[Sparty]

First off: GO ADAMLE, GO!

Santino is fucking awesome. Adamle as GM rules. His opening promo was great and the "Adamle Original" is a neat concept. I cannot wait for him to confront Kane next week. That will be epic.

While the strange bedfellows tag champs thing is played out in general, getting the titles back on DiBiase/Rhodes by beating those two is good.

Regal/Noble = Good shit.

Jericho in tights = WTF.

And I love how the WWE Championship and World Heavyweight Championship matches are playing second fiddle to an absolutely HUGE Hell in a Cell match between The Undertaker and Edge. That should and appears to be the main event of SummerSlam. I approve.

Good show overall, in my estimation.

[Riot Act]

I have to say that I'm signficantly less inclined to order SS now that I know there won't be a Michaels/Jericho blow-off match.

[Moosehead Jack]

I absolutely HATED the end. There was no reason at all to put the titles on Cena and Batista. Just really lazy booking and kind of ruined the whole night for me.

[Tommy]

Aug 5, 2008 7:45:43 GMT -5 Moosehead Jack said:

I absolutely HATED the end. There was no reason at all to put the titles on Cena and Batista. Just really lazy booking and kind of ruined the whole night for me.

THAT ruined the night for you?

[Moosehead Jack]

The show actually didn't bother me THAT much to that point. Adamle was fine as the new GM, Santino and Beth were gold as usual, I wasn't thrilled about Burchill getting squashed, but the E is intent on pushing Coffee. Even Kane's crap was kept short. The evening was rolling along just fine, and RAW would have got a solid "meh" from me, then they had to do the laziest thing imaginable at the end. Yeah it kinda ruined the whole night for me

[Concrete TG]

I wasn't terribly keen on the end either - they just did this last year with Cena and Michaels, there's plenty enough friction between the two without the tag belts in hand. Dibiase and Rhodes could have retained by shady means without making Cena or Batista look week - just not on the same page. Those two should have been brawling to close the show instead of "Anything you can do, I can do louder".

Adamle intrigues me as GM. I liked the concept of the Punk/JBL/Jericho match, I just wasn't terribly keen about the ending. Michaels is playing his 2002 "My career is in doubt I'm so hurt" bit, so since Jericho is not facing punk I wouldn't count out a Jericho/HBK blowoff. But in the end, as Gimmick said, all three of the A-belts will do nothing to overshadow HiaC.

I'm also surprised Adamle's willing to confront Kane after all the carnage wrought.

Santino/Beth was great stuff as usual. Regal/Noble has potential.

Pretty serviceable show.

[Eric O'Mac]

I was hoping for Cena, after getting destroyed by Rhodes and Dibiase...he goes to make the tag...and Batista just steps onto the floor. Cena gets this look on his face like "Dave you bastard" and then Cena gets beaten by the champs. Tag Team Titles remain where they need to be, and Batista and Cena can fight without the tag titles being used as props in their feud.

The show wasn't great, but it was far from horrible. As far as handicap matches go, Jericho/JBL vs. Punk was pretty good, and even though he was pinned, Punk looked far from weak, JBL looks pretty lucky, and we didn't get the predictable Kane run in, or triple threat match, and for once, this handicap match was won by the team consisting of two people!

I want Regal and Noble to get 20 minutes too. That will never happen, though.

Once again, I would like to say, that I, Eric O'Mac, believe in Mike Adamle.

WTF is Todd doing interviewing people backstage? They couldn't dig up Josh Mathews for that? Todd has a real job now, yo!

I love Santino and Beth.

As I said earlier, not a GREAT show, but it was pretty good. I'm not happy about the tag title change, as I feel it pretty much kills Dibiase and Rhodes unless they win it back in a rematch next week. Other than that, nothing to really complain about.

[National Champion Chris Cole]

3 title matches and the one to change was the one that had the least business changing. I liked the beat the clock handicap match but I'd rather have seen Jericho win or the triple threat. I guess this frees up Jericho to be involved with HBK again but I really want the end result to be Jericho & Punk feuding. The show was a mixed bag.

[Habs]

Since when did Kane add the power wedgy to his choke slam? That's just rude.

[gobshite]

I hope they drop the tag titles next week after Batista steps away from the match - they seem keen on turning Batista heel for the Cena match at WM25 next year, so this would be a nice way to start - not have Dave turn as such, just be a bit of a dick, and claim that he doesn't need the tag titles.

I actually thought about a winner takes all IC/Womens match, but had Burchill / Katie in mind. Maybe we can get a three or four way going, with those six and either a random pair, or Noble/Layla (with Regal interference - maybe eventually latch Layla on to Regal? It'd be different...)

I hope HiaC blows the roof off - and will we see a new twist to the undertaker character? Seems every time he goes away for a while he comes back looking or acting slightly different - If they were gonna bring Bearer back for one night I'd make it this, and have him in vintage 'Taker gear.

[Mikey]

Aug 5, 2008 10:13:11 GMT -5 gobshite said:

If they were gonna bring Bearer back for one night I'd make it this, and have him in vintage 'Taker gear.

But... but... Taker killed Paul Bearer in the concrete crypt!!

Besides, we need Biker Taker back.I know I'm in the minority on that front, though.

[Eric O'Mac]

I'd back you up with Biker Taker.

[Sparty]

Hell in a Cell is his yard, yo.

[derfsucks]

I didn't hate the main event ending as much as everyone else just because I thought it was a foregone conclusion that either 1) Dave was turning on Cena with a walk-off, or 2) Dave and Cena would wind up fighting with each other. I liked how Batista kept looking over at Cena and rubbing his jaw while decimating Priceless, too.

The last six seconds of the handicap match threw me off, but I was totally into that for a 10-minute TV match. Santino and Beth still crack me up, but I have to admit that I was half hoping there'd be another 'Adamle Original' where Santino and Beth would fight next week, with the winner getting their title shot. I don't mind the actual tag team match set-up for the PPV, though, as it was unexpected.

EDIT TO ADD: If the Layla angle results in even one halfway decent Regal/Noble match, I'll be ecstatic.

[Lucky]

After the way Burchill got squashed I don't expect him near the IC title. Kofi is superior to him. Burchill might be able to beat Noble in the WWE pecking order. He should ask for a match with Colin. But if WWE has any intentions of including him and Katie in the IC/Women's pictures past last night they have a weird way of booking it by making them look incompetent and no challenge.

The Tag Titles thing is just retarded but could be seen coming from a million miles away. WWE can't seem to do these face vs face matches without falling into this cliche. And this is why I never got my hopes up with Rhodes/Dibiase because WWE never really pushes a team.

Last night wasn't a bad show. I think its gonna piss some us off because after a month or so of a RAW that felt different we saw WWE return to a lot of their old ways. The seeming pushes of Burchill, Katie, Dibiase, and Rhodes were reasons why we got excited in RAW. The seeming burials will now take wind out of our sails. It wasn't a bad RAW but one that didn't scratch me much where I itch and leaves me a bit cold for the future.

[The Canadian Content]

Aug 5, 2008 11:00:02 GMT -5 Lucky said:

After the way Burchill got squashed I don't expect him near the IC title. Kofi is superior to him. Burchill might be able to beat Noble in the WWE pecking order. He should ask for a match with Colin. But if WWE has any intentions of including him and Katie in the IC/Women's pictures past last night they have a weird way of booking it by making them look incompetent and no challenge.

I disagree completely. I watched both matches, and while I thought the IC match was somewhat short, I also thought that Burchill came away as strong as possible without cheating or a post-match beatdown. I think the match elevated Kingston, rather than dragging Burchill down.

And the women's match was dominated by Katie. She looked incredibly strong and absolutely worthy of challenging for the title.

[Lucky]

Isn't it like the 3rd straight loss Burchill's had to Kofi? And even his post match attack failed this time. I just don't see how if Burchill is meant to be a threat to Kofi you book him as he has been. He just seems like he's been used to give Kofi a month of wins before Santino/Phoenix takes it someone poses a bigger threat. I don't think Burchill was "dragged down." He's just never been a threat in the first place. Kofi's had a fairly easy time defeating him every time out.

Katie can still challenge, sure, because the women's division is whatever. But again, hasn't Mickie beat her a few times already? Logically there's no reason she's still a challenger. Mickie has proven her superiority and Katie's got nothing to show for it. But I do think its worse with Burchill.

If you disagree, eh. But suffice it to say I expect Burchill to be nothing more than a Jobber to the Stars from here on out so that's killed one of the things I was up for a month ago.


EDIT: And this isn't even a real criticism at WWE. I don't think they ever really liked Burchill and I don't think they ever jerked us around on this. I think Burchill has always been a big dude who can lose to them. He has spent years not getting chances in WWE which suggests they saw less in him than they did Snitsky or Vladimir Kozlov or Mike Knox. In both the Kennedy and Kofi feuds I never remember him looking strong except when he attacked from behind. I don't think they ever lied to me. I simply wanted him to be a contender and I don't think he was ever supposed to be. It just so happens the possibility of it was one of the things getting me excited, just like the possibility of strongly build tag champs even when past experience would tell me not to (but in that case I was just expecting for Duggan/Holly or Duggan/Lawler or Duggan/Dusty to beat them, so whatever).

[BC]

As someone who doesn't really watch WWE anymore, I still for some reason turn on Raw occasionally when nothing else is on, & I hate it every time I do, so I should really stop. Last ngiht, I turned on Raw after the American Gladiators finale to see the last hour. During that hour I see Punk job to JBL immediately (end of the match is all I saw), a boring as sin Cena promo (what else is new?), then I see a tag team I'm actually interested in job to the two most boring, but somehow over wrestletards I've seen since Hogan. Oy.

[Lucky]

Since I was curious as to whether my impression was wrong I went through the last month of RAW results.

8/4 - Kofi defs Burchill clean.
7/28 - No interaction, Katie casually mentions Paul wanting the IC title.
7/21 - Burchill & Katie def Kofi & Mickie fairly clean.
7/16 - Kofi def Burchill clean.
7/7 - Burchill blindsides Kofi.


So it hasn't been nearly as bad as I thought and I completely forgot a clean pin for Burchill in a tag match. Still, he's 0-2 in IC Title matches and they were left off a PPV. We now have an IC title match booked for Summerslam that looks like it could very logically result in a title change. I see no reason to think Burchill/Kofi is still going. A post match attack MIGHT have been a reason if it had worked at all. Instead it just felt like a segueway into the women's title match that took Paul out of the equation.

[derfsucks]

Aug 5, 2008 12:09:56 GMT -5 Lucky said:

A post match attack MIGHT have been a reason if it had worked at all. Instead it just felt like a segueway into the women's title match that took Paul out of the equation.

I thought it was REAL strange that Paul didn't stay out or come back out to the ring for Katie's match. I figured that if anything, the women's match would end up in a clusterfrick where Coffee would have to head back to save Mickey, resulting in a serious beatdown on both champs by the Burchills. Seems like that would've had a better storyline implication to it ...

[Lucky]

Agreed. Which is why I think that was our blowoff to Katie/Paul and our introduction to Santino/Phoenix. I have very little hope that they'll find their way back into the mix, although I could see them costing Kofi/Mickie the titles at Summerslam and then continuing the feud without the belts while Santino/Beth play with them (as I'm half expecting Beth Phoenix IC champion). But I think Paul's IC Title feud days are done, at least for now.

I could be wrong. But nothing last night made me think I might be.

[DevSop]

How hard do you think it would be to get a group of us to take a trip to Stamford and take WWE hostage for about a month and book 3 better shows each week?

[National Champion Chris Cole]

If they end up changing the titles at the PPV it will make the IC title look even weaker. You know the story will be Kofi outclasses Santino in every way but Beth beat Mickie so Santino gets his title along with Beth's. From a storyline perspective it might be fun but it doesn't do anything for the credibility of the IC Title.

[Eric O'Mac]

the IC title has credibility now?

Taht credibility has been gone for a long time. When Chris Jericho is your IC Champion and doesn't even bring his championship to the ring, then the title can be deemed worthless, which is a shame.

[National Champion Chris Cole]

It should have credibility. At least with Jericho & Hardy you had Main Event ready talent holding the belt. And with Kofi you have a talented young guy who defends it frequently in decent to good matches. With Santino you get a joke in the ring.