WWE Raw on the USA Network
Live 7/21/08 from the Mohegan Sun Casino, CT

[Q1] A video aired of Kane interfering in the World Heavyweight Championship match at the Great American Bash, causing both C.M. Punk and Batista to somehow be disqualified. A live shot of Batista in the production trailer watching the monitors was shown. He looked pissed as he left the room…

The opening video aired followed by the ignition of fireworks on the stage. Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler welcomed us to the show. They plugged tonight’s six man tag match…

Batista’s music hit and he made his way out to the ring. Batista said he planned to be the new World Heavyweight Champion but because of Kane, that was not the case. He said because Shane and Stephanie McMahon were absent, he was putting himself in charge. He was making one match: C.M. Punk defending his title against him.

JBL interrupted Batista from the Titantron. He asked Batista who he thought he was. JBL said he was in charge and because of his win last night, he would receive the next title match, at Summerslam. C.M. Punk came out to the ring and told Batista that Kane ruined things for him too. He wanted to prove to everyone he could beat Batista, so he agreed to face him tonight in a title rematch. JBL started to yell and scream but Batista had him muted. Batista accepted the challenge… [C]

Twill’s Two Cents: I hope they go through with this match and I hope Punk gets the win. They have a chance here to right last night’s wrong.

[Q2] Jenny McCarthy promoted her appearance on Saturday Night’s Main Event in her continued effort to fight autism…

Shawn Michaels’ music hit but Lance Cade’s music quickly took over and he made his entrance. He invited Michaels to come talk to him before, during, or after his match. He said he and Michaels would have a talk they should have had a long time ago…

1. Lance Cade defeated Paul London in 2:47. London hit a springboard high crossbody for a long two count. Cade dominated before and after London’s lone burst. He unceremoniously hit his finisher for the win…

Cade said that may not have been enough to bring Michaels out, so he introduced Chris Jericho, who made his way out to the ring… [C]

Twill’s Two Cents: Cade was solid on the stick and the match was decent as well. Hopefully London will play a significant role in this feud. By the way, if Michaels’ career is over, why would he be in the arena?

Jericho’s music played during the entire commercial break. Jericho said Michaels would not be at the show tonight and very solemnly introduced the graphic footage from the PPV. Jericho blamed each and every fan for what happened to Michaels.

Jericho said his hands were clean. He said Michaels came out to wrestle for the fans even though he knew he was not healthy enough. Jericho ran down Michaels’ injuries and said he had no remorse.

[Q3] He said closing Michaels’ eye opened his eyes. He said he was proud of what he did to Michaels last night. He referenced how the fans did not accept him upon his return. He said he grew up and matured, unlike Michaels. He was proud of ending Michaels’ career and he considered himself, “saved.”… [C]

Twill’s Two Cents: Great promo. Jericho never once raised his voice. He was intense, believable, and conveyed genuine hatred without once raising the volume of his voice. Great stuff.

Highlights of Beth Phoenix defeating Santino Marella were shown. A live shot was shown from inside the casino…

2. Beth Phoenix defeated Kelly Kelly in 3:00. Beth bullied Kelly, who countered with some quick moves. Beth finally caught her and ran her across the ring into the turnbuckles. Kelly hit an ensiguiri and drop kick. Beth reversed a rollup into a faceplant for the win…

Twill’s Two Cents: That was decent. I like how Beth did not make a full face turn. She wants to kick everyone’s ass, regardless of whether or not they are face or heel. Someone tell Kelly that screaming is not selling.

Cole and King plugged tonight’s main event of Punk vs. Batista… [C]

[Q4] Hacksaw Jim Duggan stood in the middle of the ring and said he was considering hanging up his boots. He said he won the first Royal Rumble, made a lot of friends, and beat kidney cancer. He said Rhodes and Dibiase were right. He said thank you to the fans.

Jerry Lawler interrupted Duggan and told him there was no age limit in WWE. He said he could wrestle as long as he was passionate. He told Duggan that he had the ability to do something John McCain and Barack Obama would love to be able to do: get the fans to chant “U.S.A.” Duggan said he was not willing to give that up.

Ted Dibiase and Cody Rhodes came out to the ring. Dibiase said, “King, just because you date girls younger than us, you do not relate to us at all.” Funny line. Rhodes told Duggan he was two and a half years old when Duggan won the first Royal Rumble. He told Lawler he was not alive when Lawler slapped Andy Kauffman on David Letterman’s show. Lawler slapped Rhodes and said it looked something like that. Dibiase held Rhodes back and said they would address Duggan and Lawler at another time…

JBL made his way to the ring very gingerly for the six man tag… [C]

Twill’s Two Cents: Oddly enough, I enjoyed that segment. I do not want to see multiple matches, but it would be a nice way for Rhodes and Dibiase to continue to get heat. As far as the six man tag, remember when guys would sell matches like last night’s for weeks?

3. John Cena and Cryme Tyme defeated JBL, Ted Dibiase, and Cody Rhodes in 9:53. Cole reiterated Cena only being “grazed” by the car JBL drove at him last week. He said JBL tried to “scare” Cena.

Twill’s Two Cents: Oh, okay. No problem. He was only trying to scare him so we’ll overlook the attempted murder.

Cena and JBL started but JBL tagged Rhodes before locking up with Cena. Remember when you had to make contact with your opponent before you could tag out? Cena dominated Rhodes before tagging in Shad.

[Q5] Dibiase tagged in but Shad hit a t-bone suplex. JTG tagged in and scored a nearfall. Dibiase closelined JTG across the top rope before tagging in JBL. JBL was relentless on offense. The heel team exchanged multiple tags as JTG tried to make it to his corner. Dibiase hit his dad’s delayed punch to an opponent lying down.

Cena and Dibiase made simultaneous tags. Cena cleaned house and literally ran off JBL, who exited through the crowd. Cena picked up both Dibiase and Rhodes at the same time for the FU. Rhodes went first, followed by Dibiase. Cena made the cover for the win. Cena hugged his dad after the match…

Twill’s Two Cents: I like that the match never went to commercial. I did not like how much the match dragged and how Cena beat the tag champs in about a minute.

Chris Jericho and Lance Cade were on their way out of the building. They opened the door and stepped back for a minute. Kane was at the door. He stared them down and walked by… [C]

[Q6] Jenny McCarthy’s organization, Generation Rescue, was featured in a video. Charlie Sheen, Howie Mandel, Tim Allen, Jim Carrey, Britney Spears, and Maria were all present at their most recent event. Generation Rescue will be in attendance at Saturday Night’s Main Event…

4. Paul Burchill and Katie Lea defeated Kofi Kingston and Mickie James in 3:23. Mickie got too close to Paul Burchill in the corner, so he smacked her. She slapped him in retaliation. Paul chased her but Kofi hit a very impressive springboard high crossbody. Burchill slowed things down and intelligently worked on Kofi’s leg.

Mickie and Katie fought to the floor. Burchill followed them out and pulled Mickie off of Katie. Kofi tried a kick but nailed the ringpost instead. Burchill hit a reverse neckbreaker for the win…

Twill’s Two Cents: After seeing the replay, I think Kofi missed the post completely. Oh well. No big surprise here. A loss here for the brother and sister duo would have ended two feuds.

Backstage, Jamie Noble was talking to Layla. Batista approached Jamie and asked him if he had seen Kane. Noble said he and Layla were going to play some craps and watch a magic show. He told Batista to “go do some dumbbell flyes or something.” Batista grabbed Noble by the throat and told him if he saw Kane, to tell him Batista was looking for him… [C]

Todd Grisham interviewed C.M. Punk. Punk said he would rather be an ex champion with a lot self respect than a champion that held onto the title due to technicalities. JBL approached Punk and told him he would become the champion at Summerslam. He called Punk an asterisk, a footnote, and a transitional champion. Punk reminded JBL that his first successful title defense was against him. He smiled and walked away… [C]

[Q7] They aired the video once again of Chris Jericho putting Shawn Michaels out of commission last night…

Santino Marella came out to the ring and they aired his loss to Beth Phoenix. Marella said his challenge was for a man. He said he does not fight people with Fallopian Tubes. He reissued the challenged and D Lo. Brown answered it. Beth Phoenix came out to watch the match…

5. D-Lo Brown defeated Santino Marella in 1:30. D-Lo had a lot of spring in his step. He hit the Lo Down (frogsplash) for the win…

After the match, Beth hit Santino. They exchanged waist locks before staring each other down. Then they paused and kissed each other. Santino left as both of them looked confused… [C]

Twill’s Two Cents: Unlike Braden Walker or Ricky Ortiz, D-Lo looked like he wanted to be in the ring. He looked good. Beth and Santino kissing almost makes everyone forget that he lost to her.

[Q8] Toby Keith plugged the fight against autism and Saturday Night’s Main Event. I think it is great that WWE is giving Jenny this platform…

Cole and King talked at ringside about Shane and Stephanie McMahon looking for a new General Manager. Cole then rubbed his hands together and said, “It’s world championship time!!!” He sounded like a complete goon.

Batista made his entrance and Cole kept emphasizing that Batista booked himself in the match because he was in charge. Technically, Punk accepted the match so Batista had nothing to do with it. Kane came out and chokeslammed Batista. Punk came out and was able to get Kane out of the ring.

Mike Chioda checked on Batista and asked him if he could compete. Punk approached and asked, “Dave, do you want this match or not?” Batista shoved Punk… [C]

6. C.M. Punk vs. Batista for the World Heavyweight Championship ended in a no contest in 8:58. The two men traded offense in the first two minutes with Punk taking the advantage from there. He hit a dropkick to the back of Batista’s neck. Punk continued to work on that area. After Batista attempted a comeback, Punk applied a drop toehold.

Punk locked in a modified crossface at 4:40. Batista stood up and broke the hold with a snapmare. Punk regained the advantage with a neckbreaker followed by a leg scissors around Batista’s neck.

[Overrun] Punk scored a two count after the corner knee and bulldog combination. He went for the springboard closeline but Batista caught him and hit a spinebuster. Punk tried a blind crossbody but missed. Batista hit a spear. JBL hit the ring and the referee called for the bell…

John Cena came out to attack JBL but he accidentally punched Batista. Batista tried the Batista Bomb on Cena, who nearly countered it into a FU. Referees broke them up because they would not want to give away this Wrestlemania XXV match just yet…

Twill’s Two Cents: Ugh. That reminded me of WCW Nitro when the nWo would interfere during every main event. I like how Punk dominated Batista. If the announcers run with that, the fans should start to see Punk as a credible champion. However, the end of the show saw a showdown between Batista and Cena. Punk is the world champion and thus, should be the centerpiece of the show. Being overshadowed by a confrontation between Cena and Batista nearly erased the work he did during the match.

Send your show thoughts and opinions to dotnetrich@gmail.com. Feedback is always welcome and appreciated.

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