Raw opened tonight with new GM Mike Adamle comparing himself to Ronald Regan in his opening promo. When he wasn’t looking at his cue cards, Adamle did his best not to stutter through the promo - and he did much better than he does when he’s behind the commentating mic. Soon JBL and Chris Jericho were out on stage both arguing about how awesome they are and how each would be better than the other as the World Title contender at Summerslam.

Ultimately Adamle made a handcapped match where JBL and Jericho would take on CM Punk tonight. If either of them manages to pin Punk - that one would get the title shot.

After that bottle of boredom ended, we moved right into an Intercontinental Title match between Kofi Kingston and Paul Burchill. Decent match - not terribly memorable. Kofi got the pin for the win, then Kofi chased Paul off as Burchill’s sister/manager Katie Lee stood in the ring ready for her match against Women’s Champion Mickie James.

Mickie and Katie Lee had a stand out match. Lots of great in-ring work. Both performers were at the top of their game, and it was one of the best women’s matches I’ve seen on Raw in a while. Mickie got the pin, but was attacked by “The Glamazon” Beth Pheonix.

Beth and Santino continued their “love affair” which seqwayed into another Mike Adamlee segment where he made a match where Beth and Santio take on James and Kingston in a “winner take all” inter-gender tag match for the Intercontinental and Women’s championships.

After a John Cena promo, Batista was interviewed where he complained about not getting yet another world title shot, then threaten Cena. Personally, I have to say that this entire Cena/Batista fued is doing nothing for me. I could care less who wins. They’re billing it as the “biggest match ever” - and honestly, I think that’s an insult to the history of Summerslam.

Diva search winner “Layla” was dancing like the Raw set was a strip club when the show returned from commercial break. They segwayed from that into a video where Layla broke off her “relationship” with Jamie Noble. Her dance was interrupted by William Regal. Who grabbed a mic and reminded us he was “our King” before being interrupted himself by Jamie Noble.

Noble attacked Regal and a brawl ensued, which ended with refs pulling the two apart.

The handicapped match was up next, with JBL making his way out to the ring first. Jericho hit the ring next, followed by the “champion” CM Punk. Mike Adamle came over the Titan tron before the match started and informed everyone that it had a time limit of 10 minutes, and if no one won the match by that time, there would be a triple threat for the title at Summerslam.

The match got going quickly, and Jericho debuted his new ring attire, which is a drastic departure from his previous looks - and I have to say - it looks very odd on him. Perhaps we’ll get used to it, but right now - I’m not a fan.

The match very quickly saw JBL and Jericho turning on each other, essentially making this match a triple threat already. Everyone got a near fall or two, but the match finally ended with Jericho keeping Punk in the “Walls of Jericho” for a full 30 seconds. JBL came in at the last second to break it up, but was disoriented and hanging onto the ropes. Jericho hit him in the face. JBL fell backwards onto Punk and got the three-count at the very last second.

Nice ending. That took some good timing on everyone’s part. Well done.

Next up was the Shawn Michaels interview “live via satellite” from his home. He announced that at Summerslam he will announce whether his career will continue, or if he will have to retire. Apparently he is going to “heed his doctor’s advice” and we’ll see what happens. Since this injury is a part of the show, and not legitimate, I would imagine he’s going to be around for a while.

After yet another commercial break we are re-introduced to “Matt Striker” still using his teacher gimmick. They reminded us of who he is and why we shouldn’t like him. Striker was quickly interrupted by Kane, who came out and wiped the floor with him.

After the match Kane grabbed a mic and told us he’s “been in a bad place”. But he was happy to report that “he’s not alive - he’s dead”. That was followed up with quite a bit of bag starring, and then his music hit and he left the ring.

Before the main event we got a “Smackdown Rewind” that tried to prove to us that Edge is a bad ass.

We were then treated to one more “Adamle Original” tonight. He revealed that next week we were going to find out what was in Kane’s bag - or else.

Then the main event of the night commenced, and the tag team champions came out first. John Cena then made his way to the ring, followed by Batista. The match wasn’t one for the history books, but it was a decent outing. The endng, however, was a bit of a shocker, with Cena and Batista defeating the tag champs and claiming the gold.

Overall, this was a good Raw, but the build up to the lackluster card for Summerslam 2008 is leaving the entire product feeling a bit lacking.