1wrestling.com- The Good, The Bad, The In-The-Middle: WWE Monday Night RAW 09.01.08

Back on its normal station, the USA Network, the WWE presented the last edition of Monday Night RAW before Unforgiven on Sunday. Among the highlights were two battle royals involving Championship Scramble participants, an appearance from a currently injured former WWE Champion, and a contract signing between Chris Jericho and Shawn Michaels for their Unsanctioned Match scheduled for this Sunday.

THE GOOD

• Randy Orton shows his face: I can’t say I really respect Randy Orton and his actions outside of the ring very much. But, I will happily admit that his appearance on RAW definitely lifted the level of the show several notches. He’s been out of action since suffering a broken collarbone in his match against Triple H at One Night Stand in June. And while he had been working toward his comeback, Orton re-injured himself courtesy of a motorcycle accident that added three months to his time on the disabled list, according to WWE.com. So, a special appearance by the former champion was not only a surprise, but it gave the company an ability to showcase one of its top guys and best heels.

Orton opened up the program with a rant against the brand’s current crop of champions. He claimed that a brand’s status is defined by its champions, and that the group of title holders on RAW was giving a bad representation. He was especially hard on C.M. Punk not only for the manner in which he obtained the World Heavyweight Championship, but also for his “no-name” status before entering the WWE.

This didn’t sit well with Punk, who came to the ring to respond face-to-face with “The Legend Killer.” He knocked Orton’s road to the WWE being paved by his family lineage and mocked Orton re-injuring himself. He also considered Orton jealous of his title reign, as Punk made no bones about the fact that he was champion regardless of how the title was won. They both agreed that the conversation needed to continue at a later time, since Punk had a battle royal to prepare for and Orton was still unable to go after the World Heavyweight Title because of his injury.

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.

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.