Monday Night Raw 6/30/2008 The Straightedge Show

Shane McMahon opened the show with a note on how they are not going to share the condition of Mr. McMahon because he’s a really private person.

Whatever.

Jim Ross has a nice little speech, that I don’t like at all. I don’t care about what Jim Ross has to say about his job. He gets paid a TON of money to be the announcer, so he shouldn’t be put into any story lines. Having him there is cool though, since it is his home town.

Edge came out to interrupt good ol’ Jim Ross.

The WWE has a way of messing with Jim Ross in his home town and this was no different. Edge told him what I was thinking, that no one gives a crap about him or his feelings, and rightfully so. Who cares about Jim Ross? We’ll hear and see you on Smackdown ol pal!

Batista came out to make Edge pay for his “sins” so to speak, and he basically beat the snot out of Edge. He just beat him and finally…a Batista bomb. Edge was completely out.

Cm Punk defeated. Edge (World Heavyweight Champion)
Money in the Bank Cashed In

Cm Punk pulled a page out of Edge’s book and cashed in his money in the Bank briefcase after Batista did most of the work, and defeated Edge with the Go To Sleep. CM Punk is now the new WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION! That’s right, the Straightedge Superstar is NOW the WORLD CHAMPION! CM PUNK DEFEATS EDGE! I admit, I marked out huge, and was amazed that Edge got defeated so soundly.

Mickie James (champion) defeated. Jillian

What a throwaway match up. Jillian is so annoying, and I guess that’s the whole point of her character. It’s just a great way to get cheap heat, but come on, this is just sour to me. The two had an ok match at best. This thing is just stupid, I’d rather watch that TNA Extreme match up again. Man, I really liked that match up, you guys might enjoy it too…I don’t know. WWE Divas suck compared to TNA.

Rey Mysterio Jr. came out to talk about how cool it is to be on raw, and was interrupted by Santino. Santino went on for a while, only to get beat down. This was an ok segment.

CM Punk Backstage interview happens here, then JBL challenges him for a world title shot, and he gets it.
John Cena comes out to give a speech, and says he wants a title shot, only to get interrupted by JBL, who claims he’s running the show.

JBL then proceeds to get security to throw John Cena out of the building, and out goes Cena.

Cody Rhodes & Ted Dibiase Jr. (champions) vs. Two Jobbers

I don’t believe that the jobbers here present a force for the tag team champions. It’s stupid to think that this match wasn’t going to be a quick and easy match. This is a waste of time to me. Why does WWE even do this any longer? This isn’t mid afternoon programming, this is prime time.

Cody Rhodes gets on the mic, he’s horrible, and tells why he did what he did at the ppv. He sucks.
This tag team has hope, but this match was complete garbage. Ted Dibiase Jr. has a great mic presence, but his theme music sucks.

Jamie Noble vs. Kane (impromptu match up)

This was not really a match, it was more like a beat down on Jamie Noble. I don’t know why wrestlers continue to allow themselves to get beat up for no apparent reason. Funaki, Noble, Tommy Dreamer, and so many more just get beat up for years, and I guess that’s ok huh? Ok. Kane beats up Noble, for no good reason, and makes Kane look cool.


Kofi Kingston (Intercontinental Champion) defeated Y2J Chris Jericho via Disqualification
Intercontinental Championship Match

This match was swift, and while there was definitely a hype surrounding this one, it just wasn’t all that great. It was a fast match, with a weird ending. Chris Jericho went for a pin, used the tights, and was disqualified for his attempt at cheating. Kofi wins, but Jericho beats him up afterwards, for no apparent reason.

Edge abuses his Edgekins, and drives off…and now for the main event!

CM Punk (Champion) vs. JBL
World Heavyweight Championship Match



This match up was kind of slow at first, but the ending really paid off completely.

The match reached a really good point when John Cena appeared at the top of the stage with none other than Cryme Time, and together they went down and beat up the JBL security guards. This allowed CM Punk to pick up JBL for the GTS and the one, two three!
Following the matchup, CM Punk threw himself over the top rope and onto JBL’s security, JBL was out cold, and the show ended with a melee of people beating each other up.

Raw had a lot of talking this week.

There was a lot of interviews, back stage segments, and random mic work. Raw really does waste a lot of time on these things, while Smackdown has longer matches. Raw was great though, it had a lot of build up with new people coming on the show, and the world title changing hands was definitely a big plus.



I really could have done without the mic stops, and long winded speeches. The show as a whole went off well, but I do believe that things could have been done a lot better. I would have liked to see longer matches, that’s for sure.

WWE Monday Night Raw 6/30/2008 Quick Results:

CM Punk def. Edge to become the new World Heavyweight Champion
WWE Women's Champion Mickie James def. Jillian
World Tag Team Champions Cody Rhodes & Ted DiBiase def. Jobbers
Intercontinental Champion Kofi Kingston def. Chris Jericho (disqualification)
World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk def. JBL (World Heavyweight Championship Match)