Well I expected rave reviews about last night’s Raw, but I haven’t read many. I had a blast, and my son enjoyed himself as well. But I noticed on many of the sites that the feedback is anything but glowing. I can’t wait to talk about being there live, and in my opinion this show was totally better than the Raw we went to the night after Summer Slam. So let me start with the ECW tapings and I promise you I won’t give you the spoilers. I’ll just let you know about the matches and how they went over with the crowd, OR how they didn’t get over with the crowd.
First I would say that we had a sell out crowd or at least close to it. And this group was on fire like usual way before anything took place. There were Cena Sucks chants, Ric Flair’s Wooooo’s and RKO chants like crazy, and those RKO chants led to a lot more when Randy Orton showed up on Raw. Okay so we first get a dark match with Jamie Noble vs. the one and only Dolph Ziggler. Ziggler got a lot of heat and all in all this match wasn’t bad. Okay now ECW opened up with Matt Hardy on the mic giving us a Jeff Hardy update and then he went on about his loss to Jack Swagger. And then of course Swagger came out in a suit, that’s right, a suit and this segment definitely was a favorite with the crowd. Matt Hardy really got a fantastic reaction for the fans, he did 9 ears ago when I went to my first Raw and it’s even louder now. Ah but things quickly went downhill when we got a Ricky Ortiz match against a jobber. I didn’t realize how bad this guy looks in the ring. He does a move, then stops, then does a move, then stops and so on. But he does wave his white towel well, and the kids seem to like it. Me? I say keep him off TV.
Paul Burchill had a match with a surprise opponent. He had Katie out there with him, and it’s sad but Burchill and Katie really got no reaction at all. Maybe in time things will change but as of now they need to do a lot more with them to get something out of the fans. And finally the main event I really liked, it’s a fatal four-way with Finlay vs. John Morrison vs. Mark Henry vs. The Miz. Wow was Finlay and Hornswoggle over. My God the reaction was unbelievable. Also Tommy Dreamer did a segment backstage with Theodore Long and that was about it. The taping went fast and we were all still very hyped for Raw to start. Also like usual we got to see some very good videos, which I have seen before, but it’s still nice to see them again.
And then Raw started with the Randy Orton vs. Cody Rhodes vs. Ted DiBiase vs. Kane vs. Kofi Kingston vs. Santino. This was kind of an odd match to put out there, yet it was fun to watch and honestly I enjoyed it. Now here’s the thing Randy Orton was so damn over that there was no way he was the top heel last night. The crowd took to him as the top baby face. And when Team Priceless helped him win the match the crowd couldn’t have cheered loud enough for this guy. I have never see Orton receive any kind of reaction like that at any of the shows that I have ever been too. I was totally surprised by the cheers and I told my son if this keeps up at other venues, this guy will have to turn face, and I’m not ready for that to happen yet. I might not have said this over a year ago, but I was glad to see Beth Phoenix in a match. The only thing is, the match was so short and so senseless that I didn’t get to see her at her best. But again I was okay with it because I saw the Glamazon and Kelly Kelly.
I have to admit I didn’t get the backstage segment with Team Priceless telling Orton that Manu and Snuka were talking to Stephanie about having him fired. I mean come on like she would fire her top guy because those two guys are complaining about him. So this segment was strange to me. Another backstage segment that did make me laugh was when Santino surprised Phoenix with Rosa Mendez. We all seemed to get a kick out of Santino asking the Glamazon if we could keep her. At least we got one funny line from Marella last night. Okay now how pathetic was it when we heard the concerned mommy, Stephanie giving instructions to probably the nanny about treating her sick daughter. And then ending with tell her mommy loves her. If that was to make me see her as a face it didn’t work. BUT, I did like the interaction between Steph and Randy, Orton was terrific during this segment and the crowd really was behind him, even when Steph slapped him.
Since we really didn’t get many decent matches of course the match of the night was Chicago’s own CM Punk vs. William Regal. I don’t think I need to tell you how the crowd felt about Punk, and I knew he would win in front of the hometown, but still the win excited me. This really was a good match with both men working very hard and giving the fans something to really get into. I don’t know if it was shown on TV but after the match, Punk did what he did the last time I saw him, he ran into the first couple of rows of fans, and the fans were all over him. The kids also seem to take to Punk very well. This was quite a segment during and after the match. I want all you John Cena fans to grab on to something because what I have to say might make you faint. I’ll give you five seconds to prepare yourself. Okay the contract signing between JBL with HBK accompanying him and John Cena was FANTASTIC. And while I might not have cheered or stood up when Cena came out, this woman clapped like crazy and screamed when he did his promo. Thank God I got the jokeless John Cena. The way he talked about HBK really had me going and along with JBL’s mic work and The Showstopper’s mic work this was one brilliant segment. I said last week that this angle has made JBL a star and Cena has never come off looking better. I wish this would have been the main event, but I am so glad that I was there to see this live. And you can bet when I do my Royal Rumble predictions over the weekend I will have plenty to say about what I see Shawn doing that night.
Rey Mysterio was another hot fan favorite last night. When that guy’s music hit the crowd erupted. I can’t say there was too much reaction towards Mike Knox but the match was getting a nice response until the ending and of course that kind of killed things. Rey took a beating from Knox and after Knox left, Rey stayed down in the ring for quite some time. I don’t believe he was hurt I just think he was selling very well. Now after Chris Jericho was “fired” last week, I kind of thought he would show up last night, but then again you never know. So I was ecstatic when he was sitting in Steph’s office and I’m sure you heard the crowd react to him as well, they were as ecstatic as I was. I turned to my son, Jason and I told him I got everyone that I was hoping to see. He just nodded, see I’m the talkative one, he’s like he’s father he takes it all in and just says nothing. So I’m sure I drove him a little crazy. There were two matches that really seemed to come out of nowhere. One was with Cryme Tyme vs. The Miz and Morrison. Now don’t get me wrong I was thrilled to see Cryme Tyme. They also got a very cool response from the crowd. But these four just got out of a feud a few months ago, and all of a sudden they want to go for the tag team titles again? See I didn’t get that. And Jillian vs. Melina was done so fast; in fact I think Jillian sang longer than the entire match. I understand that Melina is facing Beth Phoenix on Sunday but they certainly could have given Melina a lot more to do than just come out for a 1 minute match. Of course Rosa came out with Santino and Phoenix and ran in the ring and attacked Melina, and then The Glamazon did her finishing move on her to put Melina out. As lame as this match was it still got a good reaction from the crowd.
The Goldust/Cody Rhodes segment backstage was interesting. Let’s face it Goldust was on to promote the Starrcade DVD, but still I thought the interaction between Goldust and his brother Cody came off well. And now for the controversial main event with the return of Vince McMahon. I’m the first one to bitch about too much Vince, but just like the majority of the crowd I was popping like mad. But then again I always do until he starts talking too much. Okay I called this controversial because I know many fans are upset about the way Chris Jericho was treated and many are upset about the way Randy Orton was treated. Now I didn’t mind any of this at all. Vince was Vince but he didn’t hog the mic, Steph was fine and by the way she looked absolutely beautiful. Chris Jericho was gold and Randy Orton owned this segment. Okay sure Stephanie made a nothing out of Y2J by making him apologize, and I loved it when the crowd started chanting, “On Your Knees.” Watching Jericho go along with that chant was a riot, and again his facials were just awesome. I got a total kick out of this guy. And even though he had to apologize on his knees, I don’t feel like Jericho’s character will be hurt in anyway. This is Chris Jericho and he’ll be fine. And Randy Orton was excellent. Yeah many are saying both McMahon’s should have been a little intimidated by the legend killer, but instead they showed no fear at all. Okay so maybe that’s the way it should have played out, but Randy taking Vince out was excellent, and I had no problem when Orton looked like he regretted what he did. I can’t wait to see how things play out Sunday at the Rumble and next week on Raw. Also there is a major rumor going around that Stephanie is with the Legacy and the kick to Vince’s head was planned so she wouldn’t have daddy back on Raw. That rumor works for me. I was totally into this segment; the only complaint is what I said earlier. I wish this would have been in the middle of the show, and the contract signing would have been in this spot.
But raw was so appealing to me and I’m so glad I was there. After the Raw in August I really didn’t plan on going to another one for a while, I’m so glad my son and his girlfriend got the tickets. Unfortunately we missed Jericho vs. Cena, after the show. We waited around, but we thought once Vince was taken out by stretcher that was it. So we left. But the place did start to empty out. And then when I read about the match I really felt bad that we didn’t see it. By the way his girlfriend Penny, wasn’t able to go. Last week she was hit with a kidney infection and she spent a great deal of the week in the hospital. I was really looking forward to going with her, but hopefully we will all be able to go to Judgment Day on May 17th. By the way Penny is doing better, but she’s still vey weak. I know I just went on and on today, but that’s because last night was a fun night for me. I will be back over the weekend with my Rumble picks, oh that should be a lot of fun. Start sending me your predictions, and let me leave you with a request. I tried to help but I came up empty. One of my readers would love to find the Stacy Kiebler interview where she talks about not having health insurance in the WWE. It was during or right after Dancing with the Stars. You can email my reader at, rspectre007@aol.com.
Email lindarobin3@yahoo.com
