Last night’s WWE Raw opened with Diva action as the gorgeous Kelly Kelly and Candice Michelle took on Jillian Hall and Kadie Lea: Kelly Kelly hits Jillian with a Rocker Dropper for the win.

Chris Jericho comes out next in a suit with the belt over his shoulder and demands that Lillian Garcia announce him to the ring as the champion. He then goes on to state his disgust for lack of respect. Batista comes out laughing and asking him if he serious and if he’s really demanding respect. Batista says you don’t demand respect and the only way he’ll be respected is if he beats Batista at Cyber Sunday. He them tells Jericho to shut his mouth or he’ll shut it for him.

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We’re nearly a month into a glorious 2008 summer and that means it is time for the b5media sports channel’s Summer Fun Theme Day. But first www.jabandgrapple.com has a question. What’s more summer than lounging by the pool eating a hot dog while watching fireworks and more fun than swooshing down the slip-n-slide with the sprinklers on?

You guessed it: WWE’s SummerSlam.

The 2008 SummerSlam will mark the PPV’s 20th year! Where have the years gone? The lineup for this year’s August extravaganza hasn’t been announced yet so instead we’re posting a youtube video of the very first SummerSlam Main Event.

It happened in 1988 and it was beautiful. That’s right it’s The Mega Powers vs. The Mega Bucks. Hulk Hogan and Macho Man Randy Savage vs. Andre the Giant and Ted DiBiase.

In The Mega Bucks’ corner was Bobby “The Brain” Heenan and special guest referee Jesse “Senatorial Candidate” Ventura. More importantly in the Mega Powers’ corner was the beautiful Miss Elizabeth.

Is this classic match ringing the old ringside bell? Four words: Miss Elizabeth Tearaway Mini-Skirt. Just press play and relive the memories.

This month the B5 Sports Channel is compiling a set of sports memories. Part One appeared on Thursday. Here Part Two.

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A match had just ended and my dad disappeared into the bowels of the ancient arena, back to where the wrestlers’ walk to the ring began. He was checking on something. He soon snuck his head out and waved for me to come over. He was with another man, the local person he knew that was involved with the WWF.

That local person was a doctor, George Zahorian, a name that might ring a bell for wrestling fans. He turned to me and asked the question any ten-year-old would want to hear, “Would you like to meet some of the wrestlers?” I squeaked out an excited yes. The doctor told us to follow him.

As we walked down the dingy corridor towards an anonymous wooden door I bristled with anticipation. Outside the door, propped against the wall’s corner stood a dirty Iranian flag. “That’s the Iron Shiek’s flag,” I thought, “this is it!”

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This month the B5 Sports Channel is compiling a set of sports memories. Here’s my take.

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The WWF was coming to my hometown. For the first time ever. September 28, 1984. Hershey, Pa. I was ten. My dad had two tickets. We were going! The very idea of seeing my newly realized heroes was too much to handle. The same heroes I watched with baited breath on every Saturday morning on local channels. The same heroes that would come together in mega events in gigantic arenas in huge cities every blue moon that were showcased on bigger cable stations like the PRISM network. Events that would seem so elaborate and so wonderful and so overwhelming to a wide-eyed ten year old.

What I knew was that many of these stars were coming to my small town. To perform in a drafty airplane hangar-like place known as Hersheypark Arena. A place built in 1936 and untouched since, a place where I had seen already dozens of ice hockey games, a place that I couldn’t imagine being transformed from a cold, glimmering palace of ice to a rugged grappling arena for my heroes.

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Image details: Feast Of San Gennaro Opening Night Event served by picapp.com

In case you missed it, this Baltimore Sun Ring Posts blog interview with all-time pro wrestling great Bruno Sammartino is essential reading, especially for the young fans who might not remember the historic wrestling greats.

Sammartino is Mickey Mantle, he’s Willie Mays, he’s Al Kaline. He’s a throwback to the golden age of a sport before it became a money making extravaganza. Personally, I never enjoyed his 1980’s matches because I was always told about how great he was and he just seemed like a grumpy old man whose time had left him behind and who should have left ages ago. Sort of like how Ric Flair looked a few months ago.

Nevertheless, that doesn’t take away the importance of his historic role. So read up kids, the wrestling world didn’t begin with Shawn Michaels and the Undertaker.