Okay, this week’s Raw was better than last weeks show, maybe this wasn’t a great Raw but after what we got a week ago I could live with almost everything that I watched. I was even able to pick my Royal Rumble winner and the man that face John Cena at Wrestlemania. Yeah Raw worked last night. Of course there were a few exceptions but for the most part the show was good and the Bossier City, La., crowd came through when they needed too, and they came through in a big way during the main event. So let me get right to the show.
The opening with John Cena and Umaga was predictable, but because it was kept short it came off well. The Last Man Standing Match that was made for the Rumble doesn’t do it for me, in fact I guess I need John Cena to move on from Umaga, but that will happen after the Rumble. I had two favorite matches last night. One was Johnny Nitro and Melina vs. Jeff Hardy and Maria. Maria and Melina did what they needed to do, but it was Nitro and Hardy that made this really good. As soon as those two would wrestle each other you really could feel the electricity. Hardy and Nitro have turned out to be one of WWE’s best feuds ever. So far I am not tired or bored by this feud at all, I think it’s because they bring out the best in each other. I liked the Orton and Edge segment, but I have to be honest with you as strong as Orton was on the mic, the attack on Hacksaw Duggan was weak. Maybe because he’s not a major player so taking him out wasn’t that big of a deal. Or maybe because the attack wasn’t brutal enough.
Now I might not be tired of Nitro and Hardy, but I’m hoping that Ric Flair and Kenny had their last match last night. While they have done a nice job I think I’m ready to see Kenny face someone else. One of the negatives for me last night was with Vince McMahon. Although he basically admitted that the Rosie/Trump segments stunk last week, he still managed to keep that crap going. I didn’t despise this segment but the though of Trump coming in to do this angle is anything but entertaining to me. The thing that made me laugh was when Torrie came out and said that she had been a bad girl and the crowd immediately started cheering, that’s when I started laughing. But I didn’t laugh when Carlito one of my favorites came out and now seems to be stuck in a feud with Khali. I am so angry about this. Come on we all know that he’s going to get squashed every time he’s out there with the giant. I’m very disappointed about this latest feud.
Mickie vs. Victoria was a good match, but again, there’s nothing different about these two in the ring. This division needs more than just these two women wrestlers, they need to bring up Nattie Neidhart, Beth Phoenix and maybe even move Jillian to Raw so we have not only eye candy but women that can wrestle. I have to say I was happy to see JTG vs. Shelton Benjamin. Okay we all now that Cryme Tyme has IT, and I mean charisma. Now they need to give Shelton and Charlie Haas some good material, to show that they have IT too. This way the fans can really get into this feud. The Master-lock segment got over with me because of Ron Simmons. One word, DAMN, can take the lamest segment and make it entertaining at least entertaining when the word is coming from Simmons. And I see that Super Crazy is in the mix again with Masters, I am a Crazy fan I just wish the fans would get behind him.
The Triple H video really got to me. I think his face said it all. He went through this 6 years ago and he knows just what he’s facing to come back. But I’m very happy that Raw showed him and of course I wish him a speedy recovery. I picked my winner for the Royal Rumble and I’m not changing it. Shawn Michaels will win in front of his hometown crowd, San Antonio and face John Cena at Wrestlemania. Shawn Michaels was the star last night. From the time he super kicked Todd Grisham all the way through the main event the night was HBK’s. I was totally into his “bad ass” character last night. And in my heart I believed he would beat RatedRKO and DX would continue, but I figured someone would run out and help him. But the more I watched the match the more I was sitting at the edge of my couch still feeling that DX would remain and Shawn would continue on while Hunter is rehabbing, yet a little part of me thought, Shawn is going out, but he’s going out in a big way. This main event was outstanding and the crowd played such a big part in all of this. I loved Edge and Orton making security take away the DX signs in the crowd. What better way to rile up a crowd than by removing their signs, the signs that they made to show their loyalty to DX? I thought that was just a cool thing to do. The match was full of action and suspense. And Edge and Orton along with Shawn made this one exciting main event. When HBK went under the ring to get Hunter’s sledgehammer that was it for me, man did I get emotional. Shawn came out the winner even thought the bell rang and the match was called. Shawn shined and because of the way all of this played out I have to say the Rumble is his. I had no idea until this main event who I would pick to win the Royal Rumble, but this is one prediction I feel very confident in. With Orton taking a tremendous chair shot from Shawn and Edge getting out just in time to escape a chair shot you have to wonder if Randy and Edge will be on the brink of a split, since Edge wasn’t their for Orton. This main event ended Raw on a very positive note and DX lives thanks to Shawn. Right now Raw without Shawn Michaels would be somewhat of a nightmare. So we got a perfect ending to a good show.
I’ll be back over the weekend with my Smackdown thoughts and maybe some thoughts about Impact. I am going to end this with a double request from one of my readers. “I just purchased the Dusty Rhodes DVD that came out awhile ago, and while watching the bonus matches, I noticed the Gorilla Monsoon was doing the commentating by himself. I know that this wasn’t the case during that time in the WWF and I was wondering if anybody knew who was commentating with Monsoon and why DVD didn’t have their voice on it. Also, I was looking for a copy of the Raw last year with the Edge/Lita live sex celebration. My fiancé doesn’t believe Lita would do anything like that and I want to prove her wrong. You can email me at, zekecampbell@yahoo.com.”
Email lindarobin3@yahoo.com
