RAW has been kicking ass lately. The plots have been thicker, the writing better, and the action more over the top. Guys like Kofi Kingston and occasionally the now solo Paul London have been adding that high flying attitude that RAW has been missing leading up to the draft. Rey Mysterio should be in there somewhere, but we've seen him like... what now? Twice?
This Santino/Beth Phoenix lovers angle is hilarious. I haven't laughed that hard at WWE in a LONG time. Santino is the acclimate performer right now. He's skilled in the ring, but at the same time great on the mic and had excellent comedic timing. He's always funny, but last night, with Beth Phoenix, I was almost to tears I was laughing so hard.
Michael Cole got his ass kicked. It was supposed to be Jerry Lawler and Hacksaw Jim Duggan against the World Tag Team Champs, with the straps on the line, but at the last minute a referee ran in with a note from the new GM that replaced Hacksaw with Michael Cole. King got taken out of the match, and Michael Cole got clobbered by Cody Rhodes. So Michael Cole was out for the rest of the show, and that's always good. Though they did bring out Mike Adamle to fill in, and that's always bad. Mike Adamle is a moron.
Earlier in the night Shane McMahon said we would see CM Punk squaring off against one of the most technical free agents in the business, and that turned out to be William Regal making his return, in a weird singlet. Though no mention of him being KOTR and only a quick mention of him being GM before. Punk won, but not before William Regal broke his nose accidentally. Cheers to Regal!
Mickie James won against the ugly blond who sings a lot. I can't remember her name, because this is usually when I go take my evening #2. Katie Lea jumped Mickie at the end though, and demanded a shot at Summerslam.
Out next was Jericho for the Final Highlight Reel. Jericho played a couple of his old funny clips, and said the true career he ended was not HBK... it was Y2J. Jericho said we could all say goodbye to Y2J and the old Chris Jericho. He demanded a shot at CM Punk's title, and told Shawn Michaels to stay home and get some rest.
JR is now coming to ringside, and he says "I don't know why I'm here, I should be on my way to Hershey, Pennsylvania for Smackdown. I was told to be here." King and Adamle don't know either. Mike Adamle keeps insisting he was told to be there too, and it's obvious he would have to replace Michael Cole.
Promo airs saying Shawn Michaels will be live via satellite next week. WWE jumping the shark yet again.
At this point, I was expecting we're gonna get a good Summerslam WHT match. You have 6 guys wanting it. CM Punk has it, Batista, Cena, Kane, JBL, and now Jericho all wants shots. The HITC is already going to be hanging over the ring at Summerslam, so they can't do an Elimination Chamber, so I think they might do a 6-man HITC.
Boy was I wrong.
Big mainevent, Cena and Batista beat JBL and Kane in a tag team match. I bet those guys were tired since they practically had the same match, a couple hours earlier when they pretaped the SNME show.
It's 11:15 and here comes Shane McMahon to introduce the new RAW GM. I'm hoping and praying for Bischoff................... but no.
On camera we didn't see who got up and climbed in to the ring, but as Shane McMahon looked to the back to introduce the GM, we all waited, and when no one came out, Shane turned to the ring and said "Your new RAW General Manager is..." the camera pans to the ring to see who's standing behind Cena and Batista.... "MIKE ADAMLE!"
WHAT?!MIKE ADAMLE?!
WHAT?!
Cena and Batista look legitimately shocked, with Cena even laughing at one point and saying "is this a joke?" I wish it was a joke... but no... it looks like Mike Adamle is the new RAW GM.
.... and just when RAW was getting so good.
