-The build-up for ECW was very nicely done. Nice to see everyone back. Don’t know what I missed more, The Dudleyz or their goofy glasses.
-The Trips/Batista segment was very meh... The classic Hunter talking about his undefeated streak in HIAC (While excluding Armageddon 2000 every time) Followed by the classic Hunter HIAC video package. Followed by the classic “Hunter, we’re going to hell” line.
-Jericho’s Fozzy line to open the show was perfect.
-What exactly does Stacy do?
-Line of the Night: “That’s ‘Bischoff’ with two f’s”
-Overall: Great Raw. The St. Louis crowd was one of the best in recent memory. The HHH/Batista segment didn’t get me very excited about buying Vengeance, but Hell in a Cell is a gimmick that sells itself. The entire basis of having both champions on the same show seemed to be overshadowed all night by ECW. At the same time, I’m sure Vince secured many buys for the PPV in just the last 10 minutes of tonight’s Raw.
Great Raw. Cena coming out was surreal. His rap with Christian was the best stuff hes done in well over a year. No more ''PG'' rated raps. I say he gets a match with Christian at Vengeance and gets traded back but i would love if he stayed because he is more suited to live tv. I would love to see Trips win the belt and go to Smackdown. And Cena, it was Nitro that beat Raw 83 weeks in a row not the other way around.
In-ring was mainly Heat quality stuff.
ECW hype was really good. I hope Bischoff is like, ok you proved your point, go on with the show.
Overall I thought it was a fairly entertaining shows, even if the matches were somewhat lacking. We all know Cena's going back but the fact that the WWE decided to get some inital excitement to the draft is pretty cool I think. That and Cena's promo during the Highlight Reel was one of the best ones he's pulled out in a looong time.
So, revisionist history now has RAW defeating Nitro 83 straight weeks? True, they beat them more than 83 straight weeks at the end, but the 83 straight week winning streak was one of the last vestiges of WCW's pride. What's next, robbing WCW of the dignity of RoboCop? Not having watched SD in a year, I forgot how little I care for Cena. In the immortal words of Curt Hennig 'Rap is Crap.' Although with Cena, I was waiting for him to talk about rolling in his 5.0. Benoit is so important now they don't even show the end of his matches live. On the question of what Stacy does: Nothing. The better question is replacing the what with who. Considering the legacy of St. Louis wrestling, the worst lariats in wrestling history were thrown by the DivaCrapFest winner Christy. Only a few months until she is on the strip club tour doing shows as a former Playmate. Reaction to seeing the old ECW roster coming down the steps: The Homeless shelters will have a few extra beds tonight. In the old days, someone from a rival promotion would contact the New York police to issue a citation to Sandman on Sunday when he smokes in a public building. Hopefully the human sacrafice of Maven is the last sighting ever of that member of the Tough Enough Bunch.
If you overlook the usual boring Triple H/Batista standoff promo, this was a pretty damn good RAW.
I think it would be silly for Cena to get traded back & it would totally ruin the credibility of the whole Draft Lottery thing. Cena belongs on RAW where he won't be as censored.
Hmmm, a heel turn for Regal. I could see it & plus it's about time for it. Maybe a move to Smackdown is what he needs.
I'll give Christy Hemme props again. She continues to bust her ass (and it's a lovely one) when she's asked to wrestle.
And the Dudley Boyz are "property of ECW"? No mention of them being on the Smackdown roster. Let the ECW full-on return rumors begin.
Whoever said they weren't pushing this PPV was proved quite wrong tonight. This was the Invasion angle done right, without Stephanie McMahon waving her fake boobs around and ruining the effect.
It was great to see Tommy F'ing Dreamer leading the charge for ECW, followed up shortly behind by the Sandman, Rhyno and ... uhm, Balls Mahoney? In all honesty, I didn't recognize the two other guys. It was really cool, though, and I was in full mark-out mode by the time Drowning Pool started playing. I wish I could get this PPV, especially since Joey Styles is doing the commentary. Bravo for pushing ECW the way it should be pushed.
The rest was pretty good, too. Liked the ECW Rules match with Benoit. Christy Hemme looks very hot in green ... though I've decided she looks better with her clothes on since I saw those Playboy pictures. Maybe it's just me. Was surprised they let Val Venis/Masters go as long as it did ... apparently they're pushing Masters as a guy who has exactly one move he can beat you with, since 99% of that match was Val beating the shit out of him. Made Val look really strong and Masters look like a puss. Speaking of looking like a puss, what's the deal with not letting Kane go out and annihilate someone? Why does he have to be the bitch of this angle just because Lita can't keep her legs shut in real life? Poor Kane, he never gets a break.
Loved the continuity from Cena, referencing the Brood and Gangrel. I was hoping his first match would be against Christian for the title, but oh well. And yeah, I'm willing to bet that Teddy Long finds out that Bischoff rigged the lottery and petitions McMahon to get his champ back before too long. Having both belts on one show isn't a situation I see lasting for very long.
HHH hasn't changed his promo style since 2000, has he? I hope to Goddess that Batista beats him so we won't have to listen to the exact same victory speech HHH has been giving after every title win for the past 5 years ...
Nice match from Val, who continues to bring the quality, no matter who he's working with.
There are two pitiful crimes happening on RAW these days: the horrible pushes for both the Hassan/Davari team and Shelton. They are WASTED, and these handicap matches are doing neither any good. Davari and Hassan are natural tag champs, and Shelton doesn't need that belt; it's just not a factor in his booking.
I loved the ECW stuff and was astonished to see a trim Tommy Dreamer.
The Kane/Lita/Edge bit was useless. It reduced my care about any of them.
You can make Christy shrieky and thrashy, but she can't out-crazy Victoria. Can't be done.
"To be the man, you gotta beat demands." -- The Lovely Mrs. Tracker
Originally posted by Mayhem If you overlook the usual boring Triple H/Batista standoff promo, this was a pretty damn good RAW.
I think it would be silly for Cena to get traded back & it would totally ruin the credibility of the whole Draft Lottery thing. Cena belongs on RAW where he won't be as censored.
Hmmm, a heel turn for Regal. I could see it & plus it's about time for it. Maybe a move to Smackdown is what he needs.
I'll give Christy Hemme props again. She continues to bust her ass (and it's a lovely one) when she's asked to wrestle.
And the Dudley Boyz are "property of ECW"? No mention of them being on the Smackdown roster. Let the ECW full-on return rumors begin.
Damn, that ending was sweet.
I agree about Cena. His promos seem better when they have an edge to them. His ringwork is better than most here give him credit for too. I think he should stay on Raw and have HHH go over to Smackdown. Since Smackdown needs a new home in the near future, I could see some of the so called "names" being moved to Smackdown like a HHH and Flair, amd maybe even a Kane or a Jericho too. Would probably help sell the show to a new network.
Christy still has a ways to go, but at least she seems to put the effort into it. People seem to forget Trish wasn't all that great when she first started either.
"Since they filmed the football scenes so tightly (quick edits, no wide shots), there's no way to tell where Sandler ranked on the Realistic Athlete Scale (with Reynolds being a 17-out-of-10 and Tim Robbins being a negative-5). My guess is that Sandler was shaky enough that they masked his "abilities" in post-production, a strategy that Bill Parcells should consider with Drew Bledsoe this season"....from Bill Simmons column reviewing the new and original versions of "The Longest Yard".
Originally posted by Matt TrackerThere are two pitiful crimes happening on RAW these days: the horrible pushes for both the Hassan/Davari team and Shelton. They are WASTED, and these handicap matches are doing neither any good. Davari and Hassan are natural tag champs, and Shelton doesn't need that belt; it's just not a factor in his booking.
Considering how badly the tag team scene has been treated in the past year, Hassan and Davari are better off staying away from it. Of course, watching Andersons vs. Rock 'n Roll Express in a cage before RAW doesn't make the tag scene on RAW look that impressive. Tonite was the best opportunity for lazy booking to actually work. Instead of a handicap match, go with the triple threat match. Davari lays down for Hassan, Hassan wins I-C Title. Works for everyone: Benjamin drops the belt, but doesn't get hurt in the process, and actually it could provide a bitterness/edge should they ever want to go with a Benjamin heel turn. Hassan wins the I-C Title in a cheap fashion, thus making him a Honky Tonk'ish easy target that people think can be beat and has heat, a combination that leads to people paying to see him lose the belt. And Davari doesn't get hurt, and it would provide additional backstory should he ever turn. Instead, Shelton floats around aimlessly with the I-C Belt while Davari and Hassan will be fed to kick/wham/stunner from Austin next week.
Originally posted by Matt TrackerDavari and Hassan are natural tag champs, and Shelton doesn't need that belt; it's just not a factor in his booking.
Not a factor in his booking? Does Shelton Benjamin have a character that exists beyond the fact that he's IC champion? If anything, it's the only thing that holds interest in his character right now. He's exciting to watch, but it's not like he's the greatest wrestler alive who can command attention and interest from an audience just due to what he does in the ring. The problem is that creative hasn't established him as anything BUT an Intercontinental champion. At least before that he had the "likable but cocky" thing going for him.
I felt that RAW started off with a bang, ended with a bang, and somewhere in the middle just got completely lost. I thought the St. Louis crowd was hot for the handicap match until the false finish, and pretty much died after that. I don't know, maybe it's just me, but the crowd wasn't exactly on fire the entire night. Not that what was sandwiched in-between the opening and closing segments gave people all that much to cheer about.
Some Praises: - Bringing out the ECW guys at the end who haven't been on WWE TV in forever (exception of Axl Rotten of course who never was.). - Cena's promo. Simply amazing, and he even kept me interested when he started rapping (which I usually don't care too much for). Very solid segment. - Masters only having one effective offensive maneuver. The WWE's not going to trick the fans into thinking this guy DOESN'T suck, so you might as well play up to that fact. Until they ship him back to OVW, of course.
Complaints: - The Snitsky/Benoit match. With the exception of the "ECW rules" matches they've put on, I've enjoyed the build-up to the PPV. I didn't even mind the fact that there's going to be an "invasion force," so long as it doesn't lead to them decimating the ECW guys on the PPV (which I don't see happening anyway). The problem is, for the second straight week WWE presented what they thought was an ECW-style match, and it wasn't even close. Lame shots with garbage cans and lids made of aluminum foil was not what ECW was about...it was what the WWE's (for the most part) lame hardcore division was about. If a fan who isn't familiar with what the ECW product was goes into Sunday thinking THAT'S what the ECW product is, I can guarantee you they won't buy it. - The middle part of RAW. Incredibly lackluster, especially the contract signing (the only highlight was a friend of mine and I pointing out how utterly goofy the one security guard with curly blonde hair looked when he was trying to be serious). - The Edge/Lita/Kane segment. What started off as an interesting pairing who had great heel chemistry despite controversy has quickly turned into old hat. Yeah, they guys make out in front of Kane. At least last week we saw a ring get flushed down a toilet. The announcement of a match at Vengeance could have been done in a tighter, and not as boring, manner.
Total bookend Raw. The opening segment was hot, and the end was OK, but everything in the middle was ass.
Originally posted by MayhemI think it would be silly for Cena to get traded back & it would totally ruin the credibility of the whole Draft Lottery thing. Cena belongs on RAW where he won't be as censored.
Well, which one would you rather have ruined: the Draft, or Cena? Because if Cena stays on Raw, and HHH doesn't go anywhere, I can only see bad things happening. There's already been reports of heat between the 2, and Cena is a legit threat to HHH's spot, so it'd be only a matter of time before HHH starts getting in Vince's ear about "Cena can't work", or "Cena's not a 'student' of the game", or whatever other BS he can come up with to make sure he stays the #1 guy. They've got to keep these 2 apart, for the sake of Cena's career. The last thng the company needs is Cena becoming the next RVD or Jericho. It'd be interesting to see what side Vince would come down on.
Or, Cena can end up back on SD, rendering all that worrying moot. Barring any other big names moving, that's what should happen. Cena is the #1 star of the show, and removing Cena from the picture is going to kill SD, ratings- and interest-wise.
First off, My goodness Nidia looked hot tonite! Loved the new get up! It holds in her new assets and shows off her behind. Otherwise, crowd was insane for Jerrico, and rightly so. He put on a great effort.