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Last night's post-PPV Raw featured John Cena taking on World Tag Team Champions Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase in a Handicap Match, Chris Jericho opposing World Titleholder CM Punk in a non-title bout, and more.
The show opened with Chris Jericho addressing the events of SummerSlam, where Y2J accidentally punched Shawn Michaels’ wife Rebecca. Jericho placed the blame for the incident squarely on the shoulders of both Michaels and the fans, citing Shawn’s desire to appear in front of a crowd one last time at the PPV rather than sending a letter of resignation to WWE. Jericho said the final image of Michaels’ career will be that of him holding his fallen wife and advised HBK to remain at home and take care of his family. The former Undisputed Champion later took on World Titleholder and Chicago hometown hero CM Punk in a non-title match. Punk appeared on the verge of victory until a distraction by Lance Cade allowed Jericho to nail the straightedge grappler with a Codebreaker and score the victory.
Kane cut a promo expressing (but failing to explain) his hatred for Rey Mysterio and revealed that he had attacked the ex-World Champion in a parking lot six weeks ago. This brought out Batista, who hit the ring and downed The Big Red Machine with a spear. However, Kane targeted The Animal’s leg - which had been injured the previous night during Batista’s match against John Cena at the PPV - and hampered him enough to deliver a chokeslam.
General Manager Mike Adamle announced on behalf of Shane and Stephanie McMahon that CM Punk will defend his World Title against John Cena, Kane, Batista, and JBL at Unforgiven in a Championship Scramble. All five men compete for twenty minutes with the belt changing hands each time the Champion is defeated; whomever holds the gold when time expires will emerge as the Raw Titleholder. What a ridiculous concept. Not only would numerous title changes occurring in one match - which I fully expect to happen - greatly devalue the Championship, but this leaves the door wide open for Punk to once again be portrayed as a fluke Champion if he is pinned early and regains the belt just before the clock runs out. Is it really too much to ask for Punk - a wrestler the fans are dying to get behind - to go over strongly in a major one-on-one PPV bout against an established superstar? Punk has been on top for two months now and his days as an underdog champion should be coming to a close.
Speaking of titleholders being buried, World Tag Team Champions Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase were also defeated by John Cena in a Handicap Match (Pre-bout, Cryme Tyme arrived at ringside and stole the Tag belts). In other news, newly crowned Intercontinental Champion Santino Marella was DQ’d in his match against D-Lo Brown when Marella’s companion Beth Phoenix slapped Brown while protecting Santino from a top-rope maneuver.
This was a decent enough show, but rather underwhelming for the post-SummerSlam Raw. In my opinion, the Chris Jericho segments completely saved what would have otherwise been a rather lackluster program.
Match Results: Batista over Paul Burchill via pinfall … Mickie James and Kelly Kelly over Katie Lea Burchill and Jillian via Mickie’s pinfall on Burchill … JBL over Jamie Noble via referee stoppage … John Cena over World Tag Team Champions Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase via Cena’s submission on Rhodes … D-Lo Brown over Intercontinental Champion Santino Marella via disqualification in a non-title match following interference from Women’s Titleholder Beth Phoenix … Chris Jericho over World Champion CM Punk via pinfall in a non-title match.
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