WWE Raw on the USA Network
Live from Manchester, N.H.

[Q1] Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler introduced the show and hyped that the final Raw of 2008 could turn out to be the biggest. They hyped the Shawn Michaels vs. JBL vs. Randy Orton vs. Chris Jericho four-way match...

Rey Mysterio was already standing in the ring with a mic in his hand. He said he was seconds away from hitting the 619 on JBL and advancing to the four-way match, but Shawn Michaels took that away from him. Highlights aired from the match that aired on last week's Raw. Mysterio called out Michaels, who joined him in the ring.

Mysterio said he knows that Shawn is a great person despite his affiliation with JBL. He said he wasn't there to ask for Shawn's spot in the Race to the Rumble match. Rather, he wants Michaels to be honorable and face him in a singles match during the show. "I just want my opportunity back," Mysterio said. He said the winner would advance to the four-way at the end of the show. Shawn accepted.

JBL walked onto the stage and interrupted. "Actually, Rey, Shawn's answer is no," he said. JBL said Shawn is his employee and therefore any decision regarding Michaels goes through him. JBL said the only match that HBK would compete in is the Road to the Rumble match. "Shawn, I would appreciate if you leave the ring... now," JBL said. Shawn complied to a chorus of boos. JBL thanked him.

Rey pleaded with Shawn as he walked up the entrance ramp. "Shawn, you know all the money in the world can't make up for selling your soul," Rey said. Suddenly, Mike Knox attacked Mysterio from behind. Michaels watched on briefly and expressed some subtle frustration before walking backstage with JBL. John Cena ran out without entrance music and cleared Knox from the ring... [C]

Powell's POV: Talking is not one of Rey's strong points. He's improved over the years, but there's no emotion when he speaks. Overall, though, a really good opening segment. We haven't seen much of Cena early in the shows lately, so his save of Mysterio was a surprise.

Backstage, Randy Orton addressed Manu, Cody Rhodes, and Sim Snuka. He said The Legacy will be bigger than the Four Horsemen, bigger than DX, and bigger than Evolution. He said he will not tolerate losing. He said they all have singles matches. If they win, they complete phase one. If they lose, they're out. Cody headed out for his match...

[Q2] 1. Cody Rhodes defeated C.M. Punk via countout in 4:10. Just as the ref was about to call for the bell, William Regal and Layla came out and walked to ringside. The announcers noted that Regal would face Punk for the Intercontinental Title on next week's Raw. The bell rang and the live crowd was slow to get into the match. Rhodes took control of the action briefly and the crowd came to life by clapping for Punk to break from a hold.

At 2:55, Punk went for a cross body block, but Cody rolled through for a good nearfall. Later, Punk was distracted by Regal at ringside and lost track of the count for the finish. Afterward, Punk bulldogged Cody. Regal ran in and caught Punk with a knee to the head that left him lying...

Powell's POV: Punk looks like a dope for being distracted by Regal, and Rhodes gained zero credibility by winning the match via countout. Otherwise, the match was a huge success! Well, at least they hyped Regal vs. Punk for next week. So much for Punk winning the World Hvt. Championship, the tag titles, and the IC Title all in the same year.

Backstage, Stephanie McMahon told John Cena that she assigned him to sit in on commentary during the four-way. Cena feigned enthusiasm and then said the idea was as lame as Mike Adamle as general manager. He implored her to do something crazy since it was the final show of 2008. He asked her to put a match together with him, Mike Knox, Rey Mysterio, and whomever else she wanted to put in there. He listened for the crowd to cheer and they obliged. He left the room while she pondered the suggestion...

Powell's POV: Remember this moment the next time they have Cena sit on commentary.

Lawler hyped the Divas battle royal to determine the No. 1 contender for the WWE Women's Title at Royal Rumble... [C] A Goldust Christmas carol aired. At one point, he noted that Jeff Hardy has more charisma in one finger than Bam Neely has in his entire body...

Powell's POV: Poor Bam. I suppose they'll be wishing the best in his future endeavors shortly.

[Q3] The announcers narrated video footage from two weeks ago of Randy Orton delivering the big kick to Batista's head. At ringside, Cole said Batista had two teeth removed because of the Orton kick. They also stated that he had surgery done on his hamstring...

A video aired of Batista selling his injuries from a hospital bed before the surgery on his hamstring. The footage included footage of the surgery and of his surgeon discussing it afterward... Three babyface divas were introduced for the Diva's battle royal... [C] After the break, Santino Marella introduced Beth Phoenix, who joined the announcers. On their way to the desk, they waved to "super fan" Rosa Mendez...

2. Melina won a Six-Diva Battle Royal to earn a WWE Women's Title match at the Royal Rumble in 2:50. The entrants were Kelly Kelly, Melina, Mickie James, Jillian Hall, Katie Lea Burchill, Jillian Hall, and Candice Michelle. Candice was eliminated roughly 30 seconds into the match. Kelly was eliminated about 30 seconds later. The heels teamed up Melina, but Mickie snuck up from behind and dumped Jillian and Katie over the top rope.

The match came down to Mickie and Melina at 1:40. At 2:40, Mickie skinned the cat, but Melina caught her with a kick that knocked her off the ring apron moments later to win the match. Afterward, Beth entered the ring and tossed Melina to ringside. She chased after, but Melina fired back with a flurry of punches until Rosa Mendez jumped the rail and attacked her from behind. She was dragged away kicking and screaming by security...

Powell's POV: Candice didn't get a televised entrance like the other babyface divas and she was the first person eliminated. Ouch. The women didn't have to go over the top rope to be eliminated. It looked silly, but safety first, I suppose. Interesting development with Rosa Mendez.

Backstage, Todd Grisham interviewed Chris Jericho, who complained about being named Jerk of the Year by WWE Magazine. He assumed that jerk of the year was awarded to someone who told the truth. This led to Jericho saying he would win the four-way to earn the shot against John Cena at the Rumble...

[Q4] [C] 3. Sim Snuka defeated "Super Haas" Charlie Snuka in 4:10. Yes, Haas wore the Snuka garb. Sim wasn't happy. Lawler said on commentary that Charlie was a huge fan of Jimmy Snuka. Haas got the fans to wake up when he motioned for the Superfly, but Sim lifted his knees and followed up with a big kicked to the side of Haas's head before the scoring the pin.

Powell's POV: Zero heat for this match. The live crowd broke out in a brief clap for no reason, which was more sad than anything. One guy stood up at ringside and clapped while trying to get a Charlie chant started, but this went over like a fart in church. Nice try, dude. The fans couldn't care less about Sim at this point, nor will a win over Haas change things.

A shot aired of Cena and Mysterio walking backstage together. Lawler announced that Steph heeded Cena's advice by setting up a 10-man tag match. "We'll find out the details next," Lawler said... [C] John Cena made his ring intro and brought the dead crowd to life...

[Q5] 4. John Cena, Rey Mysterio, Kofi Kingston, and Cryme Tyme defeated Kane, Mike Knox, John Morrison, The Miz, and Dolph Ziggler. Cole noted that Kofi was named the WWE Magazine breakout star of the year. Apparently, the the Slammy voters and WWE Magazine voters are not the same people since Evan Bourne won something similar a few weeks ago. Cole also noted that Kane roughed up Miz two weeks ago when he was led to believe that he was Kelly Kelly's love interest. Kane also flashed Miz a sadistic smile.

JTG hit a sloppy legdrop on the back of Dolph's head just seconds into the match. There was a good exchange with Kofi and Morrison, and then all 10 participants entered the ring for a staredown as the show cut to commercial. [C] After the break, Cole actually said that he's heard the beard Mike Knox wears is over a year old. The heels took turns working over Mysterio until he hit a reverse huracanrana (or something like that) on Morrison off the second rope. Great move whatever it was.

[Q6] Cena and Kofi entered the match and cleaned house on Knox and Ziggler. Cena hit the Five Knuckle Shuffle on Knox, while Kofi did the boom, boom, boom bit on Ziggler. Cena hit the FU on Knox. He tagged in Mysterio, who hit a top rope splash on Knox for the clean pin...

Powell's POV: WTF? Why Knox? So much for him looking like a monster. Cena punked him out earlier and now he does the clean job. Weak.

Backstage, Grisham interviewed Shawn Michaels, who said he's Mr. WrestleMania. "When it comes to WrestleMania, I'm only concerned about one thing and that's stealing the show"... [C]

Powell's POV: Lost in my frustration over Knox doing the job was the fact that John Morrison and The Miz appear to be well on their way to going through another Raw without mic time. Ugh. By the way, Dot Net reader Matt Leachman pointed out that Michael Cole referred to Dolph Ziggler as unbeaten twice even though he lost his television debut match to Batista. I would have noticed had I not zoned out his unenthusiastic golf-like commentary.

Backstage, Kelly Kelly told a mystery man that he tried to save him from Kane, but now he won't return her calls. Randy Orton said the night they spent together wasn't memorable. He said he used her and doesn't need a distraction like her...

Powell's POV: That reveal was a big letdown. I wonder if that was always the plan or if something changed.

[Q7] 5. Matt Hardy defeated Manu in a non-title match in 7:50. Nice pop for Hardy when he made his entrance and then crickets when the bell rang. Tough crowd. Oh, but more random clapping soon followed. Manu showed some flash at 4:45 when he missed a moonsault off the second rope. Cool move for a guy his size. Later, Manu hit a dropkick to zero reaction from the crowd. Later, Hardy hit the Twist of Fate out of nowhere for the win. The announcers pondered whether this meant Manu was out of The Legacy... [C]

Powell's POV: The ECW taping was held prior to Raw, so that might explain the live crowd's lack of enthusiasm for Hardy, since he apparently wrestled Mark Henry on that show. They gave him a nice pop, but the lame crowd didn't seem to care much about the match. Good showing for Manu despite the live crowd. By the way, The Legacy sucks. Orton is great, but the other guys are presented like meaningless lackeys.

A video hyped Mr. Kennedy in "Behind Enemy Lines Columbia"... Lillian Garcia introduced the participants of the four-way match...

[Q8] 6. JBL defeated Randy Orton and Shawn Michaels and Chris Jericho in a four-way match in 24:45 to earn a shot at the World Hvt. Championshp at the Royal Rumble. Cole explained that two men started the match while two men stood on the apron. The last man eliminated from the match faces John Cena at the Rumble. HBK listened as JBL talked to him before the bell. HBK and Jericho started the match. A good opening exchange was followed by a commercial break a little over a minute into the match. [C]

After the break, there was another good exchange with Orton and Jericho. Orton tagged HBK into the match and he worked over Jericho with a series of chops in the corner. Jericho came back by whipping Michaels into the corner, where HBK performed a Flair-like flip over the ropes.

Michaels came back moments later with a top rope elbow drop on Jericho and then tuned up the band, but JBL tagged himself into the match. JBL went for the Clothesline from Hell, but Jericho avoided it and hit the Codebreaker. Jericho went for a cover, but HBK broke it up. HBK tagged himself in and hit Sweet Chin Music on Jericho, just as he was locking JBL in the Walls of Jericho. HBK made the cover and eliminated Jericho from the match at 9:00. [C]

Powell's POV: Despite my initial skepticism, I'm starting to enjoy the JBL and Michaels storyline. Fun match so far.

After the break, JBL and Orton fought. JBl stomped on Orton's hand a couple times and then struck him with a flurry of punches. JBL demanded that the referee count Orton down when he didn't stand up.

[Overrun] Later, Orton fired back with a dropkick that drew cheers from the crowd. Orton delivered his version of the Garvin Stomp on JBL. Orton struck the viper pose, but JBL crawled to the corner and tagged in Michaels. HBK fought back and forth with Orton and eventually dropped a top rope elbow. Michaels caught Orton with Sweet Chin Music and scored the clean pin at 20:15.

JBL entered the ring. Michaels struck the Sweet Chin Music pose. JBL ducked in fear, but Michaels never threw the kick. They stared at each other. HBK made the puppy dog face. JBL pointed to the ground. Michaels shook his head and made an even bigger puppy dog face, as Cole asked, "Does he mean?..." Lawler added, "Come on, don't do this to Shawn."

Shawn dropped to one knee briefly, but he popped up again to cheers from the crowd. "You can't do it, Shawn," Lawler said on commentary. The crowd chanted HBK. JBL spoke to Shawn in the ring and appeared to say, "I paid you to do this, Shawn," among other things. He continued to point to the ground. Shawn looked at the ground and mouthed the words, "Okay." He slowly sat down the mat to a chorus of boos and eventually lied down on his back.

Just as JBL was about to go for the cover, Shawn stood up again and mouthed the words, "I can't." They had another staredown in the ring. JBL pointed to the mat. HBK stood in the center of the ring, closed his eyes, and yelled "Do it, come on," repeatedly. JBL hit clobbered him with the Clothesline From Hell and scored the clean pin. The announcers noted that JBL will challenge John Cena at the Royal Rumble.

After JBL left the ring, Michaels sat up. JBL stopped at the top of the ramp and looked back at the ring as Shawn stared down at the mat to close the show...

Powell's POV: Great finish. I loved it. I'm sure it's not for everyone, but I really loved the drama they created by milking the moment as long as they did. The up and down reaction of the otherwise flat live crowd was cool. I'll have more to say about the show in Tuesday's WWE Raw Hitlist.

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