WWE Raw on the USA Network
Live from Raleigh, N.C.

[Q1] The show opened with a recap of Batista winning last week's main event four-way, and of Kane flipping out afterward... Stephanie and Shane McMahon stood inside a studio and complained about "general unprofessionalism and infighting." They said they have been physically unable to attend Raw due to their father's situation. They requested that everyone try one more time to work together. "We'll be watching," Shane said...

They cut to the arena, where Shawn Michaels and Chris Jericho were brawling at ringside. Lance Cade got involved briefly. Referees stepped between HBK and Jericho... Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler tried to introduce the show. Kane's music played and he walked to the ring carrying a bag. The announcers were uneasy and they stood up as Kane walked toward them with the bag in hand.

Lillian Garcia and the crew member scurried away. Kane approached the announcers, leaned toward them and said, "I'm sorry" in an angry voice twice. Kane walked away... A backstage shot aired of the Micahels and Jericho brawl continuing...

1. Mickie James vs. Katie Lea (w/Paul Burchill). In the end, Mickie hit a Thesz press off the top rope for the win. Afteward, Burchill held Mickie from behind and Katie slapped her across the face a few times until Kofi Kingston ran out for the save... [C]

Powell's POV: Good opening. They touched one a few different storylines and then jumped right to the ring for the first match. Plus, the post-match bit with Burchill and Kingston touched on another feud. The live crowd is really hot so far.

[Q2] 2. Kofi Kingston (w/Mickie James) pinned Paul Burchill (w/Katie Lea) to retain the Intercontinental Title in 6:00. The match was joined in progress. Burchill got in plenty of offense, but Kofi finished him off with the Trouble in Pradise kick. The live crowd counted along with the ref's three count. Kofi and Mickie celebrated together after the match...

Backstage, Santino Marella spoke with Matt Stryker, who is growing his hair out. He said he issued an open challenge to the locker room. He vowed that no one would remember what Rey Mysterio did to him last week once he finished with his opponent. Stryker walked off. Kane approached and demanded, "Where's Punk?" A nervous Santino pointed Kane in the right direction and then downed several Tums tablets... [C]

Powell's POV: I'm happy to see more wrestling this week. There were only six minutes of wrestling in the first hour of last week's show, and the Kingston vs. Burchill match was roughly that long on its own.

Backstage, a distraught Kane approached C.M. Punk in his locker room. "Deep down inside I know he's dead," Kane said. Kane said he knows they've been partners before but he needed a one-on-one match tonight. Punk said he's out to prove he's a worthy champion and accepted the match. Punk asked Kane to tell him what was in the bag. Kane laughed and walked away...

Powell's POV: Dot Net reader Zachary Heath emailed me his guess that the "he" that Kane is referring to is actually himself and that his old mask is in the bag. Interesting.

[Q3] Backstage, Todd Grisham interviewed John Cena, who hyped his NYC Parking Lot Brawl with JBL for the Great American Bash pay-per-view. Cena took the mic from Grisham and addressed JBL. He said they have history dating back to WrestleMania 21. Cena talked about how happy it would make him to beat the hell out of JBL in the parking lot.

Cena said JBL didn't pick a fight with a pretty boy. He picked a fight with a "battle hungry, war hardened, angry son of a bitch." He vowed to go at JBL with "the rage of a thousand pitbulls" and said he won't stop until JBL remembers his name. He accepted JBL's challenge. He brought in Cryme Tyme, then challenged JBL to find two partners to face them in a six-man tag match... [C]

Powell's POV: Cena sounds too much like a preacher. There were good moments and bad moments in his promo. I didn't care for him saying that Cryme Tyme hates JBL just as much as he does. What reason do they have to hate JBL? It would be nice if Cryme Tyme was given the mic one of these weeks. If nothing else, it will be interesting to see whether they do the same act or if they're overhauling their gimmick now that they're with Cena.

Santino stood in the ring and said it was time to see which wrestler accepted his challenge. Beth Phoenix's music played. Not much reaction from the live crowd...

3. Beth Phoenix pinned Santino Marella in 1:30. Beth overpowered Santino early. He finally pushed her off into the corner and then charged toward her. Beth moved and Santino crashed into the turnbuckles. Beth rolled him up for the clean pin...

Powell's POV: There's the ultimate setback for Santino establishing any sense of in-ring credibility. Ugh. It looks like he's going to play the loser clown role for a long time.

[Q4] [C] Kelly Kelly walked to the ring for yet another women's match. However, Ted DiBiase and Cody Rhodes walked out instead of her opponent. Ted took the mic and said, "We don't...what's the word...care that you had a match scheduled for tonight." Awesome. He told her to leave the ring. Kelly split.

Cody took the mic and said they've been getting a lot of unwarranted criticism. He said they're not bad people. "We're not our fathers, we're better," he said. "When you're this talented, you don't pay dues." Ted took the mic back and pointed out that they're in their early '20s. He said 10 years from now they'll be in their prime.

Jim Duggan's music played and he walked to the ring. He said he's known Ted and Cody since they were kids. He said he knows their fathers and they're both old school like he is. Duggan confessed that they are good performers, but he said they have a lot of growing up to do as people.

Duggan started to leave, but Cody stopped him. Cody pointed out that Duggan is a 54 year-old man who wears gym shorts and tries to relive his glory years, which aren't even that great. Ted recalled Steve Austin stating that you shouldn't even be in WWE if you don't have a chance to win a title.

They continued to mock Duggan's look. Duggan looked said. "It's pathetic," Ted said. "You're pathetic. If anyone needs to grow up, it's you." The crowd chanted USA. Cody and Ted left the ring. JBL popped up on the big screen and said he was impressed by their words. He offered them a chance to team with him in the main event against Cena and Cryme Tyme. They accepted... [C]

Powell's POV: Good mic work by Cody and Ted. Poor Hacksaw looked like he wanted to cry. I'm was beginning to wonder whether it was Diva night when it looked like Kelly was going to wrestle.

An ad for ECW focused on Tony Atlas and Mark Henry rather than the Hardy Boys reunion... A video recapped the four-way main event from last week's Raw...

[Q5] 4. C.M. Punk defeated Kane via countout in a non-title match 6:25. Kane carried the burlap sack to the ring with him. It's definitely flat enough to contain his old mask. Early in the match, Kane went to ringside and stared at a chair. Two fans at ringside didn't even flinch despite the fact that Kane was standing right in front of them.

Kane walked back toward the ring. Punk went for a slide kick, but Kane dodged it and then tagged Punk with an uppercut. Nice spot. Later, Kane and Punk fought their way to ringside and Punk made it back inside the ring just before the ref made the ten count.

Afterward, Kane snapped. He threw chairs into the ring and punched Punk repeatedly. Kane wrapped a chair around Punk's head. He climbed to the top rope, but was interrupted by Batista's music. Batista charged the ring and speared Kane. He grabbed the chair and struck Kane with it. Batista helped Punk to his feet and asked if he was OK.

Punk offered Batista a handshake. "I'm not your friend," Batista told him. Batista talked about their match on Sunday (no mic) and said he wants Punk's title. Punk nodded his head. Batista lightly slapped (in a nice, but somewhat demeaning way) Punk's face twice. Punk shoved Batista, who responded with a spinebuster... [C]

Powell's POV: Excellent segment all around. Kane's the master at facial expressions. The look on his face when Batista's music played was priceless. Punk and Batista played their parts very well and I'm really looking forward to their match on Sunday.

[Q6] An ad for Smackdown hyped that the Edge and Vickie Guerrero wedding will take place this week... As Chris Jericho made his ring entrance with Lance Cade, the announcers recapped his brawl with Shawn Michaels from earlier in the show...

5. Chris Jericho (w/Lance Cade) forced Paul London to submit in 3:00. London's offense consisted of a few punches kicks. The rest was Jericho kicking his ass and eventually forcing him to submit to the Walls of Jericho.

After the match, Jericho took the mic and told London to take the loss and use it to his advantage by changing the path that his career is on. He said he could follow the Jericho path that would lead to greatness and a legendary status, or the Michaels path to disgrace and pain.

HBK's music played and he walked onto the stage with a mic in his hand. Cade stood at ringside with a chair in his hand. Michaels remained at the top of the stage and delivered his promo. He said he can't change Jericho's mind, nor can Jericho change his. "This Sunday at the Great American Bash, the worst is truly yet to come," Michaels said... [C]

Powell's POV: Ho-hum mic work by both men given their amazing work in recent weeks. It was nice to see London, but he was nothing more than a whipping boy for Jericho. I hope he takes that loss and changes more than his career. London's look is dreadful right now. Those long, baggy shorts and the tennis shoes look bush league. I really hope he gets it together and WWE gives him a push.

[Q7] Backstage, Jamie Noble tried to talk Layla into hooking up with him and becoming "a power couple." She said she doesn't date short men. He said he's not short. He said he's 5-6 and claimed that's average height for men. He vowed to rough up the next wrestler who crossed his path. Snitsky entered the scene and told Noble to shut his mouth.

Noble backed down until Layla asked him if he was going to step up. Noble called Snitsky over again and told him that he looked like he'd been beaten with an ugly stick. Noble called for Snitsky to join him in the ring, as Layla tried to calm him down. By the way, Snitsky has a pair of black eyes...

Noble walked onto the stage with Layla and Snitsky followed behind. Once in the ring, Snitsky got the better of Noble while Layla watched from ringside Snitsky performed a pump-handle slam. He glared at Layla and then left the ring as his music played. Layla knelt on the ring apron and showed concern for Noble... The announcers hyped the six-man main event... [C]

After the break, they replayed the Shane and Stephanie McMahon message that opened the show...

Powell's POV: Good idea to air the video again. The opening segment is easily missed. Anyone who tuned in a minute or two late over the last few weeks may not have known that they've even been updating Vince McMahon's status.

55 percent of WWE Mobile voters feel that C.M. Punk is the most vulnerable of the three champions (yes, they include Mark Henry) heading into the Bash... The announcers ran through the pay-per-view lineup... JBL, Rhodes, and DiBiase made their entrance... [C]

[Q8] The second ECW on Sci-Fi ad focused on the Hardys reuniting to face The Miz and John Morrison...

7. John Cena and Cryme Tyme defeated JBL and Ted DiBiase and Cody Rhodes by DQ in 14:40. Early in the match, DiBiase and Rhodes went old school. They whipped JTG into the ropes, DiBiase dropped down on the at, JTG jumped over and ran right into Cody's dropkick. I can't even remember the last time I saw that move, which is really sad. Later, DiBiase worked over JTG's left knee and the show cut to commercial. [C]

The heels worked over Shad for several minutes and he finally made the hot tag to Cena, who came in and cleaned house. Cena hit the Five Knuckle Shuffle and an FU on DiBiase. He dominated Rhodes and hit him with a leg drop to the back of his head. Cena locked in the STFU on Cody.

Just as Cody reached to tap, JBL entered the ring and kicked the back of Cena's head. The referee called for the bell. What? Cole said it was a blatant DQ because he kicked Cena right in front of the referee. Again, what? The live crowd booed. JBL left the ring, but got Cena's attention. He motioned for Cena to follow him backstage. Cena obliged.

They cut to backstage and JBL was running and his tits were jiggling. Cena headed outside the building and cautiously looked around for JBL. Look above you, John. He's doing the Jean-Claude Van Damme. Or not.

Cena would clench his fist whenever he walked around a corner outside. This went on for over a minute. Finally, JBL attacked him from behind with what appeared to be a tire iron. JBL dragged Cena's limp body and placed him in front of a parked car. Cena fell over (nice touch) and JBL had to pick him up again.

JBL got inside of another car and then drove it at a high speed into the car he placed Cena into the spot where Cena was sitting. JBL got out of the car, looked at the spot where Cena supposedly was, and appeared to be showing some sign of guilt or remorse. Oh boy...

Powell's POV: Oh my f'n god. How lame was that? First, JBL gets DQ'd for doing something that occurs in almost every tag team match. Even The King didn't know what the hell was going on. Of course, that doesn't even compare to the JBL and Cena stunt. Is Cena dead? Is Vince dead? Is Kane's mystery man alive or dead? Maybe Kane can see into the future and he was talking about Cena. Seriously, this angle was so lame that I wouldn't put it past them.

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