So here’s the thing. I wasn’t in love with Raw last night, yet I didn’t hate it. It was kind of boring in parts and kind of weird in parts. So I would much rather make today’s column about the show. And because of that I won’t talk about One Night Stand. like I had planned too. But I will say that ONS was off the charts. This was another solid effort on WWE’s part, it rocked from the opening match right through that outstanding and my match of the night TLC match. See it just goes to show you that Vince is quite capable of giving the fans 5 star programming. The show was just excellent, and one that I would recommend to anyone that was hesitant about ordering it. This show also made me look pretty good with my picks. I only missed one it’s not often I can say that. So as much as I would love to go through each match I really want to dive into last night’s odd yet at times very entertaining Raw.
And before I get into Raw. I want to share my Undertaker theory with all of you. I did share it with some on you through email but now I can put it out there. Yeah I believe the Undertaker is done, finished and we will never see him again. However he might be through but I have a strong feeling that in the very near future the American Bad Ass will return. There is no way that I Mark Calloway (Taker) is done. This guy is an icon and he’s not leaving just like that. It hit me that when he lost to Edge on Sunday that he’s coming back with that American Badass character. It’s just my opinion but to me it makes the most sense. And while I’m on this subject. I just have to say that JR and Jerry The King Lawler did a hell of a job selling Taker’s demise with the company last night. They had me believing that we will never see him again. Okay now on to Raw.
The opening was like what the hell is going on here? It started out good with Hunter coming out and announcing that the Age of Orton is officially broken. That remark of course had to do with the broken collarbone that Orton received during their Last Man Standing match on Sunday. It pained me to see the agony Orton was in when he hit the floor. I have been read that he doesn’t need surgery and he should be out about 2-3 months. I want to wish him a speedy and complete recovery. So anyway Hunter made some references about Orton, which was all good, and then he wondered who would be next and then John Cena came out. And unfortunately creative had Cena do his rah rah routine about the title. But that’s okay at least he put importance on getting that title back. And then Jeff Hardy came out and he said that all three men from Raw won their matches at One Night Stand, and told he along with Cena should be in line for the title shot. And then all of a sudden it got weird in the ring. Like my friend said it was like each one was waiting for the other one to make a statement. It was like someone forgot their lines. And then it got weirder when Hardy came up with the idea that Cena vs. Hardy a never before match should take place and that would determine who would face Hunter.
Of course the fans loved it and then Vince interrupted and started talking about the million dollar giveaway and then it’s like he didn’t hear Jeff come up with the idea and he told Jeff he liked his idea, but Vince came up with a better one, and it’s the same one that Jeff Hardy brought up 3 minutes earlier. It just made no sense at all. And then the music hit and the segment was over. Talk about something missing here? It just kind of threw me for a loop. Okay now while I could have cared less about the first match with Mr. Kennedy….Kennedy vs. Umaga. I realized that we were not going to get the Burchill/Kennedy match yet, it’s too soon and since Kennedy won on a count out, I figured this is just one more way to build Kennedy back up. But it was Paul Burchill’s run in after Kennedy’s win that woke me up and got my attention.
I wasn’t thrilled about another Carlito/Santino vs. Holly/Rhodes match, but as soon as the bell ringer Rowdy Roddy Piper came out I knew this was all about Piper and Santino so I was more than fine with this very short match. Hey I have to tell you I am really enjoying Ted DiBiase. This Randy Orton look a like is extremely smooth on the mic. This guy comes off like a guy that’s been doing this for a while. I think he has a great look and as I said mic wise he’s got it. His interaction with Cody Rhodes was very good and it makes me think that the rumors about a stable of second generation wrestlers will happen, which I would like. I also liked the Jericho vs. JBL match. It’s nice to see Bradshaw play the victim for a change. I don’t know what’s in store with Jericho’s character but I have a feeling that he’s playing major head games with Shawn Michaels and I can’t wait to watch Raw next week when HBK is the guest on Jericho’s Highlight Reel. Chris has been doing a hell of a job and I have wanted to say for a while JERICHO IS BACK!
One of my favorite matches of the night was Beth Phoenix and Katie Lea vs. Melina and Mickie James. Say what you want but I still feel that we owe a nice thank you to TNA. If it wasn’t for their very strong women’s division, the division that seems to give Impact some of it’s best ratings, I don’t believe we would be getting the outstanding wrestling that we have been getting from the WWE diva’s. The I Quit match Sunday was excellent and as I said last night’s match was terrific. It is a pleasure to finally see Melina as more than just a woman that makes odd faces and screams. She proved a lot to me Sunday and she did another awesome job last night as did all the women in the tag team match. And to make things even better I absolutely loved Kennedy running out and attacking Burchill. When Burchill came out to congratulate his “sister” I was hoping Kennedy would reciprocate and he did just that. I can’t tell you how exciting this was to watch. As I said earlier Kennedy and Burchill are in a feud that I am very into.
I wish I could say I paid attention to Lace Cade vs. Trevor Murdoch’s match, but I didn’t. I just couldn’t get into watching it. It’s not to say that’s how I will be if they have a rematch, but last night they just didn’t have my interest. And finally I loved the main event with Jeff Hardy vs. John Cena. I loved it for a number of reasons. One I had no idea who would walk out with the win. Second, I thought Cena and Hardy handled things so well when that idiot fan ran into the ring. I got a kick out of seeing a Jeff Hardy smile while it was all going on. And three, the match was excellent. These two clicked very well and this match certainly woke up the Bakersfield, California crowd. Without a doubt this was my match of the night. And I thought it ended perfectly with Triple H coming out and Cena walking over to him and the two having a stare down. Granted Hardy winning would have been my choice but I think maybe because of Jeff’s last suspension a title shot for him will have to wait.
Did you notice that I didn’t talk about the money giveaway? I wanted to save this for last. Last week when Vince announced that he was giving a million dollars away I was sick. What that giveaway said to me is, that ratings are so horrible that they have to do whatever to get them back up. And in my opinion giving away money isn’t the answer. I figure if WWE is so worried about losing viewers than they need to do all they can to improve their product. But last night I wasn’t as upset as I thought I would be with Vince’s segment. Listen I still don’t think that this is going to bring in big ratings, but at least Vince came off like the fans mean something to him. When he had the fans cheer, boo and hold their signs up I thought that was a very nice touch and when he talked about snobs and how they look down at us, oh I could so relate to that as I’m sure most of you could as well. So okay it’s a nice thing to do, but again it’s going to take a lot more than money to keep the fans interested. Honestly I feel that Raw has been good lately, last night was the weakest of the Raw’s in a while and still it wasn’t bad just kind of dull if that makes any sense. But in the short term I can see ratings moving up with this million-dollar giveaway. But when this is over with are the ratings going to go down again? Okay I will return over the weekend to talk about Smackdown and I can’t wait to see how the Undertaker angle comes off Friday night.
Email lindarobin3@yahoo.com
 |
 |
 |
||
 |
 |
 |