Good opening segment and I thought Benjamin handled himself fine on the mic....Good tag match. Benjamin's kick to Benoit was off, but Tomko's to Shelton sure wasn't. Good buildup for WM....Don't know why Christy won, as usually, the heel does the beat-down here. I guess they wanted to show that Christy really DOES have a chance in this match....
Nice video package hyping 'Taker's win streak....Lack of flow hurt the tag title match....Michaels/Hassan was okay, nothing earth-shattering though....The confrontation was good, and a nice visual of Batista throwing the rent-a-cops off of him....As expected, the week before WM was light on wrestling, and high on hype.
The highlight segment was just well done, playing into each guys strengths. I think edge did really well on the microphone tonight, with his simple threat concearing "broken necks"
the two things that surprisngly made me mark out a bit was the taker hype video and the Batista/HHH tape, with the clashing visuals and speeches.
I'm reactionary, I know. I'm making too much of it, I know. But that throat-cutting gesture Hassan gave Shawn (while a great wrestling visual, and that's what matters I suppose) is just a mite too close for comfort when people are being beheaded by terrorists. It's just me, I'm sure. I'm not calling for a boycott or some communal outrage. It just made me wince. I didn't like it. I thought it crossed the line.
If the crowd could vote for the champ, Batista would win hands down. I'm surprised he didn't eat a Pedigree on this, the show before the big PPV.
Jericho's beard o'evil suggests he'll turn after the PPV. Against who? Hey, maybe Christian in a double turn. The lovely Mrs. Tracker was concerned for Benoit, and we're not sure if he was selling the injury or truly wobbly before and after the flying headbutt to Christian. Shelton sounded much better this time, and she was a bit too intrigued by his deep voice for my comfort.
Kane did NOTHING and batted clean-up. Even Tomko worked the match. TOMKO! Kane wimped out.
Orton shall DIE at WM. Die and die again and then die just out of habit. He's dead, you all. D-E-D. Dead. I think.
Maybe she's just preparing herself to be on the market again, but Lita was never looked better. She's got ab definition again, her hair color was tweaked and her make-up looked great. She stole the show from the other two divas.
"To be the man, you gotta beat demands." -- The Lovely Mrs. Tracker
Me, I'm amazed that they didn't just book Orton/Kane as a warmup and spare us yet another promo and yet another blue spotlight/pyrotechnics "supernatural occurrence."
Hassan/Michaels was better than I expected, nonfinish aside.
I'm actually liking the Maven/Dean team. It's not like either of them are setting the world on fire solo, and they seem to have a bit of chemistry. The tag title match was crap, though -- the epitome of paying lip service to the titles' continued existence.
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....
I swear, the music cue guy always screws up Hassan's theme. First he plays Haas's theme at the wrong time, then he plays Hassan's theme instead of HBK's. I think they need to label all the H themes better.
Originally posted by JSTDid any Canadians get the opening promo cut out by whatever problem, only to come back to the six-man tag after a lengthy commercial break?
-Whenever I doubt Benoit's awesomeness, I shall look back to his manly headbutt to Tomko mere minutes into the match and the ensuing manly bloodloss. Randy Orton should take note: THIS is how you wear the crimson mask. From the look of it, they didn't even change the booking after the bloodletting. I don't get WHY they didn't put Kane into Tomko's place in the 6-man, though. -I still don't care about Trish vs. Christy. JR didn't sound too excited either, hyping "Arm wrestling!!" Still, I don't know where they can go with the Women's division either way. -While I LOVE the old school videos, seeing half the damn arena blurred out (The Rock's belt, the TitanTron, the entrance, the microphones, the turnbuckles...) is damn annoying. -Heel Orton is great, because it allows us to channel our smarky hatred of his actions on screen and off to bleed together. That said, Orton's RKO was a lot more appealing when he did it with two hands, Diamond Cutter style. I LOVED the Undertaker Victim video package. Very well-done. -A Tag Title Match? RAW has Tag Teams? AMAZING! -Why are we supposed to dislike Hassan again? If they keep giving him nothing to do, I have no reason to give a shit either way.
Seriously, any awards should not go to "WM Movie Trailers" but should go to the WWE video package department. The Undertaker video was amazing, with great visuals, especially the lingering view of Diesel resting in peace. Then here comes the HHH/Batista video. I am not that enthused in this World Title match, but the video turned me around. Even if the wrestling is poor, the drama is there for me.
Raw was great because of another great Texas crowd. Fort Worth deserves a PPV after their enthusiasm last night. I doubt the LA crowd will give WM 21 as much heat as Texas did. When the crowd last night were all cheering a Shelton Benjamin SHOULDERBLOCK, I knew that they were hot. They made sitting through another arm-wrestling match enjoyable.
Sky Sports lost the feed for 10 minutes just as the 'Hsrry Met Sally' parody started and didn't get it back until Christy and Trish were about to start their arm wrestling match.
Now we have to stay up until 3 am to watch Raw live since we had to mess about putting the clocks forward 1 hour. The perils of being a UK WWE fan !
(edited by mikebuk on 29.3.05 1047) Mike Brailsford
Hardway juice!!! Those hurt like heck. I got juiced like that in a match from a headbutt last year, trust me, no feeling good. Great promo video for taker, but I didn't like the image of the hanging of bossman. And I agree 100% on Haasan's throat cutting image, it was a little too far.
More Ravishing than Rick Rude could have dreamed of, and I get the kind of women Rick would have loved, Marvelous Matt Mercerbr>LAter God bless Marvelous Matt Mercer www.MattMercer.tk
Originally posted by JSTDid any Canadians get the opening promo cut out by whatever problem, only to come back to the six-man tag after a lengthy commercial break?
Yup...I found the timing to be really terrible.
Speaking of questionable Canadian production values...if showing intergender violence is a no-no on Canadian TV...why did they replay Orton's RKO to Stacy TWICE last night?
I liked the Bischoff-Batista dialog. I hope I see a "BISCHOFF=GIMP" sign somewhere at WMXXI.
After yesterday's RAW, and Thursday's Smackdown...I'm more excited about Batista-HHH than Cena-JBL. Tha's only because, after last Thursday, I'm hating the way they're booking Cena.
Oh yeah...awesome Taker video...but I also agree with the blurring thing. C'mon, WWE...just cut a cheque to the Panda people and make an arrangement to use the scratch logo. (I know it's not that easy, but we can only hope)
Gotta love the crowd chanting "USA!" during the 3-way tag match, when the face team is comprised of an English & a Japanese guy. I guess they were cheering for Maven/Simon Dean? Or maybe Rob Conway?
It wasn't the throat slashing gesture that ticked me off with the Hassan match, it was the complete and utter 'burial' of sorts that transpired with that finish. A DQ? After the botched DQ against Benoit? I don't know, but the whole "Never been beat on Raw" angle they wanted to run with him is pretty meaningless at this point. Perhaps it's just me and the fact that I want this guy to get over in a major way, and not just with cheap "boo towelhead boo" heat, either.
Slow, plodding Raw for me. The highlight for me, as mentioned, was probably the Batista/Triple H promo package.
"Maybe I'm getting off topic, but this thread already sucks, so I don't feel bad about it. " -LotusMegami
"The only way TV Gangrel could change is if Real Gangrel changed." -Filipino Elvis
Benoit does a throat slash for two years after beheadings start getting press and nobody mentions it, yet Hassan does it once and people are acting like its the end of the world. You see, its this double standard that has Arab Americans outraged!
Also, why are poeople constantly looking for blurred WWF logos when they show old packages, and complaining about them? You all KNOW it is going to happen, yet every single time they show one, people act like whatever it is that was the actual focus of the clip wasnt even there. I just dont get it.
ALl that aside, great show, helped along by a super hot crowd! Benoit juices hard, and takes it like a man, the little wobble on the top rope was great, be it real or worked. Good way to highlight all the workers and build excitement for the match. This almost makes me want to order the PPV. Even Tomko looked passable in this match. Kane coming in at the end and laying waste to people was unneeded, but still gave a good indication where they are probably going with the finish.
Lita may be looking good, but knowing she A) is a cheater and B) would accept Edges spear, makes me find her utterly repulsive.
HBK vs Hassan was okay as far a a match goes, Hassan has skills, I think he just cant call a match yet, and having HBK in there with him makes him look a lot better. Angle running in was great.
Christy beating trish in Arm wrestling was YAWN inspiring, but, what can be said about an arm wrestling match anyway? Nice of Lillian to take a bump for stroyline purposes.
HH and Batista, slow build, awesome heat, good potential for a short, but violent match, and the promos have been great. (except the half hour HHH love fest) this is the most excited about a main even I have been in a long, long time.
The Highlight Reel was nice, and it put as much heat as possible on a match where the participants aren't really in a blood feud with one another. Good mic work by Edge (as well as Christian). WWE has to be concerned that Shelton got booed a little in that segment. It's understandable why it happened, bu it still isn't a good thing.
The opening six man was wild. Benoit bled a gusher considering it was hardway. I liked the sequence where everybody was nailing everybody regardless of what team they were on. Tomko almost decapitated Shelton with that big boot. I really think that Shelton has that "it" factor in the ring that will make him a star. I believe the reason Kane wasn't in the match was so Tomko, who doesn't have a match Sunday, could eat the fall for them. The ladder carnage with Kane at the end was an awesome visual.
Why was the Michaels-Hassan match booked? Hassan didn't go over, and he wasn't made to look particularly good. I really don't understand, unless they're planning to do a rematch a Backlash or something.
The Taker video was sweet, but Orton's promo was just OK. However, it did a great job building for the match overall. The Kane-Orton interaction was intriguing.
The Batista-HHH hype was very well done in my opinion. That video package was sweet beyond belief. Batista was really funny with Bischoff, and his reactions to HHH's promo in the ring were great. The way he just played it cool said more than a promo ever could. And I can't remember the last time a guy got his name chanted that loudly for so long. I think it's safe to say that the Batista turn has been a success.
And am I the only one seeing the WWE maybe trying to make Cena a Stone Cold type character and Batista a Rock type character. Cena is of course the foul mouthed everyman who rebels against authority. Batista is calm, cool, well dressed, and often very funny. Maybe I'm reading too much into this, but I definitely see a lot of similarities.
Originally posted by BigSteveThe Highlight Reel was nice, and it put as much heat as possible on a match where the participants aren't really in a blood feud with one another. Good mic work by Edge (as well as Christian). WWE has to be concerned that Shelton got booed a little in that segment. It's understandable why it happened, bu it still isn't a good thing.
The opening six man was wild. Benoit bled a gusher considering it was hardway. I liked the sequence where everybody was nailing everybody regardless of what team they were on. Tomko almost decapitated Shelton with that big boot. I really think that Shelton has that "it" factor in the ring that will make him a star. I believe the reason Kane wasn't in the match was so Tomko, who doesn't have a match Sunday, could eat the fall for them. The ladder carnage with Kane at the end was an awesome visual.
Why was the Michaels-Hassan match booked? Hassan didn't go over, and he wasn't made to look particularly good. I really don't understand, unless they're planning to do a rematch a Backlash or something.
The Taker video was sweet, but Orton's promo was just OK. However, it did a great job building for the match overall. The Kane-Orton interaction was intriguing.
The Batista-HHH hype was very well done in my opinion. That video package was sweet beyond belief. Batista was really funny with Bischoff, and his reactions to HHH's promo in the ring were great. The way he just played it cool said more than a promo ever could. And I can't remember the last time a guy got his name chanted that loudly for so long. I think it's safe to say that the Batista turn has been a success.
And am I the only one seeing the WWE maybe trying to make Cena a Stone Cold type character and Batista a Rock type character. Cena is of course the foul mouthed everyman who rebels against authority. Batista is calm, cool, well dressed, and often very funny. Maybe I'm reading too much into this, but I definitely see a lot of similarities.
Cena: I agree, to a point. The big thing missing from the comparison, and I actually think it should be there, is dissension with authority. Sure, Cena FU'ed Teddy Long, but they are not on bad terms in general. To make a "rebel" or "outsider" character truly work, you need to have an evil figurehead for him to rebel against, i.e. Vince McMahon for Austin. That's why I feel like Cena has really been shining lately; JBL, as the tried-and-true snobby blue blood character, finally gives Cena somewhat of an authority figure to oppose. But otherwise, the Austin comparison is incomplete.
Batista: I hesitate to say that Batista is Rock-like, mainly because Batista is being built up as a monster, whereas Rocky was never portrayed as such. Batista, while cool and funny, is the guy who beats you down and then laughs about it. Whereas Rock is the guy who mouths off to you and you kick his ass, but he comes back at the end with the miracle win.
Good show. Loved the opening segment, that part of it that I could see. Really bad timing, considering I was into what they were saying. My guess is Kane wasn't in the match because he's a face now, and he would have had to be on the heel team. I hope he's not winning because he is the least over in the entire match from the sound of it, and he's been moonlighting in other people's storylines a lot (HHH/Batista last week, Orton/Taker this week).
The arm-wrestling match may not have been the greatest buildup in history, but considering one of the participants is a non-wrestler there's only so many things you can do. Trish's stalling was excellent, especially the curls with the belt. She is such a good heel it's ridiculous.
I will be the first to complain about the 'Taker video. It should have gone from one to twelve, and then showed thirteen and put Orton in there. Also, did they have to show Bossman being hung? He's dead in real life, it struck me as tasteless. It's not like the hanging was the finish, he lost to a tombstone if I recall correctly. So just show that, instead of him hanging. And at least don't show it multiple times.
The beheading gesture with Hassan is different than when Benoit does it because Hassan was doing it to someone else. It is sort of uncomfortable, but not moreso than showing the racist signs every single week in a way that encourages them. He's from fucking Detroit, why would he have a camel? Where would he keep it? Why won't they let him point out that the USA chants are misguided at best?
The final hype has been strong for HHH/Batista, but the last couple weeks really hurt it. Great pullapart, but I'm not a fan of debates main event two shows in a row.
Hot Virgins-The World's Most Steadily Shrinking Commodity
I'm too tired to think. Who was 1? I didn't see a picture. I coulda swore it was Hogan.
Benjamin is IT. Like it or not he's going to bust his ass and get over whether they want him to or not. And unlike RVD he is homegrown so I expect they'll have to relent at some point after realizing Orton is a piece of Crap. Capital C required.
All the cruisers on SD, all the tag teams on Raw. All the women on... aw fuck them for firing Gail Kim.
Bautista needs to just call HHH a pussy already.
Let me restate one of the great DEAN'S~! points: Suck my ass Shaw. Lose already. And not by interference fucker.
Thread ahead: TNA going after Raw's timeslot on SpikeTV Next thread: Whats the latest on the Dudley's Previous thread: Booker sticking around for 2 more years
The argument would be better if you used Test, who went from trying to burn American flags (oh wait, the WWF/E wants you to forget about it, so it never happened) to defender of female virtue.