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WWE Raw Hits

Chris Jericho and Batista: Strong opening segment. Batista played off Jericho's mic work well by flashing his usual, effective facial expressions. Batista has a lot of momentum heading into his pay-per-view match with Jericho in that he's arguably the most popular wrestler on the Raw brand. His upcoming title match could do good business for WWE if they can make viewers believe there's a good chance they'll see a title change.

John Cena videos: Great video footage of Cena's SummerSlam match with Batista. I loved the comments from Batista and the referee. I saw that match and it was good, not great. Yet after watching that video, I felt like it was one of the ages. Awesome work by the production team. That being said, those videos are ripe for a Dirt Shirt parody.

Matt Hardy and Rey Mysterio vs. Kane and Mark Henry: Really good action that had the live crowd buzzing while the babyface duo was on the offensive during the final minutes. And I really liked the way the heels pulled the rug out from under the Hardy and Mysterio at the last minute.

Shawn Micahels vs. Lance Cade: My first thought was that this would have been a great time for Cade to score a clean pin while HBK was reeling from the ladder match the night before. However, the repeated chairshots, which were fairly tame in the sense that there were no direct shots to the head, were great and the live crowd responded accordingly.

Overall show: This was an entertaining show and I got a kick out of Jericho trying to sabotage Batista and Shawn Michaels. I still don't understand why Mike Adamle would put Jericho in charge of Raw for the night and then show up just in time to essentially screw him over by making the special referee announcement, but it was entertaining if you were willing to turn your brain off and let the storyline play out.

WWE Raw Misses

Dueling Tag Team Commentators: There were a couple of funny lines, but for the most part it was just four guys talking over one another and taking away from the action in the ring. Granted, the "action" was nothing special (although I did enjoy Jillian's rendition of "Smells Like Teen Spirit"), but all the bickering was just too much and I couldn't make out half of what those four were saying.

Kofi Kingston vs. Ted DiBiase: I have mixed emotions on this match. It looked like this was going to be a showcase for Kofi until he just stood there like a goof when while C.M. Punk fought with Cody Rhodes at ringside. This allowed DiBiase to attack Kofi from behind and hit his finisher for the win. Before that odd finish, I enjoyed the series of flashy moves that Kingston used during his offensive flurry. Ultimately, though, it didn't feel like this match did much for anyone because the heel needed a distraction to win and the babyface looked like a dope for taking his eye off the heel.

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