Overall highlight for me: The six-pack IC challenge. I love seeing competition between heels and the segment with Nitro and Orton trying to out-heel each other was great!
And for as much as I'm hoping for some new feuds, I'm wary of Edge vs. DX.
TEN YEARS AGO IN WRESTLING HISTORY: SEPTEMBER 1996 WWF: Shawn Michaels d. Mankind at Mind Games, one of the 90's best matches. Also, some guy named Steve Austin made it his personal mission to bring Bret Hart back to the ring.
WCW: The nWo prevailed in War Games with the help of a Fake Sting. The real Sting walked out on WCW, kicking off one of the biggest angles in the company's history.
The opening talk-fest was alright, and at least it set up the main event. Nice to see Cade and Murdoch getting something to do, and a little continuity to boot....The "Vince condolences" thankfully weren't too overdone....Another no contest in the Umaga/Kane feud, but it was a brutal match....
Didn't see much of Flair/Johnny. I keep thinking every little loss is going to signify a Spirit Squad victory....The "everybody comes out during interview segment" is a bit hackneyed, but it gave everyone something to do....
Unfortunately, I saw little of the match, because what I did see looked good....I think Candice/Lita went a bit long....I didn't think the main event was too bad, but Edge getting his ass kicked at the end was a bit of a mystery.
6-pack challenge was pretty great. In fact, I think it's my favorite free tv match of the year. Rest of the show was hit and miss, but I did think Edge's mic work was pretty awesome if he got that crowd to cheer for Cena at all. And did I mishear, or was that Montreal crowd actually cheering for HBK at one point? That just ain't right.
The 6-way IC match wasn't that good, and the mic battle between Orton/Nitro/Masters was pretty bad. Pretty boring before the commercial break, then picked up a bit towards the end. Pretty funny seeing Hardy whiff on the railrun, then seeing Carlito sell it anyway. Average match, and certainly not anywhere near "best TV match of the year". Any number of matches on SD smoked that 6-man, as well as a few from Raw.
Lita/Candace surprised me. Lita is still horrible, but Candace shows a lot of potential (notice her sell the back the whole match). She's shown a lot of improvement. If she wants to stick with it, she could develop into a pretty decent wrestler. Good job, Candace. Keep up the good work.
The 6-man tag wasn't anywhere near as good as the ones over the last 2 weeks. Crowd seemed like it was pretty worn out by the end of the show (it was a SD/Raw supershow), as nobody really generated much of a reaction. Lame ending, and DX each hitting finishers on Edge was puzzling.
+Great atmosphere to start the show with Cena getting the PASSION from the crowd. -Don't really like him playing second fiddle to DX at the end there, though. And the crowd was really deflated by that ME finish. Edge did a good job at heeling, but I don't think the crowd wanted to see a smug Cena and Michaels get their licks in. +Cade and Murdoch held their own though. +Six-man was fun and actually established the IC belt as something that people actually want. Man, the crowd loves that Jeff Hardy a whole lot. They were so hot to see him win, and Nitro pulling the HTM and sneaking off with the belt every week is getting himself some big-time heat. -Johnny Jeter looked HORRIBLE. His punches had enough daylight Big Show could walk through. When they start quick cutting camera angles during punches, you can just imagine the look on Dunn and McMahon's face. +I think an angle a self-aware racism angle with Shelton would work. Especially if they treat it as ridiculous because the company has a black world champion and minorities placed throughout the upper card (less than positive characters nonewithstanding.) -Lita looks really, really bored out there. It's interesting, because Lita was so over and so big at one point that she could have been in the 'Stratus' tier of divas. Lita won't be getting the beautiful send-off that Trish got, though. I'd say that her career since the neck injury has been a disappointment and that all her heat simply comes from the real life stuff with Matt and Edge. It certainly isn't being generated by her performance. Her write-off will prolly be violent and humiliating.
But good show. I think the Ritalin is kicking in on the creative time because the last month or so, all the shows have been decent-good.
I was extremely happy, that even though they were in Montreal, there didn't seem to be any mention of screwing Bret.
Then I read the paper this morning and there was an article on Trish and at the end it said the next WWE PPV in Canada is Survivor Series 2007 in Montreal, the tenth anniversary of the screw job.
Other than that it was a very good Raw, first time I watched a full Raw in a long time and I actually enjoyed it from top to bottom.
Originally posted by MayhemSo is Shelton going to start the whole race gimmick? That's so played out.
You're just saying that because he's black.
Originally posted by Spaceman SpiffThe 6-way IC match wasn't that good, and the mic battle between Orton/Nitro/Masters was pretty bad. Pretty boring before the commercial break, then picked up a bit towards the end.
Agreed. Mostly formulaic Punchy-Punch offense and some cheap "you break up the pin then you break up the pin" stuff topped with a lazy PARADE OF THE MID-CARD FINISHERS ending segment. Quick note to the production truck - when Jim Ross says "we had some great action during the break," that's your cue to show a replay of SOMETHING.
Other reactions:
* I liked the opening segment, and them selling that even though Edge was upset with the result of the previous night's TLC match and wanted some revenge, it was most definitely the blow-off between the two for the time being. They need to start having Cena stick up for himself to the fans, though. Him ignoring the boos and/or sucking up to them for booing him just makes them hate him that much more.
* The first minute and a half of Umaga/Kane was WAY overbooked. It would've made sense if they did the DQ finish before the commercial break, but the fact that they did all that (including a ref bump) just as part of the first segment of the match is quite mystifying.
* All the "McMahon condolences" segments were a great way to give people TV time that normally wouldn't get it due to Creative's laziness. In particular, I think the Spirit Squad got more promo time in the segment where they talked about Johnny's match with Flair than they've had in the previous two or three months combined. And God bless Mikey - Johnny had them all wait up on the ramp and he still blew the airhorn like a trooper.
* On a somewhat related note - where were the Highlanders?
* It's weird that they had Mickie stand up to Lita and try to put her in her place, while the previous night at Unforgiven both Hardys just stood silent and let her completely punk them out.
* They need to stop having Johnny Nitro's character cut promos where he tells people how bad he is at cutting promos. It reeks of Lance Storm's "I'M TOTALLY BORING" gimmick, and it ain't gonna work this time either.
* Okay, maybe it's just me or that I'm accustomed to seeing him in the overalls on Smackdown...but is Super Crazy getting fatter every week or what?
* As much as I loathed the Cryme Tyme vignette, at least "homey's really wishing he had used MapQuest" made me chuckle for some reason. Nothing else in the segment did, though.
* HHH should've totally delivered that poem with his mouth covered in chocolate and finished with "and that's a Disasterpiece from HHHeidenreich."
* It might've been Trish's retirement match at Unforgiven, but last night's match made it apparent that Lita has already checked out as well. I haven't seen her perform that badly in the ring since...alright, maybe it was a few weeks ago, but still. Boo-urns to Lita.
* It's good to know that HHH and Michaels sulk like children during and after a match and be completely unmotivated if they don't get the reaction they want from a crowd. If anyone else had done that, they would've been torn a new one backstage for it.
Wait a second, so Raw can put on 2 hours of programming without Vince and Shane coming out for a 15 minute promo? The hell you say. They have set it right for them to both be off TV for a long long time, and they should really follow through on it. It sure seems like they wanted to show that shot of Shane looking dead to enforce that point, but we'll see.
And yeah, it's probably the most childish part of the show, but HHH's poem about Vince tossing Show's salad had me on the floor.
The 6 pack challenge is a good idea, but maybe it would have been a better idea to wait until buildup for Survivor Series, then lead that into a 6 man Elimination style match. I was thinking Survivor Series would be next, but forgot about CyberSunday (formerly Taboo Tuesday).
I quite liked RAW last night...it was fun to watch. I got a kick out of the set up for the six pack challenge. Seeing Orton and Nitro bust a gut after Masters' promo was brilliant; I've been doing the same thing since Masters debuted ages ago.
I could have sworn the WWE was going to put Cena in DX today. I half expected to see Cena do the crotch chop after their victory over Murdoch/Cade/Edge.
Speaking of Edge and Cena...I loved their opening promo. That was brilliant.
Not too much in the ways of "Bizarro World" yesterday. How many Canadians are there on the Raw roster? Heck, even the fans in Montreal weren't booing Michaels anymore.
Here, look at the monkey! Look at the silly monkey!
They don't amount to much as singles wrestlers, but Cade and Murdoch are an awesome team. I liked that they got the upper hand on the face team through entirely legal means. They need to transition the tag belts from the SS to DX to the Rednex.
To those who say people wouldn't look; they wouldn't be interested; they're too complacent, indifferent and insulated, I can only reply: There is, in one reporter's opinion, considerable evidence against that contention. But even if they are right, what have they got to lose? Because if they are right, and this instrument is good for nothing but to entertain, amuse and insulate, then the tube is flickering now and we will soon see that the whole struggle is lost. This instrument can teach, it can illuminate; yes, and it can even inspire. But it can do so only to the extent that humans are determined to use it to those ends. Otherwise it is merely wires, and lights, in a box.-Edward R. Murrow
True story: I too was lost in a desolate and somewhat-scary part of Brooklyn looking for the BQE just two nights ago. My wife was trying to get me to stop and ask for directions -- luckily, I did not give in, and thus the fate of Minivan Guy did not befall me.
I was not driving a minivan, nor was I trying to find the country club. I was, however, driving this and trying to find a small Middle Eastern restaurant acclaimed by New York Magazine and The New York Times' Eric Asimov, which I suppose is kind of the same idea.
Besides that, my favorite Raw moment from last night was when the ostensibly non-French-speaking director zoomed in on the big yellow "MANGE MOI CENA" sign during Cena's entrance. I'm not sure what they thought that meant, but I'm guessing they probably didn't think it was "Eat me Cena."
Originally posted by Spaceman SpiffThe 6-way IC match wasn't that good, and the mic battle between Orton/Nitro/Masters was pretty bad. Pretty boring before the commercial break, then picked up a bit towards the end. Pretty funny seeing Hardy whiff on the railrun, then seeing Carlito sell it anyway. Average match, and certainly not anywhere near "best TV match of the year". Any number of matches on SD smoked that 6-man, as well as a few from Raw.
As reasonable men, you and I can disagree on what the "best" match of the year has been, but please note that I only said that it was my favorite match, not that it was the best. It was a six-man spotfest with little to no psychology, so maybe it doesn't hold up under the definition of best. I just thought it was really fun and enjoyed the hell out of it.
Eh, I didn't think much of the six-way either. Too many bodies in the ring, not much coherent action. Super Crazy's top rope moonsault onto everyone was neato-keen, though.
I *would* like to see those guys in an Elimination Chamber match for the IC belt, though ... and it is around the time of the year when the EC emerges from hibernation ...
I'm kinda worried about the alignment of Cena and DX ... the Cena/Edge feud has been just fine so far, and adding two massive egos to it isn't going to help anyone, least of all Cena and Edge.
"I don't think anyone anticipated the breach of the levees." -- George W. Bush, Good Morning America, September 1, 2005
"President Washington, President Lincoln, President Wilson, President Roosevelt have all authorized electronic surveillance on a far broader scale." -- Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, February 6, 2006
Originally posted by Shem the PenmanI *would* like to see those guys in an Elimination Chamber match for the IC belt, though ... and it is around the time of the year when the EC emerges from hibernation ...
Hasn't that sorta been the signature match of New Year's Revolution in January?
Originally posted by MayhemHasn't that sorta been the signature match of New Year's Revolution in January?
Just for the last two. The first was at Survivor Series, the second at Summerslam.
"I don't think anyone anticipated the breach of the levees." -- George W. Bush, Good Morning America, September 1, 2005
"President Washington, President Lincoln, President Wilson, President Roosevelt have all authorized electronic surveillance on a far broader scale." -- Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, February 6, 2006
I only caught bits and pieces of the show last night, but to see HHH and Cena both pulling for the hot tag was just surreal. Just seems sorta wrong to see them buddy-buddy after WM this year.
I only caught the last hour, but I was impressed with the IC match. Spot fest or no, it showed guys busting their ass to be recognized as the number two champion on the show.
And, JR was actually on his A Game last night. Calling the "front Chancery" during the main event, AND not confusing Masters for Orton during the 6 pack challenge. (and those two are scarey alike these days in physique)
Lita was dead out there, bring back Mickey, make her the new Trish (they already set up the angle) and let her run with the belt.