A New Age of Raw
Law and Order was restored tonight on Raw as Shane McMahon made an appearance. No he we was not there to take over the show, but instead to introduce the new GM. It what can be considered a surprise move Mike Adamle takes over the duties as GM. Since his arrival as the new announcer on ECW, Adamle has been criticized by fans and been the brunt of many jokes by the talent in the WWE. He really hasn't blended into the wrestling culture and still struggles calling most matches. How much of this is real cannot be said as they may just be playing up the character given his rocky start. This move to make him GM can be viewed in the same realm as Vickie Guerrero on Smack Down. One has to admit Vickie may be the biggest heel in the WWE as she can barely get a word out without vicious booing from the crowd. One has to figure this is the same reaction they are looking for with Adamle as the crowd is not on his side either.
Well tonight Adamle made his mark as he booked the main event of John Cena and Batista taking on Kane and JBL. This interrupted the plans of Cena who wanted to face Batista tonight to figure out who would face CM Punk at Summer Slam. This match pitted rivals with one another to see who would come out victorious. And like it always happens when these type of matches are booked there was a partner who turned on the other member of the team. This time Kane choke slammed JBL only to be taken out by Cena for the pin. Of course this would not be the end of the fun as Adamale, freshly announced as GM, told Batista and Cena they would face each other at Summer Slam. With these two guys out of the title picture look for JBL or Kane to face CM Punk. My bets are on Kane being the one who will get the chance as they still are featuring him on the show.
In other action that the new GM saw fit to change, we saw a match scheduled between the WWE Tag champs Rhodes and DiBiase against Jim Duggan and Jerry Lawler changed to Lawler and Michael Cole. The King tried to protect Cole by not tagging him, but you knew he would get involved. This lead to a serve beating of Cole at the hands of Rhodes. The match was interesting as again we really didn't see much out of Dibiase, as Rhodes was in the ring for the most part. I wonder did they rush him into the WWE to go with this story line. Anyway Cole was not able to finish his announcing duties as Adamle appeared after this match to take Cole's place and we later had Jim Ross show up. There have been rumors of the announce teams returning back to their normal pairings so we have to see if this is the start of that.
Chris Jericho tonight announced he was no longer doing his Highlight Reel show and was burying the Y2J persona. This comes on the heels of his feud with Shawn Michales. As Jericho stated he is not in it to entertain the fans but instead will quest for the title. He even went as far as telling HBK to retire while he is still healthy. Hopefully this does not continue this story line as I felt it has been trying to hard to go over for some time now and the bloody end at the Bash is a fitting way to stop it. But I know that will not be the case as there will be at least one more match in the coming months. I feel Jericho should move on now to become the top heel on Raw with the potential of a Mania match against Cena for the belt.
In other matches that featured people trying to impress the new GM we saw Katie Lea attack Mickie James after a match that saw James defeat Jillian. There was not much to say for the match, but this continued rivalry has the making of some classic women's bouts. James is perhaps the best female talent on the roster and Katie Lea is no slacker my any means. Look for this match at Summer Slam. We also saw Jamie Noble challenge Kofi Kingston to impress the GM and Layla. Of course he would lose as that is what Noble does now. It's a shame as he could have given Kingston a good match as both are very athletic. I really want to see Kingston push himself to show his full potential and Noble would be a better match than the Burchill program they have going right now.
We also saw the return of William Regal tonight from suspension. He took on CM Punk in what has to be seen as a big match for Regal. Nothing like taking on the champ on your return and looking good. To bad this match had to end in lame fashion with Regal dominating most of the match until the very end. Punk was able to counter one of his moves and finish the match with the GTS. I really hate this type of ending as it discredits the participants. At least have them exchange momentum instead of one move finishing a dominate performance by the loser. Regal did look good and even broke Punk's nose, but I'm not sure if he will regain the momentum he had as King of the Ring. The Raw and Smack Down rosters are full of talent and I really don't think he will be able to budge his way into any major programs again.
Finally, love is still in the air as Santino and Beth Phoenix defeated Kelly Kelly and De Lo Brown in an inter-gender match that featured Phoenix slamming Brown and Santino pinning Kelly Kelly. The match ended with some romantic tension that culminated in Phoenix grabbing Santino and giving him a big kiss. I really like this angle of Phoenix taking on the men and hope it continues as she really doesn't have much competition in the women's division now that Mickie and Katie Lea are in a feud. All and all an odd night on Raw as we will have to see if the Adamle era will be a success or disaster. Personally I really don't see it lasting to long and look for a new GM by the fall. I just don't think he can pull it off as he has struggled to establish himself as a serious announcer and I don't think he has the personality to play a good heel like Vickie does.
Well tonight Adamle made his mark as he booked the main event of John Cena and Batista taking on Kane and JBL. This interrupted the plans of Cena who wanted to face Batista tonight to figure out who would face CM Punk at Summer Slam. This match pitted rivals with one another to see who would come out victorious. And like it always happens when these type of matches are booked there was a partner who turned on the other member of the team. This time Kane choke slammed JBL only to be taken out by Cena for the pin. Of course this would not be the end of the fun as Adamale, freshly announced as GM, told Batista and Cena they would face each other at Summer Slam. With these two guys out of the title picture look for JBL or Kane to face CM Punk. My bets are on Kane being the one who will get the chance as they still are featuring him on the show.
In other action that the new GM saw fit to change, we saw a match scheduled between the WWE Tag champs Rhodes and DiBiase against Jim Duggan and Jerry Lawler changed to Lawler and Michael Cole. The King tried to protect Cole by not tagging him, but you knew he would get involved. This lead to a serve beating of Cole at the hands of Rhodes. The match was interesting as again we really didn't see much out of Dibiase, as Rhodes was in the ring for the most part. I wonder did they rush him into the WWE to go with this story line. Anyway Cole was not able to finish his announcing duties as Adamle appeared after this match to take Cole's place and we later had Jim Ross show up. There have been rumors of the announce teams returning back to their normal pairings so we have to see if this is the start of that.
Chris Jericho tonight announced he was no longer doing his Highlight Reel show and was burying the Y2J persona. This comes on the heels of his feud with Shawn Michales. As Jericho stated he is not in it to entertain the fans but instead will quest for the title. He even went as far as telling HBK to retire while he is still healthy. Hopefully this does not continue this story line as I felt it has been trying to hard to go over for some time now and the bloody end at the Bash is a fitting way to stop it. But I know that will not be the case as there will be at least one more match in the coming months. I feel Jericho should move on now to become the top heel on Raw with the potential of a Mania match against Cena for the belt.
In other matches that featured people trying to impress the new GM we saw Katie Lea attack Mickie James after a match that saw James defeat Jillian. There was not much to say for the match, but this continued rivalry has the making of some classic women's bouts. James is perhaps the best female talent on the roster and Katie Lea is no slacker my any means. Look for this match at Summer Slam. We also saw Jamie Noble challenge Kofi Kingston to impress the GM and Layla. Of course he would lose as that is what Noble does now. It's a shame as he could have given Kingston a good match as both are very athletic. I really want to see Kingston push himself to show his full potential and Noble would be a better match than the Burchill program they have going right now.
We also saw the return of William Regal tonight from suspension. He took on CM Punk in what has to be seen as a big match for Regal. Nothing like taking on the champ on your return and looking good. To bad this match had to end in lame fashion with Regal dominating most of the match until the very end. Punk was able to counter one of his moves and finish the match with the GTS. I really hate this type of ending as it discredits the participants. At least have them exchange momentum instead of one move finishing a dominate performance by the loser. Regal did look good and even broke Punk's nose, but I'm not sure if he will regain the momentum he had as King of the Ring. The Raw and Smack Down rosters are full of talent and I really don't think he will be able to budge his way into any major programs again.
Finally, love is still in the air as Santino and Beth Phoenix defeated Kelly Kelly and De Lo Brown in an inter-gender match that featured Phoenix slamming Brown and Santino pinning Kelly Kelly. The match ended with some romantic tension that culminated in Phoenix grabbing Santino and giving him a big kiss. I really like this angle of Phoenix taking on the men and hope it continues as she really doesn't have much competition in the women's division now that Mickie and Katie Lea are in a feud. All and all an odd night on Raw as we will have to see if the Adamle era will be a success or disaster. Personally I really don't see it lasting to long and look for a new GM by the fall. I just don't think he can pull it off as he has struggled to establish himself as a serious announcer and I don't think he has the personality to play a good heel like Vickie does.
