1wrestling.com- The Good, The Bad, The In-The-Middle: WWE Monday Night RAW 08.25.08

The WWE may have had to move the original run of this week’s Monday Night RAW over the Sci-Fi thanks to the USA Network airing some U.S. Open tennis. But that didn’t put a single hitch in what I consider to be one of the better RAWs to come across the airwaves in quite some time. This past Monday, the WWE provided a great mix of in-ring action, promo work and build toward the Unforgiven Pay-Per-View two weeks away.

THE GOOD

• Opening the show with a great match: For as much as I hate to admit it, John Bradshaw Layfield was actually part of something productive this past week on RAW. As opposed to being that annoying heel that thinks he’s good when he’s really not, JBL opened the show in a match with the World Heavyweight Champion, C.M. Punk, to provide some build going into the Championship Scramble at Unforgiven. Together, JBL and Punk actually put on a really solid match that the WWE gave a good 17-18 minutes to at the top of the program.

Both wrestlers looked good in accordance with their styles during the match. When Punk was in charge, which accounts for a large portion of the beginning of the match, he was fast-paced and all over the place. When JBL took control right before the lone commercial break taken during the contest, he turned the pace down a bit and was more deliberate.

The two wrestlers really worked well together, and I especially like how it ended. JBL appeared to have the win in the bag after hitting a Clothesline From Hell, but Punk grabbed the rope to stop the pin count. JBL then exited the ring in search of a steel chair, which the referee prevented him from bringing in. After being distracted in his squabble with the ref, JBL fell right into a Go2Sleep from Punk. Punk subsequently covered for the pinfall victory and took a much needed win that the WWE just doesn’t consistently give him enough of.

I’m not necessarily saying this gives me any hope of the WWE actually respecting Punk’s title reign enough to give him a solid streak of wins in a row. But for at least one night, he was booked in a really good match that started off RAW very well and gave him a little momentum as we edge closer to the Unforgiven Championship Scramble.

• Great emotion in Shawn Michaels/Chris Jericho segment: While it can be accused of coming across as a bit overdramatic, I think the promo between Shawn Michaels and Chris Jericho on Monday took thinks to a new emotional level. These guys want to destroy each other and do it for their own legacies and their families.

Michaels made a live appearance on RAW and made his way down to the ring. He told the crowd that his wife is hurt from what Jericho did at SummerSlam, but that she’s tough. And it’s what he sees in wife after being punched, in combination with a lack of remorse from Jericho in his promo last week, that told Michaels he couldn’t leave wrestling yet.

Jericho interrupted and appeared on the Tron, as he wasn’t live in the arena but was at the WWE Studios instead. In his eyes, this was lucky for Michaels because everybody was afraid of what he would do to Shawn had he been in the arena. Jericho claims that Michaels is trying to get him into a match solely to file a suit against Jericho and the WWE, but Michaels retorts by pleading for a match at Unforgiven with no rules and no liabilities – he doesn’t want anybody to be responsible for what he’s going to do to Jericho. After Jericho takes another stab at Michaels’ wife, HBK says Rebecca is tougher than Jericho, which prompts Jericho to accept. And Michaels is not looking for a pin; just an eye for an eye.

This has been a hot feud for some time, and I really think it got kicked up another notch with this segment. It already had a personal flair to it. But instead of Jericho appearing to try and prove something against Michaels in their previous encounters, now Michaels tries to bring Jericho down off his pedestal. The roles have been reversed. And while I don’t anticipate the good wrestling we’re accustomed to seeing from these two get thrown out the window at Unforgiven, I’m sure there will be plenty of hardcore spots when they square off in two weeks.

• Cryme Tyme gets their title shot for Unforgiven: After the World Tag Team Champions (sans belts) Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase defeated the team of Jerry “The King” Lawler and “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan they were supposed to fight about four weeks ago, they cut a promo against Cryme Tyme that was met with a response.

Rhodes said that stealing their tag belts last week was a crime and that championships can’t be stolen – you win them. Cryme Tyme’s music hit and JTG and Shad were in the cheap seats (or what actually appeared to be a luxury box, which aren’t so cheap.) They claimed to borrow the titles so that Rhodes and DiBiase would put them on the line. After some more jabbering, DiBiase agreed to give Cryme Tyme a title match at Unforgiven and that it will be priceless. Cryme Tyme didn’t quite agree with the priceless part, since it’s all about the money, yeah yeah …

For weeks I’ve been calling for Rhodes and DiBiase to get feuding with Cryme Tyme, and it’s in full swing now. We’ve got a match set up for two weeks, and hopefully these two tag teams will go at each other for a couple of PPVs beyond Unforgiven. After all, the tag division on RAW behind those two teams is rather thin, so it makes sense to have them feud until another noteworthy team comes along.

THE BAD

• Batista vs. Kane bombed: I tried to lower my expectations for RAW’s main event between Kane and Batista because I knew it would be a pretty slow-paced brawl. But goodness was the match bad. I became completely disinterested in it at points and there was just little to no excitement throughout.

Granted, I realize the entire purpose of this match was to further the connection between Batista and Kane revolving around Rey Mysterio while building up for the Championship Scramble at Unforgiven. And those two purposes were served, especially with both men coming out at the end a little worse for wear. But the offense from both men was awful and it’s too bad that this anchored what was otherwise a pretty good RAW.

• Primo Colon’s debut vs. Charlito: This match was bad on two levels. For starters, Primo Colon had a rather less-than-enthralling WWE debut and Charlie Haas was forced into partaking in a dumb gimmick rather than come out as the decent wrestler than he is.

On RAW, Primo, the brother of Carlito, stepped into the ring for his debut against the former half of The World’s Greatest Tag Team, who got dressed up like Carlito. The match was nothing special and Primo didn’t come across as a future stud with the company.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not passing judgment on the kid based on one match and I’m not saying he was a disaster in his debut. Primo was okay. But, he’s going to have to quicken things up inside the ring and develop a broader variety of moves in order to at least reasonably get on the midcard. It’s one match, though, so I’ll give him some time.

As for Charlit…, I mean Charlie Hass; the WWE should just give him his release and go their separate ways. The company isn’t using him effectively and it’s sad that a man with a decent amount of potential is now resorting to dressing up and jobbing to newbies.

THE IN-THE-MIDDLE

• Replacing Cena with Mysterio in Championship Scramble: The WWE was placed in a little bit of a bind. At SummerSlam, John Cena apparently suffered a herniated disk in his match against Batista and will be out indefinitely with the injury. Because of this, his spot in the Championship Scramble at Unforgiven was vacant. General manager Mike Adamle named a replacement to fill that fifth position and it is Rey Mysterio.

The match was definitely better and had more possible outcomes with Cena. There’s no way Mysterio is winning the belt in his first match back, especially when he’s going to start a program with Kane. With Cena, it was possible he could step away as champion.

Now, I can really only envision three scenarios, of which only two seem realistic to me. CM Punk could retain the belt. But since he already got one big PPV win more than I figured the WWE would give him as champion, and Triple H should retain the WWE Championship in the Smackdown Championship Scramble, I doubt Punk’s reign with the belt will continue much longer. That leaves Batista and JBL as the possible winners. And while Batista winning would be popular considering the circumstances, placing the gold around JBL just seems like a move the WWE would make. He gives the brand a heel champion and some experience wearing the strap with several opponents on the horizon. I don’t like it. But it seems like a greater possibility now with Cena on the shelf and out of this match.

• Beth Phoenix gets busted up against Kelly Kelly: As Kelly Kelly continues to improve her in-ring skill, it’s nice that she gets to face the same opponent every week to build some chemistry and be comfortable with trying new things out. And I think she did an admirable job against Beth Phoenix again this week. Is she still a bit rough? Yes. But she’s getting better.

Unfortunately, for as good as this match started, it turned bad once Phoenix got her nose busted courtesy of a kick. For the remainder of the match, Phoenix kept checking her nose and seemed pre-occupied with the blood. It was definitely a distraction for her and it showed.

The match ended with Santino Marella pulling Phoenix out of the corner to avoid a handspring elbow, which annoyed Phoenix and allowed an opening for Kelly to pull out a rollup and score the pinfall victory.

Phoenix was very disappointed with what Santino did and attacked him, which for a moment appeared as if this couple might be on the split just as quickly as it got together. Thankfully, things were smoothed over during Santino’s defense of the Intercontinental Title against Kofi Kingston. Phoenix came down to the ring and tripped up Kingston so that his face landed right on Santino’s knee. Santino went for the cover, got it and realized Beth was no longer angry with him. They made out in the corner and then Phoenix ordered Santino to come with her to the back.

Now, I’m just interested to see if the WWE keeps tossing the same talent toward Phoenix and Santino, or if they can find some other wrestlers on that level of the card to compete for the Women’s and IC belts. At this point, as long as Santino keeps being hilarious and Phoenix wears the pants in the relationship, either scenario the WWE goes is good for me. Keep this duo rolling!

CLOSING THOUGHTS

Relocated to a different network for the week, the WWE didn’t miss a step with RAW. We got a great match to kick off the program, saw even more emotional development in the brand’s hottest feud and got a lot of build two weeks away from Unforgiven. The Mysterio switch with Cena for the Championship Scramble is disappointing and RAW did end on a sour note with a really bad match between Kane and Batista. But overall, I think RAW delivered very nicely this week.

 From 1wrestling.com