8-7-11 Raw results and thoughts

Coverage and thoughts on the August 8, 2011 episode of Raw

The show starts with Triple H in the ring mentioning how historic SummerSlam will be when Cena faces Punk for the Undisputed Title. He mentions that in the last month they’ve gone from no WWE Champion and Vince being in charge to H being in charge and there are to WWE Champions. He says that the undisputed part is where he comes in as COO and says that he found someone who will have absolute authority and that is himself. He mentions he’s the only guy he can trust and that he will be the referee for the WWE Title match. He mentions the Cena-Punk contract signing tonight and that they will both be in singles matches tonight and Cena’s match is right now. Cena comes out and he and Triple argue for a bit with Cena saying that H made himself the ref because of his ego and H tells Cena to not tell how to ref the match and that the match will turn the way he wants it to. They actually managed to drown out the commentary. I thought this promo was kind of weak. I hope if Triple H is turning heal, which it sounded like when he said that he only trusts himself, that we won’t see “Mr. Helmsley.”

WWE Champion John Cena vs. Jack Swagger. Cena gets the pin. The match was pretty good, but there was never any doubt Cena was going over.

Time for the SummerSlam recall and they show clips of the really great Bret Hart-Mr. Perfect match from SummerSlam 91, which in my view is the best SummerSlam ever! That was a really fun match!!

Scott Stanford is cut off by Ricardo Rodriguez who introduces Alberto Del Rio, who calls Punk the voce of the gutless because he ran when Alberto was ready to cash in the MITB and tonight we will see what would have happen that night. Good promo from Del Rio.

Josh Mathews interview R-Truth and Truth talks nonsense here and talks about how he hates spiders again. He talks more nonsense about “spider stew”. Then he says he’s going to step on a spider tonight and that spider is John Morrison. This was a weird promo. I have no idea why they’re booking Truth to be this crazy out there guy.

Rey Mysterio vs. The Miz. Miz comes out and attacks Rey during his entrance and rams him face first into the WWE logo stand. The refs helped Mysterio up and to the back. Miz says that there’s so much emphasis put on the WWE Title match when he should be the focus because he is all over TV and that he wants a referee to come out and say that Miz wins the match by forfeit. A ref comes out and tells Justin Roberts that Triple said that Miz will be in a match right now and Kofi Kingston comes out.

Kofi Kingston vs. The Miz. Miz get the pin. This was a good back and forth match.

Josh Mathews interviews CM Punk backstage about his reaction to H making himself the ref at SummerSlam. Punk says that he’s not surprised because he has a bigger ego than Vince and that he Title match was history making by itself, but Triple H had to put himself in the mix. He then mentions his upcoming match with Del Rio. This was another good promo from CM Punk.

WWE Champion CM Punk vs. Alberto Del Rio. Punk gets the pin. This was a real good match.

Eve Torres vs. Beth Phoenix. Beth gets the pin. This was a typical Divas match. Good but short. Beth then says that she is tired of Divas like her and Kelly making a mockery of the Divas division. She was about to ask Eve something when Kelly attacked her from behind.

Alex Riley vs. U.S. Champion Dolph Ziggler. Before the match Alex gets the mic and says it smells like death just took a dump in her mouth. That was stupid. Vickie gets in the ring and screams at Riley and then slaps him causing a DQ. Dolph and Vickie then bicker a bit and Alex punches Dolph into Vickie. Dolph and Vickie argue a bit more and Vickie walks out. There really wasn’t much to this and was kind of on the dull side. Alex Riley won by DQ.

They showed a video package recapping the WWE Title situation and the Title match on Sunday. This was put together really well.

John Morrison vs. R-Truth. Truth gets the pin. This was a good match, but I’m surprised they had a clean finish.

They show Triple H and Johnny Ace reading over the contract for the Cena-Punk match.

Christian cuts a promo on the Tron mentioning that he has an announcement to make on Smackdown and that Triple H should be there to hear it in person.

Time for the Contract signing. Punk says that they’re out there for show and that someone could flip the table over. He then shows a clip of Dwayne ripping on Cena. I saw this online, Rock was as funny as usual. Punk mentions that Cena and Rock are both phonies. Cena says Punk caught him off guard with the clip and that he loves to see the fans get psyched and mentions that Rock is a future Hall of Famer. Cena then says that Punk is to PG and a modern day Hulk Hogan. That was a comical line. He then says that Rock is a star and that he has his millions and Cena says that he himself couldn’t win over the fans. Cena mentions when Punk called him the Yankees and he says that he was right about that because he like the Yankees get a mixed reaction from fans. He says that he will not give up on the fans that have been loyal to him and that there is nothing phony about that. He then says that Punk is an underground voice of the voiceless and to look in the mirror if he wants to see phony and Triple H agrees saying that Punk ran away and made a new deal over the phone. Punk then asks Johnny Ace if he personally fired Vladimir Kozlov, Chris Masters and Harry Smith. That was great stuff! The fans chant CM Punk! Punk says that this is about him, Cena and the WWE Title and that Cena looks down on him and mentions how Cena said Punk did a good job when he won the ECW Title and he almost gave up on him. Punk says that he held up WWE for some perks and says that he has to fight for the opportunities that Cena has been handed. He mentions Cena winning his first WWE Title back in 05 in Los Angeles and that on Sunday he will walk out with nothing. He says that after SummerSlam he will be the WWE Champion and he then signs the contract. Cena says that Punk beat him at MITB and has every right to be called WWE Champion, but has he thought about what happens if he loses. He then mentions that he will face Rock at WrestleMania no matter what and that Punk needs this match more than he does and that if he doesn’t back up what he says on Sunday, he will be a one hit wonder and wishes him luck. Punks says that he would rather be a one hit wonder than a phony. They then stand up and knock over the table and have a stare down but Johnny Ace gets between them and Punk decks him, then Cena goes after Punk, but Punk gets out of the ring and Cena winds up hitting Triple H by mistake. Triple H and Cena stand in the ring and Punk asks if that’s how it will be at SummerSlam. This was a well done final hype segment for Sunday.

I thought that this week’s show was good overall. There were a few weak spots, like Triple H’s opening promo, R-Truth’s promo and the Alex Riley-Dolph Ziggler match/segment, but there was some good stuff too like Miz attacking Mysterio, the Kofi-Miz match, the Pun-Del Rio match and the contract signing segment at the end was good too. Punk as always cut a really great promo.