I’m trying to make this as painless as possible. What the hell happened to Raw last night? Wait that’s not painless, let me reword that. Last night’s show was not a good one. I guess we can say that’s because yesterday was Labor Day and a lot of people are not home, however fans overseas don’t celebrate the holiday and I think because of that all of us deserved better than what we got. I’ve already received many emails that share my thoughts. It was a catastrophe last night. So here’s what I’m going to do. I’m hitting the crap first and ending with the highlights, and yes there were highlights. But first I don’t want to forget one thing. Linda McMahon’s plea for donations for the hurricane victims was done very well, and I’m glad it was shown twice. I will give the WWE credit where credit is due. When it comes to charities and disasters WWE is right there donating money and helping out with supplies. I just wanted to make sure to get that out.
Now on to the show.
I knew we were in trouble when the Masterlock was hyped for almost two hours. I watched two videos and after that each time it was on I left the room. I never ever imagined in my wildest dreams that they would build up Chris Masters the way they did last night, and I hated it. The guy belongs on Heat or in a tag team. There was nothing about him last night that made me feel differently about him. And the main event with Shawn Michaels trying for about 6 minutes to break that lock was not only predictable but worthless. I knew Shawn didn’t stand a chance because I expect the Masterlock to be broken at Unforgiven. Just way too much focus on Masters and it hurt the show.
As much as I’ve enjoyed the Cade/Murdoch vignettes, I thought there in ring debut was sub par. Maybe because they spent too much time focusing on Rosey which slowed the whole match down, but whatever it was there wrestling left me rather cold. However, don’t think I’m giving up on them. I want to see more because I’m sure they have a lot more to offer than what I saw last night. Also we have the same storyline with a new cast. The part of Carlito Caribbean Cool is now being played by Tyson Tomko. Eric Bischoff is still in the role of the underhanded General Manager of Raw, and in place of Chris Jericho we now have Kurt Angle. I cannot tell you how much I hated this short segment. It was bad enough that Eric Bischoff ran the show when Jericho was facing Cena. I really hoped with Kurt Angle as Cena’s new nemesis, Eric would be out of the picture. But last night after Angle and then Tomko beat up Cena we get the same plot. The overly happy Bischoff gloating because his “boys” took out Cena. Angle like Jericho doesn’t need Bischoff. I have no problem with Tyson being maybe Angle’s “problem solver” not that Angle needs one, but I don’t want this planning and conniving by Bischoff to continue it’s a total turn off to me.
I don’t understand why Edge wasn’t able to wrestle last night, but Matt Hardy was. Oh yeah I do because Eric Bischoff and Edge are heels. Okay so I get that, but it was still ridiculous. Two things should have happened here. Both men should have sold there injuries from last weeks street match so well that they couldn’t move. Or, Matt should have ranted and raved when Bischoff told him he set Matt up against Snitzky. Matt was way too calm way too decent with Eric. And seeing Matt lose like he did was no surprise to me, I expected it, but I also expect Edge to lose to Matt at Unforgiven. If Matt loses at that pay per view then yes re-signing him was all for nothing. Now I think Ashley might eventually be okay on the mic, but last night as the guest on Carlito Cabana I was kind of embarrassed for her. I thought Carlito came off okay with his insults to her, but when Ashley kept laughing, I was anxious to see the interview end. Her match against Torrie was sloppy but you know what I was okay with it because she’s not a wrestler this is all new to her and more importantly I thought for sure that Trish Stratus would do a run in to help her. I can’t tell you how disappointed I was that Trish didn’t show up. I really miss her. And I wasn’t particularly thrilled about watching Victoria play second fiddle to Torrie and Candice. What did Victoria do to end up as nothing more than a female wrestler that just stands there? I just don’t get it.
I might not like Rob Conway’s gimmick, but again he showed he’s a good wrestler and along with Shelton they put on the match of the night. I was so pleased by what I saw, and I kept thinking it’s too bad Conway is bogged down with this look. Maybe he can overcome it and get passed it. I would like to think so because he’s got potential and I think many of us have seen it. Now while the racial issue totally turns me off, I’m telling you in the ring we are all going to see what I believe to be a really strong feud. I’m talking about Shelton Benjamin vs. Kerwin White. I expect these two guys to make their matches A MUST SEE. I do like the White character until the race card is dropped. Hopefully Vince will wise up, and have Kerwin find something more entertaining to piss off Shelton with. Kurt Angle vs. Eugene was okay. I thought for sure that John Cena would interfere and help Eugene get the win. So Angle’s victory was a pleasant surprise for me. And I’m making Kurt Angle the star of the show. Watching Kurt go berserk and just let loose on Eugene and later on Cena was something I enjoyed. Unlike last week when I found Cena and Angle’s promo’s worthless, last night made up for all of that. When Cena left the ring after beating Tomko and Kurt attacked him on the ramp and just went ballistic on him, I loved it. Everything Angle did last night was perfect. Now just keep Eric out of the equation and the title race between Angle and Cena will make for a HOT match. Speaking of Cena, I had no problem with his match against Tomko. No it wasn’t great but it gave Cena a win, and supposedly a win against a tough guy. I have to say I loved it that Cena never used the mic last night. Having him run in to help Eugene, and then his match against Tomko gives him a lot more credibility than watching him play up to the fans.
Carlito’s Cabana started out on a sour note, but having a Ric Flair run in is just what that segment needed. I totally loved Flair grabbing Carlito’s crotch and hanging on to it. Ric was so good last night he was so full of life while abusing Carlito. I really hope Ric remains a face because this is a nice change of pace for him and he has really made it a lot of fun to watch him. By the way my theory was totally killed when Carlito bragged that he was the one that attacked Ric last week. I really thought it was Hunter. I guess I wanted it to be Triple H because that way we would get the HHH vs. Flair feud. Well Hunter returns in three weeks and then we will all see who his next victim will be. Finally this shocks me probably more than it will shock you but I thought the tag team match between Viscera and Val Venis against the Hearth Throbs was a very good match. Like Conway, there is not doubt in my mind that Val Venis is a damn good wrestler and it’s always bothered me that he’s been so mis-used mainly as a jobber. This tag team match had a nice flow to it and all four guys did a super job. And talk about surprises, Val and Vis won, I can’t remember the last time Venis won a match.
So there you have it a rather blah Raw with a few good segments. Now here’s what I want to remind all of you about. Here in the states on Friday we are only getting one hour of Smackdown. It will be on at 9:00 Eastern/8:00 Central time. However now WWE.com will be broadcasting the first half of the show on their site. Check things out I know I’ll definitely be watching that first hour. Okay I come to you all again with another reader looking for WWE merchandise. Any help you can give him I would appreciate and I’ll give you his email. My reader would like to know if he can purchase the following and if so where. Eddie Guerrero’s and the Mexicools theme songs. You can email him at kai1790@hotmail.com, and thank you all again.
Email lindarobin3@yahoo.com
