Remember last week when I said that Raw was perfection? Last night the show wasn’t even close to perfection. There was so much wrong with the show that the highlights are so few that they won’t take up much of this column. I don’t expect perfection on a weekly basis, but when you have two shows left before Wrestlemania I do expect a lot less flaws than what was given to us last night. Thank God for the Birmingham crowd they were awesome and they did all they could to make the good outweigh the bad. I’m debating if I should do the highlights first, but if I do you might all leave after that, so I’ll make you suffer through the crap like I did last night. I want to share my agony with all of you.
I think by now most of you all know by now that I am a Triple H mark, hell he’s probably the reason that I kept watching wrestling. Because back at the end of 1999 and 2000 this man was amazing. Listen we are all entitled to a bad night, and Hunter is no exception. His promo had to be the worst I have ever heard. This thing went on for about 15-20 minutes. This promo finally made sense I would say with about 3 minutes left, because this is when Hunter got Batista and Wrestlemania in there. Up until then he rambled on about Randy, and Benoit, and JBL and being the best and you all know the routine. There is no doubt about it Hunter was off his game last night. I would have preferred him to yell and scream and speak for maybe five minutes and heat things up with Batista. This promo did nothing to heat things up for Wrestlemania, and it did nothing for Hunter. This was by far the worst segment of the show, and I can only hope that Hunter comes back strong next week and makes up for this disaster.
I now know why Randy Orton hasn’t been wrestling. Since late February at house shows Randy has been attacked by Batista and Hunter and taken it out of his house show matches. Then on Raw he has done only promos no matches. I figured he was injured and that is indeed the case. I just read today that he has a shoulder injury and will have surgery after Wrestlemania which will keep him out of action for about two months. Okay so this all makes sense but it was no surprise to me that when he kind of begged Stacy to escort him to the ring last night that Stacy was going to get the RKO. This segment wasn’t as bad as Hunter’s promo, but Randy didn’t exactly light things up either between him and Taker. It was a way to keep Randy on camera, talk about his match with Taker and seal his heel status by giving Stacy the RKO. This segment while not terrible really did nothing for me. I didn’t feel his words to Taker at all, maybe they should have had Taker pop in and get things going. This was just another feud that kind of fell flat last night.
And let’s get to the main event. The lumberjack main event with Kane vs. Batista. Hunter was at the announce booth with Ric Flair. And even during this Hunter wasn’t exactly entertaining on the mic. The only funny thing for me was when JR announced that Eric Bischoff just informed him that next week it will be Triple H and Batista in the ring for a Face Off. When Hunter heard that his reaction was funny and that was my highlight of Hunter for the night. You know how Hunter panics and shows surprise and fear? That’s what he showed and that I found humorous. Other than that nothing came out of Hunter’s mouth that was of any importance. And as far as the lumberjack match? It had no business being the main event. Of course it was all heels surrounding the ring which was fine, but the match itself went nowhere. It was made to have Batista look monstrous by taking out just about everyone, but truthfully I couldn’t believe Kane lost. I think Snitzky should have interfered causing a DQ. Having Kane lose really weakened his character even more, nothing about this match appealed to me. And remember this is the second to the last Raw before Wrestlemania, and Raw’s main feud with Hunter and Bastista is going downhill fast.
Thankfully Shawn Michaels and Rob Conway opened the show with a very good match. I have felt for a while that Rob definitely can wrestle but this gimmick of La Resistance is holding him back. He worked very well with HBK. Who knows maybe management will rethink Rob being in La Resistance, and give him a solo shot. After the match I was very pleased with the Kurt Angle video that they showed. While it would have been great to have Kurt on Raw last night the video just showed how good he is and what Shawn has to deal with at Wrestlemania. This opening and video all worked so well last night. Also who would have thought that Christy could hold her own in a match? Her match with Tajiri and William Regal vs. Molly, Maven and Simon Dean was good. The fans were into it and Christy was doing a decent job, that’s something I did not expect to see. It was nice having Trish out there to try to intimidate Christy, even though it didn’t work. This was really an entertaining match. I absolutely loved Shelton and Jericho vs. Edge and Christian. This was my match of the night, and Shelton keeps showing Vince why they need to push him more. The guy has it and gives so much that a good push would benefit the company a lot. All four were outstanding and let’s not forget Chris Benoit that ran out to aid Shelton and Jericho from a beating by Edge, Christian and Tomko. Benoit again got hit hard with the ladder and this time you could hear me squeal with pain. The man kills himself out there and these five guys are going to make that Ladder match at Wrestlemania a must see.
Ric Flair was on again, as he talked to the guys that would Hunter picked to be lumberjacks. He was so hyper that he had me laughing. He did his best in convincing these guys that Batista screwed every one of them by not going to Smackdown and the best part of this would be the one that steps up would become a member of Evolution. I think that was all bull but a great way to motivate the guys. This was good but the following really appealed to me. We see Batista and Eric Bischoff together, and Eric is trying very hard to convince Dave that he had nothing to do with this lumberjack match. And the whole time nervous Bisch is talking to Batista, Batista is his usual calm, cool self. Finally Bisch ends by telling Batista that if he wins at Wrestlemania Eric would be honored to have him as his World Champion. Batista comes back with don’t take this wrong but you would make a great politician and walks away. Eric takes the dig as a compliment and is glowing with that comment. Batista returns and said that he meant a used car salesman, and that Eric got. Batista out of the ring has won me over with his mild mannered attitude. I just hope when he and Hunter finally meet at Wrestlemania things in the ring are just as good.
Chris Benoit vs. Tomko was next and Chris again looked so good out there. I wish I could say that about Tomko. Against anyone Tomko isn’t exactly good but against Benoit he just showed how he’s not ready yet in the ring. I can’t say this was a bad match because of Benoit, so I give it thumbs up. I loved HBK and Hassan having a little discussion backstage. Hassan decided to vent to HBK about how they have both faced adversities, however HBK has no idea what Hassan and Daivari have gone through. He complained a little too much because HBK stopped him immediately. And here’s what I’m looking forward too, next week it’s HBK vs. Hassan. So Hassan hasn’t been pinned yet uh? Well maybe next week that will change. I really do look forward to this match. And finally to end on a positive note the latest commercial for Wrestlemania, Taxi Driver was fantastic. It was great to see so many involved in this, and it was all done with humor. This one definitely rates right up there with a few others.
Okay so not a great Raw, but there’s always next week. It’s on to Smackdown. I have no idea what Kurt Angle has up his sleeve, but it should be good, and I’m sure John Cena and JBL will continue to keep things nice and hot for their feud. I’m hoping Smackdown can make up for last night’s mediocre Raw, I think it’s only fitting don’t you? Since my husband and son will be home on Friday and Sunday is Easter I will take those two days off and be back next Tuesday with my Raw thoughts. You know, the final Raw before Wrestlemania. For those of you that celebrate the holiday, I want to wish you a Happy Easter.
Email lindarobin3@yahoo.com
