WWE TV Reports 9/1 Twilling's WWE Raw Live Coverage: Chris Jericho and Shawn Michaels sign their Unforgiven contract, Randy Orton appears, battle royal with the five Championship Scramble participants By Rich Twilling Sep 1, 2008 - 10:01 PM Email This Article | Printer Friendly Page Send Us News & Results | Back to Main Listing WWE Raw on the USA Network Taped 8/31/08 in St Louis, MO [Q1] A graphic praising the memory of Walter "Killer" Kowalski was shown... Without an opening video, Randy Orton's music hit and he came out to not much of a reaction due to the his hometown fans not recognizing his entrance music. The show randomly cut to commercial... Back from a quick movie plug, Orton stood in the middle of the ring. Orton said he was still injured and did not want to come back until he was 100% but he had something to get off of his chest. He said a brand was only as strong as its champions and Raw was a joke. He said Beth Phoenix was a lovesick puppy and was making a fool of herself. He called Santino Marella the worst Intercontinental Champion of all time and Orton could beat him right now despite his injury. He said Rhodes and Dibiase should be called "Worthless" instead of "Priceless." Orton then ran down C.M. Punk and called him a disgrace as champion. He said Punk was a nobody wrestling in no name towns back when Orton won his first World Heavyweight Championship. Orton said he would love to challenge Punk but he is not medically cleared. He said he would eventually come back and take over the show. Punk's music hit and he went face to face with Orton. Punk said not everyone has granddad and dad "ushering them into the WWE." Punk said he did not drink, smoke, or "ride wheelies on a motorcycle at three in the morning to reinjure myself for three more months." Punk called Orton jealous and told him this was as close to the title as he would get in the foreseeable future. Punk told Orton to watch the battle royal tonight and the pay-per-view match on Sunday and then walk the aisle to tell Punk who the joke of a champion was. Orton said they would have to continue the conversation later and he left. JBL's music hit and he came out to the ring. A JBL lookalike was shown in the crowd. Michael Cole said Punk only had a 20% chance to win. JBL reiterated this "mathematical fact." That is ridiculous. If Punk went one on one with my little sister, would he only have a 50-50 chance to win the match? JBL gave Punk the "Cinderella" speech before Kane's cool new music hit and he came out to confront JBL and Punk. Kane told JBL that he has been to hell and he never saw JBL's closeline. Kane said Rey Mysterio was in hell and no matter what anyone said, Mysterio would not be there on Sunday. Batista's music hit and he came out the ring. This segment may last into the overrun of the show tonight. [Q2] Batista acted like he was going to say something, but instead, he speared Kane and JBL. After hesitating for a moment, he speared Punk and took off back up the ramp... Cole plugged tonight's battle royal... [C] Twill's Two Cents: Is that over yet? I hate that Orton put down Punk as champion because the more that happens on the show, the less the fans will buy into Punk. However, I love how Punk stood up for himself and I guess given the participants in the title match, the segment accomplished what it set out to do. The new Smackdown commercial for My Network TV is hilarious. Various WWE superstars talk about the show and Umaga just screams into the camera... Cole and King announced an ECW battle royal for tonight featuring their Championship Scramble participants... John Cena's music hit and after a short delay, Charlie Haas came out dressed as Cena. He did a damn good job mimicking Cena's mannerisms... 1. Kofi Kingston defeated Charlie Haas in 1:40. Haas grounded Kofi and acted like he was going to do the five knuckle shuffle, but Kofi took over. Kofi countered a FU attempt into the Trouble in Paradise for the win... Twill's Two Cents: Charlie may have guaranteed himself a job for awhile if he continues this funny stuff. The contract signing for Michaels vs. Jericho is tonight... [C] Twill's Two Cents: The match is unsanctioned; how can there be a contract signing? [Q3] Backstage, Cody Rhodes and Ted Dibiase confronted Randy Orton. Orton asked Cody if he remembered the first time they met and how he slapped Dusty Rhodes in the face. Orton followed that up with a huge slap to Cody's face. Dibiase held Cody back and Orton told the duo to grow a set as opposed to losing handicapped matches to John Cena... Twill's Two Cents: Orton said everything about the tag champions that we were all thinking. Mike Adamle, Teddy Long, and the lovely Tiffany spoke backstage about possibly making this ECW and Raw relationship an annual thing. I think Adamle said "Championship Scrabble." Kane entered and asked Adamle why he would announce Rey Mysterio's return. Adamle said Rey was needed and wanted on Raw. Kane kept saying "Mike" really humorously and said something about everyone hoping Rey was still alive... The ECW battle royal participants made their ring entrances... [C] 2. Mark Henry (with Tony Atlas) won a battle royal that included Matt Hardy, The Miz, Chavo Guerrero (with Bam Neely) and Finlay (with Hornswoggle) in 3:26. The four challengers went after Henry but the champion overpowered them all. Finlay and Chavo paired off as did Miz and Hardy. Henry eliminated both Chavo and Miz before splashing Finlay. Finlay and Hardy worked together in an attempt to eliminate Henry. Henry easily disposed of Finlay. Henry then won the match after countered a Twist of Fate attempt into an elimination of Hardy... Twill's Two Cents: Henry is running hard with the ball he was given. He has been fantastic during this run. Cole plugged tonight's Raw battle royal... [C] [Q4] Chris Jericho, Lance Cade, and some random suit sat backstage going over the paperwork for the unsanctioned match at Unforgiven... 3. Jamie Noble (with Layla) defeated William Regal in 1:45. Noble said he wanted to prove to Layla that he was not a loser. Layla sat by the announce table looking uninterested. Regal is still wearing the boy band shirt. Regal threw Noble around the ring until Noble surprised Regal with a small package for the win. Layla looked impressed with Jamie... Twill's Two Cents: They have two fantastic workers in a comedy feud. Why not give them a more high profile spot on the show? Backstage, the reason HD was invented, a close up of Mickie James and Kelly Kelly, was shown... [C] Jason Powell's girl, Jillian Hall sang "It's getting hot in here" before being interrupted by Mickie James' music... 4. Candice Michelle, Mickie James, and Kelly Kelly defeated Beth Phoenix, Jillian, and Katie Lea in 4:16. Before the match, Beth cut a promo on Randy Orton and called herself the most dominant and beautiful woman in WWE history. Candice's music hit and she was the surprise third member of the face team. [Q5] Beth scored the first nearfall after a slingshot vertical suplex on Mickie. Candice and Beth finally had their first confrontation. Candice was sporting a new spine tattoo. After a horribly obvious edit, Candice rolled up Beth for the win... Twill's Two Cents: The Dot Net reader who sent in the live report of the show said Candice tried a move three times and that she screwed it up repeatedly. The match was obviously edited and not very well so it must have been bad. Footage aired of Chris Jericho punching Rebecca Michaels at SummerSlam followed by the buildup to the unsanctioned match on Sunday. King plugged the contract signing... [C] 5. Santino Marella defeated D-Lo Brown to retain the Intercontinental Championship in 1:11. Santino cut a promo on Orton as well. He said he would become the greatest Intercontinental Champion of all time. He put up a "Honk-o-meter" graphic comparing his weeks as champion (two) to the Honkytonk Man (64). [Q6] D-Lo dominated the first minute, went for the Lo-Down, missed it, and Santino scored the pinfall victory... Twill's Two Cents: Hmmm, I could see a lot of comedy in Santino chasing Honky. However, that will do nothing for the title. Shawn Michaels sat stoically backstage as the lawyer talked to him... [C] WWE 24/7 featured the first Raw at Madison Square Garden in 1997. Steve Austin ran amok stunning everyone and the Mr. McMahon character was born that night... 6. Cryme Tyme (with the tag team titles) vs. The Miz and John Morrison never began. The four brawled on the floor before Dibiase and Rhodes blindsided Cryme Tyme, took them out, and took back their belts... [C] Backstage, Rhodes and Dibiase ran into Randy Orton and looked like proud kids impressing their dad. Orton looked pleased... The St. Louis Rams were shown at ringside... Josh Matthews, Mr. Kennedy, and Mickie James were shown at the Republican National Convention. Wow, Mickie truly is hot... ECW play by play announcer Todd Grisham is heavily in debt, so he continues to conduct backstage interviews. Batista said his game plan for tonight was to destroy everyone... [Q7] Cole and King ran down the Unforgiven card. Cole sounds like a douchebag every time he says the odds will guarantee a new champion... The Raw battle royal participants made their ring entrances... [C] Did you know? Raw is the most watched cable series of all time... 7. Kane won a battle royal that included Batista, JBL, and C.M. Punk in 4:17. Orton sat next to the announce table to watch the match. The match started with the announcers wondering where Rey Mysterio was. Batista dominated the match and all three of his opponents early. Punk eliminated Batista with a closeline after Kane hit a big boot to Batista. Punk then eliminated JBL with a backdrop. Kane dominated Punk in what amounted to a one on one match for a few minutes before Punk turned the tides. Kane quickly regained the advantage. Kane eliminated Punk right in front of Randy Orton, who mockingly applauded Punk. Punk threw water in the face of Orton... [Q8] Rey Mysterio's music hit. He came out and attacked Kane. He also should be fined for no showing a scheduled appearance. Maybe he did not get a wakeup call. Mysterio got the best of Kane and hit the 619 around the ringpost. He celebrated in the ring... Twill's Two Cents: Kane is the worst killer ever. Coming up next is the first face to face meeting between Chris Jericho and Shawn Michaels since SummerSlam... [C] Footage aired of Chris Jericho and Shawn Michaels at SummerSlam. Give Rebecca Michaels credit, she took quite a shot in the mouth... Jerry Lawler stood in the middle of the contract signing laden ring and Chris Jericho's music hit. Jericho came out alone in a suit. King explained why everyone was there and introduced Shawn Michaels. Michaels came to the ring and took a seat. He stared a hole through Jericho as Jericho avoided eye contact. Adamle had King announce that any physical activity between the two would result in the match being called off. Both men signed the contract and King tried to end the festivities. Jericho interrupted and asked Michaels why he needed security. Michaels said it was not his security. [Overrun] Jericho and Michaels sent the security crew packing. Michaels continued to stare at Jericho while Jericho looked away. Jericho said he did talk to his kids like Michaels asked him to. He told his kids he would never be the egomaniac that Michaels was. He forbade his kids to watch Unforgiven because he did not want them to see how violent he could be. Jericho finally looked at Michaels and told him he was going to end his career for good this time. He said he was not sorry and would be sorry. He told Michaels that he wanted this match and when Jericho leaves Michaels a broken man, it will be his own fault. Michaels said he was glad Jericho's family would not be watching and his would not either. He said it is sometimes better to turn the other cheek but sometimes, you have to look evil in the face and spit. Michaels said Unforgiven was an appropriate name because he would never forgive Jericho for what he did to him, but he hoped God would forgive him for what he is going to do to Jericho. Both men stood up and acted like they were going to fight. Lance Cade hit the ring and took an absolute beating as Jericho slithered out of the ring and up the ramp. Jericho smiled at Michaels as Michaels stared him down with the look of a rabid dog... Twill's Two Cents: The lack of logic here is mind baffling. How can the GM call off a match that is not sanctioned in the first place? Why don't they just fight in the parking lot? Other than that, this was another great segment in this unbelievably fantastic feud. Hopefully Michaels can go on Sunday. What did you think of the show? I came into the evening with a chip on my shoulder because I received some disappointing news today, but I actually enjoyed the show. Let me know what you thought by shooting an email to dotnetrich@gmail.com. Hope everyone had a great holiday weekend. 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 12/2 Twilling's ECW Live Coverage: Matt Hardy vs. MVP, Jack Swagger vs. Ricky Ortiz, DJ Gabriel will wrestle while everyone watches Alicia Fox dance 12/1 Twilling's WWE Raw Live Coverage: John Cena makes his Raw in ring return vs. Kane; The IC Title tournament continues with The Miz vs. Rey Mysterio and Finlay vs. John Morrison 12/1 Powell's WWE Raw Live Coverage: John Cena faces Kane, two more Intercontinental Title contender tournament matches, Melina vs. Jillian Hall 11/28 Shore's WWE Smackdown Live Coverage: New WWE Champion Edge, Beat the Clock Matches, Gobble Gobble 11/25 Twilling's ECW Live Coverage: Jack Swagger vs. Tommy Dreamer in an Extreme Rules match, Mark Henry vs. Finlay 11/24 Twilling's WWE Raw Live Coverage: John Cena returns, Shawn Michaels and Rey Mysterio vs. John Morrison and The Miz, Intercontinental Championship number one contender tournament