The Raw Debrief 8/9/10

Welcome back to the Raw Debrief, I’m your host The General and I’ll be running through the final Raw before Summerslam. What’s going on with Team WWE? Is The Miz still awesome? Will Morrison actually hit a Starship Pain? Why doesn’t Evan Bourne have a push any more when he was fantastic during it? These questions answered... and more.

Bret Hart starts off Raw from Sacramento, and immediately shows his disappointment at Edge and Jericho quitting Team RAW after he vouched for them. Nexus’ momentum needs to be stopped, and right now, so he offers Jericho and Edge the opportunity to put the machine back together, and the Y2J chants start up, followed by a huge pop for him as he comes down to the ring.

To cut a long story short, Jericho says no, Edge comes out and says yes but tries to sucker punch Hart, but Hart goes for the Sharpshooter until Jericho thumbs him in the eye and both men escape. Natalya rushes down the ramp to warn Bret about the attack that’s now being shown on the Titantron of Nexus beating down The Hart Dynasty. Barrett tells them to forget about either of them being replacements in the team. Hart rushes backstage during the ads, and we come back to Cena stopping him from taking things into his own hands. He’s off to talk to Khali.

Match 1: The Miz vs. Evan Bourne

Nice opening match, The Miz is being pushed hard at the moment, but I’m enjoying it. He’s taking it in his stride, but the growing intensity is starting look a bit forced to me. Evan Bourne’s sporting a black eye from his match with Ryder on Superstars. Incidentally, the Dudebusters vs. Hawkins and Archer on that show was actually pretty good, I’d recommend it. Miz is starting to get really polished in the ring, and Bourne’s ability to sell is always impressive. Miz hits the seated turnbuckle clothesline and rakes the eye, but Bourne manages to knee his way out of a suplex, nail some kicks and lands a beautiful kind of backwards springboard hurricanrana that Miz kicks out of at 2. Miz amps it up, hits a huge clothesline and the Skull Crushing Finale for the win. Very solid match, one I’d have been happy to watch for a while longer.

Miz gets on the mic to remind us that when he’s ready he’ll be Champion, because he’s The Miz... and you get it, bit too intense this time.

Cena’s backstage talking to Khali, no Ranjin Singh in sight... I’m sure that would have been a very fluent conversation.

Match 2: Melina vs. Alicia Fox

Ah finally! I diva I can actually watch... if I turn the sound off. That scream of hers is piercing. Alicia seems to be trying to emulate Rosa Mendes’ hip sway, she’s a bit skinny for that. We’re reminded that Melina never lost the title having vacated due to injury. She looks a touch rusty but still goes for most of her usual spots, Alicia gets her in an Argentine backbreaker (I think) but Melina reverses into the Last Call Sunset Bomb. The General Manager rewards her with a title match at Summerslam, at least he had the courtesy to do it during the break so Cole doesn’t annoy us too much.

Josh is backstage talking to Khali... still no Ranjin. His affiliation is to WWE. Cracking. He has a rant in Hindi, then challenges Ved Berry to a match later tonight. Josh does a good job translating... apparently that’s Wade Barrett.

Jericho and Edge are backstage, going over how they’ve survived every big thing that happened since they started – Stone Cold, The Rock, The Alliance, Mr McMahon... so all they have to do is take out Cena and Hart and there won’t be a match at Summerslam, and they’ll be in the clear. An odd leap of logic in my view.

Morrison and Truth are actually on the same page it seems... and Mark Henry offers himself as a replacement, saying his match with Ted DiBiase is his audition. Nexus (minus Barrett) takes him out before the match, but WWE is nice enough to let us have a first look at Maryse tonight, she’ll be out later again as part of the ‘let’s flaunt our Divas’ match.

Sheamus says that he only didn’t take out Randy Orton last week because he was scared of what he’d do to him! He’s not even talking out his arse! WWE are doing a great job of making him look weak, having not actually won a title match clean. In fact, I think the only clean singles match wins he’s had since he came to Raw have been against Goldust, Evan Bourne and Jamie Noble. Please correct me if I’m wrong. He rolls a package about how good he is, then calls Randy Orton out.

Randy Orton got Kennedy fired! Or so I hear. Shame that. Doesn’t stop him being really good. He tells Sheamus he’s full of it, and last week was his opportunity to be taken seriously and blew it. The RKO chants are really loud, and Orton even accidentally cracks a smile, before reminding Sheamus that he’s never beaten him... and he never will. He’s not Triple H, and he’s certainly not John Cena (decent cheer for that). Sheamus says as long as he’s champion, once he beats Orton at Summerslam, he’ll never get another opportunity, just like John Cena. Orton offers him the chance to redeem himself for last week... they go head to head...

Bingle! And there was me thinking we could go a night without Cole annoying us. If anyone interferes in the match at Summerslam they’ll be suspended indefinitely, but if Orton loses, there will be no rematch and he’ll go back to the end of the line. He goes on to say that if Sheamus isn’t scared, the GM encourages him to do something about it.... right now. Sheamus throws a fake punch, Orton doesn’t move. Orton catches him trying to leave the ring but eats an axe handle, ducks the Brogue Kick and hits the signature backbreaker... and sets up for the punt! He stops just before the moment of impact, and the look of fear on Sheamus’ face is there for all to see. Orton rolls out of the ring and holds up the Championship. Very nice statement from Orton tonight.

Match 3: NXT Rookies’ match – McGillicutty, Riley and Harris vs. Kaval, Watson and Cannon

Watson looks good in the opening against MM. Sheamus is shown sitting in a bit of shock at ringside. A nice Enziguiri from Watson on Riley gives Kaval an opening. A nice kick and a guillotine choke from Kaval but Harris gets a blind tag. Cannon’s taken out Riley with a crossbody to the outside, letting Harris hit the running Senton for the win.

Sheamus then springs to life, Brogue Kick to Cannon, McGillicutty thrown into the security rail and a High Cross to Kaval. He gets on the mic to tell the GM that his actions were a message to him.

Match 4: R-Truth and Morrison vs. Regal and Ryder

No music for Regal or Ryder, so the obvious squash match ensues. Regal and Ryder get on top to begin with but Truth dodges the facewash boot in the turnbuckle and Morrison gets the hot tag and lands a backflip STO. Truth takes out Regal with a spinning kick, Morrison hits the Flash Kick (no longer the Chuck Kick?) and actually HITS Starship Pain! Morrison looking good today, Truth had virtually no offensive input in the match.

Match 5: Summertime Spectacular – Bella Twins vs. Eve and Gail Kim vs. Jillian and Maryse, Santino as the special referee w/ Kozlov at ringside

Everyone comes in via inflatable slide. Santino does the funniest bit... ‘Please get up!’ The divas look good... and frankly that’s all most of them should be used for. Most of them hit their finisher.

Bella Twins win by cross body.

Tamina comes down and gets a bit of sexual tension going with Santino, and slaps him on the behind.

The Summerslam Rewind is for The Mountie vs. Big Boss Man, who was a lot better in the promo than I remember. Poor Mountie...

Khali gets taken out by Nexus, who leave him clutching his knee. They continue out into the ring, Barrett says something about the impact they’re going to have. Sheffield makes a couple of mistakes talking about how they’re going to hurt them so they don’t recover. Otunga warns anyone else about joining Team WWE, after what they’ve done to The Hart Dynasty, Mark Henry and Khali tonight.

The Miz addresses the inevitable, that Cena and Hart will need him, forcing both of them to ask him to join the team. He’ll give them their answer on Sunday.

Match 6: John Cena and Bret Hart vs. Edge and Chris Jericho

Edge and Jericho just throw Cena out to Nexus at ringside, allowing them to beat him up a bit. Jericho gets thrown to the outside and Nexus give him a pass. Cena’s AA attempt is reversed into a Walls of Jericho attempt that Cena gets out of, but misses a shoulder block and rolls to the outside, takes down Barrett and gets back in the ring. Jericho accidentally takes Barrett off the apron, and Nexus turn on him. Bret Hart gets a piece of Gabriel and Jericho escapes. Nexus get into the ring as Cena and Hart are joined by Truth and Morrison. Edge and Jericho walk up the ramp, but decide better of it, get back in the ring and start the brawl, which Nexus escape from and take to the arena.

Team WWE stands united but still 1 man down in the ring as Raw closes.

Show Rating: A-

There wasn’t much not to enjoy about the show, the bad guys are back onside and Nexus look more like the underdogs again. I’m still predicting a win, mainly because The Miz looks set to be that 7^th man in the team as he’s nowhere else on the card yet, and he’s the most likely to turn on Team WWE... although at this stage it could be any of them. If Team WWE win this early I’ll be disappointed, because Survivor Series is the obvious place for this feud to come to a head. Otherwise, there were 2 divas matches that were decent for entertainment and Morrison HIT Starship Pain! Orton versus Sheamus - finally it’s a chance for Sheamus to get a clean win. He’s running out of time to look like a credible champion... his time his to be now. Finally, NXT has got to the stage where I’d be happy for any of 4 to win (i.e. not Watson or Cannon).

I’ve been The General, consider yourself debriefed.

The Raw Debrief 8/9/10

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