Listen for me to go through everything on last night’s Raw is senseless because there was one segment that absolutely ROCKED, and with the exception of the build up of the WWE title match everything else was either fair or just plain pathetic. Oh hell why not go into all of it, I’m in such a good mood I look forward to sharing ALL my Raw thoughts with you. I have to start with the best segment of the show starring, Ric Flair and Shawn Michaels. Believe me it doesn’t get any better than this non-wrestling segment.
I couldn’t wait to see how WWE’s creative team would follow up last week’s run in with Shawn Michaels keeping Ric Flair from losing his match against Vince McMahon which in turn would have meant Flair would then have to retire. Let’s face it creative doesn’t always come through where follow up storylines are concerned. But give these guys a big fat bonus for coming through and making Ric Flair and Shawn Michaels angle come off like Gold last night. I don’t think words can even describe just how much I loved this segment and from the looks of things so did the majority of WWE fans. The feedback that I have gotten is just off the charts, when it comes to Flair and Michaels. Not only did creative write this brilliantly but also Ric Flair was just amazing as he delivered a very emotional promo. And Shawn Michaels totally played off Flair perfectly. I want to see tension between Flair and Michaels, not a love fest and hug fest. And thankfully that’s what we got last night.
When Ric Flair called out HBK I couldn’t wait to see where this was all going to go. Shawn did a good job doing nothing but complimenting Flair and basically putting Flair over as his idol. So at first I thought okay Michaels was able to make Flair realize just how important Flair is to him and Flair will give that HUG that I so didn’t want to see. I was way off and Flair reacted in a way that had me smiling and taking in everything he had to say. I loved how Flair stopped Michaels in his tracks by telling him to shut up and then goes on to tell him that he doesn’t need HBK or anyone to tell him who he is anymore. Ric was quite heated as he went on to talk about winning the NWA title in 1981 and about all the top guys that Flair beat to keep that title. The more Flair talked the more animated he got and the more he got into HBK’s face. And all Michaels wanted to do was explain why he helped his hero last week. I know I keep saying this but this segment was PERFECTION. And it ended on such a strong note. As Shawn started to leave, he stopped and then popped with an eye opener.
He decides to tell Ric a little story. He then tells Ric about Old Yeller and how even though he was loved they had to take him out in the back and finish him off. And that’s what he’s going to do to Flair at Wrestlemania, finish Ric off. That’s when Flair got even more animated and took off his jacket kicked it into the audience, and then slapped Michaels twice in the face. He then told HBK to take him behind the woodshed right then and there. Oh yeah Ric was really on fire, it was too bad that Michaels didn’t take him up on his offer. Michaels said he would put him out of his misery and then he left. If this didn’t get you hyped for their match on Sunday nothing would. I wish I was a much better writer than I am because I would love to really be able to tell you in words just how fantastic this segment was. Shawn and Ric by far stole the show last night and I couldn’t be happier. It’s only fitting that Flair and Michaels have the focus that they both deserve and there was just more to come with these two during the main event and I will get to that in a little bit.
It was very hard for anything else to come close to the Flair/Michaels segment, and really nothing did. But I will say that I thought Raw did a good job focusing on the WWE title picture with Randy Orton, John Cena and Triple H. This feud has played second fiddle to the Mayweather/Big Show rivalry and at times to Vince and the Hornswoggle storyline. By the way how nice was it not to have Vince on TV last night? Talk about a bonus. Anyway I felt that this title picture was finally made to look important last night. I liked the opener with Cena/Hunter and Orton along with Big Show, Umaga and JBL. Bringing all these guys out there worked well. One of the best parts for me was, when JBL was talking and they showed Cena totally focused on JBL. Only it wasn’t what JBL was spewing out that had Cena so intrigued, it was Cena coming up with this line that had me laughing. Cena told JBL that he wasn’t listening to him, he was thinking about how he beat JBL at Wrestlemania 21. This was a riot because it did look like Cena was very interested in what JBL had to say. This was a nice opening and Hunter coming out and really putting over the WWE title was just what that title and feud needed because that title seems to have gotten a little lost in the shuffle.
We had way too much Mayweather/Big Show segments last night. Hey that doesn’t shock me at all. Vince has invested a lot of money into this angle and he’s not going to give us as little as possible. But I really could have done without most of the hype for their match and I found it rather odd that Mayweather was a no show. I mean when there was something physical going on between Big Show and Floyd Mayweather things would come off pretty well, but we all know if Mayweather and Big Show just did mic work then the whole feud kind of fell flat. So maybe it was better Mayweather wasn’t on, although a nice melee would have been cool. Now the shocker for me was the Chris Jericho/CM Punk match against MVP and Carlito. Right before the match started I looked at my husband and said, here’s the match of the night. I definitely thought this would be outstanding, but talk about being wrong? This match wasn’t even that good. Out of all four guys CM looked like the only one that had any energy in him. Jericho/Carlito and MVP just seemed to be going through the motions. I was very disappointed in this match. Mr. Kennedy…Kennedy’s promo was okay but again I’m not feeling much with him. I know he’s out making a movie and that’s why we haven’t seen him on TV, but I didn’t buy into his promo about winning the MITB match, I guess because right now Kennedy is not a major part of Raw. Bob Holly vs. Khali was one of the matches last night. Let me just say, NEXT.
Last week after Candice reinjured her self there was a rumor that Mickie James was going to take her place. And believe me I was looking forward to that. So imagine how disappointed I was that Ashley ran in to help Maria last night. Oh I was not happy at all. And the match that started out with Melina vs. Maria only to be changed to an intergender match with Beth Phoenix, Melina and Santino vs. Ashley, Maria and Jerry Lawler didn’t do a thing for me. Santino on the mic, I LOVE, Santino in the ring hasn’t exactly grabbed me yet. Or maybe I was just angry because Mickie James got passed up again. At least I liked the main event with John Cena /Triple H/Ric Flair and Shawn Michaels vs. Big Show/JBL/Umaga and Randy Orton. You had a lot of star power here and I think setting this one up for the last Raw before Wrestlemania was brilliant. I also was thrilled that they brought Finlay out to brawl with JBL and that Batista came out a few minutes later, and took Umaga out of the match and just like Finlay and JBL fought their way out off TV. That left Hunter, Cena, Flair and Michaels against the Big Show and Randy Orton. The action continued as Big Show took care of Shawn and then Flair. The whole time Big Show is in here Randy Orton was on the apron yelling giving orders to Show. But Randy would get his, but first Big Show double suplexed Cena and Hunter after they both tried to do the same to Big Show, and then Big Show who was fed up with Orton’s commands pulled Orton into the ring and choke-slammed him and then Big Show left. Now it was Orton against the 4 faces, but Hunter and Cena each tried to get Orton and that led to Triple H and Cena leaving the match and going after each other. That left Flair and Michaels with Randy. Flair was all set to put the figure 4 on Orton but HBK punched Flair. So now Michaels was all set to do the figure 4 and the dirtiest player in the game low blowed Shawn. Flair finally got the figure 4 on Orton and Randy tapped out. WOOOOO, and Flair got the pin. So the confrontation that took place earlier between Flair and Michaels ended during the main event.
So there might have been plenty that I didn’t like, but Ric Flair and Shawn Michaels definitely gave us enough to put Raw over as a good show, and I will go even further and say that Raw did a good job with it’s Wrestlemania hype. Okay there’s a rumor that Matt Hardy could be showing up tonight at the Smackdown tapings and will get a place in the Money In The Bank match, lets just say I’ll believe it when I see it. Also very quickly I loved the video showing the history of Ric Flair and the song by Fuel went right with it. And I also thought the video they showed with Orton/Hunter and Cena was also very effective. I will return over the weekend with my Wrestlemania picks, I can’t wait to share them with you.
Email lindarobin3@yahoo.com
 |
 |
 |
||
 |
 |
 |