WWE Raw on the USA Network
Live from Chicago, Ill.

[Q1] Howard Finkel's voice started the show as he welcomed viewers to "The Price is Raw." He introduced Bob Barker as the special guest host and the familiar TPIR theme music played. A woman handed Barker his usual thin microphone. He received a great pop. He thanked the crowd and said he wished he had a refrigerator for everyone.

The crowd kept cheering. Bob said their reaction told him they're going to "party tonight." He said they're his kind of people and thanked them for keeping him working in television for over a half century. "If it hadn't been for people like you, I would have had to gone out got a job," he said.

Bob said it was time for a pricing game. He asked Howard to name the contestants. "Santino Marella come on down," Finkel said. Santino ran through the crowd and tripped over the guardrail. Funny. Finkel gave the same introduction to Jillian Hall, IRS (a/k/a Mike Rotunda), and Chris Jericho.

Jericho didn't come out at first so they said his name again. Everyone else had come through the crowd, but Jericho walked onto the stage with a mean look on his face and the contestant's sticker stuck to his bare chest. Funny. Rosa Mendes brought out "The Best of Smackdown" for viewers to bid on. Finkel said the DVD comes out on Sept. 15.

Santino was giddy. "I would like to buy a vowel, please," Santino said. Barker said he's been bodyslammed too many times. Santino bid $1,465. Funny. Jillian said she wanted to sing for him. She screamed a few lines and Barker said the fans had heard enough. He said he loved Jillian's singing, but added that he's tone deaf. She ended up bidding $75.

IRS asked whether the bid includes taxes. Barker said he didn't even want to think about taxes. IRS said everyone has to think about taxes. He bid $50 including taxes. Barker referred to Jericho as "Happy Boy" and asked for his bid. Jericho, still looking pissed off, left contestant's row and joined Barker on the stage.

Barker said Jericho's mother wouldn't be proud of the way he's behaving. Jericho started to talk, but Barker cut him off and said, "The man speaks." Jericho referred to him as "old man" and said no one calls him "Chris." He demanded respect. Bob said he was respectfully asking for his bid. Jericho said he wanted to be called "Mr. Jericho." He said he's the best in the world at what he does.

Jericho started to say that he was one-half of the tag champs. Barker cut him off and said, "I heard one." He said the bid is officially one dollar. He said he'd put Jericho over his knee if he didn't behave. Jericho won the bid for the $18.90 DVD. Barker sent Jericho to the ring and said he was giving him a chance to win another prize.

Finkel announced that Jericho could win a trip to Hawaii. A shot aired of the Bella Twins playing the role of Barker's Beauties by dancing on the big screen. Barker said Jericho had to beat his opponent to win the trip to Hawaii...

Powell's POV: Awesome. Does it cater to kids? No, probably not. Do I care tonight? Nope. Bob Barker is still the man. What a coup for WWE. The live crowd is definitely responsive to Barker and the concept so far. My only concern is that Sunday's pay-per-view will be overshadowed.

1. MVP pinned Chris Jericho in 11:00. Back and forth action to start. MVP sent Jericho to ringside right before the break roughly 2:30 into the match. [C]

[Q2] Jericho took control after the break. A nice "MVP" chant broke out around 8:00. MVP went for the Ballin' elbow at 9:45, but Jericho reached up and took MVP down.

Jericho applied the Walls of Jericho. MVP teased tapping, but slid out of the move and caught Jericho in an inside cradle for a great near fall. MVP came right back with a big boot for another near fall. He went for his finisher, but Jericho avoided it and went for the Codebreaker. MVP blocked the Codebreaker and turned it into a pin for the 1-2-3...

Powell's POV: That's more like it. Their match last week was nothing special, but this was really good down the stretch. Nice to see MVP get a win over a star like Jericho.

The announcers introduced a video package that recapped Dusty Rhodes's appearance from last week and the big angle at the end of the show... [C]

[Q3] Backstage, Bob Barker told Kelly Kelly about his charity, The DJ&T Foundation. DX showed up and brought up the legendary Adam Sandler scene. HBK made a pitch to have Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase spayed and neutered. Bob had them spin "the big wheel." Sadly, they just pushed a button and the faces of their possible opponents showed up on the big screen. Chris Masters and Randy Orton came up on separate "spins"... [C]

Powell's POV: The WWE version of The Big Wheel blows.

Highlights aired from last week's Chavo Guerrero vs. Hornswoggle mess...

Chavo Guerrero was standing in the ring. Barker appeared on the screen and said, "If you win your match, you could win this..." A new car! The Bellas did the beauties routine in front of a car. Chavo was pleased...

2. Evan Bourne pinned Chavo Guerrero in 4:20. After some back and forth action, Evan went for a huracanrana off the top rope, but Chavo moved. Bourne bounced off the ropes and into the ring. Cool spot. Chavo took charge of the match, but Hornswoggle came out and hit him with a super soaker. Chavo went after Horny, only to be rolled up by Bourne for the pin...

Powell's POV: So predictable.

[Q4] A shot aired of John Cena walking backstage... [C] Highlights aired of Randy Orton hitting the RKO on Dusty Rhodes at the end of last week's show... A shot aired of a group of Chicago White Sox sitting in the crowd, including A.J. Pierzynski...

Cody Rhodes came to the ring for a promo. He said was first and foremost a member of Legacy. He said he may not agree with what Orton did to his father, but it was Orton, not his father, who made him a main eventer.

Cody said he could lie and say that Dusty missed birthdays and was a poor father, but the truth is that Dusty is an excellent father. Cody said he was going to do Randy a favor by making John Cena tap out. He recalled Dusty saying that there's nothing a father wouldn't do for his son. Cody followed up by saying there's nothing he wouldn't do for his own career...

Powell's POV: An okay promo that provided some explanation for last week.

3. John Cena beat Cody Rhodes by DQ in 10:35. Cena cleared Cody from the ring and the show cut to a break less than a minute into their match. Lawler spent the match saying he couldn't imagine Cena saying the words "I quit." He added that he couldn't see Orton uttering the words either. The last part didn't ring true.

[Q5] Cody controlled the bulk of the offense and worked over Cena's left arm. Unfortunately, WWE has done nothing to establish submission holds, so the fans didn't think Cena was at risk. Cena powered out. Cody missed a dropkick. Cena hit a couple of shoulder blocks. Later, Orton ran in for the DQ. Cena hit Cody with the Attitude Adjustment on Cody while staring at Orton, who had already bailed to ringside...

Powell's POV: Cody got more offense than I expected him to, but we saw The Miz get the bulk of the offense against Cena in a Raw match and it did nothing to change the way the masses perceive him. I'm not saying the approach couldn't work, but I don't have faith in WWE to follow up properly. I would be encouraged that Cody didn't lose the match, but he may as well have given the way he took Cena's finisher and was left lying after the match.

The announcers hyped DX vs. Orton and Masters for later in the show... [C]

An ad aired for the return of Batista on next week's show. The narrator said Batista could be making a career altering announcement...

Powell's POV: Very good move. We all like surprise appearances, but WWE should give viewers a hook for next week's Raw, which is opposed by the ESPN Monday Night Football doubleheader.

Bob Barker came out for another round of The Price is Raw. There was a shot of Fink wearing a sparkly jacket in Rod Roddy style. A.J. Pierzynski was introduced as the next contestant. He acted surprised (even though he and his teammates were wearing name tags) and hopped over the fence to join the others in contestant's row. He received more boos than cheers from the fans.

Barker asked if the fans liked the Cubs. There were major boos. Bob said he understands A.J. is a big WWE fan. A.J. said it's true, but he's an even bigger fan of Bob Barker. Finkel introduced a WrestleMania 26 travel package as the next item up for bid. A.J. bid $,1000. IRS doubled the bid. Jillian bid $5,000. Santino said, "What is $1,200 American dollars?" Funny.

[Q6] The price was $1,247, so Santino won. He was giddy as he ran onto the stage. Santino was given a chance to win a new hot tub. The Bellas were in bikinis modeling the hot tub. Santino ran to the ring and watched them on the big screen. Barker said Santino would compete in a bodyslam challenge....

4. Big Show beat Santino Marella in a bodyslam challenge in 0:15. Santino went for it, but Show didn't budge. Show scooped up Santino and slammed him. They played the loser music. Bob asked the referee if Santino won. The referee motioned no. Bob was confused until the referee finally raised Show's hand...

Powell's POV: They should have had Santino say the exact price so that he could have done the bit where the contestant digs in Bob's pocket for the $100 bonus. There would have been some serious potential there.

Barker announced that he had another opponent for Show. Mark Henry's music played and he came to the ring for another bodyslam contest... [C]

5. Mark Henry defeated Big Show in a bodyslam challenge in 3:20. A slow, plodding match that concluded with Henry actually slamming Show. MVP came out afterward to celebrate with Henry. Cole said he's starting to believe that they have a chance to win the tag titles on Sunday...

Powell's POV: I'm surprised they gave away Show being bodyslammed without any buildup. That's something they could have set up by having others fail for weeks on end. A surprising moment.

[Q7] Backstage, Josh Matthews interviewed Barker, who was sitting in front of a stack of his book "Priceless Memories." Barker told a story about the woman whose top fell down when she ran down to contestant's row. Barker said he was behind the big doors when it occurred. When he asked why the crowd was so excited, late announcer Johnny Olson told him, "This girl has given her all for you." He shared some other memories... [C]

Powell's POV: Fun show so far, but my concern regarding the lack of pay-per-view hype is justified. They've done a decent job with the tag title match, but not much else. I guess they tried with Cena vs. Orton. It was just too generic to make me care. I'm guessing there's more to come with those two.

An ad hyped Trish Stratus as the guest host of next week's Raw...

The announcers stood in the ring and hyped Trish's appearance and the various pay-per-view matches...

A shot aired of Barker sitting backstage reading his own book. He said he enjoys it more every time he reads it. Chavo showed up and complained about being screwed out of his match and car. Bob told him that you win some and you lose some. Chavo started mouthing off about Bob taking karate with Chuck Norris. Bob gave him a shot to the gut and a chop to the back. He delivered the pet population control line again...

A shot aired of Orton talking with Masters backstage. The announcers hyped that their match against DX was coming up after the break... [C]

Powell's POV: I suppose I should mention that Lilian Garcia has been doing the ring announcing tonight. Fink is just playing the announcer for TPIR skits.

DX made their entrance. Standard entrance with Hunter dedicating "Suck It" to Cody and Ted. "They are a great team, they are great partners," he said. He compared them to Sigfried and Roy and said the fans were looking at the two white tigers who would be hanging off their jugulars...

Powell's POV: I'm sure there are some people out there who are offended by that one. Take your pick on the two possibilities.

[Q8] 5. Triple H and Shawn Michaels defeated Randy Orton and Chris Masters in 14:05. Zero heat for Masters's entrance. Big heat for Randy. Masters rolled out of the ring shortly after the bell rang and they cut to break. [C] Masters and Michaels traded offense. Masters took advantage and then tagged in Randy.

[Overrun] The heels took turns working over HBK. Randy hit a great standing drop kick, which Cole referred to as a "front kick." Lawler called it a drop kick seconds later. Shawn finally made the hot tag at 11:30. Hunter came in and worked over Masters. Hunter hit the spinebuster and tagged in Shawn, who hit a top rope elbow drop for a big pop.

Shawn tuned up the band. Orton went after him, but Shawn caught him. Hunter dove at Orton on the floor and they both went crashing over the announcers' table. There was a bunch of audio commotion. Meanwhile, Masters applied the Master Lock on HBK. Triple H broke it up. Shawn hit Sweet Chin Music on Masters. Hunter put Orton in the Sharpshooter while HBK locked Masters in the figure four. Masters, who was the legal man, tapped while Randy was in the ropes.

After the match, Ted and Cody came out, so Hunter and Shawn went out and brawled with them on the ramp and into the backstage area. A shot aired of Orton hiding around the corner. Cole said Orton didn't want any part of the brawl.

A shot aired of DX brawling with Ted and Cody backstage. DX got the better of the brawl while two cops stood there and watched. Cody and Ted exited the arena. Cody grabbed a chair and swung it when DX came out, but they both dodged it. Cody and Ted climbed inside a car while someone yelled, "That's my car!"

Shawn hopped on the hood of the car and Hunter threw the chair at it. Cody and Ted drove off and Shawn slid off and landed safely on his feet.

Back in the ring, Randy took the mic and predicted that Cody and Ted would force DX to submit. He added that he would retain the WWE Championship. "It is what I live for," Orton said. "It is the only thing that I consider important in life." Orton said Cena's name, which was immediately followed by Cena's entrance music playing.

Cena walked onto the stage with an intense look on his face. He charged the ring and tackled Orton. They brawled in the ring momentarily and then Randy slid to the floor. Cena followed him. Cena threw Orton back inside the ring and followed, only to be caught with a DDT that left him lying.

Randy grabbed a chair and set it up in the ring. He picked up Cena and performed and RKO onto the chair. The chair fell over and didn't bend, but it still looked okay. Orton stood over Cena and said, "This Sunday, John Cena, you will say, 'I quit'"...

Powell's POV: That's more like it. The DX vs. Cody and Ted brawl left plenty to be desired if only because DX was dominant and ran off the heels, so there's no reason fans should feel like Hunter and Shawn have anything to worry about on Sunday. Randy and Cena was well done, though. The Barker stuff was fun for anyone who grew up watching the man. Sure, it was campy at times, but it was still Bob F'n Barker!

I'll have much more to say about the show in Dot Net Members' audio later tonight. You can gain access to all Dot Net Audio and all the perks of Dot Net Membership for only $5 per month by visiting the Dot Net Members' Signup Page.

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