Good evening, and welcome to WWE RAW on SCI-FI!!!
We have Batista VS Kane tonight!!!

CM Punk vs JBL for World Heavyweight Championship

The match starts slowly with JBL taking the early advantage with a lot of holds and a few hard body shots. Punk counters with with some nice sharp kicks, but it is short lived as JBL gains the advantage once again. He slows the pace of the match once again with a few nice holds and a couple of hard shots again. E goes for a high boot to the head, punk ducks out of the way, and goes to town on JBL. The delivers several sharp kicks, including a few in the corner. He drop kicks JBL out of the ring, and follows with a nicely executed suicide plancha into the announce table as we go to the commercial.
After commercial, JBL has Punk in a bear hug, then delivers a nice release belly to back, followed by a shot suplex for a quick 2. JBL starts using an abdominal stretch and slows the match again. He rolls Punk back for another 2 count. Hard short clothesline, another 2. JBL foaming a bit from the mouth, and Punk starts to fight back, but to no avail. JBL lifts punk into the torture rack, but he reverses with a spinning heal kick, that is caught, and Punk gets a sidewalk slam for his troubles. JBL with the slow pace, lifts Punk to the top turnbuckle, smacks him a few times, climbs up to the second rope, but his suplex attempt is reversed into a very high impact DDT by Punk for 2. Punk delivers a nice 1-2-3 combo, followed by a spin kick, the a flying cross body from the top rope for 2 ¾. High Knee, bulldog, and another 2 ¾. The GTS attempt is reversed into a Clothesline from Hell. Covers Punk, 1-2... Punk grabs the bottom rope!!! JBL looks bewildered, leaves the ring, grabs a chair, heads back in, but the ref, Chad Patton grabs it, and Punk hits JBL with the Go To Sleep for the 3!!! Great ending!!! This was a PPV caliber match!! Punk is showing why he is the champ every week.

The CM Punk / JBL angle is starting to get old now. The match was magnificent, though, and the two definitely work very well together.
Winner: CM Punk
4 ½ stars out of 5....

We return from commercial, and Mike Adamle is making an announcement. He shows on the TitanTron some footage from SummerSlam of Batista vs. Cena. She shot shows repeated Batista Bombs to Cena, and Adamle reports that he has extremely herniated discs, and will require surgery, and will be gone indefinitely. Adamle reports that he will name his replacement by night's end.

Kane cuts a promo about what he's done Rey Mysterio Jr.

Next shot shows Adamle speaking with Carlos Colon, who says he's better than Carlito, and that Carlito is a jerk to everyone, including his family.

HBK comes in and asks for some time to prepare for Jericho tonight. Adamle asks how is Rebecca, and is answered by nothing but a cold stare.

Beth Phoenix vs. Kelly Kelly in a non-title match
Kelly Kelly's music brings us back from break, and she is introduced. Beth Phoenix is introduced, and makes her way to the ring with Santino in tow. Kelly Starts with a headlock, and is lifted to the top rope by Beth. Kelly delivers a kick to the midsection, and after busting Beth's nose, she gets on the receiving end of a quite vicious beating. He nose is bleeding too heavily for it to be broken, but I am sure that it will develop into that angle soon. Kelly whips Beth into the corner, and attempts to do a back flipping back elbow, but Santino pulls Beth out of the way. She chastises Santino, and Kelly school boys her for the 1-2-3!!!
Winner of the match: Kelly Kelly
Match gets 2 ¾ stars out of 5
After the match, Beth takes Santino down and starts to beat on him, sending him back to the dressing room.

Charlie Haas vs. Primo Colon
Carlito's music hits, and he is introduced, being billed from Dallas Texas???? They call him “Charlito”... this is Charlie Haas with a bad wig, and an even worse accent. Primo Colon is introduced, and comes into the ring asking “what the hell is this”. Charlie slaps him into the corner, but Primo reverses, and delivers a hurricanrana. Charlie hits Primo with a VERY hard clothesline for 2. Haas with a few hard kicks, the a high side suplex. Rear chin lock applied by Haas. Haas grabs an apple, and starts chewing it, walks toward Primo, and is met with a hard right hand. Primo gets busy with a few dropkicks, a monkey flip, and a splash attempt that misses. Primo hits a flying high cross body and gets the pin... on a high cross body??? What?? Oh well. I guess he has no ending move yet.
Winner: Primo Colon
2 stars out of 5

HBK is shown walking toward the ring as we go to commercial.

We come back to Raw to a replay of SummerSlam's promo between HBK and Chris Jericho.

Silence, then a HUGE (understatement of the night here) pop for Michaels, who walks out slowly to the ring. No fireworks, no jumping around, no posing.... just Shawn in his cowboy hat, a huge frown, and an attitude. He says nothing for a moment. He says that his wife Rebecca is hurt, but after being married to him for 10 years, she's tough and will be okay. He says that he tried to believe that it was an accident, but, after watching Jericho on Raw last week with no remorse, he couldn't do it. He said that the reason that he didn't turn in his letter of resignation was because it would be too hard to say goodbye. He said that he looked at Rebecca and knew that he was not going anywhere (HUGE POP again)... then Jericho is on the TitanTron. Jericho says that he was asked to not appear on Raw, and that HBK was lucky for that. He says that the last time they fought, HBK walked out of the ring, but next time he'd not leave the ring at all. Says that HBK only wants the match so that he can sue WWE for what Jericho does to him. HBK says that he would go to jail for what he wants to do to Jericho. Said that he would sign any forms necessary for the match... no rules, etc. Jericho accepts the match, but warns HBK to not allow his wife and kids to watch the match. HBK says that his only goal is this one thing :an eye for an eye.
Promo rating 3 ½ stars out of 5. It would have been better, but, it was too long, and HBK is just too funny to pull of the psycho bit effectively... if it were a HHH or Kane, it would have been better received, I think.

Ted DiBiase, Jr and Cody Rhodes vs. Jerry Lawler and Jim Duggan
We come back to Ted DiBiase and Cody Rhodes being introduced. They walk in without their belts, which were lifted by Cryme Tyme last week. The are visibly distracted by this. Their opponents, “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan and Jerry “The King” Lawler come to the ring.
Rhodes and King start it off, but, Rhodes tags DiBiase immediately. DiBiase with a back body drop on King, who returns the favor. DiBiase delivers a few hard shots, and King reverses a body drop. Double team by Rhodes and DiBiase on King after the tag. Rhodes maintains control of a side headlock and arm lock for a while, then answers some punches with a suplex on the King. He slaps King across the face, which cases King to get mad. He beats on Rhodes, then on DiBiase for a sec, then tags in Duggan who cleans house. Power slam... kinda, into a football stance / clothesline. Rhodes breaks the pin, King comes in for the save, and DiBiase his Duggan with that combination “Million Dollar Dream” / Russian leg sweep, hooks both of Duggan's legs, and this match is over.
Initially, I thought the match was over too quickly, however, they needed it to be short for the upcoming promo. Duggan looked really bad, but Lawler was still very good.
Winners: Ted DiBiase, Jr and Cody Rhodes
Match rating: 2 ½ stars out of 5.
They grab a Mic, and threaten Cryme Tyme. Rhodes told Cryme Tyme that in the WWE, you win championships, not steal them, and they could never do that.
Cryme Tyme is in the stands with the belts. They introduce themselves, and tell Rhodes and DiBiase that they “borrowed” the belts so that they could get a match at Unforgiven. Wow... Shad Gaspar is REALLY bad on the Mic. DiBiase accepts the challenge. The promo is weak to say the least.
Rating 1 ½ stars out of 5, and this leads to a commercial.... Carlito VS Kofi is next.

Batista is in an interview when we return. He says that the match at SummerSlam was one of the toughest if his career. He says that he has nothing but respect for Cena, and hopes he comes back soon. He then says that he's not intimidated by Kane, and he will win back his belt at SummerSlam, and says that tonight is personal.

Santino Marella vs. Kofi Kingston for the Intercontinental Championship

Santino is introduced first, and the replay of the end of Beth and Kelly's match is shown. Kofi comes out to a small but respectful ovation. Kofi stars with a schoolboy for 1. He goes to an arm bar. Sholder block by Santino, then a high spin kick by Kofi. Kofi monkey flips Santino, delivers a shoulder, then an uppercut to Santino, then misses a back high cross body. Santino goes to work on Kofi with a face buster for 2. He applies a abdominal stretch which is reversed, and Kofi is flying around the ring again and again. He drops his boots across the chest of Santino, and Santino runs from the ring. Beth stops him, and makes him go back into the ring. Kofi backs into the ropes, Beth grabs his foot, he does a face splash onto the mat, and Santino covers for the pin. Beth and Santino kiss one another in their weird ways, and they leave the ring. Lawler says “This is like Beauty and the Beast, except Santino is the beauty!!!” The ending of the match really sucks, because the action was fantastic. These two worked really well together, and and start to finish match with a clean finish would be very interesting to watch.
Winner: Santino Marella
Match gets 3 ½ stars out of 5. Would be better if the ending didn't suck.

Mike Adamle comes out and announces that Rey Mysterio, Jr. will be Cena's replacement, which seems odd considering Kane's comments lately.

After previewing the upcoming PPV, Batista is show walking to the ring. He faces Kane next!!!

Batista vs. Kane

Batista comes to the ring first to a nice pop, incidentally trips over the 2nd rope coming into the ring, and they show the cover of Muscle and Fitness with Batista on it. Kane is introduced, and comes to the ring with a sick smile on his face. They go back and forth, and Kane takes the early advantage. Kane is HUGE!!! Batista is a big man, but he looks small beside Kane. Batista starts working on the arm of Kane. They go to the mat, and the pace is really slow at the moment. Batista continues to work on the arm of Kane. A couple of big right hands by Batista, some shoulders, another right and Kane drives Batista into the corner. Kane pushes Batista off of the Batista bomb attempt, but gets a clothesline out of the ring. Kane goes outside of the ring and throws a fit. This leads to a commercial break.

Back from the break, Kane has Batista in a rear chin lock. Batista gets to his feet, whips Kane to the ropes, elbows, then kicks Kane in the head. He stalks for the spear, but Kane uppercuts. He attempts the choke slam, Batista counters, then Kane dropkicks the injured knee of Batista. He wraps the knee around the apron, then goes to work on it with repeated elbow drops, then an ankle lock. Kane with a knee breaker on Batista, still very slow pace. Kane continues to work the knee. Boot to the temple by Kane. Kane goes right back to the knee. Batista to his feet, but Kane kicks the knee again. They go out, and Kane kicks the knee against the ring steps. Batista starts to fight back. He attacks with huge right hands, and an ax-handle to the back of the head. Kane hits the knee again. He picks Batista us by the foot, and slams his knee into the ring... Batista weighs 300 easily, and Kane picked him up like he was 110. Batista reverses the knee lock with an arm lock, but Kane gets to the ropes. Kane chop blocks the back of the knee. Batista explodes with a clothesline. Both are slow to get up. Kane up first, charges Batista in the corner, misses, and Batista with a strong scoop slam on Kane. Kane with another charge into the corner that fails. He gets a drop toe-hold into the turnbuckle. Batista charges not once, but twice. The second time, caught in a choke hold. Batista reverses into a Spinebuster, goes for the Batista bomb, Kane to the knee. Kane wraps Batista's knee around the ring post and grabs a chair. He his Batista's knee against the ring post with the chair repeated drawing the DQ. Kane with a sick smile. He comes into the ring with the chair, tries to hit Batista with it, and gets kicked in the face. Batista with a spear on Kane, and gets the chair. He hits Kane in the back twice, and wraps his leg around the ring post, and hits it with a chair. He hits Kane's knee 5 times before collapsing. The show ends with Batista on his back, and Kane getting to his knees in the ring.
Winner of the Match by DQ: Batista
Match gets 3 ¾ stars out of 5... would have been higher, but the DQ killed it for me.

Tonight's show gets 3 ½ stars out of 5. There wasn't enough action, but this is par for the course leading up to a PPV. Great buildup for Unforgiven, but a lot more could have been done.
Highlight of the night: CM Punk's victory over JBL
Low-point of the night: Cryme Tyme's mic work... ewwwwww.

Thanks for reading my post tonight! I look forward to many more posts in the future.