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Archive for the ‘WWE Raw’ Category

You can complain about a lot of things with the WWE right now, but you can’t say that they’re being overly predictable, at least not with all of their storylines. Batista defeating John Cena for the WWE championship at the Elimination Chamber pay per view in a 30 second match after Cena just won his chamber match may not be the most popular move in the world, but who can really say they saw it coming? I sure as hell didn’t.

Surprises are a good thing, especially in this day and age of the Internet and wrestling rumor sites. But while I applaud them for the surprise twist on the WWE title situation, when all the Internet smarks thought they had everything figured out, it still doesn’t make up for the fact that the PPV was nothing great and the past couple Raw’s have been adequate at best.

I’ll start with Elimination Chamber. Both championship chamber matches were solid but not spectacular, and while Batista winning the title from Cena after his match was a huge surprise, Chris Jericho winning the world title in the main event was not. Nor was Shawn Michael’s interference and sweet chin music on Undertaker to cost him the title. But it was well executed at least.

The Intercontinental championship match was very ho-hum, and as usual, the women’s  match was a gigantic waste of time that no one cared about. We once again got an unadvertised United States championship match between The Miz and MVP, and once again The Miz retained in a decent match. But how much further can this feud go if MVP keeps losing? Do they put them in some sort of gimmick or stipulation match at Wrestlemania for the title or will they both be in the Money in the Bank match, or will they be doing something else entirely, like ShowMiz defending their unified tag team titles?

As for Raw last night, we got another show that was very light on wrestling, with terrible guest hosts and a blatant lack of logic with the number one storyline heading into Wrestlemania.

Jewel and her husband Ty Murray seemed confident in front of the crowd and were at least well spoken, but like so many other guest hosts they were obviously out of their element and their bullriding segment was atrocious, although Big Show and The Miz did what they could to save it.

Jericho’s opening promo was very good as usual, and I like how they had Edge tell the world that he would be challenging him for his title with an emphatic spear. 

There was a decent 6 man tag team match in which Evan Bourne actually got the pin, ShowMiz retaining their tag titles, Chrisitan winning a money in the bank qualifying match, and we have a new divas champion. Yay! Well at least she’s hot.

I like what they’re doing with Orton from the looks of the 6 man match, with him giving the through the ropes DDT to Cody Rhodes and the RKO to Ted Dibiase. It looks like his face turn is imminent.

I’m also happy to see that they’re still going to have the money in the bank match at Wrestlemania despite having a pay per view of the same name later in the year. I’m also happy that Chrisitan is in it, and even though the other 7 participants have yet to qualify, I think he should be the one to win it.

The best segment of the night by far was the Michaels/Undertaker promo with an awesome video package. Fans were split on whether they wanted to see this rematch, but I think after seeing how well they have started to build and will continue to build this match, and how good the actual match will be, people will look back on it as a great decision, no matter who wins. For the record, I’d really like to see Michaels break the streak. If anyone is going to do it, it should be him. I wanted to see him win last year but this year I am really pulling for him, even though I know that if he lost, his “retirement” wouldn’t last more than 5 or 6 months.

The main event match/segment with Cena and Batista started off poorly, but by the end of it I actually found myself kind of enjoying it. I mentioned a lack of logic regarding this angle above because it should have been Sheamus vs. Cena with the number one contendership on the line if both men had a return title match clause. But then again this is pro wrestling, where logic takes a back seat many times to whatever the booker, in this case Vince McMahon, thinks will be the best for business. And I could see his reasoning I guess, with not wanting Sheamus to be defeated cleanly and keep him looking like a strong main eventer. But it still doesn’t make much sense from the average fan’s point of view.

That was a good beatdown by Batista to Cena though, especially with the repeated stiff chair shots to his back and the way he kept coming back to beat him down more when he saw him attempting to get up. That was an effective segment to build towards what will obviously be a blockbuster match, but probably one that isn’t too well-wrestled.

The overall rumored card for Wrestlemania looks stacked and with four official matches already announced it’s really starting to take shape nicely. I think the WWE is on the right path with most of these feuds and there is the potential for this to be a really good show. That being said, taking the EC PPV by itself and Raw last night by itself and rating them based on their sheer entertainment value, I’d have to give both about a 5 out of 10.

They are headed in the right direction on the road to Wrestlemania, but starting next week, for the March 1 Raw, they need to pick up the pace and start putting on really exciting shows if they want Wrestlemania 26 to be the overall success that it can be.

Say what you want about whether Sheamus is deserving of this push he has been getting, but you have to admit that the WWE is doing as much as they can to push him as a monster main event heel and credible champion.

He opened the show with a solid match vs. Randy Orton, which he won after interference from Legacy, and then closed out the show by interfering in the John Cena vs. Triple H match and laying out both of them.

Like many fans out there, I didn’t take him too serious when he first won the title and didn’t think much of him. But over the past few weeks, and especially last night, the WWE has been doing a great job of building his character and making him one of the major heels on Raw. And since his Raw debut, I have seen significant improvement in both his ring and mic work, which is really a credit to him more than how he’s being used.

Is he ready for a big championship match with Triple H at Wrestlemania 26? I think so, as long as they don’t make it the last match. I can actually see this match selling some pay per views by itself if they continue to build it properly and continue to make Sheamus look like a strong champion. Prior to the past couple weeks, I felt like this match would just be on Wrestlemania and matches like Edge vs. Jericho, Hart vs. McMahon, Cena vs. Batista, and Michaels vs. Undertaker II would really sell the show. But now they are on the right path to making people really want to see Triple H win the title from Sheamus.

Speaking of Hart vs. McMahon, we may have gotten a wrench thrown in that plan with the apparent worked injury of Hart last night. Maybe they will use this as an excuse to not have the singles match and interject Cena and Batista, or maybe it’s just another twist along the way to the planned match. I hope we still get the singles match but if it’s going to be a detriment to Hart’s health, or if he can’t go anywhere near the level he’d like to, then by all means make it a tag match or even put them in Cena and Batista’s corners if need be.

Great Khali was right about the Jerry Springer segment. What a gigantic waste of time. There were some humorous moments, but really this kind of stuff has no place on a wrestling show, and this is a perfect example of why the guest host concept is really doing more harm than good to the quality of the show. They feel the need to make the guest host play a major part on the show and usually these types of segments are just nonsense that take away from matches, promo time and building towards the next pay per view. There’s already not enough time to build feuds between pay per views because there are too damn many of them per year, but when they do these types of things it makes it even worse. And they wonder why Survivor Series bombed.

I admitted that I was entertained by William Shatner a couple weeks ago, and there have been several good guest hosts, but that doesn’t make it alright or worthwhile. And the guest host concept is supposed to continue after Wrestlemania, which is a shame. All we can hope for in the future, as long as there are going to be guest hosts, is that they minimize their roles on the show and just have them set up matches for the night or something else that won’t take away from the show too much.

Getting back to stuff that matters, I think the WWE is very intrigued by the idea of turning Randy Orton face again based on the past month or so. I think they planned for Dibiase to turn face at first, but now it looks like they might keep both members of Legacy heel and turn Orton face. They are testing the waters by putting him in heel vs. heel matches with Sheamus, and Orton has been getting some good fan reactions, especially last night. He got a pretty good pop from his RKO’s on Cody Rhodes and Sheamus after the match.

I think Orton is needed right now and in the near future much more as a heel, but I could see him having a very successful run as a face too. If there is anyone on the roster that has the capability to make the WWE a big time TV ratings force and pay per view draw once again, it’s Randy Orton. I think he could do it as a face, but I’d rather see him do it as a heel with a true counterpart, not John Cena, that can lift the company back to an Attitude Era level of popularity, if that’s even possible. The developments regarding Orton’s character, along with Legacy, will be one of the more interesting things to watch from now through April.

First off, I really liked seeing Christian open up the show last night and although I was hoping he would get the win, Sheamus needed it more at this point to keep him strong for the next month and a half heading into Wrestlemania.

I was hoping even more that it would be a title unification bout, with the ECW title being merged into the WWE title, but it looks like the WWE is content to just let the ECW championship become defunct on February 23. If nothing else comes out of this year, I at least hope they finally merge the world titles back together to form an undisputed championship, or they can just call it the WWE championship. I think there have been some signs that they are considering doing this at some point down the road.

You could see the result of the undisputed tag team championship match coming from a mile away. DX is starting their break up, Shawn Michaels is out of control and obsessed with getting his rematch with the Undertaker, and The Miz is on a roll right now and in the midst of a big push, so it makes sense for he and Big Show to hold the titles going into Wrestlemania.

I like how Cody Rhodes got the upset win over Randy Orton, but you could see that Rhodes is still on his side and ultimately it will be Ted Dibiase breaking off from Legacy as a face and probably fighting Orton at Wrestlemania. Rhodes could also be added into that match to make it a triple threat, and there is also a slight possibility that Orton could be the one turning face with the other two staying heel. We’ll just have to wait and see.

The Dibiase/John Cena match was really a non-match that led to a Cena promo in which he effectively furthered two feuds, his own with Batista and Vince McMahon/Bret Hart. I’ve been enjoying the exchanges between Cena and McMahon and they are actually bringing out some better promos from Cena.

This set up Bret Hart’s attack on McMahon from behind, as he had security blocking the entranceway. After security broke it up and got McMahon out of there, Bret Hart went crazy Survivor Series 97 style, damaging all kinds of electrical equipment, and tripping and almost getting hit by a big electrical box in the process. He  went and destroyed the cameras on the announce table and then got back into the ring. The show went off the air with a nice pop for Bret as the Wrestlemania 26 sign was in the background.

That was a great way to end the show and definitely left you with a much better feeling about Hart’s ability to at least participate in a street fight with McMahon than last week’s showing did, despite the electrical box almost falling on top of him. But as long as the Hitman is able to dish out some punishment and take a little too, if not to his head, than they need to go ahead with the one on one matchup, or it’s really going to be a huge letdown. Cena/Hart vs. Batista/McMahon won’t do, and Cena vs. Batista with Hart in Cena’s corner and McMahon in Batista’s corner definitely won’t do at this point. We need to see Bret Hart vs. Vince McMahon in a no-DQ streetfight at Wrestlemania 26. It has been set up well for that to happen, and it might be the only match on the card that has the potential to pull in casual or old time viewers.

My expectations were high for this show, and it didn’t really deliver. Maybe it’s me, but I expected a show that was the night after one of the biggest pay per views of the year (Royal Rumble), with a very popular guest host (William Shatner) and an advertised segment with a follow up to the Bret Hart/Vince McMahon saga to really be fantastic. Instead, we got another somewhat dull offering from the WWE on Monday night, with the Hart/McMahon feud falling to an awkward, and arguably embarrassing level.

Before I get to that, I will say that William Shatner was great in the guest GM role and the stuff that creative had him do was pure comedy gold. I’m no Star Trek fan and not really a huge fan of Shatner, but I’d consider him to be the best Raw guest host yet. In one of the few pieces of business he actually took care of besides the comedic stuff he did, he set up what should be an interesting tag team title match next week on Raw between champions DX, the team of CM Punk and Luke Gallows and the team of The Miz and Big Show.

The show started off with a bang too, as Edge came out and gave a very good promo on his return and his plan to make a decision on which champion to face after the Elimination Chamber PPV.

Speaking of the EC PPV, we got matches all night to determine the six participants in Raw’s EC match for the WWE title. Sheamus is already the champion, so he didn’t have to qualify, but the five others who won their matches and gained entry were John Cena, Triple H, Randy Orton, Ted Dibiase and Kofi Kingston.

All were decent matches for TV but nothing special. The most interesting thing that came out of this was Orton’s defeat of Shawn Michaels, who continued on a downward spiral after being eliminated in the Royal Rumble the night before. I don’t know where they’re going with this but I’m really starting to hope that Michaels gets his match with Undertaker and actually ends the streak.

The show up to this point was solid and built towards the next pay per view nicely, but I guess what soured me on the overall show was the last segment with Hart, McMahon and Batista. First off, Hart was never great on the mic, but I feel that he progressed throughout his career and was at a pretty decent level with his promos by 1997. However, a decade away from the ring and all the things that have happened since his last match has not only hurt his physical capabilities but also left him very rusty on the mic as well.

It’s not that what Bret said didn’t make sense or wasn’t well spoken, it’s just that his promo was very dry and boring, much more so than normal, to the point where you could see the future of this feud suffering badly before Vince came out and gave a very cutting, shoot-like style promo on Bret. The crowd was losing interest in Bret’s promo before that point, but Vince made a nice recovery.

Then, Bret’s attack on Vince when he insulted his father Stu was also quite sad to watch, as he moved slowly and gingerly, punching the 64 year old McMahon hockey-fight style. But it was about to get worse. When Batista ran down to the ring to make the save for Vince, I literally felt scared for Bret and thought to myself, “he just better watch his head.” That’s not a good thing for fans to be thinking about a wrestler who is one of the greatest of all time and supposedly getting ready to have a street fight at Wrestlemania. Batista flirted with his patented Batista power bomb before thinking better of it and just holding Hart for McMahon to spit on. You could say that was a brilliant move to bring the story full circle from when Bret spit on Vince in Montreal in 97, but really it just made Bret look pathetic and the whole display felt like a genuine show of disrespect towards the Hitman.

And judging by what happened after Raw went off the air, with Cena hitting the ring for the save, it appears this feud just got even more disappointing. The hand writing is on the wall for a John Cena vs. Batista match at Wrestlemania with Hart in Cena’s corner and McMahon in Batista’s corner. After the likely Cena win, Hart will apply the sharpshooter to McMahon and bring closure to this 12+ year feud. It all is very clear now with the direction they’re taking this.

I hope I’m proven wrong and the WWE decides to swerve us all on this one with a much better solution, but I don’t see that happening. It’s painfully obvious that Bret is in no condition to wrestle, even if he were to dish out 100% of the offense in a glorified squash match.  With the direction they are headed in right now, this is not something that’s going to sell thousands more pay per views to casual fans and old time fans of Bret Hart.

There is still a lot of time before Wrestlemania and more twists will likely occur in this angle. But WWE really needs to start picking up it’s game if it wants to do a huge buy rate for Elimination Chamber and Wrestlemania and effectively fend off TNA when they start going head to head with them on Monday nights.