Monday Night Raw: 6/22/08
In honor of the WWE Draft, Classics posted the full Draft shows for 2008 and 2009...watching 2008 now
- Just about three years ago and the show looks and sounds different...coming live from San Antonio, TX... JR and King still on Raw but all three commentary teams in the house, including Cole & Foley for SD and Adamle & The Tazz for ECW...love me some vintage Adamle...Vince will be doing a Million Dollar Giveaway tonight too
- Hunter (Raw) vs. Mark Henry (SD) to determine the first draft pick...JR & Foley call this one...so refreshing to hear that duo on commentary, so fluid and intelligent...Henry gets a lot of offense in on the Game...Hunter wins with the Pedigree
- And the first Raw Draft Pick is...Rey Mysterio...man, just watching the images flicker by on the draft randomizer really makes you realize how much the roster has turned over since 2008...Rey comes out and waves and greets Hunter in the ring
- Mr. McMahon is out for the Million Dollar Giveaway...he brings out Kelly Kelly to help give away $100K...Kelly is smoking hot here...Vince screws up and thinks the winner gave the wrong keyword but Kelly corrects him...poor lady must have had a near heart attack...Kelly dances us off
- Cena and Hunter have a face to face backstage about their recent interactions
- Finlay & Hornswoggle (SD) vs. Santino & Carlito (Raw) for a draft pick...Cole & King on commentary...lots of pimping for Night of Champions throughout the show...forgot all about the team...weird seeing Santino as a heel...Horny was way over here...Finlay & Horny win when Horny pins Santino with the Tadpole Splash after a Celtic Cross
- First SD Draft Pick is...Jeff Hardy...Hardy comes out and greets the fans
- Vinny Mac is back and the injured Randy Orton will be assisting him this go around...Orton says he is only here because he is draft eligible...he cuts a promo and then tells Vince he is not in the mood to give away money, so he leaves...Vince is giving around $100K and also announces Edge vs. John Cena for tonight's main event...the winner knows the password and cashes in
- Hardcore Holly & Cody Rhodes (Raw) vs. Chavo Guerrero & Bam Neely (ECW) for a draft pick...Adamle & King on commentary...Ted DiBiase joins them as well and says he will become tag team champion along with his mystery partner at the PPV...Holly & Rhodes get the win
- Raw draft pick is...CM Punk...Punk makes his way out and poses
- Chris Jericho heads out to address the crowd...he rags on the San Antonio crowd for backing Shawn Michaels while booing and demeaning Jericho, who only speaks the truth...this is tremendous watching the genesis of Jericho's greatest character....we get a video package that highlights Michaels turning on Marty Jannetty, Diesel, Hogan and Cena...Jericho refuses to allow the fans to cheer for him any longer because he is an honest, good hearted person and the only other person like him is Lance Cade, who saved him last week...good banter about how Cade trained under Michaels and their subsequent relationship...Cade knew Shawn would turn him at some point, which is why he is now aligned with Jericho instead...Jericho still has no opponent for NOC...we get clips of Jerico bashing Shawn through the Jeritron, messing up his eye...Sexy Boy fires up and Michaels emerges from the back and stalks to the ring...Michaels takes Jericho down and hammers away at him ...Jericho gets a shot at his eye, ramming Shawn's face into the corner of the announce table, to finally quell the assault...Jericho stares solemnly as Shawn writhes in pain
- Morrison & Miz (ECW) vs. Matt & Jeff Hardy (SD) for a draft pick...SD team was originally supposed to be Hawkins & Ryder but GM Vicki Guerrero made a change on the fly, clearly trying to stack the deck...Cole & Tazz on commentary...wow Vicki has lost a lot of weight since 2008...this is a pretty great matchup they threw together...fans into Hardys big time...long TV match...M&M win a hot match by using the tights and in the process they earn ECW a draft pick
- First pick for ECW is...Matt Hardy...short lived Hardy Reunion
- Vince is back and joined by Ric Flair to give away $100K...I am sure Flair wishes he had a crack at that cash...Flair was recently retired here...good winner here and she freaks out at winning and Flair congratulates her with a Wooo!
- Melina & Mickie (Raw) vs. Natalya & Victoria (SD) for an Announcers Only Draft Pick...all six announcers doing this bout...funny banter here by everyone...Cole gets some funny Prom digs in at King...talk about the soon to be debuted Divas Championship...Melina is injured and rolls to the floor...everyone else starts brawling and the match is ruled a double DQ and it is ruled that both Raw & SD get a draft pick as a result
- And Smackdown gets JR...JR looks visibly upset and leaves the Raw booth, heading over to the SD table...and now, obviously Cole gets drafted to Raw...that didn't seem rigged at all...Cole takes JR's seat...JR was sullen but shakes Cole's hand as they swap seats...Cole says he has called every SD except two episodes since its inception
- Vince and Great Khali come out to give away more cash...Khali talks about his movie, Get Smart, and of course nobody can understand him...Vince name drops the Rock, who gets a chorus of boos...Vince makes a call and the person answering says it's a wrong number and hangs up...Khali yells, which is funny...Vince makes another call...and we have another winner of $100K...this winner isn't nearly as excited as our last one
- Edge vs. John Cena for a draft pick up next...King & JR on commentary...Cena gets his usual split reaction...usual solid match for these two...Edge walks away mid-match, giving cena the win and Raw the draft pick...Batista shows up and forces Edge back to the ring and wipes him out
- Raw's next pick is...Batista...he stares at Cena and Cena stares back as Edge smiles and waves goodbye to the Animal
- Backstage, Vince reminds Edge that he still has to defend the title against Batista, regardless of the draft
- MVP (SD) vs. Tommy Dreamer (ECW) for a draft pick...Adamle & Foley on the call...Colin Delaney is with Tommy....Foley was really great in this role...too bad Vince was a douche and forced him out...Foley & Adamle are rambling on about nonsense and in a funny spot, Tazz blurts out "and there's a bulldog"...MVP wins
- SD's next pick is...Umaga...Tazz corrects Adamle again...man, Adamle was just a gold mine of entertainment...Umaga comes out and stomps around...Adamle claims to enjoy being ripped by everyone else and says he deserves it...Umaga wipes out Tommy and murders Colin
- JBL (Raw) vs. Kofi Kingston (ECW) for a draft pick...Cole & Tazz on commentary...Adamle squeezes in a "Jamaican Sensation" for us...JBL crunches Kofi with a CFH to earn Raw a draft pick, to the consternation of Tazz once again
- Raw's pick is...Kane...who is the current ECW Champion...Kane comes out and stares down JBL while setting off the ringpost fire
- Vince heads out again and makes a call to give away $100K...the winner is actually in attendance at the show and the cameras find her...and she celebrates accordingly...Vince says he will be giving away $500K to close out the night
- Main Event is a 15 man battle royal with two picks on the line...Cena, Kane, Batista, Punk and Triple H (Raw), Matt Hardy, Chavo, Shelton, Miz & Morrison (ECW), Big Show, Khali, MVP, Jeff Hardy and Edge (SD)...King, JR & Tazz on commentary...Khali gets tossed...Shelton's gone...listening to Tazz hear, it is so sad what he degenerates into by 2011...his peak was 2005, but he was still solid at this point...Miz & Morrison get dumped by Batista...ring thinning out a bit as this roars on...Punk gets eliminated during a break...Chavo is out...I love Tazz's painful exclamations as ECW gets whittled down...MVP tossed by Matt...the Hardys brawl with Jeff eventually taking out Matt, ending ECW's run...Batista's head gets split open when he and Edge try to spear each other at the same time...this is a pretty long battle royal...Show takes out Batista...Kane goes out next as Show is becoming dominant...final four are Show, Triple H, Edge and Cena...Show is out first...Edge rams Cena into Hunter, knocking him to the floor...Edge then tosses Cena to win the match for SD, netting two picks...Tazz is so bitter, it is awesome
- And the final two picks of the night to SD are...Mr. Kennedy and Triple H! Big move at the end to close the draft...Hunter looks shocked and exasperated as he gets to his feet at ringside
- Vince comes out again to give away $50K...and we have our final winner of the night...insanity ensues...the winner says he loves Vince...as Vince ends the call, a huge piece of the set falls and sparks shoot up from under the grating and Vince begins choking on the smoke, eventually collapsing off the stage...as he does, more of the set falls and crushes him...a gaggle of wrestlers, techs and officials scurry over to help as the set continues to explode and fracture...the wrestlers are able to lift the set to free Vince, who is carted off on a stretcher...Hunter freaking out is good stuff...Vince is conscious but doesn't know what happened...Vince refers to Hunter as Paul and says he can't move his legs as we fade out...crazy end to a fun, energetic and exciting episode of Raw...it was also great, yet depressing, hearing just how good the commentary was only three years ago[/b]
Review Date: August 2011
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