Another very strong Raw last night. I guess you could rename it Monday Night Austin, well either way, Raw/Austin worked very well. Sure there were a few things that didn’t click, but I’ll tell you the show did a super job hyping up the Team Bischoff vs. Team Austin match for Survivor Series. That’s really what the show was all about last night, building up Austin and Bischoff’s teams.
Normally I would be bitching about Steve Austin getting way too much on airtime. And yeah maybe he did, but every segment Austin was in was efffective. I’ll go into that more.
There were so many bright spots on Raw but let me quickly do my famous “I didn’t care for the following stuff.” Again it’s very minor complaining but here I go. I’m sorry to say but watching Kane in two different segments try so hard to be evil and get us ready for his match against Shane did nothing for me. It’s not Kane’s fault, no it’s the creative staff’s fault. It’s like they just gave up on the whole feud and threw a few things together for Kane to rattle off. Shane wasn’t there, and truthfully I don’t think that would have helped either. Granted, Kane got some kind of invitation from Shane which we will find out about next week, but to be honest with you it’s not exactly the number one priority for watching Raw next week. Okay just like with the Kane and Shane feud, it looks like the writing team has also dropped the ball with Lance Storm as well as Rico. Their match was good don’t get me wrong, but there’s nothing going on with Rico and Storm to make you interested in their match. Lance with his dancing is GOLD, but they need to build him up more with stronger contenders and have him win to get over. Having Val Venis out there made no sense at all, and instead of having the Godfather and his “HO’S” out there last night it was Val and his porno chic’s. The whole thing left me wondering what the hell is going on?
And John Heidenreich how the hell did he get so lucky to work with Trish. Listen I have no idea what this guy has that’s so appealing to Vince to just let him move right on up, but I say give him some matches on Heat before he shows up on Raw. Also his finishing move on Steven Richards was upsetting as well as frightening. I read Richards was hurt, but they believe now it’s not serious, but he’s going to be observed in case his shoulder gets worse. Heidenreich I feel has the personality and no doubt the in ring ability but gradually move him up I think this is all way too soon. That’s it no more complaints from me it’s all sweet from here on out.
What a cool opening match with Chris Jericho and Christian vs. Booker T and Rob Van Dam. This was a hell of a match, and again a great way to build up that Survivor Series match between both teams. Batista beating the hell out of Maven was a given. I mean they are building this man up to be a killing machine so how would it have looked for Maven to be able to hold his own against Batista? Not much of a match but it did what it needed to do. I have liked Garrison Cade and Mark Jindrak since they started working together. And I’m finding them more appealing every week. I think Jinkdrak has better mic skills but both men are doing a nice job. And I liked watching them against Bubba Ray and D-Von Dudley. This is the second week in a row that Scott Steiner didn’t wrestle. However, he did manage to upset the Dudley’s by threatening to slam Stacey on the ramp. This caused a loss for the Dudley’s. I was surprised how well Bubba took this, but again it just built things up between Team Austin and Team Bischoff.
Molly Holly did a nice job being a total bitch and beating up Terri for no reason. Lita tried to rescue Terri but Gail Kim was ready for her with a wrench. These women are doing such a nice job; the women’s division kicks ASS! Christian checking on Lita is all bull, you could see that when he walked away from her, oh yeah Christian is definitely up to something.
Before I get into the main event, let me say, it was almost two hours of Austin last night, but as I said he made the most of it. My vote goes to Steve for making this 10 man match a must see in 12 days. Austin was on his game last night. I found it a little weird that he practically begged Shawn Michaels to be on his team at the pay per view. After all this is Stone Cold Steve Austin he doesn’t need anyone to fight his battles. But then I thought about it, his job his on the line, and if his team does win there’s so much payback in it for Austin. So the segment with Austin and Michaels definitely worked for me. Jonathan Coachman again shined as a jerk, and that’s a compliment. He and Austin have nice chemistry going, and I can’t wait to see Steve get Coach after his team wins. I will say the contract signing between Eric and Austin wasn’t all that terrific. Randy Orton was named the last member of Eric’s team, and as much as I like Orton his promo was short and really nothing special. But one member of Evolution again came off very well. Batista trash talking Austin backstage was great. Calling Austin a coward and not backing down to him was a nice touch. Batista in the last two weeks has showed decent mic work. He’s coming off very smoothly, yeah I guess I’m impressed. Okay the main event with Shawn Michaels vs. Mark Henry was good. HBK was terrific, and Mark Henry did a nice job. Things got even better when Austin the enforcer asked HBK to leave because he had some business to take care of.
Oh this I loved. Austin kept calling out Batista and finally he showed up and the two went at it. I can’t tell you how nice it was to see Austin getting into a physical confrontation. This was great, you knew Austin didn’t stand a chance. After all Batista took Goldberg out with a shattered ankle, how would it look for Austin to beat the living hell out of Batista? So Batista knocked Austin out, and the man with the shattered ankle came out, Goldberg. I expected it and it was fantastic. The fans were so into this. Goldberg limped his way into the ring and went after Batista, and got him with the spear. As this was going on Ric Flair tried to help and boy did he get a spear. After all was said and done, I was waiting for Austin to announce at next week’s show it’s Goldberg vs. Batista. And it happened. Before celebrations took place, Goldberg demanded the Batista match, Austin agreed and the beer drinking commenced. Damn what a great ending. No not the beer drinking the whole Goldberg, Austin and Batista thing.
I look forward to next week’s show. I really want to see Goldberg and Batista wrestle. And since next week is the last Raw before the pay per view I guess I’m expecting a lot. Before I end this, wasn’t Chris Jericho fantastic with Trish last night? He even has me wondering if he’s turning. The guy was so damn convincing that I’m not so sure that he’s remaining a heel. I really can’t wait to see what happens next between Jericho and Trish. Okay so it’s on to Smackdown, and you have no idea how much I PRAY that Heyman does his magic and Vince does his by staying off as much as he did last week. I can’t wait to watch it this Thursday night.
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