On Tuesday, August 14, 2007 at 12:15 AM EST WWE RAW
August 13, 2007
New York, NY
Commentators: Jim Ross & Jerry “The King” Lawler
Sorry about there not being any play by play guys. The residence is under some pretty wild construction and they knocked out the cable. Here’s the WWE.com results with my usual stuff. Play by play will be back next week! Thanks for you patience!
Rhodes keeps on rolling
By Greg Adkins
August 13, 2007
Results courtesy of WWE.com
NEW YORK – Cody Rhodes continued to impress our fans and to make legendary papa proud in his Madison Square Garden debut Monday night on Raw. Competing in his first match ever at The Garden, where his father Dusty Rhodes had many classic battles, Cody took down one-half of The Self-Proclaimed World’s Greatest Tag Team, Charlie Haas.
It seems Jonathan Coachman’s threat three weeks ago to kick Cody off of Raw if he failed to win has lit a fire under the young gun. As Haas’ partner, Shelton Benjamin, watched from ringside, Rhodes showed glimpses of his father’s greatness as he was able to escape multiple near pinfalls. After getting caught in Haas’ grasp again with seemingly little hope of escape, Rhodes executed a flawless Reverse Cradle that flipped a stunned Haas onto his back for the three-count. After Cody’s victory, Haas’s tag-team partner Benjamin shot into the ring to exact a measure of revenge. However, young Rhodes thought better of tangling against the two and wisely shot through the ring ropes to fight another day. The future continues to look bright for the son of the son of a plumber.
Also on Raw, the night started off promising enough for Mr. McMahon despite the ongoing controversy raging over the paternity suit alleging that he sired an illegitimate child. He entered the ring surrounded by the seemingly warm glow of dozens of WWE Superstars, apparently there to show their support for the Chairman.
Unfortunately for Mr. McMahon’s his Kumbaya moment was short-lived. After thanking his Superstars for their encouragement, his daughter Stephanie climbed into the ring and brought family dysfunction to a new level. She announced the shocking revelation that her father’s illegitimate child is actually, that’s right, a WWE Superstar!
Executive Assistant Jonathan Coachman immediately went into detective mode, quizzing Mr. McMahon about the dates and locations of his sexual indiscretions over the years in an attempt to narrow the field of potential offspring. Coachman assured the Chairman that he would use all the juicy details to uncover which Superstar was most likely the illegitimate child in time for Saturday Night’s Main Event. The answer couldn’t come soon enough. As Coachman scribbled notes, Mr. McMahon waxed nostalgic about his decades of sexual conquests. Unfortunately for the Chairman, his wife Linda walked up behind him as he unwittingly began to recount one sordid tale involving two “smokin’ hot” flight attendants. After Mr. McMahon turned to find his wife glaring at him, the Missus shook her head and promptly informed him that he no longer had a home. Ouch!
In other developments, WWE Champion John Cena was forced to share a corner with unlikely tag team partner Umaga to face off against the brash twosome of Randy Orton & Carlito. The WWE Champion, who will face Orton at SummerSlam, charged into the ring despite the numerous land mines that awaited him. With the Samoan Bulldozer (and frequent rival) as his partner, Cena knew that things could turn 3-on-1 ugly, and fast. But he managed to battle Orton and the Caribbean Stud for most of the match before just barely reaching Umaga for the tag. That’s when the Samoan terror entered the ring for maximum impact, manhandling both of his opponents by repeatedly slapping them down to the mat, eventually forcing Carlito into the crushing arms of the WWE Champion, who took glee in slamming the apple-spewing Superstar with an FU to end the match.
And in what was supposed to be King Booker’s crowning achievement, the night of his Royal Coronation, the egotistical monarch found himself cut down to size. After having defeated Jerry “The King” Lawler last week, Booker expected to have Lawler rest a crown atop his head. But it wasn’t meant to be. Instead, Lawler informed his bewildered opponent, and his equally confused wife, Queen Sharmell that Raw General Manager William Regal had arranged a match at SummerSlam between King Booker and the King of Kings, the returning Triple H.
Enraged by this turn of events, the former World Champion took his considerable anger out on Lawler, pummeling the Memphis legend with a television monitor and leaving him crumpled on the floor to be attended to by medics.
In other Raw skirmishes, the oh-so-proud-of-himself Mr. Kennedy entered the ring and latched onto his trademark microphone to announce his arrival in his match against Sandman only to be stopped in mid-syllable by the strains of the ECW Original’s music. Sandman tested Kennedy, but had his hands full with the Green Bay, Wis. Grappler. Kennedy, brimming with confidence since sidelining the mighty Bobby Lashley, rattled Sandman’s jaw with a swift kick to the face, and ultimately rolled his opponent over for the three-count and the victory.
World Tag Team Champions Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch took on their upstart rivals Cryme Tyme in a non-title match. The entrepreneurial duo from Brooklyn pumped up the hometown crowd, even auctioning off Lilian Garcia’s seat for $1,000. The two teams were equally matched until JTG and Shad were disqualified for grabbing the chair they had auctioned off to wield against their opponents in the ring to combat illegal double-teaming by the rednecks.
Meanwhile, Regal continued his love affair with television game shows, this week donning a tight, black shirt in honor of fellow Brit, Simon Cowell. Regal staged a version of WWE Idol, complete with guest judges Maria and the melodious Mick Foley. In honor of their location near Broadway, Diva Jillian Hall showered the capacity crowd with her cringe-worthy version of the classic “Memories.”
Then, WWE Hall of Famers Nikolai Volkoff and the Iron Sheik threw their respective hats in the ring with Volkoff crooning his native Russia’s national anthem. WWE announcer Lilian Garcia, whose new album debuts this fall, graced the audience with her rendition of hometown favorite “New York, New York” until she was interrupted by Santino Marella. The lovelorn Italian cut off Garcia so that he might serenade his lovely Maria with a butchered version of “That’s Amore.” It didn’t take long for Ron Simmons to strut onto the stage to silence Marella the hard way. This earned Simmons such gratitude from Regal that he was automatically named the winner of WWE Idol.
Snitsky, who made quick work of the Highlanders’ Rory McAllister last week, didn’t play any favorites on Monday night. The unpredictable giant disposed Rory’s cousin Robbie just as decisively in well under a minute. The yellow-toothed ogre has looked indestructible for months, and his victories over the formidable Highlanders only shows he is a true force to be reckoned with.RAW THOUGHTSShow Thoughts-- Given the fact that the Saturday Night’s Main Event tapings were tonight, it wasn’t a big surprise that most of Raw was sort of a throwaway. Even with a New York City crowd, you kind of had to figure it heading in. The last quarter of the show was white hot though with Booker really riling the crowd up and a really great tag match to end the show.
King Booker is no longer the most enjoyable character on the show because of his humor, it’s almost entirely because he’s flat out just an abso-freakin’-loutely sensational heel. He plays this whole slightly insane, slightly bi-polar King gimmick so incredibly well. EVERYTHING he said tonight got absolutely crapped on (in a good way) by the crowd. The facial expression after hearing that he’d face Triple H at Summerslam is why I love wrestling. He looked like he was so furious, yet he wanted to cry like a four year old. Even the guy’s EYES WERE RED. Just awesome. The Jerome beat-down after that just set everything off on the right foot.
The tag match was simply one of the best tag matches I’ve seen in the WWE in some time. I love tag wrestling when there are roles and everyone really played theirs to the ‘t’ tonight. Umaga was a the unstoppable monster and dominated everyone all the time, but wasn’t the most valuable partner, as he didn’t ‘understand’ what was going on, which makes sense if you’re a savage. He sat on the apron and never ONCE extended his hand. He looked so lost, that he awesomely got all akward on the hot tag, selling the gimmick even more. Then he killed people. Umaga was great.
Carlito was a slightly more pip-squeaky version of Tully Blanchard tonight. Carlito was REALLY in above his head and virtually all the segments with Cena he almost costs his team the match simply because he’s just out of his league. The only way he DOESN’T blow the lead is by cheating his a$$ off. He played the heel stooge roll well tonight.
The Cena-Orton dynamic is pretty awesome but if you’re not watching closely you’ll miss it. Anyone notice how Orton pretty much DOMINATED Cena during the whole match? Orton, in fact, almost single handedly won the match on his own. Only because he miss-timed a spot and Cena got the tag and dumped him to the floor did his team lose.
Cena on the other hand, is jumping around after the match like he won something. He squashed a CLEARLY inferior Carlito but was pretty much decimated by Orton. I love how Cena’s heads are totally in the clouds right now and doesn’t really ‘get it’, that Orton’s a storm he might not be able to fend off.
It’s just a cool dynamic.
The rest of the show was what it was. The opening segment with McMahon was pretty good especially now that this is going to be a vehicle to push another wrestler. I’m really interested in where they take it.
The WWE Idol stuff was pretty lame this week. I do like that they’re heading SOMEWHERE with the Maria-Marella angle, but the humor didn’t come close to clicking like it did last week.
The rest of the show just was what it was.
Cody really looks green in there and needs to get the cocky look off his kisser if he wants to be a baby face. Oh yeah, and didn’t his father get his head kicked in a few weeks ago?
The crowd looks dead for Snitsky. Just dead. It’s a shame too, because I really think Snitsky had a niche in the mid card and WWE blew it. He wasn’t ever main event material, but could have been a very funny mid card big man act had they chosen to go with it.
Overall, this show was pretty bleh if it weren’t for the awesome last quarter of the show. Ending on a good note is what’s important though, so it’s hard to really hammer these guys, especially considering the fact that Saturday Night’s Main Event is also taped tonight. Good enough for what it was worth.
Overall Grade: B-
Quick Results
Mr. Kennedy def. The Sandman
Cade & Murdoch def. Cryme Tyme
Snitsky def. Robby McAllister
Cody Rhodes def. Charlie Haas
John Cena & Umaga def. Randy Orton & Carlito
Who’s Hot, Who’s Not?
Biggest Pops
1. Mr. Kennedy
2. John Cena
3. Umaga
4. Cryme Tyme
Most Heat
1. King Booker
2. Randy Orton
3. Mr. McMahon
4. Mr. Kennedy
Match of the Night: John Cena & Umaga v. Randy Orton & Carlito ***
Power Rankings5 Points= Title Win
4 Points= World Title defense/win
3 Points= Singles PPV Win
2 Points= Tag PPV Win
2 Points= TV Singles Win
1 Point= TV Tag Win
0 Points= Loss
WWE Champion: John Cena (22-8-1, 59 points) (Last Week: WWE Champion)— Another good head-in-the-clouds performance from Cena this week. Nothing super spectacular by his standards, but still pretty good.
Intercontinental Champion: Umaga 19-11-1, 41 Points (Last Week: IC Champion) — Good start to the face turn. The crowd digs him and he spaced his offence into short bursts which worked well. Man, does this guy play this gimmick well.
1. Randy Orton 12-17-2 28pts. (Last Week: 1) -- Sure he loses, but comes away still looking stronger than Cena, IMO, at least once you dig between the surface. Between all the promo videos, it’s pretty obvious Cena doesn’t see what’s coming. I like the subtlety of this whole angle.
2. King Booker 3-4, 5 pts. (Last Week: 2) -- No wins or losses for Booker. Just an incredible heel segment yet again. Another day with the court for the king.
3. Carlito 12-12-3, 21 pts. (Last Week: 3) — Sure, he lost, but really, I can’t find it in me to drop him as he really wrestled the best I’ve seen him wrestle in a while. He’s got some great stuff in there, but he really needs to be with guys way better than him who can bring it out. Carlito does the stooge thing well and with three dominant guys like Cena, Umaga and Orton around him, it highlighted that even more, and made his character effective tonight. Good stuff.
4. Ken Kennedy 3-3, 6 pts (Last Week: 5) — Kennedy picks up more or less a throwaway win over Sandman, but it’s still a win. This guy’s push is going to be big this fall. He’s just killing time right now.
5. Jeff Hardy 24-11, 45 points (Last Week: 4) — SUSPENDED
6. Snitsky 4-0, 8pts. (Last Week: 6) — I just can’t put a guy with this little heat in the top five. He’s really beaten no one and the character’s just not over. His record will keep him here for now, but I can’t justify putting him any higher for now.
7. Trevor Murdoch 7-11, 12pts. (Last Week: 8) -- It’s nights like these that I really wish WWE’d take the time to build up some tag team heat and let these guys jump on the mic. Honestly. It doesn’t have to be on pay per view to mean something and when you more or less have an hour and fifteen to kill, you might as well throw the tag champs on there and have them do a little more. A good performance from these guys tonight, but I’d like to see more of them.
8. Lance Cade 6-10, 10pts. (Last Week: 9) -- Same here.
9. Cody Rhodes 2-2, 4pts. (Last Week: NR)-- Cody cracks the top ten for the first time in his career.
10. William Regal 3-1, 5pts (Last Week: 7) -- I’m not exactly overwhelmed with Regal’s performance tonight, but really, any excuse to keep him in the top ten at this point is okay with me. No one /* is really doing much of anything top-10 worthy.
OTHERS :
Santino Marella 5-5, 13pts. (Last Week: NR)
Shawn Michaels 10-7-1, 19 points (Last Week: INJURED)
Super Crazy 4-7-1, 7 points (Last Week: NR)
Shelton Benjamin 2-10-1, 2pts. (Last Week: NR)
Charlie Haas 2-9-1, 1pts. (Last Week: NR)
Rory 0-5, 0pts. (Last Week: NR)
Robbie 0-7 0pts. (Last Week: NR)
JTG 5-6, 6pts. (Last Week: NR)
Big Shad 4-6, 4pts. (Last Week: NR)
Jim Duggan 0-4, 0pts. (Last Week: NR)
Val Venis 0-3 0pts. (Last Week: NR)
Triple H 2-0, 4pts (Last Week: INJURED)
The Sandman 1-5, 2pts. (Last Week: NR)
Daivari 0-2, 0pts. (Last Week: NR)
Mick Foley 0-1-1, 0 pts. (Last Week: NR)
Brian Kendrick 1-1, 1pt. (Last Week: NR)
Sgt. Slaughter 0-2. 0 pts. (Last Week: NR)
Paul London 2-1, 3pts. (Last Week: NR)
Bobby Lashley 3-4 5pts. (Last Week: 10 INJURED)