Brace yourself; this column is all good, it’s all positive. That’s because in my opinion Raw was a hell of a show. There is nothing that I can complain about. The two hours just flew by, and when that happens you know that the show had to be extra good. Okay I have one complaint. I’ll start with that first, and really it’s not a complaint. It’s about a comment that was said which made no sense to me. I bet you all know where I’m going with this. And after my quick comment it’s on to a really GOOD Raw.
Isn’t Kane supposed to be an evil? I just did not understand why he told Chris Jericho that he loves the fans. I was waiting for a smart-ass comment to follow, but it didn’t. He loves the fans? Wow he’s morbid, violent, but he’s fan friendly. Go figure. And that’s it and it’s now time to rave about the show. What a cool opening with Chris Jericho. He did a John Cena when he stood with some of the fans, but instead of kissing up to them, he was cold as ice toward them and then his promo started and it was awesome. He talked about how he needed to convert his little boy from being a John Cena fan. Jericho really was on last night, and as good as the opening was with Jericho, things got even better with him as the show went on.
Let’s face it we know that Vince loves to push the big guys, the guys that really don’t have it, but I think one guy that deserves the push that he’s getting is Mike Knox. There is something about this guy that I really like. He has proven time and time again that he can wrestle and now with his wild look it’s like everything is just gelling so well for him. His portrayal of a true bully is coming off well and I liked how he waited for Rey Mysterio at the bottom of the ramp and then attacked him. I am looking forward to seeing how these two work with each other. Jut the little that I have seen gives me hope that this could turn out to be a good feud. And if this should turn out well, what a big plus this would be for Knox. My match of the night was the very good tag team match between Kofi Kingston and CM Punk vs. Manu and Cody Rhodes. This match was just so damn entertaining, and I’m noticing with Di Biase out of there Manu definitely fits in well with Rhodes. Punk was in this one a lot more than Kingston and he really looked strong out there. I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed this match, and I am also getting very excited, because finally it looks like Randy Orton will be heading a stable consisting of Rhodes and Manu.
The backstage segment with Orton talking to Manu and Rhodes was quite good. He told them how he recognized the potential they have as a collective unit, and if they were interested he would be in the locker room. Oh yeah it looks like the stable is just about ready to start up. I have to hand it to WWE they have really taken their time building all of this up, and maybe because of the long build up I am more hyped than ever to see this group work together. I thought this segment was very good, and like Jericho, Orton really did a very good job last night. He made a nice impact on the show. I have to be very honest with you; I wasn’t really paying attention to Jillian vs. Melina because I was too busy listening to Santino. I thought he was a riot on the mic when he was sitting with Lawler and Cole. But he made me laugh even harder when he started up with Melina. First he called her Melanie and then he started to imitate Melina’s split on the apron. Everything about this was a riot, except for Michael Cole’s laughing. Ah but I’m not going to bitch about Cole I will save that for another column. Santino made all of this a lot of fun to watch. And then instead of putting Marella and Goldust in another match, we got a little backstage comedy. We saw Santino icing his groin and then all of a sudden Santino was getting a neck massage. Of course he thought it was Beth Phoenix but it turned out to be Goldust, and Santino screamed like a girl. This might not have been off the charts funny, but it beats throwing this two in the ring right now.
Many of you emailed me last night right after the show and complained about the JBL/HBK segment. At first I wasn’t thrilled with it either. When Shawn walked away I was very disappointed because I was waiting for him to kick JBL’s face and we didn’t get that. But as the show went on this really stuck with me and I thought this might have really served its purpose. Either HBK will become a tweener because the rumor is that he will be feuding with Taker at Wrestlemania, OR, either next week or at Armageddon, Michaels will go after JBL and bring him down for all the rotten things that Bradshaw said about Michaels not being able to financially help his family. So what I’m trying to say is after this was all over, I really thought it played out well. It keeps you guessing about what’s going to happen, and by the way what exactly would Shawn being doing for JBL? See we don’t know, so I definitely want to see more from these two.
So Dolph Ziggler made his debut last night, and it was against Batista. At first I thought oh no why do this to big Dave, but I’m happy to say that this was a decent match. It wasn’t a squash with Batista taking this guy out in seconds, which was okay with me. Ziggler got a lot of offense in and even though he lost, he came out of this looking good. Do I think this guy is going to go a long way in the company? That I don’t know but at least last night, Ziggler didn’t bomb, at least not as far as I’m concerned. After the match, Orton came out and told Batista that it would be only a matter of time before they faced off. Batista did that little laugh that he has and told Orton that he talked to Stephanie and it will be Batista vs. Orton at Armageddon. I can’t wait to see this match; I just wish that these two could have had a major storyline going on to get to this point. Another match that I liked was Finlay vs. Morrison. This was for the I.C. title tournament and this was a good one. But then again when you have these two going at it how could it miss. Finlay lost which didn’t surprise me, but he looked damn good here, as did Morrison. Morrison is so good on his own, that it would not surprise me if very soon we get a lot more of this guy without the Miz.
I don’t know about you but I cannot wait to see next week’s three hour Raw. Stephanie named the nominees for Superstar of the year. They are John Cena, Chris Jericho, Triple H, Batista, Edge and Jeff Hardy. And then she said each one would face the other next week on the special Raw. She then starts to name the matches and says we will see Triple H but it’s a picture of Jericho vs. Jeff Hardy, so she says sorry I pulled an Admale. That was quick thinking on Steph’s part and I have to say it was also very clever of her. I even laughed when she said it. Now on to another good match. It was the “injured” Rey Mysterio vs. The Miz as part of the I.C. tournament. Mysterio was selling his hurt arm thanks to Mike Knox at the beginning of the show. But no matter how much damage was done, Rey looked really good in this one, and along with the Miz they put on a nice fast paced match, with Rey coming out as the winner.
And finally while the main event with Kane vs. John Cena was nothing to rave about, it was done so quickly that I can’t say that it was total crap. But the best thing about this main event was that after the match, Rhodes, Manu and Orton, with Jericho right there beat the hell out of Cena. This was just awesome, and it was like last week’s attack on Jericho by Cena. This was an excellent ending and a great way to top off a super show. You know won’t maybe another reason why this show rocked was because there was no mic work from Cena and he was only on this segment. And because of that Cena came off intense and that character always works for me.
I’m so hyped from last night’s show and with Raw next week being three hours; I can only hope that it’s three hours of pure entertainment. I can’t wait to watch ECW tonight with Matt Hardy vs. MVP. Sure we’ve seen these two go at a lot, but I’m sure tonight’s match will be a good one. I will not be doing a Smackdown column this weekend. Well if I can I will, but we will be out more than home so I don’t think I will have time to post my thoughts. But next week I look forward to talking about Raw and the Slammy awards. And here’s hoping that the hot streak continues next week.
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