Raw Review for August 11, 2008 by: Colin "Colb" Bonham

The RAW Report –New Champs Again

Well Thank God for something! I was mildly satisfied when Raw went off the air last night. The end of the show was good for me, but other than that, I thought the whole thing was pretty ‘eh’. It didn’t feel like much happened on the show, it seemed like it was shorter than usual (In fact it finished just before the 2 hour mark). There was nothing wrong with the show, just nothing really stood out. On to my thoughts of the show:

• The opening altercation between Cena and Batista was good, with both men talking about how in reality they are pretty similar, and have been watching each other the last 6 years. Both men came out with the Tag Titles, which is sometime I guess. At least they didn’t leave them backstage like I seem to remember Cena doing when he and Shawn Michaels were Champions in the run up to Wrestlemania 22.

• The first match of the night is between Kelly Kelly and Beth Phoenix w/Santino. The match was decent, but in reality was just a squash. But I got to see Kelly Kelly, so I was happy. After the match, Santino gets into the ring, and praises Beth, telling her to do his ‘favorite move’. Just as Beth is about to do the move, Kofi and Mickie run down to the ring to stop it. Santino and Beth flee the ring, and Santino says that he wants a match right there. Kofi says he accepts, but Santino says he was talking about Mickie. Mickie accepts, and we have our second match of the evening after the break.

• Much like the Kelly Kelly/Beth match, the Santino/Mickie match wasn’t long enough for me to get into, but I guess the finish is what was important, with Beth interfering to help Santino get the win. Hopefully, this means the Champs are retaining on Sunday, which is a definite positive. As I’ve said before, I wouldn’t mind Beth having another run with the title, but Santino definitely is not a better candidate than Kofi for the Intercontinental Championship.

• Next we have Mike Adamle backstage with Todd Grisham. Adamle tells Grisham he’s doing a good job on ECW, and Kane walks in. Adamle says that there isn’t enough room on the Summerslam card for the match he wants, so we’re going to have it tonight. Kane vs Chris Jericho. Adamle says that after the match, Kane can hand over the bag. Kane says that Adamle is making a huge mistake, and walks out. A fine segment that hypes up the match later in the night.

• I thought Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase cut a good backstage promo, talking about how they are miles ahead of everyone in the Hall of Fame were at their age, and that unlike Batista and Cena, they respect each other.

• The third match of the night was similar to the first one, in the fact that it was pretty much a total squash. The highlanders are back on Raw, and they are the ones losing to Cryme Tyme tonight. Now don’t get me wrong, I didn’t want Cryme Tyme to lose, but 3 out of 3 matches already tonight were extremely short, too short for anyone to get in to. Cryme Tyme certainly got a nice pop from the crowd though, which is a plus.

• Next we have JBL’s challenge to CM Punk, which involves Punk going against his beliefs and drinking some whiskey. JBL says if Punk drinks, it will prove to him that Punk will do anything to win. Punk says he will not go against his beliefs, and chucks the whiskey in JBL’s face. I actually enjoyed the segment because it was somewhat different to the usually in-ring confrontations, and thought it did a good job of hyping up the Summerslam Title match. Both Punk and JBL were good on the mic last night too, but that has been a running theme of the last couple of months.

• Next is the match I was most looking forward to, because of its post-match implications. The Kane/Jericho match finished a lot like I would have expected it to, with Kane getting distracted by Adamle and Co. and Jericho picking up the victory. So the moment I had been waiting for had arrived, the time where Kane unveiled his mask in the bag. And I was right; there was a mask in the bag. But it wasn’t Kane’s. It was…REY MYSTERIO’S!? Huh?! Sure I had been wondering where ReyRey was, but I certainly didn’t see this coming. Kane laughs and leaves the ring, leaving everyone pretty darn confused, and I’d say pretty disappointed to. I have to say, a Rey Mysterio/ Kane feud sounds interesting, but I was certainly hoping that it would be Kane that was going old school again. While I’m not happy about that not being the case, I’m looking forward to seeing where this storyline goes as it takes a totally different route to which I think any of us would have predicted.

• Next we have a grudge match between William Regal and Jamie Noble. Before the match, footage is shown of last week’s confrontation between the two, which gave the match some kind of meaning and point. Willie Regal picks up the win, not like I was expecting another outcome. I would have liked the match to be longer, because the two could have had a good bout, but short matches seemed to be the theme of the evening, so I guess I was hoping for too much.

• Finally to the main event. This was probably the best match of the evening, simply because it was given the most time to unfold. The tension between Cena and Batista was evident throughout the match, which was good, and I love watching Rhodes and DiBiase as a team, because they are a throwback to tag teams from the 80’s and 90’s, because they really do look like a team, and they work well together, doing double team moves that we don’t see so much anymore. In the end, as Batista slaps John Cena across the face to tag him in, Rhodes rolls up the distracted Cena to get the win for the young stars, which was for sure the correct outcome. Rhodes and DiBiase get a boost getting a clean win over arguably WWE’s biggest stars at the moment, and the Tag Titles are off two guys that don’t want/need them. After the match, Cena and Batista have a stare down, and the new Tag Champs get back into the ring to fight, but are quickly disposed of. The show ends with Cena and Batista brawling in the ring, with security guards and referees trying to break it up. I thought the ending of the show was very good, as it showed the risky alliance imploding just 6 days before their match at Summerslam.

Archived Reviews

RAW Review: Let the Action Do the Talkin’! - August 4th, 2008

RAW Review: a-DAMN-le What were they thinking?! - July 28th, 2008

RAW Review: Animal Cheated Out Again - July 21st, 2008

RAW Review: Step Foward...One Step Back - July 14th, 2008