I loved it, well I liked it a lot, and yes I’m talking about Monday’s Raw. It was a night of nostalgia and that nostalgia worked. The show had a very upbeat feeling to it and if it wasn’t for a few other segments this show would have gotten an A+ from me. The Los Angeles crowd was excellent, and I could not wait to talk about the show. But before I start, the feedback that I have received is split right down the middle. Either Raw got HIGH marks, or you guys thought it was one of the worst Raw’s in a long time, but as I said this show worked for me.
The opening with DX for one night only was not only fun because of Triple H and Shawn Michaels, but because of WWE’s weirdest characters like Boogeyman, Hornswoggle and The Great Khali coming out in hopes of becoming a member of DX. Listen I think this was all done just to make it light hearted and fun with the intent to set the mood for the rest of the show, and I really believe it worked. To have the Boogeyman come out to his usual entrance and then in a normal voice say he wants to join DX was something I never saw coming and I laughed, I really did. I also got a kick out of HBK going under the ring to prove to Hornswoggle McMahon that there wasn’t a monster hiding under there and then all of a sudden we see Michaels dragged underneath. And who the hell would even imagine that the Great Khali would want to do crotch chops. This was just a fun segment and it was great to see DX back, and believe me last week a DX reunion wasn’t exactly on the top of my list. After a good ratings report this week, I’m wondering if this one night only will really take affect.
Unfortunately after a good opening, we got this very quick Beth Phoenix squash match over of all people, Kelly Kelly. Now I wasn’t as turned off by this as I was with the other two segments that I will get into in a little bit, but this did nothing for me even though I know it was just to cement how dominate The Glamazon really is. The next thing that pissed me off was Carlito in the ring talking to a jobber named Joey. Instead of Carlito taking on Joey which I wouldn’t have exactly loved, but I could have lived with it, Carlito brings out Snitzky to destroy this poor kid. And after that’s over with Snitzky takes Carlito out. What miserable garbage and after watching this I’m going out on a limb by predicting that it’s only a matter of time before Carlito is gone from the WWE. Okay so we get back to back crap and things are looking bad and I mean bad. But thank God the next match is a very good match. It’s Jeff Hardy and Rey Mysterio vs. Mr. Kennedy…..Kennedy and Finlay. I can’t tell you how great it was to see Hardy team with Mysterio. You talk about a perfect match, there it was. And Kennedy and Finlay worked well together. Their partnership also clicked very well. This was one of the best matches of the night and after watching this one I felt there was hope for a good Raw after all.
Predictable yes, but I thoroughly enjoyed the interaction between Santino Marella and Steve Austin. It’s nice to see a character who thinks he can stand up to Stone Cold and deliver the lamest yet funniest one liners. This all played out so well and it was like 1999 all over again when Austin drove the beer truck out and did his best to drown Marella and Maria in the ring. Marella came off very well against one of WWE’s top names. This was something that I was waiting for and it met all my expectations and then some. Now I can’t wait to see who is next on Marella’s list. The backstage segment with Shawn and Hunter wasting time while the ring was being cleaned up after the Austin beer bath again had me laughing. It doesn’t take much to put me in a good mood and anytime Dick Johnson makes an appearance I find it hard not to laugh. Shawn was good explaining why he doesn’t know what cool is anymore. I thought it was a riot when he said that he only knows Dora the Explorer and another kid’s show. Ah that cocky HBK from the past is no more, well at least as far as cool goes. We then saw Shawn leave when Hunter brought out Hef’s two chicks, Kendra and Bridget, and yes I do watch The Girls Next Door. When Hunter started dancing with the girls it put a big smile on my face, his moves were well let’s just say interesting.
The next match with Cody Rhodes vs. Trevor Murdoch was done well, however the stare off between Rhodes and Bob Holly is going nowhere. Okay we get it, Holly is breaking this kid in and in the prior weeks it’s worked pretty well, but Monday night it lacked something. We need a lot more now than just stares. But the worst and I mean the worst segment of Raw was Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas being thrown into this catastrophe with Super Crazy and Hacksaw Duggan. TWGTT are used for jobbing and nothing more. And Crazy has so much talent, why team him up with a guy that shouldn’t even be on TV or at least used in matches? This so called match just disgusted me. And there was just no place on the card for something like this Monday night.
But the main event with DX vs. Randy Orton and Umaga was outstanding. This got the crowd back and I was just thrilled by what I was watching. Umaga has looked excellent in his program with Hunter and I’m sure you all know that I have totally loved this Orton and Michaels feud. It’s nice to see DX goof around but have nothing but business on their minds when they wrestle. This main event topped off a very good Raw and I’m looking forward to the Survivor Series match with Shawn against Randy because WWE announced that after Orton was super kicked again by HBK, Mr. Michaels may not use the move at the pay per view, AND if Mr. Orton gets disqualified or tries to get disqualified then he will lose the WWE title. So I’m ready for their match.
I wanted to end with the wonderful Moolah tribute that we saw on Raw. I was so sad to see that Moolah passed away and I was wondering what WWE would do. I was so happy that they showed her picture before Raw started and then as I said give us such a great video to watch. It was cool to see her in the early days and all that she accomplished. I will leave you with a special request by one of my readers. My reader would like to know with all the books coming out, like Jericho’s and Batista’s would anyone know if they are on an audio format on CD or in brail? Please email my reader at ksong8923@msn.com.
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