Just like last week’s Raw, the ending on last night’s show was superb. It was the kind of ending that makes you jump out of your seat and has you counting the days until next week’s show. There were a lot of good things on Raw, and including the Providence audience. They were pretty much into everything. I truly enjoyed the show, but the one thing that I didn’t enjoy was the latest with Triple H and Batista, so let me get to that first and then things really improve.
I think most of us have been very into the whole Batista/HHH angle and we have loved the way Batista has played mind games with Hunter. When the show ended last week with Batista turning on Triple H and Ric Flair and putting Hunter through the table it was just what the majority of us had been waiting for. And as I said earlier it was the kind of ending that gets you so hyped that you just can’t wait for the next show. So when Hunter came out first, I was anxiously waiting to see how things would unfold. And unfortunately things did not go the way I wish they would have. While Hunter got the fans riled up over his Wrestlemania match with Batista, and in fact I think Hunter’s promo was strong, however, I would have much rather have seen Hunter stay ballistic and totally go off half nuts questioning non stop how Batista could turn on Evolution. The part where Hunter thought of himself as the father and Batista as the son was okay because that was his way of saying how he taught him the ropes. But I needed or should I say I wanted Hunter to have a lot more fire than he did, I wanted to feel the anger in him. And as far as throwing Hurricane Helms into this made no sense. I realize Hunter took his frustrations out on Helms, but why Helms? The only way I could have Helms be his victim would have been if Hunter after his in ring segment left immediately and still pissed and Helms happened to be in the way. Then Hunter beating the hell out of him would have worked for me. It wasn’t a horrible segment I just wanted it to go into a different direction, that is my complaint.
Now as far as Batista, his segment with JR left me luke warm as well. While Dave looked very relaxed and self assured, I wanted Dave instead of saying Hunter might be the best in the business, say Hunter was the best, but now I am. I am the one that was one step ahead of Hunter this whole time. I was glad that Batista threw in that it’s always about Hunter that part was fine, but with all the mind games Batista has played on Hunter I feel that’s what Dave should have focused on. Something was definitely off as far as this angle went last night. But I will give Batista props for his backstage segment with Coach. I was very happy with the way he walked in so cool and could have cared less about Hunter’s threats earlier in the show when he said that he would beat up Batista when he showed up. I loved Dave’s actions acting like he was worried yet loving every minute of it. I am hoping that next week the writing is totally improved and that things are back to being hot as they were before last nights show, but I’ll be honest with you I am concerned that as terrific as Batista and HHH have been it’s all going to go downhill, we’ve seen this pattern a lot. A feud is built up so brilliantly and then, something happens and it slowly dies. I hope to God that doesn’t happen. I will end this but I was also was pleased that during the segment with Batista and JR, Hunter and Flair came down to the ring to try to antagonize Batista. Batista handled things so well that Flair got all the punishment and a very scared Triple H left the ring leaving a damaged Flair flat on the mat. This played out well, and even better was Hunter ranting and raving to Bischoff about what Batista did to Flair, and then you think that Eric has set up a HHH/Batista match for next week. We are to believe that because Hunter is acting like he’s going to take care of Dave in that match, but it seems like Hunter had other plans and it’s Ric Flair vs. Batista with Hunter in Flair’s corner. That all makes me wonder if Flair will eventually turn on Hunter because of being left to take Batista’s abuse and then for being booked in a match against the big guy. So the whole thing wasn’t a total washout, but Batista must be made to look mentally strong to make this whole Wrestlemania title match mean something.
Okay sorry to go on and on about this, let me say that Chris Benoit did just what I knew he would do, he made Hassan work his ass off and look good while he was doing that. Benoit and Hassan put on a match that I watched twice, that’s how much I enjoyed it. No I didn’t enjoy Hassan holding the bell in the wrong place making Benoit’s head butt look so bad, but other than that this was done very well. Again Shelton Benjamin came through against Snizky. I am sorry to say but Snitzky just doesn’t do it for me, yes he can do some pretty funny promo’s and he’s definitely very intimidating with his look, but in the ring, I just can’t get into his work. But Shelton carried him and this match came off well, and thankfully Shelton remains the IC champion. Also I could not get into the Chris Masters match against John Walters. I will say looking at Stevie Richards nose being moved to the side was freaky, and maybe they should have really built up just how strong and dangerous this Masters is by throwing in a named WWE superstar to go against him but putting in a jobber made this match basically nothing. I do realize Masters is new and it’s probably very unfair for me to already be against his gimmick but last night I didn’t see a thing that made me want to see more of this man. Hopefully time will change that. Chris Jericho vs. Maven was okay I liked it, but more importantly I liked Chris Jericho’s announcement after the match. Jericho has challenged 5 other wrestlers for a ladder match at Wrestlemania. Now even though I feel Jericho certainly doesn’t need to do that kind of match anymore, he’s not a kid and as crazy as this sounds I worry about him getting hurt. But I do look forward to this match, and right now supposedly this could include Benoit (and I feel the same way I hate to see him in this mainly because of going through neck surgery), Shelton, Edge, Christian and maybe Maven, and it could be for the IC title. I just know this will be one of the highlights of Wrestlemania without a doubt.
Okay before the main event, just a few things I want to mention. While I was very impressed with John Cena and JBL doing A Few Good Men, I mean they both did a remarkable job, I wish there would have been humor in it. That’s what made Braveheart and Basic Instinct so good; last night’s ad was too serious for me I need to have something to laugh at. Also, it’s official not only will Hulk Hogan be inducted in the Hall of Fame but Steve Austin will be the guest in Pipers Pit, so Wrestlemania is definitely going to get the Austin/Hogan and Piper fans really going. And I have a feeling had I started watching wrestling years ago, Superstar Billy Graham would have been one of my favorite guys. Just from older videos I have seen with him the guy had it all, and watching him guide Randy Orton on how to shine at Wrestlemania was just a cool segment. By the way we all saw the picture of Undertaker on the cover of the Smackdown magazine, does that mean this Thursday Randy will be showing up to challenge Taker? I say it definitely could mean that.
And Trish did it again. What a fantastic heel she plays. Her interaction with Christy last night was so strong and so entertaining that she even made Christy tolerable to watch. Playboy did a super job air brushing the cover with Christy, she looked so good there that I didn’t recognize her. And I’ve said this before Christy does fairly well on the mic it’s the little skip that she does walking down the ramp that makes me want to clothesline her. If she would lose that bouncy entrance maybe I could take to her a little bit better. But as I said Trish was Gold last night. I remember a year ago when she turned at Wrestlemania she tried way too hard to be a bitch, but within a few months her character just took off probably because she worked so hard at doing the job the right way.
The Street Fight with Edge and Shawn Michaels was fantastic. Talk about the fans getting into a match? They were so into it at times I think most of them were standing and taking it all in. Both men did an outstanding job and the more HBK bled the more the match appealed to me. Most of you know I love things that get fairly violent. This was definitely the match of the night at least in my books and Kurt Angle coming out after Shawn won was icing on the cake. My God watching Kurt take out Shawn was such a great way to end the show. I not only look forward to Shawn showing up on Smackdown to go after Kurt but I cannot wait to see these two men at Wrestlemania.
So a good Raw and had the Batista/Hunter segments been better this would have been a near perfect Raw, but it still gets thumbs up for me. Okay on to Smackdown. I would think Randy and Shawn both will be on Smackdown, although this week’s show might just want to focus on the HBK/Angle feud. I’m looking forward to John Cena bugging the hell out of JBL. With 5 weeks left until Wrestlemania Smackdown and Raw need to be hot shows, and I believe that they both will come through in the next few weeks.
Email lindarobin3@yahoo.com
