There’s Cena vs. Randy Orton, and Carlito vs. Bobby Lashley. The start of these two feuds alone added to one of the best Raw’s in awhile. This show really clicked in so many places that Summer Slam can’t come soon enough for me. Before I talk about Raw if you want find out about Edge’s surgery you can got to WWE.com for the video of his surgery. It is graphic but they do show how the injury occurred during that segment with Kane, and it really is worth checking out.
The King Booker/Jerry Lawler segment might have been a dud at the Great American Bash but I thought it worked a lot better Monday night. Sure a Lawler vs. Booker feud isn’t a dream feud but at least Booker and Lawler got face to face and we got a little action for the mini feud. The Sacramento, Ca. crowd seemed to love it and by they way this crowd was excellent. They were on fire for just about the whole show. But back to the opening segment, Jerome got the best of the King and it definitely set their feud in motion. Now the first match of the night was Mickie James and Maria vs. Melina and Beth Phoenix. This was not only good but I really thought Santino Marella added so much when he sat with Lawler and JR and showed his concern for Maria. I liked his mic work very much, and as I said I thought this match was very good.
I have to tell you the thought of Hacksaw Duggan involved with Sandman is not exactly my cup of tea. So Carlito and William Regal vs. Duggan and Sandman didn’t exactly appeal to me, but it wasn’t bad, it was way too short to be bad. What I was thrilled about was the backstage segment with Regal and Carlito. Ah yes this was what kicked off the start of a really nice feud. Carlito spitting in Lashley’s face was Carlito’s best spit ever. Watching Carlito and Lashley go at it was pure heaven to me. When Carlito whipped Lashley by the steal stairs and Lashley jumped over them I did let out a big WOW! This looks like a terrific feud to me it really does and even though Bobby lost Sunday night, Monday night he looked like a guy that is out for blood, and that I like. Now did you notice that Randy Orton was THE man Monday night? First I thought his match against Cody Runnels was very good, so much better than the one they had the week before.
And with Jonathan Coachman announcing at the beginning of the show who would face John Cena at Summer Slam after he watched all the matches during the evening, I figured Randy Orton would get the nod. And once Orton defeated Cody and kicked Dusty and put him on a stretcher Randy became a sure thing. They replayed his attack on Dusty over and over again. Normally I get bored by so many replays but not Monday night. This was a way to really cement Randy has a heartless heel and get him into the title race with Cena. Okay the match of the night and believe me it wasn’t even close was JEFF HARDY VS. MR. KENNEDY…KENNEDY. Last week Kennedy looked sloppy against Super Crazy. And I know that this guy has IT when it comes to wrestling. Well he certainly proved just that against Jeff. If this match would have been a part of a pay per view I would have been more than happy to pay to see it. Instant chemistry hit with Hardy and Kennedy. I could see it immediately. And when Jeff fell off the top rope and his neck bent so far under him, I just sat there with my mouth opened. I really thought the worse and I was ecstatic when he was able to come back and just continue where he left off. I want to see more with these two and I’m hoping that will happen in the very near future.
Paul London and Brian Kendrick vs. Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin was another good match, a little too short for my liking but still very enjoyable. All of us will benefit if they give them a nice storyline and more time in the ring. I would love to see more focus on this feud, I think it would just make Raw that much better. The main event which I thought was weird because Cena was teaming up with Candice against Cade/Murdoch and Umaga turned out well. I’m slow so dummy me couldn’t understand why Candice and Cena were teamed up. Then it him me it was just Coach’s way of being a true jerk. He did this just to make sure that Cena lost, and that Candice would be miserable. Cena took it upon himself to wrestle the entire match and I’m glad he did because he was the Cena that I like, SERIOUS. There was absolutely no Cena humor involved, he was all business and that’s what works for me. This was a good match and Jeff Hardy coming out at the end to help Cena surprised me because I figured Jeff and Mr. Kennedy were now feuding but the chair shots to Umaga told me something different. So just like the main event at the Great American Bash this baby topped off a very good show.
I am so ready for Carlito vs. Lashley and Orton vs. Cena. In the next few weeks I expect both of these feuds to be extremely entertaining. Now let me get to the latest about Umaga and Jeff Hardy. Summer Slam was supposed to be focused on the JackAss group, but because of the Benoit tragedy Johnny Knoxville decided to distance himself from WWE. That’s rather funny coming from him. But I couldn’t be happier that it turned out this way because I certainly didn’t want Summer Slam to be JACKASS SLAM. Because of this Umaga vs. Jeff Hardy will happen. This will be a rematch for the IC title. I wonder if Mr. Kennedy will make this a triple threat match. That would work for me. I won’t be around too much this weekend so I probably won’t be able to do a Smackdown column, but I will be back with my Raw thoughts next week.
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