Man, that first segment did not click. We get a random RAW diva just because she was in a SB commercial. And I wasn't big on the banter between Y2J and Hassan, either....Decent 5 minute opening match though. Still tough to gauge how good (or bad) Hassan is....So what, Snitsky is the heel version of Kane?....The tag title match was okay, but now who does Regal and Tajiri defend against next week?....
I liked the Christian/Orton match, and especially the stiff kick by Tomko. Seems the big kicks were hitting their mark all around tonight (Regal, Tomko, Kane)....The Trish/Christy segment was interesting for one reason: it looked like Trish got her implants taken out....The Kane/Simon segment was nothing, and WWE has done a textbook job of burying Dean....
Interesting that Piper was the man named tonight for the H.O.F. That should be some acceptance speech....Was Trips wearing the Harley Race honorary mustache/beard combo tonight for a reason? I could almost see his double-chin....I expected the Main Event to be short due to it starting 5 minutes before the top of the hour, but man, they did a nice job of ignoring Edge at the end. He did get a lot of offense in, though.
(edited by geemoney on 14.2.05 2325) College, Sports and More!: Experience It
I was interested in the way Jericho just spoke tonight. It was very old school jericho, even in some of his offense with the "posing pin" manuever. I liked it.
No Chris Benoit? Fo shame...
Hats off to Orton and Christian. Excellent match. I admit, the final spot was beautifully done and the crowd was really into Orton tonight.
Originally posted by geemoneyThe Trish/Christy segment was interesting for one reason: it looked like Trish got her implants taken out....
Trish just wasn't wearing her pushup bra as she normally does whenever she's on TV, and as a result she looked a lot more normally proportioned.
Now, the question is, who was driving the limo? I don't think it was JBL, as this would be a setup by Triple H to try to get Batista to jump to Smackdown. Unlike the promos Trips is having aired, this seems like it'd be something that might actually work, so I'm guessing on Smackdown JBL will plead innocence and get Batista thinking.
So Shelton's gotten the "fighting champion" tag, which is WWE for "we don't want to be bothered coming up with a feud for you, just go beat jobbers." That said, if they finally do decide to give him a real challenger, I hope it's not Snitsky.
The Simon Dean segment actually bothered me a bit from a storyline perspective. He's supposed to be a sponsor of the show, right? If he's really so unwilling to wrestle Kane, why isn't he off threatening Eric to try to get out of it? I know, I know, WWE doesn't care, why should I ...
Ling-Ling into battle go Fulfill destiny of the soul Sever skull of adversary Shove it in the poo-poo hole
All the children sing: Kill kill kill kill die die die Kill kill kill kill die die die....
Originally posted by Shem the PenmanThe Simon Dean segment actually bothered me a bit from a storyline perspective. He's supposed to be a sponsor of the show, right? If he's really so unwilling to wrestle Kane, why isn't he off threatening Eric to try to get out of it? I know, I know, WWE doesn't care, why should I ...
Actually, this time, they do. A couple of months back Simon signed a wrestling contract with Raw as a way to better get out his message.
"He is the most overrated piece of crap in the league. He bitched and whined after he got his ass beaten in New England last year, so the NFL changed the rules. Then he got his ass beaten in New England again. Every year he's the top MVP candidate. Every year he's supposed to be the best. Every year he's going to carry the Colts to the Super Bowl. And every single year he goes to New England and gets his ass beaten. And his brother's a whiny little bitch." -A friend of mine, on Peyton Manning
Granted, I'm about three months behind on Smackdown, but shouldn't they be working just a LITTLE bit harder to give the impression that JBL just might NOT be the WWE Champion next week? Tonight's show sure seemed like a great way to sabotage the buyrate of No Way Out with something like ZERO mentions of The Big Show. Hell, they mentioned Kurt Angle more than Show, didn't they? shrug
On the plus side, they managed to book a Snitsky match that didn't end when Kane ran out...well....given their chosen ending of "Snitsky snaps, gets DQ, nothing is proven," I GUESS that's just on the "plus" side of the line, anyway.
(edited by CRZ on 14.2.05 2309)
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Originally posted by CRZGranted, I'm about three months behind on Smackdown, but shouldn't they be working just a LITTLE bit harder to give the impression that JBL just might NOT be the WWE Champion next week? Tonight's show sure seemed like a great way to sabotage the buyrate of No Way Out with something like ZERO mentions of The Big Show. Hell, they mentioned Kurt Angle more than Show, didn't they? shrug
On the plus side, they managed to book a
(edited by CRZ on 14.2.05 2309)
That's the problem with having a PPV that doesn't have a main event featuring one giant tag match of some sort or someone fighting for the rights of #1 contender in between the Rumble and Mania.
I have a feeling the Raw title is going to look a whole lot better than the Smackdown title when this whole angle plays out. I would have never thought that the WWE would let the big gold belt get the better spot on their biggest show over their very own title two years running.
Originally posted by CRZGranted, I'm about three months behind on Smackdown, but shouldn't they be working just a LITTLE bit harder to give the impression that JBL just might NOT be the WWE Champion next week? Tonight's show sure seemed like a great way to sabotage the buyrate of No Way Out with something like ZERO mentions of The Big Show. Hell, they mentioned Kurt Angle more than Show, didn't they? shrug
On the plus side, they managed to book a
(edited by CRZ on 14.2.05 2309)
That's the problem with having a PPV that doesn't have a main event featuring one giant tag match of some sort or someone fighting for the rights of #1 contender in between the Rumble and Mania.
I have a feeling the Raw title is going to look a whole lot better than the Smackdown title when this whole angle plays out. I would have never thought that the WWE would let the big gold belt get the better spot on their biggest show over their very own title two years running.
Since last year the WWE has been pretty damn consistent with having the World Title overshadow the WWE Title. -#1: Chris Benoit, having won the Royal Rumble, chooses to go after the World Title instead of the WWE Title, even though he has a good reason (Brock Lesnar ducking him & Paul Heyman forbidding any more title shots for him) to face the WWE Champion. -#2: On co-branded pay-per-views, the World Title match has been the final match. WrestleMania had HBK/HHH/Benoit after Angle/Guerrero. SummerSlam had Benoit/Orton after JBL/Undertaker, Survivor Series had the RAW 8-man (which was, for all intents & purposes, a #1 contender's match) after JBL/Booker T, and the Royal Rumble had Orton/HHH after JBL/Show/Angle. -#3: Compare the branded PPV title matches: RAW: Benoit/HBK/HHH [Backlash], Benoit/Kane [Bad Blood], Benoit/HHH [Vengeance], HHH/Orton [Unforgiven], HHH/HBK [Taboo] & HHH/Benoit/Jericho/Edge/Batista/Orton [New Year's] SD: Guerrero/Lesnar [No Way Out], Guerrero/JBL [JD & GAB], JBL/Taker [No Mercy], JBL/Guerrero/Booker/Taker [Armageddon] RAW has a definate edge on variety & quality of contenders & champions. Backlash had a good promotion strategy ("The Final Encounter") and New Year's Revolution had the Elimination Chamber. In my eyes, none of the Smackdown matches (with the exception of Guerrero/Lesnar at No Way Out and Guerrero/Angle at WrestleMania) have had a "Big Match Feel".
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My God, Trish looked beyond hot last night. As somebody on this very board once said, when they're not pushed up all the way to her chin, she looks SO much more normal and not a cartoon...and very, very excellent.
And props for the night's verbal sparrings go to Y2J: not just for the "C'MON BABY!" pin attempt, for which I marked out for, but for his citings of the major media outlets that picked up on Whatshername Diva's Super Bowl ad controversy:
"...LA Times, New York Times, Sheboygan Free Press..."
Awesome (and confirming the Sesame Street theory: Television + somebody saying "Sheboygan" = Hilarity.)
Star wipe, and...we're out. Thrillin' ain't easy.
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Man, that Christian vs. Orton match was just awesome. By the end, the crowd was actually cheering for both guys, and they were living and dying on the nearfalls. A match like that just makes everyone involved look better.
I don't like the finish to the Orton/Christian match. Neither guy has anything lined up right now, so why not extend the feud? They've been playing the "Orton gets knocked loopy" card the last few weeks, so why not have the Tomko boot continue that theme? Christian gets a bit of a rub, Orton has an excuse for losing, and both guys have something on their plate. Maybe play it out to WM? As it is now, both guys are left directionless, and Christian's position as a jobber gets solidified. Good match & all, but I just think Christian should have gotten the win.
Jericho's springboard shoulder block was pretty sweet. He should work that into his regular moveset. Good match w/ Hassan, mostly because Jericho was in control for the majority of the match.
This Chris Masters dude - I'm not looking forward this guy debuting. He just screams "generic muscle dude."
HHH's new facial hair style might be to cover up the fact his face is beginning to look like it's made out of leather, and to balance out the way his hair gets girlier every week.
But who's the driver? ... Rikishi.
That's exactly what i thought. I didn't like the way HHH was made out to be the big caring hero so much. Although he was doing some textbook talking and talking and talking while they were walking down the corridor, his softly spoken "got your back", along with the dive into the conveniently placed pile of cardboard boxes & soft packaging, gets a bit of pathos going, and makes it difficult to imagine Batista getting legitimately pissed off with him for being selfish etc. I guess i'm just getting to excited about the prospect of a Batista Bomb on HHH sometime soon.
Regal's finisher is a running knee? A KNEE?
Yeh, that was quite poor (but no more pathetic that the WWE Champion's finisher being a clothesline, even if it is FROM HELL) Tajiri's final kick at the end of that match was awesome.
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Enjoyable RAW all around for me. One question though, in the HOF segment, when showing the Iron Shiek in teh ring, with his flag, saluting, he is wearing a belt, but it isnt one of the WWF belts from the era. Any clue as to which belt it was? Looked like the OLD (real old) National or US title from NWA days.
Originally posted by shinstrifeNo Chris Benoit? Fo shame...
Benoit wrestled on International Heat. (Since in the U.S., it'll be build-up to No Way Out)
There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened. - The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
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Speaking of The Rock, no one mentions that this move is where he got the "laying the smack down" catchphrase. That was the name of his floatover DDT, a move he stopped doing once he became a big-time main-eventer.