Before I talk about last night’s Raw I have a Smackdown news item for you. Honestly I saw this coming when JR said that Edge had a big announcement to make on Smackdown. Something told me that the injury that I read about over the weekend was serious and that Edge was going to have to drop the belt. And that’s exactly what’s going to happen. The report is that Edge tore his pectoral muscle during his Mardi Gras scrimmage with Kane last week. As of now no one knows if he will need surgery for it or if rehab will work. But we will get a new champion on this week’s Smackdown. There is supposed to be a Battle Royale with the winner getting the title. So Edge will be out after Friday’s show. You know what? I think this was more exciting then most of last night’s Raw. It wasn’t a miserable show but with such a great opening the show fizzled fast. The Corpus Christi, Texas crowd was just awesome. Although I thought they were excellent when there was something other than a match going on. During the matches they didn’t seem quite as boisterous. But they were a very good crowd and considering the show I think they were FANTASTIC.
Was that a great opening or what? Okay I marked out big as soon as I heard Triple H’s music. But I have to say that when Booker and Sharmell came out I was just fine I really was. I got such a kick out of King Booker last night. You know last week when Booker was watching TV backstage and looked rather put out by the Triple H video with the King of Kings theme I told a few of my friends that I bet it’s Hunter vs. Booker at Summerslam. And I was right, believe me it’s nice to be right for a change. Booker was so on last night and between his rant on Hunter thinking he’s the King of Kings, and then demanding that Jerry The King Lawler drop “King†in his name we had one very upbeat and fun segment. Also the crowd really came alive when they thought that Hunter was back and it broke my heart for them when they realized it was a tease. Yet they seemed to be enjoying Booker as much as I did.
So we get this terrific opening and a few good matches like the following. William Regal vs. Jeff Hardy vs. Shelton Benjamin vs. Santino Marella. This was for the number one contender match and it played out well with Jeff Hardy getting the win. Little did I know that this was just the beginning of too much William Regal. But I’ll touch on that in a little bit. Randy Orton vs. Cody Rhodes was a nice match especially since it was Rhodes debut on Raw. Randy Orton was able to show his rotten mean streak, the streak that took Shawn Michaels out and Dusty Rhodes showed his concern for his son and every time that Orton took Cody out you could see the anguish on Dusty’s face. And the women’s match with Melina vs. Mickie James was excellent. These two women did a fabulous job out there and along with Candice and Beth Phoenix on the sidelines this was one very good segment.
Ah but that was it because the rest was total garbage. I don’t want to take too long talking about the crap so let me say this. Instead of a London/Kendrick match we got Snitzky squashing Val Venis. Mr. Kennedy and Super Crazy have absolutely no chemistry and except for Kennedy’s finishing move this was match was not a pretty sight. And then we had too much of William Regal. As much as I like the guy I did not like him running in on the Carlito vs. Sandman match. His skit with Hacksaw about “wood†was predictable but funny, however having him in a match, in a skit and then taking out Sandman was more than I needed of him. And that thing called the main event? Not only did Cena and Lashley come off like garbage but so did Coach with his question and answer segment. Cena wasn’t funny and Lashley was without trying to be. Did any of you happen to notice the way Lashley just looked at Cena? I think if they continue to push this guy they need to bring in a manager for him and I mean they need to do this immediately. The brawl at the end between Lashley and Cena was okay at least it was a hell of a lot better than everything leading up to it, and the crowd really got into Cena and Lashley finally going at it.
Raw did a good job with the way they built things up for The Great American Bash. I might not have liked the last segment but I will say that they made Lashley vs. Cena extremely important by asking some of the top WWE guys who they believe will walk out champion. Now it’s on to Smackdown and their buildup for the GAB. By the way I just read who looks to be getting the belt tonight. I won’t give out the name but I will be glad to email anyone that would like to know the latest. I would now like to leave you with a link to a very good article written by one of my readers Michael Brody. When you get a chance please check it out, it’s well worth reading. http://www.newsday.com/news/opinion/ny-opbro145292556jul14,0,631168.story?com
Email lindarobin3@yahoo.com
