Yo. You’re reading the mid-week edition of News and Analysis. Heading into this particular N and A, I wasn’t even sure if I was going to do one. I was thinking of doing a weekend update that would include my thoughts on both RAW and SmackDown!, like I used to do in the past. Well, nonetheless, I’m here and this might be shorter than usual, and a bit more negative, following Monday Night RAW.
Speaking of Monday Night RAW, the show aired on Monday night LIVE from Richmond, VA. It was one of those shows that aggrivates you and makes you wonder why some things in the wrestling business happen. The show saw a pre-taped segment by The Rock which we’ll get into later, a decision that Kevin Nash had to make, and a lot of senseless, useless crap all around to be quite honest. The one thing that was worth watching was a match between RVD and Kane, defending their tag team titles again Chief Morley and Lance Storm in a NO DQ match. Oh yeah, the main event saw Booker T and Hurricane team up to take on Triple H and Ric Flair. The Hurricane pinned Flair which in a weird way secured Booker T a title shot at the World Heavyweight Championship next week on RAW. RAW’s rating is in and the show scored a 3.4 rating. This is down from last week’s 3.5. Ratings have been a whole different story for WWE lately, and you can’t help but wonder if the 3.0 mark is something that will happen soon. I hope not. Stay tuned.
Bill Goldberg vs. The Rock was confirmed on Monday night as far as a Backlash bout between the two goes. However, there’s more to the story which the plain TV fan probably didn’t know about. Following last week’s RAW, The Rock and Goldberg taped a segment backstage where Rock would supposedly be “away in Hollywood” (just like he was on RAW this past Monday) and Goldberg would be backstage in the dressing room area. Goldberg would then challenge Rock directly for a one-on-one match and after some talking, Rock would accept. However, for whatever reason, WWE decided to completely edit Goldberg out of the vignette and as a result edit out Rock’s parts so it looks as if he’s talking with Jerry and Coach. It came out pretty bad on TV if you asked me and it kind of killed the fact Rock has been playing the wuss lately by him simply going for the match himself, rather have Goldberg challenge him. It was definitely not one of RAW’s bright spots and for me it slowed down the momentum the Rock/Goldberg feud had going.
With that in mind, WWE inserted Bill Goldberg in two segments on RAW that also left many scratching their foreheads. First we saw Goldberg in a backstage segment with Goldust. Now, the segment could be considered funny by some and there was nothing wrong with it really — Goldust joked around and put a wig on Goldberg who nicely got it off him. The second segment saw Christian call Goldberg out. Bill came out to no music and though he got “the job done” on Christian, he didn’t seem to get over much. Many wonder if some backstage power (*cough* HHH *cough*) decided that Bill will come out to no music. WWE management has been saying to people it was the “politically right” way for the character to not come out to music as they do stuff like that with others. But you can’t help and wonder why they did that, since Goldberg’s theme and entrance is a part of his character that really gets the fans going and helps him get him over even more! If you didn’t catch my drift earlier, there was a rumor going around the ‘net stating that Triple H might have had something to do with that as he didn’t want Goldberg to get over so much. Take this for what it’s worth but when you add two and two, there’s some sense to it. As far as the Goldust segment goes, people saw involvement of “foreign” forces in it as well, as Goldberg is somebody who really cares about the way his character is treated, and logically many believe he wasn’t happy with having to put the wig on. Things seem to be heating up backstage at RAW.
Kevin Nash had a choice to make on RAW — join up with his friend Triple H or with his other friend Shawn Michaels. WWE did a great job of playing up Nash’s return, as he was trying to reunite his friends but it didn’t work so he was left with a choice. However, another major screw-up by WWE happened as right after this segment they announced at Backlash, Shawn Michaels and Kevin Nash will be partners as a part of the big six-man tag match involving Booker T on their side against the heel trio of Triple H, Ric Flair, and Chris Jericho. Don’t know what to say here, but a nice way to keep Nash going since his return. This storyline doesn’t do it for me for some reason, but for now I’m going to say it’s just me and not do the easy thing which would be to look for negatives in the creative team. So yeah, let’s give that one some time.
A lot to say about Jazz’s involvement with Theodore Long. It’s a good thing that they paired her up with Long and Rodney Mack, but on the other hand, the racism storyline is just becoming worse week-in and week-out. Theodore Long’s commentating on RAW was not funny from where I stood, nor was it entertaining. I just see no positives to that one whatsoever. As far as Jazz goes, she’s definitely more over with the crowd, though she’s not exactly the hottest thing out there. Now would be a good time for her to win the Women’s belt when she faces Trish at Backlash. I think this is where the positives come as well. Rodney Mack hasn’t exactly done anything of importance on RAW and maybe a program with Victoria and Steven Richards will be able to help at first. I just don’t know where Trish Stratus falls into this but we’ll find out.
The last edition of RAW confirmed another thing — WWE has no idea what to do with Scott Steiner when they should be able to do more stuff with him. I think Steiner proved that he definitely has some more gas left in the tank and he’s definitely not done from character stand-point. People still cheer for him and though I didn’t exactly feel the War in Iraq had any place on the program, both Nowinski and Steiner did a great job on the mic and deserve credit. Nowinski has been trying his best and I can appreciate that, but the guy is still really green. He just needs more background first, and with his thrust to give it all he’ll go far in the business! I feel Steiner should be in a feud of a higher caliber but it looks like WWE is using him to elevate others without realizing they’re not doing that but actually pulling Steiner down to the lower card that way.
The one true, clear positive on RAW continues to be the storyline involving the World Tag Team Championships. Kane and RVD, thanks to not being in the World Heavyweight Championship hunt, are now able to get over with the fans big time. Their chemistry, in-ring work, and overall program has improved big time since they “joined forces” and I think giving them the tag belts was a great move. I think another good change in that division was the teaming up of Chief Morley and Lance Storm. In my book they’re a solid combination, both pretty solid and good wrestlers who put up a great show together. The Dudleyz seem out of place now as their gimmick kind of got old, but I’m sure WWE is working on that and soon we’ll see the change. Until that time, there’s plenty of GREAT wrestling to enjoy as these guys have been putting up awesome matches.
Guess what… You guessed it — My Two Cents is back.
My Two Cents
It’s really sad to see Jerry “The King” Lawler commentate like he did on Monday night. Why? Because he was great at commentating last night. The King was at his best, being serious about things, and getting the best of every situation they had. It’s really sad how one of the greatest guys on the mic this industry has seen has to act low when J.R. is around. I hope he keeps it up.
Coach did well too, but is no Jim Ross. I guess once J.R. is out you realize what big part of RAW he actually is.
How weak did Goldberg look during his entrance when he didn’t have the pyro?
Is it just me or the “new” Christian ain’t exactly cutting it? Good promo though!
Did anyone realize that after all the “whitey” talk Theodore Long did… Jazz’s tag partner was white and that didn’t bother Long?
And still… Where was Teddy Long when Booker T got cheated out of the title?
Is News and Spoofs the best section of this site or what?
Thanks for reading everyone. See ya.
Eddie
