WWE TV Reports 7/21 Powell's WWE Raw Live Coverage: John Cena and Cryme Tyme vs. JBL and Ted DiBiase and Cody Rhodes, Great American Bash followup By Jason Powell Jul 21, 2008 - 10:00 PM Email This Article | Printer Friendly Page Send Us News & Results | Back to Main Listing WWE Raw on the USA Network Live from Mohegan Sun, Conn. [Q1] Highlights aired from the Great American Bash pay-per-view of Kane interfering in the C.M. Punk vs. Batista match... They cut to a shot of Batista watching the footage inside the production truck. He didn't say anything and simply walked out after the footage played... The opening montage aired... Michael Cole introduced the show in his neutered Joey Styles voice. Jerry Lawler hyped the six-man tag rematch of last week's main event... Batista's music played and he walked to the ring in street clothes. He walked straight to the ring and didn't stop to perform his usual entrance antics, which is cool since his pretend gun is never in synch with the pyro. Batista said he planned to come out as the new World Hvt. Champion, but that's not the case because Kane interfered in the match. "Since Shane McMahon is not here, since Stephanie McMahon is not here, I'm putting myself in charge," Batista announced. He said he was only going to make one match—C.M. Punk defending the World Title against him. He warned Kane not get involved in his match. Batista was interrupted by JBL on the big screen. JBL said Batista was in charge of nothing. He said he had his chance and he didn't win. JBL said he walked out of the NYC Parking Lot Brawl victorious. JBL said that means the next World Title match belongs to him. Batista laughed and invited JBL to come join him in the ring to discuss it. JBL claimed he's the boss and people answer to him. He said he'll face Punk at Summer Slam. He said his body isn't up for a title match tonight, but Batista won't get one either. JBL said he'd finish off Cena in the six-man tag match and suggested that Batista go find Kane. C.M. Punk's music played and he walked to the ring with the title belt around his waist. He said they were going by the law of the jungle and as the champion he's the king of the jungle. He said Kane messed things up for him last night because he wanted to prove that he could beat Batista. Punk said he was up for defending the title against Batista during the show. JBL protested, but Batista accepted the challenge... [C] Powell's POV: Will they actually follow through and give away a match that people just paid $40 to watch last night? We'll see. I kept waiting for the lights to go out and for William Regal to show up since his suspension is over. Maybe that will happen if they follow through with the Punk vs. Batista match. [Q2] A video clip aired with Jenny McCarthy hyping her appearance on the Aug. 2 Saturday Night's Main Event... Shawn Michaels's music played, but it stopped and then Lance Cade came out to different music. Cade took the mic and said HBK was once his mentor. He invited HBK to join him in the ring before, during, or after this match. "Shawn, if you do choose to come out here, you and I are going have words that we should have had a long time ago," Cade said... 1. Lance Cade pinned Paul London in 2:50. London is still wearing the baggy shorts and tennis shoes. Horrible look. London got in some offense, but this match was really about Cade. He whipped London into the corner and he slid under the ropes and crashed ribs first into the ring post. Cade scored a clean pin. After the match, Cade said he might be able to lure HBK to the ring by introducing Chris Jericho. Y2J walked toward the ring wearing a suit and the show cut to commercial... [C] Powell's POV: Good match for Cade. London was a good opponent because he sold his power moves well. Entertaining match. Jericho played footage "that will explain why he may never be in this ring again." He described it as violent, disturbing, etc. Jericho blamed the fans by saying he is paying for their sins. "When I said I was coming back to WWE I said I coming to save all of you, then I realized that you don't deserve to be saved," Jericho said. Jericho said HBK has cracked ribs, internal bleeding, and a detached retina that will prevent him from seeing properly for the rest of his life. "He was brutalized, he was damaged, and I have no remorse whatsoever." Jericho said the fans wanted the wild and crazy guy with the long hair who told the jokes, but he's not that guy anymore. He said he's grown up, but HBK and the fans never did. [Q3] "As disturbing as this may sound, I'm proud of what I did," Jericho said. "I'm proud of what I did to Shawn Michaels last night. And by possibly ending the career of the most corrupt, immoral, disruptive individual in WWE history, I now consider myself saved." Jericho looked around at the booing crowd and the show cut to commercial... [C] Powell's POV: Another gem from Jericho. Awesome mic work. Cade was also very good in his setup. Best feud in wrestling this year and it's not even close. A shot aired of a casino dealer at work (they're in the Mohegan Sun Casino) and Cole questioned whether Punk will have lady luck on his side when he faces Batista... 2. Beth Phoenix pinned Kelly Kelly in 3:00. Kelly yelled a lot while she was selling moves and while she was on offense. Kelly had a flurry of offense, but Beth dominated her with power and scored a clean pin. Powell's POV: Kelly is a screamer. Cole hyped the Punk vs. Batista title rematch. Lawler hyped the six-man tag match as coming up after the break... [Q4] [C] Did You Know that WWE Raw has had over 750 episodes, which is more than "The Simpsons" and "ER" combined? Now you do... Hacksaw Duggan stood in the ring and said he's thinking about hanging up the boots. He said he won the Royal Rumble, made a lot of friends, and survived kidney cancer. He said he's been thinking about what Ted DiBiase and Cody Rhodes said about him. "They might be right," he said. "This is a game for young men." He said it may have passed him by. Jerry Lawler stood up from the announcers table and joined Duggan in the ring. "I know this is none of my business, but in case you didn't know it there's no age limit in WWE," Lawler said. He added that the mere presence of Duggan makes the fans chant USA. The live crowd reacted accordingly. Duggan admitted he doesn't want to give up. "I just think I needed someone to tell me that," Duggan said. He thanked Lawler. Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase came out in ring gear with the tag titles around their waists. Ted said that just because Jerry dates women younger than they are doesn't make him like them. Cody said he was two when Duggan won the Rumble. He added that they weren't even alive when Lawler slapped Andy Kaufman on David Letterman. "It went something like this," Lawler said before slapping Cody across the face. Ted said they'd settle this another time. He told them to leave the ring so that the two men who have a future could take care of business... JBL made his ring entrance... [C] Powell's POV: Nice segment. The live crowd made it by responding positively to Duggan. Cody and Ted were great. You could see the King slap coming a mile away, but it was still fun. A graphic hyped that the Cryme Tyme show on WWE.com airs every Wednesday. Apparently, you have to go to the company website to hear them talk since they stopped talking on television a while ago... [Q5] 3. John Cena and Cryme Tyme beat JBL and Ted DiBiase and Cody Rhodes in 10:00. Cena came out with his arm wrapped and Cole explained that JBL was sent crashing through a windshield during the pay-per-view. The match opened with Cena against a limping JBL, who was also selling his injury. However, JBL tagged out just seconds after the bell rang. The heels took control of the match and worked over JTG until he made the hot tag to Cena at 9:00. A short time later, Cena picked up DiBiase and Cody Rhodes on his shoulders. He flipped Cody off first and then hit a normal FU on DiBiase for the win. After the match, Cena walked to ringside and hugged his father, who was sitting in the front row... Powell's POV: It didn't take Cena long to come back strong from his parking lot brawl loss. Fun match with an impressive Double FU at the end. Let the bitching begin about Cena roughing up the tag champs. Backstage, Chris Jericho and Lance Cade walked down a hall, opened a door, and took a big step back. The camera turned and showed Kane behind the door. He walked past them without saying anything, and Lawler questioned whether Batista was looking for Kane or Kane was looking for Batista... [Q6] [C] 4. Paul Burchill and Katie Lea beat Kofi Kingston and Mickie James in 3:25. Kingston hit a really high cross body block early that popped the crowd. In the end, he hit a backbreaker on Kingston and scored the pin. Powell's POV: New finisher for Burchill. Solid mixed tag. Backstage, Jamie Noble was hanging out with Layla when Batista showed up looking for Kane. Noble got cocky with Batista, who picked him up by the throat... [C] Another Great American Bash video aired. This one focused on the Cena vs. JBL match. Shouldn't this have aired before the six-man?... Backstage, Todd Grisham asked C.M. Punk why he's agreed to face Batista when he could have just moved on. He said he'd rather be a former champion with integrity than a champion who wins by technicalities and running. JBL showed up and said he'd be challenging Punk at Summer Slam. Punk reminded JBL that his first successful title defense was against him... Powell's POV: I have a bad feeling that they're going with a four-way or some type of multi-person match, perhaps a four-way with Punk defending against JBL, Batista, and Kane. [Q7] [C] Did You Know WWE offers free tickets to all military personnel? Now you do... Highlights aired from the GAB of the HBK vs. Jericho... Satino Marella made his entrance and complained about fighting "people with fallopian tubes." He said he was issuing the same challenge as last week, but insisted his opponent be a man... 5. D-Lo Brown pinned Santino Marella in 1:30. Cole said everyone has heard that D-Lo re-signed with WWE. Beth Phoenix walked to ringside before the match, which didn't make Santino happy. The crowd chanted, "Let's go D-Lo" early in the match. Brown hit his old spots, which the announcers remembered more than the crowd. He finished off Santino with a frogsplash. After the match, Beth climbed in the ring and stood face-to-face with Santino. He grabbed her from behind. She reversed it. He reversed it. They calmed down and stood face-to-face again. They leaned in for a quick kiss and they both looked sheepish after the fact... Powell's POV: Nice reaction for D-Lo. Good to see him back. WWE has to stop acting like all of their fans read their website. I'm sure there were plenty of people who had no idea what the hell Cole was talking about when he said everyone heard D-Lo had re-signed. Meanwhile, Santino stated in a recent interview that he was going to have a new girlfriend and we can only assume he was referring to Beth. Odd pairing. Could be fun. Cole hyped the Punk vs. Batista match... [C] [Q8] TNA Superstar Toby Keith hyped Generation Rescue and Jenny McCarthy's appearance on Saturday Night's Main Event... At ringside, Cole and Lawler said they were thrilled to be associated with the autism research group. Lawler shifted the focus back to wrestling by saying the buzz is that Shane and Stephanie are looking for a general manager. He wondered whether they'd be on the same page... Batista made his ring entrance for the main event. Once Batista was in the ring, Kane's music played and he walked to the ring with the burlap sack. Kane entered the ring and began brawling with Batista. Kane got the better of the exchange and chokeslammed Batista. C.M. Punk ran out and cleared Kane from the ring. Several referees ran out to help get Kane out of the ringside area. He turned toward a camera man and then chased him up the ramp. Back in the ring, the ref checked on the kneeling Batista, who was hold his head. Punk approached Batista and asked if he wanted the match or not. Batista shoved Punk away and then stood up as the show cut to commercial... [C] 6. C.M. Punk fought Batista to an apparent no-contest in a World Hvt. Title match in 9:00. Batista sold a head injury before and during the match. At 4:00, Punk hit the Rocker Dropper on the back of Batista's head. He locked him in a chin lock, but Batista fought out of the hold. Punk came back with a neckbreaker to regain control of the offense. [Overrun] At the top of the hour, Cole told viewers that they were watching a World Title match, and a graphic of the World Hvt. Championship belt appeared on the screen to note that it was a title match. At 7:15, Punk hit a high knee in the corner and then bulldogged Batista for a nearfall. Punk climbed to the top rope and dove at Batista, who caught him and slammed him down with a spinebuster. Later, Punk regained control of the offense momentarily, but ran into Batista's spear. Batista shook the ropes, then headed to ringside to meet JBL, who was running to down the ramp. The ref called for the bell to end the match. Batista and JBL fought their way inside the ring. JBL hit the Clothesline from Hell on Batista and then kicked Punk out of the ring. John Cena ran out and roughed up JBL He took a swing at JBL, who moved out the way, causing Cena to strike Batista. Cena showed remorse, but Batista was hot. Batista kicked Cena in the gut. He went for the Batista Bomb, but Cena nearly turned it into an FU. They traded punches. Four referees pulled them apart to end the show... Powell's POV: I hate the cheap finish, but I'm not surprised. It would have looked really bad if they had delivered a clean finish tonight after giving the pay-per-view buyers a cheap finish last night. I think the Batista and Cena brawl will be enough to make most casual viewers forgive the disappointing main event finish. Unfortunately, the same fans aren't focussed on Punk, who took a backseat to the big boys. I'll have a lot more to say about this show in the Dot Net "All Access" Podcast later tonight, as well as in the WWE Raw Hitlist tomorrow. BOOKMARK DOT NET AND ADD US TO YOUR RSS • HELP DOT NET: TAKE OUR ADVERTISER DEMO SURVEY CLICK TO RETURN TO MAIN LISTING OR SELECT A LINK BELOW FROM THIS CATEGORY WWE TV Reports Latest Twelve Articles 11/18 Twilling's ECW Live Coverage: Matt Hardy, Kofi Kingston, and Finlay vs. William Regal, Mark Henry, and Cody Rhodes; Jack Swagger vs. Tommy Dreamer in an Amateur Wrestling Challenge 11/17 Twilling's WWE Raw Live Coverage: Stephanie McMahon holds a Wrestler's Forum; Shawn Michaels and Rey Mysterio vs. The Miz and John Morrison; Randy Orton vs. C.M. Punk 11/17 Powell's WWE Raw Live Coverage: Stephanie McMahon answers wrestler questions, Randy Orton vs. C.M. 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