1Wrestling.com- The Good, The Bad, The In-The-Middle: WWE Monday Night RAW 08.18.08

A lot went down this Sunday at SummerSlam. CM Punk managed to retain the World Heavyweight Championship against John Bradshaw Layfield, new Intercontinental and Women’s Champions were crowned after Santino Marella and Beth Phoenix defeated Kofi Kingston and Mickie James in an inter-gender tag team match, the epic battle between John Cena and Batista ended with The Animal having his hand raised in victory and an encounter between Shawn Michaels and Chris Jericho left Michaels’ wife battered in the middle of the ring. The fallout of all this, including the announcement of the brand’s main event at Unforgiven, was handled this past Monday on RAW.

THE GOOD

• Jericho/Michaels feud being given some incredible build: It’s pretty unbelievable that with all that went on at SummerSlam, including CM Punk retaining the World Heavyweight Championship and Cena vs. Batista for the first time ever, the vendetta between Chris Jericho and Shawn Michaels was highlight enough to lead off RAW.

Jericho came to the ring on Monday’s opening segment to address what happened the night before at SummerSlam. At SummerSlam, Shawn Michaels came down to the ring in what appeared to be a retirement announcement. With his wife, Rebecca, by his side, “The Heartbreak Kid” was finally going to listen to doctors and hang up the wrestling gear. Jericho didn’t want Michaels to go out like that, though. He wanted to Michaels to let it be known that the reason Michaels was leaving was because Jericho forced him into retirement. Michaels retorted by saying Jericho would never be Shawn Michaels. It was then that Rebecca pulled for Michaels to walk away. As he did, Jericho unloaded with a punch that missed a ducking HBK and landed right on the face of his wife.

1wrestling.com – The Good, The Bad, The In-The-Middle: WWE Monday Night RAW 08.04.08

Shane McMahon’s announcement last week of Mike Adamle being named the new general manager on RAW sent shockwaves through the entire wrestling universe. The decision to make Adamle the head of RAW was questionable, at best. However, a strong possibility existed that viewers would tune in anyway despite skepticism just to see exactly how bad, or perhaps surprisingly good, Adamle would turn out in his new role.

 

THE GOOD

 

Intermingled Intercontinental and Women’s Championships picture: Plenty of development took place with both the Intercontinental Title and Women’s Championship picture on RAW. Kofi Kingston and Mickie James were scheduled to defend their respective belts against their current rivals, Paul Burchill and Katie Lea, in two singles matches.

 

Kingston defended the IC belt first against Burchill in a good match between the two wrestlers. There was some solid action and little interference on the part of Katie Lea. Kingston retained the title after hitting Trouble in Paradise on Burchill and covering for the 1-2-3. Following his win, Katie Lea entered the ring and got in Kofi’s face. She attempted to distract the IC champ, but he moved out of the way when Burchill, who went sailing out of the ring, charged at him.