Loved Raw last night, it was a very strong show. The Oklahoma crowd was alive and so much worked last night. There was very little that I didn’t like that about the show. Out of a 10 I would give Raw an 8 hey maybe even an 8 ½. Let me start with all the things that really pleased me and then I’ll end with the segments that I didn’t like or that I questioned.
The opening match with Edge, Christian, Tyson Tomko vs. Shawn Michaels, Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho was as good as it gets. Tomko might not be a joy to watch in the ring, but surrounded by the other 5 guys even he looked good in this one. I had the feeling while watching this work of art that the show would be thumbs up and I wasn’t wrong. I thought it was really cool of Vince to pay tribute to Johnny Carson by showing a short segment with Hulk Hogan being interviewed by Carson. I know so many of you never saw Carson but as I said on Sunday he was a part of American history, and he played a major role in the entertainment industry.
It seems like a few on the internet thought the JR segment last night was totally ruined by Triple H’s appearance. I cannot tell you how much I disagree with that. While I think declaring yesterday JR day in Oklahoma is well deserved, having a very obnoxious Hunter and Ric Flair crash the party was a brilliant idea. I knew when Stacy came out to take part in JR’s glory that it would be Hunter who would interfere and focus on the woman that kissed Randy Orton last week. Triple H did nothing to wreck what was going on. The fans got to see JR in the ring, JR’s friend Danny Hodge was right there with him and Hunter’s appearance just got things going. In fact I’ve watched it 4 times and the more Hunter talked and threatened Stacy the louder the crowd got. Hunter was so damn annoying that it just made him that much more fun to watch. His jokes about Oklahoma and JR were extremely funny, and having Flair low blow JR and Hunter attacking Hodge was done perfectly. To top things off Hunter had to make Stacy pay for the Orton kiss, or at least he thought that he had to make her pay. I didn’t see him coming off as a thug, I saw him coming off as a heel that felt he could do anything he damn well wanted too.
And then, Hunter going backstage and lifting up Candace’s dress to get a glimpse of what was under it was again obnoxious but so fitting. He seemed to have an awful lot of confidence in himself last night, that is, until Batista seemed to get the best of him as the show went on. So to wrap it up Hunter walking out and joining the celebration did not take away JR’s thunder in fact Hunter along with Ric added to the party mood. Okay something else that seems to be upsetting some on the internet is the match with Batista defeating La Resistance. Yeah he beat both guys with one pin, but that defeat didn’t make La Resistance look weak, look worthless. No, the creative team did all of that to La Resistance years ago. There was nothing wrong with Batista winning like he did; if he didn’t win like that then I would have been worried.
Again Batista and Hunter had some nice interaction backstage. Especially during their first encounter, when Dave suggested that he needed to be in the Rumble and win it. After all what if Orton defeated Hunter this Sunday? Dave would be in the main event at Wrestlemania against Randy and he could win that belt back giving Evolution the gold back. Oh yeah you could see Hunter to perfection.
Maven did another outstanding job on the mic. I loved it that the hot shot was glowing because he had another chance for a shot in the Royal Rumble. Maven is shining on the mic as a heel it’s in the ring where he’s dying. Now this is the part I question. Maven has a chance to get in the Royal Rumble if he can find someone that is already in the Rumble. All Maven has to do is beat the guy and then he gets that guys spot. Okay fine, so far I like this. I even like it that Kane comes out all banged up from last week’s fall with Snitzky. Kane is going to be Maven’s opponent. But wait not just Kane but Snitzky as well. Snizky makes his entrance banged up like Kane, so now Maven has both guys to deal with. Okay I’m still good with this, what I’m not happy about is that Maven is again buried. Why couldn’t Maven beat Snitzky? Come on would the majority of fans care if Maven defeated Snitzky? I say NO, I say that Gene has had more than ample time out there and keeping him out of the Rumble would not hurt him at all. But no, Maven again loses and all the great mic work that he has shown us means nothing because in the ring they are killing him. Edge’s interview backstage with Todd Grisham was super. Each week Edge has been doing an awesome job in the ring and out, I am very pleased with the new and greatly improved Edge.
And I have to say Ric Flair vs. Randy Orton was damn good. I think this was one of Flair’s best in recent months. He hung in there and both men worked hard out there. Not only did the wrestling appeal to me but I could not stop laughing when Hunter caused Randy to trip and Batista was blamed for it and thrown out of the arena by the ref. Dave was pissed since he didn’t do it and as he stared at Hunter, Hunter kept looking all over the place but not at Dave. Watching Hunter play innocent was priceless. This was a terrific main event. All four men Flair, Orton, Batista and Hunter did what they were supposed to do, they entertained.
Okay as you can see the show had so much going for it. Here are the things I didn’t get or like. Let’s start with Maria or as I call her Air Head Maria. Again she seemed to have problems with her interview with Tajiri. If Vince hired her for eye candy than have her just prance out in something skimpy but keep the mic away from her. Another thing I didn’t get? Eric Bischoff. True he isn’t a full fledged face, but I thought the heel part was slowly going way. That didn’t seem to be the case when William Regal asked him about being in the Rumble and Eric said something about giving it to someone loyal like Coach. So I guess Eric is against Regal for being Eugene’s buddy. I figured for a man that stood up to Hunter and Evolution months ago that Eric was playing fair but he went against Regal yet granted Hunter’s wish to have Ric Flair in the rumble. Minor stuff? Definitely but still puzzling to me. Could someone tell me why Tajiri had to job to Viscera, and more importantly why in the hell does Vince feel the need to put Vis in the Rumble? And finally while I think Hassan did a nice job in the ring, I would have liked to see Val Venis have more offense and the two really have an action packed match. I found the much to contain too much mat work. But I will say things did pick up toward the end. This was a decent match I just think I expected more.
Raw was a hot show and I can’t wait to see the Royal Rumble at least on the Raw side. Let’s see what Smackdown can do this week to make me want to see that group perform on Sunday as well. This is a big week for the WWE and their fans with Smackdown on Thursday, the Rumble on Sunday, and Monday in San Jose, California, both brands will be on Raw. That’s something I cannot wait to see.
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