I wish last week’s show would have been last night’s Raw. Had it not been for two outstanding segments, and a good match I would have complained like crazy about what they gave us right before Wrestlemania. If you guys don’t mind what I would like to do is list the crap and maybe give a sentence or two why I didn’t like it and then spend the rest of the time talking about the two very strong segments that kept Raw from being a complete flop. And before I start, I don’t know how many of you know this but Tazz is no longer with WWE. He left after the Smackdown taping last night. Check out the sites they give details why we are now Tazz-less. So far the reason that is being given for his departure was that he was burned out. I’m going to miss him because I liked his announcing, although in all honesty this past Friday night, Tazz didn’t seem to be his usual self. I thought he was rather quiet and low keyed, maybe because he knew he was leaving and counting the days until that happened. Okay now here’s my “I can’t believe this is what they gave us last night” list.
1. The opening 18 Diva Tag Team match. I have to hand it to Vince; he sure knows how to kill a division. It’s been a long time since the women’s division on Raw meant something. It’s like when the TNA’s women’s division was ruling that show, Vince started to give the fans some hot women’s matches. Then all of a sudden, the TNA Knockouts started to lose their momentum and what a surprise so did the women on Raw. I can’t remember when Raw built up a good feud in this division. That’s why watching this was just worthless. All we got were 18 women in a ring. It was a waste of time. And then Santino came out did a little mic work and in a Borat bathing suit started to pose. None of this made me laugh, and it just made me dislike this segment even more.
2. Last week Chris Jericho and Ric Flair rocked this Legends vs. Jericho angle. Last night Jerry the king Lawler killed the angle. What a crappy match, and to make things worse Lawler the out of shape over the hill guy who doesn’t wrestle got way more offense in this match than he should have. This was a catastrophe.
3. Rey Mysterio vs. JBL was not only a nothing match but I couldn’t understand why we got it when it’s all going to happen again on Sunday. The only difference is JBL will get the win instead of Mysterio. This match didn’t do a thing for either guy and since nothing was ever built up here, it just seemed so unimportant to have this match on.
4. You know what? Watching Edge interact with John Cena backstage did nothing for me. Edge in my opinion is just doing what he’s been told to do, and not putting any effort into his character at all. And I don’t blame Edge for that; the blame goes to the creative team.
5. Haven’t we seen enough of the guys that are participating in the Money in the Bank match? The Eight Man Money in the Bank Participants Battle Royal was more or less what we have been getting week after week. There was nothing new or exciting about this match; again I had absolutely no interest in even watching it.
All the things that I listed above made for a very dull show. Thankfully all was not lost. The first hour almost put me to sleep but it was the Shawn Michaels/Undertaker segment that woke me up and brought life back to the show. This was a hell of a segment. My God, Michaels was so so damn cocky that all I wanted to do was slap his face. That’s how good he was. His promo was excellent and I loved how he again he got the best of Taker. And just like I said over the weekend, Taker as been so good showing how angry and frustrated Michaels has made him. This was a super segment with HBK surprising Taker from behind and hitting him with Sweet Chin Music. Michaels character has never been better and you and I both know that Taker will turn things around at Wrestlemania. So I say, let HBK keep getting the best of this guy because on Sunday he’s in for a big surprise.
The match that I liked and I did not expect to was Big Show vs. John Cena. This match had a fast pace to it, which I didn’t see coming, and it all just flowed beautifully. This was a pleasant surprise and without a doubt the match of the night. I knew Show would win, he had too because on Sunday he’s not walking out with the World title belt. I have to say this was worth watching. And finally the main event came off so well. After the way Raw ended last week, with Orton taunting Triple H by giving Stephanie a DDT and then kissing her, I wondered if they could do it again. I figured it was going to be hard to top that, but creative came through. I thought Randy Orton gave us a good promo, not the greatest, but it was good. I’ll admit it went on a little too long, but it was still good. I was thrilled that he admitted that he didn’t have IED, that everything he did was all calculated. Showing all the videos to go along with Orton’s promo worked very well. I knew we would get a Triple H appearance, so when the limo pulled up a Vince appearance never crossed my mind. I thought it was really appropriate to bring Vince out, and then Shane. After all they both got the Randy Orton punt to the head. And once both McMahon’s came out, it only made sense to have Triple H there.
Okay so we have the three standing there, and staring down Orton, Rhodes and DiBiase. Now it gets a little weird because Hunter is in the middle and he looks at Vince, then at Shane and then they attack the Legacy. Granted I can’t see a 63-year-old man bringing much to all of this, but you know why what? Why knit pick? This was cool to watch, and the fans really got into it. I thought this came off so well and at least Raw ended on a very positive note. Well at least for me it did. Now since Raw wasn’t the greatest it should be very easy for Smackdown to come off much stronger, but then again who knows. I will be back over the weekend with my Wrestlemania predictions. Let’s see some will be easy and others a little difficult, so you know I’ll be studying Smackdown very hard to see how things play out.
Email lindarobin3@yahoo.com
