HD LIVES!! Raw in HD was excellent. Now wait I don’t have HD, but because last night was the first HD Raw Vince and his staff went that extra mile to give us one very good show. I was absolutely crazy about what I saw and all I can say is bring on the Royal Rumble. Raw did a hell of a job building this pay per view up and really building up the WWE title picture with Jeff Hardy and Randy Orton. This was a five star show at least in my opinion it was.
Right off let me just say that the video packages for both Hardy and Orton were terrific. Hardy’s we have seen before with some extra footage added, but Randy’s was just off the charts. My God they really showcased Orton in such a major way that I found myself really getting much more into his character last night. While I’m at it let me start with Hardy and Orton first. I think after their performances last night they most certainly deserve to lead off my Raw thoughts. I actually could feel Orton’s pain last night when he was talking to Vince backstage. I felt that he didn’t over sell his injuries at all. He sold just enough to show his bitterness towards Jeff Hardy and as I said his actions had me believing that he was still suffering from last week’s awesome backdrop courtesy of Jeff Hardy.
Randy Orton came off like a total star last night as did his worthy opponent Jeff Hardy. While Jeff’s backstage segment didn’t sell me as much as Orton’s did. Hardy made up for it in a big way with the way he interacted with Orton in the main event. Watching these two go at it face to face really had me going and when Hardy left the ring and started mingling with the fans I was just eating it all up. Last night’s Raw might have been focused on HD, but the stars of the show were Randy Orton and Jeff Hardy. I could go on and on about these two, but I want to get to the rest of Raw, so let me say this. After Hardy got the last move on Orton with his Twist of Fate, I don’t see Jeff winning on Sunday. However, I have a feeling that Wrestlemania is going to be the show where we get to see Jeff Hardy beat Orton and leave as the new WWE champion. Hardy is so damn over with just about all the fans, men, women and kids that this guy is just ready for that last big step. I can really seeing it happening at Wrestlemania.
Jeff Hardy and Randy Orton were the stars of the show but Raw had a nice supporting cast. For instance Mr. Kennedy….Kennedy vs. Shawn Michaels totally got things started with their opening match. This by far was Kennedy’s best, and Shawn Michaels looked like he was just waiting to show his stuff with the new High Definition look. I feel that this was by far better than any of their previous matches, including their Vengeance match. If Shawn and Mr. Kennedy put last night’s match on any pay per view, I would feel that I got my money’s worth just watching these two. It is so great to see Mr. Kennedy finally looking like he should be where he is. I’m proud of him, and as I said Shawn was just fantastic out there. These guys really did one hell of a job. The next match was Beth Phoenix vs. Mickie James. I am still not too high on Phoenix, but I did like the match. I was a little surprised that Mickie lost in her home-state, but all in all this was a good match and the loss meant more to me after we saw her backstage all broken up about not being able to beat Phoenix. This little segment with Mickie telling Maria how upset she has been gives me hope that Mickie is getting right back into a major angle. If anyone in that division deserves it it’s Mickie James.
Hey did you notice that during Triple H’s backstage segment with Todd Grisham they showed a lot of close-ups and ended with a major close up of Hunter’s eyes? I think that it was done not only because of the HD telecast, but I’m thinking also to show that Hunter doesn’t feel close ups make him look ancient, as many of his critics have been saying as of late. The guy is 38 years old, not 50, but some on the net refer to him as looking OLD with a lot of lines in his face. Lately that’s been out there quite a bit, so my thoughts are that Hunter wanted to give those critics something to talk about. Also another backstage segment that I thought worked very well was having Brian Kendrick finally talk and converse with Cody Rhodes. Kendrick is another guy that I would love to see get a nice push.
Finlay and Hornswoggle vs. the Highlanders agreed with me. I think maybe because it was a very quick match, and that Khali wasn’t involved. And maybe because I like seeing Finlay on Raw more than Smackdown. I think Finlay as a regular on Raw would be a great move. Okay now this next segment was a mixed segment to me. But more in a good way than in a negative way. Listen I think most of us feel that Chris Jericho’s return hasn’t been exactly fantastic. I think part of that is because Jericho was immediately put in the title picture against Randy Orton. I think that move should have been built up gradually. I also feel that creative hasn’t exactly given much for Jericho to work with. And now he’s in a program with JBL. And while the brutal attack on Jericho was done well, last week Jericho was out selling the injuries and JBL was on boring us. This feud is really not going as well as I thought it would, but last night I felt a little bit better about it. I want to say that having Chris Jericho come out without being his usual upbeat, humorous self was such a smart thing to do. I am a Jericholic and proud of it, and to see him cut a promo on the way he was attached two weeks earlier and talk about the way this has affected his 4 year old son, made this feud more personal and it made me really take in what Chris had to say. The only thing that I can knock about it was that it went on too long. I think a lot could have been said in less time, but all in all I have to give it to Jericho for doing the serious role last night.
Hey two times in a row for me, and by that I mean I again liked watching Carlito vs. Bob Holly. They have fought two matches in a row and both matches have definitely pleased me. I guess I never expected to really get into Carlito vs. Holly, but I was wrong. For some reason they play off very well against each other. And finally TRIPLE H IS IN THE RUMBLE!!!! I know a lot of fans were hoping that Big Show was going to come out and face Hunter, but I wasn’t one of them. The last thing that I wanted was another Big Show vs. Hunter encounter. The Gauntlet match was okay, I’m not a Gauntlet type person, but it was okay for what it was. I have to say in HD Snitzky’s teeth were like mustard yellow, you can’t beat that. But back to the match, this is for anyone that bashes Hunter for beating Snitzky and Henry, UNDERTAKER HAS beaten HENRY/VIS multiple times and no one seems bothered by that. Okay so the match was a way to get Hunter in there and while many think Hunter is winning the rumble, I’m not sure about that, but Sunday when I do my predictions I will talk more about that.
I can’t say enough about how much I truly loved Raw and it’s nice to know that when Vince sets his mind to something he can do it. And he set his mind to making Raw in HD a nice strong debut. By the way I did enjoy the segment with Vince and Donald Trump. This was another video that I thought was handled perfectly. It’s on to the last Smackdown before the Royal Rumble, and I have a feeling this will be another good show. Remember ECW and Smackdown will both be kicking off their debut in HD, so hopefully ECW will come off better than it has in WEEKS. I’ll be back with my Royal Rumble predictions over the weekend.
Email lindarobin3@yahoo.com
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