Wow two weeks in a row that Raw is getting tons of mixed reaction again. And two weeks in a row that I loved the show. In fact I think it was better than my live show last week. Of course there was one segment that is the talk of the Internet and I’m going to start with that segment first. But really I can’t say there was anything wrong with Raw, it just rocked as far as I’m concerned. I planned on talking about the Royal Rumble as well as Raw, but Raw was so much better than Sunday’s pay per view that I think I might just end with a few words about that show, I guess you could say that I was very disappointed with this years Rumble.
Raw’s main event with Legacy, Stephanie and Shane McMahon is the segment that seems to be pissing off most of the fans. And believe me I understand every complaint that I have read. Honestly I feel the same way as most of the fans do, however this probably makes no sense but I really enjoyed the ending. Sure it was absolutely ridiculous to have non-wrestler Shane McMahon storm into the ring and go berserk on Orton, Rhodes and DiBiase. I noticed that Shane’s punches weren’t exactly believable, and let’s face it Legacy should have beaten the hell out of them. Also I think what got to me more was the way Orton left the ring with Ted DiBiase holding him up after almost collapsing from Shane’s beating. That too me was the worst part of all of this. But the reason I really liked this segment was because of Shane’s ass kicking demeanor.
I would much rather give that GM role to Shane. And seeing him come out put a smile on my face. Sure Orton and his gang should have gotten the best of Shane, and sure I wish this could have played out a little differently, but Shane’s appearance came off so well that this time I’m going to let Orton’s beating slide and give this a thumbs up segment. I also loved all the superstars standing on the ramp when Orton threatened to get an injunction to stop Wrestlemania this year. But I just couldn’t understand why these superstars just stood there when Legacy would beat on Shane. Why not run into that ring and help the poor guy out? Listen this was a good segment and as I said all the negativity that’s out there is totally valid but I guess I’m in a generous mood and I thought Raw ended on a very positive note. And don’t forget this just got started and I really want to see how things play out before I bash it completely.
Now let’s go back to the opening with Randy Orton, Cody Rhodes, Ted Dibiase, Orton’s two lawyers and Orton’s therapist. Randy Orton gave a performance of a lifetime last night. He just blew me away. The excuse that Randy has IED – Intermittent Explosive Disorder was brilliant. This guy wasn’t going to apologize for what he did to Vince last week. Instead he was going to defend his actions by using an illness to back up his actions. Ah I loved this segment so much and I really think Mr. Orton set the tone for one hell of a show. Now the first match was what we got last week, only this time it was for the tag team titles. Miz and Morrison vs. Cryme Tyme had the makings of a pretty good match, but just like last week’s encounter this thing was way too short. I really don’t get why they are putting these four guys together. It’s obvious that Vince has no intention of giving Shad and JGT the titles so why bother to continue to have them go at each other?
JBL was next and did another tremendous job putting the pressure on his employee Shawn Michaels by telling the fans that he would be in the Elimination Chamber match if Shawn defeated John Cena. This storyline is still coming off so well and I’m just waiting for Michaels to knock the crap out of JBL. Okay now the first Elimination Chamber qualifying match was Kofi Kingston vs. Kane. So like the typical “know it all” that I am I told my husband here’s a no brainer, Kingston isn’t winning. I mean come on Kane wasn’t going to lose this match. Man was I wrong, and I was thrilled to death to see Kingston get the win and be a part of that main event at No Way Out. What a shocker, and by the way the match wasn’t bad at all.
Now I haven’t seen The Wrestler yet, but it’s playing at a theater near my house and I am planning on seeing it. I mean the reviews for this movie have been excellent, and Mickey Rourke and Marissa Tomei picked up Golden Globe awards. So when Chris Jericho came out and cut a promo on Rourke and Ric Flair for raving about the movie I couldn’t have been happier. I can’t wait to watch Chris Jericho each week building this all up for their Wrestlemania match. Not only is Orton doing a super job, but also so is Jericho. That smug look on his face is a riot and I have a feeling that the fans will get more into Rourke taking on Jericho as the weeks go by. Poor Shawn Michaels, he thought he did his job at the Rumble, but JBL didn’t see it that way. JBL’s character has never been better, and Michaels is on a roll. It seems like almost every angle he’s involved in turns out to be one of the best or THE best on Raw.
John Cena vs. Shawn Michaels was another really good match. As I said two weeks ago these two just click when they are in the ring together, and this was my favorite match of the night. I had a feeling Cena would win and he did and now I can’t wait to see what JBL has planned for Shawn next. The tag team women’s match with Beth Phoenix and Jillian vs. Women’s champion Melina and Kelly Kelly was okay, but you know it gets a little tiring seeing these tag team matches over and over again. I would love to know where Mickie James has been when it comes to working in the ring. I need more than the routine tag team women’s match. Maybe I wasn’t into it because I was too busy listening to Santino with Jerry Lawler and Michael Cole. Of course I laughed when he called Kane stupid Kane for throwing him out of the ring so fast Sunday night. Remember Santino wasn’t ready. So the match was okay but it was Santino that I enjoyed more.
There were two more matches that I happened to really like very much. One was William Regal vs. Rey Mysterio in another Elimination Chamber qualifying match and the other was Jericho vs. CM Punk in the last qualifying match of the night. I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed watching both of these matches. So along with Kofi Kingston, Rey and Jericho will also be in the chamber match in three weeks. And since I started with the main event I just want to say the only thing that I could have done without was recap after recap of Orton punting Vince’s head. Once was good, twice was okay but after that it became too much. Other than that I really thought we got a terrific show. By the way I even liked the preview for Cena’s movie. It looked much better than the Marine and a lot better than Kennedy’s movie. Yeah Raw was so much better than the Rumble.
Okay I said I would end with a few words about that show. I found the rumble itself sluggish most of the time; this was not one of the better Rumble matches. The opening match with Matt Hardy vs. Jack Swagger was good, but nothing that I haven’t seen on ECW. Melina vs. Beth Phoenix again was good, but not GREAT. JBL vs. John Cena wasn’t much but then again, I think the focus was more on what HBK was going to do. My match of the night was Edge vs. Jeff Hardy. I thought it was excellent and while I was the one who kept saying Christian was supposed to be the guy that attacked Jeff, it turned out to be Matt and I loved Matt’s turn. Between Matt’s heel turn and this match it was the best thing on the show. I felt gypped that there wasn’t any follow up with JBL and Michaels after JBL’s loss. And I think we should have gotten something backstage with Matt after the attack. I know we would get the follow ups on Raw and Smackdown but for $40.00 they could have given us something extra. So I wasn’t happy with this years pay per view, but I was damn happy with last night’s Raw.
I won’t have a column over the weekend because Saturday we won’t be home too much and Sunday is Super Bowl Sunday. But I will definitely be back next week to talk about Raw all over again. There are only two Raw’s left until No Way Out, so hopefully we will get another good show, although there are many fans who feel we haven’t had a good show in two weeks. So maybe next week’s Raw will be a crowd pleaser.
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