WWE Raw on the USA Network
Live from Calgary, Alberta

[Q1] Lilian Garcia, from a completely darkened arena, introduced WWE Champion Randy Orton, who was already standing in the middle of the ring. Jerry Lawler reminded us the show was taking place in “Bizarro Land” tonight (Canada). Michael Cole checked in on commentary...

Orton said he was out to address rumors. He said he was not afraid to face John Cena to SummerSlam. He said he bullied Jeremy Piven last week for the same reason he bullies the fans, because he can. He said he would beat John Cena at SummerSlam amidst a bunch of “you suck” chants.

John Cena’s music hit and he walked out to the ring with purpose. Cena said Orton made him angry and he was about to snap. He was tired of Orton bullying people. He told Orton to bully him. Cena called himself “250 pounds of problem that is ready to rip Orton in half.” He went nose to nose with Orton.

Jerishow’s music hit and the tag team champions came out to the ring in suits without their belts. Show said he breathes at people and they become intimidated. The fans chanted “Y2J” at Jericho. Jericho said he and Show were out there because the show was in Canada. The fans cheered. Jericho said he talked to Sgt. Slaughter and he has a one-on-one match with Cena tonight. He said he would beat Cena for the first time ever tonight.

Orton said he would come down and kick Cena in the head after his match with Jericho. Show quickly told Orton that he is used to getting what he wants. He informed Orton he would be facing Big Show tonight...

Twill’s Two Cents: Solid segment. A lot of people complained about Jericho being misused as simply a tag team champion, but this segment put him back in the main event picture. The idea of putting Show as a babyface tonight worked perfectly given that Show is with Jericho and Canada loves Jericho.

Sgt. Slaughter was shown backstage. The fans gave him a mixed reaction...

A graphic aired saying Triple H went to Texas to try and find Shawn Michaels... [C]

[Q2] A graphic aired asking who Sgt. Slaughter beat to win the WWE Championship. Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, and the Ultimate Warrior were the options. Of course, Savage hit Warrior with his septor, allowing Slaughter to win the title at the Royal Rumble in 1991...

1. Gail Kim defeated Alicia Fox, Beth Phoenix, and Kelly Kelly to earn a future title shot in 4:08. Entertaining and rapid fire action early on with all four women scoring nearfalls and Alicia hitting an impressive backbreaker on Gail. Beth picked up both Gail and Kelly but Alicia broke up the double submission. Kelly hit a high cross body to the floor on both Alicia and Gail. Gail scored the win after hitting what could be best described as a codebreaker to one foot instead of both knees...

Twill’s Two Cents: Very good match. The women went full speed for the entire four plus minutes and I was impressed with all four women. Kelly and Alicia are getting much better.

Sgt. Slaughter came out and said it was an honor for him to be hosting in front of Canadian fans. He led everyone to a salute of the Canadian flag on the big screen. A big circle with line through it was added. Slaughter turned on the fans and said if it wasn’t for the United States, the Canadians would be speaking French. He put up an American flag and recited the pledge of allegiance... [C]

Twill’s Two Cents: Works for me. Makes sense for Slaughter to turn heel on the crowd since everything is backwards in Canada anyway.

[Q3] During the commercial, a SummerSlam ad aired and Shawn Michaels was featured. Footage was aired of Triple H telling Legacy he was going to make “one phone call.” Cole and King said Hunter went to Texas to find Shawn Michaels but Michaels had a new profession...

2. Jack Swagger defeated Evan Bourne in 2:38. Evan hit a springboard double knee to a standing Swagger on the floor. Bourne went for a flying head scissors and Swagger caught him. Bourne countered the counter with a small package for a nearfall. Swagger hit the gutwrench powerbomb for the clean victory...

Swagger grabbed the mic and proclaimed himself the “two time, two time” all American. He was bleeding from the bottom set of his teeth. MVP’s music hit and he came out to the ring. MVP said the fans did not care about Swagger being an all American American because the fans were Canadian. MVP challenged Swagger to a match tonight. Swagger said, “maybe next week.” MVP pushed Swagger to the ground...

Twill’s Two Cents: Why would Swagger want to wrestle MVP tonight when he just finished wrestling Evan Bourne? I don’t love MVP as a face, but I do love the idea of MVP vs. Swagger in an extended feud. I feel bad that Evan Bourne was just a pawn in all of this.

The search for Shawn Michaels begins after the break. The fans still hate Shawn Michaels... [C]

Back from commercial, Triple H left HBK another message from an office building cafeteria. He approached a guy that looked like HBK from the back. The worker informed Triple H he “was off at seven.” Some young broad kept ringing a bell saying she “wants her hamburger.” Michaels stopped her and cut a promo on her about raw meat. Shawn is a chef now. Triple H gave him a weird look...

[Q4] Sgt. Slaughter came out and said he was kidding earlier. He introduced Celine Dion to sing the Canadian national anthem. Jillian Hall came out instead and sang “God Bless America.” They hugged when she was done... [C]

Twill’s Two Cents: Wow, what is up with HBK? That was just weird.

Son of a bitch, Vince Russo is back in the WWE and he brought Eugene with him. The following is a “Raw contract on a poll match.” ...

3. Calgary Kid defeated Eugene to earn a WWE Raw contract in 1:21. The Kid won the match and unmasked himself to reveal The Miz. Miz said he was the winner and he was awesome...

Twill’s Two Cents: They buried Miz only to keep him on Raw? Yeah, that made absolutely no sense.

Randy Orton made his way though the backstage area... [C]

[Q5] Footage was shown of Big Show losing to Kofi Kingston by disqualification last week...

Randy Orton made his entrance. Show followed with one belt around his waist and one over his shoulder. Would it kill Orton to wear that ugly ass belt to the ring?

4. Big Show defeated Randy Orton by countout in a non-title match in 6:05. Show absolutely dominated early in the bout with the same offense he used against Kofi last week. Orton gained his first offensive advantage with a thumb to the eye, a grazing dropkick, and a hanging middle rope DDT.

He went for the RKO, but Show slammed him. Show hit the chokeslam and hooked the near leg, allowing Orton to put the far leg on the rope to prevent the three count...

Twill’s Two Cents: Why can someone put their foot on the ropes after a finishing move, but they cannot kick out?

Randy Orton retreated to the floor and purposely got himself counted out...

Twill’s Two Cents: Ladies and gentlemen, your WWE Champion, Randy Orton. The WWE Champion should never be booked to look weak like that, especially when Punk vs. Hardy is the real main event of SummerSlam.

Hunter and Shawn were shown again. Michaels said he was a chef, but he was working in a cafeteria. That same little broad threw her tater tots in Michaels’ face. Shawn’s grill was on fire. He freaked out and put the fire out... [C]

Twill’s Two Cents: I guess JBL did not pay Shawn as much as he said he did. These segments are pathetic.

[Q6] Did you know? WWE.com gets a shitload of visits...

5. MVP defeated Chris Masters in 2:26. Masters hit a dropkick for nearfall within the first minute of the match. MVP hit a kneelift and followed with the ballin’ elbow. Masters went for the Masterlock, but MVP hit the Drive-by for the win...

Jack Swagger came out to the ring and had MVP’s attention. Masters applied the Masterlock from behind. Swagger entered the ring and hit the gutwrench powerbomb on MVP...

Twill’s Two Cents: Nice win for MVP but are they going to push Masters or what?

Footage was shown of Jeremy Piven and Dr. Ken on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon...

A graphic was shown of Cena vs. Jericho in tonight’s main event... [C]

Shawn was flipping burgers and Triple H was trying to convince him to come back to WWE. Hunter put on a hat and apron. Triple H said Shawn needed to be at SummerSlam. Shawn asked, “Isn’t it Summerfest?” Nice. Shawn’s boss came in. “Hickenbottom, Hickenbottom!” He berated Shawn. He was met with Sweet Chin Music. Shawn said he was in for SummerSlam. He then gave Sweet Chin Music to that young bitch, although they didn’t show it. The DX music played... [C]

Twill’s Two Cents: Those segments sucked although that was a fun end to them. I’m upset there was no response or comments from Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase.

[Q7] Only 51% of the people knew Slaughter beat the Ultimate Warrior for the WWE Championship...

Sgt. Slaughter came out and thanked the Canadian fans for being good sports. He introduced “the best there is, the best there was, and the best there ever will be.” Bret Hart’s music hit but of course, he did not com out. Hacksaw Jim Duggan’s music hit to a series of boos. Duggan came out to the ring... [C]

Twill’s Two Cents: That was wrong. I know it is fun for WWE to poke fun at Bret Hart, but to tease him for a one night heel GM was absolute BS.

Footage was shown of Chavo vs. Mark Henry from last week...

6. Legacy (Ted DiBiase and Cody Rhodes) defeated Mark Henry and Hornswoggle in 2:36. Chavo Guerrero came out and said he had not heeled from last week in his match against Henry, so he had a replacement tag team. Legacy came out. Henry hit the always impressive double vertical suplex spot. He hit the WSS on DiBiase and tagged in Horny for the tadpole splash, but he missed. DiBiase hit the Dream Street after Rhodes took out Henry’s leg for the win...

[Q8] At the top of the ramp, DiBiase said he had an answer for Triple H’s question from last week. He said he and Rhodes were ready. Rhodes said if anyone had a problem with that, he had two words for them, too bad.” ...

Twill’s Two Cents: I’m sick of Hornswoggle being in regular matches and the announcers chastising the opposition for performing moves on him. I liked this and I liked that Legacy was given some mic time.

Josh Matthews interviewed Chris Jericho backstage. Jericho said he would beat Cena and do it for Calgary, the city in which he was trained in Stu Hart’s dungeon. Big Show came in and complained about Randy Orton running from him. Jericho then said the fans would cheer for him and boo Cena. He badmouthed the fans when Matthews reminded him they were still on the air...

Twill’s Two Cents: I bet they still cheer for Jericho and boo Cena.

The announcers ran down the SummerSlam card, including DX vs. Legacy...

Cena’s music hit and he was pretty much booed coming out. Jericho received a similar reaction when he made his entrance... [C]

7. John Cena defeated Chris Jericho by disqualification in 6:46. King incorrectly stated Jericho had never faced Cena in a one-on-one match. Cole sacked up and corrected him by saying Jericho had never defeated Cena, because Cena has defeated him on pay-per-view about eight times. Early on, Cena was booed every time he hit a move. The fans still cheered for Jericho.

[Overrun] Jericho gained the offensive advantage and oddly enough, the fans started chanting for Cena. Cena went for the five knuckle shuffle and Jericho rolled him up for a two count. Jericho went for and missed the lionsault. Cena attempted the attitude adjustment again but Jericho countered it into the Walls of Jericho.

Cena almost tapped out but he countered and applied the STF. Randy Orton entered the ring the referee rang the bell, presumably disqualifying Jericho. Jericho got pissed at Orton and threw him from the ring. Big Show entered and chokeslammed Orton. Sgt. Slaughter came out and made a tag match between JeriShow vs. Cena and Orton for next week. The new reluctant partners knocked Show from the ring...

Twill’s Two Cents: I didn’t like how Jericho was made to look like he could not beat Cena yet again, but I love how Jericho is getting Big Show over. Cena is a definite babyface and Orton is a definite heel, but I love how JeriShow goes both ways. They just want to kick ass and it doesn’t matter who gets in their way.

What did you think of the show? Feel free to let me know by shooting an email to dotnetrich@gmail.com.

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