Personally I really enjoyed The Bash. The Hardy vs Punk match was good and well booked and Jericho and Rey had another fantastic match.

Apart from those two matches the others were passable at best...

But I thought there were two great mark out moments; Kane returning to me was a huge shock and I am so glad he is back (and happy Zigglor didn't have to job and can finish this feud with Khali and go on to better things), but best of all was the tag match with Jericho and Edge winning. That was a great decision, the two best heels/superstars in WWE at the moment can now go on Raw and make it watchable, furthermore it sets a storyline between those two. I hoped maybe for Christian to be Edge's partner...but now in reflection Jericho is a better choice, Christian and Edge should be saved for Wrestlemania.

The Bash wasn't great and I would feel robbed if I had paid for it...but here in the UK it was free and for that reason a very enjoyable ppv

When Edge came out, I couldn't help but say, Please let Christian come out as his partner! I needed a 5 second pose!

OKAY - I didn't waste $ 40 last night and I'll never buy another pay per view. We all knew Orton was going to win --- but a champion???? He's the joke of wrestling right now - the only way he can win is with the assistance of DiBiase and Rhodes - he can't win by himself... What a joke and a disappointment WWE is becoming. We need new feuds or something to add the life back into this show.....

I did not watch the PPV but read WWE's site and of course your's. I haven't been purchasing PPV for the reasons you mentioned...Is it worth the money...No, not right now.

1) I agree this really, really needs to be the end of HHH and Orton. Even if it involves pulling someone from another brand this story has gone on way too long. Vince has milked every possible angle except either HHH or Batista joining Legacy and I don't see it happening.

2) I watched the Morrison-Punk match on Smackdown on Friday, and all though the match was a little slow at first it turned into one of the better matches I have seen in awhile. Ohhh wait didn't Morrison provide a match like that against Edge last week? Anyway my point is Punk "Has It". I look forward to some good matches with and a couple of guys to shoot some new blood into the WWE. I hope that Vince and creative don't burn out the "Poor Jeff Hardy Angle" too soon.

3) I didn't believe for one minute that Rey would loose his mask. It's not the fans here he has to live with, It's the Mexican fans that would never forgive him.

4) I was wrong. I thought Miz would pull one over by hook or crook. In the end it only hurts talent like the Miz nad some other who are trapped in mid card status because they can't get a clean win over a name. Does the name Shelton Benjamin sound familiar??

5) I don't agree putting the belts on Edge and Jehrico was a good idea. It would make more sense that Legacy would carry the belts to have a better angle at dominating the locker room, the whole "Who's gonna stop us" bit.

6) I'm disappointed in you Kevin....Still dishin on Tommy Dreamer. Learn to like it, I don't see it changing anytime soon.

7) Dolph Who?? He defeated who....The Great Krispy Kreme?? Was it a Punjabi Job Squad Match?

8) Michelle's win had been written all over the wall in big red letters for over a month. I agree. Who is next Kevin..?

Have a Good Day.

raw is such a total pile of sh*t right now its not even funny. who wouldve known at the start of the year that by the end of june, tommy dreamer would be legitimately more credible than randy orton. disgusting. i know you dont like the miz, but youve gotta admit he was one of the top up and comers and a dirty victory over here (who in hell can get a clean victory over cena?) would have certainly helped raw get a new star in the miz and provided us with some fresh top matchups.

PS where the hell is mvp? and this is a serious question, did he fail a drug test or has heat with management? currently being a casual-ish fan, i cant even remember the last time i saw him on tv.

Kev, my first thoughts about Kane were that Dolph had something to do with his interference. It was said before the match that Dolph would outsmart Khali, and afterwards he was giving the whole 'I'm the smartest guy in the world' to the fans on the way back up the ramp. I must say though, watching the replays, Dolph did look a little shocked.

And I was also hoping that Kane's absence would lead to a return to some form of masked Kane, and to add a new chapter to the Undertaker/Kane book. I'm sure you'll agree that Kane was awfully stale on Raw for the last few months. His absence could have been him wrestling with his demons, etc.

Kinda feel it's a missed opportunity to do something with Kane. He'll be the same on Smackdown as he was on Raw.

And two other points I agree with you on. Orton/HHH is incredibly stale, but I can't see that being the end of it. And I'm loving the new CM Punk.

Keep writing pal, I enjoy reading your blogs, all the way from the Emerald Isle!

Like I said last week, HHH/Orton can't end because there's no logical oponents for them. Cena will come out tonight and in his usual unfunny and sarcastic speech will say he deserves a shot at the title. The next 9 months will be Cena vs. Orton vs. HHH.
UGGHH!
I'm glad there are websites nowadays to get summaries of shows because RAW isn't worth watching anymore.

Was I the only one confused by the "Triple Threat" part of the unified match?

Why would the third team have to tag in?

Shouldn't it just have been one from each team in the ring at all times?

Loved the booking of the Punk-Hardy match. Just wanted an evil smile as Puck was helped up the ramp. Edge and Jericho on all 3 brands = quality programming. I just wished they let The Miz steal a victory. How much heat would he get if he could say he beat a former champ. Right now every fued combination on RAW is stale. It's time to do a complete rosters switch just to get the better programming on Monday nights.

Anyone find it weird that whenever Jack Swagger wrestles his mouth bleeds??

Do you think Edge and Jericho winning the tag belts plants a seed for an Edge face turn? Somehow, they have trouble getting along and it leads to a split in which Edge is booked as a babyface.

How good is Chris Jericho? Every fued the guy has been involved in since his heel turn has been 'must see' TV and his match with Rey last night was the best on the card and the best in their program so far. I hope his tagging with Edge doesn't mean the end of the Jericho/Mysterio fued, I think there's still scope for one more blow out PPV match.

HHH & Orton on the other hand have to move on immediately, stale doesn't even begin to cover it.

The Kane interference was so stupid. Surely the idea of Ziggler beating Khali was to give him a push to better things? But the way he won, the effect is the same as if he did quite well, but lost. If he won using guile, it would have made him look smart and dangerous. As it is, he just looks abnormally lucky.
Same as what you say with Orton. Instead of being a devious scheming viper, he looks like a politician, i.e, he is all mouth and needs lackeys to do dirty work for him in order to get anywhere.

Is it just impossible for HHH to lose, without him looking as strong in defeat as most wrestlers look in victory? And can Orton ever win a match without looking like a complete jobber? Does he ever win matches without Legacy saving him seconds before a sure defeat? I know Orton plays the cowardly heel role, but it would help Orton's character to at least make it look like he's capable of holding his own against the top guys, and just chooses the easy way out. The way he is booked now, it is made to seem Orton wouldn't be able to beat 95% of the WWE roster without having a 3-on-1 advantage. Very weak.
And although having Jericho and Edge win the tag belts does shake up that division, I'm tired of these last minute additions to title matches (which seem to involve Edge 9 times out of 10). It makes the idea of #1 contenders and earning title shots completely meaningless, and it also telegraphs the outcome of the match- when was the last time one of these last minute adds didn't end up winning?

Raw has the opportunity tonight to freshen up the WWE Title picture, which they desperately need to do. I do not want to see anymore Triple H-Orton. For a LONG TIME.

Thank you for the fill in! I myself could not justify spending the money, but It is awesome to get the full play-by-play on the action. Makes me feel like I ordered it!

HHH
PLEASE GO AWAY....

Kevin, I do get your impression of how weak the "E" have booked Orton this past year. My question is that much more weaker than other heel champions who were surrounded by a faction were made to look in the past, specifically Flair when he was running with the Horsemen? I seem to recall many a time when the Horsemen had to come to Flair's rescue in order to keep the Big Gold on him; sure Flair never got smacked around by a 63-year old, a 60-year old and an out-of-shape 40-something year old on national TV like Orton has this past year, but to me that seems more like those guys trying to stay relevant in wrestling rather than trying to make Orton look weak.

I think the "E's" definition of a heel champion is a wrestler who does everything BUT win clean to remain champion. If they didn't book Orton as somewhat vulnerable without his minions doing his dirty work, then it might be viewed as dang-near-impossible to take the championship off him. So when it does happen, it makes it all the more extraordinary when the face comes through and takes the title.

I buy one or two pay-per-views a year, and one of them is Wrestlemania. I know ppv's are a large part of WWE revenue, but perhaps half as many ppv's would suffice. We could get some real buildups and storyline payoffs. For now, we get flimsy fueds like the apparantly upcoming Kane vs Khali. WWE needs real storylines to setup the matches.

I thought all in all it was pretty good. PPV's are about US$13 in New Zealand so yeah I thought it was worth it. I wouldn't have paid $40 though.

I loved Edge and Jericho getting the Tag Team belts.

But I felt physically sick watching Tommy Dreamer. He's so tired. Please make it stop.

At least he didn't cry again.

Even if I'm a huge Edge and Jericho mark I'm not sure that putting the belts on them is such a good idea. I never like it when random top superstars are thrown together just to beat the reigning tag team. It does the tag division no good. Here I would have liked Legacy to grab the belts and then have them defend them all over the place with possibly Orton doing the occasional run in. Even give them a mouthpiece or a forth member to help out and you'd have a company wide faction giving everyone trouble.

With regards to Orton as champ, now I might be wrong since I didn't watch wrestling back then but wasn't Flair exactly this type of champ in the Horsemen era? Playing tough, acting like the best then usually needed Tully, Arn and Ole to help him out of a really tough spot? It's good heel booking to me, have him decimate the lower to mid card but always out smart the top babyfaces not necessarily out wrestle them.

"I'm tired of these last minute additions to title matches (which seem to involve Edge 9 times out of 10). It makes the idea of #1 contenders and earning title shots completely meaningless...."

_______________________________

I agree totally, and I would like to add that people purchase pay-per-views on the understanding that they will see X wrestle Y, you know, the match that was, uhm, ADVERTISED!! Yes, I get that this is sports entertainment and scripts can be changed even on the day of the show, but come on! Try to stick to what you have pitched on television!

I hope that Edge and Jericho will still be on Smackdown every week.

At this point in the WWE, the tag titles are now more prestigious than the ECW title is. That's bad. So is the WWE title looking like horse manure. Gotta love HHHorrible hhholding down everyone else. HHHe needs to go the HHHell away. On the bright side of things, the IC title might have a little bit of relevance now and Edge and Jericho will take over Raw once again. They should really just give Jericho all three world titles and have him wrestle 3-4 matches a PPV. People would probably pay for that more often than they do currently. Simply put, he is the best there is in the WWE. He is well on his way to winning his second Superstar of the Year award and the common denominator is simple, since the 2008 draft Jericho and HHHorrible haven't been on the same show. Interesting phenomena there one might think.

Anyways, keep up the good work, Kev. You make wrestling much more enjoyable.

MVP was at the BET awards last night with the lady from The View. I'm sure WWE will have a clip from it on tonight's RAW.

I remember when hhh was champ about 10 years ago and feuded with the rock. Even though he mostly had help from dx, he was still put over very strong, and it made for a killer feud. The current orton trips feud should be more like this. They could have even gone the route of orton getting clean wins on ppv and forcing hhh to put his career on the line for one last shot, which would have been brilliant when the rumours of him going off to do a movie were floating around. As for the feud its nowhere near over and is surely heading to a hell in a cell a summerslam. Also rated y2j are my new favourite tag team ever by default and i look forward to the inevitable break up and feud. Its a shame jeff is going because i think the pairing of him and punk has a lot more left to give, especially when punk turns heel and everything gets personal.

Nice to see Rey Mysterio paying a little tribute to Mil Mascaras.

"Anyone find it weird that whenever Jack Swagger wrestles his mouth bleeds??"

Deetz, I am fairly sure it has something to do with his speech impediment.

I am guessing his tongue sits awkwardly on his lower teeth and he most likely bites down on it more than once during a match.

They should just rename Raw "The HHH Show" and be done with it since wherever he goes things seem to revolve around him, even in defeat.

Except of course when Vince is around.

IS the Raw roster purposefully thin and stacked with his various current and prior associates mainly for the benefit of HHH or am I just being a bit too suspicious and cynical?

Kev - growing up , PPV's were far less frequent . These days they occur so often , they don't differ that much from weekly TV. That's why I seldom partake .

Kev, what's your take on trips in general? He seems to atteact a lot of hate on here and in general, but he always gets a massive pop at the shows. What gives?

Oh and with any luck, Dibiase will leave Legacy and maybe Orton will be booked as he should be.

RESPONSE FROM KE: Triple H is a huge star and he should always be in the mix with top guys. I just don't think he needs to keep winning the title over and over again. As far as the criticism of him, some of it is fair. It's true he was a star before he hooked up with Stephanie, but I doubt he would be a 13-time champ if he wasn't married to her.

To Prime Time Bobby Lee,

His name is Dolf Ziggler. Haven't you been paying attention, he only introduces himself 943 time an episode. :) Seriously, we are going to be hearing his name alot.

To Deetz,

I did notice Swagger bleeds from the mouth alot. Do you think it might have something to do with his lisp? He might be bitting his tounge alot.

I don't see how you can call the Miz/Cena match anything less than a squash. Even the divas match laster longer. It was the worst possible booking possible. Few expected a Miz victory, but he was beaten in such a decisive manner that he never seemed like much of a threat to Cena to begin with. So basically two months of work of building Miz up as a legit player went down the drain, and for what purpose, another Cena feel-good moment? Cena gained nothing from the victory because it made Miz look like he didn't belong there in the first place. Whether Miz could ever be a main eventer was always questionable, but it's these kinds of booking decisions that prevent talented midcarders from ever moving up the ranks. This is why Raw is stale, no midcarder has been given a big time push up the ladder, so we're stuck with a never ending loop of Orton vs HHH/Cena/Batista (well during those times he isn't injured).

Speaking of the divas match, what does the WWE see in Michelle McCool? She doesn't even have X-Pac heat. While improved, she's still not particularly good in the ring, yet the company continues to push her, ignoring the absolute apathy the fans have for her.

Could HHH have been booked any stronger? Well I suppose he didn't make the building lift off the ground, but I'm willing to bet it was suggested in the booking meeting.

Note: I didn't think this had much of a chance to be worth $40 and so I didn't see it. I'm just going on the synopses posted here and at f4wonline.com.

Jericho/Mysterio is really the only match I wish I had seen. They did the smart thing here and the double-mask gimmick sounded pretty clever.

Kane coming back doesn't do anything for me and if they are starting a Kane/Khali feud I'm tapping out right now...

Real disappointed in the Cena/Miz match. It sounded to me like enough of a squash that Miz was presented as not in the same league as Cena. I kinda expected this after what happened in the Battle Royale but this whole angle turned out to be a dud after a real promising start.

It sure didn't sound like the HHH/Orton feud actually ended but I'm in agreement with nearly every other non-McMahon in the wrestling public that I sure hope it's done.

Finally, I'm going to take a wait-and-see approach on the Edge/Jericho tag championship. It sounds like a good idea to me right now but only if they're used to spice up Raw and elevate tag team wrestling in WWE. However if all we get is an occasional 5-minute defeat of the Colons and Cryme Tyme (are there any other face teams?) they might as well have put the belts on Legacy.

It's good to see Kane back, even if this upcoming work with Khali is going to be less than awe-inspiring.

If you were to judge by crowd reactions, Edge and Jericho are already faces. I'll be interested to see which of the up-and-comers, if any, will get a rub by challenging these two before the inevitable dissention/breakup story line. I hope it's a long reign with plenty of chances for the mid-carders to step up and take their shots.

Christain was the only one not getting a pin. That's one more piece of evidence for those who think that Vince is trying to bury TNA by burying their top alumni.

I was surprised but pleased to see Dreamer keep his belt. He actually looked surprised as well, enough to make me wonder if he had actually been the one meant to go over. Anyway, the next PPV is in Philly, the original ECW territory, where Dreamer should enjoy some strong support. If Dreamer is going to make one last big splash, it'll be here. I know that "extreme rules" matches don't need to be a weekly, or even monthly, feature. But I think Swagger would go over huge if he were to win a original-style, BYOW (maybe including a stop sign and a boat for old times sake), interference piled on counter-interference piled on more interference, singles match against Dreamer in Philly. If they could have that match in the old bingo hall, that would even be better, although I have no idea how they could pull that off, either story-wise or logistically.

The Jericho Mysterio match was excellent. These guys always have great matches together, and apart.

The Punk Hardy finish was good and the match was also.

Kane was cheered when he laid out Khali. That guy can never be a heel. Everybody seems to like him.

Don't blink, you might miss a Cena Miz match. I just didn't see the point...

At least Orton retained the title. I heard something about Dibiase becoming a face to promote the Marine 2.

Another par-per-view where Smackdowns talent outshone Raws. And that was without Shelton Bejamin, R-Truth or John Morrison on the card.

I'm still very much against the idea of turning DiBiase into a babyface just for the sake of promoting a movie.

The better long term solution would be to keep him with Legacy for a bit longer. Give Rhodes & DiBiase some side feuds while they're associated with Orton. Don't just make them glorified bodyguards.

I read a horrible book by Matthew Randazzo V called "Ring of Hell" (it was about Chris Benoit). One useful piece of information in the book was that the buyout rate for the King of the Ring 2001 pay-per-view had suffered because Paul Heyman, a WWE booker at the time, booked pay-per-view quality matches on free TV, including a four-way TLC match on Smackdown and a cage match between Kurt Angle and Benoit on Raw. Why would anyone have bought that pay-per-view if they could just get pay-per-view matches on free TV? I think that was the problem with The Bash. For two weeks, fans were treated to pay-per-view quality matches and angles on Raw. After looking at the card for The Bash and then reading about the results, I think people should have paid to watch Raw those two weeks.

And by the way, it looks as if WWE hasn't ceased its pay-per-view surprises yet, as evidenced by the new unified tag team champions.

God haven't we have enough of HHH vs Orton ?

Please, end it already...............

I'm surprised you, nor anybody else here commented about the massive "we want Christian" chants during the tag team match. Is there any way Vince can ignore those?

Like usual, a subtle diss on Dreamer. Those are as stale as HHH. Almost. I'm glad Dreamer won. He's earned it, been through more brutal matches than a lot of the WWE wrestlers (and almost all of the old WCW wrestlers.. except those they stole from ECW). I can't hate too much on your comment though since you did have an awesome Seinfeld reference.

"It's true he was a star before he hooked up with Stephanie, but I doubt he would be a 13-time champ if he wasn't married to her."

_______________________________

I would like to add that HHH manoeuvered himself onto the creative team long before he married Stephanie. People who are involved in the planning and execution of a show should either A) write scripts which someone else performs, or B) perform scripts which someone else writes. If they write AND perform, then they are in a conflict of interest.

True, HHH has the qualities that WWE likes in a Raw headliner, so he would have been in the thick of things on Monday nights, regardless, but without his "advantages," he would not be the sledeghammer-wielding superhero/supervillain whom we know.

Well, at least the tired, old booking of "The Ultimate Opportunist" isn't ruining the World title anymore.

Edge needed to turn face after WrestleMania 25 to stay fresh. He is stale, and with so many short title reigns recently, he has no credibility as a heel.

Kevin - in one of your responses to a commentor , you stated that you doubt HHH would have been 13x world champ had he not been married to Stephanie .
I hope you don't fall out of grace with the "family" by saying that ! :)

For the same reasons Bad News stopped watching RAW, I stopped watching TNA.

Foley Must Go!

Why is McCool still treated as a top-flight Diva? Is at the Undertaker's influence? She's sloppy as hell and isn't much to look at, IMHO - I just don't get it.

While I'm on the topic, I believe that the best Divas are vastly superior to the best Knockouts. But when you've got Melina, Mickie James and Gail Kim jobbing left and right (not to mention Katie Lea not even getting on television) because you're too bust having tedious and boring dance contests and "interviews," you're handling the situation completely wrong. I can only imagine that Vince McMahon is trying to kill women's wrestling once and for all. That's the only explanation for such insane booking.

Whilst by no means a bad PPV, I would not have felt I had got value for money had I shelled out to watch it. Fortunately, The Bash was a UK freebie (no such luck for Night of Champions or Summerslam though!).

My main gripes were as follows:

Why leave the ECW title on Tommy Dreamer. It should have went back on Swagger or Christian in my opinion. Those guys may just make it to the top in WWE with a bit of favourable booking, something Dreamer will never do.

Apparently the WWE gave Kane some leave of absence after Backlash, whilst devising new storylines for him. If instigating a feud with TGK is the best they could do, I wish they hadnt bothered. The matches will stink. Id have preferred him to have waffled Ziggler with the chair.

Does anybody else not care about divas matches at all? Dont get me wrong, I appreciate a good match, male or female but the unneccessary screaming and sloppy offence makes it hard viewing at times.

The finish in the Punk vs Hardy match was lame, i.e. the disqualification bit. Punk could have sold the eye, suckered Hardy in and hit the GTS for the pin and it would have had the same effect. He would, technically, have done nothing wrong but his ethics would, again, have been questioned.

Why was The Miz made to look a total jobber? It surely should of been The Miz who got the better of the 'wrestling' exchanges in the early going. What was the point of building him up to have him lose in such a pathetic fashion.

HHH just couldnt do the honourable thing and put Orton over clean could he? Hopefully this is going to be the final match between the two. Orton is the future of WWE yet once again, HHH had to look like the victor at the end. Pathetic.

Is it just me or are PPVs appearing more and more like 3 hour episodes of Raw/SD (especially when you look at the lack of inventiveness with the entrance set, the backstage vignettes etc)?

Some positives however!

Jericho vs Mysterio was excellent, and better than their match at the last PPV, where Jericho's blatant 'spot-calling' spoiled it.

The seeds planted for a DiBiase turn on Orton bodes well for the future.

Neither of the two main titles changed hands (which has happened far too much recently).

Punk's slow-burn heel turn continues.

Tag titles value has just shot up due to the new champions. If DiBiase and Rhodes win them now, their stock will rise. Not sure how much that would have been the case if they had beaten The Colons who have stalled a bit. There is also the possibility for a face turn for Edge or Jericho when they inevitably fall out, leading to a programme between the two.

I have to admit mind, when Edge came out and waited for his partner, I was desperate to hear Christian's music. I think the roof would have came off the arena, where there was a great atmosphere at times.

I enjoyed the bash, except for the very end when HHH got back up, even though I'm not a regular HHH Critic.

Rey Mysterio and Chris Jericho had an awesome match and it was a very clever finish.

I think the reason they put Edge and Jericho in the tag match and made them champs is because that will mean they can appear on raw. Then when Shawn Micheals returns and the Orton / HHH feud is over, DX can reform and fight Jericho and Edge at Summerslam. Then that will ultimately lead to HH turning heel and fight HBK at WM 26, and Edge and Jericho also at WM26. That has great storyline potential and will definetely get people watching Raw.

If I'm wrong and Edge and Jericho got the belts for no particular reason, then it was unbelievably stupid!!