WWE TV Reports 8/25 Powell's WWE Raw Live Coverage: Batista vs. Kane, C.M. Punk vs. JBL, Santino Marella vs. Kofi Kingston for the Intercontinental Title, Beth Phoenix vs. Kelly Kelly By Jason Powell Aug 25, 2008 - 08:00 PM Email This Article | Printer Friendly Page Send Us News & Results | Back to Main Listing WWE Raw on the Sci Fi Channel Live from Wilkes Barre, Pa. [Q1] The opening montage aired to start the show... Fireworks exploded on the stage and then Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler introduced the show... 1. C.M. Punk pinned JBL in a non-title match in 12:30. Cole and Lawler tried to explain the Championship Scramble rules just before the bell rang. Lawler also stated that his "sources" had told him that Cena had suffered some type of injury and he hoped to get to the bottom of that. Punk controlled the early offense, but JBL took control just before the break. [C] During the commercial break, an ad noted that Raw would be replayed on USA Network right after the U.S. Open coverage ends. Powell's POV: Interesting that Lawler mentioned the Cena injury. I'm curious to see how they address it. By the way, if you're wondering where Rich Twilling is tonight, he is celebrating his birthday and drafting his fantasy football team, so you guys are stuck with me. JBL worked over Punk with an abdominal stretch in a throwback to their pay-per-view match. JBL maintained control of the offense for the next few minutes until Punk came back with a DDT. [Q2] Punk scored a couple of solid nearfalls and then went for the GTS. JBL avoided the finisher and came back with the Clothesline from Hell. Punk broke up the pin attempt by grabbing the ropes with his right hand. At 12:00, JBL grabbed a chair from ringside and tried to bring it into the ring. The referee took it away from him. With JBL distracted by the ref, Punk hit the GTS and scored the pin. Cole said Punk capitalizes on every opening. Lawler said "Bradshaw beat Bradshaw in that match"... Powell's POV: Good match that the live crowd slowly warmed up to. They were quiet early on, but they seemed to get into the action more as the match went on. The announcers hyped Satino Marella vs. Kofi Kingston, and Batista vs. Kane for later in the show... [C] Lillian Garcia introduced Mike Adamle, who walked onto the stage with a mic and his notes. He introduced footage of Batista vs. John Cena from SummerSlam that aired on the big screen. Back live, Adamle announced that Cena suffered "a severely herniated disc in his neck." Adamle said Cena tried to fight through the injury and will be out indefinitely. Adamle said Cena would not be able to compete in the Championship Scramble match. Adamle promised to name a worthy replacement later in the show... At ringside, the announcers briefly discussed Adamle's comments... Backstage, Kane adjusted a camera and cut a brief promo about his match with Batista. He reached for the camera with his hand and the screen became grainy... Inside Adamle's office, Mike apologized to Primo Colon. Adamle said he has the apples and the Cabana set. Primo said his brother is a jerk to everybody and he's nothing like him. Adamle laughed. When Primo asked him what was so funny, Adamle told him he'd find out before his match. Shawn Michaels walked into Adamle's office. Huge pop from the live crowd. Adamle told HBK to take as much time as he needs. When Michaels went to walk away, Adamle asked him how Rebecca is doing. HBK turned and looked at Adamle, then walked away without saying a word... Powell's POV: What was up with that creepy ass look that Adamle flashed Primo? The problem with Adamle is that I'm never sure when he's supposed to be creepy or just comes off that way. He's not a good actor and I don't think fans know how to react to him. [Q3] [C] 2. Kelly Kelly defeated Beth Phoenix (w/Santino Marella) in 2:00. Early in the match, Beth dropped down for a backdrop, but Kelly caught her with a kick. Beth came up bleeding from the nose. In the end, Santino reached in and pulled Beth out of the way to help her avoid one of Kelly's moves. Beth started talking to Santino, then Kelly rolled her up and scored the pin. After the match, Santino reluctantly climbed into the ring. Beth was fuming. She took him down and punched him repeatedly. Santino eventually broke free and ran away... [C] Powell's POV: Is Santino going to play the battered boyfriend? Now that has comedy potential. A WWE Classics on Demand feature highlighted a Bret Hart vs. Curt Hennig match... At ringside, Cole and Lawler hyped WWE 24/7 and hyped other matches... [Q4] 3. Primo Colon pinned Charlito 2:30. Yes, you read that right. Charlie Haas wore a wig and a Carlito t-shirt to mock Primo's brother. Charlito controlled the early part of the match, but Primo came back with a flurry of offense and knocked the wig off. Haas went for the Backstabber, but Primo blocked it and hit a high cross body block a short time later for the win... Powell's POV: Zero crowd reaction for Primo. Ouch. They didn't even cheer the pinfall. A shot aired of HBK walking backstage. Cole said they hoped to hear from Shawn after the break... [C] Highlights aired from SummerSlam of the HBK, Rebecca, and Chris Jericho angle... Shawn Michaels music played and he walked to the ring slowly and expressionless. Once in the ring, he said his wife was hurt, but she's tough after being married to him for 10 years and she'll be okay. He said he tried to be rational about the situation and tell himself that what Chris Jericho did was an accident. Michaels said they watched Raw last week and saw Jericho express no remorse. He said he didn't turn in a letter of resignation because he earned the right to say goodbye to his fans. He said Jericho blamed her for what happened. "That's when I turned to her and I looked her right in the eyes and I knew... I knew that I was not going anywhere." The crowd cheered and then booed. Chris Jericho appeared on the TitanTron. He said HBK was a lucky man because he was in the WWE studios. He said he was asked not to be at the building because people feared what he would do to Michaels. Jericho said he beat Michaels within an inch of his life last time and didn't want to face him because HBK would sue him and the company. [Q5] Michaels took off his jacket and got down on his knees. He said he wants the match because "if I do to you what I want to do to you, Chris Jericho, they'll throw me in jail." He said he would sign any type waiver to get Jericho in the ring. "No rules, no restrictions, no liabilities," Michaels saidl. "I don't want anyone responsible for what I'm going to do to you." Jericho snickered at HBK and reminded him that he's the one who injured his eye. Jericho eventually accepted the match and warned HBK not to watch their Unforgiven pay-per-vew match. HBK said Jericho doesn't know the meaning of Unforgiven. "I'm not looking to pin your shoulders to the mat and I'm not looking to steal the show," Michaels said. "I only have one thing in mind. An eye for an eye." Powell's POV: Wow. Great work by both men. This is the best feud in years. 4. Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase beat Jim Duggan and Jerry Lawler in 3:45. Highlights aired from last week of Cryme Tyme stealing the tag title belts. Cole called the match solo and I nearly fell asleep listening to his uninspired call. In the end, Ted applied the Million Dollar Dream and then used a leg sweep on Duggan before scoring the pin. [Q6] After the match, the tag champs cut a promo. Cody said they were going to hunt down Cryme Tyme and take back their tag titles. He said titles are earned, not stolen. Cryme Tyme's music played. They cut a promo from inside a luxury box near the top of the building. They challenged Rhodes and DiBiase for the tag titles at the PPV. Ted asked why they didn't just go through the proper channels. Good question. He said they'd get their shot at the PPV and then dropped the priceless line. JTG mocked him for using the priceless line. "Silly white boy," he said. JTG added that the match won't be priceless, it will be about, "money, money." [C] Powell's POV: It's nice to hear Cryme Tyme talk for a change. I'm looking forward to the pay-per-view match because I'm curious to see what type of match these two teams can produce. Backstage, Todd Grisham interviewed Batista. Grisham asked Batista about Kane, but he shifted the focus to John Cena and said he has nothing but respect for him. He said he's not intimidated by Kane and noted that their match would be personal... 5. Santino Marella pinned Kofi Kingston to retain the Intercontinental Title in 3:25. After some lackluster action, Beth walked to the ring and tripped Kofi, whose head fell onto Santino's knee. Afterward, Beth backed Santino into the corner. She held his arms at his side and kissed him. He celebrated because she's not mad at him, then kissed her back... Powell's POV: Not much to that match. The crowd was very quiet throughout. I'm getting interested in the Beth and Santino duo again. Josh Matthews and Candice Michelle hosted a segment from the Democratic National Convention... Powell's POV: Candice didn't say anything bad, but her voice made her sound like every barely legal bimbo who tries to play this part on MTV. Back in the arena, Adamle walked onto the stage and announced that Rey Mysterio will replace John Cena in the Championship Scramble match at the Unforgiven pay-per-view. The announcers hyped the pay-per-view match. Jerry Lawler clearly isn't watching Smackdown, as he referred to Brian Kendrick simply as Brian Kendrick and not The Brian Kendrick... [C] 6. Batista beat Kane by DQ in 15:30. A few minutes into the match, Batista took control with punches, kicks, and a clothesline that knocked Kane to ringside. Kane threw a fit as the show cut to commercial. [C] Kane dominated the action after the break. He hit a kneebreaker and then smiled sadistically. He spent the next few minutes working over Batista's knee. Batista actually came back with an arm bar submission attempt, proving that he learned more than we realized from those matches with Undertaker. [Overrun] Batista bodyslammed Kane and went back to selling the knee injury. Kane continued to attack the knee. Eventually, Kane grabbed a chair at ringside and struck Batista's knee with it for the DQ. Afterward, Kane charged at Batista with the chair, but was greeted with a boot and a spear. Batista picked up the chair and struck Kane with it twice, then crotched him around the ring post and worked over Kane's left knee with repeated chairshots to the knee, which was wrapped around the post. Both Kane and Batista sold knee injuries as Cole questioned what this would mean for the Championship Scramble. Powell's POV: Man, that show sucked. The crowd was lifeless and WWE gave them very little to get excited about. I'm sure they'll blame the lack of crowd reaction on the John Cena announcement, but I'm fairly certain that Raw being so uneventful and boring had a lot to do with it. 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