The Raw Debrief 23/8/10

The Raw Debrief 23/8/10

Welcome, one and all, to the Raw Debrief. The Summerslam fallout’s already pretty much happened... and Night of Champions is a while away, so this is going to be the show that sets the tone heading towards the next PPV – Night of Champions. The questions are many, and the answers aren’t entirely clear, as things could easily go in any direction. Sheamus could start becoming the dominant powerhouse champion I’d like him to be, Orton could continue his meteoric rise to the top of the business by taking the championship, or it could be someone completely new that starts taking the spotlight. Ok, so that last one’s a bit far-fetched... but given tonight’s eventual main event it could have happened.

Sheamus comes out while we’re reminded about Randy Orton’s destruction of him with a chair last week. He immediately rants about how spoilt American kids are, wanders out to the crowd and insults 3 kids on the front row, then compares them to Orton. Sheamus promises to burst the bubble of those who chanted ‘RKO’ as he was hit with a chair again and again, and says Orton should be put in prison and never get a chance at his title again (again).

Bingle! Sheamus is going to be rewarded for his ability to hold on to his championship, and a throne is brought out, so Sheamus can choose who has impressed him the most to be his opponent at Night of Champions. The first match is now.

Match 1: Edge vs. R-Truth

Cole talks over Truth’s entrance again. Truth clotheslines Edge out of the ring following a headscissors, but misses a crossbody and Edge does a bit of damage on the outside before throwing Truth inside and hitting a running crossbody while Truth’s neck is on the ropes. Truth does an unnecessary splits and misses a calf kick, Edge hits the Edge O’Matic and sets up for the spear that Truth leaps over, misses the corkscrew scissor kick and gets hit with a spear.

Edge tells Sheamus that until he beats him (the man who led team Raw to victory at Summerslam) he hasn’t beaten anybody. This is the point where I mention that Sheamus hasn’t had a clean win over ANYONE.

Package for “Dashing” Cody Rhodes in Warehouse 13, and for the Shanghai shows.

Sheamus looks really daft in that cheap throne.

Match 2: The Great Khali vs. Chris Jericho

We’re reminded of Khali’s knee injury, just to offer the mitigating circumstances for when he loses. Khali dominates early, but Jericho goes for the knee following a missed leg drop. Khali goes for a desperation vice grip but Jericho escapes, goes for a Codebreaker and gets dumped on his back. Khali continues to look ungainly, misses a big boot and Jericho takes him out at the knee, locks in the Walls of Jericho and Khali taps out.

This time it’s Jericho with the mic, pushing his case for a title shot at Night of Champions. Khali swats him off the top rope when he’s finished.

Recap of Bryan vs. Tarver and the Miz/Riley fallout, leading into Matthews interviewing Cena, who insists that he doesn’t regret choosing Bryan over The Miz, who has an attitude problem... it’s time for an Attitude Adjustment.

Match 3: Jillian vs. Melina – Diva’s Championship

Jillian’s rendition of Eminem’s ‘Not Afraid’ is interrupted, thankfully. Not a bad match, for the diva’s, plenty of reversals and lots of Melina apparently not having any bones. Jillian surfs on her back at one stage. There’s plenty of screaming, and the loudest comes either when Jillian goes for (and misses) a second rope leg drop to set up the probably winner of the screaming contest with Melina’s Last Call. The Diva’s division certainly needed Melina back...

Laycool say they’re going to be at the 900^th episode of Raw on the Titantron. Great.

Josh interviews Miz, who’s on fire again. He responds to the accusation that he nearly cost Team WWE the victory by saying the moment Cena chose Bryan over him HE put the team at risk. He could have taken the title from Sheamus after Orton destroyed him at Summerslam, but Miz’s focus was on Team WWE. The very least Cena could have done was talk to him backstage about it, but Cena chose to embarrass him... so tonight he’s going to beat him to show him that his actions do have consequences. He also doesn’t expect Sheamus to pick him tonight, but that doesn’t matter because he can pick Sheamus off any time he wants.

Nexus come out (Sheffield included – I thought he’d broken his leg?) and...

Bingle! (2) Honestly Cole, you don’t have to announce you’ve got another email from the GM... the noise is enough. The ban on Nexus having a title opportunity is lifted. Barrett tells Sheamus that their truce is over, and Sheamus looks shellshocked... on his throne.

Match 4: The Miz vs. John Cena

The beauty of Miz’s promo earlier is that it was entirely believable. He’s portrayed himself as entirely selfish, but you can completely understand where he’s coming from when he wants to get revenge on Cena for being embarrassed by him. Standard Cena match start, he gets completely dominated, with no offence for the first minute, but for a change he actually gets some momentum with a side slam, until he runs shoulder first into the ringpost. They trade momentum for a little while, until Miz takes Cena down from the top. Back from ads and Miz wraps himself around Cena in a sleeper hold, turns a bulldog into a throw and hits some hard strikes, a guillotine and his seated turnbuckle clothesline (interspersed with 2 counts) but misses a second attempt. Shoulder, shoulder, sitout powerbomb, 5 knuckle shuffle and an Attitude Adjustment attempt reversed into the back-neckbreaker combo. Miz looks for the SCF but Cena rolls through and locks in the STF but Miz gets to the bottom rope. It’s been a good match so far, Cena’s actually had some offence for a change, and because of the push Miz has been getting it’s not 100% certain Cena will win...

Miz goes for the SCF again, reversed into the AA, but Miz escapes over the top rope and stares down Cena, only to be taken out from behind by Daniel Bryan (for the DQ win for Miz). Bryan throws him back into the ring for an Attitude Adjustment, followed by a Crossface from Bryan that sees Miz tap instantly. The referees come down and finally pull him off.

Match 5: Santino Marella and Kozlov vs. The Usos (w/ Tamina + heels + skirt)

So... Tamina and Santion huh? Santino sets up the Cobra early. Nice to have a little bit of a comedy element back in the show, I reckon. King brings up Santino’s record with the ladies... it really isn’t that bad, if you like the more intimidating women. Santino holds his own for a little while, but gets the hot tag to Kozlov, who’d been playing cheerleader on the apron. An Oklahoma Slam gets a 2 count that’s broken up by one of the Usos, but Santino clothesline the one that interrupted over the top rope. Superkick to the stomach of Santino but Kozlov stops the second superkick to him, lifts him and hits the Iron Curtain for the win.

Tamina protects Santino after the match, and blows Santino a kiss afterwards. Kozlov looks kind of impressed, while Santino holds his face.

Match 6: Randy Orton vs. John Morrison vs. Ted DiBiase (w/ yellow Maryse)

I want to be DiBiase... being allowed to check out Maryse at will is a very fair price to pay for having absolutely no push since Legacy split. The beard’s still alive and well for Morrison, and Sheamus disappears when Orton turns up.

Morrison hits a Flash (I guess Chuck threatened to sue, or maybe looked at Morrison) Kick on DiBiase on the outside, and a kip up calf kick to Orton, but DiBiase intervenes and sends him to the outside and kicks a seated Orton in the face, followed by a Confusion Clothesline to Orton and a Knee-neckbreaker to Morrison. DiBiase looking good in this match. Morrison hits a jawbreaker and Orton hits consecutive snap powerslams and starts flailing a bit... Rope drop DDT on DiBiase after dodging a Flash Kick. RKO attempt on DiBiase is pushed into a spinning calf kick from Morrison, who’s given a low bridge by DiBiase. Dream Street attempt on Orton but he’s pushed to the outside. Morrison goes for a springboard... never mind – RKO for the win. And another one to DiBiase for added emphasis.

The question remains though... how much longer can you push him without giving him a title?

Sheamus picks Zack Ryder and says the match will be tonight

Match 7: Sheamus vs. Zack Ryder – WWE Championship

Brogue Kick.

So apparently Zack Ryder is absolutely bottom of the pile on Raw at the moment.

Sheamus says he doesn’t have to face anyone for the title for another 30 days, meaning he doesn’t have to defend his title at Night of Champions, until Barrett comes out to interrupt. Barrett still has a title shot at the PPV of his choice because he won NXT season 1.

Bingle! It’s going to be a 6 pack challenge – so it’ll be Sheamus, Barrett, Jericho, Edge, Orton and Cena. They surround Sheamus, who cleverly puts Barrett in the middle of the circle instead. Beatdown ensues and Cena throws him out of the ring. Codebreaker to Sheamus. Spear to Jericho. Attitude Adjustment to Edge. RKO to Cena to leave Orton triumphant once again to round out the show.

Show Rating: A-

Good show but the Sheamus – Ryder thing just took away from all the hard work and solid matches that went before it. Ryder’s just been completely buried by that match, and he’s not THAT bad, he deserved at least to have some token offence in the match. I did enjoy the Santino-Tamina bit, and they actually looked like a decent team with some good chemistry, very surprising. It was also useful to have a non-Nexus-centric show. The triple threat was very well done, fast paced and just seemed to be spot after spot, and it was quality almost from beginning to end. I’d be surprised if the 6 pack challenge counts as Barrett’s only attempt at a title shot from his NXT win. It seems a bit harsh to make him have a 6-pack challenge where there’s likely to be someone else they’d rather push... though stranger things have happened, he could end up winning it. That would certainly inject some new life into the Nexus storyline!

I’ve been The General, consider yourself debriefed.

The Raw Debrief 23/8/10

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