Let’s see, Vince went from face to heel, sold Raw to Donald Trump, Trump wants to be inventive and sets up a Last Man Standing match between Triple H and Randy Orton on next Monday’s commercial free Raw, and they will also meet 6 days later at the Bash, the Raw brand offered VERY little to the show, but the two Smackdown matches were phenomenal. I think that about sums up a pretty bland three hours with just a few exceptions. So I will leave you with that, and you please check out my column over the weekend. Okay that’s my humor, of course I’m not leaving quite yet, but I was very disappointed with Monday’s show, in fact disappointed might be an understatement. I know many of you emailed me with very favorable thoughts about the show, but I just couldn’t find that many highlights. Let me do my list, you know when I do a list that usually in not a good sign of what’s to come in this column. But what the hell, things could get interesting with the Trump angle, well they could. Okay I’m going to hit the list and comment on each segment. Wish me luck.
1. Before the first match Chris Jericho got things started in a big way with one if his excellent promos. He couldn’t have said it better when he said that since he was drafted to Smackdown Raw has gone into the toilet and that it’s in a tailspin that they will not be able to recover from. Wow how true that statement was. He then had to bring up that there is no General Manager, and no WWE champion. Jericho also knocked the fans and said that one day they will realize how important he is to Raw. He was just so good here. He went on to talk about Rey and his mask. Jericho really got things off to a great start and that continued with the first match.
2. Jericho vs. Rey Mysterio was the first match, and it was a solid match. They left off where they did at the Extreme Rules pay per view. This was the second hot match of the night, and mind you there weren’t many. I just want to see this feud continue because the chemistry here is just off the charts. I thought because this match was so hot, Raw would be a strong show, but damn it I was wrong.
3. There was a backstage segment with Josh Matthews interviewing Randy Orton with John Cena interrupting. I hate the way this started with Cena trying to be funny, and I do mean trying. He made fun of Orton and did it like he was cutting a promo about how the WWE Universe always talks about Randy Orton. He said Orton was “the grand wizard of the baby oil boy’s club.” I wasn’t laughing with any of this. But then Cena turned a little serious and reminded Orton that it wasn’t just him and Orton in the 4-Way match. He said if Randy thinks that he and Show are going to take the night off then maybe the oil he puts on his skin is starting to rot his brain. Now this part was okay, because Cena didn’t have to be “funny.” So at least the end of this wasn’t bad. This segment ended better than it started.
4. Then we got the beginning of too much Vince for the night. As I said he went from a victim of Randy Orton’s back to a heel and announced that he sold Raw to Donald Trump. The first thing that I thought of was, dear God things must be really bad because Vince is using Trump to get that mainstream media attention. This segment kind of bothered me because it screamed of desperation, just like last year when Vince had to give money away.
5. Tommy Dreamer vs. Christian was next and I’m sorry to say that this match did nothing for me. I think I might have said this last week, but the timing is all wrong making Dreamer the ECW champion. Maybe if he would have had that title two years ago it would have meant something, but Tommy really hasn’t done much in a while, that’s why I feel ECW champion Tommy Dreamer really isn’t doing much for ECW. I also noticed that the fans weren’t exactly making too much noise while this match was going on. And I feel bad because Christian isn’t getting a lot of focus, and I feel Vince is really making a huge mistake by not giving Christian a lot more to do.
6. The four way with Randy Orton vs. Triple H vs. Big Show vs. John Cena was a good match, it was what I expected, and probably one of the only decent matches that the Raw brand put on. I do not understand why they took the belt off of Orton at Extreme Rules. They could have had Batista beat Orton on a DQ, this way Randy still would have had the title, and then the next on Raw the injury angle still would have happened because Big Dave was demanding a rematch. That would have be reason enough for Orton, Rhodes and DiBiase to go after Batista. I wasn’t happy to have Orton with the title, I think Cena winning would have worked for me, and believe me at first I didn’t want that either. But I got to thinking about it and a Cena win would keep Orton and Hunter feuding but not for the title. So a good match but the Orton win was a slight disappointment for me.
7. I absolutely despised the segment with Vince McMahon and Donald Trump. I think it was pretty obvious that the Trump part was pre-recorded, but maybe Vince forgot because he kept interrupting and the whole thing just bombed. And to make matters worse they replayed this thing throughout the show. The crowd was dead for most of this and I was embarrassed because Vince just didn’t know when to shut up. This had to be one of the worst segments on Monday’s show.
8. So they give Rosa Mendez a solo shot against Mickie James and I wasn’t impressed. Now I’m not saying that they should dump her, but throwing her in there like that was really ridiculous. This wasn’t much of a match; it just felt like a way to fill a few minutes.
9. The Miz got things going with insult after insult directed at Goldust. Goldust and Hornswoggle started things off by shooting t-shirts out to the fans. The Miz then came out and did a very good job putting Goldust down. The Miz was one of the few highlights of the show, and after he insulted Goldust and attacked him, he then aimed the t-shirt gun at Hornswoggle and shot him with a shirt, my God this was brutal. No, it wasn’t at all, but it was a good segment thanks to the Miz and his insults.
10. Okay yes, I’m a CM Punk fan, but I feel since this push has happened and he has become the World champion he seems to be showing much more confidence. His mic work as been very smooth and he carries himself in a different way, he just seems very confident. I love it that they are not having Punk apologize for the way he got the belt at Extreme Rules. He’s going to do whatever it takes to win. The interaction between Punk and Matt Hardy I also liked very much. Hardy was kissing up to Punk and telling him he would have done the same thing. Matt was referring to the way Punk beat Jeff at the pay per view. Punk shot Hardy down immediately by saying that it wouldn’t be possible for Hardy to do the same thing because Hardy has never won the Money In the Bank match. And then Punk said that Hardy thrives on jealousy and hate, while Punk feels that he earned everything that he has done. Punk in my opinion is showing that his new push is well deserved.
11. The match of the night was with CM Punk vs. Edge vs. Jeff Hardy. And this was as good as it gets. It’s sad when this match and Jericho and Mysterio’s match outshined anything that the Raw brand had. All three of these guys did a superb job and as far as I’m concerned this could have been on a pay per view. Punk won by taking advantage of Jeff Hardy. Hardy hit the Swanton Bomb on Edge and was just about to pin him, but Punk who was out of the ring, reached in and pulled Hardy off and slammed Jeff into the ring steps. CM got back into the ring, and pinned Edge for the win. This was just a great ending and it set up Punk vs. Jeff Hardy for the Bash. I can tell you right now, this is a match that I WANT to see.
12. Carlito and Primo defeated the Hart Dynasty. Now this one really bothered me, but before I tell you why, I will say that I liked Cody Rhodes and Ted Dibiase at the announce table checking out this match and for the most part putting down Michael Cole. I really enjoyed their insults towards Cole and they both came off cocky and very secure as far as taking the tag team titles from the Colons at the Bash. But what I hated about this match was that on ECW the Hart Dynasty is being built up to be one of the strongest stables in the WWE. But in less than three minutes the Colons beat them and they were basically jobbers out there. I really did not like the way this match was booked.
13. The 10 man Battle Royal with MVP, William Regal, Cody Rhodes, Ted DiBiase, The Miz, Kofi Kingston, Triple H, John Cena, Matt Hardy, and Big Show turned out better than I thought it would. I mean come on I think most of us knew Hunter was going to win, but yet there were times when it got a little exciting wondering if Cena would get it. I noticed that MVP went out fast and it worries me that he’s being pushed down again. I thought when he lost his title to Kingston it might mean bigger things for him, but in the last few weeks very little has been done with MVP and that makes me think that a major push might not be in his future. Matt Hardy was another guy that didn’t last long, but I’m going to say that’s because of his injured hand, at least I hope that’s the only reason why. But I did like this match, but my one complaint was we all know the Miz is gunning for Cena. I could not understand why we didn’t see the Miz and Cena go at it from the beginning. They could have taken it out of the ring into the fans, but no instead they have the Miz sneak up on Cena and Hunter and he goes over the ropes thanks to those two guys. I just don’t get why they have the Miz rock with his anti Cena promos but when it comes to any in ring action, all the momentum that the Miz has disappears. So Hunter won, and Randy Orton was standing on the ramp, not a happy camper that he has to face Triple H for the title. Just as the show is ending we get another pre-recorded segment with Donald Trump. Trump congratulates Hunter for the win. I guess Donald reads tealeaves because he knew Hunter was winning that match. Anyway he makes an Orton vs. Triple H match at the Bash. Okay fine, but then he says why wait until then, next Monday night on the commercial free Raw it’s a Last Man Standing match with Triple H vs. Randy Orton. Okay fine, then why the hell do we need to get another match 6 days later with these two again? You know it makes no sense to me at all. It’s not like Hunter and Orton have had 5 star matches, so why not hold that Last Man Standing match until the pay per view?
See there were just so many weird things going on that it just got the best of me. As I said way too much Vince, way too many replays of the very bad segment with Trump and Vince, and the Raw mid carders just don’t get enough build up, so when they are thrown into matches it really doesn’t mean much. I noticed I forgot to mention another Vince segment, this time with Santino. It wasn’t much, but Santino came off pretty funny when he kept saying all the wrong things to Vince. Hopefully bringing in Trump won’t turn out be a big mistake, and it will make for a strong storyline, it’s possible. I will be back over the weekend with my thoughts on Smackdown and honesty I can’t wait to see it, remember Smackdown has been the A show at least for me it has been now for a while now.
Email lindarobin3@yahoo.com
