Run The Gauntlet
Tonight featured another Adamle original on Raw as both Jericho and Batista were involved in a gauntlet match against the same three opponents. They would face in order; William Regal, Mark Henry and Kane. The reason behind this was to establish respect for both men in the WWE, especially for Jericho who is claiming he does not get the respect he deserves as champion. It would be Batista who would win the match by pinning all three of the challengers. Jericho was only able to muster a win against Regal, was DQ'ed against Henry for using the belt to knock Henry out and was pinned by Kane. an interesting twist going into their match at Cyber Sunday as it clearly gives Batista a big advantage with the momentum in his favor. The lose in this gauntlet showed Jericho is incapable of winning cleanly, nor can he take on the lesser talents of WWE. With this result you have to think they are ready to take the belt off of him and put it on Batista as he looked very unimpressive. The only way they can make this look good is to have Jericho complain how he was screwed by Adamle and them have him still retain the title with an impressive win over Batista. But with the possibility of Stone Cold being the ref it will be long odds for that to happen.
There really wasn't much happening in the warm up matches to the main event tonight, but there were a few previews for the upcoming pay per view. In what was a good tag match we saw Miz and Morrison take on Kofi Kingston and CM punk. Both tag team can be voted into Cyber Sunday for a match, and from what happened tonight they both would put on a fine display against their opponents. It was the Miz who got the pin on CM Punk with some quick thinking as Punk was distracted with Morrison. These tag teams are intriguing as they both feature members who are destined to be big stars on their own. First Punk is the former World Heavy Weight Champion, but now finds himself saddled with Kingston. Yes, Kofi was a Intercontinental champ, but he really hasn't established himself as a major player. Punk on the other hand has been a crowd favorite for the past two years and it has been more a question of when will he be champ, not if. Morrison also can be viewed as a future superstar as he and Punk had some epic battles for the ECW title and he also has worn Intercontinental gold. Not to say their partners are lacking any talent, but it's odd to see two guys who you know the WWE want to be the next big stars spending their time in tag teams.
Another preview saw Santino Marella come to the ring dressed as all three of his potential opponents for this Sunday. As he was mocking the Honky Tonk Man, Gold Dust and Roddy Piper, Jim Duggan came to the ring to silence the boastful Italian. Santino then would challenge him to a fight but tricked the veteran and proceeded to smash Duggan over the head with a guitar. The attack did more damage to Marella as he cut his mouth open and was gushing blood from the guitar shards.
Rey Mysterio warmed up for his match against Kane by making quick work of Snitsky. Not much of a surprise there as Snitsky has not been on TV in a long time. Rhodes and DiBiase also made their claim for Cyber Sunday by attacking their opponents, Cryme Tyme, before the match began with the help of Manu. Charly Haas kept his impersonation gimmick going in a match with JBL. This time he was Stone Cold Haastin, but there was no can of whup ass opened as JBL made quick work of the impostor. And our divas match of the night featured Kelly Kelly and Candice winning over Jiliian and Katie Lea.
There really wasn't much happening in the warm up matches to the main event tonight, but there were a few previews for the upcoming pay per view. In what was a good tag match we saw Miz and Morrison take on Kofi Kingston and CM punk. Both tag team can be voted into Cyber Sunday for a match, and from what happened tonight they both would put on a fine display against their opponents. It was the Miz who got the pin on CM Punk with some quick thinking as Punk was distracted with Morrison. These tag teams are intriguing as they both feature members who are destined to be big stars on their own. First Punk is the former World Heavy Weight Champion, but now finds himself saddled with Kingston. Yes, Kofi was a Intercontinental champ, but he really hasn't established himself as a major player. Punk on the other hand has been a crowd favorite for the past two years and it has been more a question of when will he be champ, not if. Morrison also can be viewed as a future superstar as he and Punk had some epic battles for the ECW title and he also has worn Intercontinental gold. Not to say their partners are lacking any talent, but it's odd to see two guys who you know the WWE want to be the next big stars spending their time in tag teams.
Another preview saw Santino Marella come to the ring dressed as all three of his potential opponents for this Sunday. As he was mocking the Honky Tonk Man, Gold Dust and Roddy Piper, Jim Duggan came to the ring to silence the boastful Italian. Santino then would challenge him to a fight but tricked the veteran and proceeded to smash Duggan over the head with a guitar. The attack did more damage to Marella as he cut his mouth open and was gushing blood from the guitar shards.
Rey Mysterio warmed up for his match against Kane by making quick work of Snitsky. Not much of a surprise there as Snitsky has not been on TV in a long time. Rhodes and DiBiase also made their claim for Cyber Sunday by attacking their opponents, Cryme Tyme, before the match began with the help of Manu. Charly Haas kept his impersonation gimmick going in a match with JBL. This time he was Stone Cold Haastin, but there was no can of whup ass opened as JBL made quick work of the impostor. And our divas match of the night featured Kelly Kelly and Candice winning over Jiliian and Katie Lea.
