WWE TV Reports 8/18 Powell's WWE Raw Live Coverage: C.M. Punk's homecoming, followup to Chris Jericho punching Shawn Michaels' wife, and Batista's win over John Cena By Jason Powell Aug 18, 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 Chicago, Ill. [Q1] Chris Jericho's entrance music played and he walked to the ring wearing a suit. Michael Cole said Jericho was responsible for one of the most controversial moments in the history of WWE. Jerry Lawler also chimed in on commentary. Once in the ring, Jericho said Shawn Michaels is responsible for what happened to Rebecca. "I did not put Shawn Michaels in harms way," Jericho said. "He did and here's the proof." Video footage of the angle aired. Back live, the crowd booed heavily and chanted "You suck" at Jericho. He stood there and took it all in without saying a word for about 20 seconds. Jericho said Michaels could have sent in a letter of resignation or a video, but he had to come out and placate his ego one more time. He said because the fans feed HBK's ego, they are also responsible for what happened to Rebecca. "You should be ashamed of yourselves for that," he said. To wrap things up, Jericho said Michaels deserved it. "Shawn, you had it coming," he said... Powell's POV: Damn good promo and tremendous heat. No sign of Lance Cade. By the way, I'm surprised that Jericho isn't getting more cheers simply because he's been such a great heel and there are so many heel loving fans out there. It will be interesting to see whether he gets more cheers once his feud with HBK concludes. [Q2] [C] A commercial hyped that next week's Raw will air on Sci-Fi Network at the usual time on Monday night... 1. Batista pinned Paul Burchill (w/Katie Lea) in 1:50. The announcers noted that Batista was nursing a knee injury from the pay-per-view. Burchill targeted the knee early and stayed on it throughout the match. It didn't last long, though, as Batista hit the Batista Bomb and scored the pin. Powell's POV: There's very little depth on Raw, yet the writers are treating Burchill like a jobber. I don't get it. I realize someone has to lose to Batista and the company has made a number of cuts lately, but they should keep trying to get Burchill over. Backstage, Mike Adamle introduced Primo Colon as Carlito's brother and the newest member of the Raw roster. Adamle blew off Primo when he spotted John Cena. Adamle tried to tell Cena about the match he was scheduled to have later in the show. Cena blew off Adamle and approached Batista. "That was a great match last night," Cena said. "The better man won." Cena and Batista shook hands. "But that was last night," Cena said before walking off... [C] Powell's POV: Lousy first introduction to Primo. Good backstage segment with Cena and Batista. That was a good, logical followup to their match. After the break, Jillian Hall was standing in the ring. She said she was happy to be in Chicago and said that was also the name of one of her favorite bands. She performed one of their songs to a chorus of boos. Powell's POV: Jillian is a guilty pleasure. Her act never gets old. 2. Mickie James and Kelly Kelly defeated Jillian Hall and Katie Lea at 4:55. Kelly worked some offense momentarily, then sold until it was time for a hot tag for Mickie. [Q3] the babyface duo hooked up for a double dropkick that hit Jillian in the stomach. A short time later, Mickie used a tornado DDT to score the pin on Katie... A video recapped the top two matches on the SummerSlam pay-per-view... Cole announced that Cena will face Ted DiBiase and Cody Rhodes... Powell's POV: Didn't Cena get his heat back by giving the tag champs a Double FU last month after he lost to JBL on pay-per-view? Ugh. 3. JBL beat Jamie Noble via ref stoppage at 2:50. Cole recalled JBL telling everyone that he would show up at tonight's show as the World Champion. Noble got a brief flurry of offense, but this was a glorified squash. JBL hit three Clotheslines from Hell and finally covered Noble. The referee made the first count, then stood up and stopped the match and awarded it to JBL... Powell's POV: JBL sure lacks heat for a guy who has been involved in a program with the hometown champion. By the way, that was a silly ref stoppage. Why wouldn't the ref just slap the mat two more times? [Q4] Lawler hyped that Shane and Stephanie McMahon would be making a blockbuster announcement coming up after the break... [C] A commercial hyped Smackdown's move to MyNetworkTV for Oct. 3... Mike Adamle walked onto the stage and announced "on behalf of Shane and Stephanie" that C.M. Punk would battle Chris Jericho later in the show. He also announced that a a new WWE Championship concept would be presented. He said five superstars, including the World Hvt. Champion, would compete in a 20-minute match. Adamle said the championship would change hands several times during the match and that the person who held it at the end of the 20 minutes would leave as World Champion. Adamle announced that Punk, Kane, JBL, Batista, and John Cena would compete in the match, which is called a "Championship Scramble"... Powell's POV: Was someone in WWE inspired by the ROH scramble match name? By the way, Adamle didn't even get a reaction in his hometown crowd. At least he hasn't brought up Ronald Reagan yet. 4. John Cena defeated Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase in a handicap match at 12:00. Before the match, Cryme Tyme ran out and stole the tag title straps from DiBiase and Rhodes. The bell rang and the show cut to commercial before Cena locked up with either one of his opponents. [C] [Q5] Cena got the better of the tag champs for a stretch, but they took over the match and made the most of their two-on-one advantage. Cena made his comeback to the usual mix of cheers and boos. He set up Cody for FU, but dropped him when he spotted Ted coming in. Cena clotheslined Ted and then locked Cody in the STFU for the submission win... Powell's POV: Are f'n you kidding me? Cena just beat the tag champs by himself. Why do they even have tag titles in WWE? This is so ridiculous. Maybe it's time to rehire some of the guys they just fired so that they have some enhancement talent around for situations like these. Cole hyped "exclusive comments from Shawn Michaels" that he said were recorded moments after the incident... [C] A shot aired of Harley Race sitting the crowd. He stood up and waved to the fans... [Q6] Cole and Lawler set up the HBK comments... A highlight video aired of the Rebecca Michaels angle... At ringside, Lawler said it was obvious that Jericho didn't try to strike Rebecca, but he's also shown no remorse. Cole said rumors are swirling that Rebecca suffered a fractured jaw. She said the couple is home in San Antonio... Highlights aired of Cole interviewing the couple after the pay-per-view. HBK was going to ignore him, but he came back and said he was going to go home and comfort his wife and kids who just watched their mother get punched in the face... Backstage, Todd Grisham interviewed C.M. Punk, who got a modest pop. He played into the Rebecca storylines by saying Jericho acted like he did nothing wrong. He said they deal with guys like in Chicago. He vowed to deal with Jericho in "Chicago style"... Powell's POV: I'm surprised there wasn't a bigger pop for Punk in his home market. It wasn't bad, but I guess I just expected more. Maybe that will change when he makes his entrance. Santino Marella and Beth Phoenix made their ring entrance. Cole announced that Santino would defend the Intercontinental Title against D-Lo Brown after the break... 5. D-Lo Brown beat Santino Marella (w/Beth Phoenix) by DQ in an Intercontinental Title match at 1:41. Cole said Glamorella delivered their acceptance speech during the commercial break. He said it will be available on the WWE website later. D-Lo got very little reaction despite being billed from Chi-Town. Kofi came out and sat in on commentary. D-Lo took control of the match early. He went to the top rope for his finisher, but Beth entered the ring and stood in front of Santino. D-Lo climbed down and got in her face. "Get to steppin'," he told her. Beth slapped him across the face for the DQ. D-Lo roughed up Santino briefly after the ref called for the bell... Powell's POV: Am I the only one who is not enjoying the Santino and Beth pairing? I really thought I was going to like them, but it's just not doing much for me. A shot aired of Kane walking backstage as organ music played... [Q7] [C] The announcers hyped WWE 24/7... Kane walked to the ring as the organ music played again. It sounds like he's changed his entrance music. Too bad. Once in the ring, Kane said people looked surprised when he pulled the mask out of the burlap bag last week. Kane said Rey Mysterio hasn't been seen in weeks and there's a reason for that. "I don't like Rey Mysterio and I don't like people who do," he said. Kane said Rey hides behind a mask. Kane, who didn't brush his teeth before coming out this week, said he attacked Mysterio in a parking lot six weeks ago. He said he spared his life, "but his spirit is broken, crushed, dead." Kane asked whether he's alive or dead and then laughed a Dr. Evil laugh until Batista's music played and he limped to the ring still selling the pay-per-view injury. Batista set up Kane for his finisher, but Kane clipped his knee and then chokeslammed him... [C] Powell's POV: Lame music, lame promo. He threw out some line about how Kane is like a fungus that grows in the marshes of your psyche. Um, okay. I feel bad for Kane. He deserved a better angle than this. That explanation for the "alive or dead" line was really lame and it's obvious they didn't have that in mind when the booked it. Here's hoping the actual Kane vs. Mysterio feud is better than the buildup. The announcers discussed the one week move to Sci-Fi for next week's Raw. Lawler said he was excited to be on "the Science Fiction Channel." Very hip, Jerry... [Q8] Chris Jericho and Lance Cade made their ring entrance. The announcers shut up for a moment to let people listen to the Punk reaction. It was major. Lawler sold it well by saying the roof just blew off the building. Cole said Punk has more than 100 family and friends in attendance... Powell's POV: That's more like it. Very nice hometown pop for Punk. Also good to see Cade with Jericho again. 6. Chris Jericho (w/Lance Cade) defeated C.M. Punk in 14:00 in a non-title match. The crowd chanted Punk's name early when Jericho was in control of the offense briefly. Punk caught Jericho in a submission hold until Jericho kicked the back of his head. The announcers mentioned the cut Punk suffered the night before a short time later. Punk whipped Jericho through the ropes and to the floor before the break. [C] After the break, Jericho had control of the offense. Cole said he dominated during the break as a couple of highlights were quickly shown. Punk made a comeback, but Jericho hit a nice Lionsault. Jericho went for the Liontamer, but Punk kicked him off and hit a huracanrana and hooked the legs for a good nearfall. Later, Punk caught Jericho on the ropes and tagged him with a high knee and a bulldog off the top. Cool spot. Moments later, Cade climbed onto the apron and distracted Punk momentarily. Jericho immediately took advantage of the situation by striking Punk's wounded head and then following up with the Codebreaker... Powell's POV: This was the best Punk match I've seen in quite some time. He and Jericho worked well together and I'd like to see more from these two. I understand their decision not to kill Jericho's momentum by having him lose, but how many other champions would lose non-title matches in their hometown? By the way, the World Hvt. Champion and the World Tag Champions lost non-title matches tonight, and the Intercontinental Champion lost by DQ because his girlfriend interfered on his behalf. The current champions mean nothing on Raw and that's not doing the title belts any good. I'll have a lot more to say about this show in the WWE Raw Hitlist and in the Dot Net Members' audio review of the program. To become a member for only $5 per month, visit the Dot Net Members' Signup Page. 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