Raw vs. Smackdown, Rowe vs. Plague

[SamoaRowe]

Monday Night Raw
June 22nd 2009

-The show kicks off with Chris Jericho gracing us with his presence in the ring. Jericho boasts about all his recent success, including his victories over Orton and Cena in singles matches, as well as pinning Rey Mysterio in a tag match a few weeks ago. He reiterates that this means he is sure to win the WWE Championship at Night of Champions in the four-way main event. Rey Mysterio interrupts, and points out that while Jericho did beat him in that tag match, the last time they met one on one (at Judgment Day) Rey was the winner. Therefore, Jericho should keep his mouth shut. Vickie Guerrero appears on the Titantron and makes Rey vs. Jericho for tonight's main event. (88%).

Jack Swagger vs. Jamie Noble
Big Show sits in on commentary for the match. He has made a cash bet with Swagger that he won't be able to best Show's time for defeating Noble from two weeks ago. The time to beat is 4:45. The pressure seems to get to Swagger a little bit, as he makes a bunch of rookie mistakes that the underdog Noble is sure to exploit. Noble outsmarts Swagger and seems to be well on his way to at least outlasting the time limit, but Swagger gets a small package out of no where and pins Noble at 4:43!
Winner: Jack Swagger (76/76/77)

-Swagger grins and waves at Show as he makes his way up the ramp. Big Show doesn't look impressed and heads to the ring. Show lifts up Noble and nails the chokeslam from hell. Show appears to be sending Swagger a message.

-Backstage, Eve Torres interviews The Brian Kendrick. She asks him what he plans to do next, assuming that he would be down on his luck after his loss to Finlay last week. Kendrick laughs off the loss, saying that he actually picked up a big moral victory by exposing how weak Finlay actually was. Kendrick points out that just seconds after being pinned, his young, able body was able to recover in time to nail Sliced Bread #2 on Finlay. After that, Finlay just couldn't get up! Kendrick mocks Finlay for being old and says that Finlay isn't even at Raw tonight. Kendrick mockingly assumes that the reason for this is that he couldn't even recover from Sliced Bread. (81%).


Gail Kim vs. Nikki Bella (with Brie Bella)
Just like the last couple of weeks, Gail is determined and crushes her opposition. The Bellas desperately tried to make the old switcheroo, but Gail was too crafty for that to work. Gail locked on the Flying Dragon and picked up the easy submission victory at 2:10. Despite the win, Gail was unable to continue her trend of beating down her opponent after the match, as Brie made the save. Gail just laughed this off.
Winner: Gail Kim (60/63/55)

-Backstage, Randy Orton and Cody Rhodes are having a good laugh at the tension between Orton's Night of Champions opponents, Rey Mysterio and Chris Jericho. Orton says that just leaves Cena, who is wrestling another mystery opponent in the next segment. Orton says he has a special task for Cody to do and shoves the camera man out before it can be revealed. (83%).

John Cena vs. Mike Knox
Once again, Vickie Guerrero has set up a big mystery opponent for Cena, this time in the form of an increasingly wild Mike Knox. Cena has the upper hand for the early going, nailing a lot of his trademark offense. In fact, Cena appears ready to finish it early with the Attitude Adjustment, but Knox blocks and nails a boot to the lower back. Knox then spends several minutes working over the back of Cena, looking to prevent any further Attitude Adjustment attempts. As you could probably guess, Cena ends up making the comeback and improvising his game plan by just going for the STF. Knox ends up tapping out at 9:16.
Winner: John Cena (82/85/78)

-Cena is celebrating his win when suddenly Randy Orton appears on the Titantron. Orton cuts a promo comparing himself to Cena. Orton says that even though he just got married in the last year, Orton has lived quite the life up until now. Starting in his Evolution days, Orton had a different woman in every city for years. Even now in his marital bliss, what happens when he's away from home on the road stays on the road. In contrast, Cena, who just got married, has been with the same girl since he was 16 years old. Orton mocks Cena for being a "goody goody boy scout" who is "whipped." Cena takes the mic and tells Orton that he needs to learn some respect, not just for himself but for women in general (you can bet that the girls in the crowd loved this). Orton brushes off the criticism and reveals that during Cena's match, he had Rhodes go into Cena's locker room and steal his wedding ring, since he knew Cena couldn't wrestle in it. "So this is really important to you, huh?" asks Orton. The camera pans back and we see that Orton is standing in a bathroom and he proceeds to flush the ring down the toilet! Cena is outraged, leaving him vulnerable to a sneak attack from a recovered Mike Knox. Knox nails a sit-out powerbomb, as Orton and Rhodes laugh at Cena for being such a little wuss.

-Backstage, Mickie James approaches Matt Hardy about their mixed tag match tonight. Mickie says that winning the match is really important to her but she wants to win fairly and requests that Matt doesn't take advantage of his cast to cheat. Hardy pretends to have his feelings hurt that she could accuse him of such a thing. Mickie says he knows better and storms off. (82%).

Jesse and Festus vs. Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder
Hawkins and Ryder have something to prove as they are paired up against one of the teams who will be wrestling for the vacant WWE Tag Team Championship at Night of Champions. The match is pretty evenly wrestled until Jesse gets isolated. He takes a short beating from Hawkins and Ryder before getting a hot tag to Festus. Surprisingly, the former Edgeheads are able to resist getting clobbered by Festus for a bit, but it becomes too much and Festus nails the Fireman's Carry Flapjack on Hawkins for the win at 5:10.
Winners: Jesse and Festus (77/72/82)

-Not surpisingly, Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin attempt to run in for a measure of revenge from the week before, but Jesse grabs the ring bell and threatens to set Festus off if they come any closer. Haas and Benjamin calculate that it would be in their best interest to lay off for now and try again later.

Matt Hardy and Mickie James vs. William Regal and Maryse
The match was a bit of a mess when James and Maryse were involved, but pretty decent during the Regal/Hardy bits. Matt repeatedly was tempted to use his cast to cheap shot, but kept resisting due to Mickie keeping a watchful eye on him. This turns out to be the downfall of the match, as Regal had no issues with cheating and tripped Mickie while she was the legal woman. Maryse took advantage and rolled up James for the win at 3:45. After the match, Matt and Mickie argued, as Matt was steamed that they could have won if Mickie had just let him do his thing.
Winners: William Regal and Maryse (76/81/66)

Randy Orton vs. Goldust
The match doesn't end up happening, as John Cena runs in at the opening bell to attack Orton. Cena is steamed over how he was disrespected earlier in the night and really tears into Orton. Cody Rhodes runs in for the save, but his avenging brother, Goldust, stops him from making a difference. Cena ends up directing Orton backstage and into the bathroom where he flushed the ring. Cena demands that Orton "reach in and get it out." Orton refuses, so Cena just ends up slamming his head into the side of the stall and leaving him there out-cold.
No Contest

Rey Mysterio vs. Chris Jericho
The hatred between these two men was on full display as they used increasingly dangerous manuevers during the match to try and take each other out. Rey busted out some high spots we haven't seen from him in a while, including dives to the floor and off the ring post. Jericho was feeling overwhelmed by these assaults and began targeting the left knee of Rey to keep him from flying. Jericho worked the knee over for several minutes, with the main goal of weakeningi t for the Walls. Rey made a comeback and actually managed to pull off a 619. Unfortunately, when Rey tried to finish with the West Coast Pop, his knee buckled on the springboard and he hit the mat awkwardly. One codebreaker later and Rey was finished at 14:17.
Winner: Chris Jericho (88/91/83)

-Jericho is all smiles as now his dominance over his Night of Champions opponents can no longer be questioned. Jericho makes the belt gesture as Raw goes off the air.

Overall: 80%

[Viceroy Virus]

Sorry for the suck, but working nearly 80 hours a week the past few weeks is taking away from time I should be writing fantasy wrestling.