For the most part this was another Raw that I liked and another Raw that did a super job building feuds up for Wrestlemania. Now this might not have been as good as Portland’s Raw last week, but there were enough strong segments to get me ready for the next BIG pay per view on April 1st. Let me give you my thoughts on a few segments that I could take or leave, and then on to all the positives that put this show over.
I have so many mixed emotions on the Vince/Trump feud. Last week I thought the segment with Trump and Vince was a lot of fun mostly because the fans were just so loud and into it. But Monday just having Vince out there and no Trump made for a very bland segment. The whole thing did nothing for me; with the exception of Vince announcing that Umaga would represent him in this Trump/McMahon Wrestlemania feud. Umaga has come a long way and it makes sense for Vince to pick this “monster” to beat Trumps opponent. Not only would Trump lose the match, but he would also lose his hair. Now I think the only way the feud will have anything going for it is if Donald Trump is there on a regular basis and I don’t see that happening. I don’t how many of you know this but Steve Austin is going to be the special ref for this match and the wrestler on Trump’s side is….. well I won’t spoil it. Monday Trump will make that announcement. So I would rate the opener fair not horrible but definitely not great.
As soon as McMahon announced that Jeff Hardy would be facing Umaga for the IC title I knew that Hardy was losing. I will be totally honest with you that his loss didn’t sit well with me. But I understand why they did it. Umaga is like the top guy now since he’s Vince’s boy. The match wasn’t bad because Jeff was able to get some offense in and I guess it was time for him to lose, but it still kind of bothers me and trust me I will get over it. I do want to go to the next subject but I want to say the one thing that is on my mind. Now that Vince will be in Wrestlemania I have a feeling that all the players in this feud are going to dominate Raw. I mean how many times did they replay last week’s Trump/Vince segment on Raw last week? And this week they had to replay the weak opener a few times, and we even got the replay on Smackdown last Friday night. I hate to see this over shadow the John Cena and Shawn Michaels feud and the Batista/Undertaker feud. These are the feuds that will bring in the buy rates, not Umaga vs. Trump’s guy. Granted Steve Austin will add to this but still I want the focus to be on the title matches. So I’m somewhat concerned about how much Vince we are going to get in the next few weeks.
Carlito and Ric Flair vs. Cade and Murdoch was a solid match. I liked Carlito and Flair being teamed up. But I just cannot get into Cade and Murdoch. Don’t get me wrong they can wrestle especially Cade, but as much as I wanted their gimmick to click it never did for me. But as I said the match was good but I certainly hope we are not going to get a long feud with these four. And I guess we can say goodbye to the Highlanders after Khali took them out in no time. The Highlanders gave us some pretty funny vignettes before they showed up on Raw, but when it came to putting them out there on a regular basis something was missing. It wasn’t their wrestling because they showed a lot in the ring, but Raw and tag teams in the last few years just don’t seem to mix well. I’m guessing the Highlanders gimmick will go after Monday’s appearance, or if not we will just watch them become jobbers on a regular basis until they get new gimmicks in OVW.
So while the above mildly entertained me the rest was all good. First I think it’s just wonderful that Curt Hennig was announced as the next Hall of Fame inductee. As many of you know I didn’t start watching wrestling until 1998, BUT hearing about Mr. Perfect from so many of you over the years and reading about him is enough to know that he is definitely should be honored. So with Rhodes and Hennig in there the HOF is starting off so well. Rob Van Dam vs. Edge in the Money in the Bank qualifying match was my match of the night. Van Dam hasn’t looked this strong in a while and Edge as usual did an awesome job. Of course Edge had to be thrilled that Randy Orton came out to interfere which gave Edge the win, but what the hell that’s what friends are for. Now I could easily get into and Edge/RVD feud, of course that’s not going to happen which is ashame but I was just thrilled with the match. I didn’t see RVD winning since he seems to be on hold with Vince McMahon. Now wouldn’t it be something if Edge won the whole thing again? Right now I don’t see that happening, but you never know. Melina vs. Mickie for the Women’s title had to be one of the best women’s matches in quite a while. These two worked their asses off and took some very hard bumps. I loved this match and just like I knew Umaga was going to win, I knew a title change was also going to happen here. Melina has had way too many chances to get that title I could not see her losing another match. The rumors are that they are going to start Melina vs. Ashley because Melina is jealous about Ashley posing for Playboy. That makes me wonder what the hell is next for Mickie James.
And finally the main event with John Cena vs. Randy Orton was another very good match. I was impressed by the chemistry I saw between both of these men. This was when the Bakersfield, Ca. crowd really came to life. I thought this match had a nice fast pace to it and I totally loved it. Now earlier in the show Shawn Michaels and John Cena had a backstage segment. The interaction between Shawn and Cena looked to be very serious but turned out to be anything but serious when each one did their best to sell their new DVD’s on TV. This was a very funny segment and one that caught me by surprise; I enjoyed watching both men pander to all of us. But back to this main event match. You had to figure with Randy Orton coming to Edge’s aid against RVD, Edge would do the same for Orton and that just what happened. Not only did Edge get out there but then Michaels came out to help Cena and this all just played out so well. But what really topped this segment was at the very end when Cena got up after coming very close to getting hit with a conchairto. As I said it was Michaels that came in to help Cena, but once Cena go up he turned and there was Shawn holding a chair. This was so cool because Cena looked stunned and then HBK dropped the chair but the expression on Michaels face was anything but warm and fuzzy. The stare down between Shawn Michaels and John Cena ended Raw on such a high note.
Yeah that ending was just another super way of heating things up between Cena and Shawn. Did you notice that I didn’t even mention NO Way Out? That was done intentionally. With the exception of the opening match with Benoit and the Hardy’s vs. MNM and MVP, and the main event with HBK/Cena vs. Taker and Batista and then Batista taking out Taker, the show STUNK. It’s not worth saying one more thing about it. Okay I will hopefully be back this weekend with some Smackdown thoughts and after reading the spoilers believe me a few thoughts are on my mind already.
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