RAW (05.19.08)
NEWS: |WWE| The following report is from WWE with full credit going to Lennie DiFino…
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On a night when the face of One Night Stand took shape with numerous blockbuster matches added to the Extreme Rules pay-per-view – including a Last Man Standing WWE Championship Match – King of the Ring and General Manager William Regal found himself out of a job.
In the Raw main event, Regal’s final decree as General Manager played out well for Randy Orton & JBL, who defeated The Game & John Cena in a tag team battle, ensuring they would get their desired rematches at One Night Stand – with extreme stipulations of their choosing. JBL informed Cena that they would do battle in the gruesome First Blood Match, while Randy Orton told WWE Champion Triple H that the title would be up for grabs in a Last Man Standing Match – the same contest Orton prevailed in over The Game at No Mercy in October.
After announcing that WWE Champion Triple H would team with John Cena to take on Randy Orton & JBL in the main event to determine their One Night Stand fate, the Raw General Manager was interrupted by Mr. Kennedy. The brash Superstar has shown little respect for Regal’s tyrannical rule over Raw for the past few weeks, and Kennedy once again challenged the GM’s authority Monday night.
William Regal besmirched Kennedy’s challenge, and was going to wield more of his power, until Mr. McMahon made his way to the ring. The Chairman made it clear to Regal and our fans that the GM had run wild with power. Sending a message of his own and showing everyone where the true power lies, Mr. McMahon put Regal into the Loser Gets Fired No Disqualification Match. Kennedy defeated Regal, unseating the iron-fisted ruler and opening the door for a new regime at Raw’s helm. As Regal tried to talk to Mr. McMahon about what had transpired, irony befriended the Brit as he ran into former Assistant General Manager of SmackDown Theodore Long, who quit his job just days earlier. Regal had already crossed paths earlier in the night in his former office with the “Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase, who had business with The Chairman.
Batista has vowed to hurt Shawn Michaels the next time the two come face-to-face, and The Animal moved one step closer when he defeated Intercontinental Champion Chris Jericho on Raw. Batista earned the right to fight HBK in a Stretcher Match at One Night Stand – a night he hopes to fulfill his promises of pain to Michaels. Will The Animal finally find retribution against Shawn Michaels or will HBK find a way to win once more?
Since his surprise return last week on Raw, Jeff Hardy has been intent on proving himself in the ring, focusing his energy on climbing back to the top of WWE. On Raw, Hardy faced Umaga, the man he defeated in his return, but there was no victory for Hardy this week, just punishment. The Samoan Bulldozer took the fight to the outside of the ring, where he devastated Jeff with a sidewalk slam. Moments after the match, it was announced that these two rivals would go head-to-head in a Falls Count Anywhere Match at One Night Stand.
After her unsuccessful attempt to recapture the Women’s Championship at Judgment Day, Beth Phoenix arrived on Raw looking to reestablish her dominance in the women’s division. Maria’s recent in-ring improvement was no match for the power of The Glamazon, who dominated Maria en route to victory. Phoenix’s former friend, Melina, who had been sitting at ringside doing commentary, rushed up the ramp after the match looking to settle the score, before being separated by WWE officials, as the rivalry between the two heats up. What is next as Beth continues to hunt the gold, while Melina hunts her?
Speaking of the gold, Women’s Champion Mickie James may not know what is next, but Katie Lea Burchill let Mickie know she, too, had title aspirations. Burchill told James that she will one day be champion. The British Diva then accused Mickie James of using her friendship with John Cena to make her way to the top. Are Mickie James’ golden days numbered?
While our fans looked forward to seeing WWE Hall of Famer “Rowdy” Roddy Piper host Piper’s Pit, Santino Marella furthered his rivalry with “Hot Rod” when he mocked the legendary sports-entertainer and the famed Pit. After Piper paid a special visit to Jimmy Kimmel Live last week to prevent Santino from assaulting Cousin Sal, Marella looked to embarrass both men in return. Instead, Cousin Sal and Piper turned the tables, leaving Santino covered in cake. Santino then challenged Cousin Sal to a match, which was instantly accepted by Roddy Piper on Sal’s behalf.
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May 20th, 2008: Regal Suspended, Explains Why He’s No Longer GM
RAW actually started with a match this time. Good to see.
Hardy/Umaga was a good opening match. It looks like One Night Stand will feature these two going at it. Most likely, Umaga will lose in their match and go to Smackdown after Hardy does something crazy to beat him. Good match with both guys looking strong. It’s nice to see Umaga not completely destroying someone in a match even he is a “true” superheavyweight.
I was surprised at how good Beth/Maria was. It wasn’t a great match considering how short it was, but Maria showed some improvement in her wrestling skills and Beth showed some good offense, especially with her finishing slam & submission. Whenever I see Maria in a match I assume it’ll be bad, but this was decent. Also good to hear Melina on the mic and to set the groundwork for their feud. But where is Mickie? She did successfully defend the title last night so she should get a match instead of a backstage segment.
I’m shocked that WWE is actually continuing a storyline they started last week between Mickie & Cena. But it’s still early on so they’ll forget about it soon enough, but it was good to see that Katie Lea reference the Women’s Title during her insinuation of Mickie’s slut-tegy.
Really good match between Jericho/Batista. I loved the mind games between each faking an injury. I gotta give it up to Batista for some solid selling of his leg “injury.” He was very believable and sold it well. Jericho’s jump off the top rope was horrendous. He was way short and didn’t come anywhere near Batista. It just made the clothesline look weak considering it was the set up for the finish. HBK coming out the end was fine, but the expression on HBK’s face was like a daze. It showed no emotion and was a bit confusing. Was HBK worried? Was he scared? Was he constipated?
The Piper’s Pit did make me laugh. But was it really all that time? I’m on the fence about it because Santino really is funny and a great character, Simmons on screen was funny and it’s setting up a match. I guess the importance of this segment depends on who you ask.
I was really disappointed with Regal/Kennedy. The match started off great with both guys going at it hard and Kennedy getting a nice kick and then a spinning kick later on. But then the match ends with Kennedy getting the mic check (bad finishing move by the way) and then it’s over? This is a match for their jobs and it’s over within 7 minutes? The match was just getting started. Very disappointed. I wonder how WWE will continue to have Regal as GM. There’s no way he’s actually gone because he’s been doing a great job.
Well I just watched Teddy Long come out of the back room so I guess he’s the new GM? Wow. I’m really surprised they got rid of Regal because I thought he was doing a great job. But I guess it’s not official yet.
Randy Orton has horrible entrance music. So does Ken Kennedy. Which one is worse?
The main event was a bit bland. It had the typical power moves from the power wrestlers. but it wasn’t very interesting to me. The finish was pretty creative which is the only thing I liked about the match.
I thought RAW was above average this week. We got solid wrestling this week and a big twist with Regal being fired (which I’m still surprised about). I like how WWE reminded everyone of Cade turning on Murdoch even though they didn’t appear on the show. I guess this is because they need to build One Night Stand fast. But at least they reminded everyone with a video clip instead of completely dropping it. I also liked the Katie/Mickie segment in the back. Glad to see some continuity in the minor storylines which is something WWE is notorious for screwing up and which makes me absolutely mad when I see them drop things like that. Good show.

HHH always has had someone to carry him around (Shawn, old DX and Flair etc.) This time there’s no one and that makes him even more boring. And we have to continue seeing JBL vs. Cena one more time… yay… another reason to not buy next PPV!! Their Judgement Day match sucked. The only good one was HBK vs. Jericho… almost as good as their WM 19 match.
@Xtreeeme How was Judgment Day by the way?
I think HHH’s current title reign isn’t really great or boring or awful. But it’s just been the same 4 guys for the past few months. Early on, I found it very interersting how 3 guys were going after the title. But now it’s dragged on and it’s very annoying now. But how was the PPV?
Orton’s music is way worse, Kennedy’s ain’t bad but it sure ain’t great, but Orton’s doesn’t even make any sense and it’s just ugh. Finlay had new music about a month back and it made Hornswoggle’s music sound awesome in comparison, but they switched it back the next week.
@ Matt B
Like I said earlier, only HBK vs Jericho was good, especially the way Jericho reversed superkick into a code breaker. Other than that, JBL/Cena and HHH/Orton were just same-old same-old. The tag-team title match was a little better than I expected. I think Miz/Morrison have the potential to be as entertaining as New Age Outlaws. But so far only their off-ring segments have been good and they are far less amusing in the ring. Outlaws were great both on and off-ring. Do you remember the time when Road Dogg pinned Billy Gunn in a four way tag-team match where anyone could tag anyone?
@Kane Yea, Orton’s lyrics talk about voices in his head or something. I cringe everytime I hear it.
@Xtreeeme I barely remember something like that. Didn’t the New Age Outlaws just start laughing after that match when they pinned each other?
Miz & Morrison are a great tag team. They’re commentating does need some work though after hearing them each on ECW. I think they’re pretty good in the ring, but it’s all worthless when WWE doesn’t put an emphasis on the tag team division.
I really want to see Jericho vs HBK. I don’t get how wrestlers are satisfied with their matches when HBK/Jericho go out there and put on great matches. Like how can HHH or Cena or Carlito or anyone be satisfied with their match on a PPV after watching HBK & Jericho wrestle. Everyone now and then HHH and Cena and whomever will have great matches, but they’re not consistent like HBK.
That Outlaws thing reminds me of Shawn Michaels vs HHH back on Raw in 1997 when they were a part of DX. Forced to face each other the commentators are talking about how they got more air-time for the match and when they tied up and HHH flew back like he got shot and Michaels pinned him haha.