, no more stink faces," Beth said. She left the ring and then stopped in the aisle. She turned back and was about to ask Eve a question, but Kelly ran out and knocked her down. Kelly entered the ring and held up the title belt to no reaction...

Powell's POV: Strange booking. Beating Eve should mean something since she's probably the No. 2 babyface, but I think it would have been more effective to have Beth win a squash match over a lesser Diva rather than give up offense to Eve. Kelly getting the shot in on Beth was really backwards since it feels like she got a measure of revenge.

The announcers hyped R-Truth vs. John Morrison for later in the show... [C]

Powell's POV: Does Morrison vs. Truth taking place on Raw mean we won't be getting it at the pay-per-view? Will there be a pay-per-view undercard? I believe we're still at just four matches advertised for Sunday.

Footage aired of John Cena and The Miz appearing at the Teen Choice Awards...

5. Alex Riley defeated Dolph Ziggler (w/Vickie Guerrero) by DQ in a non-title match in 1:30. Before the match, Riley told Vickie that her breath smells like death took a dump in her mouth. Ugh. Ziggler locked in a sleeper early, but Riley broke out of it and hit the spinebuster. Vickie entered the ring and slapped Riley for the DQ.

After the match, Ziggler didn't seem pleased that Vickie got him disqualified. They bickered. Riley tried to pull Ziggler away. Dolph shoved him and tried to blow him off, but Riley punched him out. Vickie's tantrum continued. Once Dolph recovered, he continued to complain. Vickie waved at Dolph and left the ring. She yelled that he'll be nothing without her...

Powell's POV: The whole thing felt rushed. The match was short and had a crappy finish, and the breakup just kind of came out of nowhere. Are they going to turn Dolph babyface and have Vickie manage someone else? I'd laugh if Dolph introduced Shaul Guerrero as his new girlfriend/manager. She's still working in developmental, but I have no idea whether she's ready for such a role. Then again, most of the developmental performers aren't ready for prime time when WWE calls them up.

[Q7] [C] The announcers spoke about the SummerSlam pay-per-view briefly, and Jim Ross set up a video package that recapped the Money in the Bank pay-per-view main event... The announcers ran through the previously announced SummerSlam matches and did not advertise any new matches... R-Truth made his entrance... [C]

Powell's POV: This is the Raw go-home show for SummerSlam and there are only four matches advertised for SummerSlam. Perhaps they are going to have Hunter announce some undercard matches prior to the contract signing.

6. R-Truth defeated John Morrison in 4:00. Ross tried to call the match only to have Cole question what he considered to be dated references. Shut up! Truth ended up at ringside. Morrison performed an awesome twisting dive over the top onto Truth. Morrison stood on the guardrail. Truth swept his legs and Morrison's came down on the guardrail.

[Q8] The bump looked good live and the announcers expressed concern over Morrison's surgically repaired neck. Unfortunately, they felt the need to show the replay it in slow motion and it was easy to see that Morrison landed on his shoulder blades, not on his neck. In the end, Truth hit his finisher and scored the pin. The announcers said Morrison was gutting it out after the blow to his neck...

Powell's POV: It was surprising to see Truth go over clean. No complaints here. I like Morrison, but I'm all for heels winning clean rather than always cheating to win. I'm surprised we saw that match here rather than on the SummerSlam undercard.

A shot aired of John Laurinaitis going over the details of the SummerSlam contract with Triple H... [C]

Powell's POV: Shouldn't they have done this sooner? It's not like they're creative team members being forced to book on the fly by Vince McMahon.

Cole announced that Rey Mysterio will get a title show against the winner of the C.M. Punk vs. John Cena SummerSlam match on next week's WWE Raw show in his hometown of San Diego...

The announcers revealed that WWE website voters predicted that Cena will leave SummerSlam as WWE Champion. The voting went 54 percent to 46 percent, which was the same as last week's question regarding which one of them was the rightful champion...

The announcers acted as if they were interviewing Christian. It appeared to be a pre-tape, as he blew the off and said Triple H would want to hear what he has to say on Friday's WWE Smackdown...

Powell's POV: I've been pushing for WWE to do quick promos with the Smackdown wrestlers like that for a while. It was probably a little too short to be effective, but it's better than the usual commercials they air for Smackdown.

Triple H and John Laurinaitis were standing in the ring and a table was set up for the contract signing. C.M. Punk was out first. John Cena made his entrance. The crowd wasn't exactly red hot for the second entrances for both men. Punk mocked the idea of having a contract signing as he sat back in a chair and had his feet up on the table.

Punk said he had a video clip of a big time movie star ready to explain why how he feels. He said it wouldn't be a clip from The Chaperone. Hunter asked him how his movie was. Punk fired back that it was straight to DVD, just like Hunter's movie. Funny. Footage aired of Rock's hilltop video promo on Cena and a plug for Rock's Facebook page appeared at the bottom of the screen.

Back live, Cena was laughing about the Rock video. Punk said that Cena is a phony just like Rock says, but he's just as much of a phony as Cena is. Punk referred to Rock as Dwayne, and said he didn't want him getting mad at him and using a funny voice, so he said he'd just stop and sign the contract.

Cena said Rock was on the set of the new "G.I. Joe" movie and congratulated him. He said he doesn't know why Rock has so many problems with him and the clothes he wears. Punk cut him off and said that he didn't show the clip so that Cena would go off on The Rock.

[Overrun] Cena said he might be too PG for Punk. He said he might be a modern day Hulk Hogan who took the hand away from his ear and put it in front of his face (you can't see me gesture). The fans booed the Hogan reference. Cena said Rock is a movie star and no matter what he does, he's never going to win over "The Millions." Cena said he'll also never win over Punk's fans.

Cena recalled Punk referring to him as the New York Yankees. He said he was initially offended, but he realizes that the Yankees are the most loved and hated team in sports. Cena said he's not concerned with fans who don't like him, he's concerned with the fans who wear his colors and know he'll never give up. Cena said there's nothing phony about that.

Cena recalled Punk wanting a jet and to have his own ice cream bars. He said now Punk is trying to come back as the voice of the voiceless. He said Punk is the phony. Hunter said Cena had a point and he eventually came back for more money. Punk said he's not gutless. Punk asked whether Hunter or Laurinaitis fire people. He referred to Laurinaitis as "Funk Man" (see the great Marty Funkhouser).

Punk asked if Laurinaitis flew to Tampa to fire Vladimir Kozlov in person. He mentioned Harry Smith (D.H. Smith) and questioned what type of excuse he was given. Punk recalled winning the ECW Title for the first time. He said Cena approached him backstage and congratulated him on a good match and then said he almost gave up on Punk.

Punk said he's had a sour taste in his mouth for Cena ever since. He said Cena moved to California to become a bodybuilder and became a pro wrestler. Punk said he wanted to be a pro wrestler from the start. He admitted he wants perks like having his own ice cream bar. "You damn right," Punk said.

Punk said Cena entered Los Angeles seven years ago and won his first WWE Championship. He said this Sunday he's walking out with nothing. He said Cena will still be able to make The Marine 4, have his WrestleMania match with The Rock, and will still have legions of fans who pee in their pants whenever they think about him, but he won't be the WWE Champion.

Punk signed the contract and a huge "C.M. Punk" chant broke out. Cena mockingly clapped for him. Cena read through the contract briefly and said, "Fine speech." He asked Punk if he realizes how much pressure is on him. He said Punk beat him in one match straight up and deserves to be the WWE Champion. He asked if Punk has thought about what might happen if he loses at SummerSlam.

Cena commended Punk for speaking his mind and delivering pipe bombs, but he said he has to back it up or he's a loudmouth one-hit wonder. He said he'd become Buster Douglas or Milli Vanilli. He said that if Punk doesn't produce on Sunday, it's gone just like that. Cena signed the contract and wished Punk luck.

"Luck is for losers and I'd rather be a one-hit wonder than a phony," Punk responded. Cena said he'd had enough with the talking thing. Punk said that talking is what he does best, but he could still kick Cena's teeth down his throat. Punk and Cena were about to go at it when Laurinaitis stood between them.

Punk threw a kick that dropped Laurinaitis. Hunter pushed Punk back toward the ropes. Cena reached around Hunter and threw a punch at Punk, and it knocked Hunter down briefly. Hunter and Cena exchanged brief words, and then both men looked down at Punk, who questioned whether the fix is in and whether it's a nice little company party...

Powell's POV: A compelling verbal segment for this viewer. I'd like to think that the casual fans were also interested, as they didn't go too insider and it felt like there was legit tension. It was interesting television. Will it lead to pay-per-view buys? I'd like to think so given that they created some interesting possibilities with Hunter involved and Punk crying conspiracy. Unfortunately, there are only four matches advertised for Sunday, and only one Smackdown to go. Chris Shore and I are teaming up for an All Access Podcast that will be available later tonight, so be sure to check it out for additional thoughts on this show.

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