"WWE RAW" 8-3-09 Talkback (Spoilers)

[The Penguin]

The RAW main event for SummerSlam is set, it will be WWE Champion Randy Orton vs. John Cena. What will happen to night when the Golden Globe/Emmy Award-winning Jeremy Piven of Entourage and the upcoming film, The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard, is in control?

WWE RAW #845
Monday, August 3, 2009 @ 9 p.m. ET/8 CT on USA Network

PIVEN IN POWER
Jeremy Piven, the actor who plays fiery Ari Gold on Entourage and also stars in the new film The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard, will be the special guest host on tonight's Raw.

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH
After countless altercations with WWE Champion Randy Orton's minions, The Game has had enough. Last Monday on Raw, Triple H laid down a challenge to The Legacy's Cody Rhodes & Ted DiBiase for a 2-on-1 Handicap Match.

[Mesousa]

That pimp looks familiar...I think he was in The Hangover as the Chinese boss dude...but I could be wrong.

EDIT: WTF.

He's wearing a pacifier. Is that legal?

[Hobbes829]

That pimp looks familiar...I think he was in The Hangover as the Chinese boss dude...but I could be wrong.

EDIT: WTF.

He's wearing a pacifier. Is that legal?

he was also the doctor in Knocked Up

[Mesousa]

Yep, Ken Yeoung (I think that's how his name is spelled, but I could also be wrong). But seriously, a pacifier?

Huh, Triple H lost...and DX will reunite next week. Took longer than I thought, really.

[halinar]

I confess... I'm a witch!

Just make it stop.

[Wade Kruse]

Oh god, this opening segment is PAINFUL.

[Mesousa]

Really?

I mean, seriously?

Was it really necessary mixing Big Show's and Jericho's themes? It sounded so off, that I actually muted the TV.

[Condiment King]

The opening segment was awful, and the guest host generally didn't work tonight for three reasons: 1.) he should have been heel all night and it made even less sense to turn him heel at the very end, 2.) he had that TERRIBLY UNFUNNY sidekick of his Dr. Ken, there were multiple moments where I would have punched him in the face to stop him from talking, and 3.) the movie promotion was endless.

Not only was the opening segment not funny or fun in any way, but it buried The Miz ten feet below the earth. You know how Miz looked really weak in his third loss against Cena last Monday when he just lost in three minutes via submission? It was even worse when Cena laughed and made fun of him for it.

It's great to see Beth Phoenix on TV again, but Beth vs Mickie's been done. It'd be great if Beth and Natalya were on the same brand so they could feud.

Why did they give away Carlito/Primo and Bourne/Swagger II in short four minute matches? I don't get this show.

Chavo vs Mark Henry was like a little bit better than a Chavo/Hornswaggle match, and Chavo/Hornswaggle matches are awful.

Jericho/Show's combined theme is so awful.

As good as Jericho's commentary was, man, BIG SHOW.

Gah The Miz. Even with all the heel lumberjacks around him, he gets banned from RAW after his fourth consecutive clean loss from John Cena. WHAT A FEUD. Three of the matches sucked, and the entire feud pretty much killed The Miz. He needs rehabilitation now. Here's to hoping he goes to Smackdown, but honestly it wouldn't surprise me if he went the way of Kendrick this week.

Man this show sucked. I feel like there's been worse, but I can't think of much good from this show either.

[hobbyfan]

Just when you thought Triple H could be so predictable, he jobs to Legacy. He acts like he's on the phone with HBK, but you and I know there's no way Shawn returns next week in Calgary. The fan reaction, I think, might be counter-productive, despite Shawn's efforts in recent years to put Montreal '97 behind him. No, DX will reunite on the Raw "go home" show before Summerslam. And, then, Legacy is in trouble.

"Dr." Ken Jeong (that's how it's spelled) plays the part of an idiot so well. They said he was in "The Hangover", a recent hit, and is one of Jeremy Piven's co-stars in "The Goods". A pacifier for a guy Ken's age? I realize he & Jeremy are fanboys doing this gig, but it looked like Ken raided Godfather's old wardrobe trunk, complete with pimp cane.

And to have Jeremy & Ken turn heel in the main event? I was waiting for something like that to happen eventually. Heels had been winning most of the matches, but the winning streak ended with Chavo jobbing to "Markswoggle". So of course Dr. Idiot gets tossed out to the floor, where Carlito, Swagger, & Masters broke his fall. Piven tried to be Ricky Steamboat coming off the top with a cross-body, but after seeing Cena no-sell the cane, you knew Ken was going to be the one taking the last bump.

As Chavo is 0-4 vs. Hornswoggle, Miz is now 0-4 vs. Cena. All after he'd run up an imaginary winning streak in his promos. See what happens when you talk trash, Miz? And if the stip holds, where does Miz go from here? Piven never explained that part of the deal.

All the backstage stuff would've worked better if Dr. Idiot wasn't there. Period.

Should we be surprised that Big Show ended up DQd vs. Kofi? When the match was made, I thought for sure Show would end up getting it done this time, since the pattern was favoring the heels to that point.

Swagger gets his win back from Evan Bourne, but now must contend with MVP again. Summerslam, anyone?

Women's tag was better than usual, though just as short. Beth's making a case for getting a title shot. So much for thoughts of Gail turning. For now.

Carlito gets a win back, too, getting the better of brother Primo this time in their first singles match, but I don't think it's over yet.

[Wade Kruse]

Well The Score in Canada decided to make me wait an hour for the show to start, and then halfway through the show they suddenly cut to the last few minutes, and I miss everything.

What the hell?

Sounds like I didn't miss much, at least. The first half was awful.

[Master Toon]

Thumbs up

- Jeremy turning Heel. I was just wondering if they were ever going to have Guest Hosts being Heels.

- Legacy beating Triple H. Love 'em or hate 'em they make a good team.

- Triple H's speech about not getting Evolution back together.

Thumbs down

- Combining Big Show and Jericho's music. It sounded horrible. Is Jericho that much of a superstar that he can't come out w/ someone and not have his music playing?

- Triple H making a call to Shawn Micheals. I know it's him, it has to be him. I doubt it'll be DX since it takes more than just 1 phone call to get them all together. Besides he made it clear that he only spoke to 1 person not 2 or 3 or 4. This will be, what, the 3rd or 4th time they did this DX thing? Do they need to push out some leftover DX T-Shirts or something?

[Condiment King]

Combining Big Show and Jericho's music. It sounded horrible. Is Jericho that much of a superstar that he can't come out w/ someone and not have his music playing?

I wouldn't pin it on ol' Y2J. They both came out for a segment on Smackdown and debuted that new music.

Though, yes, he is that big of a superstar.

It's kind of disheartening because the music debuted on Smackdown, and a few people here already have talked about it like it just played for the first time. Which means not as many watch Smackdown still.

[Mesousa]

Oh yeah, The Goods won't come here on theaters, anyways, so I also found the promotion really, really pointless to watch from me.

Sgt. Slaughter will host next week, and I know someone called it, so who was the lucky dude?

Also, HBK won't come back just because next week's show is in Canada? Um, I thought Canada already forgave him.

EDIT: Oh yeah, I forgot, anybody excited for "Summer Fest"?

[Master Toon]

It's kind of disheartening because the music debuted on Smackdown, and a few people here already have talked about it like it just played for the first time. Which means not as many watch Smackdown still.

For a couple of months now I've been missing some tapings of RAW, ECW, TNA, Superstars and Smackdown! So starting this week I'm going to make it my mission not to miss anymore.

Oh yeah, The Goods won't come here on theaters, anyways, so I also found the promotion really, really pointless to watch from me.

It won't come to your theaters ever or just not for a while?

EDIT: Oh yeah, I forgot, anybody excited for "Summer Fest"?

LOL. That was a cringeworthy moment but at least he made a quick recovery thanks to Cena.

[hobbyfan]

Oh yeah, The Goods won't come here on theaters, anyways, so I also found the promotion really, really pointless to watch from me.

There might be a delay before "The Goods" hits PR, I'm not sure.

Also, HBK won't come back just because next week's show is in Canada? Um, I thought Canada already forgave him.

He still gets boos in Calgary, IIRC. It's been 12 years, but people do have long memories and will hold grudges. Some just won't bring themselves to forgive after all this time.

And with Breaking Point in Montreal......!

[EinBebop]

I don't think it's about forgiveness, I think it's about having something that sets your city apart when you appear on TV. They're not really hating on Shawn Michaels so much as announcing, "Hey, we're Calgary!" And it makes it a bit more fun for us watching, too.

[SirLemming]

I lost interest in this show a little while into it so I can't say whether or not it was worse than the ZZ Top Raw, but it seemed pretty close. I guess there was probably a marginally higher amount of good wrestling on it... but I don't blame them for riding Shaq's coattails as much as they can. I wonder if he'll get involved in Summerfest Summerslam...

Sgt. Slaughter should be a reliable, if not hugely exciting, guest host. And also a potential tie-in with GI Joe...

[hobbyfan]

Sgt. Slaughter should be a reliable, if not hugely exciting, guest host. And also a potential tie-in with GI Joe...

Which had me thinking they got the schedule backward. The GI Joe movie opens this week. "The Goods" is next week. Yes, we got previews of both, and given my druthers, I'd rather see GI Joe.

[Condiment King]

I don't think it's about forgiveness, I think it's about having something that sets your city apart when you appear on TV. They're not really hating on Shawn Michaels so much as announcing, "Hey, we're Calgary!" And it makes it a bit more fun for us watching, too.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking. Personally, the Shawn Michaels 2005 interview on RAW is like one of the best moments in the history of wrestling. It would have only been better if Bret actually did come out.

[Hobbes829]

i thought piven showed more personality than any guest host sans dibiase. Dr. Ken sucked

The legacy/hhh match was tremendous. While hbk probably won't come out next week, they are laying the ground work.