I promised you that today I would talk about my thoughts on Wrestlemania and Raw and a promise is a promise. Since I spent yesterday’s entire column on Ric Flair and Shawn Michaels today I want to talk about the rest of the Wrestlemania card and I want to focus on three very good matches on Raw and one segment of Raw that is definitely not sitting well with me. So let me start with a very good Wrestlemania and then onto a good Raw.
I absolutely loved Wrestlemania; in fact I think this show was better than last years show. We got three very good matches, one OUTSTANDING MATCH (Flair/HBK) and even the worst match didn’t hurt the show. Let me start with the Battle Royal that was broadcast on WWE.com. Honestly I didn’t pay too much attention to it. My main concern was did I do the right thing by picking Kane? Hell yeah I did. He came through for me twice Sunday night. The first time as the winner of that Battle Royal and then he defeated Chavo Guerrero in record-breaking time to become the new ECW champion. Thank you Kane. And while we are on the subject I got 6 out of 10 correct, so I feel pretty good about that. Oh and as far as the 10 second ECW title match with Kane vs. Chavo goes? Okay granted it doesn’t say much for the ECW brand, but then again you could look at it as this was a match to make Kane look EXTREMELY dominant and that’s the way I choose to see it which means I had no problem with the match at all.
Now the opening match Finlay with Hornswoggle vs. JBL I liked a lot. Really it came off just the way I thought it would, however JBL winning I didn’t see coming. I definitely would have started the show off with a Finlay win because JBL seemed to always have the upper hand throughout the weeks leading up to this match. And I noticed the Orlando crowd was really into this until the JBL win and things quickly got quiet. To sum this match up I liked it a lot but I hated the outcome. The next match the Money In the Bank match was one of my favorite matches of the night. I thought this match came off so well and had so many frightening moves going on throughout that in my opinion it was a much better MITB than last year. CM Punk, Shelton Benjamin, Chris Jericho stole the show. MVP definitely had his moments and I loved the surprise appearance by Matt Hardy. Wow did the crowd pop for his return. I want to give PROPS to all of the participants for giving us such a fantastic match. And even though I picked MVP to win, CM Punk climbing that ladder had me screaming because I never thought he would win and when he did I was ecstatic. My husband asked me a few seconds before Punk grabbed the briefcase not to scream too loud because I would scare our two dogs, so my scream was a touch quieter than I would have liked, but this was a terrific match and I’m beyond happy with the Punk win.
The worst match was Batista vs. Umaga. I never dreamed it would come off as weak as it did. Batista didn’t have that KILLER INSTINCT that he’s had for months and months and I think without it the match suffered. As I said earlier even though the match turned out the way it did, it really didn’t put a damper on the rest of the show. So this was the worst match of the night and I totally blew this one by predicting a No Contest. If you read yesterday’s column you know my thoughts on the Flair/Michaels match which was my match of the night, so I will skip that and go right to the BunnyMania match with Maria and Ashley vs. Melina and Beth Phoenix. Believe it or not, I liked the match. Maria looked sharp in the ring and it flowed much better than I thought it would. I also enjoyed Snoop Dog Sunday night. The guy is so SMOOTH and he did bring some fun stuff to the show. Now Kim Kardashian’s appearance I thought was a dud. On to the Triple Threat match with Hunter vs. John Cena vs. Randy Orton. I picked Orton for the win, but I was really hoping that Hunter would leave as the new WWE champion. This was one of the matches where the lights went out and we got a dimly lit ring. But it didn’t matter because I thought this was one of the best matches of the night. Even though Orton won, I found the match at times to be more centered on Cena and Hunter. This was a well booked match and a damn entertaining one.
Let’s hear it for Triple H. Because supposedly he was the guy that ended up working on the Floyd Mayweather vs. Big Show Anything Goes match. Sunday there were reports that Mayweather wasn’t picking up the moves very fast and things were not going well so well wait you can read this from Prowrestling.net’s Jason Powell. “The planning for the Floyd Mayweather vs. Big Show match is not going well, according to a report on PWTorch.com. The story notes that Mayweather is learning slower than anyone anticipated. There is so much concern among the officials in charge of the match that Triple H is now working closely with Big Show to fix the match.” I figured this would be a nightmare, but this was really a well-done match. I have to say that Mayweather and Big Show really did work well together and even though Big Show lost, he was strong through out the match and it took chair shot after chair shot for Mayweather to get the win. So this really was a win/win/win situation. Mayweather got the victory, Big Show is STILL THE MAN, and I got my prediction right. And I couldn’t get over how much the fans seemed to be into this match, and after the match according to reports, Big Show gave Hunter credit from saving the match from disaster. So I would say all in all this turned out well.
And finally the main event with The Undertaker vs. Edge was one of my top four matches. I know many felt this was the match of the night, but for me it was my number four match right behind the MITB match. This took a while to get going, but once it did the near falls made it exciting. I think this match could have been maybe 10 minutes shorter; it was a little too long for me. But as I said once it got going it was a lot of fun and very exciting to watch. I went with Taker as did many of the fans and it will be interesting to see how long Taker’s reign will last.
I loved the show as you can tell and it got me ready for Raw the next night. Of course the highlight of the night was the tribute for Ric Flair. But there were three matches that I really liked. Before I get into the matches, YO YO YO I couldn’t believe Cryme Tyme returned. I’m all for that, it’s just ashame that their match against Cade and Murdoch wasn’t much. I don’t know about you guys, but when I saw Cade and Murdoch in the ring I got that Chris Masters, Heidenreich feeling, which means what a way to bring the show down. I really think that it’s time to break these two guys up and see how they could handle solo careers.
Maria vs. Santino was another okay match, and that’s only because prior to that so-called match, Santino did a hilarious promo calling Snoop Dog Snoopy The Dog and then talking about the divas and how they shouldn’t be wrestling. He said they should be home looking pretty, making babies and making pasta. Yeah this was a riot and he went on to say that he was taking on Maria to relieve some tension, unless she could come up with another way to do that. Maria then slapped his face and the match was on. I say keep Santino out of the ring and just let that mic work continue, he is just outstanding, and week after week you never know what he’s going to say. So when the match took place and Santino started to get some offense on Maria, the divas from all three brands came out and attacked Santino and that gave Maria the win. Santino set this one up beautifully.
Okay this might shock you but I can’t tell you how much I liked the Cody Rhodes/Bob Holly vs. London and Kendrick match. For the first time in I don’t know how long this was a tag team match with tons of stiff moves and it was so damn nice to see a team get some nice offense against Bob Holly. London and Kendrick looked awesome and it gives hope that maybe Vince is going to build the tag team division up and build it up with some DECENT TAG TEAMS. I also loved the Chris Jericho vs. CM Punk match. These two put on a hell of a show Monday night. I loved everything about it except Punk’s loss. I could not for the life of me understand why they are had Punk lose almost immediately after winning the MITB match the night before. This loss totally had me puzzled, but as I said the match was excellent. And welcome back Matt Hardy. What a treat it was to have him return on Monday night. And you can bet that I was thrilled when Regal booked Hardy vs. Randy Orton later that night. And just like the Jericho/Punk match I loved this match, but just like the end result of the Punk/Jericho match I didn’t understand or like Randy Orton beating Matt Hardy. The man just returns after being gone for about 5 months, he’s put in a high profile match and he loses; if the Punk loss bugged me imagine how Matt’s loss hit me. It makes absolutely NO SENSE at all. But the match was a very well done match.
So there you have it three very good matches, Cryme Tyme’s return, a five star segment with Santino on the mic, and one opening that is really making me unhappy. Let me say this, and I will keep it short, Vince McMahon is nuts, well there are times when I think he is but, if he thinks that I am going to pay $40.00 to see a JBL vs. Randy Orton title match well he’s way off. I was so pissed to see JBL Monday night talking about being the number 1 contender for the title. One of my friends said it perfectly. He said if JBL could wrestle like his mic work then he would be the total package. I have to agree, on the mic JBL for the most part HAS IT, but watching him wrestle is not exactly something I want to see. Sure he can brawl but as a wrestler he just DOESN’T cut it for me. There is no way that I would put out money for a one on one match with JBL and Orton. I was very angry to be honest with you when JBL walked out Monday night; he’s the last person that I want in the title picture. I would have to say JBL was the worst part of Raw Monday night. And now with that I will end my very long column and I will give you all a break and take the weekend off and return next Tuesday with my Raw thoughts. Thanks for putting up with me two days in a row. I just had so much to say, I figured I would burst if I didn’t make it a two-day column fest.
Email lindarobin3@yahoo.com
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