It’s so hard well not hard but it’s kind of crazy to talk about anything on Raw other than that fantastic main event. That doesn’t mean that I didn’t like Raw because I did, but in my opinion that main event made everything else look like the under-card. Oh what the hell I will talk about most of the show, but I want to start off with that main event because even though I read about it in the spoilers I just knew that once it got on TV it would blow the rest of the show away, and that’s exactly what it did.
I’m still going to stick by my thoughts from last month, Jeff Hardy should have beaten Randy Orton at the Rumble and at least he should have been given a chance to see how he would handle being champion. There is no doubt in my mind that the ratings would have gone up week after week because of the fans. And if the experiment didn’t work then you give it right back to Orton at No Way Out. Jeff Hardy vs. Shawn Michaels was somewhat of a dream match for me. I guess I figured we would get this at a pay per view, but putting it on a taped Raw last night definitely worked for me. I’ll tell you why. I’m not one for taped Raw’s because of course I read the spoilers. And after I read the spoilers it was the main event that totally got me ready for the show the following week. This match was the show stealer and even though I would have much rather have seen this on a live show I’m still very happy that we got it last night.
You know the theory about face vs. face is never a good thing? Well last night the theory didn’t hold up. During the entire match the Austin, Texas fans were chanting for Michaels and Hardy. I clearly heard HBK chants along with Hardy chants. The fans were given a 5 star match and their reaction was just outstanding. I was in seventh heaven watching two of my favorites face each other. Hardy and HBK worked their asses off as if this WAS a pay per view and giving these guys 20 minutes to work their magic was one of the best ideas that Vince has come up with in a very long time. Please if you taped the show, but you haven’t watched it yet, skip through all of it, but stop so you can see this excellent match. I’m telling you, you will not be disappointed at all.
As far as the rest of the show? Let’s see we had two members of the Elimination chamber match facing each other in the main event, and earlier in the show two more members from that match Chris Jericho and JBL faced each other. This was another hard worked match. Bradshaw and Jericho really put it all out there for the fans and I have to say this was so much better than their match at the Rumble. With the Jericho win, I’m thinking that the feud between these two guys is over, and I would be just fine with that. I also liked how they used another participant from that chamber match, Umaga. He did a quick run in and took out both Jericho and JBL with the Samoan Spike. So this was one of the better segments of last night’s show. With Triple H missing both tapings last week, I thought it was cool that they did a showed a special video with Hunter in his previous elimination chamber match outings. This way we know that Triple H will be in Sunday’s match. Okay I know that the new characters, “brother and sister,” Paul Burchill and Katie Lea are supposed to be a part of an incest angle. I totally don’t need to see an angle like that, but I am a Burchill fan and Lea has a great look. I liked their debut last night. I just wish Vince could get past his sick ideas. The match between Burchill vs. Brian Kendrick was a total squash, with Burchill looking very impressive to me. Kendrick has unfortunately become the cruiserweight version of Mark Henry, jobbing week after week after week. I am hoping that his losing streak will be a way to involve him in a major storyline.
Melina vs. Maria was okay, not exactly my favorite match of the night, but it was okay. I just kept wondering where is the Women’s champion, Beth Phoenix? Anyway this match was decent, but it was Santino of course that stood out during this segment. Each week Santino is doing a great job on the mic and last night he seemed to really enjoy Jillian’s kiss. I’m crazy about this guy and I can’t wait to see how he reacts next week when Maria obviously picks Playboy over her boyfriend. I expect this to be quite interesting to watch. And Randy Orton showing nothing but distaste for John Cena came off well. I loved how Orton refused to look at Cena while Cena was talking to him about their match on Sunday. Sometimes a quite Orton is a lot better than an Orton that uses the mic. And I don’t know about you, but I sure did feel the tension between Mr. Kennedy…Kennedy and Ric Flair. Kennedy was a total asshole but he did it in a nice quiet way last night. I liked the way he interacted with Flair very much. And I though Ric was excellent. He certainly came out with a lot of energy and I really look forward to their match Sunday.
The two segments that died for me last night was anything with Vince McMahon, and Cena vs. Henry. Of course that one I didn’t bother to watch until Henry in a matter of seconds tapped out. The Henry losing streak continues. And as far as Vince punishing his bastard son goes? It’s the same crap week after week after week. I think it’s definitely going to be Finlay vs. Vince for Wrestlemania, and because I’m such a Finlay fan I’ll be okay with that. But what I’m not okay with is the fact that Mr. McMahon feels the need to put himself on the main page at WWE.com. He was the first picture with Hornswoggle the last few days and if you go to the Raw preview for next week, it’s his cage match against the little guy that is the first thing mentioned. And that scares me because with Wrestlemania coming up it looks like Vince again is going to dominate a show that should be dominated by his top guys not a guy that is not a wrestler and in his 60’s. Oh I do not like the push Vince gives Vince. And one last thing, I found it rather odd that WWE would have John Cena do a public service message about being drug free and steroid free. Now I know why Cena was picked because he has such a huge kid’s fan-base, but I think if you want to have Cena do one then CM Punk the straight edged ECW guy should also have the honors.
I have said this for a while, with so much going on about drugs and steroids in the business I can’t see why Vince doesn’t push the guy who says he doesn’t drink or do drugs more. What better way to show the kids how you can still look “cool” without doing drugs?” Now I know that Punk doesn’t have nearly the following that John Cena has, but what a great way to build up that following. I say give that PSA to both Cena and Punk. Okay so not a bad Raw at all. And now with No Way Out coming I will be back over the weekend with my predictions. There are two Raw matches that I figured are I couldn’t miss, but now I’m not so sure I’m going with my original picks. Start sending your predictions in and after watching Smackdown and ECW hopefully by the weekend I will have a better idea of who will win next weeks show.
Email lindarobin3@yahoo.com
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