Where do I begin? How about getting 2 out of 9 Wrestlemania predictions right? Wow how embarrassing is that? Okay I had to get that out of the way first so I never EVER have to mention that again. What I would like to do since this is a Wrestlemania and Raw column is just list the WM matches with side notes and then go right to Raw. I don’t want to make this a LONG boring column. So let me start out with my thoughts on Sunday’s show.
1. Wrestlemania started on the wrong foot with me. I found out that one of the matches that I was looking forward too, The Colon’s vs. Miz and Morrison for the Unified Tag Team Titles, will not be on TV, no it’s going to be taped and put on the WM DVD. Oh yeah that’s a great way to get things going. I was very angry at that situation.
2. Money In the Bank – I thought was AWESOME! I didn’t see this one coming off as well as it did. Shelton Benjamin was outstanding with some of his very scary moves. I wasn’t disappointed in any one although I MVP didn’t seem to fit this match as well as the others. And Punk getting the win was a total shocker to me. I guess because of the way he’s been used in the past several months, another shot at the title for CM was the furthest thing from my mine.
3. I was LIVID that the Diva’s were not individually announced, especially the former diva’s that showed up. I’m talking about Joy Giovanni, Molly Holly, Miss Jackie, Sunny, Torrie Wilson and Victoria. My God talk what an insult not only to these women, but also to the fans. Didn’t Vince think we wanted to see them close up? Because of this, I didn’t care at all about this match. And it was SO obvious that Santino was in there. And I told my husband the announcers are coming off like morons for not noticing Santino from the start. This was THE worst of the show.
4. The Legends vs. Chris Jericho was nothing special. However there was one man that was just phenomenal, and I am talking about Ricky Steamboat. For a man that is 56, he looked and wrestled like a guy in his early 40’s. He was outstanding. He made this something to see. But one of the worst parts of this match was the weak punch to the face by Mickey Rourke. Other than Steamboat in here this was not very good.
5. I was EXTREMELY happy with this next match. I loved the Extreme Hardy vs. Hardy match. This was as good as I expected and I was thrilled with Jeff and Matt’s performance. They didn’t hold back and they gave their all, and I really want this to continue, I would love to get another match from them.
6. Rey Mysterio beat JBL in like twenty seconds was a joke, and not in a laughing way. I just thought this was dumb. However, I did get a kick out of watching JBL’s facial expressions when he realized he lost and lost in a matter of seconds. I guess this was just a way to give JBL a chance to be a part of Wrestlemania since he really did retire. But if you didn’t see this, you didn’t miss a thing.
7. Well of course the match of the night, and believe me nothing came even close to it was, TAKER VS. SHAWN MICHAELS. I knew right off that this would steal the show. I could go on and on about this outstanding match. This match made it worth paying $55.00. Now if you missed this one, it’s a MUST see. Taker and Michaels were just fantastic, and the near falls were as exciting as it gets. As of now this is definitely my match of the year.
8. The World Title match with Cena beating Big Show and Edge wasn’t bad at all. I expected it to be good, but I found myself really enjoying what was going on in the ring. This was a fun match to watch but I wouldn’t call it a pay per view quality match, but it was still damn good.
9. THE MOST DISSAPOINTING AND BORING MATCH of the night was Triple H. vs. Randy Orton. Oh yeah I could really go into this one, but I’ll try to make this short. Yes these two gave their all but the booking was crap. Hunter should have been only concerned about beating the hell out of Orton. But the belt that was supposedly not a factor in this match was a major factor. When Hunter was ready to hit Randy in the head with one of the monitors, the ref kept warning Hunter not too or he loses the title. Now Triple H should have said F that, and clocked Orton with that monitor and then continued to beat the hell out of him. Where were the McMahon’s? Where were Ted Dibiase and Cody Rhodes? This match just didn’t have it, and it’s a damn shame that it closed the show. Hell I would have preferred the World title match ending Mania.
So there you have it my take on Mania. It wasn’t my favorite one, but Michaels and Taker made it one of the best. Now as far as Raw goes. I liked the show. It wasn’t great but it was good. I don’t want to go on too long but I found it rather sad that we had 63-year-old Vince McMahon dominating Orton in that Raw main event. How pathetic was that? But let me start from the beginning. Randy Orton’s opener with Vince was okay; it did what it needed to do. Vince set up the first Backlash match with Shane, Vince and Hunter vs. Randy, DiBiase and Rhodes. Orton came off okay, and it was a decent opener. Raw put on two very good matches. The first was The Unified Tag Team match. Oh I see they decided to give us the Miz and Morrison vs. Carlito and Primo. I wonder if they got tons of complaints from fans for not allowing this match on Sunday night. This match was really a terrific match, and it would have been perfect for Sunday’s show. It’s unbelievable that they didn’t give these guys an opportunity to show their stuff at Wrestlemania. The second match that I really really liked was the tag team match with Cena, Mysterio, Steamboat, Jeff Hardy, and Punk vs. Matt Hardy, Kane, Big Show Edge and Chris Jericho. This match absolutely rocked, and Steamboat again showed he still has it. I can’t tell you what a pleasure it has been watching this man. Everyone here came off very well and this was another major highlight of the show.
So Vickie is now the GM of Raw. Okay I am a little confused. What happened to Stephanie? Also, let’s see Vince and Shane were there why not have one of them as GM? I don’t get this at all. Well she’s on Raw now, and I have to say I have lost a little for her. I think most of you know that I am a big fan of Vickie’s, but her character isn’t clicking with me like it was. Maybe it’s because Edge and Vickie aren’t what they were a year ago. So her announcement didn’t do much for me. And when she announced Last Man Standing match with Cena vs. Edge, just like her GM Raw announcement this one left me cold as well.
I am already tired of “Santina” Marella. In fact I just re-watched the segment with my husband. He thinks Santino is hilarious. So watching it again didn’t change my mind. I will say it got funny when he interacted with Beth Phoenix, but I hate the gimmick I really do. The women’s tag team match prior to this came off well, but this Santina segment was definitely not a highlight of the show. Also Michael Cole was more annoying than ever laughing hysterically at every word Marella said. It’s too bad Cole didn’t leave instead of Tazz. Cole is getting worse and worse on Raw, and I think it’s time to get JR back on Raw. If it were up to me I would stick Cole on ECW. At least that’s just an hour show.
Finally I have a lot to say about Vince, Shane, Hunter and the match at Backlash. Okay now you guys all know that I’m one big Triple H mark. And I liked the idea of Hunter coming to the aid of his wife. That made plenty of sense to me. But this love thing we now have with Shane, Vince and Hunter just doesn’t play out well. All of a sudden Hunter is treating Vince with love and respect. And that doesn’t work for me. When I saw Hunter trying to talk sense into Vince last night and then pop with “Vince you are the most stubborn, obnoxious, SOB I’ve ever met, but I’m proud of you,” that was too much for me. That’s when the light bulb went on in my head and said HUNTER NEEDS TO BE A HEEL AGAIN. I don’t like seeing this at all. It’s so not Hunter, and really it’s not Vince either.
You know I thought this was going to be a hell of a storyline because Stephanie was involved with Triple H. But it’s not turning out so well, and I have a feeling that this Hunter/Legacy thing will end at Backlash now that Batista is back. And speaking of Big Dave, it was a nice surprise seeing him last night. I’m very happy that Vince took himself out of that Backlash match and put Batista in his place. However, like so many on the net, I don’t like this title match. I have read that they copied it right from a TNA match, so that already doesn’t please me. But I figure Hunter will lose, but it could happen if Di Biase pins Shane, and to me that cheapens the title for Orton. Well anyway it’s nice to have Batista back.
So whether you can tell or not, I did like Raw. I just listened to a hotline report. Supposedly tonight at the Smackdown tapings there will be some big surprises. Nothing was said what those surprises would be, but of course I will be checking those spoilers like usual, only tonight more often than usual. I’ll be back over the weekend with what I hope will be a very positive Smackdown column. And maybe I can even throw in a little about ECW.
Email lindarobin3@yahoo.com
