I took one little week off and what I week I picked. RVD got arrested for speeding, and keeping pot and Vicodin in his car. Sabu was with him and also got picked up. Van Dam’s punishment was the loss of the WWE title and the ECW title, plus a 30 day suspension. Now to make matters worse he lost that ECW title to the Big Show, but that is last week’s news. I was really looking forward to this column about my Raw thoughts, but the show was so pathetic that I feel bad to come back with one hell of a negative column. I have an idea. You know how I always try to get the crap out of the way first and then end with the highlights. Since Raw was so bad how about I list the highlights first, and trust me there aren’t many and then bravely I will then hit all the garbage that I watched last night. Gee it’s great to be back. No really it is.
Edge as the WWE champion is a big positive for Raw. He was excellent as the cocky slime ball heel and that’s one character that Edge has down perfectly. I loved his hotel scenes with Lita and his commentary while watching the John Cena/Shelton Benjamin match. Edge was as I said one of the bright spots on Raw. And there is no doubt in my mind that they should leave this belt on him and just let him go with it. He’s certainly not going to bring ratings down; in fact I will bet that ratings will go up because of his second title reign. The match with Cena vs. Benjamin was the match of the night and I thought it was a great way to open the show. I was so happy with it I figured it would definitely set the tone for the rest of the night, but that wasn’t the case.
Another segment that really won me over was Trish vs. Melina. The match was short yet very good and the involvement of Johnny Nitro and Carlito really added to things. I cannot wait to see this tag team match on the Saturday Night Main Event. I am so glad that Nitro and Carlito have been put together for a feud and I’m very happy that Melina is now wrestling and wrestling against Trish. I saved the best for last. And that had to be Mick Foley’s promo against Ric Flair. I’ve been hot and cold with Foley the heel. While some of his heel promos have been a little too dramatic for me others have worked just fine. But last night, there was something about the way Foley expressed his anger toward the way Flair treated him in WCW. A shoot? Yeah I’m sure it was, and maybe that’s why he came off with so much heart. I was just hanging on every word coming out of his mouth. This by far was THE strongest promo coming from Mick in a long time. I give this man two thumbs up for not only holding my interest but really making me feel just as bad or almost as bad as he has all these years.
So there you have it, my highlights I hoped you enjoyed them because the bitch in me is now coming out. Where to begin? I’ll tell you where, while I’m still very optimistic about the Highlanders in the WWE, sticking them with Rob Conway and Matt Striker for the second week in a row is just a lost cause. I still feel Conway has it in the ring; but on the other hand Striker just does nothing for me in the ring and on the mic. With the lack of strong tag teams it’s kind of pitiful to see the Highlanders start off with this so called tag team. I think you all know what a Charlie Haas fan I am but how bad was that whole Viscerca/Haas/Garcia segment? Oh it was bad and then with Haas and Vis smiling at each other after Vis took Lillian out because she just wanted them as friends made me wonder who sits on the creative staff? This was anything but creative. Have I ripped the Miz in my Smackdown columns? I sure have and that now continues on Raw. So now each week during the lame Diva contest the Miz will be on both shows? I hope starting next week besides jotting the text number down on his hand; he also staples the script to his shirt so he can remember what to say. Oh he’s just so bad.
Now here’s where things really got the best of me. I guess it’s fair to say that Foley wasn’t there last night, and that’s why Paul Heyman and Big Show confronted Ric Flair. And out of the blue the new ECW champion Big Show challenges Flair to a title match tonight at ECW. My God it’s bad enough that Van Dam is out for 30 days, but why in the hell put Flair on ECW. After I saw Show win last week, my slow brain finally got it. Each week ECW is going to become more of WWE which is just fine but to use the ECW name is just ridiculous. And it’s not against Flair but to have him on tonight just bothers me so much. Randy Orton the legend killer is stuck in a Hulk Hogan program. This feud is certainly not to put Randy over as this legend killer. Oh no it’s to put Brooke out there with the hopes that you fans will run out and buy her new CD. And I’m sure it’s also being done to let Hogan come out and soak up all the cheers from his Hulkamaniacs. I will bet that Hogan will not lose to Orton and this feud will be just a waste of time where Randy is concerned. And finally you have a show that’s all about the McMahon’s. Last week DX was all over the show, but last night they came out for maybe 2 minutes and personally I think Hunter and Shawn should have just stayed home. I’ll get into that in a little bit. We had Vince and Shane harassing Eugene just because he laughed at DX making Vince look like a fool on last week’s Raw. Well because of that the theme of the show was lets beat up poor Eugene and make his life hell, AND since DX has been invited to the show this will teach them a lesson. Oh yeah this is one hell of a storyline. Anyway we have Vince and Shane brutalizing Eugene throughout the show and finally facing him in a handicap match. Of course this brings out the Spirit Squad whom I believe the majority of us are tired of seeing them involved with DX. But they come out to make sure Eugene gets it and gets it good. So with the clock ticking Hunter and Shawn finally show up. But why I don’t know. See they really brought nothing to this segment, and I guess we owe that to creative too. So they come out and Vince is trying to get them to stand in the center because he has this diabolical plan all ready for them. So after Hunter and Shawn tease him they stand where he wants and Vince yells, “now and How Now Brown Cow,†and you know what comes down? A net, that’s right a net. But DX is too smart for that deadly net and they stand in front of it when it comes down. Talk about a worthless segment. Well I guess all of this was a way for Vince to get pinned by Eugene because Vince was preoccupied with DX. I’m cutting this short it’s all starting to bring back bad memories for me.
I have no problem with DX being on for a short time but at least give them something of substance to work with. Talk about a disappointment! Oh well there were two feuds that were set up very well for the SNME and I’m talking about the WWE title match between Edge and Cena, and the tag team match with Carlito and Trish vs. Johnny Nitro and Melina. Other than these feuds nothing was done right at all. I just hope next week’s Raw has a lot more to offer and it’s a lot less boring that what I watched last night. Okay I have a few items I would like to get in here and I’ll be back with my Smackdown thoughts over the weekend and maybe a column before that. My friend Diogo has some new animations up and I’m telling you they are so worth checking out at http://www.chibiwrestlers.pt.vu/.
And now a request from a reader. A few months back, I believe you posed a question to readers about a song that was played during the Eddie Guerrero Hall of Fame Video Tribute. It has a flamenco/Hispanic influence (Not the 3 Doors Down or Johnny Cash Tribute songs) – and I was wondering if anyone came through with the title of the song. If you have any info, I’d GREATLY appreciate it! bradshaw12@wi.rr.com.
Email lindarobin3@yahoo.com
