Yo. After a short break this weekend, I’m back, to quote Eric Bischoff’s theme song. I’m taking it easy today, and I’m giving you a lot of thoughts and analysis. Of course, there’s the usual news thrown in here and there. Before I start, I just wanted to say “Thank you very much!” to everyone who checked out my Commentary — Wrestling Personified – Triple H vs. The Rock — and even was nice enough to write a couple of lines to me. I deeply appreciated it and I’m glad the commentary sparked some interest. There’ll be others in the future, I’m sure, but these things come from the heart, and that is why I don’t do commentaries weekly. I do your favorite section of the site — News and Analysis. 🙂
RAW aired this past Monday, and from where I sat, it was a letdown in a way, as the show didn’t deliver, and also experienced constant technical difficulties, due to Kevin Dunn (my good baseball buddy) being absent. Anyway, the show had its bright spots as well to be honest, and I enjoyed some of it, but not all. Like I said in my commentary, it was a primary example of how The Rock and Triple H are the exact opposite of each other in real life and in the wrestling business. Rock put over The Hurricane on Monday, which ended up being the main event for the show, and also continued the storyline between Rock and Austin. Triple H destroyed Maven in a squash where he didn’t give the Tough Enough Champion any offense, and then went on to destroy Al Snow just for the heck of it. Elsewhere on the show, the Dudleyz got wood, tables, passion, and a lot of fans, but the one thing they still don’t have is a paycheck as they continue to be suspended, and Regal continues to be unable to make RAW. Trish Stratus and Jazz were the victims of technical problems, but still managed to continue their storyline, while Jeff Hardy‘s “weird” storyline continued. One big thing that happened and we should note is that Shawn Michaels accepted Chris Jericho’s challenge and at WrestleMania it’ll be HBK vs. Y2J. Jericho and Christian took on RVD and Kane, who also seem to continue their storyline, in what I thought was one of the good spots on RAW. RAW’s rating is in, and there was a lot of anticipation here after a strong 4.5 last week. Many believed that if the show managed to keep the rating going, they’d be finally able to improve everything and turn things around. Well, it was not to be, as the final RAW rating came in at a 4.0, off of hours 3.8 and 4.2. Not much to make out of this, but say that hopefully the rating will jump up again soon.
I am thinking of going through the storylines on RAW and giving you all my two cents here and there for this week’s Wednesday report. Before I do that, let me take care of the news side of things in a sentence or two…
UPN resigned SmackDown!’s contract, and the show will remain on the network for another two years. WWE has also agreed to give to UPN some of the commercial spots, giving the network more profit. Just a proof of how important SmackDown! is to UPN, as it’s their #1-rated show. Word has it that Hulk Hogan’s contract with WWE will be for at least a year, and Hogan continues to hammer down the point that he’d like Jimmy Hart to be signed as well. Steve Austin’s contract expires later this year. Kurt Angle’s future will take an interesting twist, but more on this in the weekend report. Batista and Orton will be out for three months, with Batista staying on the bench for a bit longer, as they recover from their injuries. Orton’s injury is so severe that he’ll have pains in his foot for the rest of his life, which will give him some tough time with his wrestling career. Don’t expect to see too much Gold in WWE soon. Well, except for Goldust… Let’s try this again… Nothing new on the Goldberg front. There. On with the RAW thoughts…
Like I said in my commentary and at the beginning of this report, RAW was the perfect example of how different Triple H and The Rock are. The Rock has been getting nothing but praises from everybody on-line for his current work, and I don’t know what is it this guy does, or maybe it’s how he does it, not a clue, but whatever it is he’s been doing, he keeps improving and doing more and more positive things, and more importantly, doing them better than ever! His promo work is just amazing, and the touches he’s done on his character are the most entertaining thing RAW has seen since… well… probably since the Booker/Goldust comedy from later last year. The Rock has been playing the heel persona great, and in the process he’s done what WWE needed to do since the roster split — elevate news guys to the top in Booker T and Hurricane. Rock gets my respect and admiration for this, and a definite cheer for his work. Just like Dave Scherer, and some other Internet sources have said, I kind of wish that Triple H was leaving to shoot movies, and not The Rock.
Speaking of Triple H, the exact opposite was showcased on RAW. Hunter squashed Maven and in the process embarrassed Al Snow as well. But it’s OK because Triple H is the World Heavyweight Champion, and that’s all that matters really. His feud with Booker T continued and unlike others, I felt that the mic work wasn’t that good on RAW. As far as their “backstage beating” segments goes, it was even worse. Booker T managed to talk and deliver his lines well while he talked but at the same time he kept putting himself down as he basically admitted to everything Triple H said. If you think back, Triple H has found problems with RVD and Kane too in his old feuds, and they kind of admitted to them as well, so it’s not anything new. Booker handled it well, but it’s become obvious that WWE writers are going for a very cheap racial tease with this storyline, which really draws people away. It’s really sad to see this happen. Two guys like Triple H and Booker T can be considered as great Gladiators who I’m sure can put up one great, awesome program if done right. They have the perfect opportunity with a show this big like WrestleMania and the push of Book coming at this time, but it looks like they’re slipping a bit. I hope they change things around, or if they don’t, at least give Booker the clean pin at ‘Mania. It’ll somewhat make things better. Am I dreaming here? Let’s move on.
Getting back on the Rock/Austin side of things for a while, many have talked about Austin’s character since his return, and I thought I’d drop a line or two as well. I agree with what’s been said before — WWE will find themselves in big trouble in about three or four months if they don’t change Austin’s character around. He’s been out for almost a year, and he’ll continue to get huge pops from the fans because they love him and love his work. This is another great opportunity for the company. But at the same time WWE has to realize that the reason Austin left last year was because he found himself in a land of no storylines to do and no creative perspective for anything. If WWE doesn’t change his character and instead puts him in your regular Austin feud, where he battles authority (Bischoff) or he faces the bad guy and raises hell (Rock storyline) then they’ll be back to square one shortly. For now, it’s working, because the Bischoff deal is fresh and gives WWE fans something to cheer on, and on the other front, Rock is doing more than great with his promos and keeping the program alive. Just like Rock has done, keeping the basics of your character alive (The People’s Champion) but at the same time adding a trade here or there (singing to diss the crowd, talking to the crowd during promos, some facial expressions like laughter, etc.) is what gets you over. This is the part of the job where Rock is like no other. I feel that Steve Austin needs something new to him so he’ll keep drawing fans.
The answers seems to be in a move to the SmackDown! roster. I honestly can’t see Austin stay on RAW while Triple H is battling for the belt. Chris Jericho and Scott Steiner seem like the two guys Austin can spend some time feuding with, but these feuds won’t carry him over too well and I highly doubt he’ll be happy with that. On SmackDown!, there’s a bunch of people he can, and should, work with that will keep him fresh. Guys like Chris Benoit, Rhyno, even Matt Hardy and eventually Brock Lesnar will freshen his act a bit. There’s also Eddie Guerrero who Austin loves working with. I see a change to SmackDown! somewhere down the road, and I’m just taking a very wild guess here (sort of just to throw an idea out there) but it looks like Vinnie Mac might take on Bischoff at SummerSlam, so why not have Austin feud Jericho and/or Scott Steiner beforehand for a while, then move to SmackDown! during the summer and cause Bischoff to lose his job and advance storylines? Hey, just an idea. Take it for what it’s worth.
There’s also the usual random RAW thoughts to give. I won’t spend too much time on this tonight, because, quite frankly there isn’t much involvement anywhere besides in the HBK vs. Y2J deal. The two have done a tremendous job of carrying a feud together, as WWE has built this very well and has given it an appropriate amount of time. Jericho has been amazing, and HBK hasn’t disappointed either! I’m looking forward to this match. Scott Steiner seems to be the odd man on RAW right now. He should either feud with Austin soon, and if not, I can’t think of anything but a move to SmackDown!, where he’ll feud with Lesnar, get beaten, and pretty much be killed once and for all storyline-wise. The Dudley Boyz were on a major role, but due to injuries their feud with Storm and Regal hasn’t worked out too well lately. It looks like they’re in for a ‘Mania match though, and if they are, look for new tag champs. Kane and RVD are still nowhere with their storyline and I’m beginning to think that WWE is either hoping that by prolonging their break they’ll get more attention to the feud, or they might just keep it for the future and insert them in a tag teams title match as well, making it a 3-way deal, or maybe a 4-way with 3 Minute Warning involved, or something. Trish and Jazz were the unfortunate victims of technical difficulties on RAW, which I thought sucked. Victoria and these two have been doing a great job on RAW, and a three way for ‘Mania should be announced soon. I don’t know what to say about Jeff Hardy. Nice paint. Hey, I did have something after all!
Oh yeah, in a nice tough, J.R. has been getting a lot of praise for his work on RAW lately. More specifically, what he did this past Monday during the Maven vs. Triple H match. When Jerry Lawler said “People like Booker T and Maven shouldn’t be in the ring with HHH” (or something of that nature), J.R. scorned The King on the spot and seemed to be real about it. Sort of saying “Enough with this crap!” My hat off to J.R. for that one. There’s still plenty of gas left in his tank as far as commentary goes, but he has got to be more real about it, and think of new material, to freshen up his old repertoire.
That looks to be all for tonight. Since SmackDown! is to air Thursday, check back during the weekend for my updated WrestleMania card. Until then, adios. Once again, thank you for checking out this report, as well as the commentary I wrote on Monday night.
My Two Cents
Can you believe WWE did that horrible of a job with the GGW segment?
Was Triple H about 5 feet away from the door when Booker T slammed it?
Exactly why did Bischoff stay in ring when Rock came out to save him? He could have just ran back and save himself a beating.
I believe I saw that one somewhere, but whoever came up with it is smart! — Where was Theodore Long to defend Booker T when “the man” was treating him bad and was obvious about it?
Is Martin going to rub the fact his Chicago Bulls beat my Los Angeles Lakers for a long time to come? Note from Martin: Not for long considering the Bulls got hammered by Memphis tonight. 🙁
Thanks for reading. See ya.
Eddie
