Even though the Raw rating last week was off and we never got the real number, Raw did very good in the ratings last night. And I guess we could credit Vince McMahon for that. At least I’ll give him credit. I have kept up with feedback from my readers and on some of the sites and this show certainly gotten mixed reviews. For the most part I liked what I watched. In fact the show just had a few bad segments. I’m excited to write about Raw and I think I might just shock you about my thoughts on Vince’s role last night. But before I talk about Mr. McMahon I want to tell you what turned me off last night. And then it’s on to my star of the show, Vince McMahon.
There were three segments that I didn’t like at all. One I didn’t even waste my time watching. And that would be Snitzky vs. Rory of The Highlanders. Why would I bother? It reeked of another Snitzky squash match. And could someone tell me why Mr. Kennedy had to be on last night? You have a star in the making and all they can give him to do after taking Lashley out is continuously repeating KENNEDY? Now come on how pathetic was that? Kennedy would have been better off not showing up last night. It’s the next segment I really didn’t like at all. In fact I hated it. Week after week I try to put over John Cena by blaming creative for all the unfunny crap that comes out of his mouth. Ah, but after last night I’m going to put all the blame on John Cena. This man was obnoxious and annoying on the mic as the guest on Carlito’s Cabana. Oh wait I have so much to say about this segment. My mind is just rushing with thoughts I don’t know where to begin. Oh I know how about the ratings? Yes the ratings were botched last week, but last night’s numbers are better than the show has done in months. And the message is that Cena is not bringing in the ratings. The man that Vince has put out there for over two years with the title is not bringing in the numbers. They have steadily gone down since Wrestlemania.
Sure I’m not a Cena fan, but I have tried on numerous occasions to give him the benefit of the doubt. But last night he was not funny, he was not clever and the sad part of that segment was that he was the guy that had the mic work and Randy Orton probably the best heel on Raw right now was given so little to do. All that hard work that Orton has put into his character seemed to mean nothing last night. I was so hyped about Cena/Orton and I still am, well I believe I am, but last night there was not heat or decent buildup between these two guys. And then Carlito who is so good on the mic was relegated to having to sit and act like he was really upset by all the moronic remarks Cena was saying about him. I absolutely hated this segment and if Randy Orton doesn’t beat Cena at Summer Slam I am going to be one very upset fan. I notice that I’m not the only one that has had more than enough of Cena. So many of you email me on a regular basis that his title reign has lasted way too long. The Cabana segment just reminded me how much Cena is not the Rock and how much WWE needs to get that belt off of him. I thought just about up until this segment the show was flowing pretty nicely with the exception of this and Snitzky’s match, but at least that was short. Now I won’t add the Dating Game to this list of things I hated. I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t exactly love it either. Santino Marella I thought did a great job as a chronic complainer. And I enjoy watching Ron Simmons take his time when he’s thinks about what his next word is going to be. William Regal is going to be a very good GM this is such a perfect role for him. And he played off Hacksaw/Marella and Simmons well. I believe that this was done just to lighten things up, and I think it did just that.
Raw might have been the Vince McMahon show but this time that was a good thing. Maybe Vince learned his lesson or maybe this was a one time thing but even though he was on through out the show, his segments were kept short. We didn’t get the over saturation of Vince McMahon like we have in the past. As Rock used to say Vince seemed to know his role and because of that Vince was my star of the show. From the opening with him setting up the Battle Royale, winner becoming the new GM to his ripping of Congress and then putting the wonderful main stream media in its place, Vince came off very well. I wasn’t sure if bringing up Congress was the right thing to do, but what the hell there has been so much garbage written about the business that I totally don’t blame him for saying something. This was a low keyed Vince yet a relaxed Vince, and if he could just keep his appearances this short each week than I say Vince McMahon welcome back to Raw. The ending with Vince repeating his final walk to his limo like he did back in June had me thinking that the car was going to blow up again. I was so glad that it didn’t happen. But I really liked the ending about Vince’s love child. It certainly has many wondering who the new McMahon is. There’s a rumor is that it is Mr. Kennedy….Kennedy. I would hope that after the horrible segment with Kennedy last night that he’s rewarded with a nice rub from Vince McMahon. Raw gave us a nice cliffhanger and a Vince McMahon that brought a lot to the show.
As far as the matches go, I thought Mickie vs. Jillian was done well, and of course I always like it when Jillian thinks she can sing. Booker vs. Jerry The King Lawler was good but not as good as last week’s match. This one was a little dead compared to the action and the crowd reaction that they got last week. But I’m still totally hyped for Hunter’s return which is reported to take place next week at Madison Square Garden. Let the Triple H bashing begin. Oh wait it has started already. The man has been out for just about 8 months and some of the sites have been complaining for a while about all the negative things that Hunter does. You know some of his haters feel he’s going to take away from Cena, wow that would be ashame. Anyway even though I didn’t need another match between Cena and Umaga, the main event was very good. And a face Umaga teaming up with Cena against Carlito and Orton next week should be something different for a change.
I liked Raw, but the build up for Summer Slam wasn’t much. So it’s on to Smackdown and I’m hoping for a very nice Summer Slam build up from Friday night. I will be back over the weekend with my Smackdown thoughts. And since the show has been consistently good I’m expecting to have a nice positive column about the show. By the way Lashley was supposed to have elbow surgery today so I’m sure by tomorrow WWE.com will post an update on how things went.
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