Raw rocked from beginning to end. I don’t think I’m going to bitch about one thing in this column. Well I do have a few very minor things that I might have questioned, but really the show was so good. And I have to say I think the show did a very good job hyping Sunday’s Judgment Day. When a show is this good it makes writing a column such a pleasure. Listen before I get into Raw, as you know I did not do a weekend column only because we were out on both Saturday and Sunday. I would have loved to have talked about Smackdown. I absolutely loved Friday’s show. It was a solid wrestling show with very little filler if any. And by that I mean we didn’t get Deuce and Domino or Chuck Palumbo matches. For just about the entire show we were given top stars in top matches and that’s what made last week’s Smackdown so very good. Okay now onto my Raw thoughts.
You couldn’t have asked for a better opening last night. You got the return of John Cena and that return set the tone for more than just a good show. Cena’s interaction with GM/King William Regal was done well. I was thrilled that Cena confronted Regal about the lights being turned off during matches. Cena then read some emails complaining about Regal’s actions. And see this was perfect, because Regal acting totally shocked by the complaints gave in and announced there would be no more “DARK” matches on Raw. I’m so glad that this was all done because let’s face it many fans including me did not want to have to wonder when and if the lights would go off during a decent match. I thought Cena came off well, as did William Regal. And yes I really believe this got Raw off to a very good start.
The first match of the night was Carlito and Santino vs. the current tag team champs, Bob Holly and Cody Rhodes. It wasn’t the title match that was the hit of this segment; no it was the tension between Rowdy Roddy Piper who was sitting at ringside and Santino. Now I have to say this, this match was for the title, yet just as things got going, Santino seemed to focus more on his enemy Piper than winning the match with his partner Carlito. Unfortunately for Carlito Santino was so wrapped up with Piper that it cost them the title when Rhodes was able to DDT Santino for the win. Now see I was waiting for Carlito to go ballistic on Santino, but that never happened. So this was one of the minor things that I questioned, but I still loved seeing Piper get the best of Santino.
The next match was with my favorite Snitzky. He took on Mr. Kennedy…. Kennedy. Now normally I wouldn’t bother watching this, but last night I was cool with this match. That’s because I knew Mr. Kennedy was going to win. It’s obvious that the push is on for Kennedy and having Kennedy beating this guy was a nice way to keep Kennedy’s momentum going. So this was another match that I had absolutely not problem with. And by the way, this was another week where I’m starting to become a Kennedy fan again. Santino did it again. He was outstanding being interviewed by Todd Grisham backstage. Of course I was laughing when he made some good comments against Piper. He said this wasn’t the 1980’s and Hogan isn’t the champion, Regan isn’t the President and Michael J. Fox is not going to play the werewolf again. Oh yes Santino was hot because Piper cost him and Carlito the title. As I said I like this mini feud that’s going on with Piper and Marella. The next segment was also backstage and we saw Mickie James thanking Cena for his help at the beginning of the show. And then Ms. James asked Cena to go out for drinks with her, her brother and his girlfriend. Cena pretended to be more focused with his match against Orton that was coming up later in the show, he then said he was kidding and he would love to go out. Mickie was good here; it was like watching a teenager asking a guy out for a date. Could love be in the air, nah but it was an okay segment.
Melina and Beth Phoenix teamed up against Mickie and Maria. Now I was really waiting to see what would happen between Phoenix and Melina because of what happened last week. I’m talking about Melina accidentally hitting Phoenix with the belt instead of Mickie. So I was thinking that during this match Beth would go after Melina. Well that didn’t happen, but things started to heat up again when Melina accidentally pushed Phoenix off of the apron after Mickie Irish whipped her. After Phoenix was tossed off the apron she walked away from the match and left Melina on her own, and of course Melina didn’t stand a chance as she was pinned by Mickie. This was another segment that was more about what was building between Melina and Phoenix than the match itself. And again this was a damn good segment.
I can’t tell you how much I loved this next segment. It was Chris Jericho apologizing to Shawn Michaels for doubting that he was hurt. What was so cool about this was that HBK admitted he lied and that he was fine, but it was Jericho that I thought stole the segment. The more Shawn tried to convince Jericho that he feigned his injury the more a forgiving Jericho started to get pissed. At first Jericho laughed it off and didn’t buy it, but as this went on the laughter turned to anger and the angrier Jericho got the more Michaels reminded him that he said that he would do ANYTHING to win. And with that Jericho was hit with a super kick and the crowd reaction was really interesting. For the most part the crowd seemed somewhat quiet while most of this was going on, yet when Jericho went down with Sweet Chin Music, the majority of that hot Detroit crowd chanted HBK. I was amazed that Shawn would get that and not booed out of the building. This was one of the top highlights of the night. But I guess you could say that the return of Jeff Hardy was my number 1 HIGHLIGHT. Okay I was a little nasty when Hardy got his second suspension back in March, but I was so glad to see him return last night. I really want to believe that he’s done making bad decisions and that it’s all good for Jeff not only in the WWE but in his personal life as well. As I said I got goose bumps when he came out and I liked the fact that he got to say that he never wanted to be away and that he made a bad mistake, and then Regal turned his mic off just as Hardy was about to say something about the I.C. title that he lost. And that turned off mic worked for me, we got a little something from Jeff and that little something was all that needed to be said. Now I will admit I didn’t need to see another Umaga vs. Jeff Hardy match, but this turned out to be a good match with Jeff Hardy looking as good as he did before he was suspended. It’s great to have Jeff back.
Money money, yeah yeah, the next match was Cryme Tyme vs. Cade and Murdoch, and this was another rematch that I didn’t need to see. BUT, just like the women’s match this had nothing to do with the wrestling. This was all about something that I think most of us have been waiting for, and that would be the Cade/Murdoch split. I will admit when Murdoch pinned Shad for the win, I figured the split was not happening last night. But honestly once Cade stood in the ring all smiles listening to Murdoch sing, I swear I knew that happy go lucky Cade was going to attack Murdoch a few seconds before he did. Cade and Murdoch are done as a tag team and now I want to see how each guy does on his own. And one of the best action filled backstage segments had to be Melina getting her ass kicked by Beth Phoenix. Wow did Melina take a beating; I loved this so much, because I’m so ready for Melina to take her character into a different direction. This was one very good segment. And finally Cena vs. Randy Orton was the main event, with the promise made by Regal to Cena that there would be no interference by JBL or anyone. Should that happen that person would be suspended. The crowd was on fire for this match and I have to say I was very into this match as well. There was a lot of good action going on between Cena and Orton and of course near the end, JBL dressed as a ref came out with Regal’s approval to take over and instead of Cena allowing it, Cena went after JBL immediately, which again worked for me. Let’s face it Cena knew that JBL wouldn’t be fair and would do nothing but give him trouble.
Cena was able to get rid of JBL for a few seconds, but right after Cena was about to give Orton the F’U, JBL came back with a boot to Cena’s head and Orton got the pin and the win. Of course this just continued with JBL and Orton going at Cena and then Triple H made his way out. I loved how this show ended, with the cage coming down, Hunter and Orton beating on each other and then Hunter throwing Orton into the cage and Orton landing outside on the floor. We then saw Hunter standing at the top of the cage looking down at Orton. I have to say that I’m all ready for Judgment Day. The cage just added a nice touch to get the fans ready for their cage match on Sunday.
Raw was excellent and you have no idea how much I’m looking forward to Smackdown. I’m wondering if Batista will get himself into that Jericho/HBK match. He did say last week that if Shawn were lying he would go after him. And I can’t wait to see what Edge and Vickie have up his sleeves for Taker. I’m even a little excited about tonight’s ECW show. I guess it’s fair to say that Raw put me in a very good mood. Okay I will be back over the weekend with my Judgment Day predictions. I can’t wait to see your picks so start sending them to me.
Email lindarobin3@yahoo.com
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