Monday Night Raw Review - September 10, 2007

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

​World Heavyweight Champion The Great Khali, JBL and Intercontinental Champion Jeff Hardy Confronted Mr. McMahon

Could you imagine if any one of these men were revealed to be McMahon's illegitimate son? Hardy would have been an interesting choice, JBL would have actually been fitting, and Khali... well, I don't know who McMahon would have had to hook up with to produce that. In all seriousness, this was a solid segment that succeeded in setting up Hardy vs. Khali for later on in the night and building more suspense for the ultimate reveal of McMahon's illegitimate son later on in the evening, not to mention that everyone played their respective roles well.


Paul London def. World Tag Team Champion Lance Cade

Let the record show that it was only a few days earlier that London and Brian Kendrick briefly held the World Tag Team Championship by beating Cade and Trevor Murdoch during WWE's tour of Africa before losing them back to Cade and Murdoch later in the tour. That set up a rematch for Unforgiven that Sunday. This match was hardly anything of note, but London winning did give the babyfaces the upper hand before their loss at the pay-per-view.

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Triple H def. Shelton Benjamin

I appreciated how the commentators acknowledged how Benjamin owned a few victories over Triple H from a few years earlier. Truthfully speaking, that was the only thing that made Benjamin a legitimate threat versus HHH here. He had been floundering for months, and moreover, HHH had been undefeated since returning at SummerSlam, essentially squashing everyone who stepped foot in his path of burial... er, destruction. They contested a good match, but the ending outcome was never in doubt. Could Carlito, HHH's Unforgiven opponent, at least have been able to get one over on him before their match since he would lose that anyway?


WWE Champion John Cena Interrupted Randy Orton

I often criticize Cena and Orton for not having the most exciting feuds, especially in recent years, but they really had a great thing going in 2007 with Orton adding an extra edge to his character by punting Cena's father in the head and exhibiting more aggression than he ever had before. I enjoyed the intensity of the brawl he and Cena had and the fire Cena showed as well.


Mickie James def. Jillian Hall

It still shocks the hell out of me that Jillian lasted as long as she did in WWE considering how awful she was in the ring and having no value as a character. James thankfully made short work of her here, but the match served zero purpose. Beth Phoenix came out afterward to attack both women and get heat going into her Women's Championship match with Candice Michelle before Candice made the save.


The Sandman def. Santino Marella by Disqualification

This was around the time Santino was starting to find his footing as a comedic heel in the midcard with the likable Maria by his side. Unfortunately, Sandman was largely wasted upon being drafted to Raw that year and this was an inconsequential match that saw him score a rare win, albeit via disqualification. I don't think he lasted much longer before he was released by the company.


World Heavyweight Champion The Great Khali def. Intercontinental Champion Jeff Hardy (Non-title)

For a champion vs. champion match, this was rather disappointing. One of the biggest issues with Khali's world title reign, other than the reign itself, was that Khali was mostly booked to dominate everyone, and it did Hardy no favors and he looked weak in defeat. And he was fresh off his Intercontinental Championship win, too! So, this was just terrible timing, and obviously Khali not knowing how to wrestle didn't help matters, either. Batista taking out Khali during the post-match to build toward their Unforgiven match was a nice touch, though.


Cruiserweight Champion Hornswoggle Was Revealed to Be the "Illegitimate Son" of Mr. McMahon

You know what's super sad? My first memory of watching wrestling was this segment. I don't know if I watched the rest of the show or solely this segment, but this was many months before I classified myself as an official fan. Either way, I can only sympathize with fans and especially those in attendance (given this episode emanated from Green Bay) that thought Mr. Kennedy would be revealed as the illegitimate son despite his suspension. The original plan was for it to be him, but because of said suspension, they switched to Hornswoggle instead. Why? Were there literally no other options? Ugh. This kicked off a storyline that would unfortunately last until WrestleMania 24 the subsequent spring.


Overall Show

Of course, the entire episode centered around the big reveal of McMahon's illegitimate son, and the payoff was deplorable considering they had been hyping it up for weeks on end. Additionally, as a go-home show for Unforgiven, this wasn't too stellar, either. There was an ample amount of hype for a few matches, but most people probably forgot there was a pay-per-view that Sunday. Why would I watch this edition of Raw back to review, you ask? As previously noted, I believe it was the first Raw I ever saw and figured I'd take a trip down memory lane. I'm almost regretful I did after that last segment.