I wanted to get my column out so much sooner but this week has been a very busy week and the best part of it so far is that yesterday my husband and I celebrated our 31st wedding anniversary. He’s so lucky to have me. But seriously, I have so much to say about One Night Stand and Raw so let me get right to both shows. By the way I only missed two predictions Sunday. I went with Randy Orton and The New Breed. I’ll tell you I was surprised that the Originals beat the New Breed again, but surprised in a nice way. And the Jacksonville, Florida crowd was HOT throughout the show. And I’m big on HOT crowds. They certainly added to the pay per view.
I am so glad that I ordered ONS. I thought the show was just excellent and I highly recommend it if you haven’t seen it. There are four very good matches on the show. I’m talking about Randy Orton vs. RVD, The Ladder Match with the Hardy’s vs. Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas, The Tables match with The New Breed vs. The Originals, and the Cage Match with Edge vs. Batista. These four matches stole the show, and I feel I got my forty bucks worth within the first hour of One Night Stand. Since I also want to talk about Raw I’ll try to keep my thoughts on ONS short. Let me quickly tell you why I liked the Orton/Van Dam match.
This match told a story and it told it well. This concussion angle is really making Randy Orton look solid as a heel. He’s not doing the cocky pretty boy character anymore. Instead he has that dazed look on his face every time he takes out an opponent. And Van Dam along with Orton put on a good show with their wrestling, and Orton solidified his role as Raw’s top heel by taking RVD out after Van Dam’s victory. Van Dam sold Orton’s kick to head well and the main part of all of this was a way for RVD to leave WWE, and a way to keep Orton’s mean streak going. This was just all done very well. The ladder match was the show stealer. Matt, Jeff, Shelton and Charlie all gave 110 percent and really took major bumps to make this the top match of the night. This match was even better than I expected it would be.
The Tables match with ECW’s New Breed vs. The Originals wasn’t a long match but I have to say it was a lot of fun to watch. I am big on Punk and Burke and really I liked every one in the match with the exception of Striker. But he did well so I’m kind of being unfair to even talk against him. But as I said this was a fun match and the tables got the fans going and it did what it was supposed to do. And finally Edge vs. Batista in the Steel Cage Match was so much better than I could have imagined. I figured it would be good but this was excellent. Batista again worked very hard against Edge, and Edge was his usual, which means outstanding. These two have super chemistry together and I was just so happy to see them put on such a strong match.
The worst match had to be Kane vs. Mark Henry. And I expected that. Vince vs. Lashley was okay, maybe because Shane wrestled most of the match against Lashley. The Pudding Match came off just how I thought it would, and John Cena vs. Khali in their 10 minute main event match was nothing special. Khali seemed to do all the work, and again Khali showed me that he can do more than just hit his opponents head with his big hand. And John Cena’s Fâ€U on Khali onto the floor was Cena’s big move. This match should not have been the main event, that spot should have gone to Edge and Batista. But as I said the first three matches made the show and made me quite happy.
And then we had Raw. I hated Vince being on so much, and this new character that Vince is playing doesn’t do a thing for me. All it tells me is that Vince isn’t leaving TV anytime soon. I will be honest with you; I was concerned when Cena and Vince opened Raw up. I didn’t like the opening because Vince was in it, and I thought that we would be in for a long night. Especially when Vince announced that Cena would face Umaga and Khali for the title. You have no idea how ill that made me. It’s not like we haven’t this match before. So I was fit to be tied, but thankfully Raw turned out to be a good show. And the theme of the show was? Let’s not start up any new feuds because next week the draft will take place so there’s no reason to get something going. Yes that was the theme and it worked for me. I liked the first match. Cryme Tyme and Candice vs. Johnny Nitro, Kenny and Melina. I liked this match maybe because it’s nice to see Cryme Tyme and Nitro on Raw wrestling again. This was a short match but it was done well and I really enjoyed Candice being with JTG and Shad. It’s nice to see something different for a change. Santino Marella and Maria had another light hearted backstage segment.
Unfortunately we got another Santino Marella vs. Chris Masters match. If you want the crowds to die quickly just throw Masters in a match. Marella has charm and personality, but far Masters hasn’t shown any charisma at all, and because of this his appearances just kill the crowds. I say change that gimmick and let’s see if Masters has something to appeal to the fans.
I believe I said this last weekend, but if I didn’t here I go again. Matt and Jeff Hardy are so OVER with the fans and bring so much to Raw that with all the injuries that we have seen, thank God the Hardy’s are still going strong. Their match against Cade and Murdoch was very good, and I have become a Cade and Murdoch fan since they started working with the Hardy’s. This feud and then love fest has turned out be a major highlight for Raw. And Jeff Hardy wins the award for best actor for doing such a realistic job on selling his knee injury. At first I thought it was a work, and then the more I saw him I thought this guy is really hurt and then I read it was all just done to get the titles off of the brothers. Bravo to you Jeff Hardy. My only complaint is. I am a bit baffled about WGTT working on Heat the night after they did such a great job in the ladder match at One Night Stand. I cannot understand why they were not on Raw, but then again maybe once the draft is over they will show up on one of the shows consistently.
I have to give Randy Orton and Ric Flair props for their match and for Ric selling his head injury so well. Randy again did a great job and I am hoping with Orton finally getting this big break that he will stop acting like a kid and start behaving so that WWE can depend on him. He is the future of WWE, too bad he doesn’t realize that. Carlito vs. Torrie Wilson was just another way of getting Carlito over as a rotten SOB. The guy didn’t fool me when he acted concerned about Torrie and told her to walk away so she would get counted out. I saw his attack coming a mile away, yet I loved how he came off. And the main event with John Cena vs. Khali and Umaga was good because I liked watching Khali and Umaga going at each other. Let’s see I paid $40.00 to see Khali F’U’d by Cena on Sunday but Monday night we all got it for free. I have a question for all of you. You know Khali is this monster, the unbeatable giant, yet Cena beat him two nights in a row and defeated him at Judgment Day. Doesn’t that kind of make Khali weak and useless?
One Night Stand was my show, but Raw was good and now I can’t wait to watch Smackdown. I have a wedding to go to tomorrow night, which kills me because I will have to tape Smackdown and watch it on Saturday. Oh you have no idea how much I hate missing the show. I will be back on Sunday with my Smackdown thoughts. I did read the spoilers and the show sounds good so I’m looking forward to watching it over the weekend.
Email lindarobin3@yahoo.com
