Monday Night RAW October 20, 2008
by Bigelow34
American Bank Center
Corpus Christi, TX
Announcers: Michael Cole & Jerry Lawler
- We hit our opening animation out of the gate and then head inside the American Bank Center as we are live and in high definition for the Cyber Sunday go home edition of Monday Night Raw! And we waste no time as we are starting the show with a Diva tag team match.
1) Kelly & Candice Michelle defeat Jillian Hall & Katie Lea Burchill when Kelly pins Jillian with a rocker dropper
Kelly is out first and then she is followed by Candice Michelle who is decked out in Ric Flair-esque robe. Jillian sings Katie and herself out and Cole tells us that all four of these ladies will be involved in the Diva costume contest. The King tells us that Candice told him she would be dressing up as Marilyn Monroe on Sunday. Jillian sings some Willie Nelson for us before the match but Kelly jumps her in the middle of it, having heard enough. The official separates things and Kelly and Jillian start things off. Kelly hits a clothesline for two and then she and Candice hit a double team. Candice hits a neck snap as King informs us Kelly is going to the costume contest as a sailor. Candice grabs a headscissors from the top and sets up for a reverse Tarantula but Katie kicks her and sends her to the floor. Katie tags in and gets a near fall. Lawler breaks some more news and tells us Katie will be dressing up as a vampire on Sunday. She is working a chinlock but Candice elbows free. She charges, but Katie catches her with a nice backbreaker for two. Jillian tags in and hits a handspring elbow for two. King finishes things off and tells us that Jillian is going as Bat Girl. Candice is able to escape Jillian and tags in Kelly who hits a spinning headscissors takeover. She follows with a cross body off the middle rope for two. Katie breaks it up but Candice hits a leaping kick to take her out. Kelly nails Jillian with a rocker dropper for the win. Well, it was energetic and they all busted their asses out there. Grade: 1
- We head over to King and Cole at the announce table and then we get a recap of the travails of Chris Jericho and Batista from last week’s show before going to break.
- Wrestlemania XXV tickets go on sale in just over 18 days, so be prepared if you are looking to go! Back to the arena and we are joined by the World Heavyweight Champion Chris Jericho. Jericho stomps over to Lillian and yells at her to introduce him as World Champion and she obliges. That draws some nice heat and Jericho grabs the mike and climbs in the ring. Jericho is looking quite autumnal in his suit, to quote Chris Berman. He isn’t pleased with the lack of respect and says he should never have to ask Lillian to introduce him as she should just do it. He is the World Heavyweight Champion and it needs to be said as much as possible. The disrespect has permeated the locker room, a locker room which he leads. It has spread like a virus to all of the hypocrites in the arena tonight as well, and they respond with a “you suck” chant. He says that we all have it in our perverted brains that he will lose the title Sunday no matter who the referee is. It is a choice that shouldn’t even be available but because of the disrespectful GM, it exists. He runs through the referee options and says the list is a joke and not fair to the Champion. Maybe Adamle and the fans have forgotten who they are dealing with? They are dealing with Chris Jericho, the first Undisputed Champion in wrestling and then followed it up by beating four Raw wrestlers to take home the gold again and then beat Punk in a cage and Michaels in a ladder match. After he wins Sunday, we will have no recourse but to admit he is the best in the world and the most dominant champion the business has seen in years. The disrespect ends Sunday…but one man disagrees as the Animal comes walking out with a big smirk on his face. Batista hops in the ring and the crowd is with him. He asks Jericho if he is seriously out here demanding respect. That is ridiculous because you don’t demand respect, you earn it. And his hair is ridiculous too. He does agree that if Jericho wins Sunday he believes Jericho will earn a lot of respect. But until then, six short days away, he asks Jericho to please stop whining and crying. He needs to shut his mouth or Batista will shut it for him. We are now joined by Mike Adamle who asks them to save it for Cyber Sunday. Right now he wants to concentrate on respect because their performances tonight will determine who gets respected. Both men will face the same three opponents in a gauntlet match. It will be different, unpredictable and another Adamle original. That is all we know as Adamle heads to the back and Jericho and Batista stand face to face. Jericho smacks Batista and then quickly bails from the ring as we go to break.
- The E-Surance WWE Slam of the Week recaps the big showdown between JBL and Haas Hogan last week.
2) John Bradshaw Layfield defeats Stone Cold Steve Haastin with the Clothesline from Hell
JBL’s patented white limo pulls into the arena and he struts out to the ring and doesn’t look too happy, as usual. He grabs the mike and says that it besmirches his integrity to have him compete against a has-been impersonator. He is what the common folk call rich. He tells the fans to be quiet as they were “Whatting” him. In times like this, the rich become richer and the poor, like us, become poorer. And he is cut off by the sound of breaking glass, but it isn’t Stone Cold Steve Austin, it is Stone Cold Steve Haastin. He has the look down as well as the walk and poses in the corner. Cole jokes that Haas has the bald thing down the past couple of weeks. They crowd gives him a nice “Haastin” chant. JBL wants answers but Haastin replies with a “What” to his questions. After botching the usual Austin line, the bell rings and Haastin hits a Thesz Press and an elbow. He even has the punches down to a tee and follows those up by stomping a mudhole. JBL blocks the stunner and puts Haastin down hard with a boot to the face. He follows with the Clothesline from Hell and that is that. I think JBL should face Haas every week. Grade: 1
- JBL grabs the mike and says that was the bottom line because JBL says so. Cole reminds us that the real Stone Cold just may be on the scene Sunday if he wins the vote. We see Rey Mysterio walking backstage and are off to break.
- We get a Mike Knox promo piece and then head to the ring for some more action.
3) Rey Mysterio defeats Snitsky with a springboard splash
As Rey makes his way to the ring, Lawler reviews the voting options for his match with Kane on Sunday. Snitsky is out next and will be a stiff test for Rey as he warms up for Kane. We get an inset Snitsky promo as he hits the ring. Rey tries for a headscissors takeover, but Snitsky blocks it and hits a backbreaker. He stomps away and drops some elbows for two. He works Rey over in the corner but misses a charging kick and Rey heads to the apron and hits a springboard seated senton. He heads up top now and hits a big double stomp to the stomach of Snitsky. Rey springboards and uses his legs to drop Snitsky on the middle rope. He nails the 619 and follows with a springboard splash from outside and picks up the nice win. Rey celebrates as we go to break. Grade: 1
- We are back and thanking Pendulum for ""Propane Nightmare"
4) John Morrison & the Miz defeat Kofi Kingston & CM Punk when Miz pins Punk with a roll up
Miz & Morrison are out first and we ready for a big tag match between two teams involved in a fan vote Sunday. Morrison asks for silence as the Miz wants to let us know there is still time to text a vote for them to take on Cryme Tyme Sunday. In high school, Morrison voted for Pizza Fridays to be changed to Tofu Tuesdays and his voice was heard. They run down all the things and people they are greater then, specifically naming the Freebirds, Legion of Doom and D-Generation X. They then hit the line of the night by asking us “Are you fifty?” Morrison repeats in a dead on Triple H impression and then they tells us they have two words for us: “Be Jealous!” And with that, CM Punk is out and then followed by Kofi Kingston. Punk and Morrison start things off, renewing their rivalry. Punk goes behind and takes Morrison over and down. He grabs a seated bear hug but Morrison gets to his feet and elbows out. He tags in Miz and hammers away at Punk. He misses a clothesline and Punk nails him with an Enziguri. Punk tags in Kofi and they hit a double team boot to the gut and kick to the head for two. Kofi grabs an armbar and then nails a dropkick to send Miz to the floor. Miz crawls back inside but Kofi grabs him and tags in Punk. Punk nails a big kick to the gut and follows with another for two. Punk hammers away and tags in Kofi. They hit a nice double suplex, sending Miz to the floor. Morrison comes in, but they catch him, hoist him up and then toss him over the top on top of Miz. The crowd has quickly tapered off for some reason. Miz crawls back in and Kofi gets a near fall. He grabs a front facelock and tags in Punk. Kofi hits a jawbreaker and Punk follows with a flying forearm for two. Miz lands a double thrust to the throat and takes control. He shoots Punk in, but Punk reverses it and tags in Kofi, who buries a shoulder to the gut. Kofi takes Miz over with an armbar and gets a near fall. He grabs a front facelock again but Miz tries to push him towards his corner. Miz fires out of the hold, but Kofi blocks it. He leaps to the middle rope, but Morrison runs the apron and kicks Kofi down to the mat. Miz finally makes the tag and Morrison is all over Kofi. Kofi tries to fight out of the corner, but Morrison runs him back into it with his shoulder and then hits a Northern Lights suplex for two. Morrison grabs a reverse chinlock as we take a break. When we return, Morrison still has the chinlock wrenched in on Kofi. We see that there was some action during the break as Kofi almost was able to tag Punk but Miz knocked him off the apron. Morrison tags in Miz, who drops a stiff elbow and grabs a reverse chinlock now. Kofi breaks free and is able to backdrop Miz to the apron on a charge. Miz yanks him down and tags in Morrison and they hit their double team slingshot backbreaker elbow move. Morrison locks in a pretty nasty version of a reverse chinlock and the crowd is awake now and rallying Kofi. Kofi breaks free and fights off both men before tagging in Punk. Punk lands his kicks and backhands to put Morrison down. He nails the knee to the corner and the bulldog and then takes Morrison over with a powerslam but Miz breaks up the count. Kofi charges but Miz pulls the rope down and he crashes to the floor. Punk knocks Miz off the apron but he recovers and makes a blind tag. Punk hits the G2S on Morrison, but Miz sneaks in and gets a roll up for the win. That was a solid match with constant action and they got the crowd back into it after losing them early. Grade: 3
- Backstage, Jericho is still complaining to Mike Adamle about his lack of respect. Adamle says he wants Jericho to be respected and he is giving him that opportunity to earn it from everyone, including himself. Adamle walks off and we go to break.
- The minutes continue to tick away until Wrestlemania tickets go on sale, just to keep you on your toes. And we now head back to the ring as the glorious music of Santino Marella brings Glamarella into our lives once again. Santino is decked out in Goldust makeup, a Roddy Piper t-shirt, an Elvis wig and is carrying a guitar so this should be awesome. At first glance, choosing his opponent for Cyber Sunday seems difficult, but he is gong to make it easy for us. All three of his opponents are one in the same: washed up, which is why he dressed like this. Take Rodney the Piper as Hot Rod no longer has a hot bod. They should change Piper’s Pit to Piper’s Paunch. Piper only does two things: chew gum and grow his body and he has been out of gum for a while. He turns to Goldendust, who turned Joe the Plumber’s American Dream into a nightmare. It is safe to say that the career of Goldendust has flamed out…”oh no you didn’t…oh yes I did!” Now, we turn to the Honky Tonk Man. He has Porkchop sideburns, eats pork chops and uses pork chop grease in his hair. He is down with the other white meat, but come on. He has made a career of impersonating the King, and he is not talking about Jerry Stupid Lawler or Jason Priestly, but Elvis Presley, the other King of Memphis. Elvis died on the toilet while pinching off his career and if they are able to roll his fat ass down to the ring he will flush him back to “heart broken hotel”. With that, we are joined by Hacksaw Jim Duggan. Santino says “Hackensack” looks like he could use a hose down, a warm meal and a bus ticket to somewhere. Duggan says that Santino looks like he is in his last minute of his fifteen minutes of fame. He says Santino looks confused and calls him the flashiest flash in the pan he has seen. He doesn’t appreciate Santino disrespecting his generation. Santino wants to know why Duggan is so angry…is it because he doesn’t have a Honk-a-meter? And we get the weekly explanation and graphic as Santino is now 54 weeks away from breaking the record. He mocks Duggan for never being IC champ and says the only thing Duggan has won was a gold medal at the Special Olympics. He says Duggan carries the American flag because he is a general with the Salvation Army. Duggan says that if it wasn’t for Santino’s boyfriend, he wouldn’t be champion and he calls Beth “tough guy”. Those words…they are for fighting. Santino disrobes and then says they should give the clothes to Duggan before he robs them. Beth throws the clothes in Duggan’s face which allows Santino to blast him with the guitar. Whoever faces Santino Sunday will never forget the name of the greatest IC Champion of all time…the Champion of Earth…Santino Marella. Glamarella marches off as we go to break.
- In two weeks, we get a special three hour Raw celebrating the record breaking 800th episode.
- When we come back, we take a look at Raw’s trip to Puerto Rico before we head to the ring. Cryme Tyme is out first and they are followed by all three members of Team Priceless as we are set for tag action. All three men jump CT before the bell even rings and beat Shad and JTG down. The assault continues as the referee tries to break things up. DiBiase hops outside and grabs the belts. They berate CT some more as we go to break and that is that.
- At ringside, King and Cole talk a bit about Wrestlemania XXV as tickets are on sale soon. We then turn to Cyber Sunday and we get part of the card run down for us. We then head to the ring for our Gauntlet match.
5) Chris Jericho & Batista both defeat William Regal in two separate gauntlet matches
Jericho is out first as we go back to earlier tonight when he smacked Batista in the face. He is awaiting his opponents in the ring as we go to break. When we return, Mike Adamle has joined Jericho in the ring and we are then joined by Batista. Adamle runs down the specs of this original concept. Adamle says that Batista will start the match first and then brings out the first opponent: William Regal. Jericho stands on the apron as Batista and Regal square off. Regal hammers away at Batista to start but Batista catches him with a quick spinebuster and then buries him with the Batistabomb for the quick win. Jericho now comes in and yells for Batista to leave the ring. He leaves and Jericho is freaking out waiting for the bell to sound as Regal fights to his feet. The bell finally rings and Jericho nails the Codebreaker for the quick win as well. Grade: .5
6) Mark Henry defeats Chris Jericho by disqualification & Batista defeats Mark Henry in two separate gauntlet matches
Jericho will now start the second leg of the gauntlet against…Mark Henry. Henry and Tony Atlas march to the ring and the bell sounds. Jericho attacks to start but Henry shoves him down. Jericho recovers and takes Henry down. He goes for the Walls, but Henry blocks and kicks Jericho the floor. He slides back in but Henry controls. He works Jericho over in the corner and then shoots him across hard. Henry stomps away and then splashes Jericho in the corner as he was jawing with Batista. Henry drags Jericho to the middle of the ring but misses the big splash. Jericho hits the Lionsault and gets a near fall. He goes over and pulls the turnbuckle pad off, distracting the referee. Jericho runs outside and grabs his belt and then decks Henry with it to draw a DQ. Batista now comes in for his match and he quickly crushes Henry with a spinebuster for the win. Grade: 1.5
7) Kane defeats Chris Jericho with a big boot & Batista defeats Kane with a spear in two separate gauntlet matches
Adamle tells us that Jericho will start the third match as well and the opponent is…Kane. Kane heads to the ring as we head to our final break. When we return, Kane is in control of the match and garners a near fall. Kane continues to work Jericho over in the corner but Jericho fights back with some kicks to the leg. He wraps Kane’s leg around the post and then kicks away at it some more. Kane fires back with a right hand but Jericho goes back to the leg. Kane is down and Jericho goes for the Walls. Kane reverses the attempt and then puts Jericho down with a clothesline. He follows with another in the corner and then plants Jericho with a sidewalk slam. Kane misses an elbowdrop. Jericho goes for the Codebreaker, but Kane swats him off and spikes him down. Kane goes up top, but Jericho hits the top rope and Kane is crotched up top. Jericho goes up and goes for a superplex, but Kane blocks it and shoves him to the mat. Kane hits the top rope clothesline for two. Batista is cheering Kane on as he grabs Jericho for a chokeslam. He breaks loose but Kane is able to hang him on the top rope and send him to the floor. Jericho tries to escape but Batista backs him up to the ring apron. Kane reaches over and pulls him into the ring and then kills Jericho with a big boot for the win. Batista comes in for his match, nails a spear and picks up the win. Grade: 2
- Jericho is hurting as he drops two matches while Batista swept the gauntlet. I guess it makes sense to make Batista look unbeatable and it was against tough odds but I am never a big fan of jobbing out your World Champion like that.
Final Analysis
After a couple of off weeks, this week’s show was a step back in the right direction but they aren’t completely there just yet. I like when they start off quick with a match like that as it gets the crowd pumped up and keeps them rolling as the show gets going. The women’s match was a bit choppy but they all worked hard and Kelly has come a long way since being caned by Sandman two years ago. Jericho and Batista brought the goods in their promo and Jericho brings the hate like nobody else in the world right now. The crowd was into the whole promo which is always a good sign and I think they are going to deliver a good match Sunday. Haas continues to entertain with his impressions and you wonder just how long they can milk it, but I am cool with it as it keeps him employed and on TV. JBL squashes are always good to as that is when he is at his best. Rey and Snitsky had a quick bout and it is good to see Rey on TV and picking up a solid win. He looked good out there as he preps for Kane. The anchor tag match was solid stuff and all four men worked hard. The crowd seemed out of it to start, but they won them back over leading into the finish. Punk jobs again but based on his reaction it feels like they are building to a heel turn by him on Kofi and I think he needs it. The Santino segment was pure gold. The crowd was pretty quiet for it, but it was one of Santino’s best pieces of business and that is saying something. Duggan played his role well to being the straight man to Santino’s comedic stylings. The shots at Elvis were probably the best part. The Priceless beatdown was quick and to the point and just a way to get them on TV this week. They looked strong, so that is cool with me. The main event probably looked good on paper but the execution was a mess and the crowd just couldn’t get into it because of the way it was set up. That whole mess definitely affected the overall grade of the show. The crowd was a bit weird tonight as they were up and down the whole way through. Just when you thought they were dead, they perked back up. Overall, they added to the show, though. There was a lot of focus on Sunday’s show which is always good just six days out. Outside of the anchor tag match, there wasn’t much to speak of in the ring, but that is fine on a go home show. We will see if they can keep the momentum going off of the PPV as they roll towards the 800th episode and Survivor Series.
Final Grade: C+
MVP: Santino Marella
Runner Up: John Morrison & Miz
Non MVP: Gauntlet Match
Runner Up: CM Punk
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