WWE TV Reports 8/18 Twilling's WWE Raw Live Coverage: C.M. Punk wrestles in his hometown, what is next for Batista and Cena? SummerSlam fallout By Rich Twilling Aug 18, 2008 - 10:01 PM Email This Article | Printer Friendly Page Send Us News & Results | Back to Main Listing WWE Raw on the USA Network Live 8/18/08 from Chicago, IL [Q1] The show began immediately with Chris Jericho coming to the ring in a suit. Jericho was met with boos. Jericho said he was not here to apologize and if anyone was to blame, it was Shawn Michaels. Jericho rolled the SummerSlam footage... Twill's Two Cents: There is a person dressed in a clown suit in the crowd on the hard camera shot. That is going to be distracting. By the way, as good as Jericho has been throughout his career on the mic, he was better than ever last night. Jericho stood nearly catatonic in the ring as the fans jeered him. Jericho said Michaels could have sent in a video or letter of resignation, but he had to do things "the HBK way." He had to see his name in lights and hear the fans beg him not to retire. Jericho said the fans were also to blame for what happened to Rebecca Michaels. Jericho said Michaels tarnished his own career and the last image of him in the ring will always be him cradling Rebecca's head. He said Michaels had it coming. Jericho left the ring and walked stoically back up the ramp... [C] Twill's Two Cents: Great job by Jericho. He continues to shine and give us something new on the mic. Jericho is white hot right now and he has earned it. FYI, Raw airs on SciFi next week... [Q2] 1. Batista defeated Paul Burchill in 1:52. Michael Cole reiterated that Batista was "three seconds better" than Cena last night. That just sounds beyond stupid. Burchill worked on Batista's knee but Batista hit a spear out of nowhere. He followed that up with a spinebuster and the Batista Bomb for the win... Twill's Two Cents: I guess Batista is only three seconds better than Burchill too. Basic squash here and it looks like a dim future for Burchill. Mike Adamle introduced himself and his guest, Primo Colon. Primo is Carlito's brother. Adamle abandoned Primo and approached John Cena. Cena left Adamle behind to approach Batista. He told Batista that the better man won last night. They shook hands. Cena said that was last night though and walked away... [C] Twill's Two Cents: Why is Adamle doing interviews? Jillian stood in the middle of the ring with Katie Lea. Jillian said Chicago was one of her favorite cities and the name of one of her favorite groups. She sang "You're the Inspiration" for a little while before Kelly Kelly's music interrupted her... 2. Mickie James and Kelly Kelly defeated Katie Lea and Jillian in 4:52. The heels worked very well together as a team. Kelly took the prolonged beatdown before making the hot tag to Mickie. [Q3] Mickie took out Katie before pulling Jillian into the ring and successfully attacking her too. Mickie scored a nearfall with a reverse neckbreaker. She then won the match with the tornado DDT... Twill's Two Cents: Good match. The three good workers looked good and Kelly continues to look better. A Summerslam recap video aired... [C] Did you know? More viewers watched Raw last Monday than Monday Night Football... John Cena will be facing Ted DiBiase and Cody Rhodes in a handicapped match tonight... Twill's Two Cents: I hate handicapped matches. They always make the team look weak. 3. JBL defeated Jamie Noble by referee stoppage in 2:52. Cole said JBL fired a bunch of people in his companies today. JBL squashed him and hit multiple closelines from hell. The idiot referee let JBL hit all three closelines and even counted to one before stopping the match... Twill's Two Cents: Ugh; I guess JBL needed that bone. I will say that I am glad he was pissed about losing at least. Mickie lost her title and was jumping around like nothing happened. King plugged a huge announcement by Shane and Stephanie McMahon tonight... [C] [Q4] Mike Adamle came out to his theme music, the errr, Raw theme song. Adamle booked C.M. Punk vs. Chris Jericho for tonight. Adamle read his statement. He said there would be a new championship concept at Unforgiven. Five men will wrestle in a twenty minute match and the title will change hands with every fall. The last man with the title at the end of the twenty minutes would leave Unforgiven the World Heavyweight Champion. The participants will be Punk, Cena, Batista, Kane, and JBL... Twill's Two Cents: This idea sucks. Is the title like the old 24/7 Hardcore title now? This sounds like a cheap way to get the title off of Punk. Ted DiBiase and Cody Rhodes made their entrance. They waited for Cena but Cryme Tyme came out instead. Shad distracted the champs and JTG stole the belts. Cryme Tyme took off and Cena made his entrance. The match began as the show went to commercial... [C] 4. John Cena defeated Ted DiBiase and Cody Rhodes in 12:03. Cena had the advantage during the break but Rhodes and DiBiase outsmarted Cena to obtain the advantage. They began to work well together to keep Cena grounded. [Q5] Every time Cena tried to come back, the numbers game was too much for him. The champs utilized textbook tag team wrestling. Cena came back and hit all of his signature moves. He knocked DiBiase from the apron and locked in the FU on Rhodes for the tap out victory... Twill's Two Cents: One guy should never beat two, never. One guy should especially never beat the talented and young tag champs. Cole plugged exclusive comments by Shawn Michaels from immediately after his confrontation with Chris Jericho at SummerSlam... [C] [Q6] The recap video that aired earlier in the show was played again. Cole said Rebecca fractured her jaw and that the two of them were at home in San Antonio. Cole approached Michaels after SummerSlam. Michaels walked away and then came back. He said he was going home to console his wife and to console his kids, who just saw their mother get punched in the face "because of me. Then, then..." Michaels walked away... Todd Grisham interviewed C.M. Punk. Punk said if Jericho thought Michaels had what was coming to him, than Jericho had a lot more coming his way tonight. He said he was going to take of Jericho "Chicago style."... Twill's Two Cents: I wish Punk would have received the "first pop of the night for the hometown hero" during his ring entrance instead of a backstage promo. Santino Marella and Beth Phoenix came to the ring. Santino is defending tonight against D-Lo Brown... [C] 5. D-Lo Brown defeated Santino Marella (with Beth Phoenix) by disqualification in an Intercontinental Championship match in 1:36. Kofi Kingston joined Cole and King at ringside. There was no mention of D-Lo defeating Santino in his first match back in WWE. D-Lo went up for the Lo-Down, but Beth stood over Santino to protect him. D-Lo got in Beth's face and told her (with spit) to get to steppin'. Beth slapped him and referee called for the bell... After the match, D-Lo attacked Santino and he ended up in front of Kofi. Kofi slammed his face into the announce table. Beth got him out of there... Twill's Two Cents: They could have "Burchilled" Kofi, so I was glad to see him involved here. Kane made his way through the backstage area... [C] [Q7] WWE 24/7 showed a bikini contest from 2002 between Torrie Wilson and Stacy Keiber. Tajiri pulled Torrie from the competition but Trish Stratus showed up in her lingerie... Kane came out to new music with an emphasis on the organ, similar to his old music from 1998. He said we were all shocked to see him pull Rey Mysterio's mask from his sack... Twill's Two Cents: Shocked? No. Disappointed? Yes. Kane said he never liked Rey Mysterio and he abducted him six weeks ago. He said Rey was alive but his spirit was dead. Then he asked if Rey was alive or dead... Twill's Two Cents: Kane is even confusing himself with this crap. Think about it: if he had him held somewhere, why would he have been going nuts wondering if he was alive or dead? Wouldn't he know? By the way, Kane had a huge piece of food in his teeth, or a very painful cavity. Batista came out to avenge his friend Mysterio. They brawled for a minute but Kane took advantage of Batista's bad knee. He hit a chokeslam and left Batista lying in the middle of the ring... [C] [Q8] 6. Chris Jericho (with Lance Cade) defeated C.M. Punk in a non-title match in 13:07. Punk received a huge ovation from his hometown crowd. Two minutes into an already physical match, Punk sent Jericho to the floor... [C] Jericho lost the advantage when Punk countered a bulldog attempt by Jericho with a huge kick to the face. Punk hit a few muay thai kicks followed by a double underhook backbreaker for a nearfall. Punk hit the corner knee but Jericho countered the bulldog. He hit a Lionsault for a two count. Punk scored a very nearfall with a hurricarana into a pin combination. Punk tried the GTS but Jericho locked in the Walls instead. Punk struggled to get to the bottom rope to break the hold. Jericho went to the top but Punk met him with a knee and bulldog. Cade distracted Punk, Jericho knocked Punk into Cade and hit the Codebreaker for the win. Jericho retreated up the ramp... Twill's Two Cents: As expected, this was a very good television main event. I guess Punk losing should have been expected because WWE has this thing about guys jobbing in their hometowns. Jericho is not in the title match at Unforgiven, but I hope they cycle him into the title hunt around Survivor Series. What did you think of the show? Some would say it was like an old episode of WWF Superstars, given all of the squashes. The main event was very good. The rest was hit and miss. Let me know what you thought by shooting an email to dotnetrich@gmail.com. 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