I have a theory as to why the first hour of Raw was as bad as it was. At least the second hour offered a little bit more. But if anyone missed Monday’s show really you didn’t miss much at all. I will have some highlights to talk about, but all in all Raw for the most part was just a waste of time. This was one of those shows where you feel so bad for the live crowd. They had very little to get excited about. Let me tell you all about that first hour and why I believe it was so bad, and then I would like to talk about the Larry King show and then finally the few highlights on Raw.
I’m sure most of you know that John Cena, Bret Hart and Chris Jericho were guests on the Larry King show. Ted Dibiase and Steve Blackman joined the show later on. But I truly believe that with Jericho, Cena, and Hart on there to discuss Chris Benoit the majority of the fans either didn’t bother to watch the first hour of Raw or did what I did which was to switch back to King’s show every time that I didn’t like what I was watching on Raw. And in that first hour there were plenty of reasons to take in the Larry King show.
First let me just say this, I thought John Cena, Bret Hart and Chris Jericho did an excellent job on Larry King’s. Also I have to give it to Dibiase and Blackman as well. While many are saying it was nothing more than the group kissing Vince’s ass, for me it was a breath of fresh air after hearing for the past 2 ½ weeks about WWE and Vince being responsible for what Benoit did. I am sick and tired of the main stream media not waiting for any toxicology reports and from day one jumping all over wrestling, really WWE and Vince McMahon. I’m sick and tired of steroids being the only focus on these cable channels. The focus should be about the two people that were murdered, Nancy and Daniel Benoit. What a pleasure it was to see Jericho, Cena, Hart, Dibiase and Blackman come off so articulate and knowledgeable. It must have killed many anti wrestling fans and journalists that none of these men spoke like big dumb jerks. That’s the way so many see wrestlers. I’m sure this was disappointing to many.
But going back to my theory this group was the reason why we got such junk during the first hour of Raw. After a good opening with the King Booker vs. Lashley match and then the run in by Mr. Kennedy….Kennedy, everything fell apart in a matter of minutes. It was one squash match after another with Cade and Murdoch vs. The Highlanders. You remember the Highlanders; they were ruined by WWE last year. Rory and Robby are the Val Venis of the tag team division, they are nothing but jobbers. And then we got Snitzky vs. Super Crazy, and I knew Crazy was going to have to job to the new monster on Raw. So I didn’t even bother to watch this one. And I couldn’t even bare to watch another Umaga vs. Santino Marella match. We got back to back to back crap matches and that’s when I thought about all those Lafayette, Louisiana fans that had to sit through all of this. Hour one was beyond brutal.
It wasn’t until hour two got started and Dusty Rhodes music hit. I just love that song; I keep a mean beat to it. Anyway I loved Dusty and along with Randy Orton we got one nice segment. Sure this could have been cut short because there were times when there was kind of a lull, but all in all I think this segment went well and it did a nice job of bringing Cody Rhodes into the mix which is being done to set up a match between Cody and Orton at Summer Slam. I was also thrilled with the Shelton Benjamin vs. Paul London match. It was done very well and a London/Kendrick feud against TWGTT would be a feud I would love to see. Sure the whole thing with Benjamin saying he would kiss Charlie Haas lips if he lost to London was lame and then Shelton and Haas just hugging at the end with Ron Simmons doing “DAMN†was silly but it was fine for what it was. Hey at least Shelton got a match on Raw.
Even though the women’s tag team match with Candice and Mickie vs. Beth Phoenix and Jillian was short I liked it. I thought it was extremely fast paced and it was nice to see Beth Phoenix return to Raw. Listen Sandman vs. William Regal wasn’t much, yet I had no problem with this match at all. For some reason as weird as it is having Sandman on Raw it’s working out for now and it was nice to hear Carlito the heel do his negative talking like the old days. Also I want to say I love it that William Regal is back to his snobby character. I always liked Regal acting like he is part of the Royal family. We get a humorous side to William and that’s what I have missed for a long time.
And the main event with Bobby Lashley picking a partner vs. Mr. Kennedy and Booker was again short but a very good match. Could it be because Jeff Hardy was in this one? I knew that Lashley was going with Hardy, I couldn’t think of anyone else but Jeff.
As I said this wasn’t a long match at all but it was good and it was just another way to make Bobby Lashley look strong, although I thought Jeff Hardy did one hell of a job out there.
Here’s hoping that next week’s Raw makes the majority of us forget about this week’s Raw, well at least most of this week’s Raw. I will be back over the weekend with my Smackdown thoughts. I read the spoilers and the show sounds pretty good so I’m hoping that it comes off well when see it on Friday night.
Email lindarobin3@yahoo.com
