Before I talk about last night’s Raw, I wanted to let you know that my brother in law passed away last Thursday. It’s been a very hectic and very sad last few weeks, but at least now he’s at rest. Thank you all for your prayers, every time I read one it made it that much easier for me to handle what was going on. Now on to more pleasant topics like what we got with Raw last night. Without a doubt it was a much better show than last week’s. But even though there was an improvement it did nothing to make me change my mind about ordering Judgment Day. But honestly it would have taken a few really HOT feuds to get me to watch the pay per view.
The two main feuds on Raw really do nothing for me. And of course I’m talking about Khali vs. Cena and that unfortunate rematch with the McMahon’s and Umaga vs. Bobby Lashley. But I will give credit where credit is due and by that I mean at least the Cena/Khali angle came off better last night. The opening segment with John Cena in the ring and Khali on the titon-tron was short but it did just what it needed too. While I hate it when they have Cena acknowledge that he hears those “Suck” chants that was just a minor part of his promo. There were two main purposes for Cena coming out. One was to demand that Khali return his WWE title to him and the other was to put more of an emphasis on just how unbeatable Khali is and even though the guy is unstoppable Cena will take him out at Judgment Day. And as I said Khali was on the titon-tron and along with a translator he talked about how he would be the new WWE champion Sunday and then showed a video of how destructive he is. Did this make me really get into the feud? No, but at least it was entertaining last night and it held my interest.
On the other hand, I still have no INTEREST at all with the Lashley feud. In all honesty, I’m tired of Bobby Lashley constantly on Raw. The push that Lashley continues to get is just way too soon for him and I think for many of the fans. I would prefer this whole thing to go away, but since that won’t happen, I wish Vince and his sidekicks would just show up on ECW. Vince last night was again NOT funny, and when the Lashley/Coach match took place I was right here on my computer and didn’t bother watching the match at all. I did listen to JR and Lawler and in my opinion I didn’t miss a thing. This was the worst part of Raw for me. But all was not lost. I liked the women’s match, Candice vs. Victoria. You have to give it to Candice, because she has greatly improved. It does upset me to see Victoria just thrown in there, and I also wondering why Mickie wasn’t on. But I liked the match and I guess it’s pretty obvious that we are in for a Melina/Candice feud.
One of my favorite matches of the night, and this I’m sure will shock you, was Jeff Hardy vs. Murdoch. For the first time since this feud has started, and really since I have been watching Cade/Murdoch in the ring, I felt chemistry between Murdoch and an opponent. And this opponent was Jeff Hardy, and because of that chemistry they put on a very good match. I’m still enjoying the goody two shoes act by both Cade and Murdoch when it comes to congratulating the Hardy’s on their victories. It’s all simply done but it still works so well. Santino Marella vs. Chris Masters was okay, but something is definitely not working here. Part of it is that Marella won over so many the night that he came out and played the innocent hometown volunteer who beat Umaga. And then we got a week without him, and then JR did a very short interview with him and then all of a sudden we get two Raw matches with Marella defending his IC title against Masters. And each time they wrestle there is very little crowd reaction. I think what they need to do is put Marella on the mic more, and show that sweet side of him, which in turn might just win him over with the fans. But like Smackdown just having him wrestle with no mic work or buildup between Masters and Marella is just coming off weak.
So Carlito made that complete turn last week by turning heel on Torrie. Carlito vs. Val Venis was a good match but it’s hard to get into something like that when Val is hardly ever on and when he is on you know he’s nothing more than a jobber. But I don’t mind Carlito as a heel and I’m sure Ric Flair and Carlito will put on a good match Sunday. Finally the Edge farewell was nothing special, but I am happy to see him move to Smackdown as the World Champion. With Taker out this will really be a positive for the show. And since my last column, in fact right after I posted it, WWE put up that Mr. Kennedy’s torn triceps wasn’t as bad as they thought and he should be back with in 6-8 weeks. So not only is that very good news but I can’t wait to see an Edge/Kennedy feud. But back to Edge, the promo was okay, but the surprise for me was Shawn Michaels showing up. I just figured that he would be selling the “concussion” and he would not be on TV last night. I was thrilled when Michaels interacted with Edge and I was totally psyched to see these two go at it for the main event. And before that main event, I have to say that Randy Orton challenging Michaels to a Judgment Day match was a big surprise, but I can understand why it was done. How could you keep HBK off that show? And I believe Orton and Shawn will put on a strong match.
And speaking strong, the main event was done brilliantly. I loved how JR and Lawler talked almost non stop about Shawn wrestling with a concussion, courtesy of Khali from last week. And while they kept that going, there was Edge kicking Shawn in the head and stomping on his neck and it was all so creepy, yet so well done. I thought it was a terrific match and I never saw Michaels winning, but I definitely didn’t have a problem with it. My thoughts are that he needs to go into Judgment Day with a victory and Edge will make plenty of excuses I’m sure on Smackdown about his loss. I thought Raw ended on a very positive note. The only person that I expected to see toward the end of the show was Batista. I figured with Orton coming out and beating up Michaels, Dave would run out and go after Edge. I thought that would be a great way to take their feud right to Smackdown and go at it some more. But as you know there was no Batista. I guess we will have to wait until Friday night to catch Edge and Batista.
So maybe not a fantastic show, but I liked it. And I am looking forward to Smackdown. By the way I and I almost forgot to mention what a good group the Hampton, Va., crowd was. They were pretty hot through out the show. I will now leave you with two WWE releases. The first one is Vito and now I just read that Sabu was sent home from the ECW tapings tonight. I guess it’s fair to say that by the end of summer ECW will be no more. Okay I will be back this weekend with my Judgment Day predictions. So please feel free to start sending me yours. Also I am so behind in answering email, I will get to each one but it might take me a little bit longer so please don’t think that I forgot to get back to you.
Email lindarobin3@yahoo.com
