So I counted to 10 after Monday’s Raw and waited a day to talk about it and guess what? I still hated what I saw and unfortunately nothing has changed my mind even with time to think about the show. I lost two hours and six minutes of my life which I will never get back. And to make matters worse, I don’t know how many of you watched ECW last night but let me just say that the show put Raw to shame with some very good matches. I will compare a little of ECW to the atrocity that we got Monday night. Then you will see what I mean.
There is no need in going over the complete show because even with two half way decent matches, Mr. Kennedy vs. Carlito and Cody Rhodes vs. Shelton Benjamin everything else stunk. I want to focus on why Monday was a disaster. Vince McMahon up until this week had been a pleasure to watch. Since he returned to TV I have praised him in my Raw and Smackdown columns. Well I think I praised him too soon. The man took over Raw, and he’s one of the main reasons why the show as horrible. Randy Orton opened the show with what I thought was a good promo hyping his feud with John Cena. But obviously the Orton/Cena feud is just fill because Vince McMahon had to come out and take all the momentum away from Orton to focus on “VINCE.” We are back to the Vince McMahon Show. And you know what that does for me. McMahon just talked and talked for a good 12 minutes about nothing. All the fun and short segments on Raw, Smackdown and ECW the previous weeks were I guess a fluke, because it’s back to meaningless in-ring segments with McMahon.
The thing is as horrible as Vince was on Monday, last night on ECW we were back to short, humorous backstage segments. We got Balls Mahoney and Vince doing a predictable yet funny segment with Vince so pissed at the thought of Balls being a McMahon that Mahoney was able to get Vince to say that he had no balls. Okay cheesy yet I didn’t mind it at all. We had another very good segment with CM Punk and Vince interacting and CM coming off extremely well as he insulted Vince. This is what I need to see not Vince just going on and on about something that could be said in a matter of a few minutes. So reason number one for the crap that we got on Monday was Vince. Ah reason number two? Yeah it’s Vince’s lack of judgment. How he could book a match with Snitzky taking on John Cena as the main event is so beyond me. When he made that announcement my heart not only broke for all of us, but for those poor Fayetteville, N.C. fans that paid good money to be there. I wonder how many left before that match took place. I don’t watch Snitzky when he’s on week after week and I’m thinking now against Cena why would I even care. So now we have two reasons why the show was one of the worst Raw’s ever.
Then all the comedy with William Regal, Maria, Santino Marella and Ron Simmons that has been for the most part enjoyable went out the window on Monday night. No longer is it funny, at least for me is it funny to hear Simmons rhyme the word damn. That I think wore off last week. The only one that still shined during these poor segments was Santino. His delivery is so good and I guess maybe I would say he saved the dating game date with Maria and Ron Simmons from being a total piece of garbage. So reason number three for a horrible show was that the humor that was there a week ago was just about absent this week. So we have Vince just taking over the show, extremely weak humor and a main event with a guy that shouldn’t even be on Raw, maybe Heat but not Raw. I have another reason to add to the list. We got another tease for a Triple H appearance. Please believe me I knew Hunter wasn’t going to be on because his first time back will be at Summer Slam. So a no show Hunter is not what I’m complaining about. I am thinking okay now we will have a fun segment. I figured Booker and Sharmell would just bring out a midget dressed like Hunter and King Booker would have a good time making a joke out of Triple H.
But we got a guy with a bad wig and a big nose, and that was fine but that’s all we got. The only funny thing that was done and I use the word funny loosely was when he spit the water and started to choke. Okay so I am thinking let the fun begin. Begin? Hell it never got started. The pretend Hunter came to the ring, crowned Booker and that was it. Dear God, who wrote this stuff, someone from TNA? This was so bad and instead of ending it continues with Booker going after JR. I’m telling you, you could hear a pin drop when this was going on. I felt bad for Booker that he had to stay there and try to keep things going.
And finally the wrestling wasn’t anything to rave about. Just like Vince took the wind out of Randy’s sail, Cryme Tyme did the very same thing to the London/Kendrick vs. Cade and Murdoch match. London and Kendrick looked damn good out there and Cade and Murdoch also looked good out there. Just when things were going well Cryme Tyme popped out, and the focus was now totally off the match. Cryme Tyme could have come out after the match and then started taking bids for Murdoch’s hat. But my theory is that Vince thinks so little of high flyers that he thought bringing in Cryme Tyme was what the fans would want. I was livid. You give Snitzky a main event match, but you take away a good match from the fans to focus on something that could have been done post match? Please this was just the pattern of the night. As I said at the beginning of this column, ECW put on one hell of a main event with CM and Boogeyman vs. John Morrison and Miz. And let me tell you while CM and Morrison were the stars the Miz and Boogeyman did an awesome job as well, and yes you read that right.
Elijah Burke vs. Balls Mahoney was another strong match. Burke has so much to offer in the ring and on the mic that when he comes out for a match you know it’s going to be a very good one. Even the backstage attack on Kevin Thorne by Stevie Richards came off well. It is a pleasure to see the build up that they are giving Richards, it’s about time and it’s something ECW needs. And the extreme rules match with Tommy Dreamer against Big Daddy V was EXTREMELY short but it worked. In one hour ECW did nothing but entertain me. In two hours and 6 minutes finding something entertaining on Raw was very difficult. And I have nothing but sympathy for the Fayetteville crowd. Vince set the tone for what was to come and that crowd was fairly quiet all night and I certainly don’t blame them. Also I like Tazz and JR together, but Tazz seemed a little uncomfortable through out the show. And it could be because being there and announcing wasn’t exactly the easiest thing to do. I don’t feel Tazz was horrible but not as good as he is on ECW.
Hey I’m totally not giving up on Raw or WWE, but Vince better wake up and wake up fast. Supposedly he is angry and surprised that the crowd reacted so poorly when he announced Snitzky for the main event. I mean if that is true, then what the hell is wrong with that man? McMahon has to stop with the long in ring segments and get the comedy back and just not take over the shows. And he has to stop pushing these jacked up guys that mean nothing to the fans and the shows. Okay I will be back with my Summer Slam picks over the weekend, and that’s another thing. The build up for that show was awful. The emphasis should have been on Cena/Orton, and truthfully I would have had a video with Hunter, just something to get the crowd ready to see him go against Booker. Poor Booker has been on his own, well with Lawler as well but it’s hard to build things up properly when your opponent isn’t there live or on tape. But as I said I will be back over the weekend with my predictions. I have gotten a few of yours and I’m seeing a pattern with who will win the WWE title and I will tell you about that over the weekend. Also all your prayers and kind thoughts about what I am going through with my father has really touched me. You have no idea what they mean to me. Thank you so much, and things are not good at all with him, but at least I am feeling better so one out of two I guess isn’t bad.
Email lindarobin3@yahoo.com
