Welcome to another edition of News & Analysis and thanks for reading. I was going to post my Great American Bash thoughts yesterday, but to be quite honest with you, I didn’t feel good about writing, as nothing but senseless cusses would come to mind. Hopefully I’ll be able to organize my thoughts better today. Your rundown for today includes full RAW coverage, the latest news, and short thoughts on the Great American Bash. This might end up being long, so sit back and enjoy!
RAW COVERAGE
“It is very rare that I look forward to a Raw as much as tonight, just so I can hope that yesterday was simply a bad dream.” — Dave Meltzer on Monday
I think it’s fair to say that for those who saw the Great American Bash, RAW was their hope to wash out the feeling of disgust and disappointment from the PPV. To me, the show was a mixed bag, as it seems like some of the storylines they’re currently doing you will either love or absolutely hate.
Evolution came down to ringside, and Triple H called Eugene out. About fifteen minutes later, Triple H had managed to make Eugene an even better friend, won himself a match against William Regal later in the night (with Gene as special ref), and told Dinsmore bad things abuot Chris Benoit. The Eugene character has been an odd part of RAW. He has gotten over tremendously with the audience, but due to the nature of the character, you can only do so much with it, or draw so much from Dinsmore. He remains a fan favorite, and is very over with the audience. He wouldn’t be in a storyline with Triple H if that wasn’t the case. (!) At any rate, there’s a danger of pushing Eugene too much, and it seems like for the past two weeks they’ve gone that way. He is an attraction when he’s kept on the edge of the midcard and is given a push, but one he statrs hanging with the main-event guys, it becomes a different game. (Pun intended.) Hopefully they will not overpush him, although they’ve done that in the past. I am thinking the best thing to do would be to have him turn on H at Vengeance against Benoit.
Jericho and Edge had a strong matcha gainst Batista and Orton for a second week in a row. This time the focus was on Jericho, as he was playing off last week’s injury. Edge and Y2J got the win in a match that went two or three minutes short of the twenty-minute mark. This was a definitely positive on the show. The work was mostly strong in this match, and they managed to further the feud between all four guys for the PPV, setting up two singles matches. I also like that Jericho is involved in a more serious feud. I feel that they haven’t used Y2J to his full advantage as of late. Batista is looking better with every week, and they’re really trying to make him look like a monster these days. He’s doing his part well. Booking Edge vs. Orton at the PPV might be a bit tough.
Flair talked to Triple H in the back about making Eugene an honorary member of Evolution later in the show. H revealed that he’s just using Eugene to get through Chris Benoit and win the Championship. Well, they used Flair at least. A funny moment here was when Flair said “You’re ruining our gimmick,” to Triple H.
They aired another RAW Diva Search vignette here. I don’t know about you, but I don’t think the Diva Search is doing anything for the company.
Lita was on the phone, obviously leaving a message to Matt Hardy pleading him to this time please call her back. She was crying, when Keibler walks in, and of all the things in the world to say including “I like ice cream,” she decides to ask Lita “What’s wrong?” Gee, I wonder. Lita confirmed that it’s a 50-50 chance as to who the father is. Alright, I’m starting the official pool of this. $10 to get in. Is it Matt? Is it Kane? Is it Jeff Hardy? Ugh.
J.R. came down to the ring, which was surrounded by police, to interview Kane. Kane tried to explain why he attacked Shawn Michaels and why he had been terrorizing Lita the way he had been. Neither explanation came off well. The creative needs to realize that they can’t always wash their hands off when it comes down to Kane’s actions by having him say “Because I’m a monster.” That works once, or twice. J.R. carried the segment well, as usual. Hardy ended up attacking Kane when the baby was brought up in the conversation. This can turn out really bad, because they’re obviously going to continue with this storyline (Don’t be surprised if they actually go all the way here), and Matt is currently injured, which becomes a problem.
Triple H and Regal had a tremendous match. That is, until it lasted. Four minutes was simply not enough, and it’s a shame because they seemed to click together very well. Regal seems to be in good shape here. Eugene DQed him after Flair threw a pair of brass knux inside the ring and Triple H attempted to use them on Regal. Regal hit him before he could connect and then put the knux on, and although he didn’t use them, Eugene noticed and saw Triple H laid out, so he called for the belt. He was upset with William, and then he went nuts when Triple H hit Regal from behind who knocked Eugene down from behind as well, as a consequence. Triple H and Flair tried to stop him, but both were knocked down by him at first. I personally thought that this was interesting. A promo followed backstage where Triple H tried to calm Eugene down. Disnmore played along very well. I think it’s worth giving them a shot to see where they’re going with this, but again, it’s all about not overpushing Eugene with this storyline.
La Resistance defeated Rhyno and Sgt. Slaughter. That was okay, but they miserably failed to recognize the return of Rhyno, which makes me doubt they’ll be doing anything with him. I am thinking they might team him up with Tajiri, since they’ve been doing at house shows, and they had Slaughter tag with him to make sure that we know he’s now face. I think Rhyno has been misused ever since returning from his injury.
Coach expected to be GM of the week for next week, since Bischoff will be on vacation. Well, Uncle Eric decided to make Eugene the GM next week.
Benoit and Kane had a strong match. It wasn’t as good as their Bad Blood bout in my opinion, but once again Benoit managed to play along to Kane’s strenghts, and Kane didn’t disappoint when he had to be in control of the match. They seem to be a good pair. They don’t work five-star matches, but they’re solid most of the time in their bouts. Benoit got the submission on Kane, as that was the only way he could win. This was good for a main event.
Lita walked down as soon as the match ended with a huge smile on her face. She pointed to Kane and gave him the belt. She kept smiling and raised his hand. He played along. She kicked him and went to hit him with the belt. Kane picked her up for a chokeslam, but realized she might be carrying his baby, so he stopped. He told her not to push him like that ever again. That was the ending. Again, you either hate this, or you love it.
Overall, it was another mixed show this week. However, they had some solid wrestling that saved the program, unlike the Bash PPV on Sunday. One thing on RAW that remains consistent is that the wrestlers work hard, but not only that, compared to SmackDown, they’re just not as green, and are more talanted.
TOP STORY — VINCE MCMAHON HOSPITALIZED
As probably most of you have heard by now, Vince McMahon was hospitalized shortly before The Great American Bash PPV due to what was later determined to be diverticulitis, or an inflamation of the diverticulum. He was having abdominal pains, and his condition apparently results in internal bleeding. It’s said to be quite serious, but at the same time, it’s not a matter of life or death. Vince is expected to be fine eventually. We wish him a speedy recover and the best of health!
Due to his medical problems, McMahon had to be under the care of a doctor and he was put on strong antibiotics. The medications he was taking didn’t allow him to travel, so he wasn’t backstage at the Bash PPV, nor at RAW, nor will he be backstage tonight at the SmackDown tapings. He was said to be on the phone throughout the PPV, communicating with whoever he needed. With Vince absent, Stephanie McMahon had to stand up and basically run the show on Sunday, although she was getting a lot of help from Shane McMahon, Jim Ross, Kevin Dunn, and even Triple H who was at the show.
TUESDAY NEWS UPDATE
I personally think that what happened to Paul Bearer at the PPV this past Sunday can only be described as murder. However, WWE, a company that on their “parents” site has a note that they don’t do murder, or rape, felt the need to respond to 1Wrestling, after 1W had challenged that putting a man inside a box filled with cement is as close to murder as it can ever get. WWE Vice President, Gary Davis, however had this to say to 1W:
“Last night’s “Concrete Crypt Match” was similar in concept to the “Buried Alive” matches of the past. No one was murdered. After the The Great American Bash Pay-Per-View went off the air, the crowd at The Scope in Norfolk saw Paul Bearer come up for air and then placed on a stretcher to receive “medical attention.” There will be an update on Paul Bearer on this Thursday’s WWE SmackDown! Stay tuned.
Please use this information to correct your article: WWE VIOLATES THEIR POLICY AS STATED ON WWEPARENTS.COM”
Look out for a Paul Bearer update on SmackDown. Of course, Davis failed to mention the death of Al Wilson on SmackDown a while ago.
They’re continuing on the Steven Richards in drag storyline, as they did it on the weekend house shows. They had Steven help Victoria in her matches against Trish. The women’s champion wasn’t on RAW last night, nor was there a women’s match, so I guess Lita’s storyline has come before that.
Speaking of that, there was a feeling of low morale in the RAW lockerroom that certain people are getting excess on-air time, whereas others aren’t even on the show.
At this past weekend’s house shows, Test seemed to have aggrivated the neck injury that put him out of action for so long. He’s, however, expected to be back in action in several days.
The following comes from PWInsider.com: Variety reported yesterday that Eric Bischoff is partnering with his old pal Jason Hervey, Scott Sternberg Prods. and Rick Hilton (of the Hilton hotel family) to create a new reality show called “777”. The premise of the program is to put together 7 high rollers who will put up $1 million each in a winner take all gambling competition that will take place in Las Vegas, where the players will live together in a suite. The William Morris Agency will be offering the show to networks this week and this could be why Bischoff will miss Raw next week.
THE BASH
Wow. That was really bad. It really did feel like a bad dream. What can I say, they brought a WCW PPV back to life and that’s all it was — a WCW PPV. From their horrendous booking ideas to the down-right horrible storylines, and the green inside work of the likes of Kenzo Suzuki and Mordecai, this was a complete waste of your money. Hopefully you didn’t order it. I think it’s something WWE should try to forget and move away from as soon as possible.
I don’t agree with the decision to put the belt on Bradshaw. I understand that if they had Eddie defeat him, he would be done with. However, I would have rather seen someone else get a push and an opportunity to fight Eddie than Bradshaw. I can’t believe that on a brand that has Eddie Guerrero, The Undertaker, Rob Van Dam, Booker T, and John Cena among others on its roster, the choice for a champion is Bradshaw. A tag team wrestler who has proven that he can’t have a good wreslting match and needed to rely on gimmicks or hard bleeding to have a good performance. He shouldn’t even be the challenger for the belt, yet alone the champion. It’s a scary thought. As far as this match went, at least it was better than the other stuff on the PPV. And the other stuff was simply horrendous.
To do what they did to Paul Bearer is not only a horrendous move (although they’re now saying he isn’t “killed” and they’ll have an update on him on SmackDown), but it became one of the worst things I can remember WWE ever doing when it was shown last on the PPV. That main event shouldn’t have been last as well. It doesn’t help when Undertaker can beat both the tag team champions of the show.
Rey and Chavo tried. So did the guys in the US Champinoship match.
They just keep making one horrible move after another. It’s the only reason why SmackDown has been such a horrible show as of late. Poor decisions from head to toe. They introduce Mordecai and Kenzo Suzuki — bad move. They put them on PPV without an actualy storyline in filler matches — second bad move. They put them in the ring with Hardcore Holly and Billy Gunn, guys who can’t carry them through a good match — third bad move. I fear to think what’s next.
It was nice of them to give Charlie Haas and Luther Reigns some PPV time. Reigns has potential in him, and so does Charlie. But a squash? Horrible. Oh, what a hideous decision. It killed Charlie and it didn’t do a damn thing for Luther.
Torrie and Sable went out there to roll around for a little. I guess after seeing them do that in their thirty previous matches, you kind of get bored. That was probably the worst pinfall in the history of wrestling — Torrie’s shoulders weren’t even down. Ugh.
Well, that’s a pretty tone-downed and short version of what I had written for the Bash. Things need to change on Thursday nights, and they need to change fast.
That will do it for this edition of N & A. It was a long one! I’ll be back soon.
