I was so pleased with Raw last night. I have absolutely nothing at all to complain about. The atmosphere was as a hot as it was the night before for Wrestlemania, and last night, Steve Austin made a huge comeback from his lackluster appearance on Sunday. The opening match was spectacular, I could go on and on and I will so let me get things going now.
Okay many of you have complained about Hunter being the one that opened the show and not Batista the World Champion. My take on this is, yes Dave should have cut into Hunter’s promo, why they didn’t do that I don’t know, but as far as Hunter goes, it fits his character. Like his song says, It’s All About The Game, and last night that’s just what he did, screw Batista’s win, it’s all about Hunter not having that title. Hunter’s said it all in just a few minutes, he was livid, he yelled and went berserk on a fan, it all worked for me. And again yes having Batista come out would have made a lot of sense, but opening the show like this appealed to me very much.
The opening match was fabulous. Chris Jericho vs. Christian vs. Shelton Benjamin for the IC title could have been a Wrestlemania match, that’s how good this was. After all the abuse that these three took in the ladder match the night before, they each looked fresh and ready to give the fans something to cheer about. Oh and speaking of the fans, again another very good L.A. crowd. Everything worked in this one and there were times I really thought Christian would win that title, but Shelton got the win and remains the champion. I really hope Shelton gets a major push, I think he’s proven time and again that he can handle it and he can do some really cool moves to make the fans want to see more of him. Randy Orton did one of his best promos ever last night. Instead of being cocky and animated, he was very soft spoken and broken hearted over his loss to Undertaker. He was very somber but he managed to get his point across very well. He did mention his shoulder giving out and that was the reason why Taker won. Another excuse for Orton but it got the injury in there and that injury would play a factor later in the show. It was really neat hearing Randy take his frustrations out on Batista now that he is the World champion. The jealousy side of Orton came out and that seemed the way to go. Randy was the one that was supposed to be the top guy, not Dave, and Randy could not handle Batista’s title reign.
When Randy demanded a match with Batista I was really up for that. Eric Bischoff wasn’t as excited as I was. He came out and mentioned how Hunter expected a rematch and that Edge is in line for a title match. In fact earlier in the show, Edge and Eric discussed the contract that Edge won the night before in the Money in the Bank match. Bisch assumed that it would be Edge vs. Batista on Raw, but Edge is going to decide when and where that match will take place. So after Randy informed Eric that he has beaten Batista twice Eric granted the match to Randy. Now I know you guys will tell me if I’m wrong, but I was under the impression that this was not a title match. So why not give Randy this match? I was very glad about this match being set up and even more curious how Randy would do in there two nights in a row with that shoulder problem. Shawn Michaels was outstanding last night. He sold his ankle injury from Angle’s ankle lock the night before, and really put over his love for wrestling and the fans. I’m telling you he sure got to me with what he said. He also said how disappointed he was about losing to Kurt and then asked if the fans would like to see a rematch with Kurt and of course I yelled hell yeah, only I don’t think he heard me but the fans in the arena made it clear that they were all for it.
And as Shawn was talking our friendly neighborhood American Arabs, Hassan and Daivari came out and started with Shawn. Hassan had to dig about HBK’s loss to Angle and Hassan called Hogan a broken down has been. This too was one of Hassan’s better promos. I couldn’t stop laughing watching some of Shawn’s facial reactions when Hassan was speaking it was reminiscent of his DX days. Shawn started removing his jacket, folding the sleeves of his shirt because the more Hassan bitched the more Shawn was ready for some action. And that’s just what happened, Shawn did all he could to take out Hassan but Daivari and then Hassan naturally overpowered him. As one of my friends said last night I see Hassan vs. Shawn at Backlash, and that’s where Hassan will finally lose and get pinned. This was just a super segment one that made Shawn look like GOLD on the mic and a segment that made Hassan look sharp out there as well.
There were not many matches last night but Edge vs. Chris Benoit was an excellent match. Benoit came in with his injured arm thanks to Kane from the ladder match. But you know what? Whether Benoit is really injured or it’s just a work it didn’t matter because he looked fantastic in the ring as did Edge. I loved watching these two and I have a feeling that there is more to come. Although, Edge did a little damage of his own, by taking a chair and hitting Chris’s arm with it. So I wonder if maybe Chris is hurt and needs a little time off, OR if this will set up a Backlash match between both of these guys. Things were going very well last night and then I got a little concerned. In the ring we saw Simon Dean and Maven. I have to admit that kind of put me off. Simon does make me laugh when he comes up with certain lines that he finds funny, but I really didn’t need this. However, having Stone Cold Steve Austin come out totally turned things around. This time I saw a crowd much more into him, then the night before, and this time Austin looked like he was much more into this segment than Piper’s Pit. Austin made this fun to watch, he got the crowd totally into everything that was happening and it was just a very entertaining segment.
I liked the segment with Randy and Kane backstage before Randy’s match with Batista. A creepy Kane popped up, smiled and told Randy that he warned him that you can’t beat what you don’t understand. Randy didn’t take this too well and warned Kane that he was wrong and that he does understand. Randy said that Kane will get that after he takes care of Batista. A very short segment but I liked it, as I said Kane was very eerie and Randy didn’t seem threatened by Kane at all. As far as the main event with Batista vs. Randy it was good. It might have been a Batista squash, but I like how Dave looked. And the shoulder injury of Randy’s definitely played a part in this match.
Now JR and Jerry Lawler will say that the monster Batista did such damage to Randy’s shoulder that he will need surgery. I was waiting for Randy to go back to Evolution, but that didn’t happen. After Batista’s victory, Hunter came back out, clapping in that sarcastic way he has and telling Batista that the title is his. And finally they showed a replay of Hulk Hogan coming out to rescue Eugene and take care of Hassan and Daivari. This at least gave the fans that didn’t get to order Wrestlemania a chance to see what the Hulkster did. Also the Gladiator Wrestlemania ad with Steve Austin was okay, not one of my favorites but it was okay.
As I said the show was very good, and after a very strong Wrestlemania, not for one minute did I feel that Raw cut corners. So it’s on to Smackdown with the new WWE champion, John Cena. And I will bet you that John Cena will have the Chain Gang cheering for him louder than ever. I’m anxious to find out what is next for Kurt Angle, and how will Eddie Guerrero react to Rey since he beat Eddie on Sunday? It should be a good show and I’ll be back on Friday with my thoughts. Also for all of you Australian fan’s that will be going to the Raw or Smackdown shows, I hope you all have a great time and I would love to hear about your experience.
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