WWE Raw on the USA Network
Live from Albany, N.Y.

[Q1] The opening video aired with the same damn song they refuse to change... Michael Cole (speaking of things they won't change) and Jerry Lawler introduced the show and hyped the gauntlet match...

MVP and Mark Henry were in the ring for a VIP Lounge segment. A fan in the front row actually held up a black sign that said something about how Al Sharpton is the same color as the sign. Wow. WTF? MVP was about to introduce Al Sharpton when Chris Jericho and Big Show's music played.

Jericho complained about the weak introduction that MVP gave Sharpton. MVP went on a spiel about how Sharpton brings a voice to people who have none. MVP finally introduced Sharpton, who came out to James Brown's "Live in America." Twilling is orgasmic because the song was played in the third Rocky movie.

Sharpton came out to a chorus of boos and acknowledged that it was "a tough crowd." Sharpton said he's going around the country while fighting for education reform. MVP said he's looking for tag team reform. MVP said he and Henry want to face Jericho and Show in a tag title match even though JeriShow is scheduled to defend the titles at the pay-per-view.

Jericho interrupted and ripped the fans for being parasites and not having morals. Jericho said he doesn't care what the fans think of him or Sharpton. He pointed out that he and Show would be competing in the gauntlet match. Jericho continued to suck up to Sharpton, but said the fans don't deserve to be educated or have the right to vote. "Most importantly, Reverend Al, they don't deserve to be in the presence of greatness."

Sharpton said they could disagree on politics, but everyone deserves an opportunity. He asked the fans if they want to see a championship match. The fans cheered. "The people have spoken," Sharpton said. "We're going to have a championship match next." Jericho said it was "discrimination of the highest degree." Funny line... [C]

Powell's POV: Quick and painless. Sharpton received more boos than cheers until he announced the tag title match. It makes you wonder how many people tuned out tonight because they simply don't like him or his political beliefs.

1. Chris Jericho and Big Show beat MVP and Mark Henry to retain the Unified Tag Titles in 18:00. Cole kept babbling about how Sharpton empowered the WWE Universe and they actually made the match. Ugh.

[Q2] MVP did the bulk of the selling until Jericho went for a Lionsault and missed. MVP tagged in Henry, who cleaned house on the heels. Henry pressed Jericho over his head and threw him at Show on the floor, but Show caught him and smiled. [C]

Powell's POV: The commercial break featured an ad for "Zombieland." I watched Jesse Eisenberg's "Adventureland" over the weekend and came to the conclusion that he's the guy Hollywood gets when they want a quirky kid, but can't afford Michael Cera. Seriously, total wannabe.

After the break, the heels took turns working over Henry. He tagged in MVP, who controlled the offense on Jericho. He went for a Playmaker, but Show came in and struck MVP to break it up.

[Q3] Henry came in and knocked Show out of the ring. MVP scored a couple of great near falls on Jericho. However, he tried to run the ropes and caught a punch to the back of the head from Show, who was standing on the floor at ringside. MVP stumbled into the Codebreaker and Jericho got the pin...

Cole said the odds are still stacked against Cena in the gauntlet match main event... [C]

Powell's POV: Um, the odds are always stacked against Cena. The problem is that he always wins anyway so it doesn't feel like anything special when he does. By the way, "Adventureland" looks like a comedy, but it's nothing more than a quirky love story with a bunch of mopey characters. Yes, they actually found a way to take the fun out of a freaking fun park movie.

Backstage, Primo told Al Sharpton that he's an inspiration to all minorities. Sharpton started to thank him, but Hornswoggle ran in the room grunting like a moron. Chavo Guerrero entered the room in hot pursuit. Chavo introduced Chris Masters as his partner for the night. Santino showed up and mistook Sharpton for Don King. Sharpton kicked them all out of the room. Primo stuck around and shook hands with Sharpton and welcomed him to Raw...

Cole and Lawler recapped the six-man tag main event from last week...

Backstage, Josh Matthews interviewed Randy Orton, who said it will take a miracle for Cena to survive the main event. If he does, Orton said he'll win Hell in a Cell because it's where the sadistic thrive. He said he won't be responsible for his own actions when he gets inside the cell with Cena on Sunday...

Powell's POV: Generic promo that scored some quality heat from the live crowd.

A shot aired of Alicia Fox walking with her arm around Rosa Mendes... [C]

Powell's POV: Don't get excited, HLA fans. They said Alicia was giving Rosa advice prior to her match with Mickie James. Lawler stated that Alicia will face Mickie on Sunday, so it looks like we have another pay-per-view match.

[Q4] A video hyped Al Sharpton's education reform tour...

2. Mickie James defeated Rosa Mendes (w/Alicia Fox) in a non-title match in 4:30. Cole made it official by announcing Mickie vs. Alicia for the pay-per-view. There was a sloppy spot early as Mickie went to the corner and flung her legs up. Rosa was supposed to run under her, but it looked like she was late and it made for an awkward spot. There was another awkward spot a couple minutes later. In the end, Mickie caught Rosa with a kick to the head and got the clean pin...

Powell's POV: They need to keep Rosa off television until she improves. There's nothing wrong with using her at house shows and not putting her in the ring on television.

A shot aired of Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase walking backstage... [C] A commercial hyped the eight-man tag main event for Friday's Smackdown...

Cody and Ted came to the ring for a promo. They pulled the camera back and showed the Hell in a Cell structure was hanging over the ring. Ted said no one expects them to win on Sunday and they understand that. "But you should," DiBiase said. He said they are primed for the biggest victory of their careers and the single worst defeat for DX. Ted introduced a video that recapped their attacks on DX.

[Q5] Cody took the mic and said no one expected them to do any of those things. He said Raw has been the sandbox of DX for over a decade. Cody said Triple H should get his cozy office ready at Titan Tower to sit behind his desk with his relatives. Cody praised Shawn as the best in-ring performer ever. He said he and Ted would be standing over a broken heap that was HBK.

"Boring!" Michaels called out over the house mic. "Boring!" he said again as the heels looked around trying to figure out where DX was located. They were in a luxury box. Ted mockingly pointed them out and said how funny they are. Hunter said Cody and Ted are like butts. "Not so much the cheeks, but the little center part," Hunter said.

Hunter said Cody is a comic book nerd, so he compared himself and Shawn to The Incredible Hulk. He spoke about how calm they are when they're clowning around, but it's different when the monster comes out. "Unlike Bruce Banner, we like when the monster comes out," Hunter said. "As a matter of fact, why wait until Sunday." DX's music played as they headed through the crowd to the ring.

Cody and Ted ran from ringside and stood in the crowd when DX arrived in the ring. DX's music stopped and Shawn addressed Cody and Ted from the ring. "What a shock," he said. "After all the talk, here we stand ready to go, yet there you go running away." Hunter added, "Enjoy this distance that there is between us, guys, because this Sunday a cell is going to lower around the four of us." He said there won't be any running or hiding and they won't be joking... [C]

Powell's POV: Cody was boring. He spent too much time kissing DX ass by putting them over and then delivering weak put down lines at the end. Ted is okay on the mic, but Cody was weak here. Hunter and Shawn were strong here and did a good job of establishing that Cody and Ted won't have anywhere to run on Sunday.

Did You Know? More people 18-49 watched Raw than Jay Leno?...

Powell's POV: Why don't they just say more people watched Raw than cable access last week? Screw Jay Leno.

[Q6] 3. Jack Swagger pinned Evan Bourne in 3:00. Swagger wore the U.S. Title to the ring and they aired videos showing him stealing it last week even though he had a chance to win it. Bourne got the "he can beat anybody in any given match" build. I think they used the same line for Rusty Brooks back in the day.

Swagger went for his finisher at 2:20, but Bourne avoided it and ended up on the top rope. He hit the double knee press for a nice near fall. Swagger came back a short time later with a powerbomb for the clean pin.

After the match, Swagger bragged about having the looks, talent, and even the gold. He said he will officially become the "All American American United States Champion." The Miz came out wearing street clothes and talked smack on his way down to the ring. He entered the ring and said he's the next champion and everyone knows it. Swagger wouldn't look at him.

Miz spun Swagger toward him. The heels brawled like idiots as Kofi Kingston came out and took the U.S. Title back... [C]

Powell's POV: The Raw creative staff has done more harm than good when it comes to Swagger. He gets less heat now than he did when he was in ECW. Sad.

The video aired for Sharpton's education reform tour... Cole hyped the WWE website...

[Q7] 4. Chavo Guerrero and Chris Masters defeated Santino Marella and Hornswoggle in 2:15. Zero heat for Chavo and Masters. I guess the Albany fans aren't watching The Soup. Late in the match, Masters made a blind tag and put Santino in the Masterlock. Santino teased Hulking up and breaking it before passing out seconds later.

After the match, Masters grabbed Hornswoggle and put him in the Masterlock. Chavo eventually punched Masters to break it up. Chavo immediately left the ring and looked conflicted over what he had just done...

Powell's POV: No one cared. There were some chuckles over Santino's comedy, but the fans didn't give a damn about anything else that happened. Listen to the people, Vince. I'm not feeling so hot tonight. It started as a hangover (nice win, Vikings), but now I just feel sick. I was going to take some cold/flu medication, but I think Raw is doing the job nicely. I'll be sleeping like a baby in no time. Seriously, another boring show. They need a really hot finish to save this one.

A shot aired of Jericho, Orton, and Show talking backstage... [C]

Cole announced that Ben Roethlisberger will be the special guest host of next week's show. Jerry Lawler said Roethlisberger was bringing his entire offensive line as backup...

Powell's POV: Warn the Divas about strange broken TV repair requests. No, I don't think he did it either. Anyway, Steelers fan Twilling will be in total whack off mode over this. I'm sure they'd ask Brett Favre, but he's too camera shy. Yes, that was a joke.

The announcers stood in the ring and ran through the pay-per-view lineup...

Backstage, Sharpton thanked the fans and said he had fun. He was interrupted by Jillian Hall, who said she wanted him to be her tour manager. She sang "Living in America." He passed on her offer. The Bella Twins entered the room and brought up James Brown again. He performed a couple lines of "I Feel Good" and danced before signing off for the night...

Powell's POV: Hall's singing was a guilty pleasure of mine at one time, but the joke has run its course. By the way, they were wise to keep Sharpton's appearances to a minimum. Of course, this begs the question of why they even had him on the show to begin with.

A shot aired of John Cena waling backstage... [C] An ad aired for the eight-man tag match that will headline Smackdown...

[Q8] Cole announced that two encore editions of "Community" will air after tonight's Raw on USA Network...

Powell's POV: Fun show. I caught the first two episodes and added it to my DVR list. Check it out if you haven't watched it by now.

5. John Cena fought Chris Jericho, Big Show, and Randy Orton to a non-decision in a gauntlet match. Jericho started for the heels. Jericho caught Cena in the Walls of Jericho at 3:00. Cena struggled to reach the ropes. Jericho refused to release the hold so the referee DQ'd him. Jericho held onto the hold and Cena even tapped to show he was in pain.

Big Show came out to replace Jericho, who finally released the hold once Show made it to ringside. [C] After the break, Show put Cena in the bear hug while Jericho shouted encouragement from ringside.

[Overrun] Show went for a chokeslam. Cena countered with a DDT. Cena went for the Attitude Adjustment, but Jericho ran in and attacked Cena from behind at 5:55. Show applied his submission finisher. Randy Orton's music played and Show released the hold for no reason. Orton headed to the ring slowly while Cena rolled around in the ring in pain.

Orton finally entered the ring and the bell rang to start their version of the match at 8:15. Cena used the ropes to pull himself up. Orton walked toward Cena and stood face to face with him. Cena let go of the rope and pointed up. Orton looked up and the Hell in a Cell structure was slowly lowered around the ring. Cena tackled Orton, who tried to get away.

Orton got away just in time to get to the floor and watch the cell touch the floor. "Randy Orton has been outsmarted," Cole said. Orton noticed the open door on the other side of the cell. He ran for it, but Cena left the ring and stopped him from getting away. They fought in front of the door and Cena tumbled through the door.

Cena went for the Attitude Adjustment on the floor, but Orton slipped away and climbed to the top of the HIAC structure. Cena followed. Cena smiled when he got to the top of the cage, whereas Orton looked concerned. They traded punches at the top of the cell. Cena hoisted up Orton and hit the Attitude Adjustment on top of the cage. Cena mugged for the crowd and then knelt down and jawed at Orton...

Powell's POV: Jericho and Big Show beat the hell out of Cena, yet he was able to shake it off as soon as Orton hit the ring? It was a great visual at the end with Orton and Cena fighting at the top of the cage. I figured Orton was going to get the better of Cena or they'd just go off the air with them fighting. It's odd to make the babyface look so strong heading into the pay-per-view. I'll have a lot more to say about this show in the WWE Raw Hitlist and in the Dot Net Audio recap on Tuesday. Thanks for watching along with me tonight.

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