To be honest, this night was not as bad as I thought it would be. Maybe it was just because I was expecting a complete wreck going into the show, but once it ended I thought it was an okay program. There were some interesting things that took place tonight, and some not-so-interesting things that went down.
The John Cena entrance and interview was a great way to open the show. It gave Cena more exposure to the RAW audience, and some good mic time. I don’t know if it’s just me, but ever since moving to RAW, I feel that Cena has established himself more and more when it comes to promos. Perhaps it’s just me. This was a very good segment that did a nice job of opening up the show. However, with each week it’s getting harder and harder to questiont he obvious, as the WWE Championship is being treated as a mid-card belt, second to the World Title on RAW. They try to cover things up, but they don’t even go all out in trying, and it’s obvious. Cena shouldn’t be feuding with the guys that Batista destroyed all by himself just several weeks ago. More on that later…
Bischoff’s promo in the ring with Shelton Benjamin was nicely done. As I was watching, I thought that they were going to have Charlie Haas switch shows, hence Eric calling Benjamin out, but the Carlito change makes a lot of sense. Carlito was simply lost in the shuffle on SmackDown! and bringing him to RAW was a very strong move. I remember talking with Trevor over the weekend, and telling him why it would make sense for Carlito to go to RAW. I think tonight’s show was a great “kick-off” so to speak for Carlito. Man, was the crowd dead at the beginning of the match or what? Colon works a very slow style, although he can pick things up when needed to. It makes sense he’s a heel, but sometimes it can be tricky as to what it does to the audience, since he hasn’t mastered it yet. Shelton is lucky he didn’t get killed on that ridiculous jump, and boy did he land awkwardly on Carlito’s head. Once things picked up after the break, the match got much better, and all the close pinfalls turned it into a great bout. I’m glad they had Carlito win the belt. It made a lot of sense, as he’s someone they need to push big time now that he’s on RAW, and also one that is deserving of it, as he has tons of charisma and potential. Shelton losing the belt tonight was not a bad thing at all. He held it for a really long period of time. I only wish they would have shoved that down our throats a little more over the past few weeks, as it would have given Carlito an even bigger push.
It was nice to see Superstar Billy Graham on RAW. I hope he’s doing better with his health. He seems to be very happy every time he’s a part of a WWE event, in any capacity, and that’s always a good thing. The interview with Maria in the back was also good.
Speaking of returning superstars, where the hell was Trish? How does WWE expect their tickets to sell more and more when they go ahead and advertise the return of Stratus in all of the state of Arizona for a week and then don’t deliver? Boy, that was bad!
Viscera’s bout with Simon Dean wasn’t that bad, to be honest, for what it was. I’m not sure why there seems to be so much hatred towards Viscera’s gimmick in the past two weeks, or that ridiculous hump move he does. I’m guessing because it’s silly, but this wole thing has been silly all along, so what’s with all the hate now? It was just funny before. Lillian, in my opinion, ever since that program has started has proven that she’s got more on-camera talent, character, and charisma than perhaps 75% of the WWE Divas. She’s done great. Oh, by the way, what was with them playing Vis’s music throughout the ENTIRE Simon Dean promo? It was so annoying!
Chris Jericho’s heel turn is simply hideous. That interview did not help one bit, and thank God for Christian!
The segment between Angle and Bischoff was interesting on a lot of levels. First off, it was hilarious because it reminded everyone of Kurt Angle back in 2000, as he seemed to go back to being that goofus, going around saying he’s an Olympic champ, and sucking up to everyone. On another level, it was hilarious because here you have a man who in the past month has been obsessed over raping his opponent’s wife, and he’s hugging Bischoff, shaking his hand, and playing nice with him. On a third level, it was hilarious because Bischoff came off like a complete loser, as if nobody likes him, and the smallest compliment made in his direction would make you his favorite. Good TV.
Then we had the wedding. Wow. It was the best example there is of what ego does to a human being, folks. You see, Vince will never let ANYONE be on top of him. Of course, after what Paul Heyman had to say at ECW One Night Stand, they had to go and play Hardy’s video and do the whole segment the way they did it, to give Hardy one final shaft. A big one at that. They just had to be on top. The segment itself was better than I expected it would be. The last two weddings they’ve gone for “funny,” mocking themselves, and it’s been great. The video package tonight was hilarious, just like the one for the Kane/Lita wedding. Snitsky’s promo was also pretty funny. If you have a pathetic storyline in hand, might as well mock it for a few laughs. I don’t think I’ve seen anything funnier than Kane’s big bald head sticking out from the middle of the ring, laying there, next to Lita’s feet. That had to be the moment of the year. On a serious note, I can NOT believe they’re doing this to Hardy. He doesn’t deserve it at all.
Hansel and Gretel were backstage, trying to do an interview and some acting, when Victoria broke it up. Thank God. Wow, this was bad. “Call 911!” That’s a new one. I don’t think anyone’s ever thought of that before at a wrestling event when an ER was needed. Why call them, if they’re already in the arena? Ugh. The segment afterwords with the EMTs was even worse.
Cena squashed Hassan like a grape and then made wine. This was good. It had to be kept short and to the point, although I think it was too short. It made Cena look like a second champ again due to the timing, however, on the other hand, it prevented him from getting exposed. Is it just me, or Cena has picked things up a bit inside the ring since moving to RAW? In my opinions, he’s looked a bit better lately. As far as Hassan’s streak goes, this was a good time to end it, and Cena was a good person to do so. It now allows Muhammad to move on and play off of it to do so, while it gives Cena that “big” win he needed. Overall, good.
I didn’t really expect much out of the main event. I said in my Preview all four men are just going to end up brawling, which made sense, I guess. They did a nice job of selling the matches with what they had on. Triple H pinning Batista clear, was interesting. It’s almost as if they’re setting us up for a Batista win this Sunday? I think they’re messing with our minds. Triple H has never lost a Hell In A Cell match in one-on-one environment, so things are going to be really interesting this Sunday, as it could go either way.
Overall, this was a better show than last week and keeping in mind that it was the last plug before the PPV, I think it did a good job of selling the event.
Send me your feedback and thoughts on RAW at Levski11@aol.com
Eddie
Levski11@aol.com