RAW THOUGHTS
This past week’s Monday Night RAW wasn’t as good as previous showings of the show, but it was no doubt a good program in itself. The focus on the show was the Iron Man match, that they had go in the second hour, even though they advertised at beginning at 9 PM. Chris Benoit and Triple H worked hard, and they had a good match, but in my opinion it came nowhere near Brock Lesnar and Kurt Angle’s Iron Man bout just an year ago on SmackDown. I do have to say that the booking of the match made a lot of sense, and it was well thought-out. I’m sure that a lot of people out there probably didn’t like Eugene coming down at the end, nor did they like Evolution’s interference, but I thuoght that it worked well. The crowd was obviously pumped to cheer for ‘Gene and they were just waiting for him to show up. Another thing that they did well, is what brings me into the next topic — Randy Orton. They did a perfect job of putting the battle royal match over, and it allowed for a credible story where Randy is concerned. The bottom line is that SummerSlam is only several weeks away, and if they’re going to put the title on Orton (which is the current plan), they need to do their best to book this the right way. He’s the only superstar who has any potential to carry the brand in the future. I also liked that Orton didn’t come out to help Triple H at the end, which added heat to the backstage segment between the two they had done earlier in the night. The truth is that the real money-maker match here is Randy Orton vs. Triple H, and WWE knows that. They have to be careful in how they book Orton so they can pull a good profit out of that bout. Elsewhere, I liked Jericho’s turn on Edge — it just might be what Edge was after to turn heel. The Divas stuff is horrible. Period.
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TONS OF WWE NEWS
RAW scored a 3.6 rating this past Monday night, down from last week’s 3.7. This is off of hours 3.5 and 3.6, and the show scored a 6 share. Not something to be proud of, having in mind the main event they had.
In other ratings, Velocity scored a 0.6, Experience did a 0.5, and Heat managed to do a 0.9 rating, with a 2 share.
In an interesting update, according to Dave Scherer, Roddy Piper has contacted Vince McMahon on July 2 through a fax, in hopes of making a return to World Wrestling Entertainment. In the fax, Piper presented his side of the story when it came to his interview with HBO’s “Real Sports,” a while ago that actually caused his firing. Piper also outlined some ideas for his character if he returns to WWE. It’s quite an interesting story, and we’ll keep you updated, as more information comes our way.
Former WWE Superstar, Sean O’Haire, was arrested yesterday and charged with assault and battery on two women, coming off an incident that took place on June 12 in Hilton Head Island, SC. Apparently, O’Haire “punched” the two women. You can read the article by clicking HERE.
The feud continues. Ric Flair appeared on Off the Record, and had plenty of interesting things to say towards Bret Hart, Mick Foley, and other controversial topics discussed in his book. You can find more information on TSN’s site, by clicking HERE.
Bruno Sammartino was backstage at RAW this past Monday night, filming a part of his documentary that is to be released in the future. Sammartino caught up with old friends, and even some colleagues, while filming his documentary. It should be noted that this is Sammartino’s first appearance at a WWE event for a long time. The company has worked very hard to try and get him to join the Hall of Fame for next year’s WrestleMania in Los Angeles. Also, word has it that he saw Ric Flair backstage and wanted to approach him in order to discuss what Flair wrote in his book towards Sammartino, but when Bruno went to Flair, Ric had suddenly disappeared.
There’s been a lot of talk online as of late about a potential second developmental territory for WWE, with Tampa, FL as the desired location. The potential “boss” names that are circulating the net as of right now are Jack Brisco, Bill DeMott with Lance Storm, and Mike Rotunda. We’ll keep you updated.
WWE.com has been doing a much better job as of late, as far as updating the cards for their house shows go. You can now find information about upcoming events you might be headed to by logging on to the company’s website. As logic would have it, WWE is having Randy Orton vs. Chris Benoit highlight all the RAW shows up to SummerSlam, while JBL vs. Undertaker is the story at the SmackDown shows. While on the topic of house shows, a local ad in Stockton, CA was ran for the 8/29 house show, and it has Chris Benoit vs. Kane for the world heavyweight title. That’ll probably be a subject to change, as the current plan is for Randy Orton to win the World Championship.
Mike Bucci, also known as Nova in ECW, has made the Internet news sites once again. According to sources, Bucci was receiving lots of praises for his work on his new gimmick of a fitness guru. He would do a set of exercises and check his pulse numerous times throughout his match to get heel heat on himself from the crowd. He’s been with WWE for quite some time now, and after a lengthy stay in OVW, many were expecting Bucci to be called up soon. Nova worked a dark match this past Monday night on RAW, and many are expecting to see him make it to the RAW or SmackDown roster soon.
Rodney Mack was also supposed to make his return to WWE, after a torn ACL injury took him out of action for quite some time. Jim Ross mentioned his name on several occasions during the battle royal on Monday Night RAW, so I guess he’s back now. I could swear that was Tyson Tomko I saw, and not Rodney Mack, but I guess it was just me.
As it stands right now, the September PPV, Unforgiven, will remain a RAW-brand event. RAW had a PPV last month with Vengeance, and the August PPV is a joined event in SummerSlam, so some people wondered if they’ll change the September event to be a SmackDown exclusive. However, they haven’t, and it remains a RAW PPV.
Well, this goes to prove you how far the Internet can go. After everyone gave Brock Lesnar a zero chance of making it into the NFL, not only has Lesnar done it, but it’s already official. The former WWE Champion has inked a contract worth a base salary of $230,000 with the Minnesota Vikings. This is the amount of money Brock expected to make when he made the switch from WWE to football. A lot of newswires, and other media sources have picked up on the story, including NFL.com. The site posted an article on the Viking subsite, which you can read by clicking HERE. You can also check out an earlier article by the Pioneer Press of Minnesota by clicking HERE. Note: You need to be registered to the Pioneer Press to read the article.
Triple H’s fitness book has been once again delayed, as this time it has been put back for a December release. The next WWE book that is expected for release is the Edge autobiography.
Mick Foley was shown on camera on several occasions during the first day of the Democratic National Convention. He was even interviewed by an ABC affiliate in Chicago. C-Span caught Mick on camera during the national anthem. Speaking of Foley, he made somewhat of a surprise appearance at a benefit show for a marine, last week in St. James, NY. A story on Mick Foley and Big show at the DNC can be found HERE. Yet another article on Foley at DNC can be found HERE.
RAW Diva Search contestant Carmella Anderson (former Playboy Playmate) noted on ESPN radio recently that the divas weren’t told what they will do on RAW two weeks ago. They were only told they will be on Chris Jericho’s Highlight Reel, but WWE gave them a litmus test by having them react to Bischoff later in the program. I’m also guessing that they weren’t told what they will do this past week on RAW either, when Kamala rubbed his belly for what seemed to be an hour.
Eric Bischoff is doing some sort of a PPV with Sturgis. Not much is known at the time of writing, other than it’s rated TV-MA. To check for more information and updates in the future, visit THIS LINK.
That was a long one! Thanks for reading.
