Before I get into Monday’s Raw, please do me a favor. If any of you taped ECW last night, OR for those of you that will be seeing it on Sunday, please watch the Renee Dupree vs. Balls Mahoney match. I’ll explain why at the end of my column. Okay I have to say I almost thought of letting my Raw thoughts go this week, probably because I wasn’t exactly in love with the show. Honestly there was very little that I liked, but it’s been a while since I’ve dominated a column by bashing the entire show, so what the hell I might as well vent in today’s column.
When Raw comes from Madison Square Garden, I immediately think of a loud, hot crowd. And that’s why I always look forward to a New York visit. Well, the crowd let me down. Now before I go on, one of my readers was there and said it was a good crowd Monday night, very loud and into the show. On TV I sure didn’t get that at all. While they did not let me down with the anti Cena chants, and by the way those chants were off the page, because you had the pro group chanting and then the “haters” responding. So that was the highlight of what this crowd did for me. Otherwise I thought that Trish Stratus got a luke-warm reaction when I expected the place to just go nuts for her since she was saying goodbye to the fans. Now in all fairness, maybe I’m just being way too hard on this live group. If I’m making most of this column about how bad Raw was, then really what the hell did these fans have to cheer about? Let’s take the segments one by one, and I might end this with a big apology to the NY fans.
I thought the show started out so strong with Lillian Garcia opening the show with America The Beautiful. The video that went with it was all done in good taste to acknowledge the 5th anniversary of 911. And after this, it was nice to have Ric Flair come out for a match against Umaga. The match itself was okay, and just like last week, Kane interfering was no surprise. But Having someone like Flair come out after an emotional opening gave me a lift and got me ready for the rest of the show. Okay so far so good. We then had some members of the NY Police department playing bag pipes and Rowdy Roddy Piper making an appearance. Now this I liked and the crowd was very receptive to him. Along with Piper we had the Highlanders in the ring, so here I’m thinking okay this is good, I like this. But all of a sudden the bottom dropped. This segment was bad, yes bad. We got a little of three stooges with Rory, Robbie and Piper which was really not funny, and then we got a tag match between the Spirit Squad vs. Piper and the Highlanders. I can’t say this was a good match, because it wasn’t.
I said this last week and I’ll say it again; Vince McMahon killed any momentum the squad had when he used them week after week in main events. So this whole segment was the beginning of what was to come. We had Chris Masters vs. Super Crazy, and again Crazy beat Masters. But because Masters is not over, and Super Crazy is just there this match was average at best. Sure I’m glad Super Crazy won again, and sure I’m a big Crazy fan, but if they don’t give this guy some build up he’s not going to go anywhere on that roster. Those were the weak matches of the night. And then you had Vince and Shane McMahon on camera quite a bit and bringing nothing new or worthwhile to the show.
So as you can see this all made up the majority of Raw. Two bland matches and the McMahon’s taking up too much time. But there were a few highlights; very few but there were highlights. The match of the night, well there wasn’t exactly competition, but the six man tag team match with Edge, Randy Orton and Johnny Nitro vs. John Cena, Jeff Hardy and Carlito was outstanding. Thank God for this one. It was a pleasure watching this. Also before the match I liked Edge’s promo and while many of you may not agree with me, Edge is losing on Sunday. There is no way Cena is losing and going back to Smackdown. I bring this up because while I was listening to Edge, it made me feel bad that after Sunday he’ll n longer be champion. This guy has done an excellent job as the heel champion. It was not a mistake giving him this title but I believe it’s a big mistake to take it off of him so soon. Hey wouldn’t it be a riot if he wins, Cena loses and then I look like a total ass? It wouldn’t be the first time, but I really do believe Edge is done being champion after Sunday. But I want to go back to the match I can’t tell you how much I’m looking forward to each one of their matches on Sunday I am so impressed with Jeff Hardy right now that I believe that Hardy and Nitro are going to give the fans one of the best matches of the night. And being the Carlito fan that I am I’m also looking forward to his match against Randy Orton. As far that that TLC match with Edge and Cena? You can bet this will be a good one. This was just an awesome match and the major highlight of the show. But Trish vs. Mickie James was also a good match. Since this was the last Raw match for Trish, I felt kind of sad during watching it. I always liked the James/Stratus rivalry, but I especially liked seeing both women hug at the end. I’m thinking that this is the start of a face turn for Mickie and since Lita is supposed to be leaving my November, I see a Melina/James feud in the very near future. Okay I also liked the video clips of Hunter and Shawn throughout the show in their Hell In A Cell matches. I thought the videos did a nice job of showing how dangerous those matches can be. Now I saved the main event for last.
I would like to put that on the highlight list but I can’t. You know I’m starting to think that Vince McMahon should just be on Raw all by himself for the entire two hours, oh yes and the over-run too. Granted, I didn’t expect to see the match of the year with Vince vs. Triple H, but being naive I figured we would get some entertainment from both men. Oh was I wrong. While I didn’t mind the beating that Hunter and Shawn took backstage at the hands of Cade and Murdoch, and Shane McMahon. Watching Vince showcase his EGO for about 10 minutes was like 9 minutes too long for me. I felt for the crowd, because I saw so many DX shirts and signs and you know that they wanted to get that whole DX in ring segment. But instead they got Vince, Vince, and more Vince with a little bit of Hunter. And as much as I like Big Show, throwing him in this feud and into the match on Sunday is really a turn off of me. DX is so stagnate right now. That’s because this Vince/Shane stuff is overpowering DX and that’s not a good thing. Okay after writing this, I apologize to every one of you that just read this and was there live; you had plenty of reasons to be low keyed.
Now I taped ECW last night, and I have played this back at least 20 times, and I’m still laughing. As I said at the beginning of this column, if you taped it or will be watching it on Sunday pay attention to the Dupree/Mahoney match. You will laugh so hard with Tazz and Styles commentary. There are three comments by these guys that just killed me. Now we all know how they are pushing Renee to be the most extreme wrestler in ECW. Well he jumps off the bottom rope onto Mahoney, and Tazz says “that’s extreme?” A few minutes later Dupree kicks Balls in the face and Styles says “now that’s extreme.” And then Styles is just about to say Balls must be stunned by the Frenchman Dupree’s, but he’s stopped when Dupree pulls Mahoney’s hair. You then hear Tazz and Styles laugh and say, “Dupree must be extreme just because he had to go that extra to grab balls Mahoney’s hair.” They are trying not to laugh with each of the comments, but it’s hard not too. You just don’t want to miss this, I laughed so hard last night and I’m still laughing today. This is Tazz at his best and Styles is right up there.
I’m still getting Smackdown next Saturday night, but in a week things will be back to normal. But since Sunday is Unforgiven, I’ll probably pass on my Smackdown thoughts and just give you my predictions. Some of you have already started to send me your picks so thank you and I’m looking forward to reading more from you, so start sending them in if you are ready.
Email lindarobin3@yahoo.com
