I am so excited because I get to talk about Backlash. I have so much I want to say about Sunday’s show. And because of my Backlash enthusiasm I am going to keep my Raw thoughts to a minimum. Well let’s just say I will try to keep them as short as I can, because I feel Backlash deserves a lot more time than Raw. Oh and I did one better with my predictions Sunday than I did with my Wrestlemania picks and believe me that’s not saying much. Okay let me get right to one very HOT pay per view.
It’s fair to say at least in my opinion that Backlash was far better than Wrestlemania. Sure HBK vs. the Undertaker stole the show, but that really was the only memorable match that night. But Backlash was full of very good matches and the main event was absolutely off the charts. There was one segment that was beyond crap, yes that honor goes to Santino and Khali. This was worse than I could have even imagined. This thing started off miserably and if it’s possible got even worse the more it went on. You know a lot of times I talk about the crowd being so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Well this time that saying was never truer, because the more Santino talked the more silent the crowd became. In fact so quiet it felt like there was no one in the arena. I hated Beth Phoenix getting the old axe from Khali, but what I hated even more about all of this was, that Vince and is creative team found a way to actually make me DESPISE Santino’s character. Oh yes I no longer find him funny, and I know longer care to watch him. It’s going to take a lot for me to get back into his character, and the following night on Raw didn’t turn things around for me. I can’t believe this crap was on a show that we paid to see.
And out of all the matches the one that did very little for me was CM Punk vs. Kane. Now I wasn’t expecting much here so I wasn’t exactly shocked by not liking this one. I can’t say Punk and Kane didn’t give their all, but their all wasn’t enough to win me over. This and that miserable thing with Santino was the worst of Backlash. The rest was just outstanding. The show’s first match was Christian vs. Jack Swagger and was excellent. These guys topped their fantastic match on ECW a few months ago. This was one of those hot matches where I could have watched it go on for a while. Props to Swagger and Christian for getting things off to a great start. And even though I went with Jack Swagger for the win, I was screaming with joy when Christian got the victory. And to top it off, it also made me so happy to finally see Christian and Edge interact backstage. This was a nice little segment with Christian questioning why Edge changed. Edge blamed it all on Cena and said he would be fun again. Just watching these two brought back some very nice memories for me when they were together years ago.
WOOOO, that is for Ricky Steamboat and Chris Jericho for giving the fans a five star match. Who knew that Steamboat could be so consistent? I ask that not only because of his age, but because the man hasn’t wrestled in years. But he came through in a big way and Jericho showed us once again just how good he is. These two really have it, and I have to say I’m going to miss Steamboat a lot. At least I recorded the show and I can go back every now and then to re-watch this wonderful match. The I Quit match was so enjoyable. There was no doubt in my mind that this would be something to see and I was right. I thought they did a super job and I especially loved the ending when Jeff tied up Matt and Matt was pleading with Jeff not to jump off the ladder. Matt was full of BS when he said that he was sorry for what he did to Jeff. He kept telling Jeff how much he loved him. Matt was awesome during all of this and while it looked like Jeff was going to re-think the jump, he came through and flew off and ended up breaking the table with Matt on it. This was another awesome match.
I was extremely pleased Legacy vs. Triple H, Shane McMahon and Batista. This one did turn out way better than I thought it would. While it is true that this got off to a slow start, it definitely picked up and picked up more so when Hunter was tagged in. That’s when the crowd seemed to get into this one. Well I was into it from beginning to end. And while I thought Hunter would win, Orton’s win didn’t shock me, but yes the punt to Triple H’s head I never saw coming. I thought that would all happen at Wrestlemania, but when it didn’t it kind of just left my mind. I thought the ending was done very well because Orton can now say that he took out the entire McMahon family. Listen this was a very good match, but the match of the night was the Last Man Standing match between John Cena vs. Edge. These two guys really have strong chemistry. And you can see that every time they get in the ring. I loved this match and nothing came even close to this one. My one complaint was that Edge won thanks to the Big Show getting his hands on Cena and throwing him into the spotlight. I would have been so much happier if Edge was the guy that did that to Cena, not Show but when I get to Raw I’ll go into this more.
This was one fantastic show and totally worth the money. I wish I could say that Raw the following night was fantastic, but it wasn’t. Hey don’t get me wrong there were some very solid parts to the show but also a lot of garbage. Let me just tell you out of order the good and the bad with the show. Okay the reason that I wish Edge would have dropped Cena the night before is because it now looks like its Big Show vs. John Cena at Judgment Day. Since I will be there, this is one match that I dread. I hate that Vince is giving Show this opportunity, because when he comes out most of the time I just want to change the channel. I absolutely hated the main event with Batista vs. Big Show. The last person Batista needs to go against is Show. The pace of this match was sluggish and it just was so boring. Yeah this Big Show push is the last thing that I need to see.
With that said, MVP was really good interacting with Randy Orton in the opening segment. MVP was smooth and he and Orton on the mic clicked immediately. I also like their match. I would say this was a big step for MVP as far as a push goes. My only complaint was once Shane McMahon ran in MVP was out of the picture. I would have liked to have seen some kind of I don’t know follow up with him, but the match, and even McMahon’s attack came off well. The Kofi Kingston vs. THE Brian Kendrick was a nice match; it wasn’t a long match, but a nice one. Just think how much better this could have been if this had gone on for a good 10 minutes. I absolutely hate what the Raw’s women’s division has become thanks to dressing up Santino like a woman. I was LIVID with this so called 8 woman tag team match which consisted of Kelly Kelly Mickie, Brie Bella and “Santina” vs. Beth Phoenix, Maryse, Rosa Medes and Jillian Hall. There was nothing here; the women were not allowed to do a thing because it was all about Santina and even Hornswoggle. Hey why doesn’t Vince put the comedy on when Big Show is having a match, then maybe I won’t mind watching Show in a match. As you can tell this is all just getting on my nerves.
Now someone that used to get on my nerves on a weekly basis, rocked Monday night with his promo on John Cena. I’m talking about Miz. I thought he did a hell of a job bashing Cena and trying to get him to come out. The best line that Miz popped up with was “You can’t see me. You’re right; I can’t see you because you’re movies aren’t in theaters long enough. That was one very funny line. Miz came off brilliantly during his segment and you know hopefully his annoying days are over. Matt Hardy has such a good thing going. He’s the new whiner, and he does it so well. It was complaint after complaint about having a broken arm thanks to his brother and how he was forced to wrestle. The guy just went on and on and I loved it. Of course the match was a matter of seconds. He took Goldust out with his cast and got the win. I am really digging this heel Matt Hardy.
I didn’t mind Hunter taken out on a stretcher at Backlash, and I kind of thought it was odd that Cena also left that way. But now looking back why the hell did they do the same thing with Cena when he was able to show up for Raw and distract Big Show giving Batista the win? I thought that whole thing was so lame; I didn’t buy Cena injury at all Monday night. No not the way he stood there, the guy shouldn’t have even been able to show up, let alone stand on his own. And maybe I’m wrong, but I would assume that being thrown into a spotlight that lit up would be a far more serious injury than the Randy Orton punt to the head. I guess I figured both men would take time off, but Cena is back and he sure came back quickly. Something else that made no sense to me was when the Miz called Cena out he never came out, but he did for Show. Of course we can say that Cena didn’t want to Big Show to know he was there, but as my friend Jonathan said and he said it jokingly. It like Cena was afraid to come face to face with the Miz. I will say that creative handled this segment so wrong as far as not having John Cena show up.
Raw wasn’t a bad show, but it was no Backlash. I better cut this short; as usual I went a lot longer than I planned too. I will return over the weekend with my Smackdown thoughts and you know what? My ECW thoughts as well, so look for me either on Saturday or Sunday.
Email lindarobin3@yahoo.com
