Raw 8-3

Monday Night Raw is live from Las Vegas. The celebrity gm is Jeremy Piven. I look forward to this Raw. Summerslam is gearing up to be a solid show. Summerslam is suppose to be the 2nd biggest pay per view of the year. How can it not have HBK or Undertaker? I have been awfully harsh on the WWE in the past few weeks on my blog. I'm just having a hard time with the celebrity gms. I want this Raw to be good. Please WWE don't let me and the Raw fans down!!!

I do want to start off with something very positive. The Jeff Hardy Morrison match on Smackdown last Friday was the best television match I have seen all year. The moves these guys used were fantastic. Both men had close 3 counts. The match was back and forth. Usually on a TV match you don't see wrestlers kick out of finishing moves. Hardy and Morrison both kicked out of each others finishers. Hardy needed 2 swantons to win. Unbelievable! If you missed it, check out hulu.com.

Raw starts with Piven and his special guest Dr. Kin. Piven goes to the entrance way after being in the ring and does the Kurt Angle entrance with pyro. He announces HHH vs Legacy. Trips did ask for that match last week. Miz comes out to interupt. Miz talks about how hes a TV star. Piven calls him Le Miz. Piven continues by saying he does not have the goods. Dr. Kin keeps interupting Miz while he tries to talk. Miz demands John Cena. Miz is only 0-3 against Cena. He deserves another. Cena comes out! Great pop for Cena. I loved it when the crowd is hot. I hope they keep it up all night. Cena and Piven banter back and forth. He calls Miz a 1979 rusted pinto. Cena says something about how we are going to remember this night. Cena vs Miz in a lumberjack match. If Miz loses Piven bans him from Summerfest, er, Summerslam. Even bigger he bans him from the Staples Center. Cena whispers in Piven's ear. Piven says if Miz loses he is banned from Raw forever. Miz has to win tonight. The WWE can not afford to take an up and comer like Miz off Raw.

A recap of Evan Bourne's win over Swagger last week. Evan will once again face Swagger tonight. Even though this happened last week, I am really ok with this match up. I said I like both these guys. Bourne starts off flying around the ring but is soon grounded by the bigger stronger Swagger. Swagger counters a standing moonsault. Then Bourne counters Swagger's gut wrench powerbomb. A 2 count. Bourne can't counter again and Swagger picks up the way to quick victory. After the match, Swagger nails Bourne with a few 2nd rope splashes. He was about to pick up Bourne for another powerbomb and MVP comes out for the save.

Punk vs Hardy for the World Heavyweight Championship this Friday on Smackdown! I know what I will be doing on Friday night. If you listen to Showstoppers on BBSD radio, you would know Larry and John both don't care for Punk. I disagree 100%. I like Punk a lot. He has amazing potential. He just turned heel last Friday. Once Punk gets time as a heel, fans will start to truly hate him. He will be a great heel. He already is a great wrestler.

Piven and Dr. Kin are backstage talking. Big Show interupts. Piven talks about how Show isnt Big any longer. Piven gives Show a match vs Kofi for the United States Championship. I like that idea. As long as Show starts to look like the giant he is.

Gail Kim and Mickie James vs Beth Phoenix and Jillian Hall. I love Beth Phoenix. She is the best divas wrestler in the entire WWE. I was reading reports that Gail Kim might turn heel. Will that be foreshadowing? Mickie had the upper hand until Beth powers Mickie for a hot shot on the ropes. Jillian comes in and gets a head scissors take down and Mickie tags Gail. Gail as some very unique offense. Huge missile dropkick to Jillian. Blind tag to Beth. Chickenwing power bomb to Gail and the heels pick up the win. Thank you WWE. Pushing the correct Diva, Beth Phoenix. Beth vs Mickie at Summerslam. OH please!!! Triple H vs Legacy is up after the break.

Legacy is out first. I do like their music now. I have heard rumors about a possible Dibiase face turn. I like that idea too. It would get him out of the shadows of Legacy and put the spotlight on him. Time to play the game! Triple H makes his ultra intense entrance. HHH and Rhodes start the match. Huge kick to Trips from Rhodes and Dibiase is tagged in. He runs into a huge Hunter clothesline. Pedigree attempted but averted. We head to the break with HHH in the ring alone after throwing out both members of Legacy. My guess is after the commercials, Legacy will have gained the momentum. They should use quick tags to keep fresh since HHH does not have a partner. Legacy start to use double team moves. I realize that Rhodes and Dibiase are idolizing Orton. But I wish they didnt do everything Orton does. They need to show their own personalities. Double suplex by Legacy. A long 2 count. A huge powerslam and another 2 count on HHH. Rhodes does the Flair knee drop, although Cole and Lawler say it looked more like Orton. Quick ddt by Rhodes but no luck. Rhodes goes for broke but misses the moonsault. Triple H starts to beat the crap out of Dibiase on the outside. Back in for a high knee to Rhodes followed by the knee drop and spinebuster. Pedigree but Dibiase hits his dream street finisher. Rhodes has the cover but Triple H kicks out. Crowd should be chanting Triple H, Triple H. Rhodes hits the cross Rhodes and picks up the win. A great match. Way to make Legacy look strong but not hurt Triple H. Time to find a partner HHH. HHH grabs a microphone. He talks about how it didnt go as planned tonight. He says maybe Legacy is to much for me. He says maybe he should start another group. He cracks jokes about Orton is a jerk, Batista is hurt, and Flair is signing autographes at the VFW. He says he should make just one phone call and if you're not down with that he's got 2 words for ya. We all know what that means. DX vs Legacy at Summerslam. Showstoppers called it last week. Good job guys. I told you Summerslam can not go on without HBK.

Chavo is backstage with Piven. Chavo gets every movie wrong Piven was in. Piven makes the match of Hornswaggle vs Chavo. Piven says he has a plan. Back in the ring is Carlito. Carlito takes on his brother Primo. Primo had a fantastic match on Superstars with the WWE champ Randy Orton. Primo looked great in the match with Orton. He did not win but showed his stuff. Primo with a big flying clothesline and then a dive to the outside. Carlito nails a sick neckbreaker off the ropes. That was a very cool spot. Primo starts in on his offense. Crowd is dead in this match. Why? I don't know. Carlito goes for the backstabber but Primo rolls him up. 2 count. Primo makes another mistake and gets nailed this time by the backstabber. Carlito wins. Primo should not be buried. I just hope the WWE does not go off of the crowd tonight. They have not been in to anything since the first segment.

ECW has Christian vs Dreamer in a Extreme Rules match for the ECW title. That is awesome. 2 world title matches in 2 shows. Good job WWE for making me want to tune into all 3 shows this week.

Chavo gets to the ring after the break. Piven says Hornswaggle has the chicken poxs and makes a match with Mark Henry instead. Mark comes out with an irish hat on. Henry dominates Chavo. I dont think Chavo got one wrestling move in. Worlds Strongest slam and its over. After the match Hornswaggle comes from underneith the ring. Hornswaggle does his tadpole splash. The crowd gets into this but not Primo vs Carlito. Fans continue to confuse me. Ok I had to laugh at Mark Henry clicking his heels like Hornswaggle. I'll give ya that one.

Orton shows up backstage with Piven. Huge pop for Orton.. A face pop. Piven wants to make Orton the special ring announcer. Orton starts to scream at Piven about kicking McMahon in the head, why wouldn't he do the same to them? Good point Orton.

Kofi vs The Big Show. Will Shaq show up and cost Show the match? I doubter. Y2J comes out with Show. The audio men at WWE are freaking awesome. They created a new entrance music combining Show's and Jericho. The WWE had a poll on their website asking who would win a match between Shaq and Show? 80 some percent picked Shaq? WTF are you talking about? Damn kids are stupid. Wait WWE would let Shaq win that match. LT beat Bam Bam in a match at Mania over 10 years ago. Show lost to Money Mayweather a few years back at mania. Forget I said anything about celebrities losing to wrestlers in WRESTLING matches. Anyway, back to the match itself. Show dominates Kofi. Show with a huge splash off the second rope but foot on the rope. Kofi with no offense in the match. Show goes up the ropes again but Kofi focuses on Show's right leg. He gets Show down on his knees. Kofi with trouble in paradise and then a huge double leg drop off the top but only a 2 count. Show gets dq'd when he beat the crap out of Kofi in the corner. After the bell, Show continues to assault Kofi. I am so glad they didn't give the US title to Show, but made him look so dominate. Show should dominate guys half his size.

A recap of HHH and Legacy. Backstage on the phone with HBK. Shawn says he isnt watching the show. HHH asks Are you ready? But the guy on the other side hangs up. I highly doubt HBK will not come back for Summerslam. Next week Shawn will return.

The champ is here! Oh wait, no its just John Cena, ha ha. He isnt the champ yet. Cena takes on Miz next. Next week it is announced Sargent Slaughter will be the gm. Thank you god! A former wrestler running Raw. Great idea. Piven comes out and says he is a fan of Cena but a bigger fan of Randy Orton. Orton comes out as a lumberjack along with Legacy, Masters, Chavo, Swagger, and Carlito. Piven double crossed Cena. But when the odds are stacked against Cena, what happens? Cena always finds a way to win. Cena almost puts on the STFU, but Orton distracts Cena. Masters locks in the Masterlock on the outside. Cena looks out and then thrown back into the ring. Miz hits a huge clothesline and starts to take control of the match. If Miz loses now with all the odds in his favor, this will make Miz look weaker than pudding. Cena starts to gain momentum until Legacy gets Cena on the outside. All 3 members beat the hell out of Cena. Miz gets an FU and still finds a way to win. You have to be kidding me? Miz is out of Raw. Piven comes off the top rope but is caught by Cena. Dr. Kin comes in and tries to nail Cena with a cane, instead he gets thrown out of the ring onto the lumberjacks. Cena gets the best of Miz and Legacy tonight. Miz is now 0-18 vs Cena and gone from Raw. He will be on Smackdown next week.

I have to give WWE some credit..Finally. They gave us a good show tonight. I would have liked to see Orton and Miz get the best of Cena since Cena never is made to look bad. Even Hogan had to sell to bad guys sometimes back in the 80s. But all in all, I liked the quick change of character in Piven in the last segment. That was a nice twist on the show. This seems to be shaping up to be a great week on WWE. ECW has a ECW extreme rules title match with Christian and Dreamer. Smackdown has Hardy vs Punk for the World Title. Don't forget to listen to Showstoppers on BBSD radio each and every week. PLUS, thats right there is more. I feel like a paid commercial announcer. I am writing a huge sports blog this week. It will be posted on Wednesday morning. You do not want to miss out on reading this.

J Call