Open with JR in the ring, Edge interrupts and has his thugs escort JR out, only to be attacked by Batista. Batista delivers a beat down on Edge, and out comes Punk to cash in Money in the Bank, and we have a new heavyweight champ!  Sweet beginning to post-PPV Raw.  Didn’t see that one coming. I thought they would setup an Edge vs Batista main event, but nice twist here. 

Mickie James over Jillian Hall: *snooze* 

JBL challenges Punk for the belt tonight and he accepts: Ugh, have I told you how much I hate JBL and his ultra-lame matches?  Have I told you lately?  Well, um, yeah… 

Rey Mysterio comes to the ring to talk about Raw. Santino interrupts.  Sweet.  Santino is pissed that Rey is on the cover of WWE magazine, and busts out his photo that should have been on the cover instead.  Rey gets his offense in on Santino to a huge pop. Most memorable Santino quotes > repeatedly calling Rey “Ray Mastrio”  

Cena in the ring and wants his shot at Punk.  JBL comes out and has his security remove Cena from the ring.  Cena puts up a fight and they throw him out.  Ugh, move Cena JBL?  I hope they don’t allow this to over shadow the belt….  

Rhodes and DiBiase over some jobbers in a squash. *yawn*  DiBiase and Rhodes in the ring talk some smack on old people, pretty basic disrespect angle for some heat to set up some forth coming Holly revenge at a later date….actually I smell Dusty Rhodes teaming with Hardcore Holly, or perhaps Roddy Piper?  We shall see.  

Backstage with Burchill and Katie. Slow as hell, and then Jamie Noble comes in and plays the redneck part, actually pretty nice and funny, saying he needs to make a name for himself by walking up to the biggest and baddest and drawing a line. Enter Kane. Kane gives chase and Noble sneak attacks in the ring. Kane gets the upper hand before long, and choke slams Noble onto the announcer’s table.   

Kofi Kingston vs Y2J for the ICC rematch: I love Kofi’s potential, and the fact that they are elevating Lance Cade and Kofi by interjecting them into this storyline. Y2J challenges HBK for a match at the Great American Bash.  Sweet. This is a gold feud for Raw.  Enter Kofi complete with reggae theme.  I love a new face in the title picture….and its about friggin time.  Good match by both men, lame DQ finish on Y2J. I like that they keep Kofi the champ and keep Y2J respectable and build him as a heel, but this was weak.  Whatever though, at least Kofi is champ!  Although you had to know they were keeping it on him, because Y2J never really defended the belt anyway.  

JBL vs Punk for the WHT: Well, they took the normally exciting Punk and turned his match into a dull formulaic JBL matchup. Have I told you how much I despise JBL?  He is poison to the ring. Khali is more exciting. JBL’s security force comes to ringside, fans chant “Cena, Cena, Cena.”   Jbl gets the upper hand and Cena comes out with Cryme Tyme and storms the security. Chaos ensues, and Punk hits JBL with the Go To Sleep for the win. Great move, lame name by the way.  Punk stands tall to close the show….

It was a little weak that they didn’t trust Punk to sell the main event and interjected Cena into the mix, but it was asking Punk a lot on his first Raw night to carry the dead weight of JBL in the ring.  It came off well though in my opinion…and hey it’s something for Cryme Tyme to do I suppose, and that’s always a good thing…

Today I need to give a WTF? to the WWE. I read the writeup for Smackdown and they will have a bunch of people out of brand appearing. This is irritating and anti-climatic in my opinion. I mean they hyped the Draft and did a really good job creating new and interesting angles for them to build upon in my opinion....then they just throw random guys on.

The big 2008 draft three hour special edition of Raw had me psyched, and it didn't disappoint. Same format as last year, using cross branded match outcomes to earn draft picks for your brand.  Here's how it went down (no comments on McMoney, because it doesn't warrant comment):

Triple H over Mark Henry in a descent match. Henry got in some good offense, and HHH hit the pedigree for the win.  Most memorable thing here was JR's comment that Henry is so athletic that he has seen him dunk a basketball! Seriously, I can't make this shit up.  ~Raw gets Rey Mysterio. I like this move and the fresh top face to RAW.

Finlay / Hornswaggle over Santino / Carlito. Santino was gold as always, but the match was forgetable and sloppy. ~Smackdown gets Jeff Hardy. Massive, SD gets a top-tier face, I foresee a fantastic fued with Edge.

Holly / Rhodes over Chavo / Bam. Nothing real to report here. Not even Chavo can carry a tag match with three other wrestlers that stink. ~Raw gets CM Punk. Saw this coming, as he was lost on ECW. Now the real push begins with the Money in the Bank.

Miz / Morrison over Hardy Boyz (reunited?).  Really good match, nice to see the old school Hardy action, and Miz and Morrison work really well together. ~ECW gets Matt Hardy and the US Title. Hmmm, don't know what to make of that? Seems like a demotion to me.

Divas battle to no contest after Melina looks like she really hurt her leg in a fall from the ring. ~Raw gets Michael Cole and Smackdown gets Jim Ross.  It will be weird watching Raw without JR.

Cena over Edge via countout. Good action, but Edge looked a little sloppy, and Cena looked a little tired here. He can FU Mark Henry, but wobble trying it on Edge?  Weird. Edge walking out on the match fit his cowardly character nicely. ~Raw gets Batista. OK, same old same old. Don't get this one at all.

MVP over Dreamer. Dreamer needs to hang it up already, as he seems to job to anyone and everyone. MVP looked as good as ever. ~Smackdown gets Umaga. Nice. New home for the Bulldozer and some fresh people to annihilate. I would rather have him on ECW, but m'eh.

JBL over Kofi Kingston. OK, you knew it was going to turn out this way, but damn if I wasn't pulling for Kofi. They at least made him look good and JBL had to work to get this win. This booking solidified the inferiority of how ECW is perceived in my opinion. I mean Kofi has sick moves and athleticism, and JBL is a bruiser with three power moves and an absolute stone in the ring. How about an upset?  Fuck.  ~Raw gets Kane and the ECW title?  Huh?

Edge wins the 15 man tri-brand battle royal. They were really selling Raw's superiority here, and Edge sneak attacks HHH and Cena to get the win. Memorable moments here where Show vs Kane and Hardy vs Hardy. ~Smackdown gets Mr.Kennedy and Triple H. Nice, I guess WWE is serious about plugging some life into Smackdown with two top faces moving over. This will make up for Undertaker's absense and Batista on Raw. Now SD has Jeff H, HHH and Kennedy and Edge as top heel. I may have to watch Friday nights now.

All in all a really good episode, and I like the fact that they made real moves in attempt to freshen the programs. I would have liked to see MVP move to Raw and Umaga to ECW, but all in all I am happy with the results.  You?

Foregone Night of Champions predictions and head scratchers: Kane (Raw) and Big Show (Smackdown) battle for the ECW title? Yeah huh? Edge(SD) and Batista(Raw) battle for the Hwt Title and HHH(SD) and Cena(Raw) battle for the WWE Title?  It would stand to reason that BOTH major titles won't end up on one brand, so who will lose? I am predicting RIGHT NOW that HHH loses to Cena and sets up a top battle with Edge for the Hwt title.

I have seen him live four times, and he was without a doubt a true comedic genius...

5. Joe Torre called him a week early and said "so, ummmm, you fired yet?"
4. GM told Willie to keep his cell phone on all night..."just in case."
3. Signs in the Shea Stadium dugout were changed to only Spanish.
2. Plane ticket for Anaheim road trip was only a one-way.
1. Come on, it's New York, he lasted twice as long as he should have.

Poor Willie. So happy, so full-of-life, so ready to flash cliche hand gestures, so....unemployed.