I might have missed the Royal Rumble and trust me I’m not regretting that, oh by the way I just missed one match, I went with Edge. I had to brag just a teeny bit, but I did like Raw last night, in fact I thought it was better than the last few Raws. However, there’s a new theme going around on Raw and Smackdown and I’m very angry about it. And I’m sure you all know what I’m getting at. I’m going to do something so rare; I’m going to try to give you my Raw thoughts in order as they happened; now that’s a shocker.
So many of you told me just be patient and Shawn Michaels will open up on Vince and things will start to roll. And last night you were all right. While every week I have bitched about too much Vince and how much I have despised this whole HBK/Vince feud I loved it last night. I thought the opening segment with Shawn and Vince was strong and it was GREAT to finally see Shawn standing up for himself and giving it right back to Vince. Shawn got a good performance out of Vince and hopefully this feud now will heat up nicely and make most of us care and want to see their match at Wrestlemania. And I’m not a Shane McMahon fan but I didn’t mind reading that he came out at Royal Rumble to take out Shawn, and last night I was okay with his appearance again. I would prefer to see a Shane vs. Shawn match at Mania to be honest with you. But right now Shane playing daddy’s hatchet man is working very well for me.
I have been waiting for a year to see Rob Van Dam return. Naturally I missed his Royal Rumble appearance, but last night it was great to hear his music. However, I was sorry to see him in a match that was so not RVD. Let’s face it he’s been away for a year with serious knee surgery and I’m sure he has ring rust, but to put him in a match against Snitzky was just DUMB. I’m not concerned because RVD will bounce back in no time and watching his matches will be a treat like always. So I won’t even go into this match any longer. Mama Benjamin’s boy Shelton is playing the oh so good son so very well. And mama is no slouch either. I’m at the point that I cannot wait to see just what the Benjamin’s have planned for the night. And what a perfect way to use the Prince of Perversion, Goldust than have him show up with mama massaging her shoulders and scaring the hell out of her? Goldust needs to have good comedy writing and someone strong to play off of. Now whether Goldust and mama will continue to be in the same angle I don’t know but their little segment had me laughing.
Now here’s where the latest theme seems to be popping up and it shouldn’t be. I have a deep problem with Eddie Guerrero’s death being brought up for the good and for the bad. While I would much rather see Benoit, Chavo and others wear the EG arm bands, and do some of his moves as a tribute I would really like to see the rest stop. The thing that aggravates me the most is that Eddie Guerrero is now playing way too much of a role with the heels Hunter using Eddie’s name to get heel heat just doesn’t work at all for me. And the line where he said since he can’t take it out on Rey and Eddie he’s going after Chavo again didn’t sit well with me at all. Now the match with Hunter vs. Chavo I liked very much, this was a match that was solid and both men came through, but every time Hunter shook his shoulders like Eddie used to do I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Once would have been more than enough but he did it about three times and I just found it very insensitive, and then when he looked up to talk to Eddie that bugged me. And without going into detail because I won’t spoil it for you fans that don’t read the Smackdown spoilers but things get even more disgusting with Eddie comments on Friday night. Okay now some of you will say hey Linda this is pretend, it’s entertainment lighten up. I will just say I’m not entertained by taking a man that died a few months ago and using him to get cheap heel heat. This all needs to come to an end and now. But like I told so many of my readers today, believe me Vince knows that all of this is angering many of us and like anything else as long as it’s the topic of conversation that’s all the matters to Vince. I know many of you have emailed WWE complaining and I say the more that email the better the chances are of all of this stopping. It makes me wonder what goes through Chavo and the minds of Eddie’s family when they see or hear about this? I just can’t believe that WWE needs to stoop so low.
But back to the highlights, I got that Carlito again screwed Chris Masters during the Rumble Sunday night so I rather enjoyed watching these two in the locker-room. Masters slapping cocky Carlito was fitting after Carlito seemed to move past what he did to Masters the night before and was now focused on the two of them winning the belts from Big Show and Kane. And this match I liked. Kane and Big Show again worked very well together and I was surprised that this really had some nice action. I think I was even more surprised that Big Show and Kane are still champs. I really thought that Carlito and Masters would win it, and Kane and Big Show would work solo again. I am intrigue by the RVD I saw after this match. I guess on Unlimited Carlito pushed the ref and RVD came out to go after Carlito. As RVD is left he’s wasn’t that happy go lucky RVD. He was intense which I liked and when he was questioned about why he went after Carlito he just said that Carlito is a piece of trash. Ah this feud has been in the makings for a while and now it looks like it’s going to take off and I’m ready for it.
Shelton Benjamin vs. wait I just took a deep breath, Goldust was also good. It was nothing wonderful or spectacular but it was good. I’ll tell you what I really liked more than the match, well there were two things. First the chants at Shelton that he’s a mama’s boy and mama sitting out there saying something like “that’s right he is.” Just the way she responded was a riot. And also after Benjamin’s win I loved how mama hugged him and he just soaked it in like a little boy, in his glory when his mama is happy. Yeah this is all a lot of fun so far and Shelton’s character is just coming off so well. Also watching the new arrogant Benjamin brag to Flair and Flair react to this guy buy putting him in his place is a great way to get things started for these two to start something up as well. What a perfect way to finally have Trish put Mickie in her place. But did it happen? NOOOOOOOOOO! Mickie was a raving lunatic as she threw a party for the love of her life, Trish. While I read and heard that Ashley flopped as a wrestler on Sunday night, I thought her mic work was fine last night, I thought she did a good job finally setting Mickie straight about the way Trish felt about her, and what a great opening for Trish to go along with Ashley and then have Mickie to take out Trish. But this storyline is still being dragged out, and I’m hoping that WWE knows what they are doing. Give me a D — Give me a U—– Give me a D—what does that spell? DUD and last night that’s what I saw when then Spirit Squad came out and did their cheer. However, I’m not giving up on them yet.
Now never in my wildest dreams did I expect Edge to lose on Sunday. But he did lose and even though Edge was getting a rematch with John Cena last night I knew he wasn’t getting that title back. I liked the main event, it was good not great but good enough. I feel they made a terrible mistake giving Cena that belt back, yet I expected a room full of boos and the fans seemed for the most part to love the guy. I wised up, when his music hit, I didn’t watch him come out since his entrance leaves me cold. And when he was just about to do the You Can’t See Me crap I knew enough not to look and I didn’t have to torture myself. The bright spot for me was that Cena was kept off the mic and kept off until the end of the show. And I guess from all reports out there it’s going to be Hunter vs. Cena at Wrestlemania, and rumors have it that it will be Edge vs. Mick Foley at Mania. I would have preferred Hunter vs. Edge but it’s not going to happen. I am disappointed that Edge didn’t get much of a chance, but then again this is from a company that uses the death of one of their wrestlers to show just how classless they can be.
But as I said with the exception of a few things I liked the show and I’m looking forward to Friday’s Smackdown. I’m looking forward to seeing what’s in store for the Royal Rumble winner, Rey Mysterio. I have been very high on Smackdown in the last few weeks; will Friday’s show be another winner? I sure hope so.
