WWE RAW
San Antonio, Texas
June 23, 2008
Results thanks to wwe.com
SAN ANTONIO - Just days before Night of
Champions, seismic shifts took place across the landscape of
sports-entertainment, with WWE Champion Triple H being drafted to SmackDown,
giving that brand two World Championships, while Raw gained the ECW Champion
Kane. Raw, SmackDown and ECW earned the right to receive a random draft pick by
competing in inter-brand matches that led to 10 Superstars changing their home
brands. Even more shocking was the spontaneous destruction of the Raw stage,
which collapsed on top of the Chairman of WWE, Mr. McMahon, in the final moments
of the show.
More Raw Talent
With five Superstars drafted to the brand throughout the night, Raw came away
from the draft with a lot of new talent in their roster. In the very first match
of the night, WWE Champion Triple H (prior to being drafted himself) defeated
Mark Henry, earning Raw the first draft pick, which saw the incomparable Rey
Mysterio join Monday nights. After the match, The Game welcomed the Master of
the 619, but was interrupted by Triple H’s Night of Champions opponent, John
Cena.
Cena also tasted victory, as he defeated his long-time rival, World Heavyweight
Champion Edge by count-out. After the match was won, Edge was attacked by
Batista, who has his own problems with the World Champion, and will face him
this Sunday at Night of Champions. With Cena winning the match, Raw earned
another draft pick, which brought Batista back to Monday nights, along with his
opportunity to win the World Heavyweight Title this Sunday night. (WATCH)
JBL showed San Antonio why he refers to himself as a “wrestling-god” as he
defeated ECW’s Kofi Kingston to earn Raw another draft pick. When the random
lottery machine ran, it was ECW Champion Kane who joined Raw along with his
coveted title, though he will still defend it against Big Show at Night of
Champions.
In the second of four tag team matches, World Tag Team Champions Hardcore Holly
& Cody Rhodes defeated Chavo Guerrero & Bam Neely, which served as good practice
for the champions’ match at Night of Champions against Ted DiBiase and a mystery
partner. After winning the match, it was CM Punk’s music that played as Mr.
Money in the Bank himself joined Raw.
WWE Women’s Champion Mickie James & Melina and the team of SmackDown’s Victoria
and Natalya also had a tag team match. Two of these women will be competing at
Night of Champions: Mickie will defend her Women’s Championship against Katie
Lea Burchill, and Natalya will compete against an opponent still to be decided
in order to become the first-ever Divas Champion. The draft following this
contest was open only to ring announcers, commentators and backstage
interviewers, but when Melina suffered a severe ankle sprain and the match ended
in a double-disqualification, both Raw and SmackDown received draft picks. These
picks saw Jim Ross move to SmackDown, and Michael Cole move to the Raw announce
table.
Building Up SmackDown
On Friday night, SmackDown will find itself with five new Superstars, two of
which were selected after Edge won a Tri-Branded 15-Man Battle Royal. The
Ultimate Opportunist threw both Triple H and John Cena over the ropes, winning
SmackDown the final two draft lottery picks of the night: Raw’s Mr. Kennedy, and
WWE Champion Triple H, who will bring his title with him to Friday nights.
On Sunday, the father-son team of Finlay & Hornswoggle will challenge WWE Tag
Team Champions John Morrison & The Miz, but on Monday night they warmed up by
defeating the team of Santino Marella & Carlito. The two fighting Irishmen’s win
resulted in Jeff Hardy being drafted to Friday nights.
SmackDown also benefited from MVP’s match with Tommy Dreamer, when the Ballin’
Superstar defeated Dreamer in spite of Colin Delaney being in the ECW Original’s
corner. With that win, SmackDown said “Hello” to Umaga, who was drafted to the
brand, and immediately entered the ring, devastating both Tommy Dreamer and
Colin Delaney.
Extreme Recruit
ECW only found itself gaining one new Superstar to the brand, due to WWE Tag
Team Champions John Morrison & The Miz defeating United States Champion Matt
Hardy and his brother and new SmackDown brand-mate, Jeff Hardy. With the
champions’ win, ECW was able to draft Matt Hardy, who brings with him his United
States Championship, which he will defend against Chavo Guerrero at Night of
Champions.
Heartbreaking Alliance
In addition to the above Draft shake-ups, Intercontinental Champion Chris
Jericho entered the arena to address the crowd in the wake of his rivalry with
San Antonio’s own Shawn Michaels. Y2J spoke to Lance Cade over the TitanTron,
and the two criticized HBK for lying and betraying people over the years.
Jericho went on to say that he would love to defend his title against Michaels
at Night of Champions, but that HBK was unable to compete due to Y2J smashing
his head into the Jeri-Tron 6000.
This brought the San Antonio native himself to the ring, resulting in a violent
altercation between Michaels and the Intercontinental Champion, in which Jericho
did further damage to HBK’s wounded eye.
Money Talks
For the third week in a row, Mr. McMahon gave away $1 million of his own money
live on Raw. The WWE Chairman gave $100,000 to five lucky winners and $500,000
to one extremely lucky member of the WWE Universe.
After giving away that huge final prize of the night, explosions rocked the Raw
stage, which fell apart, collapsing on top of Mr. McMahon. WWE Superstars and
medical personnel alike rushed to the scene, struggling to free the injured
Chairman
Matches
WWE Champion Triple H def. Mark Henry. Rey Mysterio was drafted to Raw from
SmackDown.
Finlay & Hornswoggle def. Santino Marella & Carlito. Jeff Hardy was drafted from Raw to SmackDown.
World Tag Team Champions Hardcore Holly & Cody Rhodes def. Chavo Guerrero & Bam Neely. CM Punk was drafted from ECW to Raw.
WWE Tag Team Champions John Morrison & The Miz def. United States Champion Matt Hardy & Jeff Hardy. Matt Hardy was drafted from SmackDown to ECW.
WWE Women’s Champion Mickie James & Melina and the team of Victoria & Natalya were in a tag team match that ended as a double disqualification. Jim Ross was drafted to SmackDown and Michael Cole was drafted to Raw.
John Cena def. World Heavyweight Champion Edge. Batista was drafted to Raw from SmackDown.
MVP defeated Tommy Dreamer with Colin Delaney. Umaga was drafted to SmackDown from Raw.
JBL defeated Kofi Kingston. ECW Champion Kane was drafted to Raw from ECW.
Edge won a Tri-Branded 15-Man Battle Royal. WWE Champion Triple H and Mr. Kennedy were drafted to SmackDown from Raw.