Hey yo. You’re reading yet another edition of that column we like to call News & Analysis here at TheBalrogsLair.com. I’d like to thank everyone who sends in thoughts and comments on this section. If you haven’t, shame on you! Feel guilty. Or just e-mail me at eddie@thebalrogslair.com with your comments.
WWE presented Monday Nitro… er… Night RAW this past Monday. The show was an absolute mix of good and bad, as there were some good things and some not-so-good to make up for it. Monday Night Football is back on air, where the ratings go. RAW scored a final rating of 3.6, off of hours 3.5 and 3.8. This score is down from last week’s 4.3, but to be frank, I don’t think WWE expected anything difference, as Monday Night Football’s popularity has always been pretty big. However, realism is setting in and I would expect for MNF’s ratings to remain stable for a bit. It’s WWE’s turn to shake things up a bit.
The opener of RAW was what it was. It was a very smart idea to start off the show with the Cage bout, but I have no clue why Kane-RVD was booked so poorly. Maybe WWE is trying to bury Rob once and for all, but I personally saw Kane dominating the whole time, with the exception of a couple of spots. Not that there’s anything bad with building Kane up as a monster, I just wish they wouldn’t kill off RVD the way they did. The match itself really wasn’t all that, compared to other cage matches we’ve seen at PPVs, as well as on older editions of RAW. At least the spot at the end wasn’t that bad.
As far as Unforgiven goes, Kane should have no trouble destroying Shane. Knowing the way they’re going though, I won’t be surprised if we get a much better and tougher match than Kane/RVD on RAW. I just can’t believe WWE has booked themselves into a whole like they’ve done with this whole storyline, as well as the Kane character altogether. They had a ready storyline waiting to be written that would have seen Kane/Shane at ‘Slam but they decided to absolutely ruin not only Shane/Kane, but Kane/RVD all in one move. I don’t know why they did what they did to be honest.
Well, speaking of Unforgiven, here’s the card for the event after Monday’s RAW. I’ll give my thoughts on each of the feuds below:
– Triple H (c) vs. Goldberg
– Shawn Michaels vs. Randy Orton
– Shane McMahon vs. Kane
– JR/King vs. Snow/Coach
– Dudleyz/Spike vs. La Resistance/Conway
– Christian (c) vs. Chris Jericho — Rumored
– Women’s Championship — Rumored
I just felt that the beating Goldberg took on RAW was plain dumb. I didn’t see any purpose to it. So Triple H looks more solid now? Triple H is more established? Because of the beating Goldberg took, we’re supposed to really get behind him and want him to get revenge? First off, Triple H has been solid and has looked solid for way too long now. Second, nobody really cares about Goldberg getting any revenge. The way this program has been built is that Goldberg is the only capable man around able to get the better out of Triple H through pure strength and strong drive. He got beat at SummerSlam, and it was in a good manner because he still looked strong. That’s the only thing we’re supposed to want to see him get revenge for. Beating the crap out of him didn’t make him too tough. It came off as if it was “Goldberg… Nothing special.”
It’s just really hard to believe why WWE writers do the same mistake over and over with this character. They always suck at doing anything good with him, then they find something that’s gold, build him up very well at times, and completely bury him, or at other times, he ends up being made a fool out of way before he even gets to the culmination of his feud. They had a good thing going on with Triple H, but they took a step back on RAW. At this point, I’m so frustrated of saying the same thing over and over every month, that I’ll just stop and still be satisfied when H does the job later this month.
We could have used Shawn Michaels on RAW. I’m really looking forward to his match with Randy Orton at Unforgiven. I actually thought HBK would be Goldberg’s partner of Bischoff’s choosing, but obviously that didn’t come to be. I changed my mind as soon as Flair’s music played. It’s a shame Orton and HBK didn’t get more TV time, but I’m pretty sure WWE will focus on their feud next week. They did try pretty hard to sell a lot of things for Unforgiven, therefore I think it’s not as bad as things could get.
I must say that Jonathan Coachman is a whole new character where I’m concerned. I have to give Coach huge props for not only stepping up in his current role, but really showing guts for once. I believe that Coach’s failure as a commentator is because WWE didn’t allow him to be himself. He’d have McMahon yelling in his headphones, and The King making fun of him constantly. If they actually made Coach a believable guy and let him do things his way, maybe he would have turned out better. Look what that did for Michael Cole once he was taken seriously on SmackDown by Tazz. As far as the match at Unforgiven being changed to a tag match, I think it’s a great idea, as at least Al Snow gets a PPV spot. I do enjoy this storyline as a whole, but these four guys aren’t full-time wrestlers and I’d understand if some of you out there mind what they’re doing.
How ugly was that botched table spot with Spike? Ouch. Well, miraculously, and I don’t know how was that possible, Spike is said to be feeling OK after RAW. I hope he’ll be back to 100% soon. It’s great to see the Dudleyz get a PPV match. It’s also a great idea to have Rob Conway be involved in a match at Unforgiven. I just think it’s time for a tag team titles change (this is way overdue) and I think that WWE is saving it for an edition of RAW to make the free-TV fans happy. It’s a good move to do that, but also not put the titles on the line at Unforgiven yet again. In an update on Sylvan Grenier, he’s currently working through a neck injury which gives him a lot of pain at times. Word has it that he might have to take some time off soon, so I think that La Resistance’s days as tag champs really are numbered.
I’d love to see Chris Jericho and Christian fight at Unforgiven. That could easily be the match of the night if it takes place. Those two performers are great in the ring and two of my favorites on RAW. I have recently said numerous times in this section that Christian has improved big time lately where I’m concerned. While I still believe that, I feel that the IC Championship should be around Jericho’s waist, since Y2J doesn’t seem to have too much options for feuds these days. If it stays on Christian, I hope they’ll handle his character better than they have recently.
I’d also love to see a Women’s Championship match at the PPV. Molly Holly has been impressive since winning the championship belt, and Gail Kim has shown some improvement, which should be noted. I can’t help but wonder what their “plan” is for next week, but it looks like Trish will be taking another beating. By the way, I call Stratus the Female version of The Rock. Rock is famous for selling moves like no other, and several times I have noticed now that Trish sells a beating like no other diva. Very good performance by the Toronto native.
Well, folks, that will do it for this edition. I hope I’ll see you around soon. Have a great week!
Thanks for reading. See ya.
Eddie
